With the growing trend towards internet shopping, it occurred to me recently that I and many others I know, spend much of our time in the modern age, waiting for purchases to arrive via mail-order or courier delivery.
The unique frustrations and disappointments of waiting for deliveries will be known by anyone who has ordered with just about any internet company. The specific problems of late arrival or of having courier delivery only during working hours - when one is of course at work - are particular problems of which I have had much personal experience.
It may then be of some consolation to note that my Roman ancestors also experienced disappointments and frustrations in this very sphere, as is attested by Pliny in his consolatory letter to his good mate Valerius Maximus:
"You did well to put on a show of gladiators for the people of Verona, ... . You have also done admirably in giving the show so readily and on such a lavish scale, for this indicates a true spirit of generosity. I am only sorry the African panthers that you had bought in such quantities did not turn up on the appointed day, but you deserve the credit although the weather prevented their arriving in time; it was not your fault that you could not show them."
[Pliny the Younger; Letter to Valerius Maximus]
This insight will certainly be in my mind, next time that my temples are bulging at the prospect of a delayed or missing order of DVDs. However, it also leaves me with the enduring question, as to just what one does with a late and ultimately useless delivery of African panthers? I for one wouldn't be trying to get the return labels on that pack of angry cats.
[P.S. Perhaps not many people realise that mighty internet giant Amazon literally started trading in ancient Roman times; specialising initially in the cross mediteranean shipment of fighting maidens from the fabled warrior tribe of the same name. They have since obviously expanded their range.]
