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{{short description|Roman writer}}
{{Short description|Roman lawyer, author and magistrate (61 – c. 113)}}
{{For|the beer|Russian River Brewing Company}}
{{For|the beer|Pliny the Younger (beer)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Pliny the Younger
| name = Pliny the Younger
| birth_name = Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus
| native_name = Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus
| native_name_lang = la
| image = Como 015.JPG
| birth_name = Gaius Caecilius Cilo
| caption = Statue of Pliny the Younger on the facade of Cathedral of S. Maria Maggiore in [[Como]]
| image = Pline le Jeune, Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (61-114) CIPB1135 (cropped).jpg
| birth_date = 61 BC
| caption = Engraving of Pliny the Younger
| birth_place = [[Como]]
| death_date = c. 113 AD (aged approx. 52)
| birth_date = AD 61
| birth_place = [[Como|Novum Comum]], [[Roman Italy|Italia]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_place = [[Bithynia]]
| occupation = Politician, judge, author
| death_date = {{Circa|AD 113}} (aged {{Circa}} 52)
| spouse =
| death_place = [[Bithynia]], Roman Empire
| parents = Lucius Caecilius Cilo and Plinia Marcella
| occupation = Politician, judge, author
| children =
| spouse =
| father = Lucius Caecilius Cilo
| mother = Plinia Marcella
| relatives = [[Pliny the Elder]] (uncle, later adoptive father)
| children =
| notable works = {{lang|la|[[Epistulae (Pliny)|Epistulae]]}}
}}
}}


'''Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus''', born '''Gaius Caecilius''' or '''Gaius Caecilius Cilo''' (61 – c. 113), better known as '''Pliny the Younger''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|l|ɪ|n|i}}), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of [[Ancient Rome]]. Pliny's uncle, [[Pliny the Elder]], helped raise and educate him.
'''Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus''' (born '''Gaius Caecilius''' or '''Gaius Caecilius Cilo'''; 61 – {{Circa| 113}}), better known in English as '''Pliny the Younger''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|l|ɪ|n|i}} {{respell|PLIN|ee}}),<ref>{{cite podcast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03kv0cl|title=Pliny the Younger |work=In Our Time|publisher=BBC Radio 4|host=Melvyn Bragg|date=12 Dec 2013|access-date=26 Jan 2020}}</ref> was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of [[Ancient Rome]]. Pliny's uncle, [[Pliny the Elder]], helped raise and educate him.


Pliny the Younger wrote hundreds of letters, of which 247 survive and are of great historical value. Some are addressed to reigning emperors or to notables such as the historian [[Tacitus]]. Pliny served as an [[Executive magistrates of the Roman Empire|imperial magistrate]] under [[Trajan]] (reigned 98–117),<ref>{{cite book|author=Bennett, Julian |title=Trajan: Optimus Princeps: A Life and Times|location=New York & London|publisher=Routledge|date= 1997|pages= 113–125}}</ref> and his letters to Trajan provide one of the few surviving records of the relationship between the imperial office and provincial governors.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780192801463|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192801463.001.0001/acref-9780192801463-e-1750?rskey=6JozU6&result=5|editor=John W. Roberts|accessdate=24 March 2014|title=Pliny the Younger|quote=The tenth bk. of letters contains all of Pliny's correspondence with Trajan. [...] The provincial letters are the only such dossier surviving entire, and are a major source for understanding Roman provincial government.}} {{paywall}}</ref>
Pliny the Younger wrote hundreds of letters, of which 247 survived, and which are of great historical value. Some are addressed to reigning emperors or to notables such as the historian [[Tacitus]]. Pliny served as an [[Executive magistrates of the Roman Empire|imperial magistrate]] under [[Trajan]] (reigned 98–117),<ref>{{cite book|author=Bennett, Julian |title=Trajan: Optimus Princeps: A Life and Times|location=New York & London|publisher=Routledge|date= 1997|pages= 113–125}}</ref> and his letters to Trajan provide one of the few surviving records of the relationship between the imperial office and provincial governors.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title=Pliny the Younger |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192801463.001.0001/acref-9780192801463-e-1750?rskey=6JozU6&result=5 |access-date=24 March 2014 |editor=John W. Roberts |isbn=9780192801463 |quote=The tenth bk. of letters contains all of Pliny's correspondence with Trajan. [...] The provincial letters are the only such dossier surviving entire, and are a major source for understanding Roman provincial government.}} {{subscription required}}</ref>


Pliny rose through a series of civil and military offices, the ''[[cursus honorum]]''. He was a friend of the historian [[Tacitus]] and might have employed the biographer [[Suetonius]] on his staff. Pliny also came into contact with other well-known men of the period, including the philosophers [[Artemidorus]] and [[Euphrates the Stoic]], during his time in [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book
Pliny rose through a series of civil and military offices, the ''[[cursus honorum]]''. He was a friend of the historian Tacitus and might have employed the biographer [[Suetonius]] on his staff. Pliny also came into contact with other well-known men of the period, including the philosophers [[Artemidorus]] and [[Euphrates the Stoic]], during his time in [[Roman Syria|Syria]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Shelton | first = Jo-Ann | title = The Women of Pliny's Letters | publisher = Rutledge | series = Women of the Ancient World Series | year = 2013 | location = New York, NY | pages = 159–161 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BtWZrdKZpi8C | isbn = 978-0-203-09812-7}}</ref>
| last = Shelton
| first = Jo-Ann
| title = The Women of Pliny's Letters
| publisher = Rutledge
| series = Women of the Ancient World Series
| year = 2013
| location = New York, NY
| pages = 159–161
| language =
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BtWZrdKZpi8C
| isbn = 978-0-203-09812-7
}}</ref>


==Background==
==Background==


===Childhood===
===Childhood===
[[File:Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - Como and Lake Como.jpg|thumb|right|''Como and [[Lake Como]] in 1834'', painted by [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot]]]]


Pliny the Younger was born in ''Novum Comum'' ([[Como]], Northern [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Italy]]) around 61 the son of [[Caecilia (gens)|Lucius Caecilius Cilo]], born there, and his wife Plinia Marcella, a sister of [[Pliny the Elder]].<ref name="salway">{{cite book|author=Salway, B. |date=1994|title=Journal of Roman Studies|volume=84|pages= 124–145}}</ref> He was the grandson of [[Roman Senate|Senator]] and landowner Gaius Caecilius, revered his uncle, [[Pliny the Elder]] (who at this time was extremely famous around the Roman Empire), and provided sketches of how his uncle worked on the ''[[Naturalis Historia]]''.<ref>Pliny ''Letters'' 3.5.8–12. See English translation ([http://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pliny/pliny_e2.html Plinius the Elder (2)]) and Latin text ([http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pliny.ep3.html C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER TERTIVS]).</ref>
Pliny the Younger was born in ''Novum Comum'' ([[Como]], Northern [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Italy]]) around 61 AD, the son of Lucius Caecilius Cilo, born there, and his wife Plinia Marcella, a sister of [[Pliny the Elder]].<ref name="salway">{{cite book|author=Salway, B. |date=1994|title=Journal of Roman Studies|volume=84|pages= 124–145}}</ref> He was the grandson of [[Roman Senate|Senator]] and landowner Gaius Caecilius, revered his uncle, who at this time was extremely famous around the Roman Empire because of his intelligence, and provided sketches of how his uncle worked on the ''[[Naturalis Historia]]''.<ref>Pliny ''Letters'' 3.5.8–12. See English translation ([https://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pliny/pliny_e2.html Plinius the Elder (2)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118090842/http://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pliny/pliny_e2.html |date=January 18, 2013 }}) and Latin text ([http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pliny.ep3.html C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER TERTIVS]).</ref>


Cilo died at an early age, when Pliny was still young. As a result, the boy probably lived with his mother. His guardian and preceptor in charge of his education was [[Lucius Verginius Rufus]],{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} famed for quelling a revolt against [[Nero]] in 68 AD.
Cilo died at an early age when Pliny was still young. As a result, the boy probably lived with his mother. His guardian and preceptor in charge of his education was [[Lucius Verginius Rufus]],<ref>Pliny ''Letters'' 2.1.1. See English translation ([http://www.attalus.org/old/pliny2.html]).</ref> famed for quelling a revolt against [[Nero]] in 68 AD. After being first tutored at home, Pliny went to Rome for further education. There he was taught [[rhetoric]] by [[Quintilian]], a great teacher and author, and Nicetes Sacerdos of Smyrna. It was at this time that Pliny became closer to his uncle Pliny the Elder. When Pliny the Younger was 17 or 18 in 79 AD, his uncle Pliny the Elder died attempting to rescue victims of the [[Vesuvius eruption]], and the terms of the Elder Pliny's will passed his estate to his nephew. In the same document, the younger Pliny was [[adoption in ancient Rome|adopted]] by his uncle. As a result, Pliny the Younger changed his name from ''Gaius Caecilius Cilo'' to ''Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus'' (his official title was ''Gaius Plinius Luci filius Caecilius Secundus'').<ref>{{cite book|author=Radice, Betty |title=The Letters of the Younger Pliny|publisher=Penguin Classics |date=1975|page =13}}</ref>
After being first tutored at home, Pliny went to Rome for further education. There he was taught [[rhetoric]] by [[Quintilian]], a great teacher and author, and Nicetes Sacerdos of Smyrna. It was at this time that Pliny became closer to his uncle Pliny the Elder. When Pliny the Younger was 17 or 18, his uncle Pliny the Elder died attempting to rescue victims of the [[Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79|Vesuvius eruption]], and the terms of the Elder Pliny's will passed his estate to his nephew. In the same document the younger Pliny was [[adoption in ancient Rome|adopted]] by his uncle. As a result, Pliny the Younger changed his name from ''Gaius Caecilius Cilo'' to ''Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus'' (his official title was ''Gaius Plinius Luci filius Caecilius Secundus'').<ref>{{cite book|author=Radice, Betty |title=The Letters of the Younger Pliny|publisher=Penguin Classics |date=1975|page =13}}</ref>


There is some evidence that Pliny had a sibling. A memorial erected in Como (now {{CIL|5|5279}}) repeats the terms of a will by which the ''[[aedile]]'' Lucius Caecilius Cilo, son of Lucius, established a fund, the interest of which was to buy oil (used for soap) for the baths of the people of Como. The trustees are apparently named in the inscription: "L. Caecilius Valens and P. Caecilius Secundus, sons of Lucius, and the ''contubernalis'' Lutulla." The word ''contubernalis'' describing Lutulla is the military term meaning "tent-mate", which can only mean that she was living with Lucius, not as his wife. The first man mentioned, L. Caecilius Valens, is probably the older son. Pliny the Younger confirms<ref>{{cite book|title=Letters|chapter=I.8, To Saturninus|quote=I am compelled to the discourse of my own largesse, as well as those of my ancestors.}}</ref> that he was a trustee for the largesse "of my ancestors". It seems unknown to Pliny the Elder, so Valens' mother was probably not his sister Plinia; perhaps Valens was Lutulla's son from an earlier relationship.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
[[File:The Younger Pliny Reproved.jpg|thumb|left|''The Younger Pliny Reproved'', colorized copperplate print by Thomas Burke (1749–1815)]]

There is some evidence that Pliny had a sibling. A memorial erected in Como (now {{CIL|5|5279}}) repeats the terms of a will by which the ''[[aedile]]'' Lucius Caecilius Cilo, son of Lucius, established a fund, the interest of which was to buy oil (used for soap) for the baths of the people of Como. The trustees are apparently named in the inscription: "L. Caecilius Valens and P. Caecilius Secundus, sons of Lucius, and the ''contubernalis'' Lutulla." The word ''contubernalis'' describing Lutulla is the military term meaning "tent-mate", which can only mean that she was living with Lucius, not as his wife. The first man mentioned, L. Caecilius Valens, is probably the older son. Pliny the Younger confirms<ref>{{cite book|title=Letters|chapter=I.8, To Saturninus|quote=I am compelled to discourse of my own largesse, as well as those of my ancestors.}}</ref> that he was a trustee for the largesse "of my ancestors". It seems unknown to Pliny the Elder, so Valens' mother was probably not his sister Plinia; perhaps Valens was Lutulla's son from an earlier relationship.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}


===Marriages===
===Marriages===
Pliny the Younger married three times, firstly, when he was very young (about 18), to a stepdaughter of Veccius Proculus', who died at age 37; secondly, at an unknown date, to the daughter of [[Pompeia Celerina]]; and thirdly to Calpurnia, daughter of Calpurnius and granddaughter of [[Calpurnius Fabatus]] of [[Como|Comum]]. Letters survive in which Pliny recorded this last marriage taking place, his attachment to Calpurnia, and his sadness when she miscarried their child.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pliny|title=Letters|pages=8.10}}</ref>
Pliny the Younger married three times: first, when he was very young (about 18), to a stepdaughter of Veccius Proculus, who died at age 37; secondly, at an unknown date, to the daughter of Pompeia Celerina; and thirdly to Calpurnia, daughter of Calpurnius and granddaughter of [[Calpurnius Fabatus]] of Comum. Letters survive in which Pliny recorded this last marriage taking place, his attachment to Calpurnia, and his sadness when she miscarried their child.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pliny|title=Letters|pages=8.10}}</ref>


===Death===
===Death===


Pliny is thought to have died suddenly during his convention in [[Bithynia et Pontus|Bithynia-Pontus]], around 113 AD, since no events referred to in his letters date later than that.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hurley|first=Donna.W|title=Suetonius The Caesars|year=2011|publisher=Hackett Publishing Company|location=Indianapolis/Cambridge|isbn=978-1-60384-313-3|pages=x}}</ref>
Pliny is thought to have died suddenly during his convention in [[Bithynia et Pontus|Bithynia-Pontus]], around 113 AD, since no events referred to in his letters date later than that.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hurley|first=Donna.W|title=Suetonius The Caesars|year=2011|publisher=Hackett Publishing Company|location=Indianapolis/Cambridge|isbn=978-1-60384-313-3|pages=x}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
Pliny was by birth of [[Equestrian (Roman)|equestrian]] rank, that is, a member of the aristocratic order of ''equites'' (knights), the lower (beneath the [[Roman Senate|senatorial order]]) of the two Roman aristocratic orders that monopolised senior civil and military offices during the early Empire. His career began at the age of 18 and initially followed a normal equestrian route. But, unlike most equestrians, he achieved entry into the upper order by being elected [[Quaestor]] in his late twenties.<ref>Cf. ''Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters'', The Folio Society, London (1978), Intro. pp.9–11</ref> (See [[#Career summary|Career summary]] below.)
Pliny was by birth of [[Equestrian (Roman)|equestrian]] rank, that is, a member of the aristocratic order of ''equites'' (knights), the lower (beneath the [[Roman Senate|senatorial order]]) of the two Roman aristocratic orders that monopolised senior civil and military offices during the early Empire. His career began at the age of 18 and initially followed a normal equestrian route. But, unlike most equestrians, he achieved entry into the upper order by being elected [[Quaestor]] in his late twenties.<ref>Cf. ''Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters'', The Folio Society, London (1978), Intro. pp.9–11</ref> (See [[#Career summary|Career summary]] below.)


Pliny was active in the Roman legal system, especially in the sphere of the Roman [[centumviral court]], which dealt with inheritance cases. Later, he was a well-known prosecutor and defender at the trials of a series of provincial governors, including [[Baebius Massa]], governor of [[Baetica]]; [[Marius Priscus]], governor of [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]]; [[Gaius Caecilius Classicus]], governor of [[Baetica]]; and most ironically in light of his later appointment to this province, [[Gaius Julius Bassus]] and [[Varenus Rufus]], both governors of [[Bithynia and Pontus]].<ref>Cf. ''Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters'', Intro. pp.10–16</ref>
Pliny was active in the Roman legal system, especially in the sphere of the Roman [[centumviral court]], which dealt with inheritance cases. Later, he was a well-known prosecutor and defender at the trials of a series of provincial governors, including [[Baebius Massa]], governor of [[Baetica]]; Marius Priscus, governor of [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]]; Gaius Caecilius Classicus, governor of Baetica; and most ironically in light of his later appointment to this province, [[Gaius Julius Bassus]] and Varenus Rufus, both governors of [[Bithynia and Pontus]].<ref>Cf. ''Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters'', Intro. pp.10–16</ref>


Pliny's career is commonly considered as a summary of the main Roman public charges and is the best-documented example from this period, offering proof for many aspects of imperial culture. Effectively, Pliny crossed all the principal fields of the organization of the early Roman Empire. It is an achievement for a man to have not only survived the reigns of several disparate emperors, especially the much-detested [[Domitian]], but also to have risen in rank throughout.<ref>Cf. ''op. cit.'', Intro. p.15-18</ref>
Pliny's career is commonly considered as a summary of the main Roman public charges and is the best-documented example from this period, offering proof for many aspects of imperial culture. Effectively, Pliny crossed all the principal fields of the organization of the early Roman Empire. It is an achievement for a man to have not only survived the reigns of several disparate emperors, especially the much-detested [[Domitian]], but also to have risen in rank throughout.<ref>Cf. ''op. cit.'', Intro. p.15-18</ref>
Line 66: Line 55:
<!-- begin career table -->
<!-- begin career table -->
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
! Year (AD) !! Office
| c. 81 || One of the presiding judges in the [[centumviral court]] (''decemvir litibus iudicandis'')
|-
|-
| {{Circa|81}} || One of the presiding judges in the [[centumviral court]] (''decemvir litibus iudicandis'')
| c. 81 || ''[[Tribunus militum]]'' (staff officer) of [[Legio III Gallica|Legio III ''Gallica'']] in Syria, probably for six months
|-
|-
| {{Circa|81}} || ''[[Tribunus militum]]'' (staff officer) of [[Legio III Gallica|Legio III ''Gallica'']] in Syria, probably for six months
| 80s || Officer of the noble order of [[equites|knights]] (''[[sevir equitum Romanorum]]'')
|-
| 80s || Officer of the noble order of [[equites|knights]] (''sevir equitum Romanorum'')
|-
|-
| Later 80s || Entered the [[Roman Senate|Senate]]
| Later 80s || Entered the [[Roman Senate|Senate]]
Line 76: Line 67:
| 88 or 89 || [[Quaestor]] attached to the Emperor's staff (''quaestor imperatoris'')
| 88 or 89 || [[Quaestor]] attached to the Emperor's staff (''quaestor imperatoris'')
|-
|-
| 91 || [[Tribune]] of the People (''[[plebeian tribune|tribunus plebis]]'')
| 91 || [[Tribune]] of the People (''[[tribunus plebis]]'')
|-
|-
| 93 || [[Praetor]]
| 93 || [[Praetor]]
Line 85: Line 76:
|-
|-
| 100 || [[Roman consul|Suffect consul]] with [[Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus|Cornutus Tertullus]]
| 100 || [[Roman consul|Suffect consul]] with [[Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus|Cornutus Tertullus]]
|-
| 103 || [[Propraetor]] of [[Bithynia]]
|-
|-
| 103–104 || Publicly elected [[Augur]]
| 103–104 || Publicly elected [[Augur]]
Line 94: Line 83:
| 104–107 || Three times a member of [[Trajan]]'s [[judicial]] council.
| 104–107 || Three times a member of [[Trajan]]'s [[judicial]] council.
|-
|-
| 110 || The [[Roman governor|imperial governor]] (''legatus Augusti'') of [[Bithynia et Pontus]] [[Roman province|province]]
| c.110 || The [[Roman governor|imperial governor]] (''legatus Augusti'') of [[Bithynia et Pontus]] [[Roman province|province]]
|}
|}
<!-- end career table -->
<!-- end career table -->


==Writings==
==Writings==
Pliny penned his first work at age 14: a [[tragedy]] in [[Greek language|Greek]].<ref>"quin etiam quattuordecim natus annos Graecam tragoediam scripsi.": ''''Epistulae'' VII. iv</ref> Additionally, in the course of his life, he wrote numerous poems, most of which are lost. He was also known as a notable ''[[orator]]''; though he professed himself a follower of [[Cicero]]'s, Pliny's prose was more magniloquent and less direct than [[Cicero]]'s.
Pliny wrote his first work, a [[tragedy]] in [[Greek language|Greek]], at age 14.<ref>"quin etiam quattuordecim natus annos Graecam tragoediam scripsi.": ''Epistulae'' VII. iv</ref> Additionally, in the course of his life, he wrote numerous poems, most of which are lost. He was also known as a notable [[orator]]; though he professed himself a follower of [[Cicero]], Pliny's prose was more magniloquent and less direct than Cicero's.


Pliny's only oration that now survives is the ''Panegyricus Traiani''. This was delivered in the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] in 100 and is a description of [[Trajan]]'s figure and actions in an adulatory and emphatic form, especially contrasting him with the Emperor [[Domitian]]. It is, however, a relevant document that reveals many details about the Emperor's actions in several fields of his administrative power such as taxes, justice, military discipline, and commerce. Recalling the speech in one of his letters, Pliny shrewdly defines his own motives thus:
Pliny's only oration that now survives is the ''Panegyricus Traiani''. This was delivered in the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] in 100 and is a description of [[Trajan]]'s figure and actions in an adulatory and emphatic form, especially contrasting him with the Emperor [[Domitian]]. It is, however, a relevant document that reveals many details about the Emperor's actions in several fields of his administrative power such as taxes, justice, military discipline, and commerce. Recalling the speech in one of his letters, Pliny shrewdly defines his own motives thus:
{{quote|I hoped in the first place to encourage our Emperor in his virtues by a sincere tribute and, secondly, to show his successors what path to follow to win the same renown, not by offering instruction but by setting his example before them. To proffer advice on an Emperor's duties might be a noble enterprise, but it would be a heavy responsibility verging on insolence, whereas to praise an excellent ruler (''optimum principem'') and thereby shine a beacon on the path posterity should follow would be equally effective without appearing presumptuous.<ref>Epistulae III. xviii, here translated by Betty Radice, ''The Letters of the Younger Pliny'', Penguin Classics (1975), p. 104</ref>}}
{{blockquote|I hoped in the first place to encourage our Emperor in his virtues by a sincere tribute and, secondly, to show his successors what path to follow to win the same renown, not by offering instruction but by setting his example before them. To proffer advice on an Emperor's duties might be a noble enterprise, but it would be a heavy responsibility verging on insolence, whereas to praise an excellent ruler (''optimum principem'') and thereby shine a beacon on the path posterity should follow would be equally effective without appearing presumptuous.<ref>Epistulae III. xviii, here translated by Betty Radice, ''The Letters of the Younger Pliny'', Penguin Classics (1975), p. 104</ref>}}


===''Epistulae''===
===''Epistulae''===
{{Main article|Epistulae (Pliny)}}
{{Main article|Epistulae (Pliny)}}

[[File:Johan Christian Claussen Dahl 001.jpg|thumb|250px|''Eruption of [[Vesuvius]]'', 1826 painting by [[I.C. Dahl]]]]
The largest surviving body of Pliny's work is his ''Epistulae'' (''Letters''), a series of personal missives directed to his friends and associates. These letters are a unique testimony of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] administrative history and everyday life in the 1st century AD. Especially noteworthy among the letters are two in which he describes the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius]] in August 79, during which his uncle Pliny the Elder died (''Epistulae'' VI.16, VI.20), and one in which he asks the Emperor for instructions regarding official policy concerning Christians (''Epistulae'' X.96).
The largest surviving body of Pliny's work is his ''Epistulae'' (''Letters''), a series of personal missives directed to his friends and associates. These letters are a unique testimony of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] administrative history and everyday life in the 1st century AD. Especially noteworthy among the letters are two in which he describes the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius]] in October 79, during which his uncle Pliny the Elder died (''Epistulae'' VI.16, VI.20), and one in which he asks the Emperor for instructions regarding official policy concerning Christians (''Epistulae'' X.96).


====Epistles concerning the eruption of Mount Vesuvius====
====Epistles concerning the eruption of Mount Vesuvius====
Pliny wrote the two letters describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius approximately 25 years after the event, and both were sent in response to the request of his friend, the historian [[Tacitus]], who wanted to know more about Pliny the Elder's death. The two letters have great historical value due to their accurate description of Vesuvius' eruption; Pliny's attention to detail in the letters about Vesuvius is so keen that modern [[volcanologist]]s describe those types of eruptions as "[[Plinian eruption]]s".<ref name=USGS>{{cite web|url= http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/images/pglossary/PlinianEruption.php |title= VHP Photo Glossary: Plinian eruption |work= United States Geological Survey |accessdate=June 8, 2010}}</ref>
Pliny wrote the two letters describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius approximately 25 years after the event, and both were sent in response to the request of his friend, the historian [[Tacitus]]. The first letter outlines the events preceding the death of [[Pliny the Elder]] during the attempted rescue of his friend Rectina. The second letter details the Younger's movements across the same period of time. The two letters have great historical value due to their accurate description of the Vesuvius eruption; Pliny's attention to detail in the letters about Vesuvius is so keen that modern [[volcanologist]]s describe those types of eruptions as "[[Plinian eruption]]s".<ref name="USGS">{{cite web |title=VHP Photo Glossary: Plinian eruption |url=https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/images/pglossary/PlinianEruption.php |access-date=June 8, 2010 |work=United States Geological Survey}}</ref><ref>Pliny the Younger, Epistles, 6.16 and 6.20</ref>


====Epistle concerning the Christian Religion====
====Epistle concerning the Christian religion====
{{Main article|Pliny the Younger on Christians}}
{{Main article|Pliny the Younger on Christians}}
As the Roman governor of [[Bithynia et Pontus|Bithynia-Pontus]] (now in modern Turkey) Pliny wrote a [[Epistulae (Pliny)|letter]] to Emperor [[Trajan]] around 112 AD and asked for counsel on dealing with [[Early Christians|Christians]]. In the letter (''Epistulae'' X.96) Pliny detailed an account of how he conducted trials of suspected Christians who appeared before him as a result of anonymous accusations and asked for the Emperor's guidance on how they should be treated.<ref name=Phil>''The Early Christian Church'' Volume 1 by Philip Carrington (2011) {{ISBN|0521166411}} Cambridge Univ Press p. 429</ref> Pliny had never performed a legal investigation of Christians and thus consulted Trajan in order to be on solid ground regarding his actions. Pliny saved his letters and Trajan's replies<ref name=Benko5>'' Pagan Rome and the Early Christians'' by Stephen Benko (1986) {{ISBN|0253203856}} pp. 5–7</ref> and these are the earliest surviving Roman documents to refer to early Christians.<ref>{{cite journal|last=St. Croix|first=G.E.M|title=Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?|journal=Past & Present|date=Nov 1963|volume=26|issue=26|pages=6–38|jstor=649902|doi=10.1093/past/26.1.6}}</ref> Direct quotation from Pliny's letter to Trajan show the early stages of Christian persecution by the Roman Empire as "those who were denounced to me as Christians...I ordered executed," for not renouncing their faith. http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/pliny.html
[[File:Pliny the Younger's letter to Emperor Trajan concerning the Christians, read in Latin.webm|thumb|Reading of Pliny's letter to Trajan about the Christians, in Latin with English subtitles]] As the Roman governor of [[Bithynia et Pontus|Bithynia-Pontus]] (now in modern Turkey) Pliny wrote a [[Epistulae (Pliny)|letter]] to Emperor Trajan around 112 AD and asked for counsel on dealing with [[Early Christians|Christians]]. In the letter (''Epistulae'' X.96), Pliny detailed an account of how he conducted trials of suspected Christians who appeared before him as a result of anonymous accusations and asked for the Emperor's guidance on how they should be treated.<ref name=Phil>''The Early Christian Church'' Volume 1 by Philip Carrington (2011) {{ISBN|0521166411}} Cambridge Univ Press p. 429</ref> Pliny had never performed a legal investigation of Christians and thus consulted Trajan in order to be on solid ground regarding his actions. Pliny saved his letters and Trajan's replies<ref name=Benko5>'' Pagan Rome and the Early Christians'' by Stephen Benko (1986) {{ISBN|0253203856}} pp. 5–7</ref> and these are the earliest surviving Roman documents to refer to early Christians.<ref>{{cite journal|last=St. Croix|first=G.E.M|title=Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?|journal=Past & Present|date=Nov 1963|issue=26|pages=6–38|jstor=649902|doi=10.1093/past/26.1.6}}</ref>

====Epistle concerning voting systems====
Voting theorists and historians of social choice note Pliny's early mention of how the choice of voting procedure could influence the outcome of an election.<ref name="Farquharson 1969">{{Cite book
|author-last=Farquharson|author-first=Robin|date=1969|title=Theory of Voting
|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=9780300011210}}</ref><ref name="McLean and Urken 1995">{{Cite book
|editor-last=McLean|editor-first=Iain|editor-last2=Urken|editor-first2=Arnold B.|date=1995|title=Classics of social choice
|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor MI |doi=10.3998/MPUB.12736 |isbn=9780472104505|s2cid= 142220732}}</ref> On June 24, 105, Pliny wrote a letter to [[Titius Aristo]],<ref name="Pliny105">{{cite book |url=https://www.attalus.org/old/pliny8.html |title=Letters by Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus. Book 8 |access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref> where he describes a criminal trial: under the traditional rules of the Senate, there would first be a vote on guilt and then (if the accused were found guilty) on punishment, for which execution and exile were proposed. Of the three distinct proposals, acquittal, exile, and execution, acquittal had the largest number of supporters but not a majority, although exile would have defeated either acquittal or execution in a direct two-way vote. Pliny supported acquittal but anticipated that first guilt and then execution would be chosen under the traditional rules, and so he argued for a novel three-way plurality vote, which would have resulted in acquittal. In response, those in favor of execution withdrew their proposal, the vote defaulted to a traditional majority vote between exile and acquittal, and exile carried.


===Manuscripts===
===Manuscripts===

The first – incomplete – edition of Pliny's Epistles was published in Italy in 1471. Sometime between 1495 and 1500 [[Giovanni Giocondo]] discovered a manuscript in Paris of Pliny's tenth book of letters, containing his correspondence with Trajan, and published it in Paris, dedicating the work to [[Louis XII]]. The first complete edition was produced by the press of [[Aldus Manutius]] in 1508.<ref>"Iohannem Iucundum architectum illum Veronensem, quem annos 1494–1506 in Gallia egisse novimus, codicem decem librorum Parisiis invenisse testis est Gulielmus Budaeus...Eodem ferme tempore Venetias ad Aldum Manutium editionem suam parantem, quae anno 1508 proditura erat, epistulas ex eodem vetustissimo codice descriptas misit ipse Iucundus." (R.A.B. Mynors, ''C. Plini Caecili Secundi Epistularum Libri Decem'', Oxford University Press (1976), Praefatio xviii–xix</ref> (See [[Editio princeps]] for details.)
The [[editio princeps|first edition]] of Pliny's ''Epistles'' was published in Italy in 1471. Sometime between 1495 and 1500 [[Giovanni Giocondo]] discovered a manuscript in Paris of Pliny's tenth book of letters, containing his correspondence with Trajan, and published it in Paris, dedicating the work to [[Louis XII]]. The first complete edition was produced by the press of [[Aldus Manutius]] in 1508.<ref>"Iohannem Iucundum architectum illum Veronensem, quem annos 1494–1506 in Gallia egisse novimus, codicem decem librorum Parisiis invenisse testis est Gulielmus Budaeus...Eodem ferme tempore Venetias ad Aldum Manutium editionem suam parantem, quae anno 1508 proditura erat, epistulas ex eodem vetustissimo codice descriptas misit ipse Iucundus." (R.A.B. Mynors, ''C. Plini Caecili Secundi Epistularum Libri Decem'', Oxford University Press (1976), Praefatio xviii–xix</ref> (See ''[[list of editiones principes in Latin|Editio princeps]]'' for details.)


==Villas, farms and estates==
==Villas, farms and estates==

[[File:BellagiodiEst.JPG|thumb|255px|View of [[Bellagio (Italian region)|Bellagio]] in [[Lake Como]]. The institution on the hill is [[Villa Serbelloni]], believed to have been constructed on the site of Pliny's villa "Tragedy."]]
[[File:BellagiodiEst.JPG|thumb|255px|View of [[Bellagio (Italian region)|Bellagio]] in [[Lake Como]]. The institution on the hill is [[Villa Serbelloni]], believed to have been constructed on the site of Pliny's villa "Tragedy."]]
Pliny loved [[villa]]s. Being wealthy, he owned many, and wrote in detail about his villa near Ostia, at Laurentium.<ref>Letter 2.17</ref> Others were the one in Lake Como named "Tragedy" because of its location high on a hill,{{clarify| date= January 2018}} and, on the shore of the lake, "Comedy," so called because it was sited low down.<ref>{{cite book |page=5 |title=The villas of Pliny from antiquity to posterity |first= Pierre |last=de la Ruffinière Du Prey |edition=illustrated |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-226-17300-9}}</ref> Pliny's main estate in Italy was in the north of [[Umbria]], by [[Tifernum Tiberinum]], under the passes of Bocca Trabaria and Bocca Serriola, where wood was harvested for Roman ships and sent to Rome via the [[Tiber]].<ref>Letter 4.1</ref>


Being wealthy, Pliny owned many [[villa]]s and wrote in detail about his villa near Ostia, at Laurentum, Italy.<ref>Letter 2.17</ref> [[Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy villas|Others]] included one near Lake Como named "Tragedy" because of its location high on a hill, and, another, "Comedy," on the shores of the lake, so called because it was sited low down,<ref>{{cite book |page=5 |title=The villas of Pliny from antiquity to posterity |first= Pierre |last=de la Ruffinière Du Prey |edition=illustrated |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-226-17300-9}}</ref> referencing the practice of actors in comedy wearing flat shoes, while those in tragedy wore high-heeled [[buskin]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Nutting|first=Herbert C.|title=Cicero and the Younger Pliny|year=1926|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=21|issue=6|page=427}}</ref>
According to [[G. E. M. de Ste. Croix]], as a response to "declining returns from his north Italian farms", Pliny begins to contemplate switching the administration of his estate to a [[sharecropping]] system called ''colonia partiaria''. Under the sharecropping system Pliny's slaves would act as overseers. Ste. Croix speculated this may have been an intermediary period before [[serfdom]] fully replaces slavery in later centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Byres |first1=T. J. |title=Sharecropping and Sharecroppers |date=1983 |publisher=Frank Cass |location=/pl |isbn=1135780021 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVWQAgAAQBAJ |accessdate=4 August 2019}}</ref>

Pliny's main estate in Italy and the one he loved best was his [[Roman Villa of Pliny "in Tuscis"|Villa "in Tuscis"]] near [[San Giustino]], Umbria, under the passes of Bocca Trabaria and Bocca Serriola, where wood was harvested for Roman ships and sent to Rome via the [[Tiber]].<ref>Pliny Epistulae 4.1</ref>

As a response to "declining returns from his north Italian farms", Pliny may have contemplated switching the administration of his estate to a [[sharecropping]] system called ''colonia partiaria''. Under the sharecropping system, Pliny's slaves would act as overseers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Byres |first1=T. J. |title=Sharecropping and Sharecroppers |date=1983 |publisher=Frank Cass |location=/pl |isbn=1135780021 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVWQAgAAQBAJ |access-date=4 August 2019}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
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==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
*{{cite journal|title=A Note on Revision and Authenticity in Pliny's Letters|journal=American Journal of Philology|year=1989|first=Albert A.|last=Bell|volume=110|issue=3|pages=460–466|id= |url=|doi=10.2307/295220 |jstor=295220}}
*{{cite journal|title=A Note on Revision and Authenticity in Pliny's Letters|journal=American Journal of Philology|year=1989|first=Albert A.|last=Bell|volume=110|issue=3|pages=460–466|doi=10.2307/295220 |jstor=295220}}
*{{cite book | last = Bell | first = Albert A. | title = All Roads Lead to Murder: A Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger | publisher = High Country Publishers | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-9713045-3-6 | url = https://archive.org/details/allroadsleadtomu00bell }}
*{{cite book |last=Bell |first=Albert A. |title=All Roads Lead to Murder: A Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger |publisher=High Country Publishers |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-9713045-3-6 |url=https://www.archive.org/details/allroadsleadtomu00bell}}
*{{cite journal|title=Pliny the Younger's Depiction of Women|journal=Classical Bulletin|year=1982|first=E.S.|last=Dobson|volume=58|issue=|pages=81–85|id= |url=}}
*{{cite journal|title=Pliny the Younger's Depiction of Women|journal=Classical Bulletin|year=1982|first=E.S.|last=Dobson|volume=58|pages=81–85}}
*{{cite book | editor = [[Simon Hornblower]] and Anthony Spawforth | title = Oxford Classical Dictionary | origyear = 1949 | edition = 3rd | year = 2003 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | isbn = 0-19-860641-9| title-link = Oxford Classical Dictionary }}
*{{cite book | editor = [[Simon Hornblower]] and Anthony Spawforth | title = Oxford Classical Dictionary | orig-year = 1949 | edition = 3rd | year = 2003 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | isbn = 0-19-860641-9| title-link = Oxford Classical Dictionary }}
*{{cite book | last = Radice | first = Betty | authorlink = Betty Radice | title = The Letters of the Younger Pliny | publisher = [[Penguin Classics]] | year = 1963 | location = London | pages = | url = https://books.google.com/?id=zam3LhHC-TAC | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0-14-044127-7 }}
*{{cite book | last = Radice | first = Betty | author-link = Betty Radice | title = The Letters of the Younger Pliny | publisher = [[Penguin Classics]] | year = 1963 | location = London | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zam3LhHC-TAC | isbn = 978-0-14-044127-7 }}
*{{cite journal|title=Pliny and the ''Panegyricus''|journal=Greece & Rome|year=1968|first=Betty|last=Radice|volume=15|issue=2|pages=166–172|id= |jstor=642428|doi=10.1017/S0017383500017514 }}
*{{cite journal|title=Pliny and the ''Panegyricus''|journal=Greece & Rome|year=1968|first=Betty|last=Radice|volume=15|issue=2|pages=166–172|jstor=642428|doi=10.1017/S0017383500017514 |s2cid=162583339 }}
*{{Cite EB1911|noicon=1|last=Sands |first=John Edwin |title=Pliny the Younger |volume=21 |pages=844–846 |url=https://archive.org/stream/encyclopaediabri21chisrich#page/844/mode/1up}}
*{{Cite EB1911|noicon=1|last=Sands |first=John Edwin |wstitle=Pliny the Younger |volume=21 |pages=844–846}}
*{{cite journal|title=Descrivere l'indescrivibile. Il lessico di Plinio il Giovane nelle epistole sull'eruzione del Vesuvio|journal=Open Journal of Humanities|year=2021|first=Edoardo|last=Scarpanti|volume=9|pages=39–60|doi=10.17605/OSF.IO/6DMZ2}}
*{{cite book | last = Sherwin-White | first = A.N. | authorlink = A. N. Sherwin-White | title = The Letters of Pliny: A Social and Historical Commentary | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | year = 1966 | location = Oxford | pages = | url = https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=72416675 | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-19-814435-0 }}
*{{cite book | last = Sherwin-White | first = A.N. | author-link = A. N. Sherwin-White | title = The Letters of Pliny: A Social and Historical Commentary | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | year = 1966 | location = Oxford | url = https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=72416675 | isbn = 0-19-814435-0 | access-date = September 8, 2017 | archive-date = May 1, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100501023350/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=72416675 | url-status = dead }}
*{{cite journal|title=Pliny, the Man and his Letters|journal=Greece & Rome|year=1969|first=A.N.|last=Sherwin-White|volume=16|issue=1|pages=76–90|id= |publisher=Cambridge University Press|jstor=642902|doi=10.1017/S0017383500016375 }}
*{{cite journal|title=Pliny, the Man and his Letters|journal=Greece & Rome|year=1969|first=A.N.|last=Sherwin-White|volume=16|issue=1|pages=76–90|publisher=Cambridge University Press|jstor=642902|doi=10.1017/S0017383500016375 |s2cid=161772522 }}
*Stadler, Thiago David (2013). ''O Império romano em cartas: glórias romanas em papel e tinta (Plínio, o Jovem e Trajano 98/113 d.C.).'' Curitiba: Juruá Editora.
*Stadler, Thiago David (2013). ''O Império romano em cartas: glórias romanas em papel e tinta (Plínio, o Jovem e Trajano 98/113 d.C.).'' Curitiba: Juruá Editora.
*{{cite book | last = Stout | first = Selatie Edgar | title = Plinius, Epistulae: A Critical Edition | publisher = Bloomington: Indiana University Press | year = 1962}}
*{{cite book | last = Stout | first = Selatie Edgar | title = Plinius, Epistulae: A Critical Edition | publisher = Bloomington: Indiana University Press | year = 1962}}
*{{cite journal|title=People in Pliny|journal=Journal of Roman Studies|year=1968|first=Ronald|last=Syme|volume=58|issue=1 & 2|pages=135–151 |id= |doi=10.2307/299703|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies|jstor=299703 }}
*{{cite journal|title=People in Pliny|journal=Journal of Roman Studies|year=1968|first=Ronald|last=Syme|volume=58|issue=1 & 2|pages=135–151 |doi=10.2307/299703|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies|jstor=299703 |s2cid=162568263 }}
*{{cite book | last = Wilken | first = Robert L. | title = "Pliny: A Roman Gentleman" in The Christians as the Romans saw Them | publisher = New Haven, CT: Yale University Press | year = 1984}}
*{{cite book | last = Wilken | first = Robert L. | title = "Pliny: A Roman Gentleman" in The Christians as the Romans saw Them | publisher = New Haven, CT: Yale University Press | year = 1984}}


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{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Pliny the Younger
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Pliny the Younger
|viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
|viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* {{commons category inline|Plinius Minor}}
* {{commons category-inline|Plinius Minor}}
* {{wikiquote-inline}}
* {{wikiquote-inline}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Pliny Works by Pliny the Younger at Perseus Digital Library]
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Pliny Works by Pliny the Younger at Perseus Digital Library]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Pliny,+the+Younger}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1036}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search="Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus" OR "Pliny, the Younger" OR "Pliny the Younger" OR "Younger Pliny" OR "Gaius Caecilius" OR "Gaius Caecilius Cilo"}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search="Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus" OR "Pliny, the Younger" OR "Pliny the Younger" OR "Younger Pliny" OR "Gaius Caecilius" OR "Gaius Caecilius Cilo"}}
* {{Librivox author |id=874}}
* {{Librivox author |id=874}}
* [http://www.attalus.org/info/pliny.html Letters of Pliny the Younger] – translation at attalus.org {{in lang|en}}
* [https://www.attalus.org/info/pliny.html Letters of Pliny the Younger] – translation at attalus.org {{in lang|en}}
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pliny.html The younger Pliny's works] at the Latin Library {{in lang|la}}
* [https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pliny.html The younger Pliny's works] at the Latin Library {{in lang|la}}
* [http://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pliny/pliny_y.htm Detailed biography] at livius.org
* [https://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pliny/pliny_y.htm Detailed biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503165818/https://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pliny/pliny_y.htm |date=May 3, 2015 }} at livius.org


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{{Ancient Rome topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Ancient Rome topics|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Pliny the Younger}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pliny the Younger}}
[[Category:61 births]]
[[Category:61 births]]
[[Category:113 deaths]]
[[Category:110s deaths]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:Augurs of the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Augurs of the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Critics of Christianity]]
[[Category:Critics of Christianity]]
[[Category:Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome]]
[[Category:Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome]]
[[Category:Roman governors of Bithynia and Pontus]]
[[Category:Roman governors of Bithynia and Pontus]]
[[Category:Latin-language writers]]
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[[Category:Ancient Roman scientists]]
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[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:People from Como]]
[[Category:People from Como]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman writers and early Christianity]]
[[Category:Caecilii]]
[[Category:Caecilii]]
[[Category:Plinii]]
[[Category:Plinii]]
[[Category:Adoptees adopted by relations]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman adoptees]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman adoptees]]
[[Category:113 deaths]]
[[Category:Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD]]

Latest revision as of 13:10, 30 November 2024

Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus
Engraving of Pliny the Younger
Born
Gaius Caecilius Cilo

AD 61
Diedc. AD 113 (aged c. 52)
Bithynia, Roman Empire
Occupation(s)Politician, judge, author
Notable workEpistulae
Parents
  • Lucius Caecilius Cilo (father)
  • Plinia Marcella (mother)
RelativesPliny the Elder (uncle, later adoptive father)

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo; 61 – c. 113), better known in English as Pliny the Younger (/ˈplɪni/ PLIN-ee),[1] was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him.

Pliny the Younger wrote hundreds of letters, of which 247 survived, and which are of great historical value. Some are addressed to reigning emperors or to notables such as the historian Tacitus. Pliny served as an imperial magistrate under Trajan (reigned 98–117),[2] and his letters to Trajan provide one of the few surviving records of the relationship between the imperial office and provincial governors.[3]

Pliny rose through a series of civil and military offices, the cursus honorum. He was a friend of the historian Tacitus and might have employed the biographer Suetonius on his staff. Pliny also came into contact with other well-known men of the period, including the philosophers Artemidorus and Euphrates the Stoic, during his time in Syria.[4]

Background

[edit]

Childhood

[edit]

Pliny the Younger was born in Novum Comum (Como, Northern Italy) around 61 AD, the son of Lucius Caecilius Cilo, born there, and his wife Plinia Marcella, a sister of Pliny the Elder.[5] He was the grandson of Senator and landowner Gaius Caecilius, revered his uncle, who at this time was extremely famous around the Roman Empire because of his intelligence, and provided sketches of how his uncle worked on the Naturalis Historia.[6]

Cilo died at an early age when Pliny was still young. As a result, the boy probably lived with his mother. His guardian and preceptor in charge of his education was Lucius Verginius Rufus,[7] famed for quelling a revolt against Nero in 68 AD. After being first tutored at home, Pliny went to Rome for further education. There he was taught rhetoric by Quintilian, a great teacher and author, and Nicetes Sacerdos of Smyrna. It was at this time that Pliny became closer to his uncle Pliny the Elder. When Pliny the Younger was 17 or 18 in 79 AD, his uncle Pliny the Elder died attempting to rescue victims of the Vesuvius eruption, and the terms of the Elder Pliny's will passed his estate to his nephew. In the same document, the younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle. As a result, Pliny the Younger changed his name from Gaius Caecilius Cilo to Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (his official title was Gaius Plinius Luci filius Caecilius Secundus).[8]

There is some evidence that Pliny had a sibling. A memorial erected in Como (now CIL V, 5279) repeats the terms of a will by which the aedile Lucius Caecilius Cilo, son of Lucius, established a fund, the interest of which was to buy oil (used for soap) for the baths of the people of Como. The trustees are apparently named in the inscription: "L. Caecilius Valens and P. Caecilius Secundus, sons of Lucius, and the contubernalis Lutulla." The word contubernalis describing Lutulla is the military term meaning "tent-mate", which can only mean that she was living with Lucius, not as his wife. The first man mentioned, L. Caecilius Valens, is probably the older son. Pliny the Younger confirms[9] that he was a trustee for the largesse "of my ancestors". It seems unknown to Pliny the Elder, so Valens' mother was probably not his sister Plinia; perhaps Valens was Lutulla's son from an earlier relationship.[citation needed]

Marriages

[edit]

Pliny the Younger married three times: first, when he was very young (about 18), to a stepdaughter of Veccius Proculus, who died at age 37; secondly, at an unknown date, to the daughter of Pompeia Celerina; and thirdly to Calpurnia, daughter of Calpurnius and granddaughter of Calpurnius Fabatus of Comum. Letters survive in which Pliny recorded this last marriage taking place, his attachment to Calpurnia, and his sadness when she miscarried their child.[10]

Death

[edit]

Pliny is thought to have died suddenly during his convention in Bithynia-Pontus, around 113 AD, since no events referred to in his letters date later than that.[11]

Career

[edit]

Pliny was by birth of equestrian rank, that is, a member of the aristocratic order of equites (knights), the lower (beneath the senatorial order) of the two Roman aristocratic orders that monopolised senior civil and military offices during the early Empire. His career began at the age of 18 and initially followed a normal equestrian route. But, unlike most equestrians, he achieved entry into the upper order by being elected Quaestor in his late twenties.[12] (See Career summary below.)

Pliny was active in the Roman legal system, especially in the sphere of the Roman centumviral court, which dealt with inheritance cases. Later, he was a well-known prosecutor and defender at the trials of a series of provincial governors, including Baebius Massa, governor of Baetica; Marius Priscus, governor of Africa; Gaius Caecilius Classicus, governor of Baetica; and most ironically in light of his later appointment to this province, Gaius Julius Bassus and Varenus Rufus, both governors of Bithynia and Pontus.[13]

Pliny's career is commonly considered as a summary of the main Roman public charges and is the best-documented example from this period, offering proof for many aspects of imperial culture. Effectively, Pliny crossed all the principal fields of the organization of the early Roman Empire. It is an achievement for a man to have not only survived the reigns of several disparate emperors, especially the much-detested Domitian, but also to have risen in rank throughout.[14]

Career summary

[edit]
Year (AD) Office
c. 81 One of the presiding judges in the centumviral court (decemvir litibus iudicandis)
c. 81 Tribunus militum (staff officer) of Legio III Gallica in Syria, probably for six months
80s Officer of the noble order of knights (sevir equitum Romanorum)
Later 80s Entered the Senate
88 or 89 Quaestor attached to the Emperor's staff (quaestor imperatoris)
91 Tribune of the People (tribunus plebis)
93 Praetor
94–96 Prefect of the military treasury (praefectus aerarii militaris)
98–100 Prefect of the treasury of Saturn (praefectus aerari Saturni)
100 Suffect consul with Cornutus Tertullus
103–104 Publicly elected Augur
104–106 Superintendent for the banks of the Tiber (curator alvei Tiberis)
104–107 Three times a member of Trajan's judicial council.
c.110 The imperial governor (legatus Augusti) of Bithynia et Pontus province

Writings

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Pliny wrote his first work, a tragedy in Greek, at age 14.[15] Additionally, in the course of his life, he wrote numerous poems, most of which are lost. He was also known as a notable orator; though he professed himself a follower of Cicero, Pliny's prose was more magniloquent and less direct than Cicero's.

Pliny's only oration that now survives is the Panegyricus Traiani. This was delivered in the Senate in 100 and is a description of Trajan's figure and actions in an adulatory and emphatic form, especially contrasting him with the Emperor Domitian. It is, however, a relevant document that reveals many details about the Emperor's actions in several fields of his administrative power such as taxes, justice, military discipline, and commerce. Recalling the speech in one of his letters, Pliny shrewdly defines his own motives thus:

I hoped in the first place to encourage our Emperor in his virtues by a sincere tribute and, secondly, to show his successors what path to follow to win the same renown, not by offering instruction but by setting his example before them. To proffer advice on an Emperor's duties might be a noble enterprise, but it would be a heavy responsibility verging on insolence, whereas to praise an excellent ruler (optimum principem) and thereby shine a beacon on the path posterity should follow would be equally effective without appearing presumptuous.[16]

Epistulae

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The largest surviving body of Pliny's work is his Epistulae (Letters), a series of personal missives directed to his friends and associates. These letters are a unique testimony of Roman administrative history and everyday life in the 1st century AD. Especially noteworthy among the letters are two in which he describes the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in October 79, during which his uncle Pliny the Elder died (Epistulae VI.16, VI.20), and one in which he asks the Emperor for instructions regarding official policy concerning Christians (Epistulae X.96).

Epistles concerning the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

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Pliny wrote the two letters describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius approximately 25 years after the event, and both were sent in response to the request of his friend, the historian Tacitus. The first letter outlines the events preceding the death of Pliny the Elder during the attempted rescue of his friend Rectina. The second letter details the Younger's movements across the same period of time. The two letters have great historical value due to their accurate description of the Vesuvius eruption; Pliny's attention to detail in the letters about Vesuvius is so keen that modern volcanologists describe those types of eruptions as "Plinian eruptions".[17][18]

Epistle concerning the Christian religion

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Reading of Pliny's letter to Trajan about the Christians, in Latin with English subtitles

As the Roman governor of Bithynia-Pontus (now in modern Turkey) Pliny wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan around 112 AD and asked for counsel on dealing with Christians. In the letter (Epistulae X.96), Pliny detailed an account of how he conducted trials of suspected Christians who appeared before him as a result of anonymous accusations and asked for the Emperor's guidance on how they should be treated.[19] Pliny had never performed a legal investigation of Christians and thus consulted Trajan in order to be on solid ground regarding his actions. Pliny saved his letters and Trajan's replies[20] and these are the earliest surviving Roman documents to refer to early Christians.[21]

Epistle concerning voting systems

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Voting theorists and historians of social choice note Pliny's early mention of how the choice of voting procedure could influence the outcome of an election.[22][23] On June 24, 105, Pliny wrote a letter to Titius Aristo,[24] where he describes a criminal trial: under the traditional rules of the Senate, there would first be a vote on guilt and then (if the accused were found guilty) on punishment, for which execution and exile were proposed. Of the three distinct proposals, acquittal, exile, and execution, acquittal had the largest number of supporters but not a majority, although exile would have defeated either acquittal or execution in a direct two-way vote. Pliny supported acquittal but anticipated that first guilt and then execution would be chosen under the traditional rules, and so he argued for a novel three-way plurality vote, which would have resulted in acquittal. In response, those in favor of execution withdrew their proposal, the vote defaulted to a traditional majority vote between exile and acquittal, and exile carried.

Manuscripts

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The first edition of Pliny's Epistles was published in Italy in 1471. Sometime between 1495 and 1500 Giovanni Giocondo discovered a manuscript in Paris of Pliny's tenth book of letters, containing his correspondence with Trajan, and published it in Paris, dedicating the work to Louis XII. The first complete edition was produced by the press of Aldus Manutius in 1508.[25] (See Editio princeps for details.)

Villas, farms and estates

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View of Bellagio in Lake Como. The institution on the hill is Villa Serbelloni, believed to have been constructed on the site of Pliny's villa "Tragedy."

Being wealthy, Pliny owned many villas and wrote in detail about his villa near Ostia, at Laurentum, Italy.[26] Others included one near Lake Como named "Tragedy" because of its location high on a hill, and, another, "Comedy," on the shores of the lake, so called because it was sited low down,[27] referencing the practice of actors in comedy wearing flat shoes, while those in tragedy wore high-heeled buskins.[28]

Pliny's main estate in Italy and the one he loved best was his Villa "in Tuscis" near San Giustino, Umbria, under the passes of Bocca Trabaria and Bocca Serriola, where wood was harvested for Roman ships and sent to Rome via the Tiber.[29]

As a response to "declining returns from his north Italian farms", Pliny may have contemplated switching the administration of his estate to a sharecropping system called colonia partiaria. Under the sharecropping system, Pliny's slaves would act as overseers.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Melvyn Bragg (December 12, 2013). "Pliny the Younger". In Our Time (Podcast). BBC Radio 4. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  2. ^ Bennett, Julian (1997). Trajan: Optimus Princeps: A Life and Times. New York & London: Routledge. pp. 113–125.
  3. ^ John W. Roberts, ed. (2007). "Pliny the Younger". The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192801463. Retrieved March 24, 2014. The tenth bk. of letters contains all of Pliny's correspondence with Trajan. [...] The provincial letters are the only such dossier surviving entire, and are a major source for understanding Roman provincial government. (subscription required)
  4. ^ Shelton, Jo-Ann (2013). The Women of Pliny's Letters. Women of the Ancient World Series. New York, NY: Rutledge. pp. 159–161. ISBN 978-0-203-09812-7.
  5. ^ Salway, B. (1994). Journal of Roman Studies. Vol. 84. pp. 124–145.
  6. ^ Pliny Letters 3.5.8–12. See English translation (Plinius the Elder (2) Archived January 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine) and Latin text (C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER TERTIVS).
  7. ^ Pliny Letters 2.1.1. See English translation ([1]).
  8. ^ Radice, Betty (1975). The Letters of the Younger Pliny. Penguin Classics. p. 13.
  9. ^ "I.8, To Saturninus". Letters. I am compelled to the discourse of my own largesse, as well as those of my ancestors.
  10. ^ Pliny. Letters. p. 8.10.
  11. ^ Hurley, Donna.W (2011). Suetonius The Caesars. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company. pp. x. ISBN 978-1-60384-313-3.
  12. ^ Cf. Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters, The Folio Society, London (1978), Intro. pp.9–11
  13. ^ Cf. Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters, Intro. pp.10–16
  14. ^ Cf. op. cit., Intro. p.15-18
  15. ^ "quin etiam quattuordecim natus annos Graecam tragoediam scripsi.": Epistulae VII. iv
  16. ^ Epistulae III. xviii, here translated by Betty Radice, The Letters of the Younger Pliny, Penguin Classics (1975), p. 104
  17. ^ "VHP Photo Glossary: Plinian eruption". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
  18. ^ Pliny the Younger, Epistles, 6.16 and 6.20
  19. ^ The Early Christian Church Volume 1 by Philip Carrington (2011) ISBN 0521166411 Cambridge Univ Press p. 429
  20. ^ Pagan Rome and the Early Christians by Stephen Benko (1986) ISBN 0253203856 pp. 5–7
  21. ^ St. Croix, G.E.M (November 1963). "Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?". Past & Present (26): 6–38. doi:10.1093/past/26.1.6. JSTOR 649902.
  22. ^ Farquharson, Robin (1969). Theory of Voting. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300011210.
  23. ^ McLean, Iain; Urken, Arnold B., eds. (1995). Classics of social choice. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press. doi:10.3998/MPUB.12736. ISBN 9780472104505. S2CID 142220732.
  24. ^ Letters by Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus. Book 8. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  25. ^ "Iohannem Iucundum architectum illum Veronensem, quem annos 1494–1506 in Gallia egisse novimus, codicem decem librorum Parisiis invenisse testis est Gulielmus Budaeus...Eodem ferme tempore Venetias ad Aldum Manutium editionem suam parantem, quae anno 1508 proditura erat, epistulas ex eodem vetustissimo codice descriptas misit ipse Iucundus." (R.A.B. Mynors, C. Plini Caecili Secundi Epistularum Libri Decem, Oxford University Press (1976), Praefatio xviii–xix
  26. ^ Letter 2.17
  27. ^ de la Ruffinière Du Prey, Pierre (1994). The villas of Pliny from antiquity to posterity (illustrated ed.). University of Chicago Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-226-17300-9.
  28. ^ Nutting, Herbert C. (1926). "Cicero and the Younger Pliny". The Classical Journal. 21 (6): 427.
  29. ^ Pliny Epistulae 4.1
  30. ^ Byres, T. J. (1983). Sharecropping and Sharecroppers. /pl: Frank Cass. p. 7. ISBN 1135780021. Retrieved August 4, 2019.

Further reading

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Political offices
Preceded byas suffect consul Suffect Consul of the Roman Empire
100
with Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus
Succeeded byas suffect consul