PLINY THE YOUNGER

Pliny’s full name on the inscriptions of the later period of his life reads ‘C. Plinius L. f. Ouf. Caecilius Secund us.’ This name he partly got from his mother’s brother C. Plinius Secund us (Pliny the elder), who adopted him by will: cf. Ep. v. 8, 5, ‘Avunculus meus idemque per adoptionem pater.’ Pliny’s name before his adoption in A.D. 79 (see below) was P. Caecilius L. f. Ouf. Secund us. His birthplace was Comum, and he belonged to the Oufentina, the tribe of the people of Comum, as well on the side of his natural as on that of his adoptive father. In an inscription preserved at Como ( C.I.L. v. 5279) Pliny’s father, Cilo, is mentioned, and two men who are undoubtedly Cilo’s sons, the second mentioned being Pliny the younger, who had always been called Secund us. ‘L. Caecilius L. f. Cilo iiii.vir a(edilicia) p(otestate), qui test a men to suo (sestertium) n(ummum) xxxx. (milia) municipibus Comensibus legavit, ex quorum reditu quotannis per Neptunalia oleum in campo et in therm is et in balineis omnibus, quae sunt Comi, praeberentur, t(est a men to) f(ieri) iu it et L. Caecilio L. f. Valenti et P. Caecilio L. f. Secundo et Lutullae Picti f. contubernal i.’ [107] For Cilo’s bequests here mentioned cf. Pliny, Ep. i, 8, 5; Comum is referred to as ‘patria mea’ in Ep. iv. 30, 1. The Caecilii were a family of station at Comum even in Caesar’s time. Cf. Catull. 35, ‘Poetae tenero meo sodali velim Caecilio, papyre, dicas, Veronam veniat Novi relinquens Comi moenia Lariumque lit us.’ Pliny inherited landed property there from his father and mother. Ep. vii. 11, 5, ‘Indicavit mihi cupere se a liquid circa Larium nostrum po idere: ego ill i ex praediis me is quod vellet... optuli, except is maternis paternisque.’ The above inscription shows that Pliny’s father belonged to the municipal nobility, and po ibly had ‘equestris nobilitas.’ Pliny was in his eighteenth year ( Ep. vi. 20, 5, ‘agebam duo dev i cens i mum annum’) on 24th August, A.D. 79, when his uncle perished in the eruption of Vesuvius, and he was therefore born in the second half of 61 or in the first half of 62 A.D. Cilo died young, before holding the chief municipal post, and before Pliny was of age; and Verginius Rufus became Pliny’s guardian. Ep. ii. 1, 8, ‘Ille mihi tutor relict us adfectum parent is exhibuit.’ Pliny was removed to Rome with his uncle, probably at the end of A.D. 72. While at school he wrote poetry ( Ep. vii. 4, 2, quoted below), and studied philosophy and rhetoric. Ep. vi. 6, 3, ‘Quos tunc ego frequent a bam, Quintilianum, Niceten Sacerdotem.’ Cf. also ii. 14, 10; i. 20, 4; vii. 4, etc. For literary studies with his uncle cf. Ep. vi. 20, 5, ‘Posco librum Titi Livi et quasi per otium lego, atque etiam, ut coeperam, excerpo.’ His uncle, as above stated, died on 24th August, A.D. 79, and by his will adopted Pliny, whose name thereafter was C. Plinius L. f. Ouf. Caecilius Secund us. He therefore changed his praenomen to that of his adoptive father, and put his former nomen among his cognomina. By his contemporaries he is called Plinius (cf. Martial, x. 19), or Secund us, as by Trajan. The name Caecilius was confined to formal inscriptions. In A.D. 80 or 81 Pliny first appeared as an advocate. Cf. Ep. v. 8, 8, ‘Undevicensimo aetatis anno dicere in foro coepi.’ Before entering the Senate, he held (as stated in the chief inscription, given below) the decemvirate litibus iudicandis , the military tribunate in the third Gallic legion, and the title of Sevir in the Roman knighthood. Pliny probably held his military tribunate under Domitian ( i.e. , after 13th September, A.D. 81) in Syria. Cf. Ep. i. 10, 2, ‘Hunc [Euphraten philosophum] ego in Syria, cum a dules cent ulus militarem, penitus et dom i inspexi.’ The date of Pliny’s praetorship as A.D. 93 is settled by Ep. iii. 11, 2, the events recorded in which pa age are known from Tac. Agr. 45 to have taken place shortly after Agricola’s death in August, A.D. 93. ‘Fui praetor... cum... occisis Senecione Rustico Helvidio, relegatis Maurico Gratilla Arria Fannia... mihi quoque impendere idem exitium cert is quibusdam not is augurarer.’ The words in Ep. vii. 16 (of Calestrius Tiro), ‘Simul quaestores Caesar is fuimus: ille me in tribunatu liberorum iure praece it, ego illum in praetura sum consecutus, cum mihi Caesar annum rem is is set,’ refer to the fact that the emperor did not insist on the year of absence from office between the tribunate and the quaestorship. Pliny was quaestor from 1st June, 89 to 31st May, 90 A.D. , being nominated by the emperor, as shown by the above pa age. He was trib. pleb. from 10th December, 90 to 9th December, 91 A.D. , and during his year of office undertook no cases. Cf. Ep. i. 23, 2, ‘Ipse cum tribunus e em... abstinui causis agendis.’ By special favour he was allowed to take office as praetor on 1st January, A.D. 93. In this year he appeared before the Senate for the people of Baetica against the procurator Baebius Ma a. Ep. vii. 33, esp. § 4, ‘Dederat me senatus cum Herennio Senecione advocatum provinciae Baeticae contra Baebium Ma am.’ The inscriptions of Pliny show that he was praefect us aerarii militar is between his praetorship in 93 and his praefectura aerarii Saturn i (from 98 onwards), and this office he held either from 94 to 96 or from 95 to 97 A.D. Pliny tells us that he and Cornutus Tertullus were designated consuls, when they had held the praefectura aerarii Saturn i for le than two years. Paneg. 91, ‘Nondum biennium comp lever am us in officio laboriosi imo et maximo, cum tu nob is... consul a tum obtulisti.’ This designatio took place on 9th January, A.D. 100, whence the praefectura must have been entered on shortly after 9th January, A.D. 98. Pliny was probably nominated to it by Nerva and Trajan. Cf. ad Trai. 3, ‘Ut primum me, domine, indulgent i a vestra promovit ad praefecturam aerarii Saturn i.’ Mommsen [108] believes that this praefectura was held at the same time as the consulship, and on to December, A.D. 101, an unusual length of tenure. H. F. Stobbe, however, makes the trial of Cla ic us, on which the last date depends, extend from September 99 to July 100 A.D. ( Phi lolog us , xxx. 347 sqq. ). Paneg. 92, ‘Nobis praefect is aerarii consul a tum ante quam succes so rem dedisti.’ Pliny, along with Cornutus Tertullus, his colleague in the praefectura , was made consul A.D. 100. He held the office in September of that year, and the tenure was either from July 1 to September 30, or from September 1 to October 31. Paneg. 92, ‘Ei nos poti imum mens i at tri buist i quem tuus natal is exornat.’ The Panegyric us is a speech of thanks to Trajan spoken on this occasion. In A.D. 99 Pliny, along with Tacitus, appeared for the Africans against the proconsul Marius Priscus (see Ep. ii. 11 quoted p. 338 ); and in A.D. 101, while still praefect us aerarii , he appeared for the people of Baetica against the proconsul Caecilius Cla ic us. Ep. iii. 4, 2, ‘Legati provinciae Baeticae questuri de proconsulatu Caecili Cla ic i advocatum me a senatu petierunt.’ Pliny obtained the augurship, probably in 103 or 104, in succe ion to Sex. Iulius Front in us, who probably died in 102 or 103 A.D. Cf. Ep. iv. 8, 3, ‘Succe i Iulio Front i no.’ In 103 or 104 A.D. he appeared against the Bithynians for the proconsul Iulius Ba us ( Ep. iv. 9 etc.). He held the cur a alvei Tiberis et riparum et cloacarum urb is probably from 105 to 107 A.D. See Pliny’s chief inscription (below), and cf. Ep. v. 14, 1-2, ‘Mihi nuntiatum est Cornutum Tertullum accepi e Aemiliae viae cur am ... aliquanto mag is me delectat mandatum mihi officium, postquam par Cornuto datum video.’ About A.D. 106 Pliny appeared against the Bithynians for the proconsul Varenus Rufus ( Ep. vi. 29, 11). From 111-2 or 112-3 A.D. Pliny was governor of Pontus and Bithynia, being sent out for a special purpose by the emperor as legatus pro praetore consular i pot estate . Cf. the chief inscription (below) and the words of Trajan. Trai. 32, ‘Me mine rimus idcirco te in istam provinciam mi um, quoniam multa in ea emend and a app a ruer int.’ The date of Pliny’s governorship is fixed by the mention of Calpurnius Macer in the letters ( ad Trai. 42; 61; 62) as the governor of the nearest province. Mommsen has identified him with P. Calpurnius Macer Caulius Rufus, who is shown by an inscription ( C.I.L. iii. 7 and 17) to have been governor of Lower Moesia in 112 A.D. This is corroborated by the fact that no mention is made of Bithynia in the chief collection of letters, which was not completed till A.D. 108 at least. Therefore the governorship falls after that time. On the other hand, Pliny must have been sent out not later than A.D. 113, as in the chief inscription Optimus does not appear in Trajan’s name, and this cognomen he a umed in A.D. 114. Finally, the fact that Trajan was at Rome during Pliny’s governorship points to a time between the end of the second Dacian War in A.D. 107 and the outbreak of the Part hi an War in A.D. 113. Our information about Pliny ends with the close of his correspondence with Trajan. It is certain that he held no further office, and it is probable that he died before A.D. 114 in his province or shortly after his return to Rome. As regards municipal relations, Pliny held the post of flamen divi August i , according to the inscription which the corporation of Ver cellae erected to him at his own town ( C.I.L. v. 5667). ‘C. Plini[o L. f. O]uf. Caec[ilio] Secundo [c]os. augur. cur. alv. Tib. [et rip a]r. et cloac. urb. [praef. a]er. Sat. praef. aer. mil. [pr. tr. pl.] imp. sevir. eq. R. tr. m[i]l. leg. iii. Gall. x. viro stl. iud. fl. divi T. Aug.’ For bequests to his native town see the chief inscription (below). Besides these are mentioned gifts in his life-time. Under Domitian Pliny presented his townspeople with a library ( Ep. i, 8), apparently worth 1,000,000 sesterces (v. 7), and endowed it with 100,000 sesterces. He also gave 500,000 sesterces for the support of freeborn boys and girls ( Ep. i, 8); and promised to pay one-third of the salary of the profe or of rhetoric at Comum ( Ep. iv. 13, 5). The following is the chief inscription of Pliny (as restored by Mommsen), which was erected at the Thermae which he presented to Comum ( C.I.L. v. 5262): ‘C. Plinius L. f. Ouf. Caecilius Secund us cos. augur leg at. pro pr. provinciae Pon ti et Bithyniae consular i potesta t. in eam provinciam e x. s. c. mi us ab Imp. Caesar. Nerva Traiano Aug. German ico Dacico p.p. curator alvei Ti b eris et riparum e t cloacar. urb. praef. aerari Satu r ni praef. aerari mil it. pr. trib. pl. quaestor imp. sevir equitum Romanorum trib. mil it. leg. iii. Gallicae x.vir stli tib. iudicand. therm as ex HS ... adiectis in ornatum HS ccc... et eo amp lius in tutela m HS CC t. f. i. item in aliment a libertor. suorum hom in. C. HS XVIII LXVI DCLXVI rei p. legavit, quorum inc rement. postea ad epulum pl eb. urban. voluit pert in ere... item vivus dedit in aliment. puer or. et puellar. pleb. urban. HS D item bybliothecam et in tutelam bybliothecae HS C.’ Pliny was also patron of Tifernum Tiberinum and of the Baetici. Ep. iv. 1, 4, ‘Oppidum est praediis nostris vicinum, nomen Tiferni Tiberini, quod me paene adhuc puerum patronum cooptavit... In hoc ego... templum pecunia mea exstruxi, cuius dedicationem... differre long i us inreligiosum est.’ Ep. iii. 4, 4, ‘Legati... inplorantes fidem me am, quam e ent contra Ma am Baebium expert i, adlegantes patrocini foedus.’ Pliny married three times, twice under Domitian. Cf. ad Trai. 2, ‘Liberos... habere etiam tristi imo illo saeculo volui, sicut potes duobus mat rim on i is me is credere.’ For his third wife, Calpurnia, who died A.D. 97, see Ep. iv. 19. Pliny had no children, but Trajan conferred on him the ius trium liberorum in A.D. 98. Cf. ad Trai. 2, ‘Me dignum putasti iure trium liberorum.’ Pliny as orator and writer. —Most of Pliny’s cases were before the centumviri , who dealt with inheritances: cf. Ep. vi. 12, 2, ‘in harena mea, hoc est apud centumviros.’ So Mart. x. 19, 14 (written A.D. 96), ‘Totos dat tetricae dies Minervae dum centum studet auribus virorum hoc quod saecula poster i que po int Arpinis quoque comp a rare chart is.’ For Pliny’s five speeches in criminal trials before the Senate see above. Cf. Ep. vi. 29, 7 sqq. , ‘Egi quasdam a senatu iu us... Adfui Baeticis contra Baebium Ma am... Adfui rursus isdem que rent i bus de Caecilio Cla ico... Accusavi Marium Priscum... Tuitus sum Iulium Ba um... Dixi proxime pro Vareno.’ Pliny recited his speeches before delivering them, and subsequently published them, sometimes with additions. Ep. vii. 17, 2, ‘Miror quod scribis fui e quosdam qui reprehender ent quod or at i ones omnino recitarem.’ Ep. iii. 18, 1 (of the Panegyric us ), ‘Quod ego in senatu cum ad rationem et loci et temp or is ex more feci em, bono civi convenienti imum credidi eadem ill a spatiosius et uberius volumine amplecti.’ Pliny speaks of his early attempts at poetry: Ep. vii. 4, 2-3, ‘Numquam a poetice (altius enim repetam) alien us fui; quin etiam quattuordecim nat us annos Graecam tragoediam scrips i. Qualem? inquis: nescio: tragoedia vocabatur.’ In Books i.-iii. he appears only as a lover of poetry and a patron of poets (cf. i. 16; iii. 15). From Book iv. (published A.D. 105) onwards he appears as a poet. In Ep. vii. 4, 6 are thirteen poor hexameter lines on Cicero; ibid. §§ 7-8, ‘Transii ad elegos: hos quoque non minus celeriter explicui: addidi iambos, facilitate corrupt us... Postremo placuit exemplo multorum unum separatim hendecasyllaborum volumen absolvere, nec paenitet. Legitur, describitur, cantatur etiam.’ Pliny defends himself for writing light verses in Ep. v. 3, etc. In the later books he refers to another proposed collection of verses. Ep. viii. 21, 3, ‘Liber fuit et opusculis varius et metris.’ Pliny says he did not observe chronological order in publishing his letters. Ep. i. 1, 1, ‘Collegi non servato temp or is ordine (neque enim hist or i am compone bam), sed ut quaeque in manus venerat.’ This, however, is not convincing, as it falls in with Pliny’s wish to give an appearance of negligence to the work, and besides it may apply only to Book i. Succe ive publication of the different Books is shown by many references; so Ep. ix. 19, ‘Sign if i cas legi e te in quad am epistula,’ where Ep. vi. 10 is referred to. So also contemporaneous events are always described in the same Book or in two Books close together; and when a subject is continued in another letter, the order of the two letters fits in with chronology. So iii. 4 and iv. 1 deal with the building of a temple at Tifernum; iii. 20 and iv. 25 with ballot at elections. The following are the probable dates of publication: Book i. in A.D. 97; Book ii. in A.D. 100; Book iii. in A.D. 101 or 102; Book iv. in A.D. 105; Book v. in A.D. 106; Book vi. po ibly in A.D. 106; Book vii. in A.D. 107; Book viii. not before A.D. 109; Book ix. probably about the same time. The correspondence with Trajan is independent of the nine Books of letters. The epistles are roughly in chronological order. Epp. 1-14 range from 98 to 106 A.D. Epp. 15 to the end were probably all written in Bithynia during Pliny’s governorship there. Trajan’s reply is subjoined to most of the letters. The correspondence extant stretches from September A.D. 111 over January A.D. 113. Pliny had intimate relations with other writers, the principal being Tacitus; Martial (cf. Ep. iii. 21); Silius Italic us (cf. Ep. iii. 7). See pp. 340 , 298 , 289 . For his literary reputation see Ep. ix. 23, 2, quoted p. 338 and cf. Ep. i. 2, 6, ‘Libelli quos emisimus dicuntur in manibus e e, quamvis iam gratiam nov it at is exuerint; nisi tamen auribus nostris bibliopolae blandiuntur.’ Pliny’s character. —Pliny, without being a great man, is a more favourable specimen of character, feeling, and gentlemanly tone, than almost any other Roman author. He avoided censorious writing, and most of the people he mentions are praised. The chief exception is Regulus ( Ep. i. 5, etc.), and po ibly also Iavolenus Priscus (vi. 15). When anybody is blamed, his name is omitted unle he is dead or has been banished. Ep. vii. 28, i, ‘Ais quosdam apud te reprehendi e, tamquam amicos meos ex omni occasione ultra modum laudem. Agnosco crimen, amp lector etiam. Quid enim honest i us culpa benign it at is?’ For his desire of praise cf. Ep. ix. 23, 5, ‘An... ego celebritate nominis mei gaudere non debeo? Ego vero et gaudeo et gaudere me dico.’ For his kindne to slaves cf. Ep. viii. 16, 1, ‘Permit to servis quoque quasi testament a facere eaque ut legitim a custodio’ (and the rest of the letter). For his grief at the lo of friends cf. Ep. v. 21, 6, ‘Sed quid ego indulgeo dolor i? cui si frenos remittas, nulla materia non maxima est. Finem epistulae faciam, ut facere po im etiam lacrimis quas epistula expre it.’ For his love of nature cf. Ep. i. 9, 6, ‘O mare, o lit us, verum secretumque μουσεῖον , quam multa invenit is, quam multa dict at is!’ Cf. also descriptions of natural scenery, as in Epp. ii. 17, 3; v. 6, 13; vi. 31, 15; viii. 8.