Pliny the Younger (d.

112
C.E.)
Ryan Chace
CLAS1120U
Prof. Pucci
Early Life + Career

• Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundas, or Pliny the Younger,

was a lawyer, author, and magistrate in Ancient Rome
• He was born into a wealthy family in 61 or 62 C.E. in
Como, Italy
• His uncle, Pliny the Elder, adopted him thereafter
• He began practicing law at the young age of 18
• Soon, he became an important figure in the political
court, trying provincial officials for extortion
• After some time he had attained the the highest
administrative positions (praetor and consul)
…cont.

• His finical ability allowed for him to

successfully head the military and senatorial
treasuries (94-100 C.E.)
• He then administered the drainage board of
the city of Rome
• In 110 C.E., Emperor Trajan sent him to
Bithynia to investigate corruption in the
municipal administration
• After two years, Pliny the Younger apparently
died there
Letters

• Aside from his duties as lawyer and administrator,

he is best known for his collection of private letters
that he left, the totality of which reflecting the
intimacies of public and private life in the Roman
Empire
• Pliny was like many of his contemporaries: he
accepted the Roman Empire as it was; he served
under good emperors and complained about the
bad ones
• Between 100 and 109, he published nine books of
private letters
Letters cont.
• His letters are written on a variety of topics
• Each letter holds an “item of recent social, literary, political, or domestic news” – each with a
specific theme specific to that letter
• He would also write and discuss problems through the lens of morality
• His letters are regarded as litterae curiosius scriptae or “letters written with special care”
• It was a style of writing common among the wealthy
Epistulae VI.16, VI.20

• These couple of letters, written by Pliny in August

79, describe the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and
the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, in a rescue
attempt
• Both are written to the historian Tacitus who had
asked Pliny for his personal accounts on both topics
(from Presentation 5: letters that pass between
social equals)
• Both of these letters are famous because of their
historical accounts of the eruption – written
accounts of this specific event are unique and hard
to come by
• His attention to detail was extraordinary, and is a
major reason why his work is so well regarded
Works Cited

• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Pliny the Younger.” Encyclopædia

Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 July 2019,
www.britannica.com/biography/Pliny-the-Younger.
• “Epistulae VI.16 & VI.20 - Pliny the Younger - Ancient Rome - Classical Literature.”
Ancient Literature, 1 Aug. 2019, www.ancient-
literature.com/rome_pliny_epistulae_vi16.html.
• “Pliny the Younger.” Livius, www.livius.org/articles/person/pliny-the-younger/.