The Younger Pliny was born in 61 or 62 CE, the son of Lucius
Caecilius of Comum (Como) and the Elder Pliny's sister. He was
educated at home and then in Rome under Quintilian. He was at
Misenum at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 (described in
two famous letters) when the Elder Pliny died.
Pliny started his career at the Roman bar at the age of
eighteen. He moved through the regular offices in a senator's
career, held two treasury appointments and a priesthood, and was
consul in September and October 100. On this occasion he delivered
the speech of thanks to the Emperor Trajan which he afterwards
expanded and published as the "Panegyricus," After his consulship
he returned to advocacy in the court and Senate, and was also
president of the Tiber Conservancy Board. His hopes of retirement
were cut short when he was chosen by Trajan to go out to the
province of Bithynia and Pontus on a special commission as the
Emperor's direct representative. He is known to have been there two
years, and is presumed to have died there before the end of 113.
Book X of the Letters contains his correspondence with Trajan
during this period, and includes letters about the early
Christians.
Pliny's Letters are important as a social document of his times.
They tell us about the man himself and his wide interests, and
about his many friends, including Tacitus, Martial and Suetonius.
Pliny has a gift for description and a versatile prose style, and
more than any of his contemporaries he gives an unprejudiced
picture of Rome as he knew it.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Pliny the Younger is in
two volumes; the first contains Books I-VII of his Letters and an
Introduction.>
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