The Letters of Pliny the Younger by Pliny the Younger

First transcribed:Letters, Books I-IX, 97-109; Book X, c. 111; Panegyricus, 100

Critical Evaluation:

Pliny the Younger, or Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, was the nephew and adopted son of Pliny the Elder, the author of the famous and importantly influential Natural History in thirty-seven books. The younger Pliny, like the elder, was a wealthy aristocrat who devoted himself to a public career. The younger Pliny’s surviving literary achievements are mostly a result of his public life as a lawyer, and public administrator, and landed gentleman; he has left us only one of his many now lost orations, and ten books of letters. His letters are one of the three important bodies of surviving Roman correspondence, the others being the letters of Cicero and the letters of Seneca.

The tone of Pliny’s letters is in a way a combination of the tone of the other two letter writers, both of whom Pliny admired. Seneca’s letters are more like philosophic treaties and moral essays than they are like familiar correspondence. Pliny’s letters, like Seneca’s, are usually organized around a single serious theme, are anchored by numerous moralizing asides, and were, in the surviving versions, consciously revised for transcription. Cicero’s letters, on the other hand, have the familiarity and ease of genuinely personal letters. Again, despite his similarity to Seneca, Pliny often gives us the impression of familiarity—the texts are full of intimate detail and personal observations—yet we always sense that the letters are carefully organized in their edited form to present us with the picture of a dignified, proper public gentleman.

Literarily, Pliny’s style is an interesting blend. Pliny was the friend of Tacitus, whose writing he admired, and he was the pupil of the great teacher Quintilian. On the other hand, his literary hero was Cicero and he consciously modeled himself on Cicero. As a result, Pliny’s writing is both Ciceronian and characteristic of the prose of the Silver Age of Roman literature. His flowing copiousness and his often classical vocabulary are strongly reminicent of Cicero. But in expression, use of neologisms, syntax, and figures of speech he is typical of the Silver Age.

The letters have come down to us in ten books. The first nine books, containing letters to various friends, present 247 letters to 105 recipients. These books were probably published in groups of three from A.D. 97 to 109. The order of the letters is largely chronological, and in his first Pliny claims that the texts were chosen at random from among his larger private correspondence. Critics, however, feel certain that the letters were carefully chosen and arranged according to the principle of variety. The tenth book of letters, which was published and has been preserved separately from the others, contains seventy-one official letters to the Emperor Trajan. They were written about 111 when Pliny was Governor of Bithynia. Fifty-one of Trajan’s replies are included with Pliny’s letters. The tenth book was probably edited by someone other than Pliny. One of the chief values of the letters to his friends as has often been pointed out, is that they show a respectable and civilized and pleasant side of life in the second century that contrasts with the seamy and vicious sides recorded by the satirists Juvenal and Persius and the historian Tacitus.

Among the things Pliny most often discusses in his letters is his own virtue and distinction. He was extremely jealous of his good name and fame among his contemporaries, and was concerned about the opinion posterity would hold of him. We see Pliny describe his consideration for his modest wife (6.4, 6.7, 7.5) and for his slaves, for whose health interests and welfare he is very concerned (5.19, 6.3, 8.16). He is a model landlord (5.15, 9.37, 8.2), and a generous friend, to inferiors particularly. He helps them economically, providing a dowry for the daughter of his old teacher, Quintilian (6.32), and passage to Spain for the poet Martial (3.21) who, by the way, had written one of his most delicate and skilful poems in praise of Pliny. He helps his friends with his influence, soliciting official appointments and other considerations for them. Among his public good works, we find, were the endowment of a children’s home (1.8, 7.7), a public library (1.8), and a school (4.13).

Much insight into the style of life of the Roman aristocrat of the imperial period is to be gained in reading the letters. Though wealthy, we learn that Pliny was careful in administering his income and estates (2.15, 3.19, 8.2), and we see his several villas and properties described. In one of his longest letters (2.17), Pliny in great detail describes his house on the seashore at Laurentum.

In several letters, the literary tastes and efforts of Pliny are interestingly described (7.4, 6.17); from these letters we gain a broad view of the literary education and activity of the time. Further, in 8.20, 4.3, 6.31, and 8.8, we see the admiring response of a cultivated Roman gentleman to the beauties of nature—these letters do much to dispel the too common view that the Romans were a no-nonsense, practical race of engineers and soldiers. Finally, many of the letters give us information about Pliny’s career as a public servant and lawyer. We learn of the intricacies of important trials and the lives and deaths of many important men he knew. Perhaps there is no better way to get the feel of what the Roman state was like under the emperors than to read Pliny’s accounts of his daily official activities.

The tenth book of letters, that containing Pliny’s official correspondence with Trajan when Pliny was Governor of Bithynia, holds unique interest. It is one of the best sources we have for the study of Roman imperial administration. Among the subjects of these letters are petitions to the emperor; provincial finances; the construction of public buildings such as theatres, temples, baths, aqueducts; and questions of law and religion that were contingent to Pliny’s difficulties of administration.

Taken as a whole, Pliny’s ten books of letters contain three texts of especial interest: 6.16, 6.20, and particularly 10.96. The two letters of the sixth book, describe in some detail the eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii. These two texts were written to Tacitus who had requested information about the event so that he might include an account of it in his Histories. Pliny was a distant witness of the eruption, which, in fact, killed his uncle, Pliny the Elder. The elder Pliny’s death is the main subject of 6.16. When the mountain began its activity, the older man, who was then admiral of the fleet at Misenum, down the coast from Vesuvius, ordered a ship to row toward the mountain. He wanted to satisfy his scientific curiosity about the volcanic activity: also, he had asked his young nephew if he wanted to accompany him on the trip, but Pliny wanted to complete an essay his uncle had assigned him and declined the invitation. Once the ship reached the area near the volcano, the elder Pliny landed with a small party. Soon, however, they were trapped; the sea was running too high for them to re-embark. After a time the old man was overcome by fumes and died on the beach. Letter 6.20 gives a more detailed account of the eruption itself.

Certainly the single most important and interesting letter in the entire collection is 10.96, with its reply from Trajan, 10.97. Pliny’s letter, the longest in the tenth book, concerns the problem the Roman governor had in dealing with the emerging and troublesome Christian sect. Christianity was spreading rapidly in Bithynia. It was an illegal religion because the Christians refused to practice the state cult along with Christianity. Pliny found the problem of dealing with this refusal perplexing, and he decided to write the emperor to ask his advice and to learn what the emperor’s firm policy was in regards to Christianity.

Pleading inexperience with the problem, Pliny requested from the emperor information on how far he should go in examining, prosecuting, and punishing Christians; and whether young and adult, and male and female members, of the sect should be treated the same; and whether a recantation was sufficient grounds for dropping charges; and whether the mere confession of Christianity was a punishable offense.

Pliny then described the methods he had been using heretofore. When members of the faith were denounced to Pliny as Christians, he first examined them and if they admitted they were Christians, he asked them twice more if they were Christians, adding each time the threat of death. If they persevered, he had them executed; whatever the nature of their creed, he said, such obstinacy deserved punishment. Next, he described how he had dealt with anonymous denunciations by demanding that those accused propitiate the statue of the emperor and curse Christ. Those who did so were questioned no further, those who did not were punished.

But the Christians were becoming irrepressible, and Pliny could find nothing wicked or truly criminal in their worship. The worst thing about them, said Pliny, is their wild and excessive superstition.

His major concern, however, was the fact that the sect was spreading rapidly and among all classes; many temples were deserted. His opinion was that it might be disastrous to push too far the prosecution of Christians, considering how many people were involved; hence he wanted advice from the emperor.

Trajan’s reply is short, terse, and sensible. He approved Pliny’s methods, and agreed that it was best to leave a way open for the accused to deny their faith and thus be dismissed. He further recommended that the governor not look for Christians, but that if one were denounced and found guilty, the law must take its course. Accusers, by the way, must make themselves known and stand as witnesses, for to allow anonymous denunciation would be both barbarous and dangerous.