Reading the Letters of Pliny the Younger

Abstract

This is the first general introduction to Pliny's Letters published in any language, combining close readings with broader context and adopting a fresh and innovative approach to reading the letters as an artistically structured collection. Chapter 1 traces Pliny's autobiographical narrative throughout the Letters; Chapter 2 undertakes detailed study of Book 6 as an artistic entity; while Chapter 3 sets Pliny's letters within a Roman epistolographical tradition dominated by Cicero and Seneca. Chapters 4 to 7 study thematic letter cycles within the collection, including those on Pliny's famous country villas and his relationships with Pliny the Elder and Tacitus. The final chapter focuses on the 'grand design' which unifies and structures the collection. Four detailed appendices give invaluable historical and scholarly context, including a helpful timeline for Pliny's life and career, detailed bibliographical help on over 30 popular topics in Pliny's letters and a summary of the main characters mentioned in the Letters.

Domitian's Lightning Bolts and Close Shaves in Pliny

“…40 Here, Gibson and Morello have shown the importance of understanding Pliny's literary and rhetorical concerns, which often trump our historical concerns. Among the important events omitted from Book 35 Eck (1997) 98-9; Gibson and Morello (2012) 272. 36 Kuijper (1968) 62; Vidman PIR 2 P 490 (205), who writes officium hoc non tanti fuit, (this matter is not of such great importance).…”

“…Baraz (2012) 127-8 notes the relationship between 7.19 and 7.27 but does not mention 7.33. Gibson and Morello (2012) 14 n. 23 point out the many letters in Book Seven that pertain to Pliny's career under Domitian.…”

“…3 Two recent examples: Flower (2006) 263-4 claims that Pliny was a "close advisor to Domitian" on the basis that Pliny held the praetorship in 93 and the aerarium militare from 94-96, while omitting reference to the scholarly controversy surrounding these dates; Gibson and Morello, (2012) 34-5, 272-3 still assume Syme's dates and based upon them call into question Pliny's honesty, though they do cite 5-17, who gives the best recent analysis of Pliny's career. 4 Merrill (1903) xxiii-xxiv; Traub (1955) 227-8;Syme (1958) 65, 77, 81-3 and(1983) 123 n. 12; Sherwin-White (1966) 426; Shelton (1987) 129-32 and (2013) 9-13; Ludolph (1997) 44-9;Walsh (2006) 315, 327, 347. Giovannini and Strobel have even charged Pliny with being fully complicit in Domitian's crimes.…”

“…6 Leach (1990) 14-39;Ludolph (1997); Radicke (1997) 447-61;Hoffer (1999); Gibson and Morello (2003) and 2012; Carlon (2009) 19-20.…”

“…7 A summation of this viewpoint is provided by Gibson and Morello (2003) 109: "... Pliny had for too long been a quarry for critics prospecting for Realien, who mined the rich seams of the letters for 'information' on all aspects of Roman social, agricultural, and legal life or imperial government;" they add that the historical approach needs to be "balanced out by more 'literary' approaches, particularly those of critics who showed a more modern awareness of how Pliny 'salted his mine' by constructing and controlling in a highly crafted epistolary mosaic ... the representation of himself and his world." For the best recent literary studies of Pliny, see Marchesi (2008); Gibson and Morello (2012). personality have struck a chord with modern scholars' expectations of how a survivor of Domitian's tyranny should react.…”