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73 PLINIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS, GAIUS LUCIA A. CIAPPONI (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) Fortuna. 74 I.  Epistulae II. Panegyricus Bibliography. 104 Composite Editions. 107 I. The Corpus of the Epistulae. 111 Commentaries. 1. Johannes Maria Catanaeus. 2. Henricus Stephanus. 3. Isaacus Casaubonus. 4. Janus Gruterus. 5. Claudius Minos. II. Selected Epistulae. 129 Commentary. 1. Hadrianus Barlandus. III. Book 10. 130 Commentary. 1. Cunradus Rittershusius. IV. Epistulae 10.96–97. 132 Commentaries. 1. Franciscus Balduinus. 2. Cunradus Rittershusius. V. Panegyricus. 136 Commentaries. 1. Johannes Maria Catanaeus. 2. Jacobus Locher Philomusus. 3. Hermannus Rayanus. 4. Johannes Livineius. 5. Justus Lipsius. 6. Cunradus Rittershusius. 7. Dominicus Baudius. 8. Janus Gruterus. 74 Plinius Caecilius Secundus FORTUNA Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (Pliny the Younger) was born before 24 August 61 or 62 A.d. His father’s family was that of the Caecilii, his mother that of the Plinii, both prominent families of Novum Comum (Como) in northern Italy. His father died when he was very young, before he was fourteen, for he had as a tutor legitimus Verginius Rufus, a prominent figure in Roman politics, who was consul three times. He was adopted by his famous maternal uncle, Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), probably in his will. As a result, he changed his name from Gaius (or Lucius) Caecilius Secundus to Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus.1 Pliny first studied under a grammarian at Como, then moved to Rome where he studied rhetoric under Quintilian and the Greek Nicetes Sacerdos.2 In 79 he witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius, in which his uncle died; afterwards he described this event in two famous letters to his friend Tacitus (Ep. 6.16 and 20). Inheriting a conspicuous patrimony from his uncle and, later , properties around Como from his mother, he also increased his wealth by his marriages. It is not clear whether Pliny married two or three times. His first (or perhaps, second) wife was probably connected with the consular family of Pomponius Celer, who owned large properties in Tuscany and Campania; his last wife, Calpurnia , whom he married in 104 when she was very young, was the granddaughter of another rich landowner, Calpurnius Fabatus. There were no children from any of these marriages.3 The precise dates of Pliny’s political career are still under discussion. He began with minor offices, as junior advocate in the Centumviral court, followed by the Vigintiviratus. Next he served as military tribune in Syria, perhaps in 81. After entering the senate, he was probably helped by the patronage of powerful friends, such as Sextus Frontinus, Corellius Rufus, and his formal guardian Verginius Rufus, to become quaestor in 89 or 90. Then he held the offices of tribunus plebis (probably in 91 or 92), praetor (in 93), and praefectus aerari militaris (ca. 94). His career seems to have been interrupted during the last couple of years of Domitian’s reign. Scholars, however, are suspicious of Pliny’s claim that he was in danger during this period, and think that, on the whole, he managed to survive well the imperial tyranny. After Domitian’s death in 96, his career flourished under Nerva and Trajan: he was praefectus aerari Saturni between 94 and 100 and consul suffectus with Cornutus Tertullus in 100. Trajan made him augur in 103 and curator alvei Tiberis probably in 104.4 A civil lawyer throughout his life, Pliny was involved in some famous trials. For example, in 100, with his friend Tacitus, he successfully prosecuted Marius Priscus, a notoriously corrupt governor of the province of Africa; in 103 he defended Julius Bassus, a governor of Bithynia-Pontus who was accused of corruption, and in 106–107 Varenus Rufus, a former governor of the same province. Finally, Trajan sent Pliny himself to govern Bithynia-Pontus. Again the dates when he held this office are not certain: he may have been governor from 109 to 111, or 110 to 112, or 111 to 113. It is believed that he died there in either 111 or 112 or 113. Pliny wrote poetry and published two volumes of verses, mostly in hendecasyllables, but also in other meters.5 They have not come down to us. But his major works are extant: the Panegyricus dictus Traiano Imperatori, an enlarged and polished version of the speech Pliny gave in the senate in 100 to thank the emperor for his election to the consulship; and the Epistulae, consist1 . Corpus inscriptionum latinarum (= CIL), vol. 5.2 (Berlin , 1877), nos. 5262, 5263, and 5667; H.Dessau, Inscriptiones...

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