was the son of C. Caecilius, and of Plinia, the sister of C. Plinius, the author of the
The education of Plinius was conducted under the care of his uncle, his mother, and his
tutor, Verginis Rufus (Ep. 2.1). From his youth he was devoted to
letters. In his fourteenth year he wrote a Greek tragedy (Ep. 7.4); but
he adds, "what kind of a thing it was, I know not : it was called a tragedy." He studied
eloquence under Quintilianus and Nicetes Sacerdos (ep. 6.6). His
acquirements finally gained him the reputation Ep. 5.8), and he was frequently employed as an advocate before the court of the
Centumviri (Ep. 1.18--9.23), and before the Roman senate, both on the
side of the prosecution, as in the cases of Baebius Massa and Marius Priscus, and for the
defence, as in the cases of Julius Bassus and Rufus Varenus (Ep.
6.29).
He filled numerous offices in succession. While a young man he served in Syria, as tribunus
militum, and was there a hearer of the stoic Euphrates (Ep. 1.10), and of
Artemidorus. He was subsequently quaestor Caesaris, praetor in or about Ep. 3.11), and consul laneqyricus, which is addressed to Trajanus (Ep. 3.13). In Ep. 10.77), where he did not stay quite two
years. Among his other functions he also discharged that of curator of the channel and the
banks of the Tiber (Ep. 5.15, and an inscription in Gruter, p. 454.
3).
Plinius was twice married. His second wife was Calpurnia, the granddaughter of Calpurnius
Fabatus, and an accomplished woman : she was considerably younger than her husband, who has
recorded her kind attentions to him, and her affection in a letter to her aunt Hispulla (Ep. 4.19). He had no children by either wife, born alive.
The life of Plinius is chiefly known from his letters. So far as this evidence shows, he was
a kind and benevolent man, fond of literary pursuits, and of building on and improving his
estates. He was rich, and he spent liberally. He built a temple at Tifernum, at his own cost,
and an aedes to Ceres, on his own property. He contributed, or offered to contribute a third
of the cost of establishing a school in his patria (probably Comum), for the education of the
youth there, and he asked his friend Tacitus to look out for teachers (Ep. 4.13). The dedication of a library at the same place, and the establishment of a
fund for the benefit of youths (annuos sumptus in alimenta
ingenuorum
, Ep. 1.8), are among the instances of his generosity
recorded in his letters. He was a kind master to his slaves. His body was feeble, and his
health not good. Nothing is known as to the time of his death.
The extant works of Plinius are his
The
The letters of Plinius, contained in ten books, furnish the chief materials for his life, and also considerable information about his contemporaries. The tenth book consists entirely of letters from Plinius to Trajanus, and from Trajanus to Plinius. The index to Schaefer's edition of Plinius indicates the names of all the persons to whom his extant letters are addressed.
Plinius collected his own letters, as appears from the first letter of the first book, which looks something like a preface to the whole collection. He speaks of collecting others of his letters. It is not a improbable conjecture that Plinius may have written many of his letters with a view to publication, or that when he was writing some of them, the idea of future publication was in his mind. However they form a very agreeable collection, and make us acquainted with many interesting facts in the life of Piinius and that of his contemporaries.
The letters from Plinius to Trajanus and the emperor's replies are the most valuable part of the collection. The first letter in the tenth book is a letter of congratulation to Trajanus on his accession to the imperial dignity. Other letters contain requests for favours to himself or his friends; and many of them are on public affairs, on which he consulted the emperor during his government in Asia Minor. The replies of Trajanus are short, and always to the purpose in hand; for instance, in the matter of the aqueduct of Nicomedia (10.46, 47), and the aqueduct of Sinope (10.91, 92); as to covering over a dirty drain in Amastris, which sent forth a pestilent stench (10.99); on the plan for uniting the lake of Niconmedia to the sea by a canal (10.50, 51, 69, 70); and on the proposal to compel the decuriones to accept loans of the public money, in order that the interest might not be lost : the emperor's notions of justice would not allow him to accede to such a proposal.
The letter on the punishment of the Christians (10.97), and the emperor's answer (10.98),
have furnished matter for much remark. The fact of a person admitting himself to be a
Christian was sufficient for his condemnation; and the punishment appears to have been death
(supplicium minatus : perseverantes duci jussi
). The
Christians, on their examination, admitted nothing further than their practice of meeting on
a fixed day before it was light, and singing a hymn to Christ, as God (quasi Deo); their
oath (whatever Plinius may mean by sacramentum) was not to bind them to any crime, but to
avoid theft, robbery, adultery, breach of faith, and denial of a deposit. Two female slaves,
who were said to be deaconesses (ministrae), were put to the torture by Plinius, but nothing
unfavourable to the Christians could be got out of them : the governor could detect nothing
except a perverse and extravagant superstition (superstitionem pravam
et immodicam
). Hereupon he asked the emperor's advice, for the contagion of the
superstition was spreading; yet he thought that it might be stopped. The Romans had a horror
of secret meetings, especially for religious celebrations, and they had experience of their
mischief, as in the case of the Bacchanalia (Ep. 10.43). "It is not true," says Dr. Taylor (Elements of
Civil Law, p. 579), "that the primitive Christians held their assemblies in the night
to avoid the interruptions of the civil power : but the converse of that proposition is true
in the utmost latitude; viz. that they met with molestations from that quarter, because
their assemblies were nocturnal." It remains a question if they would have been permitted to
hold their assemblies in the day time; and it is not clear that they would. This being
premised, the emperor's answer is mild and merciful; more mild than the practice of his
governor had been, more diis
nostris
), however suspected he may have been, he shall be excused in respect of his
repentance. Charges of accusation (libelli
) without the name of
the informant or accuser, were not to be received, as they had been : it was a thing of the
worst example, and unsuited to the age.