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The Letters

by Pliny the Younger

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1,1741716,670 (3.75)15
'Gaius Pliny sends greetings to his friend Septicius Clarus...'In these letters to his friends and relations, Pliny provides a fascinating insight into Roman life in the period 97 to 112 AD. Part autobiography, part social history, they document the career and interests of a senator and leading imperial official whose friends include the historians Tacitus andSuetonius. Pliny's letters cover a wide range of topics, from the contemporary political scene to domestic affairs, the educational system, the rituals and conduct of Roman religion, the treatment of slaves, and the phenomena of nature. He describes in vivid detail the eruption of Vesuvius whichkilled his uncle, and the daily routines of a well-to-do Roman in the courts, and at leisure, enjoying rural pursuits at his country estates.In the introduction to his lively and sympathetic new translation, P.G. Walsh examines the background to these often intimate and enthralling letters.… (more)
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» See also 15 mentions

English (13)  Spanish (4)  All languages (17)
Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)
12/2/22
  laplantelibrary | Dec 2, 2022 |
Pliny had the great fortune to live during the time of Emperor Trajan, when the Roman Empire was at its very peak and only near the start of its Five Good Emperors period. Like Pepys' diary, Pliny's letters have added value for their describing important events and people of his time, such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (which killed his uncle, the elder Pliny) and persecution of the Christianity cult. We also get to know the author himself. Pliny's letters are a pleasure to read, expressing his creativity and wisdom, and they vary in tone according to whom he writes. He takes great pride in his writing skill, proved not only in what he says about his poetry, his speeches and other prose but also in the careful text of the letters themselves. He puts the greatest care into his letters for Trajan and for Tacitus with his desire to impress.

Pliny's times are orderly under Trajan's rule, but he has not forgotten the difficulties and chaos under the former reigns of Nero and Domitian. Pliny played his cards right and was always able to duck sanction in those darker periods, but many of his more outspoken friends could not. In the letters we see his generous feelings and financial support, including for families he knows were hard done by as he makes a kind of restitution for his survivor's guilt. Besides the evidence of these acts and observations on others' writings and his own, he often brings up unexpected topics which include a description of ghosts, and a story he's heard about an especially friendly dolphin. As the Penguin edition's introduction states, the personae of ancient Greeks are a mystery to us but many Romans have left us letters, and Pliny's are the best of all. ( )
1 vote Cecrow | Aug 11, 2022 |
"I'm really enjoying reading Pliny. It's strange, but I really identify with him. He's just this guy, he's got his job to do, but what he really cares about is literature, reading it, writing a bit of it, talking about it with his friends."
"Okay."
"I've been imagining myself as Pliny when I write emails. Will this go down in posterity? How can I be a little wittier? Should I redraft this?"
"You know he owned half of Italy, right? And you have a part time job at a liberal arts college?"

That really happened. Trust my wife to bring me down a peg. Anyway, I stand by what I said, even though Pliny was massively rich and hob-nobbed with emperors. These letters are really interesting, provided you can get into at least two of the categories:

i) Literary criticism
ii) Legal affairs
iii) Bureaucratic wheedling
iv) Personal lives of Roman aristocrats
v) Gossip with famous historians
vi) Minutiae of governing a province

I enjoyed them all to begin with. The legal affairs got pretty dull pretty quickly, though they're great history, I'm sure; long discussions of cases Pliny presented or witnessed. The wheedling was pleasant, since it's nice to see office politics on a truly grand scale, but palls soon enough. The minutiae is, again, good for historians, but fairly dull reading (dear emperor, should I let these people build a swimming pool? Yours, Pliny). The literary criticism was, of course, my favorite for some time; it's thrilling to read someone's letters about Martial. They're also interesting because of the weight put on style. We could learn something there; Pliny even makes the argument that writing works with vapid content is more challenging, because the style has to be so much more rigorous (rather than, e.g., not writing things with vapid content). The personal lives stuff was okay for a while, but there are only so many grand performance eulogies you can read before they blend into one another. Gossip between Pliny, Tacitus, and Suetonius, however, was always fascinating, just because of who they are.

The point of all this is: the book offers diminishing returns. Books VIII and IX in particular, are deadly boring. But well worth flicking through the rest. ( )
  stillatim | Oct 23, 2020 |
I picked this up because I saw it reviewed elsewhere (can't recall where now). Anyhow, it is not the most interesting book unless you really are into minutia. Pliny the Younger was a lawyer and politician in Imperial Rome, and much of the correspondence deals with cases he tried. It also deals with letters to friends, providing political advice and other types of advice, etc. If nothing else, it shows that politicians back in the day were not that different than today's in the sense of self-promotion, trying to eek out a position, look good, so on. This is basically a look at the regular life of a regular person during the Empire. Not bad, but not great either. ( )
  bloodravenlib | Aug 17, 2020 |
[From “Books of the Year”, Sunday Times, 25 December 1955; reprinted in A Traveller in Romance, ed. John Whitehead, Clarkson N. Potter, 1984, p. 123:]

The third book I wish to speak about I came upon entirely by accident. I have some three thousand books in my house and now and then, looking at the serried shelves, I realise that I haven’t one I want to read. On one such occasion I caught sight of The Letters of Pliny the Younger (Loeb Library. 2 vols. Heinemann). I had bought my edition sixty years ago, when I was trying to make acquaintance with Latin literature, but had never read it. For want of anything more tempting, I took it from its shelf and began to read. I found it entrancing. I hasten to add that I read it in the admirable translation which accompanied the Latin text.

Pliny was a Roman gentleman of wealth who flourished during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. He had been governor of a province, but had retired to live on his estates and went to Rome only when duty called. He was house-proud, and his description of a house he had built, with its swimming pool and central heating, is very engaging. He was addicted to writing indifferent verse, which he was overproud to read to his friends. He was very generous, but well aware that his generosity was praiseworthy, and always ready to oblige a friend. He was vain in a childish and rather charming way. The more you read his letters the more you feel at home with him.

He was in fact very like one of those cultured English noblemen of the nineteenth century who, after years in the public service, spent their declining years on their ancestral estates and went up to London only when they felt it incumbent on them to oppose some amendment in the House of Lords. Some of them, too, published now and again a slim volume of light verse.

The Letters of Pliny the Younger can be read with pleasure without any classical learning and with only the most elementary knowledge of Roman history. They make a most enjoyable bedside book.
  WSMaugham | Dec 10, 2016 |
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» Add other authors (59 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Pliny the Youngerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Baar, Marry vanCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bacardzieva, NicolinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brodribb, William JacksonTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Church, Alfred JohnTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hutchinson, W. M. L.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Melmoth, WilliamTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Peters, TonTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Radice, BettyTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Todoranova, VasilenaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Walsh, P. G.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Plinius' Briefe sind halbierte Dialoge.
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Moreover, everyone is prejudiced in favor of his own powers of discernment, and will always find an argument most convincing if it leads to a conclusion he has reached for himself; everyone must then be given something he can grasp and recognize as his own idea.
It is better to excel in one thing than to do several moderately well, but moderate skill in several things is better if you lack ability to excel in one.
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This is the letters of Pliny the Younger in translation. Do not combine with Latin texts of Pliny's letters.
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'Gaius Pliny sends greetings to his friend Septicius Clarus...'In these letters to his friends and relations, Pliny provides a fascinating insight into Roman life in the period 97 to 112 AD. Part autobiography, part social history, they document the career and interests of a senator and leading imperial official whose friends include the historians Tacitus andSuetonius. Pliny's letters cover a wide range of topics, from the contemporary political scene to domestic affairs, the educational system, the rituals and conduct of Roman religion, the treatment of slaves, and the phenomena of nature. He describes in vivid detail the eruption of Vesuvius whichkilled his uncle, and the daily routines of a well-to-do Roman in the courts, and at leisure, enjoying rural pursuits at his country estates.In the introduction to his lively and sympathetic new translation, P.G. Walsh examines the background to these often intimate and enthralling letters.

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Collections of letters written by Pliny the Younger.
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Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

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