Pliny the Younger

==Career==
Pliny was by birth of [[Equestrian (Roman)|equestrian]] rank, that is, a member of the aristocratic order of ''equites'' (knights), the lower (beneath the [[Roman Senate|senatorial order]]) of the two Roman aristocratic orders that monopolised senior civil and military offices during the early Empire. His career began at the age of 18 and initially followed a normal equestrian route. But, unlike most equestrians, he achieved entry into the upper order by being elected [[Quaestor]] in his late twenties.<ref>Cf. ''Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters'', The Folio Society, London (1978), Intro. pp.9–11</ref> (See [[#Career summary|Career summary]] below.)

Pliny was active in the Roman legal system, especially in the sphere of the Roman [[centumviral court]], which dealt with inheritance cases. Later, he was a well-known prosecutor and defender at the trials of a series of provincial governors, including [[Baebius Massa]], governor of [[Baetica]]; Marius Priscus, governor of [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]]; Gaius Caecilius Classicus, governor of [[Baetica]]; and most ironically in light of his later appointment to this province, [[Gaius Julius Bassus]] and Varenus Rufus, both governors of [[Bithynia and Pontus]].<ref>Cf. ''Pliny: A Self-Portrait in Letters'', Intro. pp.10–16</ref>

Pliny's career is commonly considered as a summary of the main Roman public charges and is the best-documented example from this period, offering proof for many aspects of imperial culture. Effectively, Pliny crossed all the principal fields of the organization of the early Roman Empire. It is an achievement for a man to have not only survived the reigns of several disparate emperors, especially the much-detested [[Domitian]], but also to have risen in rank throughout.<ref>Cf. ''op. cit.'', Intro. p.15-18</ref>

===Career summary===
<!-- begin career table -->
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
! Year (AD) !! Office
|-
| {{Circa|81}} ||  One of the presiding judges in the [[centumviral court]] (''decemvir litibus iudicandis'')
|-
| {{Circa|81}} || ''[[Tribunus militum]]'' (staff officer) of [[Legio III Gallica|Legio III ''Gallica'']] in Syria, probably for six months
|-
| 80s || Officer of the noble order of [[equites|knights]] (''sevir equitum Romanorum'')
|-
| Later 80s || Entered the [[Roman Senate|Senate]]
|-
| 88 or 89 || [[Quaestor]] attached to the Emperor's staff (''quaestor imperatoris'')
|-
| 91 || [[Tribune]] of the People (''[[plebeian tribune|tribunus plebis]]'')
|-
| 93 || [[Praetor]]
|-
| 94–96 || [[Prefect]] of the military treasury (''[[praefectus aerarii militaris]]'')
|-
| 98–100 || [[Prefect]] of the treasury of Saturn (''praefectus aerari Saturni'')
|-
| 100 || [[Roman consul|Suffect consul]] with [[Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus|Cornutus Tertullus]]
|-
| 103–104 || Publicly elected [[Augur]]
|-
| 104–106 || Superintendent for the banks of the [[Tiber]] (''curator alvei Tiberis'')
|-
| 104–107 || Three times a member of [[Trajan]]'s [[judicial]] council.
|-
| c.110 || The [[Roman governor|imperial governor]] (''legatus Augusti'') of [[Bithynia et Pontus]] [[Roman province|province]]
|}
<!-- end career table -->