Pliny the Younger

==Writings==
Pliny wrote his first work, a [[tragedy]] in [[Greek language|Greek]], at age 14.<ref>"quin etiam quattuordecim natus annos Graecam tragoediam scripsi.": ''Epistulae'' VII. iv</ref> Additionally, in the course of his life, he wrote numerous poems, most of which are lost. He was also known as a notable [[orator]]; though he professed himself a follower of [[Cicero]], Pliny's prose was more magniloquent and less direct than [[Cicero]]'s.

Pliny's only oration that now survives is the ''Panegyricus Traiani''. This was delivered in the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] in 100 and is a description of [[Trajan]]'s figure and actions in an adulatory and emphatic form, especially contrasting him with the Emperor [[Domitian]]. It is, however, a relevant document that reveals many details about the Emperor's actions in several fields of his administrative power such as taxes, justice, military discipline, and commerce. Recalling the speech in one of his letters, Pliny shrewdly defines his own motives thus:
{{blockquote|I hoped in the first place to encourage our Emperor in his virtues by a sincere tribute and, secondly, to show his successors what path to follow to win the same renown, not by offering instruction but by setting his example before them. To proffer advice on an Emperor's duties might be a noble enterprise, but it would be a heavy responsibility verging on insolence, whereas to praise an excellent ruler (''optimum principem'') and thereby shine a beacon on the path posterity should follow would be equally effective without appearing presumptuous.<ref>Epistulae III. xviii, here translated by Betty Radice, ''The Letters of the Younger Pliny'', Penguin Classics (1975), p. 104</ref>}}

===''Epistulae''===
{{Main article|Epistulae (Pliny)}}

The largest surviving body of Pliny's work is his ''Epistulae'' (''Letters''), a series of personal missives directed to his friends and associates. These letters are a unique testimony of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] administrative history and everyday life in the 1st century AD. Especially noteworthy among the letters are two in which he describes the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius]] in October 79, during which his uncle Pliny the Elder died (''Epistulae'' VI.16, VI.20), and one in which he asks the Emperor for instructions regarding official policy concerning Christians (''Epistulae'' X.96).

====Epistles concerning the eruption of Mount Vesuvius====
Pliny wrote the two letters describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius approximately 25 years after the event, and both were sent in response to the request of his friend, the historian [[Tacitus]]. The first letter outlines the events preceding the death of [[Pliny the Elder]] during the attempted rescue of his friend Rectina. The second letter details the Younger's movements across the same period of time. The two letters have great historical value due to their accurate description of the Vesuvius eruption; Pliny's attention to detail in the letters about Vesuvius is so keen that modern [[volcanologist]]s describe those types of eruptions as "[[Plinian eruption]]s".<ref name=USGS>{{cite web|url= http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/images/pglossary/PlinianEruption.php |title= VHP Photo Glossary: Plinian eruption |work= United States Geological Survey |access-date=June 8, 2010}}</ref><ref>Pliny the Younger, Epistles, 6.16 and 6.20</ref>

====Epistle concerning the Christian religion====
{{Main article|Pliny the Younger on Christians}}
As the Roman governor of [[Bithynia et Pontus|Bithynia-Pontus]] (now in modern Turkey) Pliny wrote a [[Epistulae (Pliny)|letter]] to Emperor [[Trajan]] around 112 AD and asked for counsel on dealing with [[Early Christians|Christians]]. In the letter (''Epistulae'' X.96), Pliny detailed an account of how he conducted trials of suspected Christians who appeared before him as a result of anonymous accusations and asked for the Emperor's guidance on how they should be treated.<ref name=Phil>''The Early Christian Church'' Volume 1 by Philip Carrington (2011) {{ISBN|0521166411}} Cambridge Univ Press p. 429</ref> Pliny had never performed a legal investigation of Christians and thus consulted Trajan in order to be on solid ground regarding his actions. Pliny saved his letters and Trajan's replies<ref name=Benko5>'' Pagan Rome and the Early Christians'' by Stephen Benko (1986) {{ISBN|0253203856}} pp. 5–7</ref> and these are the earliest surviving Roman documents to refer to early Christians.<ref>{{cite journal|last=St. Croix|first=G.E.M|title=Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?|journal=Past & Present|date=Nov 1963|volume=26|issue=26|pages=6–38|jstor=649902|doi=10.1093/past/26.1.6}}</ref>

====Epistle concerning voting systems====
Voting theorists and historians of social choice note Pliny's early mention of how the choice of voting procedure could influence the outcome of an election.<ref name="Farquharson 1969">{{Cite book
|author-last=Farquharson|author-first=Robin|date=1969|title=Theory of Voting
|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=9780300011210}}</ref><ref name="McLean and Urken 1995">{{Cite book
|editor-last=McLean|editor-first=Iain|editor-last2=Urken|editor-first2=Arnold B.|date=1995|title=Classics of social choice 
|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor MI |doi=10.3998/MPUB.12736 |isbn=9780472104505|s2cid= 142220732}}</ref> On June 24, 105, Pliny wrote a letter to [[Titius Aristo]],<ref name="Pliny105">{{cite book |title= Letters by Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus. Book 8 |url=http://www.attalus.org/old/pliny8.html|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref> where he describes a criminal trial: under the traditional rules of the Senate, there would first be a vote on guilt and then (if the accused were found guilty) on punishment, for which execution and exile were proposed. Of the three distinct proposals, acquittal, exile, and execution, acquittal had the largest number of supporters but not a majority, although exile would have defeated either acquittal or execution in a direct two-way vote. Pliny supported acquittal but anticipated that first guilt and then execution would be chosen under the traditional rules, and so he argued for a novel three-way plurality vote, which would have resulted in acquittal. In response, those in favor of execution withdrew their proposal, the vote defaulted to a traditional majority vote between exile and acquittal, and exile carried.

===Manuscripts===

The [[editio princeps|first edition]] of Pliny's ''Epistles'' was published in Italy in 1471. Sometime between 1495 and 1500 [[Giovanni Giocondo]] discovered a manuscript in Paris of Pliny's tenth book of letters, containing his correspondence with Trajan, and published it in Paris, dedicating the work to [[Louis XII]]. The first complete edition was produced by the press of [[Aldus Manutius]] in 1508.<ref>"Iohannem Iucundum architectum illum Veronensem, quem annos 1494–1506 in Gallia egisse novimus, codicem decem librorum Parisiis invenisse testis est Gulielmus Budaeus...Eodem ferme tempore Venetias ad Aldum Manutium editionem suam parantem, quae anno 1508 proditura erat, epistulas ex eodem vetustissimo codice descriptas misit ipse Iucundus." (R.A.B. Mynors, ''C. Plini Caecili Secundi Epistularum Libri Decem'', Oxford University Press (1976), Praefatio xviii–xix</ref> (See ''[[list of editiones principes in Latin|Editio princeps]]'' for details.)