PLINY THE ELDER (GAIUS PLIN IUS SECUNDUS) (c. A.D. 23-79), Roman polymath, was born at Novum Comum (Como), in Transpadane Gaul, on which ground he claims Catullus, a native of Verona in the same region, as a fellow coun tryman (N.H. praef. 1., Catullum conterraneum meum). The date of his birth is fixed as A.D. 23 or 24 (Plin. Epp. III. 5,7). He must have come to Rome at an early age (N.H. XXX VII. 81). He practised for some time as an advocate (Plin. Epp. III. 5, 7, aliquarndiu causas actitasse). He saw military service in various parts of the world, Germany, Spain, Gaul. Under Vespasian, with whom he was on the most intimate terms (Plin. Epp. III., 5, 9), he served as procurator in Gallia Narbonensis (A.D. 70) and His pania Tarraconensis (A.D. 73). At some time—the date is not known—he was in Africa (N.H. VII. 36. "I myself saw in Africa," etc., cf. XVII., 41, XXV. 123). Finally Vespasian ap pointed him praefect of the Roman fleet at Misenum, in Cam pania, which Augustus had made one of the principal Roman naval stations (Sueton. Aug. 49). He was stationed at Misenum when on Aug. 24, A.D. 79 there occurred the great eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii and incidentally cost Pliny his life. The circumstances are vividly told in a letter of the younger Pliny to the historian Tacitus (Plin. Epp. VI. 16). Surveying the eruption from a ship, Pliny took refuge with his friend Pompeianus at Stabiae (Castel lamare) on the southern shore of the Bay of Naples. There. in order to allay the fears of his friends, he dined, as his nephew says "cheerfully, or what was equally splendid, with a pretence of cheerfulness," and then retired to rest. In the middle of the night, when stones and ashes were already falling about the house and the house itself was rocking alarmingly, he was roused by his friends and the party determined to seek safety in the open, binding pillows about their heads as a protection against falling debris. "Now it was day elsewhere," to use his nephew's words, "but there night darker and denser than any night, allevi ated a little by numerous torches and lights of various sorts. It was decided to go out upon the shore and see at close quarters whether the sea now offered any prospect of safety; it still continued wild and adverse. There Pliny lay down upon a cast-off linen cloth, and once and again he asked for cold water, which he drank. Then flames and a smell of sulphur announcing the approach of flames, caused the others to take to flight and roused him. Sup ported by two slaves he got upon his feet, but immediately col lapsed, his breathing, I gather, being obstructed by the thicken ing vapour which closed up his throat—naturally weak and nar row and frequently inflamed. When day returned—the third (in
English reckoning the second, i.e., Aug. 26) after the last day (Aug. 24) that he had seen—his body was found intact and uninjured, covered as he had been dressed. The appearance of the body suggested one sleeping rather than dead." A list of Pliny's writings is given in a letter by his nephew, (Plin. Epp. III. 5) as follows: 1. De iaculatione equestri (On throwing the javelin from horse-back), "written while he was serving as commander of a cavalry regiment with equal ability and care." 2. De vita Pomponi Secundi duo (Life of Pomponius Secundus, in 2 books), "the discharge, as it were, of a debt due to the memory of a friend who had entertained a singular affec tion for him." This Pomponius, who is described by Tacitus (Ann. V. 8) as a man "of refined character and conspicuous abil ity" was a tragic poet who had also a military career of some distinction, cf. Plin. N.H. XIV . 56. 3. Bellorum Germaniae viginti (German Wars, in 20 books), "in which he brought together all the wars waged between us and Germany. He began the work while he was serving in Germany, being admonished by a dream. The ghost of Drusus Nero (stepson of Augustus who died in Germany in 9 B.C.) who, having carried his conquest of Germany to the widest extent, died there, stood by him as he slept and commended to him his memory and entreated him to vindicate him from the injustice of oblivion." This work is cited by Tacitus, Ann. I. 69; Sueton. Calig. 8 and Vita Plinii, and was probably used by Tacitus in his Germania. 4. Studiosi tres (The Student, in 3 books) "in which he instructs and perfects the orator from the cradle up" (cf. Aul. Gell. IX. 16. Plinius Secundus . . . libros reliquit quos studiosorum inscripsit, Quintil ///. 1.21). 5. Dubil sermonis octo (Dubious Language, in 8 books) "written in the last years of the reign of Nero when slavery had rendered dan gerous every study of a free and elevated character," cf. Plin. N.H. praef. 22. Fragments of the treatise were edited by Beck, Leipzig 1894. 6. A fine Aufidi Bassi triginta units (Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus, in 31 books). The History of Bassus seems to have ended with the reign of Claudius (cf. Quintil X. I. 103, Tac. Dial 23, Seneca Epp. 3o), and Pliny con tinued the story down to his own times. Cf. N.H. praef. 20. 7. Historiae Naturalis 37 (Natural History in 37 books). This work alone is extant (for fragments of Pliny's lost works cf. Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae, coll. H. Peter, 2,109 ff.).