SOURCE: Sherwin-White, A. N. “Pliny, the Man and His Letters.” Greece and Rome 16, no. 1 (April 1969): 76-90.

In the following essay, Sherwin-White examines Pliny's letters and notes that they reveal much about the writer's own personality, including his humanity, generosity, boldness, his weaknesses, and his pleasant nature.

Pliny lived in the heyday of the Roman empire, being born in a.d. 62 in the middle of the reign of Nero, at Comum by Lake Como in north Italy, and he lived until about a.d. 112. His family were not of the old Roman nobility but belonged to the second grade of the Roman upper classes, the so-called Knights or equites Romani. Pliny trained to become an advocate in the courts of civil law, and partly by his talents and partly through the influence of family friends in the senatorial class he gained promotion to the senior grade of the Roman...