A Self Portrait in Letters

These letters of Pliny the Younger, written in the late first and early second centuries, form a portrait of a senatorial career under Trajan. Pliny writes to friends about advocacy in the courts, patronage, his villas at Laurentum and in Tuscany, and the etiquette of gifts and offices. Two letters to Tacitus describe the eruption of Vesuvius and the death of his uncle. The tenth book is official correspondence from Bithynia, including the exchange on how to treat Christians. The collection is arranged as short pieces, not as a continuous autobiography.

Bound in brown cloth with a design in red and gold by Sally Lou Smith. Map endleaves. Dark red slipcase.