How come we never hear about Pliny the Younger?
Did he ever do anything that was up to what his father did?
Pliny the Younger was a statesman/politician and is famous for his letters, probably written for publication. The word on the street is that they give a modern reader a lot of insight into upper-class Roman civilization in the 1st century AD, but I can’t actually remember what he wrote about in any of them, except that that’s why I was supposed to read them.
Bartleby.com has about a bazillion of his letters available for your free perusal at http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/101.html.
Pliny the Younger was a statesman/politician and is famous for his letters, probably written for publication. The word on the street is that they give a modern reader a lot of insight into upper-class Roman civilization in the 1st century AD, but I can’t actually remember what he wrote about in any of them, except that that’s why I was supposed to read them.
Bartleby.comBartleby.com has about a bazillion of his letters available for your free perusal.
:rolleyes:
Yeah, Pliny the Younger, like Yersinia Pestis said, is mainly known for his letters. He’s probably most famous for his association with Christianity. He had been appointed governor of Pontus by Trajan, and wrote Trajan a letter saying, “I tried some Christians, but because I’m new at being governor, and never tried any Christians before, I’m sure I made a mess of it. Here’s what I did. What should I have done?”
Trajan wrote back and said, “Don’t worry. You did fine”. Here is the letter, if you’re interested.
Just goes to show how hard it is to keep Bubonic Plague under control. Its posts are contagious 
He’s also noted for the account of his father’s death, preserved in one of the famous letters. Poppa Pliny died at Pompeii, apparently of noxious gas poisoning, while trying to evacuate/rescue citizens via ship.
Correct me if I err here, but the full name is Gaius Plinus Secundus (for both of them).
Nitpick: PtY was the nephew of PtE, not his son. [Although PtE pro-forma “adopted” him, in much the same way as the first four of the so-called Five Good Emperors (Nerva through Antoninus Pius) adopted their successors - so in a certain sense I suppose they could be considered father and son.]