5 6 Pliny's official career seems to have begun, and he was appointed by the senate, into which, if he was not of senatorial rank before, he must have been previously promoted by the emperor,1 one of the 'decemviri stlitibus iudicandis,' 2 one of the minor magistracies (vigintiviratus) regularly held before the quaestorship, and which under the empire had the presidency, under superintendence of a praetor, of the centumviral court.3 How long this office was held is uncertain, but Pliny's next step in the senatorial career was the military tribuneship. He was appointed, no doubt by the emperor, to the Legio III Gallica, which at that time and for many years previously was posted in Syria. It is possible that Pliny's was the mere 'semestris militia'; certain that at any rate he was one of the 'tribuni honores petituri,' without any view to military promotion, and he seems to have been employed in a non-military capacity in auditing the accounts of some of the auxiliary forces, while he found time and opportunity in Syria to cultivate the friendship of Euphrates and Artemidorus, two of the philosophers banished from Rome by Vespasian. Pliny probably returned from Syria about 83 or 84 A.D., when he was appointed 'Sevir Equitum Romanorum,' a position which probably involved no real duties, and the next office he would look forward to would be the quaestorship, but this he could not hold till his twentyfifth year,10 and as the competition for this office was usually severe, it was perhaps only exceptional for it to be held so soon. Pliny was probably quaestor from 1st July 89 to 30th June 90 A.D., and a proof that he at that time enjoyed the emperor's favour is the fact that he was 'quaestor Caesaris,' 11 he was subordinated not to any of the proconsuls of the senatorial provinces, but to the proconsular power of the emperor himself, who employed his quaestors, among other duties, to read to the senate any message or speech which he wished not to deliver in person.12 These quaestors were no doubt always 'candidati Caesaris.' The next office which 8 Pliny held was that of 'tribunus plebis.' Between this and the quaestorship a clear year had, by the 'lex annalis,' to intervene, unless by a special indulgence of the emperor. This Pliny did not receive,1 and as the tribunes entered on their office on 10th December, Pliny would be tribune from 10th December 91 A.D. to 9th December 92 A.D. The tribunes at this period had little real power. It was 'inanis umbra et sine honore nomen,' but Pliny professed to look upon it as still the 'sacrosancta potestas,' and accordingly abstained during his year from pleading in the courts, since a pleader had often to submit to treatment which was not becoming to a tribune. The legal interval before the praetorship was remitted by the emperor, and as the praetors entered on their office on 1st January, Pliny would be praetor for the year 93 A.D. It is indeed the date of Pliny's praetorship which gives the key to that of the previous offices. Pliny says himself that he was praetor at the time when Domitian expelled the philosophers from Rome, and when Senecio, Rusticus, and Helvidius were killed. These events certainly took place shortly after the death of Agricola in August 93 A.D.,5 and therefore Pliny's praetorship must have been in 93 or 94 A.D. Like that of Agricola," it seems to have been quiet and uneventful, though of course he had to provide the 'ludi Circenses.' 8 So far up to the age of thirty-two or thirty-three the career of Pliny had been successful and rapid. Much of this success, no doubt, was due to the support and influence of Verginius Rufus, who, as Pliny tells us himself, always supported him in his candidature for office, even coming up to Rome from his retirement in the country for that purpose. But it was not entirely to the support either of Verginius or of his other friends that Pliny's success is to be ascribed. He was clearly regarded, and with justice, as one of the most promising of the rising generation, and he fortunately had the means and position to use all his opportunities to the utmost. But the last three years of Domitian's rule were a veritable reign of terror for the senatorial order, and Pliny's position was not altogether unaffected by it. During his praetorship he had for the first time taken part in a political trial before the senate, 1 vii 16, 2. 2 i 23; Panegyr. 95. 3 vii 18, 2. 4 iii II, 2. 5 Tac. Agric. 45. 7 4 having in conjunction with Herennius Senecio undertaken the cause of the province of Baetica against its proconsul Baebius Massa. The accusation was successful, but Herennius was accused of 'impietas' for his conduct of the case, and his subsequent execution, together with the death or banishment of several more of his friends, were, as Pliny says,2 like so many thunderbolts falling round him, which left him singed, if not injured; while in another letter he speaks of his oratorical studies as having been a cause of danger as well as of promotion. It must not, however, be forgotten, that in these and similar passages written under Trajan, Pliny would have every motive to forget the favours shown him by Domitian; and when he says in the Panegyric, cursu quodam provectus ab illo insidiosissimo principe, antequam profiteretur odium bonorum, postquam professus est, substiti,' we must remember that at least as late as 94 or 95 A.D., i.e. in the middle of the reign of terror, he was appointed by Domitian 'praefectus aerarii militaris.'6 Some of his apprehensions, therefore, we may not unfairly suppose, were put on, that his position might not seem different from that of the other senators. However that may be, with the death of Domitian an obstacle to the progress of Pliny's career was removed. But he had several losses to deplore among his own circle. His wife, probably his second wife, the daughter of Pompeia Celerina, died about this time.7 His friend and adviser, Corellius Rufus, having lived to see the dawn of brighter times, put an end to his own life; while, greatest loss of all, the venerable Verginius Rufus died in the beginning of 97 A.D.9 With the accession of Nerva liberty, or at any rate as much of it as the high-sounding 'libertas implied, was restored,10 and a reaction set in against the creatures of the régime that had passed away. In this reaction Pliny played his part. Publicius Certus had had some share in the death of Helvidius, and Pliny, 'in the first days of recovered liberty,' took the opportunity of attacking him in the senate. That body, however, was timorous and uncertain of 11 8 its position, and Pliny had the remonstrances of his friends and the opposition of the consuls to contend with. However, he persisted in his intention, and at least with so much negative success, that Certus was disappointed of the consulship to which he had apparently been designated, and died, as Pliny persuaded himself, not long after, from the results of his disappointment and terror.1 It was under Nerva that Pliny began the publication, continued during the first half of Trajan's reign, of a selection of his correspondence with his friends.2 In the last days of the reign he was appointed by Nerva 'praefectus aerarii Saturni,'3 with his friend Tertullus Cornutus for his colleague. It was not usual for the same person to hold the praefecture of both treasuries in succession, but it is possible that Pliny's management of the first recommended him, even contrary to custom, for the second. To the duties of this new office Pliny devoted himself during the first years of Trajan, renouncing all his usual practice in the centumviral court; and when, towards the close of 99 A.D., the proconsuls of Africa begged the senate to appoint Pliny their advocate against Marius Priscus, he desired at first to be excused, and it was only after much persuasion that he consented, and even then conditionally upon the emperor's approval, to undertake the case.5 The trial took place in January 100 A.D., under the presidency of Trajan, who was consul, and ended in the condemnation of Marius. But before this result,7 Pliny and his colleague in the aerarium, Tertullus Cornutus, were designated by Trajan to a still higher honour, that of the consulship, which they were to hold for the two months of September and October. The duties of the consulship were mostly nominal, and neither Pliny nor his colleague were compelled to lay down their post at the treasury. It fell to Pliny's lot, perhaps as the senior consul of the two, to move a vote of thanks to the 1 ix 13, 24. 2 Momms. Hermes, iii, assigns Book I. to this reign. 3 That he was appointed by Nerva appears from ad Trai. 3 (see note ad loc.); that it was between 9th January (the day on which the 'consules designati' were appointed) and 27th January (the day of Nerva's death) appears from Panegyr. 91, 'nondum biennium conpleveramus in officio laboriosissimo et maximo, cum tu (Trajan) consulatum obtulisti.' 4 Ad Trai. 3, a. I. 5 lb. 3, a. 3. 4 For an account of the trial see pp. 43, 44. 7 Mommsen (Hermes, iii, Appendix D) has shown that the 'consules suffecti' for the year were appointed on 9th January; hence Tertullus at the trial of Marius is already consul designatus,' ii 11, 19. 8 Panegyr. 92: 'nobis praefectis aerario consulatum antequam successorem dedisti.' ד י 6 3 emperor on the first day of their appointment.1 This address was made by Pliny the occasion of an elaborate panegyric, in which the various measures of the first three years of Trajan's reign are described and eulogised, not without frequent references by way of contrast to the régime of Domitian. This oration was afterwards still further elaborated by its author, and after being recited to his friends during no less than three days, was published, and it is the only example of Pliny's speeches which we now possess. It is by no means without historical value, though it does not give us a very favourable view of Pliny as an orator. Somewhere about this time Pliny married his third wife, Calpurnia, the grand-daughter of Calpurnius Fabatus, who was a fellow-townsman of Pliny, and a man of some influence and wealth at Comum.5 Pliny's desire for children was destined to be again disappointed, but he obtained as a special favour from Trajan the 'ius trium liberorum.' A three years' tenure of the praefecture of the treasury would have ended at the close of 100 A.D., but, perhaps owing to his efficient discharge of its duties, Pliny was continued in it at least for another year. In August of 10I we find him begging for leave of absence to run down to his estate at Tifernum, and it was while he was absent there that the envoys from the province of Baetica begged him to undertake their cause against Classicus.8 As in the case of Marius, Pliny was again reluctant, but he was again induced to undertake the case, partly from the consideration that as Classicus was dead, his action involved no danger to a senator, and also, as this was the third occasion on which he had prosecuted a provincial governor, he would find it more easy to refuse such requests for the future. The trial was a long and somewhat intricate one, and though Classicus himself had escaped condemnation by death, several of his subordinates and accomplices were brought to justice. It was not long after this, probably in 103 or 104 A.D., that Pliny received at the hands of Trajan |