Selected Letters from Pliny the Younger's Epistulae

Description

This anthology offers a comprehensive introduction to Pliny the Younger's Epistulae for intermediate and advanced Latin students, with the grammatical, lexical, and historical support to enable them to read quickly and fluidly. As the only selection of the letters with extensive commentary, it provides instructors with a unique and complete resource for students.

• Comprehensive commentary makes this volume ideal for use on its own, without supplementary materials
• Letters on a variety of topics offer insights into the Roman society and culture of Pliny's time
• Groups of letters with common themes that can be traced throughout enable students to compare letters and consider such things as audience and rhetorical structure
• Frequent vocabulary appears throughout the volume

About the Author(s)

Jacqueline Carlon, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston

Jacqueline Carlon is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is the author of Pliny's Women: Constructing Virtue and Creating Identity in the Roman World (2009).

Table of Contents

Map
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Commentary Abbreviations
Glossary of Rhetorical and Grammatical Terms
Frequent Vocabulary
Book I
I Dedication of the Epistulae
VI Hunting and more
IX City life vs. country life
XIII Promising poets and middling audiences
XVIII Interpreting ominous dreams
XXIV A farm for Suetonius
Book II
IV Helping a female relative
VI How to treat dinner guests
XIII Recommending an old friend
XVII Pliny's Laurentian Villa
XX Regulus the legacy hunter
Book III
III Recommending a tutor
VI Dedicating a statue
XIV Slaves murder their master
XV Evaluating a friend's poetry
XXI In tribute to Martial
Book IV
II Regulus the contemptible mourner
VIII Becoming an augur like Cicero
XI Domitian executes the Vestal Cornelia
XIX Calpurnia, the ideal wife
XXIII Proper retirement
XXV Electoral misbehavior
Book V
XVI Minicia Marcella, the ideal betrothed
XIX Pliny's freedman Zosimus
Book VI
IV 1st love letter to Calpurnia
VII 2nd letter to Calpurnia
X Disgrace of an unfinished tomb
XI Praise of Pliny's protégés
XVI Eruption of Vesuvius and the Elder Pliny
XX Eruption of Vesuvius and the Younger Pliny
XXVII How to praise Trajan
Book VII
XVIII Creating lasting generosity
XIX Fannia, the ideal matron
XXIV Ummidius Quadratus' feisty grandmother
XXVII Do ghosts exist?
Book VIII
XII Literary obligations
XVI Humane treatment of slaves
Book IX
III Pursuing immortal fame
VI Chariot racing's allure
XVII To each his own taste
XIX Quest for immortality
XXIII Achieving literary fame
XXXVI A day away from Rome
XXXIX Rebuilding the Temple of Ceres
Book X
XXXIX Shoddy building practices
XL Trajan responds
LXV Status of freeborn foundlings
LXVI Trajan responds
XCVI How to deal with Christians
XCVII Trajan responds

Reviews

"Jacqui Carlon's Selected Letters from Pliny the Younger's Epistulae is a welcome addition to the ongoing resurgence in studies on Roman epistolary literature, Pliny especially. Carlon's text is well balanced: the notes are equally attentive to both cultural and grammatical elements. Grammatical and syntactical glosses are meticulously researched and appropriately referenced: Carlon's degree of accuracy in this regard is exceptional. Intermediate students, in particular, will find these explanations clear and helpful. The Introduction is organized and well written, with wide-ranging, accurate, and insightful content. The bibliographic references and suggestions for further reading reflect current scholarship and seminal works that every new Pliny student should read." - Noelle K. Zeiner-Carmichael, College of Charleston