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PLINY THE YOUNGER: LETTERS
The first Word file below gives the text of the extracts in Wheelock's Latin Reader from Pliny the Younger's letters, with interlinear glossing in English and some notes and illustrations added. Letters or letter extracts included are 1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 1.12, 2.6 (1-5), 6.16 (on the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, in the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius), 6.24, 7.5, 8.9, 10.96 (seeking Trajan's advice on dealing with Christians) and 10.97 (Trajan's reply). The file should be used in conjunction with the notes in the Wheelock volume itself. For a translation into idiomatic English, see the slightly modified on-line version of Firth's 19oo edition, which is available on the Attalus site.
The second document below includes the full text and interlinear glossing of Pliny's letter (6.16) on Pliny the Elder's death as well as his subsequent letter (6.20) on his own and his mother’s experiences at the time. There are also two short, modern letters discussing the 2014 film `Pompeii' and posted in the `Grex Latine Loquentium' email forum.
Pedar Foss has been producing as a series of blogs an extremely detailed presentation of Pliny’s account of the eruption with description of the manuscript tradition, chunked text and translation, full explanation of the physical background, discussion of grammatical difficulties and stylistic analysis. This is complete for letter 6.16 but 6.20 is still (November 2024) unfinished after Foss set it aside whilst concentrating on his book, Pliny and the Eruption of Vesuvius, which was published by Routledge in 2022. A favourable review of the book is available here
For the recently discovered inscription, which strongly suggests the eruption took place in October rather than August as the accepted text of Pliny states, see a 2018 BBC report. Note, however, that Foss believes the inscription may well date from before 79.
Another recent study of Pliny and the background to his work as well as to that of his uncle, author of the encyclopedic Historia Naturalis, is Daisy Dunn's In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, published in 2019 with a paperback edition in 2020.
The second document below includes the full text and interlinear glossing of Pliny's letter (6.16) on Pliny the Elder's death as well as his subsequent letter (6.20) on his own and his mother’s experiences at the time. There are also two short, modern letters discussing the 2014 film `Pompeii' and posted in the `Grex Latine Loquentium' email forum.
Pedar Foss has been producing as a series of blogs an extremely detailed presentation of Pliny’s account of the eruption with description of the manuscript tradition, chunked text and translation, full explanation of the physical background, discussion of grammatical difficulties and stylistic analysis. This is complete for letter 6.16 but 6.20 is still (November 2024) unfinished after Foss set it aside whilst concentrating on his book, Pliny and the Eruption of Vesuvius, which was published by Routledge in 2022. A favourable review of the book is available here
For the recently discovered inscription, which strongly suggests the eruption took place in October rather than August as the accepted text of Pliny states, see a 2018 BBC report. Note, however, that Foss believes the inscription may well date from before 79.
Another recent study of Pliny and the background to his work as well as to that of his uncle, author of the encyclopedic Historia Naturalis, is Daisy Dunn's In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, published in 2019 with a paperback edition in 2020.
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Como (ancient Comum), Pliny's birthplace on Lake Como (ancient Larius) in northern Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Como#/media/File:Como_and_it's_lake.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Como#/media/File:Como_and_it's_lake.jpg
A speculative visualization of Pliny's villa on the coast near Laurentium
http://people.duke.edu/~wj25/UC_Web_Site/pliny/villas/chap3/laurentine-haudebourt.html
http://people.duke.edu/~wj25/UC_Web_Site/pliny/villas/chap3/laurentine-haudebourt.html
