Pliny, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, called the Younger c.62-c.113AD
Roman writer and orator

He was born in Novum Comum, the nephew and adopted son of Pliny, the Elder. He wrote a Greek tragedy in his 14th year, and under Quintilian's tuition became one of the most accomplished men of his time. His skill as an orator enabled him at 18 to plead in the Forum, and he served as consul in AD100, in which year he wrote his eulogy to Trajan. From 103 to 105 he was propraetor of the Provincia Pontica and, among other offices, was also curator of the Tiber. His second wife, Calpurnia, is fondly referred to in one of his most charming letters for the ways in which she sweetened his rather invalid life. His 10 volumes of letters give an intimate picture of the upper class in the 1st century AD; above all, his correspondence with Trajan clearly shows how the Romans regarded the early Christians and their 'depraved and extravagant superstition'.