Tricky Pliny & Suetonius, Lying Sack of Shit

A History of Mankind (259)

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Pliny the Younger (61-119), a nephew and heir of the distinguished Pliny the Elder, deceased off Pompeii, belonged to Tacitus’ elevated circles, and in fact became a close friend of his contemporary.

Educated by Quintilian, he had a prominent career as lawyer and elected politician, much active in at around the Roman elite, which made his abundant surviving letters a mine for information about the period, an marred by the existence of people Pliny himself protected, like the later famous historian Suetonius (69-122).