Writing a Modern Biography of an Ancient Roman

Abstract

Modern biographies of ancient individuals focus on emperors and generals, as a form of political or military history. A biography of a ‘private’ individual like Pliny raises more urgently the question of the distorting effects of our biographical norms. Modern biography encourages the recreation of a ‘unique individual’, insight into the effects of childhood, or the reconstruction of a rich inner life. Approaches of this sort are not suited to Pliny: he was not interested in the ‘interiority’ found in Catullus or Augustine. Pliny’s individuality can be captured by working along the grain of the Letters: by focusing on the range of locales in which he lived, worked, and owned properties. No Roman writer, not even Vergil, ties his identity to the regions of Italy more successfully than Pliny. This approach is suited to the episodic nature both of Pliny’s own life and of the evidence available.