Letters, Book 6

Book 6 of Pliny's letters dates from about AD 106 to 107. It contains a group of letters to his wife Calpurnia and important accounts of public affairs; the two letters to Tacitus on the eruption of Vesuvius are in the course.

Pliny writes affectionately to the absent Calpurnia, anxious about her health and comforted by rereading her letters. He records Regulus' fondness for long speaking times, the little farm he gave his old nurse, quarrels in the senate and canvassing for a young friend. He is indignant that the tomb of Verginius Rufus remains unfinished ten years after his death, and continues the long case of Varenus. He describes a reading interrupted by a jurist's absent-minded remark, explains why land prices have risen, and tells how a couple drowned themselves together in Lake Como. Several letters advise friends on which cases to take and how to behave in office. A notable letter describes Pliny's days on Trajan's advisory council at Centumcellae, where he admired the emperor's justice and hospitality and the harbour being built. He also reports his speech for Attia Viriola, disinherited by her father, and approves a friend's gladiatorial show at Verona.

The Calpurnia letters are among the most personal in Latin prose, and the council letter shows Trajan at work. The Latin is fluent and of moderate difficulty.