The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny (Daisy Dunn)

Of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, two leading public servants of the early Roman Empire, a society that had a competent ruling class which provided value, unlike ours. (The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/01/22/the-shadow-of-vesuvius-a-life-of-pliny-daisy-dunn/)

"The Roman Empire gets a bad rap. This is particularly true of the members of its ruling class, who get the worse of the obvious comparison with Republican virtue, and are often viewed as placeholders and strivers orbiting around one emperor or another, offering nothing to the rest of mankind. No doubt many such existed. But we should not forget that the Empire was a very successful endeavor, especially in its early years, and success would not have been possible without at least some competent and virtuous men in the ruling class. Daisy Dunn’s The Shadow of Vesuvius profiles two such men: Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus; A.D. 23–79) and his nephew and adopted son, Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (A.D. 61–c. 113). The two men were very different, yet each strove to benefit and serve Rome, as well as to achieve great things himself, in a way our own ruling class has long since abandoned." . . .