Gaius Plinius Secundus Dies After Volcano Eruption

by T. Yanushefski

                Pliny the Elder, Gaius Plinius Secundus, died last night after getting trapped in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. He was born around 23 AD in northern Italy around Gallia Transpadana. Due to the class of family he was born into, Pliny had the opportunity to study and gain an education. Part of this education was the study of rhetoric, the art of speech and speaking in public. Pliny was taught that the main part of speaking was to look convincing and to gain trust of the audience simply through appearance. Following the years of 37 AD, Pliny was taught by the tragic poet, Publius Pomponius Secundus, who is credited for Pliny’s odd writing style.

At the age of 21, Pliny ended up in Gallia Belgica after leaving Italy to become a military tribune. After some time, Pliny began to enjoy the work he was doing in the military, after which he was promoted to a cavalry unit prefect, a fighting officer. In 47, Pliny took part in Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo’s conquest of the Frisians and Chauci. Gnaeus was the newest commander of the lower Rhine army and this campaign was successful as the Frisians and Chauci ended up surrendering. Throughout his career, Pliny had much to do with the army and attacking different places. Continuing to be a part of the Rhine army, Pliny was again part in another campaign around 51 AD, this time against the Chatti. Oddly, Pliny’s teacher, Publius Pomponius Secundus, ended up commanding over Pliny during the campaign.

Around the time of these campaigns, Pliny’s first book was written. It was a short piece on horseback spear throwing. After this, Pliny found himself back in Italy around 52 AD. During this time, he witnessed at naval battle that took place at the Fucine Lake. He was particularly impressed with the feat of draining the lake by a channel being dug through a mountain, especially with the fact this all took place at night. Also around this time, Pliny went to work writing his second book which was a biography of The Life of Pomponius Secundus. The subject matter of this book was different from what was commonly written, since this could have been the first biography of a person. Many believe this book was written to commemorate the life of his former teacher after he had died.

After his second book was written, he decided to return to the beloved Rhine army. During this time, he wrote another set of books, History of the Germanic Wars, taking up twenty volumes. It is said that these volumes were written due to a dream that Pliny had. Supposedly, he saw the ghost of Drusus, who died in Germania after a time of triumph, standing over him.

At this time, Pliny met Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who was the son of the emperor with the same name.

In addition to being a well established writer and part of the military, he was also a well established scientist. He wrote the book Natural History which consisted of 37 volumes. Some of the topics covered were geography, astronomy, zoology, botany, drugs and medicine, rocks, metals, and precious stones. He covered so much and studied so much that he rarely had time to sleep. His nephew noted the fact that he would wake up around midnight and start working then. He got used to getting the minimum amount of sleep a person could without passing out. Pliny was also an avid reader saying, “no book was so bad as not to contain something useful.” In an effort to be able to read almost constantly, he even had himself carried around so he could read while traveling.

Tragically, Pliny passed away this year, 79 AD, while in command of a Roman fleet. He was trying to head towards the erupting volcano, Vesuvius, trying to get a better look at what exactly was going on and to try to convince the locals that it wasn’t anything to worry about.

Pliny the Elder was a good writer, scientist, and an important part of the military chain of command. He will be missed.

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