The Shadow of Vesuvius

October 1, 2019
The Roman Empire comes to life through the biographies of two influential men. Classicist Dunn (Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet, 2016, etc.) creates a vivid tapestry of the Roman world focused on naturalist Pliny the Elder (23/24-79 C.E.), who perished when Vesuvius erupted, and his nephew--and adopted son--Pliny the Younger (c. 62-133 C.E.), a lawyer, senator, landowner, and poet who lived "at the very center of things in the first and early second centuries." Drawing largely on the Elder's encyclopedic, 37-volume Natural History and the Younger's prolific letters and speeches, Dunn depicts them as "Renaissance men in their own time," revered among their peers and by later generations. Darwin, for example, a member of the Plinian Society as a medical student, owned a "well skimmed translation" of Natural History, which influenced his thinking about heredity. Although both Plinys shared "an enquiring mind, an eye for minutiae, obsessive diligence," and a "love of stories, not only of the natural world, but of extremes of human behavior," the younger man could be pompous, self-centered, "attuned to detail and hard fact, obedient to protocol. Where his uncle was creative," Dunn notes, "Pliny was pedantic." He worked happily in solitude, preferring his rural villas--served by some 500 slaves--to the bustle of the city. Like his uncle--and also Cicero, Virgil, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius, among many other prominent Romans--Pliny adhered to Stoicism, "a philosophy for achieving equilibrium in a frantic world, through which you learned to become master of yourself and your emotions." Besides exploring his philosophical beliefs, Dunn examines Pliny's attitudes about medicine, agriculture, and marital relations along with his role in the political intrigues and rivalries that marked the reigns of the cruel Emperor Domitian, who exiled philosophers from Italy, and Emperor Trajan, a popular ruler for whom Pliny served as deputy. Their correspondence reveals the tensions that arose from the burgeoning of Christianity, portending "a change that was to come at the heart of Rome's empire." A sensitive, spirited investigation of the ancient world.

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January 6, 2020
Historian Dunn (Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet) intertwines the lives of Pliny the Elder and his nephew, Pliny the Younger, in this illuminating chronicle of the Roman Empire in the latter half of the first century CE. After narrating the elder Pliny’s heroic death in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Dunn traces the younger Pliny’s career as a lawyer and provincial governor, detailing his rivalry with politician Regulus, friendships with historians Tacitus and Suetonius, and loving marriage to his second wife, Calpurnia. Drawing from Pliny’s Letters, Dunn spotlights her subject’s yearning for his quiet countryside estate; his desire to write a magnum opus like his uncle’s seven-volume Natural History; and his philosophical musings on such topics as oysters, sleep, and snow. She ends her account with the fleeting but famous correspondence between Pliny and Emperor Trajan as the former, near the end of his life, sought guidance on how to stem the tide of Christianity in his role as the governor of Bithynia (in modern Turkey). Skillfully mining primary and secondary source material, Dunn offers a comprehensive study of how the elder Pliny influenced his equally perceptive and ambitious nephew. This eloquent and accessible history offers a revealing glimpse into the daily life of ancient Rome.

Starred review from November 15, 2019
While Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger are not household names today, historians, writers, and scientists throughout history have been influenced by their writings. Classicist Dunn (Catullus' Bedspread, 2016) has written a delightful biography, interweaving extracts from the Elder's Natural History with the Younger's letters, speeches, and poetry into an insightful portrait of the men, their world, and their influence on people such as Giorgio Vasari, Frances Bacon, and Percy and Mary Shelley. Arranging the biography by seasons, she goes back and forth in their lives to show how the men used the natural world and its principles to guide their lives. As a lawyer, senator, poet, and chronicler of the Roman Empire, the Younger's letters reveal the turbulent and deadly politics of those years. Dunn also includes stories of how men such as Leonardo da Vinci and Charles Darwin debated the Elder's explorations of nature, and Charles Dickens used the Younger's story about a ghost walking in chains as the model for Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol. This is a rich, entertaining dual biography of two fascinating men, a revealing portrait of ancient Rome, and a celebration of nature that will appeal to fans of Mary Beard.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2019

When Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, author and natural historian Pliny the Elder ventured out to provide assistance to a friend and died in the attempt. His teenage nephew Pliny the Younger headed in the opposite direction and survived to become a magistrate, lawyer, and prolific letter-writer. Classicist Dunn's new work ostensibly focuses on the Younger with a nod toward the Elder's influence on his life. But by offering nearly as many references to the Elder's encyclopedic Natural History as to the Younger's vast correspondence, the author seems to want to give equal space to her subject's bolder uncle. Dunn's decision to avoid a linear recounting of events in favor of a thematic narrative of Pliny the Younger's life results in a book that feels less like a biography than an appreciation of both men, with frequent digressions on the Elder's opinions on oysters and metal sculpture, the Younger's poetical ambitions and villas along Lake Como, and the effect of their dual legacy on future eras. VERDICT Not ideal for those looking for a straightforward biography of Pliny, the book will appeal to readers who are willing to follow Dunn's enthusiastic and vividly drawn, if meandering, story about the lives and influences of both men.--Kathleen McCallister, William & Mary Libs., Williamsburg, VA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2019

Famed throughout the Roman Empire for his 37-volume Natural History, Pliny the Elder died in 79 CE with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, leaving all his notebooks to his nephew Pliny the Younger, with whom he was close. Classicist Dunn (Catullus' Bedspread) offers a portrait of the younger man, who went on to become a lawyer, senator, poet, and chronicler of Roman times from Emperor Domitian to Emperor Trajan, in a book deemed "[not] merely a biography of a magistrate [but] of an entire way of life" by the Literary Review (UK).

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.