Radice, Betty (1963). The Letters of the Younger Pliny. London: Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-044127-7.

The Panegyrici Latini make up most of the sixteen pre-400 Latin prose speeches in praise of Roman emperors that survive today. (The remaining four consist of three fragmentary speeches from Symmachus and one speech by Ausonius. [43]) Only one manuscript of the Panegyrici Latini has survived into the 15th century, when it was discovered in 1433 in a monastery in Mainz, Germany by Johannes Aurispa. [2] That manuscript, known as M (Moguntinus), was copied several times before it was lost. Two branches of Italian manuscripts derive from a copy Aurispa made of M, X 1 and X 2. [44] These are also lost, [45] but twenty-seven manuscripts descend from the pair. The evidence of the surviving manuscripts suggests that Aurispa's copy of M was made in haste, and that the Italian manuscripts are generally inferior to the other tradition, H. [46] The story of the emperor Trajan’s rise begins in the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome in September of 96 AD. Rome was then ruled by the emperor Domitian – the youngest son of Emperor Vespasian and brother of the prematurely deceased Titus. Despite the good reputation of both his brother and father, Domitian was not a well-liked emperor, particularly with the senate, whilst he had already had to quash one attempted revolt by Lucius Saturninus, the governor of Germania Superior , in AD 89. Increasingly paranoid, keen to assert the supremacy of his authority, and prone to cruelty, Domitian fell victim to an intricate palace coup. Another independent tradition branches off of M: H (at the British Library: Harleianus 2480), N (at Cluj, Romania: Napocensis), and A (at the Uppsala University Library). [47] H and N are both 15th-century manuscripts, transcribed in a German hand. H shows corrections from a near-contemporary, h. N was copied at some time between 1455 and 1460 by the German theologian Johannes Hergot. [48] Detailed investigation of the manuscripts by D. Lassandro has revealed that A derives from N and N derives from H. [49] H is usually considered the best surviving manuscript. [47]by an anonymous author delivered at the wedding of Constantine to Maximian's daughter Fausta in 307, probably also at Trier, and it therefore contains the praise of both emperors and their achievements. The bride and the wedding feature only to a very limited degree in the oration.

Nonne incunabula haec tibi, Caesar, et rudimenta, quum puer admodum Parthica lauro gloriam patris augeres, nomenque Germanici iam tum mererere, quum ferociam superbiamque barbarorum ex proximo auditus magno terrore cohiberes, Rhenumque et Euphratem admirationis tuae fama coniungeres? quum orbem terrarum non pedibus magis, quam laudibus peragrares? apud eos semper maior et clarior, quibus postea contigisses. Et necdum imperator, necdum dei filius eras. Germaniam quidem quum plurimae gentes, ac prope infinita vastitas interiacentis soli, tum Pyrenaeus, Alpes, immensique alii montes, nisi his comparentur, muniunt dirimuntque. Per hoc omne spatium quum legiones duceres, seu potius (tanta velocitas erat) raperes: non vehiculum unquam, non equum respexisti. Levis hic, non subsidium itineris, sed decus, et cum ceteris subsequebatur: ut cuius nullus tibi usus, nisi quum die stativorum proximum campum alacritate, discursu, pulvere attolleres. Initium laboris mirer, an finem? Multum est, quod perseverasti: plus tamen, quod non timuisti, ne perseverare non posses. Nec dubito, quin ille, qui te inter illa Germaniae bella ab Hispania usque, ut validissimum praesidium, exciverat, iners ipse alienisque virtutibus tunc quoque invidus imperator, quum ope earum indigeret, tantam admirationem tui non sine quodam timore conceperit, quantam ille genitus Iove post saevos labores duraque imperia regi suo indomitus semper indefessusque referebat; quum aliis super alias expeditionibus munere alio dignus invenireris.It was for his appointment as a Roman consul on 1 September 100 CE that Pliny wrote his oration Panegyricus Traiani. Delivered before the Senate, it paid homage to Emperor Trajan. While Domitian was described as arrogant, cowardly, cruel, and greedy, Trajan was seen as a moderate ruler who was considerate of the Senate, treating its members, even those in opposition, as equals. He was portrayed as a fair, skilled administrator, disciplined, tolerant, and patient. The speech praised not only the emperor but also his sister Marciana and his wife Plotina who was depicted as a model of chastity. The Search For Stability: Senate And Empire The Justice of Trajan by Eugène Delacroix , 1840, via Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen Equidem non Consuli modo, sed omnibus civibus enitendum reor, ne quid de Principe nostro ita dicant, ut idem illud de alio dici potuisse videatur. Quare abeant ac recedant voces illae, quas metus exprimebat: nihil, quale ante, dicamus; nihil enim, quale antea, patimur: nec eadem de principe [palam], quae prius, praedicemus; neque enim eadem secreto loquimur, quae prius. Discernatur orationibus nostris diversitas temporum, et ex ipso genere gratiarum agendarum intelligatur, cui, quando sint actae. Nusquam ut deo, nusquam ut numini blandiamur: non enim de tyranno, sed de cive; non de domino, sed de parente loquimur. Unum ille se ex nobis, et hoc magis excellit atque eminet, quod unum ex nobis putat; nec minus hominem se, quam hominibus praeesse meminit. Intelligamus ergo bona nostra, dignosque nos illis usu probemus, atque identidem cogitemus, quam sit indignum, si maius principibus praestemus obsequium, qui servitute civium, quam qui libertate laetantur. Et populus quidem Romanus dilectum principum servat, quantoque paullo ante concentu formosum alium, hunc fortissimum personat; quibusque aliquando clamoribus gestum alterius et vocem, huius pietatem, abstinentiam, mansuetudinem laudat. Quid nos ipsi? divinitatem principis nostri, an humanitatem, temperantiam, facilitatem, ut amor et gaudium tulit, celebrare universi solemus? Iam quid tam civile, tam senatorium, quam illud additum a nobis OPTIMI cognomen? quod peculiare huius et proprium arrogantia priorum principum fecit. Enimvero quam commune, quam ex aequo, quod FELICES NOS, FELICEM ILLUM praedicamus? alternisque votis, HAEC FACIAT, HAEC AUDIAT, quasi non dicturi, nisi fecerit, comprecamur? Ad quas ille voces lacrymis etiam ac multo pudore suffunditur. Agnoscit enim sentitque, sibi, non principi, dici. Lolli, Massimo (2023). Turpitudinum notae: la caratterizzazione dell’usurpatore nei Panegyrici Latini tardoantichi. Basel: Schwabe Verlagsgruppe AG. ISBN 9783796546952. from the year 311, delivered in Trier by an anonymous orator, who gives thanks to Constantine I for a tax relief for his home town Autun.

Criticisms aside, this is a welcome contribution to our understanding of an underappreciated text. Whether it provides an impetus to future research remains to be seen, but we may note with anticipation that one of the contributors is preparing a new commentary on the speech. Scholars who want to build on these achievements will find much that is useful in these studies. The book is handsomely produced and seems free of typographical errors. The editor’s introductory chapter includes a survey of the careers of Domitian, Trajan, and Pliny, which, given the enigmatic nature of the evidence, cannot help but foster quibbles. 7 The Index locorum is haphazard and not very useful (Tacitus, Agricola 3.3 does merit inclusion, for example). Melvyn Bragg (December 12, 2013). "Pliny the Younger". In Our Time (Podcast). BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved January 26, 2020. The first edition of Pliny's Epistles was published in Italy in 1471. Sometime between 1495 and 1500 Giovanni Giocondo discovered a manuscript in Paris of Pliny's tenth book of letters, containing his correspondence with Trajan, and published it in Paris, dedicating the work to Louis XII. The first complete edition was produced by the press of Aldus Manutius in 1508. [25] (See Editio princeps for details.) The contributions are generally of high quality, and together they give a good sense of the range of issues upon which the Panegyricus can be brought to bear. By the end, however, a sense of claustrophobia begins to settle over the reader. The world beyond the speech is by no means absent from these discussions, but apart from Roger Rees’ concluding discussion of the speech’s Nachleben, there is a tendency to turn inward and focus on the text itself, rather than to open up the discussion and use Pliny’s work as a window on the world in which he lived.

Bibliography

M. P. O. Morford, “ Iubes Esse Liberos : Pliny’s Panegyricus and Liberty,” AJP 113 (1992) 575-93, cf. M. Durry, Pline le Jeune: Panégyrique de Trajan. (Paris 1938) 21-4, M. Molin, “Le Panégyrique de Trajan : éloquence d’aparat ou programme politique néo-stoïcien?” Latomus 48 (1989) 785-97.