The younger Pliny provides a notable parallel to Tacitus in his discussion of the practice of contemporary oratory, especially but not exclusively in the centumviral court, which was mainly concerned with property and inheritance disputes. In the Dialogus Maternus finds fault with the dress of the advocates, the time limits on pleading, and the small audiences in the court (39.1-3). Pliny complains in his Epistles about the tedium of cases (2.14.1-2), the inexperience of young advocates appearing before the bench (2.14.2-4; cf. 8.23.3), and the audiences hired to support the litigants (2.14.4-13). On the whole these remarks seem to reflect the state of courtroom practice rather than to constitute an explicit condemnation of contemporary oratory. Elsewhere Pliny mentions that he has pleaded some noteworthy and important causes (5.8.6). This positive observation is strengthened by references to the high regard in which oratory was held in the courts (e. g., 4.16) and senate (9.23.1-2). It is also reinforced by the comments of Aper, whom Tacitus uses to suggest the popularity and vigor of oratory in the centumviral court ( Dial. 20.3-4). In the Epistles Pliny is so moved after a three-day reading of his Panegyr-icus that he attributes the enthusiasm of his audience to the revivified state of oratory (3.18.4-6).
Indeed a discussion of Pliny’s career as a successful practicing orator provides a counterweight to the Roman and modern views of a decline in oratory. Pliny describes numerous examples that attest to the thriving practice of oratory in the late first and early second centuries CE. The type and range of his oratorical activities demonstrate the large number of opportunities available during this period. Like Tacitus, Pliny was one of the leading orators of the age. In his Epistles he refers specifically to twenty-seven speeches that he had given between 79/80 and 108 in the Forum (5.8.8), senate houses, and criminal courts (1.8.2-17; 1.18.3-5; 2.11.1-24; 3.9.1-37; 3.13.1-5,
3.18.1- 10; 4.9.1-23; 5.20.1-7, 6.5.1-7, 6.13.1-6, 7.6.1-14, 7.10.1-3; 7.6.7-13; 7.33.4-10; 9.13.1-26; 8.14.1-26 passim), the centumviral court (1.5.4-7; 4.16.1-3;
4.17.1- 11; 4.24.1-4; 5.9.1-7; 6.12.2-5; 6.33.1-11), and unnamed venues (1.5.11; 1.20.14-16; 2.5.1-12; 5.12.1-4; 6.18.1-3; 6.23.1-5; 7.12.1-6; 9.28.5). Moreover, about one-third of the 248 private letters of Pliny (excluding the correspondence with Trajan in book 10) allude to oratory in some form, including its practice in the form of senatorial debates and prosecutions (e. g., 1.5; 3.9). Many of these letters also are concerned with less formal matters such as exchanging advice with colleagues and friends on the content and style of speeches (e. g., 1.2; 1.8; 6.33.1, 11; 7.9; 7.12; 8.3; 9.4; 9.26.5-6, 13; cf. 8.19.2). One of these letters, addressed to his close friend Voconius Romanus (cf. 2.13.4-5), seeks corrections on the arrangement, transitions, figures of speech, and style of the Panegyricus not long after it was delivered before Trajan (3.13). Another letter, addressed to Tacitus, with whom Pliny exchanges advice on a number of occasions (e. g., 1.20, esp. 24-5; 8.7), makes reference to suggested alterations to a book that may be the Dialogus (7.20.1). These and other letters bear testimony to Pliny’s success and incessant activity as an orator.
Among the more notable speeches Pliny mentions are those he delivered in five extortion trials in the senate (1.7, 2.11, 3.4, 4.9, 5.20), three of which involved him representing provinces against their former governors; five-hour (2.11.14) and seven-hour (4.16) speeches before a centumviral court in the Basilica lulia; and a speech before all four panels of the court (4.24), which was evidently a rare occurrence. Another speech mentioned by Pliny before the four panels of the centumviral court was delivered in defense of Attia Variola in 106/7 (6.33). The case is noteworthy not just for the eloquence that Pliny ascribes to it (6.33.1, 7-11) but also for the public interest generated by the case:
Sedebant centum et octoginta iudices (tot enim quattuor consiliis colliguntur), ingens utrimque advocatio et numerosa subsellia, praeterea densa circumstantium corona latis-simum iudicium multiplici circulo ambibat. ad hoc stipatum tribunal, atque etiam ex superiore basilicae parte qua feminae qua viri et audiendi (quod difficile) et (quod facile) visendi studio imminebant. magna exspectatio patrum, magna filiarum, magna etiam novercarum. (Pliny, Epistulae 6.33.3-5)
One hundred and eighty judges were sitting, the number for the four panels gathered together. There was a multitude of advocates on each side; the numerous seats were occupied; and furthermore a dense ring of bystanders filled the large courtroom to a depth of several rows. The bench was also closely packed; even the upper galleries of the basilica were filled with women and men leaning over in their eagerness to hear, which was difficult, although seeing was easy. The anticipation of fathers, daughters, and even stepmothers was immense.
This scene in the Basilica lulia, packed with judges, lawyers, supporters, and onlookers, bears testimony to the drama that sometimes accompanied proceedings of the centumviral court. Nor was the crowded courtroom and interest created by the case an isolated occurrence. When he spoke for five hours at the public trial of Marius Priscus before the emperor, the seriousness, rumors, and expectation of the case attracted an especially large audience (2.11). On the occasion Pliny spoke for seven hours, the courtroom was so crowded that he had to take his place by way of the judges’ bench (4.16.1); the audience included a young man whose tunic had been torn presumably in the jostling for a good vantage point from which to listen to the proceedings (4.16.2-3). These scenes are reminiscent of descriptions of proceedings by other writers, for example, Martial, who describes the large crowd gathered to hear and applaud Regulus as he pleaded in the centumviral court (6.38.1-6).
Pliny mentions almost sixty speakers in his Epistles contemporaneous with him. These include friends and rivals in the senate and courts. From the Epistles it is apparent that most of Pliny’s cases were undertaken on behalf of friends and others who had asked him to plead on their behalf (cf. 2.14.14). Pliny mentions approvingly some of the speeches delivered by Tacitus, namely his eulogy of Verginius Rufus at his funeral in 97 ce (2.1.6) and his prosecution along with Regulus of Marius Priscus, a proconsul of Africa, for extortion in 100 (2.11.2, 17). Aper associates Regulus with eloquentia in the Dialogus (15.1). Pliny’s relationship with Regulus seems marked by personal enmity, as suggested in the numerous spiteful references he makes to Regulus and his conduct (e. g., Ep. 1.5.14, 2.20). This enmity may account for Pliny’s willingness to recount Herennius Senecio’s opinion of Regulus as an orator who was vir malus dicendi imperitus (‘‘a bad man unskilled in speaking,’’ 4.7.5), the reverse of the elder Cato’s vir bonus dicendi peritus (‘‘a good man skilled in speaking,’’ Quint. Inst. 12.1.1; Sen. Controv. 1 praef. 9; cf. Quint. Inst. 1 praef. 9; Cic. De Or. 2.85). Nevertheless, not only did Regulus’ career flourish, but Pliny also acknowledges his eloquentia (Ep. 1.5.2) and appeared with him in some cases (6.2.3). Pliny speaks highly of the oratorical abilities of friends and rivals at Rome and in the provinces such as Salvius Liberalis (2.11.17, 3.9.36), who opposed Pliny in two extortion trials (2.11, 3.9); Voconius Romanus (2.13.6-7); Lucceius Albinus (3.9.7; 4.9.13), coattorney along with Pliny in the cases of Classicus (3.9) and lulius Bassus (4.9); and Fuscus Salinator and Ummidius Quadratus (6.11.1-3), whom Pliny taught and mentored (cf. 6.11.3).
In addition to undertaking cases of friends, cases that no one else would take on, and those that establish a legal precedent, Pliny maintains that the orator should take on cases that bring the speaker fame and distinction (Ep. 6.29.1-3). In the Dialogus Aper similarly mentions oratory as a vehicle for protecting friends, helping clients, and rescuing those in dangerous situations (5.5), which could also prove perilous to the orator pleading on their behalf if in his outspokenness he offended those in power (10.8). Aper also mentions that oratory is also useful for striking fear and terror into one’s enemies (5.5), but this last type of case is something that Pliny generally avoids, as his failure to prosecute Regulus shows (cf. Ep. 1.5, esp. 15-17; 13.2, 4). Aper cites the contexts for his practice of oratory as the criminal trial, the centumviral court, and the emperor’s presence (Dial. 7.1). Although Pliny often spoke in the senate before the emperor (cf. Ep. 2.11.11), he
Pleaded only a small number of cases there, a fact that seems to reflect his lack of enthusiasm for prosecuting his fellow senators. He does praise the eloquence of speakers who distinguished themselves in the senate such as Satrius Rufus (1.5.11), Catius Fronto (2.11.18, 4.9.15, 6.13.3; cf. 2.11.3), Claudius Restitutus (3.9.16), Pomponius Rufus (4.9.3), Herennius Pollio (4.9.14), Marcus Iunius Homullus (4.9.15, 5.20.6), and Gaius Avidius Nigrinus (5.20.6). The situation in the courts, however, seems to have been much more conducive to Pliny. While the Epistles illustrate that he was extremely busy (cf. 8.9), it is apparent in the Dialogus that Maternus would have more pleading than he could handle if he were to devote himself to oratory (3.4). Juvenal (16.42-3) and Martial (2.64.7) also allude to the frequent activity of the law courts. Pliny notes appreciatively Martial’s praise of his work in the centumviral court (Ep. 3.21; cf. Mart. 10.19). Elsewhere Pliny cites speakers known for their eloquence in the courts such as Pompeius Saturninus (Ep.
1.16.1-4), the elder Erucius Clarus (2.9.4), Catius Fronto (2.11.18), and Gaius Fannius (5.5.1). But his praise is not limited to the eloquence of the orator in the senate and courts, for he also praises rhetoricians and philosophers such as Euphrates (1.10.5), lulius Genitor (3.3.6), and Isaeus (2.3.1-7). Pliny’s citation of the sophist Isaeus is noteworthy not only for its emphasis upon his eloquence but also the enjoyment derived from the practice of declamation in the schools and public halls. An account of the eloquence and the pleasure derived from oratory in the recitation hall is contained in Pliny’s glowing account of the reading of a poem by Calpurnius Piso (5.1.1-4). Pliny even recited short poems at his own house over two days while still engaged in court work (8.21). Another important outlet for the orator was publishing (cf. 5.8.6), as shown by Pliny’s numerous references to the publication of his speeches (e. g., 1.2.5-6, 2.5, 5.12, 5.20.2).
World History
