C. Plinius Secundus was born A.D. 23 or 24, for at the time of his
death in A.D. 79 he was in his fifty-sixth year (Plin. _Ep._ iii. 5,
7, 'decessisse anno sexto et quinquagesimo'). His birthplace was Comum
in Cisalpine Gaul, according to Sueton. _vit. Plin._ In an anonymous
Life he is styled 'Veronensis,' probably on account of the phrase in
_N.H._ praef. 1, 'Catullum conterraneum meum,' where, however, _terra_
means Gallia, the province, not the city.

Pliny was the son of an _eques_, and had a sister married to L.
Caecilius of Novum Comum (see p. 139). He came to Rome not later than
A.D. 35 (_N.H._ xxxvii. 81, 'Servilii Noniani quem consulem vidimus'),
and was trained in poetry and literature, probably by P. Pomponius
Secundus[82]; his instructors in rhetoric are not known, but he
mentions as rhetoricians Remmius Palaemon (xiv. 49) and Arellius
Fuscus (xxxiii. 152). In botany he learned much from Antonius Castor
(xxv. 9).

At the beginning of the reign of Claudius, Pliny was an eye-witness of
the building operations at the harbour of Ostia, A.D. 42 (ix. 14): in
44 he practised in the law courts. Having decided on a military
career, he would begin, according to the regulation of Claudius
(Sueton. _Claud._ 25), with the command of a cohort of infantry. He
was next _praefectus alae_ (Plin. _Ep._ iii. 5, 3) under Corbulo, who
was _legatus_ of Germania Inferior, A.D. 47, in his campaign against
the Chauci: cf. _N.H._ xvi. 2, 'Sunt vero in septemtrione visae nobis
Chaucorum [gentes]'; and in A.D. 50 fought under Pomponius against the
Chatti. His 'castrense contubernium' with Titus (born A.D. 41) was
probably in 55 or 56, when he was in the army of Pompeius Paulinus:
cf. xxxiii. 143, 'Pompeium Paulinum XII pondo argenti habuisse apud
exercitum ferocissimis gentibus oppositum scimus.' Personal knowledge
of Germany appears in several passages of the _N.H._, e.g. xii. 98,
'extremo in margine imperii, qua Rhenus adluit, vidi'; xxii. 8, 'quem
morem etiam nunc durare apud Germanos scio.'

Pliny was present at the festivities at Lake Fucinus in A.D. 52
(xxxiii. 63). During Nero's reign he spent some time in Campania (ii.
180) and Cisalpine Gaul (xxxv. 20), was a spectator at the Vatican
games in A.D. 59, and saw the building of Nero's golden house after
the fire of A.D. 64 (xxxvi. iii).

Under Vespasian Pliny was procurator in Italy, and in several of the
provinces: Sueton. _vit._, 'Procurationes splendidissimas et continua