Pliny's Women: Constructing Virtue and Creating Identity in the Roman World by Jacqueline M. Carlon

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 211 historiographical perspectives. Others are more cursory, merely scratching the surface of topics that call out for more thorough analysis. A few are highly speculative: provocative but not entirely persuasive. Looked at with a wider lens, however, the breadth of topics treated by such an impressive assembly of scholars attests to the inspiring mentorship of Peter Derow. McGill University Michael P. Fronda Pliny's Women: Constructing Virtue and Creating Identity in the Roman World. By Jacqueline M. Carlon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009. Pp. ix, 270; 3 appendices. If the reader expects to learn solely about the lives of the women with whom the Younger Pliny was acquainted she would do well to look elsewhere, for Carlon’s focus is squarely on the man himself and his adroit self-fashioning as revealed in correspondence with and about the women of his circle. To be sure, her analysis of Pliny’s women captures well the essence of Roman womanhood, but this is not her purpose. Instead, taking his Epistulae as autobiographical in nature she aims to elucidate the women’s roles in relation to this particular genre of writing. Carlon regards the women with whom he corresponds, mentions en passant, or discusses with friends and colleagues as playing key roles in Pliny’s self-characterisation, for they help him to achieve two lofty objectives of his letter-writing: upholding his gloria and guaranteeing his aeternitas (3–4). The author contextualises her investigation with an introduction that focuses on Pliny’s life and career, his correspondence, and current scholarship on ancient epistolography. The introduction concludes with a categorisation of the women in the letters (e.g., the ideal wife, those of unseemly character), which foregrounds her discussion of Pliny’s women in the ensuing five chapters. Carlon’s methodology is simple yet effective: each chapter treats a specific group of letters that, when read together, sheds light on Pliny’s efforts at self-characterisation. Carlon begins with biographical sketches of the correspondents and the women who are the subject of the letters, and then moves to detailed analysis of the epistles as they relate to different facets of Pliny’s identity. This line of enquiry involves a great deal of prosopographical and philological footwork, and Carlon proves herself adept at this kind of meticulous investigation. She remarks on the character of various epistles (e.g., obituary or letter of recommendation), observes the frequency of certain words in specific contexts (neatly summarized in one of three appendices ), and is attentive to Pliny’s choice of grammatical constructions. Additionally, she contemplates the disposition of the letters throughout the corpus and in relation to one another, along with their wide-ranging content. Such exhaustive analysis can sometimes challenge the reader, but the author’s wit (reflected for example in the delightfully apposite chapter titles) sustains the reader’s attention, and her energetic prose frequently renders less-convincing arguments more persuasive. This is especially true in instances where the reader may be inclined to dispute her assessments, however cautious, of Pliny’s autobiographical intent. In Carlon’s view several personae whose characters are highly developed and deeply admired comprise the public image Pliny envisioned for himself. A partial summary of the first chapter’s contents, where we meet Pliny as an “enemy of tyrants” (18), demonstrates sufficiently her treatment of his correspondence. As members of Pliny’s 212 PHOENIX social milieu, often adherents of Stoicism, protested Domitian’s repressive administration, Pliny remained virtually silent. As a corrective to what might have been publicly perceived as his tacit acceptance of the prosecution and punishment of the emperor’s critics, Pliny aligns himself, in eleven letters, with women who were connected to the Stoic opposition. Dispersed strategically throughout the collection, these letters create opportunities for him to articulate his distaste for Domitian’s behaviour. Through the letter to Nepos (3.16), Pliny attempts to convey ideas about his own integrity and moral nerve in difficult times. His theme for the letter is that words and deeds are not always a measure of an individual’s greatness. By way of an example, he recounts his recent conversation with Clodia Fannia about her illustrious grandmother, Arria...

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