SOURCE: Vidén, Gunhild. “Women in the Works of Pliny the Younger.” In Women in Roman Literature: Attitudes of Authors under the Early Empire, pp. 91-107. Goteborg, Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 1993.

In the following essay, Vidén discusses Pliny's Letters to and about Roman women, illustrating that Pliny included a number of women among his friends and that his traditional Roman view of marriage and family reflected his idea of the exemplary woman.

It is hard to think of any author who differs more in tone from Tacitus than his contemporary and friend Pliny the younger. Where Tacitus gives proof of severity and harsh judgement Pliny's work abounds in amiability and benevolence, and if we were only to judge from his letters we would be tempted to say that Rome was never more full of noble men and virtuous women than during his lifetime. Another difference lies in...