A prominent lawyer and administrator, Pliny (c. AD 61-113) was also a prolific letter-writer, who numbered among his correspondents such eminent figures as Tacitus, Suetonius and the Emperor Trajan, as well as a wide circle of friends and family. His lively and very personal letters address an astonishing range of topics - from a deeply moving account of his uncle's death in the eruption that engulfed Pompeii and observations on the early Christians - 'a desperate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths' - to descriptions of everyday life in Rome, with its scandals and court cases, and of Pliny's life in the country. Providing a series of fascinating views of imperial Rome, his letters also offer one of the fullest self-portraits to survive from classical times.