Pliny's Praise

A groundbreaking and comprehensive study of this unique surviving speech delivered to the Emperor Trajan in AD 100.

Pliny's Panegyricus is one of our best sources for the Emperor Trajan and a vital source of information on senatorial views of the emperor in the early Empire. This book contextualises this very important but almost completely neglected speech for scholars and students of Roman history, literature and rhetoric.Pliny's Panegyricus (AD 100) survives as a unique example of senatorial rhetoric from the early Roman Empire. It offers an eyewitness account of the last years of Domitian's principate, the reign of Nerva and Trajan's early years, and it communicates a detailed senatorial view on the behaviour expected of an emperor. It is an important document in the development of the ideals of imperial leadership, but it also contributes greatly to our understanding of imperial political culture more generally. This volume, the first ever devoted to the Panegyricus, contains expert studies of its key historical and rhetorical contexts, as well as important critical approaches to the published version of the speech and its influence in antiquity. It offers scholars of Roman history, literature and rhetoric an up-to-date overview of key approaches to the speech, and students and interested readers an authoritative introduction to this vital and under-appreciated speech.