Exempla in the Tenth Book of Correspondence between Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan – Introductory Remarks

Abstract

The correspondence between Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan provides examples of legal issues which Pliny had to face as an imperial magistrate sent to the province of Bithynia and Pontus by the emperor. The aim of the article is to determine the way in which the authors of the correspondence address the question of precedents. The present work concentrates on all the instances where the concept of exemplum was used expressis verbis and on the way in which the authors of the letters referred to their preservation, eradication or creation.