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( Pliny the Elder)
Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, (AD 23 – August 25, 79), better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Naturalis Historia. He is known for his saying "True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read". He was the son of a Roman equestrian with the cognomen Celer by one Marcella, some say the son of the Senator Gaius or Caius Caecilius of Novum Comum (Como) others of one Titus, which suggests a possible connection with the Titii Pomponii, and being the connection with the Caecilii from Celer, cognomen used by that Gens[1]. He was born in Como, not (as is sometimes supposed) at Verona it is only as a native of Gallia Transpadana that he calls Catullus of Verona his conterraneus, or fellow-countryman, not his municeps, or fellow-townsman.[2] A statue of Pliny on the facade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native son. Pliny the Elder died on August 25, AD 79 during the famed eruption of Mount Vesuvius that also destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Before AD 35 [3] Pliny's father took him to Rome, where he was educated and did his military service in Germania on his command under his father's friend, the poet and military commander, Publius Pomponius Secundus, who inspired him with a lifelong love of learning. Two centuries after the death of the Gracchi, Pliny saw some of their autograph writings in his preceptor's library,[4] and he afterwards wrote that preceptor's Life.
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