Age before Beauty: Pliny the Younger and the Art of Growing Old

In Letters 3.6, Pliny the Younger recounts his purchase of a Corinthian bronze depicting a naked old man, and his plans to dedicate the modest statue in the temple of Jupiter in his hometown. It has long been argued that the personal image Pliny presents in his correspondence is a carefully curated act of self-fashioning. If this is the case, then what, if anything, might this statue have been intended to convey about Pliny as donor? Using Pliny’s own description of the bronze as a guide, and a selective survey of Greek and Roman representations of the aged, this seminar will examine possible identifications for the statue. By placing Pliny’s account of events in the broader context of Book 3 of the Letters, in which Pliny contemplates ageing and models of good and bad old age, it will also consider the ways in which exemplarity, along with themes such as perseverance, restraint and duty informed Pliny’s act of public beneficium (‘benefaction’) and the written record of his dedication.