one must pay the recipient the compliment of care and art. The central consideration is that a letter is 'the image of one's mind'; more than any other kind of writing, it
presents its author's personality. So it must not be too technical-'a treatise with an address at the top'-nor periodic in style like a forensic speech. In a word, it is 'a brief
expression of affection, an exposition of a simple theme in simple words'.
Reconstruction Model Of Pliny The Youngers Laurentine Villa, based Upon the detailed description in one of his letters. C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus. (c. A.D- c.112) was
one of the most important prose writers of the Trajanic period, being a master both of the literary epistle and of the art of rhetoric. Like his uncle and adoptive father (the
Elder Pliny), he enjoyed a distinguished career in public service.
The letter is a particularly important form in our period. Seneca used it for what is by common consent his best work, the Epistulae morales written in retirement to his
friend Lucilius. Epicurus' letters were an influence here; so were Cicero's letters to Atticus. Roman gentlemen recognized the letter as a form ideally suited to the amateur,
an apt expression of the friendships and common interests of their class. Statius (Silpae 1.3. 104) imagines his friend Vopiscus, in his country retreat at Tibur, writing epic or