The arts of self-imitation in Pliny (and the date of Panegyricus)

Abstract

This paper puts Pliny’s Panegyricus into dialogue with his Epistles, to reveal abundant self-imitation on both the small scale (brief phrases) and the large (three whole letters, epist. III 18, VII 24 and VIII 6). I offer it (1) as a case study in Pliny’s minute artistry, and (2) as a contribution towards a better understanding of intertextuality in Latin prose; it also (3) suggests that the Panegyricus was completed several years later than usually thought, perhaps at the same time as Epistles I-IX.