Problem: According to Pliny the Younger's "Letters to Tacitus"
1. Pliny clearly wishes to present both the actions of his uncle and his own actions during this crisis in the distant past as both proper and praiseworthy. Can you read between the lines to separate "fact" from "idealized memory" in Pliny's accounts?
2. What traditional Roman male values do Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger display in these letters? How does Pliny describe the characters and actions of other individuals and classes of society in his letters?
3. From our modern standpoint, what can Pliny's account of the eruption of Vesuvius tell us about the progress of this disaster and its effects on the local towns and population?