Pliny and the Letters of Sidonius: From Constantius and Clarus to Firminus and Fuscus

Despite Sidonius's explicit assertion that his Letters are modeled on the correspondence of Pliny, critics have found the harvest of Plinian material in Sidonius's text rather thin. As a result, the importance of Pliny to Sidonius has been somewhat doubted or underplayed. This paper argues that Sidonian critics have been searching for Pliny in the wrong place. The influence of Pliny is to be found not (so much) in the linguistic texture of Sidonius's text, but rather in the architecture of Sidonius's nine-book collection, which alludes to (and so engages with) the structure of the first nine books of Pliny.