Gaius Valerius Paullinus was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, who was active during the reign of

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

. He is best known as a friend of

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...

, having received a number of letters from Pliny. Paullinus was suffect consul in the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' of September to December 107 as the colleague of Gaius Julius Longinus.

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...

has strongly suggested that Paullinus is the son of the identically named Gaius Valerius Paulinus,

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...

Gallia Narbonensis Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the ...

. Paullinus opposed

Fabius Valens Fabius Valens of Anagnia (died 69) was a Roman commander favoured by Nero. Valens was an undisciplined character but not without talent; he tried to portray himself as witty by behaving frivolously. In 69 he was commander of Legio I ''Germanica' ...

when the latter raided

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

during the

Year of the Four Emperors The Year of the Four Emperors, AD 69, was the first civil war of the Roman Empire, during which four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. It is considered an important interval, marking the transition from the ...

. Except for being suffect consul, Paullinus' career is otherwise unknown. Because there are a number of lacunae in the records of known

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

ships and imperial appointments, one cannot assume he did not hold any.

Paullinus and Pliny

Paullinus has been identified as the recipient of five surviving letters from Pliny the Younger and mentioned in a sixth, as well as being the subject of an exchange of letters between Pliny and the emperor Trajan. Although they do not provide a biographical narrative for Paullinus, they give some sense of Pliny's relationship with the man. The first to appear in Pliny's collected letters provides little information, containing only a gentle rebuke to Paullinus for not writing more often to Pliny. In one letter in book four, which he wrote to his friend Cornelius Ursus about the trial of Julius Bassus, Pliny mentions Paullinus as making a motion in the trial, by which Paullinus gained "a reputation for fair dealing and integrity." In another letter in the same book addressed to Paullinus, he describes how "a young man of some distinction" remained to listen to Pliny's speech in the Centumviral court, despite having his tunic torn and Pliny's speech lasting seven hours. Another letter to Paullinus begins with complimenting him on how humanely he treats the members of his household, then asks him to allow a

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

of Pliny, named Zosimus, to convalesce at Paullinus' villa at Forum Julii. A fourth letter is a fluffy essay on the life of an aristocrat. The fifth is an apology that Pliny would be unable to attend Paullinus' inauguration as suffect consul because he had to attend to negotiating the rents of a number of his tenants on one of his estates. While Pliny was serving as procurator in

Bithynia et Pontus Bithynia and Pontus ( la, Provincia Bithynia et Pontus, Ancient Greek ) was the name of a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). It was formed during the late Roman Republic by the ama ...

, reviewing the finances of that Senatorial province at Trajan's request, he wrote the emperor for a favor involving Paullinus. That man had died and appointed Pliny executor of his estate. In his will, Paullinus had asked that some of his

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

, who had been informally

emancipated Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...

, and thus were ''Junian Latins'', be granted full citizenship on his death. Pliny requested citizenship for only three of them (C. Valerius Astraeus, C. Valerius Dionysius, and C. Valerius Asper), worried he might "be going too far" to ask this grant for all of them; Trajan replies that not only he does grant this in their case, but "I intend to do the same in the case of the rest for whom you request it."Pliny, ''Epistulae'', X, 104, 105 These letters between Pliny and Trajan provide us a date for Valerius Paullinus' death, around AD 112.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Paullinus, Gaius 1st-century Romans 2nd-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Paullinus, Gaius Valerius 110s deaths 1st-century births Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain