5. Would you consider the carousing scene of this selection typical of Germany, or has Heine exaggerated it to make the situation more ridiculous? 6. What impression of the author's personal character do you receive from these selections? 7. Characterize Heine's wit. FOR REFERENCE "Life of Heinrich Heine."--SHARP. "Poems and Ballads," translated by MARTIN. "Wrecked lives; or, Men who have Failed."--ADAMS. "Old Love Stories Retold."--LE GALLIENNE. PLINY (61 A.D.-113? A.D.) Pliny the Younger was born in the year A.D. 61, at Como, Italy. Like most famous Roman writers whose works have come down to us, he was of high station. He accompanied his uncle, Pliny the Elder, when the latter was summoned to Rome by the Emperor Vespasian in A.D. 72, and devoted several years to the study of Roman and Greek literature under the best instructors. After the death of his uncle, in 79, he made his appearance as an advocate, a profession in which he won great eminence. Ten years later he entered upon an official career of remarkable success, holding in succession most of the great offices of the Roman State, until in 111 he was selected by Trajan as Governor of Bithynia. His correspondence ceases in 113, and nothing is known of his life thereafter. While moving in the highest circles, the intimate of Tacitus, Suetonius, Martial, and all of the senatorial class, he was distinguished by great conscientiousness and public spirit, endowing temples, baths, libraries, and schools. He was humane and even affectionate toward his slaves and courteous to his dependents. He sought fame as a poet and orator, as well as letter-writer, but neither his "Panegyric on Trajan," nor the two sets of verses which alone have escaped the ravages of time, would indicate that the world is much the worse for the loss of the remainder of his orations and poems. But in his "Letters" he conferred an inestimable boon on future ages. They are voluminous, in ten books, and covering almost every topic of the times, our most valuable commentary upon Roman life in the second century after Christ. They were undoubtedly written with a direct view to publication, for he is careful to confine each one to a single topic, and generally closes it with an epigrammatic point. But they are models of graceful thought and refined expression. Only twice is any one of whom an unfavorable opinion is expressed mentioned by name. The tenth book, the "Correspondence with Trajan," is valuable for another reason--for the light it throws on early Christianity. It reflects the greatest credit on the strict and almost punctilious conscientiousness of Pliny, and on the assiduity and high principle which animated the Emperor. THE MAN 1. What does Pliny the Elder say of the form of money used in early Rome? XI, 189. 2. To what class of society did Pliny the Younger belong? 3. Give a brief account of the death of his uncle.