Pliny obtained the augurship, probably in 103 or 104, in succession to Sex. Iulius Frontinus, who probably died in 102 or 103 A.D. Cf. _Ep._ iv. 8, 3, 'Successi Iulio Frontino.' In 103 or 104 A.D. he appeared against the Bithynians for the proconsul Iulius Bassus (_Ep._ iv. 9 etc.). He held the _cura alvei Tiberis et riparum et cloacarum urbis_ probably from 105 to 107 A.D. See Pliny's chief inscription (below), and cf. _Ep._ v. 14, 1-2, 'Mihi nuntiatum est Cornutum Tertullum accepisse Aemiliae viae curam ... aliquanto magis me delectat mandatum mihi officium, postquam par Cornuto datum video.' About A.D. 106 Pliny appeared against the Bithynians for the proconsul Varenus Rufus (_Ep._ vi. 29, 11). From 111-2 or 112-3 A.D. Pliny was governor of Pontus and Bithynia, being sent out for a special purpose by the emperor as _legatus pro praetore consulari potestate_. Cf. the chief inscription (below) and the words of Trajan. _Trai._ 32, 'Meminerimus idcirco te in istam provinciam missum, quoniam multa in ea emendanda apparuerint.' The date of Pliny's governorship is fixed by the mention of Calpurnius Macer in the letters (_ad Trai._ 42; 61; 62) as the governor of the nearest province. Mommsen has identified him with P. Calpurnius Macer Caulius Rufus, who is shown by an inscription (_C.I.L._ iii. 7 and 17) to have been governor of Lower Moesia in 112 A.D. This is corroborated by the fact that no mention is made of Bithynia in the chief collection of letters, which was not completed till A.D. 108 at least. Therefore the governorship falls after that time. On the other hand, Pliny must have been sent out not later than A.D. 113, as in the chief inscription _Optimus_ does not appear in Trajan's name, and this cognomen he assumed in A.D. 114. Finally, the fact that Trajan was at Rome during Pliny's governorship points to a time between the end of the second Dacian War in A.D. 107 and the outbreak of the Parthian War in A.D. 113. Our information about Pliny ends with the close of his correspondence with Trajan. It is certain that he held no further office, and it is probable that he died before A.D. 114 in his province or shortly after his return to Rome. As regards municipal relations, Pliny held the post of _flamen divi Augusti_, according to the inscription which the corporation of Vercellae erected to him at his own town (_C.I.L._ v. 5667). 'C. Plini[o L. f. O]uf. Caec[ilio] Secundo [c]os. augur. cur. alv. Tib. [et ripa]r. et cloac. urb. [praef. a]er. Sat. praef. aer. mil. [pr. tr. pl.] imp. sevir. eq. R. tr. m[i]l. leg. iii. Gall. x. viro stl. iud. fl. divi T. Aug.'