Sulla struttura del libro VIII dell'epistolario pliniano. Destinatari, temi e stagioni

This paper investigates whether and how a single book roll – within a work of such varied content as Pliny’s correspondence – can be distinguished from the rest of the collection, assuming a more autonomous character that is not simply due to its materiality as a separate codicological unit. I therefore attempt to reconsider a set of tools that has already been identified as useful for this purpose in previous studies and to apply it to Book 8. Several elements can contribute to a more coherent connection of a group of letters on various topics sent to different addressees: (1) the ‘architecture’ of the book itself, i. e. the arrangement of the letters within the single scroll; (2) the themes dealt with in it; (3) the addressees or, rather, their names; (4) in the specific case of Book 8, the insistence on the theme of the seasons alluded to or, in other words, the impression of the passage of time conveyed to the reader. The contribution concludes with some reflections on the inscriptions on walls and columns of the sanctuary by the Clitumnus.