Member of the regional aristocracy of Como, in northern Italy, Pliny the Younger inherited the property of his rich uncle, the author Pliny the Ancient (23-79 CE). Pliny the Younger owned villas on Lake Como, in Tuscany and at Laurentum near Ostia (James, 2008, p.72). Pliny the Younger highlights the importance of rural retreat for the Roman elite under Domitian. In a reading from Pliny the Younger, Book 1, Letter 6, he gives an amusing account of "taking one's legal papers on a wild boar hunt" (James, 2008,