ABSTRACT
In this well-known letter to Titinius Capito, the “Maecenas of Trajan’s Rome,”3 Pliny argues that a privileged relationship exists between curiositas and the writing of history in general. Because of their natural curiosity, human beings are drawn to history no matter how (poorly) written.4 According to Pliny, in the most extreme cases, curiositas can affect people’s judgment, in so far as some men enjoy and are led to believe even sermunculi and fabellae.5
