It is well known that Pliny the Younger’s correspondence provides important information about the author’s activity as patronus causae, involved in cognitiones de repetundis before the Roman Senate. In 93 A.D. in particular, Herennius Senecio and Pliny successfully prosecuted a case against Baebius Massa for repetundae during his administration as governor in Baetica. At the end of the process, Baebius’s property was in publica custodia in order to make reparations possible and available to the provincials. Herennius Senecio, fearing that the confiscated assets were returned to the defendant, persuaded Pliny to file a motion to the consuls who were responsible for their custody. During the consular hearing, Baebius retaliated by bringing a charge of maiestas against Herennius, accusing him of impietas, but he was compelled to drop the case when Pliny managed to prove with his own oratory technique the intrinsic contradictions of this blatant, unfounded accusatio.
