Studiosus

Studiosus was a three-book, six-volume educational manual on rhetoric written by the Roman author Pliny the Elder. The work is now a lost literary work.
According to his nephew, Pliny the Younger, Studiosus was a comprehensive guide that detailed the training of an orator from early childhood. Pliny the Younger described the work's purpose by stating: "The orator is trained from his very cradle and perfected."

Background

Pliny wrote Studiosus during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign. His nephew noted that this was a time when "every kind of literary pursuit which was in the least independent or elevated had been rendered dangerous by servitude." During this period of political peril, Pliny focused his writing on subjects considered "safe," such as grammar and rhetoric, avoiding the more dangerous work of contemporary history. The work was followed by another linguistic text, Dubii sermonis.