La gara impari (o quasi) tra Plinio il Giovane e Tacito: nota a Plin. epist. 7, 20, 4.

The paper focuses on the quotation of Virgil, Aen. 5, 320 (proximus huic, longo sed proximus intervallo) in Pliny’s epistle 7, 20 to Tacitus; thanks to a deeper analysis of the virgilian context and its characters it is possible to give the quotation a new interpretation, also useful to throw light on the friendship and the rivalry between Pliny and Tacitus, especially felt by Pliny, who, in this as well as in other epistles, builds a skilful rhetorical strategy of ‘illusion’in order to mask the unbridgeable distance with Tacitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]