Pliny's nine books of private correspondence document his engagement primarily with one activity, law. Their author is a court advocate, a legitimate player in his political circle, and a busy patron of friends in the centumviral court. Readers are told about the main trials in which he takes an active part, with numerous references to his revising, polishing, honing, and finally publishing his orations. But Pliny's engagement with oratory is not exclusive: it accompanies, and stands out against, a wider background of allusions to different literary activities, the first of which is the composition of poetry. In one of the later epistles of Book 9, he lightheartedly admits that excelling in one thing is better than doing several moderately well, but that moderate skill in several things is better if one lacks the ability to excel in one. Bearing this in mind, he admits, he has tried his hand at various styles of composition, lacking self-confidence in any one: