PtE Adjectives

From reading thus far into Pliny the Younger's letter describing his uncle, it seems as though Pliny the Elder was very scholarly, impulsive, and caring.
Pliny the Elder's scholarliness is without doubt, considering his endeavors into natural science and other academic fields. Exhibiting this trait is an excerpt from Pliny the Younger's letter in lines 24 and 25, talking about the cloud, "Magnum propiusque noscendum, ut eruditissimo viro, visum". Pliny the Elder realized, due to his scholarly capability, that such a massive and unusual thing was definitely worthy to be looked at closer. He was very studious, so much that he ran straight into danger in order to gain new knowledge.
This, however, gave way to him being impulsive. Yes he was scholarly and being so wanted to study this strange occurrence, but it is very irrational to literally drive into the face of peril without thinking about it. At once, after seeing this cloud, with no second guessing, "Iubet Liburnicam aptari" (line 26). This is a very impulsive thing to do. Yes this gigantic cloud may be worthy of studying but at the same time nothing good can come of a massively widespread cloud that seems to overtake the island itself. Deciding to go in his boat at the first sight of this cloud is extremely impulsive.
Lastly, Pliny the Elder seems very caring. On top of wanting to go into danger for scholarly purposes, he also does it to save his friends. What started as a mission for scholarly advancement turned into a rescue mission, "Vertit ille consilium et quod studioso animo incohaverat obit maximo" (line 31). And on top of this, when death seems the only option, he puts aside any fear he may have in order to secure the minds of his friends that he's trying to save, "...lotus accubat, cenat aut hilaris aut, quod est aeque magnum, similis hilari" (lines 50 to 51). He ate happily either because he himself was happy or in order to have the others around him be happy.
For these reasons, Pliny the Elder is scholarly, impulsive, and caring. He is scholarly and caring due to his goals for heading to Stabiae, and impulsive for making such a rash decision at the very beginning.

The Letter of Pliny's Intent (on Christians)

Pliny goes into such detail about the trials of the Christians and how he has dealt with them that it is almost impossible for this not to be aimed at 'leading the doubts' and 'instructing the ignorance' of the Roman people. He deliberately lays down every aspect of how to punish a Christian almost as if to make the Roman people treat them just as he has. He seems to want the Christians to be dealt with rather leniently, "dImittendOs esse putAvI" (line 22), unless of course they have no desire to repent. If they do, however, he wants them to be forgiven, "Ex quO facile est opInAri quae turba hominum, EmendArI possit, sI sit paenitentiae locus" (line 48-49). Pliny sees Christianity spreading and realizes the way to 'fix' it isn't by killing off all of them but by making them repent. It is clear he knows he won't be able to stop it by killing them, but he does think it is possible to correct it...
Pliny seems to believe the Christians are not a bad people. He says their rituals are "prOmiscuum tamen et innoxium" (line 34), so he must not hate them. If you hadn't had any direct contact with the Christians and had only read Pliny's letter, you wouldn't think Christians are that bad and would get the impression that Pliny isn't scared of them either. I think Pliny is trying to lessen the fear Romans have for Christians and make Romans realize they can't just go and kill all the Christians because that won't work. Pliny is trying to make the Romans feel how he feels so that this may be corrected, not worsened. Pliny is very smart.