debts which are due to the cities of Bithynia and Pontus, either for
rent, or goods sold, or upon any other consideration. I find they have a
privilege conceded to them by several proconsuls, of being preferred to
other creditors; and this custom has prevailed as if it had been
established by law. Your prudence, I imagine, will think it necessary to
enact some settled rule, by which their rights may always be secured.
For the edicts of others, how wisely however founded, are but feeble and
temporary ordinances, unless confirmed and sanctioned by your authority.
CX -- TRAJAN TO PLINY
THE right which the cities either of Pontus or Bithynia claim relating
to the recovery of debts of whatever kind, due to their several
communities, must be determined agreeably to their respective laws.
Where any of these communities enjoy the privilege of being preferred to
other creditors, it must be maintained; but, where no such privilege
prevails, it is not just I should establish one, in prejudice of private
property.
CXI -- To THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
THE solicitor to the treasury of the city of Amisis instituted a claim,
Sir, before me against Julius Piso of about forty thousand
denarii,[1072] presented to him by the public above twenty years ago,
with the consent of the general council and assembly of the city: and he
founded his demand upon certain of your edicts, by which donations of
this kind are prohibited. Piso, on the other hand, asserted that he had
conferred large sums of money upon the community, and, indeed, had
thereby expended almost the whole of his estate. He insisted upon the
length of time which had intervened since this donation, and hoped that
he should not be compelled, to the ruin of the remainder of his
fortunes, to refund a present which had been granted him long since, in
return for many good offices he had done the city. For this reason, Sir,
I thought it necessary to suspend giving any judgment in this cause till
I shall receive your directions.
CXII -- TRAJAN TO PLINY
THOUGH by my edicts I have ordained that no largesses shall be given out
of the public money, yet, that numberless private persons may not be
disturbed in the secure possession of their fortunes, those donations
which have been made long since ought not to be called in question or
revoked. We will not therefore enquire into anything that has been
transacted in this affair so long ago as twenty years; for I would be no
less attentive to secure the repose of every private man than to
preserve the treasure of every public community.
CXIII -- To THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
THE Pompeian law, Sir, which is observed in Pontus and Bithynia, does
not direct that any money for their admission shall be paid in by those
who are elected into the senate by the censors. It has, however, been
usual for such members as have been admitted into those assemblies, in
pursuance of the privilege which you were pleased to grant to some
particular cities, of receiving above their legal number, to pay
one[1073] or two thousand denarii[1074] on their election. Subsequent to
this, the proconsul Anicius Maximus ordained (though indeed his edict
related to some few cities only) that those who were elected by the
censors should also pay into the treasury a certain sum, which varied in
different places. It remains, therefore, for your consideration whether
it would not be proper to settle a certain sum for each member who is
elected into the councils to pay upon his entrance; for it well becomes
you, whose every word and action deserves to be immortalized, to
establish laws that shall endure for ever.
CXIV -- TRAJAN TO PLINY
I CAN give no general directions applicable to all the cities of
Bithynia, in relation to those who are elected members of their
respective councils, whether they shall pay an honorary fee upon their
admittance or not. I think that the safest method which can be pursued
is to follow the particular laws of each city; and I also think that the
censors ought to make the sum less for those who are chosen into the
senate contrary to their inclinations than for the rest.
CXV -- To THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
THE Pompeian law, Sir, allows the Bithynians to give the freedom of
their respective cities to any person they think proper, provided he is
not a foreigner, but native of some of the cities of this province. The
same law specifies the particular causes for which the censors may expel
any member of the senate, but makes no mention of foreigners. Certain of
the censors therefore have desired my opinion whether they ought to
expel a member if he should happen to be a foreigner. But I thought it
necessary to receive your instructions in this case; not only because
the law, though it forbids foreigners to be admitted citizens, does not
direct that a senator shall be expelled for the same reason, but because
I am informed that in every city in the province a great number of the
senators are foreigners. If, therefore, this clause of the law, which
seems to be antiquated by a long custom to the contrary, should be
enforced, many cities, as well as private persons, must be injured by
it. I have annexed the heads of this law to my letter.
CXVI -- TRAJAN TO PLINY
You might well be doubtful, my dearest Secundus, what reply to give to
the censors, who consulted you concerning their right to elect into the
senate foreign citizens, though of the same province. The authority of
the law on one side, and long custom prevailing against it on the other,
might justly occasion you to hesitate, The proper mean to observe in
this case will be to make no change in what is past, but to allow those
senators who are already elected, though contrary to law, to keep their
seats, to whatever city they may belong; in all future elections,
however, to pursue the directions of the Pompeian law: for to give it a
retrospective operation would necessarily introduce great confusion.
CXVII -- To THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
IT is customary here upon any person taking the manly robe, solemnising
his marriage, entering upon the office of a magistrate, or dedicating
any public work, to invite the whole senate, together with a
considerable part of the commonalty, and distribute to each of the
company one or two denarii.[1075] I request you to inform me whether you
think proper this ceremony should be observed, or how far you approve of
it. For myself, though I am of opinion that upon some occasions,
especially those of public festivals, this kind of invitation may be
permitted, yet, when carried so far as to draw together a thousand
persons, and sometimes more, it seems to be going beyond a reasonable
number, and has somewhat the appearance of ambitious largesses.
CXVIII -- TRAJAN TO PLINY
You very justly apprehended that those public invitations which extend
to an immoderate number of people, and where the dole is distributed,
not singly to a few acquaintances, but, as it were, to whole collective
bodies, may be turned to the factious purposes of ambition. But I
appointed you to your present government, fully relying upon your
prudence, and in the persuasion that you would take proper measures for
regulating the manners and settling the peace of the province.
CXIX -- To THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
THE athletic victors, Sir, in the Iselastic[1076] games, conceive that
the stipend you have established for the conquerors becomes due from the
day they are crowned: for it is not at all material, they say, what time
they were triumphantly conducted into their country, but when they
merited that honour. On the contrary, when I consider the meaning of the
term Iselastic, I am strongly inclined to think that it is intended the
stipend should commence from the time of their public entry. They
likewise petition to be allowed the treat you give at those combats
which you have converted into Iselastic, though they were conquerors
before the appointment of that institution: for it is but reasonable,
they assert, that they should receive the reward in this instance, as
they are deprived of it at those games which have been divested of the
honour of being Iselastic, since their victory. But I am very doubtful,
whether a retrospect should be admitted in the case in question, and a
reward given, to which the claimants had no right at the time they
obtained the victory. I beg, therefore, you would be pleased to direct
my judgment in these points, by explaining the intention of your own
benefactions.
CXX -- TRAJAN TO PLINY
THE stipend appointed for the conqueror in the Iselastic games ought
not, I think, to commence till he makes his triumphant entry into his
city. Nor are the prizes, at those combats which I thought proper to
make Iselastic, to be extended backwards to those who were victors
before that alteration took place. With regard to the plea which these
athletic combatants urge, that they ought to receive the Iselastic prize
at those combats which have been made Iselastic subsequent to their
conquests, as they are denied it in the same case where the games have
ceased to be so, it proves nothing in their favour; for notwithstanding
any new arrangements which has been made relating to these games, they
are not called upon to return the recompense which they received prior
to such alteration.
CXXI -- To THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
I HAVE hitherto never, Sir, granted an order for post-chaises to any
person, or upon any occasion, but in affairs that relate to your
administration. I find myself, however, at present under a sort of
necessity of breaking through this fixed rule. My wife having received
an account of her grandfather's death, and being desirous to wait upon
her aunt with all possible expedition, I thought it would be unkind to
deny her the use of this privilege; as the grace of so tender an office
consists in the early discharge of it, and as I well knew a journey
which was founded in filial piety could not fail of your approbation. I
should think myself highly ungrateful therefore, were I not to
acknowledge that, among other great obligations which I owe to your
indulgence, I have this in particular, that, in confidence of your
favour, I have ventured to do, without consulting you, what would have
been too late had I waited for your consent.
CXXII -- TRAJAN TO PLINY
You did me justice, my dearest Secundus, in confiding in my affection
towards you. Without doubt, if you had waited for my consent to forward
your wife in her journey by means of those warrants which I have
entrusted to your care, the use of them would not have answered your
purpose; since it was proper this visit to her aunt should have the
additional recommendation of being paid with all possible expedition.
FOOTNOTES TO THE CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EMPEROR TRAJAN 1001 (return) [
The greater part of the following letters were written by Pliny during
his administration in the province of Bithynia. They are of a style and
character extremely different from those in the preceding collection;
whence some critics have injudiciously inferred that they are the
production of another hand: not considering that the occasion
necessarily required a different manner. In letters of business, as
these chiefly are, turn and sentiment would be foreign and impertinent;
politeness and elegance of expression being the essentials that
constitute perfection in this kind: and in that view, though they may be
less entertaining, they have not less merit than the former. But besides
their particular excellence as letters, they have a farther
recommendation as so many valuable pieces of history, by throwing a
strong light upon the character of one of the most amiable and glorious
princes in the Roman annals. Trajan appears throughout in the most
striking attitude that majesty can be placed in; in the exertion of
power to the godlike purposes of justice and benevolence: and what one
of the ancient historians has said of him is here clearly verified, that
"he rather chose to be loved than flattered by his people." To have been
distinguished by the favour and friendship of a monarch of so exalted a
character is an honour that reflects the brightest lustre upon our
author; as to have been served and celebrated by a courtier of Pliny's
genius and virtues is the noblest monunient of glory that could have
been raised to Trajan. M.]
1002 (return) [ Nerva, who succeeded Domitian, reigned but sixteen
months and a few days. Before his death he not only adopted Trajan, and
named him for his successor, but actually admitted him into a share of
the government; giving him the titles of Cæsar, Germanicus and
Imperator. Vid. Plin. Paneg. M.]
1003 (return) [ $16,000.]
1004 (return) [ One of the four governments of Lower Egypt. M.]
1005 (return) [ The extensive power of paternal authority was (as has
been observed in the notes above) peculiar to the Romans. But after
Chrysippus was made a denizen of Rome, he was not, it would seem,
consequentially entitled to that privilege over those children which
were born before his denization. On the other hand, if it was expressly
granted him, his children could not preserve their right of patronage
over their own freedmen, because that right would of course devolve to
their father, by means of this acquired dominion over them. The
denization therefore of his children is as expressly solicited as his
own. But both parties becoming quirites, the children by this creation,
and not pleading in right of their father, would be patres fam. To
prevent which the clause is added, "ita ut sint in patris potestate:" as
there is another to save to them their rights of patronage over their
freedmen, though they were reduced in patriam potestate. M.]
1006 (return) [ Pliny enjoyed the office of treasurer in conjunction
with Cornutus Tertullus. It was the custom at Rome for those who had
colleagues to administer the duties of their posts by monthly turns.
Buchner. M.]
1007 (return) [ About $16,000; the annual income of Pliny's estate in
Tuscany. He mentions another near Comum in Milan, the yearly value of
which does not appear. We find him likewise meditating the purchase of
an estate, for which he was to give about $117,000 of our money; but
whether he ever completed that purchase is uncertain. This, however, we
are sure of, that his fortunes were but moderate, considering his high
station and necessary expenses: and yet, by the advantage of a judicious
economy, we have seen him in the course of these letters, exercising a
liberality of which after ages have furnished no parallel. M.]
1008 (return) [ The senators were not allowed to go from Rome into the
provinces without having first obtained leave of the emperor. Sicily,
however, had the privilege to be excepted out of that law; as Gallia
Narbonensis afterwards was, by Claudius Cæsar. Tacit. Ann. XII. C. 23.
M.]
1009 (return) [ One of the seven priests who presided over the feasts
appointed in honour of Jupiter and the other gods, an office, as
appears, of high dignity, since Pliny ranks it with the augurship.]
1010 (return) [ Bithynia, a province in Anatolia, or Asia Minor, of
which Pliny was appointed governor by Trajan, in the sixth year of his
reign, A. D. 103, not as an ordinary proconsul, but as that emperor's
own lieutenant, with powers extraordinary. (See Dio.) The following
letters were written during his administration of that province. M.]
1011 (return) [ A north wind in the Grecian seas, which rises yearly
some time in July, and continues to the end of August; though others
extend it to the middle of September. They blow only in the day-time.
Varenius's Geogr. V.I. p. 513. M.]
1012 (return) [ The inhabitants of Prusa (Brusa), a principal city of
Bithynia.]
1013 (return) [ In the sixth year of Trajan's reign, A. D. 103, and the
41st of our author's age: he continued in this province about eighteen
months. Vid. Mass, in Vit. Phin. 129. M.]
1014 (return) [ Among other noble works which this glorious emperor
executed, the forum or square which went by his name seems to have been
the most magnificent. It was built with the foreign spoils he had taken
in war. The covering of this edifice was all brass, the porticoes
exceedingly beautiful and magnificent, with pillars of more than
ordinary height and dimensions. In the centre of this forum was erected
the famous pillar which has been already described.]
1015 (return) [ It is probable the victory here alluded to was that
famous one which Trajan gained over the Daciaiss; some account of which
has been given in the notes above. It is certain, at least, Pliny lived
to see his wish accomplished, this emperor having carried the Roman
splendour to its highest pitch, and extended the dominions of the empire
farther than any of his predecessors; as after his death it began to
decline. M.]
1016 (return) [ The capital of Bithynia; its modern name is Izmid.]
1017 (return) [ The town of Panticapoeum, also called Bosporus, standing
on the European side of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Straits of Kaffa), in
the modern Crimea.]
1018 (return) [ Nicea (as appears by the 15th letter of this book), a
city in Bithynia, now called Iznik. M.]
1019 (return) [ Sarmatia was divided into European, Asiatic, and German
Sarmatia. It is not exactly known what bounds the ancients gave to this
extensive region; however, in general, it comprehended the northern part
of Russia, and the greater part of Poland, &c. M.]
1020 (return) [ The first invention of public couriers is ascribed to
Cyrus, who, in order to receive the earliest intelligence from the
governors of the several provinces, erected post-houses throughout the
kingdom of Persia, at equal distances, which supplied men and horses to
forward the public despatches. Augustus was the first who introduced
this most useful institution among the Romans, by employing post-
chaises, disposed at convenient distances, for the purpose of political
intelligence. The magistrates of every city were obliged to furnish
horses for these messengers, upon producing a diploma, or a kind of
warrant, either from the emperor himself or from those who had that
authority under him. Sometimes, though upon very extraordinary
occasions, persons who travelled upon their private affairs, were
allowed the use of these post-chaises. It is surprising they were not
sooner used for the purposes of commerce and private communication.
Louis XI. first established them in France, in the year 1414; but it was
not till later (date uncertain) that the post-office was settled in
England by Act of Parliament, M.]
1021 (return) [ Particular temples, altars, and statues were allowed
among the Romans as places of privilege and sanctuary to slaves, debtors
and malefactors. This custom was introduced by Romulus, who borrowed it
probably from the Greeks; but during the free state of Rome, few of
these asylums were permitted. This custom prevailed most under the
emperors, till it grew so scandalous that the Emperor Pius found it
necessary to restrain those privileged places by an edict. See Lipsii
Excurs. ad Taeiti Ann. III, C. 36, M.]
1022 (return) [ General under Deeebalus, king of the Dacians. M.]
1023 (return) [ A province in Daeia, comprehending the southern parts of
Servia and part of Bulgaria. M.]
1024 (return) [ The second expedition of Trajan against Decebalus was
undertaken the same year that Pliny went governor into this province;
the reason therefore why Pliny sent this Calhidromus to the emperor
seems to be that some use might possibly be made of him in favour of
that design, M.]
1025 (return) [ Receiver of the finances. M.]
1026 (return) [ The coast round the Black Sea.]
1027 (return) [ The text calls him primipilarem, that is, one who had
been Prirnipilus, in officer in the army, whose post was both highly
honourable and profitable; among other parts of his office he had the
care of the eagle, or chief standard of the legion. M.]
1028 (return) [ Slaves who were purchased by the public. M.]
1029 (return) [ The most probable conjecture (for it is a point of a
good deal of obscurity) concerning the beneficiary seems to be that they
were a certain number of soldiers exempted from the usual duty of their
office, in order to be employed as a sort of body-guards to the general.
These were probably foot; as the equites here mentioned were perhaps of
the same nature, only that they served on horseback. Equites singulares
Cæsaris Augusti, &c., are frequently met with upon ancient inscriptions,
and are generally supposed to mean the bodyguards of the emperor. M.]
1030 (return) [ A province in Asia Minor, bounded by the Black Sea on
the north, Bithynia on the west, Pontus on the east, and Phrygia on the
south.]
1031 (return) [ The Roman policy excluded slaves from entering into
military service, and it was death if they did so. However, upon cases
of great necessity, this maxim was dispensed with; but then they were
first made free before they were received into the army, excepting only
(as Servius in his notes upon Virgil) observes after the fatal battle of
Cannae; when the public distress was so great that the Romans recruited
their army with their slaves, though they had not time to give them
their freedom. One reason, perhaps, of this policy might be that they
did not think it safe to arm so considerable a body of men, whose
numbers, in the times when the Roman luxury was at its highest, we may
have some idea of by the instance which Pun the naturalist mentions of
Claudius Isodorus, who at the time of his death was possessed of no less
than 4,116 slaves, notwithstanding he had lost great numbers in the
civil wars. Pun. Hist. Nat. XXXIII. 10. M.]
1032 (return) [ A punishment among the Romans, usually inflicted upon
slaves, by which they were to engage with wild beasts, or perform the
part of gladiators, in the public shows. M.]
1033 (return) [ It has been generally imagined that the ancients had not
the art of raising water by engines; but this passage seems to favour
the contrary opinion. The word in the original is sipho, which Hesychius
explains (as one of the commentators observes) "instrumentuns ad
jaculandas aquas adversas incendia; an instrument to throw up water
against fires." But there is a passage in Seneca which seems to put this
matter beyond conjecture, though none of the critics upon this place
have taken notice of it: "Solemiss," says he, "duabus manibus inter se
junctis aguam concipere, et com pressa utrinque palma in modum ciphonis
exprimere" (Q. N. 1. II. 16) where we plainly see the use of this sipho
was to throw UP water, and consequently the Romans were acquainted with
that art. The account which Pliny gives of his fountains at Tuscum is
likewise another evident proof. M.]
1034 (return) [ This was an anniversary custom observed throughout the
empire on the 30th of December. M.]
1035 (return) [ About $132,000.]
1036 (return) [ About $80,000.]
1037 (return) [ About $400,000. To those who are not acquainted with the
immense riches of the ancients, it may seem incredible that a city, and
not the capital one either, of a conquered province should expend so
large a sum of money upon only the shell (as it appears to be) of a
theatre: but Asia was esteemed the most considerable part of the world
for wealth; its fertility and exportations (as Tully observes) exceeding
that of all other countries. M.]
1038 (return) [ The word carte, in the original, comprehends more than
what we call the pit in our theatres, as at means the whole space lit
which the spectators sat. These theatres being open at the top, the
galleries here mentioned were for the convenience of retiring in bad
weather. M.]
1039 (return) [ A place in which the athletic exercises were performed,
and where the philosophers also used to read their lectures. M.]
1040 (return) [ The Roman foot consisted of 11.71 inches of our
standard, M.]
1041 (return) [ A colony in the district of Cataonia, in Cappadocia.]
1042 (return) [ The honorary senators, that is, such who were not
received into the council of the city by election, but by the
appointment of the emperor, paid a certain sum of money upon their
admission into the senate. M.]
1043 (return) [ "Graeculi. Even under the empire, with its relaxed
morality and luxurious tone, the Romans continued to apply this
contemptuous designation to people to whom they owed what taste for art
and culture they possessed." Church and Brodribb.]
1044 (return) [ A Roman cubit is equal to a foot 5.406 inches of our
measure. Arbuthanot's Tab. M.]
1045 (return) [ About $480.]
1046 (return) [ About $120.]
1047 (return) [ A diploma is properly a grant of certain privileges
either to particular places or persons. It signifies also grants of
other kinds; and it sometimes means post-warrants, as, perhaps, it does
in this place. M.]