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52 (60.) — TO TRAJAN.
We have celebrated, sir, the day on which you saved the Empire by taking it on yourself, with all the joy which you merit: and we prayed the gods to preserve you in life and prosperity to the human race whose safeguard and security depends on your welfare. We set the example to the troops, too, in swearing allegiance in the customary way, which the provincials did in the same form, and with emulous loyalty.
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53 (61.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
I have learnt with pleasure from your letter, my dearest Secundus, how religiously and joyfully the troops, together with the provincials, followed you in celebrating the day of my accession.
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54 (62.) — TO TRAJAN.
The public moneys, sir, are, through your forethought and our ministry, either already collected or in the course of collection; and I fear they will lie idle. For there are no opportunities, or else very rare ones, of buying land: nor are persons to be found who are willing to be debtors to the state, particularly at twelve per cent., the rate at which they can borrow from private individuals. Consider then, sir, whether you think that the rate of interest should be lowered, and by these means eligible borrowers be attracted, and if even thus such persons are not to be found, whether the money should be distributed among the Decurions, on condition of their furnishing proper security to the state; which arrangement — though they may not like it, and may be for declining it — would be made less burdensome, in consequence of a lower rate of interest having been fixed.
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55 (63.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
I myself can perceive no other remedy, my dearest Secundus, than that the rate of interest should be lowered, in order to facilitate the investment of the public moneys.
You yourself must fix the limit in accordance with the number of those who shall be ready to borrow. To compel persons against their will to take what they themselves may perhaps find no employment for — this is a course which does not accord with the equity of my reign.
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56 (64.) — TO TRAJAN.
I return you, sir, the deepest thanks for deigning, amidst your great occupations, to direct me also as to those matters on which I have consulted you, and I would beg you to do this on the present occasion as well. For a person has come to me and informed me that his adversaries, though banished for three years by that distinguished man Servilius Calvus, still remain in the province. They, on the other hand, have affirmed that they were reinstated by the same governor, and have recited his edict to that effect. For this reason, I have thought it necessary to refer the matter in its entirety to you. For though it was provided in your mandates that I was not to reinstate persons banished by a former governor, or by myself, yet nothing was included in them on the subject of those who had been both banished and reinstated by a former governor. Therefore you, sir, had to be consulted as to what practice you would have me follow, as also, by Hercules, with regard to those who, though banished for life and never reinstated, are caught in the province. For this particular case too has fallen under my cognisance. A person was brought before me who was banished for life by Julius Bassus, the proconsul. Knowing that the acts of Bassus had been rescinded, and that the Senate had given to all those who had been the subjects of any of his decisions the right of trying the matter afresh, that is during a period of two years, I inquired of this person whom Bassus had banished, whether he had gone to the proconsul and instructed him. He said he had not. Hence I was brought to consult you as to whether he should be remitted to his punishment or whether you think that some still heavier penalty, and if so what particular one, should be constituted for him and for those, if such there happen to be, who may be found in a like case. I have appended to this letter the decree of Calvus and the edict, also the decree of Bassus.
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57 (65.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
As to the determination to be arrived at in the case of those persons who, having been banished for three years by P. Servilius Calvus, the proconsul, were soon afterwards reinstated by an edict of the same proconsul, and have remained in the province, I will shortly write you in reply, when I shall have inquired of Calvus himself his reasons for thus acting. The man who was banished for life by Julius Bassus — inasmuch as he had the power of taking action for the space of two years, in case he thought himself unjustly banished, and yet failed to do this, and moreover persisted in tarrying in the province — must be sent a prisoner to my Prætorian prefects. For it is not enough that he should be remitted to his former punishment, after evading it by his contumacy.
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58 (66.) — TO TRAJAN.
On my summoning the judges, sir, when opening my provincial court, Flavius Archippus began to plead excuse on the ground of being a philosopher. It was said by some that instead of being freed from the obligation of acting as judge, he ought to be removed altogether from the judicial list, and remitted to the punishment which he had escaped by breaking his chains. A decision of Velius Paulus, the proconsul, was cited, proving Archippus to have been condemned to the mines on a charge of forgery. He brought forward nothing to show that he had been reinstated: he alleged, however, in favour of his reinstatement, a memorial presented by himself to Domitian, and letters of the latter in which he was honourably mentioned, as also as a decree of the Prusenses. To these he added a letter written to him by yourself too, and an edict and a letter of your father confirming the favours granted by Domitian. Consequently, though such crimes were laid to the charge of this man, I deemed that nothing should be decreed till I had consulted you on a point which seemed worthy of being settled by you. I have added to this letter what was cited on both sides.
THE EPISTLE OF DOMITIAN TO TERENTIUS MAXIMUS.
Flavius Archippus, the philosopher, has begged me to grant him, in the neighbourhood of Prusa, his native place, some land sufficiently productive to maintain his family by its revenue. I will that this be accorded him. The whole sum expended you will charge to my liberality.
OF THE SAME TO L. APPIUS MAXIMUS.
I desire to recommend to you, my dear Maximus, Archippus the philosopher, a worthy man, and one whose conduct answers to his profession; and that you show him the full measure of your kindness in such things as he shall ask of you in moderation.
EDICT OF NERVA.
There are some things, Quirites, without doubt, which the felicity of these times spontaneously enjoins; nor is the goodness of a prince to be tested, in matters in which it is sufficient that it be understood: since the assurance, needing no reminder, of my subjects, is a warrant to them, that I have preferred the general security to my own repose, in order to confer many new favours, as well as to maintain those conceded before my time. In order, however, that no uncertainty may be introduced into the public joy, either through the diffidence of those who have obtained favours or through the recollection of him who granted them, I have deemed it at the same time a necessity and a pleasure, with the view of meeting all suspicions, to announce my kindly intentions. I am unwilling any one should suppose that what he has obtained either privately or publicly from another prince will be annulled by me, though it were only with the view of his owing it to me rather than another. All these things are hereby settled and confirmed: nor are fresh prayers necessary to complete the enjoyment of any one on whom the imperial favour has smiled. Let my subjects suffer me to find leisure for fresh benefits, and let them know that those things only are to be asked for which they do not possess.
LETTER OF THE SAME TO TULLIUS JUSTUS.
Inasmuch as all public ordinances which have received a commencement and completion in former reigns are to be observed, regard must also be paid to the
letters of Domitian.
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59 (67.) — TO TRAJAN.
Flavius Archippus has conjured me, “by your health and immortality,” to send you the memorial he has handed to me. I have thought it right to comply with a request so couched, on condition, however, of my informing the prosecutrix that I was going to send it. I got a memorial from her as well, and have appended it to these letters, that having, as it were, heard both sides, you might be in a better condition to judge what you think should be determined.
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60 (68.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
Domitian, to be sure, may have been ignorant of the situation of Archippus, when he wrote so much tending to his honour. But it is more in accordance with my nature to suppose that the intervention of the Emperor was actually for the purpose of relieving his situation, especially as such an honour as that of a statue was so often decreed to him by persons who were not ignorant of the sentence passed on him by the Proconsul Paulus. All this, however, my dearest Secundus, must not go so far as to make you think you should be the slower to hear, in case anything in the shape of a fresh charge is brought against him. I have read the memorials of Furia Prima, the prosecutrix, also those of Archippus himself, which you appended to your former letters.
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61 (69.) — TO TRAJAN.
You, sir, to be sure, with your great forethought, are apprehensive that if the lake be made to communicate with the river and so with the sea, it may be dried up. I, however, who am on the spot, fancy I have discovered a way of obviating this danger. The lake may be brought by means of a canal up to the river, and yet not be discharged into it, but be at the same time retained and kept separate from it, by leaving, as it were, a margin between the two. By this means we shall obtain as a result, that while the lake shall not seem to be emptied by being poured into the river, yet it will be as good as poured into it. For over this very small intermediate space it will be easy to transport to the river the cargoes brought to that point by means of the canal. The work will be so executed if necessity compels, though I hope it will not compel. For not only is the lake sufficiently high of itself, but also at the present moment it discharges a river on the opposite side, which may be dammed off from that direction, and diverted as we wish, and so, without any loss to the lake, be made to give all the water which it now carries. Moreover, on the ground along which the canal will have to be made, rivulets occur which, if they are carefully collected, will add to what the lake gives us. If, again, it be decided to prolong the canal, to dig it narrower, and to bring it on a level with the sea, and so to make it communicate not with the river but with the sea itself, the counter-pressure of the sea will preserve and keep back whatever comes from the lake. If the nature of the locality allowed of nothing of this kind, yet it would be easy to check the rapidity of the stream by means of sluices. However, these and other matters will be inquired into and investigated with much more sagacity by the surveyor whom you, sir, ought clearly to send according to promise. For the matter is one worthy of your greatness and your attention. I meanwhile have written to that distinguished man, Calpurnius Macer, at your suggestion, to send me as competent a surveyor as possible.
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62 (70.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
It is clear, my dearest Secundus, that you have been wanting neither in prudence nor in diligence in the matter of the lake of which you speak: since you have provided so many expedients, by means of which not only will there be no danger of its being exhausted, but also it will be made more serviceable to us. Choose, then, whatever the circumstances themselves shall particularly recommend. I take it that Calpurnius Macer will arrange to furnish you with a surveyor, nor are those provinces deficient in professionals of this kind.
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63 (13.) — TO TRAJAN.
Lycormas, your freedman, has written me word, sir, that if any embassy came here from Bosphorus, on its way to Rome, it should be detained till his arrival. Now no embassy has as yet come, at any rate to the city in which I am: but a courier has come from the king of Sarmatia: and availing myself of the opportunity which chance offered, I have thought it right to send him on in company with the courier who preceded Lycormas, that you might be informed at the same time, by the letters of Lycormas and those of the king, of matters which perhaps ought to come to your knowledge at one and the same time.
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64 (14.) — TO TRAJAN.
The king of Sarmatia has written me word that there are some matters on which you ought to be informed as soon as possible. For this reason I have helped to hasten the courier, whom he has sent to you with despatches, by the grant of a passport.
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65 (71.) — TO TRAJAN.
A great question, sir, and one affecting the whole province, is that of the status and keep of those who are called “foundlings.” In this matter, after hearing the constitutions of the Emperors, as I could find nothing in them either of a particular or a general kind applicable to the Bithynians, I have judged it proper to consult you as to the course you would have pursued: nor, indeed, did I think that in a matter demanding your supreme judgment I could possibly be satisfied with a mere precedent. An edict was, however, cited to me, which was said to be one by the Emperor Augustus relating to Annia. Letters were also cited of the Emperor Vespasian to the Lacedæmonians, of the Emperor Titus to the same, and of Domitian to the proconsuls Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, also to the Lacedæmonians. These I have not sent to you, because they seemed to me to be mere rough drafts and some of them of doubtful authenticity, and because I believe the genuine and corrected letters to be among your archives.
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66 (72.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
This question — relating to those who, born free, have been exposed, and have been subsequently taken up by certain parties and reared in servitude — has been often treated of; yet there is nothing to be found in the commentaries of the Emperors who have preceded me, in the shape of a settled rule for all the provinces. There are, to be sure, letters of Domitian to Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, which, perhaps, ought to be had in regard, but between those provinces which are the subjects of his rescript... among which is Bithynia. I think, therefore, that an adjudication of freedom should not be refused to those who claim their liberty on these grounds, and, moreover, that this same liberty does not need to be purchased at the price of their keep.
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67 (15.) — TO TRAJAN.
The ambassador of the king of Sarmatia having, of his own choice, halted a couple of days at Nicæa, where he found me, I judged, sir, that he ought not to be detained longer: first, because it was still uncertain when your freedman Lycormas would come, and next because I was myself starting for the other side of the province where the requirements of my office called me. I have thought these circumstances should be brought to your knowledge, because I recently wrote to you that Lycormas had asked me to detain till his arrival any embassy that might come from Bosphorus. No satisfactory reason occurs to me for doing this any longer, particularly as the letters of Lycormas (which I was unwilling, as I have before told you, to detain) seemed likely to precede this ambassador by some days.
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68 (73.) — TO TRAJAN.
Certain parties have petitioned me to allow them, in accordance with the precedents of former governors, to transfer the ashes of their relations, either on account of the injuries done by time, or the encroachments of the river, or on a variety of other similar grounds. Knowing that at Rome, in cases of this kind, application is wont to be made to the Pontifical College, I have thought
it right to consult you, sir, who are Pontifex Maximus, as to what course you would have me follow.
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69 (74.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
It would be hard to inflict on the provincials the necessity of applying to the Pontifices, if they are desirous, on any good grounds, of transferring the ashes of their relatives from the place where these lie to some other. You should, therefore, rather follow the precedents of those who have governed that province: and give the permission, or refuse it in each case, according to the merits.
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70 (75.) — TO TRAJAN.
On my inquiring, sir, whereabouts in Prusa the baths which you have accorded could be built, I pitched upon a spot where there was once, I am told, a fine house, now an unsightly ruin. In this way we shall insure that the extremely filthy aspect of the city will be improved, and even that the city itself will be enlarged, without any buildings being pulled down, but such as are crumbling with age being rebuilt on a larger and improved scale.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 35