Letter 10010: I cannot express, Sir, in words the joy I experienced when I received your letter telling me that you had granted...
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
travel mobility
To Trajan.
I cannot express, Sir, in words the joy I experienced when I received your letter telling me that you had granted the Alexandrine as well as the Roman citizenship upon my ointment-doctor Harpocras, although you have made it a rule to follow the practice of your predecessors and not grant it promiscuously. I beg to inform you that Harpocras belongs to the district of Memphis. Let me beg of your great kindness, Sir, to send me a letter, as you promised, for your friend Pompeius Planta, the praefect of Egypt. As, Sir, I will come to meet you that I may enjoy the pleasure at the earliest moment of welcoming you on your long-hoped-for return, * I pray that you will permit me to join you on the road as far out from Rome as possible.
[Note: From Germany, in 99 A.D.]
L To Trajan.
I cannot express, Sir, in words the joy I experienced when I received your letter telling me that you had granted the Alexandrine as well as the Roman citizenship upon my ointment-doctor Harpocras, although you have made it a rule to follow the practice of your predecessors and not grant it promiscuously. I beg to inform you that Harpocras belongs to the district of Memphis. Let me beg of your great kindness, Sir, to send me a letter, as you promised, for your friend Pompeius Planta, the praefect of Egypt. As, Sir, I shall come to meet you that I may enjoy the pleasure at the earliest moment of welcoming you on your long-hoped-for return, * I pray that you will permit me to join you on the road as far out from Rome as possible.
(*) From Germany, in 99 A.D.
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Exprimere, domine, verbis non possum, quanto me gaudio affecerint epistulae tuae, ex quibus cognovi te Arpocrati, iatraliptae meo, et Alexandrinam civitatem tribuisse, quamvis secundum institutionem principum non temere eam dare proposuisses. Esse autem Arpocran νομοῦ . . . μεμφίτου indico tibi. Rogo ergo, indulgentissime imperator, ut mihi ad Pompeium Plantam praefectum Aegypti amicum tuum, sicut promisisti, epistulam mittas. Obviam iturus, quo maturius, domine, exoptatissimi adventus tui gaudio frui possim, rogo permittas mihi quam longissime occurrere tibi.
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To Trajan.
I cannot express, Sir, in words the joy I experienced when I received your letter telling me that you had granted the Alexandrine as well as the Roman citizenship upon my ointment-doctor Harpocras, although you have made it a rule to follow the practice of your predecessors and not grant it promiscuously. I beg to inform you that Harpocras belongs to the district of Memphis. Let me beg of your great kindness, Sir, to send me a letter, as you promised, for your friend Pompeius Planta, the praefect of Egypt. As, Sir, I will come to meet you that I may enjoy the pleasure at the earliest moment of welcoming you on your long-hoped-for return, * I pray that you will permit me to join you on the road as far out from Rome as possible.
[Note: From Germany, in 99 A.D.]
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Exprimere, domine, verbis non possum, quanto me gaudio affecerint epistulae tuae, ex quibus cognovi te Arpocrati, iatraliptae meo, et Alexandrinam civitatem tribuisse, quamvis secundum institutionem principum non temere eam dare proposuisses. Esse autem Arpocran νομοῦ . . . μεμφίτου indico tibi. Rogo ergo, indulgentissime imperator, ut mihi ad Pompeium Plantam praefectum Aegypti amicum tuum, sicut promisisti, epistulam mittas. Obviam iturus, quo maturius, domine, exoptatissimi adventus tui gaudio frui possim, rogo permittas mihi quam longissime occurrere tibi.