Letter 10019: I beg, Sir, that you will give me the guidance of your advice.
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger
slavery captivity
To Trajan.
I beg, Sir, that you will give me the guidance of your advice. I am doubtful whether I ought to guard the prisons by means of the public slaves of the various states - which has been the custom until now - or by means of soldiers. For I am afraid that the public slaves are not to be depended upon as guards, and, on the other hand, this duty would take up the time of a very considerable number of soldiers. Meanwhile, I have added a few soldiers to the public slaves, but I see there is some danger of such a course making both negligent, so long as each section feels confident of being able to throw the blame of a fault both have committed upon the other.
L To Trajan.
I beg, Sir, that you will give me the guidance of your advice. I am doubtful whether I ought to guard the prisons by means of the public slaves of the various states - which has been the custom hitherto - or by means of soldiers. For I am afraid that the public slaves are not to be depended upon as guards, and, on the other hand, this duty would take up the time of a very considerable number of soldiers. Meanwhile, I have added a few soldiers to the public slaves, but I see there is some danger of such a course making both negligent, so long as each section feels confident of being able to throw the blame of a fault both have committed upon the other.
◆
To Trajan.
I beg, Sir, that you will give me the guidance of your advice. I am doubtful whether I ought to guard the prisons by means of the public slaves of the various states - which has been the custom until now - or by means of soldiers. For I am afraid that the public slaves are not to be depended upon as guards, and, on the other hand, this duty would take up the time of a very considerable number of soldiers. Meanwhile, I have added a few soldiers to the public slaves, but I see there is some danger of such a course making both negligent, so long as each section feels confident of being able to throw the blame of a fault both have committed upon the other.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.