Letter 10038: Steps must certainly be taken to provide the city of Nicomedia with a water-supply, and I have every confidence that...

Pliny the YoungerPliny the Younger|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger
illnessproperty economics

Trajan to Pliny.

Steps must certainly be taken to provide the city of Nicomedia with a water-supply, and I have every confidence that you will undertake the duty with all necessary diligence. But I swear that it is also part of your diligent duty to find out who is to blame for the waste of such sums of money by the people of Nicomedia on their aqueducts, and whether or not there has been any serving of private interests in thus beginning and then abandoning the works. See that you bring to my knowledge whatever you may find out.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

Related Letters