Letter 10066: The question you raise as to those who were born free and exposed by their parents, and then reared by other people...
Trajan to Pliny.
The question you raise as to those who were born free and exposed by their parents, and then reared by other people and brought up in a state of servitude, has often been dealt with, but I do not find in the records of my predecessors any general rule established for the whole of the provinces. Domitian certainly wrote letters to Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, which perhaps ought to be followed as precedents, but Bithynia is not one of the provinces covered by his letters. Consequently, I do not think that those who prove their right to freedom should have their claims refused, nor do I think that they should have to buy their freedom by paying the cost of their maintenance.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
I make a practice of following the rules of my predecessors in not making promiscuous grants of the Alexandrine...
It would be very hard on the provincials to lay upon them the necessity of approaching the pontifical college...
Let us not forget that you were sent to your province for the express reason that there seemed to be many abuses...
That lake you speak of may perhaps tempt me into making up my mind to connect it with the sea, but obviously careful...
Make a careful survey, my dear Pliny, as you have begun to do, to see whether the place which looks dangerous can...