Letter 10067: After the messenger of King Sauromates had stayed of his own free will for two days in Nicaea, where he found me, I...
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
travel mobility
To Trajan.
After the messenger of King Sauromates had stayed of his own free will for two days in Nicaea, where he found me, I thought, Sir, that he ought to delay no longer, in the first place, because it was still uncertain when your freedman Lycormas would put in an appearance, and, in the second, because I myself was bound by pressing official business to go and visit another part of my province. I have felt it my duty to bring these facts to your knowledge, as I just recently wrote and told you that I had been asked by Lycormas to keep back any deputation which might come from the Bosphorus until his arrival. There is now no justifiable reason for my delaying him any longer, especially as I fancy the letter of Lycormas which, as I said before, I did not like to keep back, will arrive in Rome some days before this messenger.
L To Trajan.
After the messenger of King Sauromates had stayed of his own free will for two days in Nicaea, where he found me, I thought, Sir, that he ought to delay no longer, in the first place, because it was still uncertain when your freedman Lycormas would put in an appearance, and, in the second, because I myself was bound by pressing official business to go and visit another part of my province. I have felt it my duty to bring these facts to your knowledge, as I just recently wrote and told you that I had been asked by Lycormas to keep back any deputation which might come from the Bosphorus until his arrival. There is now no justifiable reason for my delaying him any longer, especially as I fancy the letter of Lycormas which, as I said before, I did not like to keep back, will arrive in Rome some days before this messenger.
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Legato Sauromatae regis; cum sua sponte Nicaeae, ubi me invenerat, biduo substitisset, longiorem moram faciendam, domine, non putavi, primum quod incertum adhuc erat, quando libertus tuus Lycormas venturus esset, deinde quod ipse proficiscebar in diversam provinciae partem, ita officii necessitate exigente. Haec in notitiam tuam perferenda existimavi, quia proxime scripseram petisse Lycormam, ut legationem, si qua venisset a Bosporo, usque in adventum suum retinerem. Quod diutius faciendi nulla mihi probabilis ratio occurrit, praesertim cum epistulae Lycormae, quas detinere, ut ante praedixi, nolui, aliquot diebus hinc legatum antecessurae viderentur.
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To Trajan.
After the messenger of King Sauromates had stayed of his own free will for two days in Nicaea, where he found me, I thought, Sir, that he ought to delay no longer, in the first place, because it was still uncertain when your freedman Lycormas would put in an appearance, and, in the second, because I myself was bound by pressing official business to go and visit another part of my province. I have felt it my duty to bring these facts to your knowledge, as I just recently wrote and told you that I had been asked by Lycormas to keep back any deputation which might come from the Bosphorus until his arrival. There is now no justifiable reason for my delaying him any longer, especially as I fancy the letter of Lycormas which, as I said before, I did not like to keep back, will arrive in Rome some days before this messenger.
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Legato Sauromatae regis; cum sua sponte Nicaeae, ubi me invenerat, biduo substitisset, longiorem moram faciendam, domine, non putavi, primum quod incertum adhuc erat, quando libertus tuus Lycormas venturus esset, deinde quod ipse proficiscebar in diversam provinciae partem, ita officii necessitate exigente. Haec in notitiam tuam perferenda existimavi, quia proxime scripseram petisse Lycormam, ut legationem, si qua venisset a Bosporo, usque in adventum suum retinerem. Quod diutius faciendi nulla mihi probabilis ratio occurrit, praesertim cum epistulae Lycormae, quas detinere, ut ante praedixi, nolui, aliquot diebus hinc legatum antecessurae viderentur.