Letter 10070: When I was looking about, Sir, for a place upon which to build the baths which you have graciously allowed to be...
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
imperial politics
To Trajan.
When I was looking about, Sir, for a place upon which to build the baths which you have graciously allowed to be erected at Prusa, * I was pleased with a site on which there once stood, I am told, a beautiful mansion which is now in a ruinous and unsightly condition. By choosing this we will beautify what is an eyesore in the city, and we will extend the city itself without pulling down any buildings, but by merely rebuilding on a finer scale structures which have crumbled away through old age. The history of this mansion is as follows :- Claudius Polyaenus left it in his will to Claudius Caesar, and gave orders that a temple should be erected to the Emperor in the colonnade and that the remainder of the house should be let. For some years the city enjoyed the rent arising therefrom, but as time went on the whole mansion fell in, parts of it being stolen and parts being allowed to decay, until now there is scarcely anything left of it but the ground it stood on. The city, Sir, will consider it a great favour if you will give them the site or order it to be put up for sale, as the situation is such a convenient one. For my own part, if you grant me your permission, I am thinking of clearing the courtyard and constructing the new baths upon it, and of surrounding with a hall and galleries the site on which the old buildings stood, and consecrating them to you, for the work will be a handsome one and worthy of bearing your name as its benefactor. I am sending to you a copy of the will, though it is an imperfect one, and from it you will see that Polyaenus left a considerable amount of furniture for the decoration of the mansion which, like the mansion itself, has now been lost, though I will do my best to recover it as far as possible.
[Note: See letter 24 of this book.]
L To Trajan.
When I was looking about, Sir, for a place upon which to build the baths which you have graciously allowed to be erected at Prusa, * I was pleased with a site on which there once stood, I am told, a beautiful mansion which is now in a ruinous and unsightly condition. By choosing this we shall beautify what is an eyesore in the city, and we shall extend the city itself without pulling down any buildings, but by merely rebuilding on a finer scale structures which have crumbled away through old age. The history of this mansion is as follows :- Claudius Polyaenus left it in his will to Claudius Caesar, and gave orders that a temple should be erected to the Emperor in the colonnade and that the remainder of the house should be let. For some years the city enjoyed the rent arising therefrom, but as time went on the whole mansion fell in, parts of it being stolen and parts being allowed to decay, until now there is scarcely anything left of it but the ground it stood on. The city, Sir, will consider it a great favour if you will give them the site or order it to be put up for sale, as the situation is such a convenient one. For my own part, if you grant me your permission, I am thinking of clearing the courtyard and constructing the new baths upon it, and of surrounding with a hall and galleries the site on which the old buildings stood, and consecrating them to you, for the work will be a handsome one and worthy of bearing your name as its benefactor. I am sending to you a copy of the will, though it is an imperfect one, and from it you will see that Polyaenus left a considerable amount of furniture for the decoration of the mansion which, like the mansion itself, has now been lost, though I shall do my best to recover it as far as possible.
(*) See letter 24 of this book.
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Quaerenti mihi, domine, Prusae ubi posset balineum quod indulsisti fieri, placuit locus in quo fuit aliquando domus, ut audio, pulchra, nunc deformis ruinis. Per hoc enim consequemur, ut foedissima facies civitatis ornetur, atque etiam ut ipsa civitas amplietur nec ulla aedificia tollantur, sed quae sunt vetustate sublapsa relaxentur in melius. Est autem huius domus condicio talis: legaverat eam Claudius Polyaenus Claudio Caesari iussitque in peristylio templum ei fieri, reliqua ex domo locari. Ex ea reditum aliquamdiu civitas percepit; deinde paulatim partim spoliata, partim neglecta cum peristylio domus tota collapsa est, ac iam paene nihil ex ea nisi solum superest; quod tu, domine, sive donaveris civitati sive venire iusseris, propter opportunitatem loci pro summo munere accipiet. Ego, si permiseris, cogito in area vacua balineum collocare, eum autem locum, in quo aedificia fuerunt, exedra et porticibus amplecti atque tibi consecrare, cuius beneficio elegans opus dignumque nomine tuo fiet. Exemplar testamenti, quamquam mendosum, misi tibi; ex quo cognosces multa Polyaenum in eiusdem domus ornatum reliquisse, quae ut domus ipsa perierunt, a me tamen in quantum potuerit requirentur.
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To Trajan.
When I was looking about, Sir, for a place upon which to build the baths which you have graciously allowed to be erected at Prusa, * I was pleased with a site on which there once stood, I am told, a beautiful mansion which is now in a ruinous and unsightly condition. By choosing this we will beautify what is an eyesore in the city, and we will extend the city itself without pulling down any buildings, but by merely rebuilding on a finer scale structures which have crumbled away through old age. The history of this mansion is as follows :- Claudius Polyaenus left it in his will to Claudius Caesar, and gave orders that a temple should be erected to the Emperor in the colonnade and that the remainder of the house should be let. For some years the city enjoyed the rent arising therefrom, but as time went on the whole mansion fell in, parts of it being stolen and parts being allowed to decay, until now there is scarcely anything left of it but the ground it stood on. The city, Sir, will consider it a great favour if you will give them the site or order it to be put up for sale, as the situation is such a convenient one. For my own part, if you grant me your permission, I am thinking of clearing the courtyard and constructing the new baths upon it, and of surrounding with a hall and galleries the site on which the old buildings stood, and consecrating them to you, for the work will be a handsome one and worthy of bearing your name as its benefactor. I am sending to you a copy of the will, though it is an imperfect one, and from it you will see that Polyaenus left a considerable amount of furniture for the decoration of the mansion which, like the mansion itself, has now been lost, though I will do my best to recover it as far as possible.
[Note: See letter 24 of this book.]
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Quaerenti mihi, domine, Prusae ubi posset balineum quod indulsisti fieri, placuit locus in quo fuit aliquando domus, ut audio, pulchra, nunc deformis ruinis. Per hoc enim consequemur, ut foedissima facies civitatis ornetur, atque etiam ut ipsa civitas amplietur nec ulla aedificia tollantur, sed quae sunt vetustate sublapsa relaxentur in melius. Est autem huius domus condicio talis: legaverat eam Claudius Polyaenus Claudio Caesari iussitque in peristylio templum ei fieri, reliqua ex domo locari. Ex ea reditum aliquamdiu civitas percepit; deinde paulatim partim spoliata, partim neglecta cum peristylio domus tota collapsa est, ac iam paene nihil ex ea nisi solum superest; quod tu, domine, sive donaveris civitati sive venire iusseris, propter opportunitatem loci pro summo munere accipiet. Ego, si permiseris, cogito in area vacua balineum collocare, eum autem locum, in quo aedificia fuerunt, exedra et porticibus amplecti atque tibi consecrare, cuius beneficio elegans opus dignumque nomine tuo fiet. Exemplar testamenti, quamquam mendosum, misi tibi; ex quo cognosces multa Polyaenum in eiusdem domus ornatum reliquisse, quae ut domus ipsa perierunt, a me tamen in quantum potuerit requirentur.