Letter 10077: You acted with your usual prudence, Sir, in instructing that eminent man, Calpurnius Macer, to send a legionary...
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
illnesstravel mobility
To Trajan.
You acted with your usual prudence, Sir, in instructing that eminent man, Calpurnius Macer, to send a legionary centurion to Byzantium. Consider, I pray, whether for similar reasons one should be sent to Juliopolis also, which, though one of the tiniest of free cities, has very heavy burdens to bear, and if any wrong is done to it, it is the more serious owing to its weakness. Moreover, whatever favours you confer on the people of Juliopolis will benefit the whole province, for the city lies at the extremity of Bithynia, and through it the large number of persons who travel through the province have to pass.
L To Trajan.
You acted with your usual prudence, Sir, in instructing that eminent man, Calpurnius Macer, to send a legionary centurion to Byzantium. Consider, I pray, whether for similar reasons one should be sent to Juliopolis also, which, though one of the tiniest of free cities, has very heavy burdens to bear, and if any wrong is done to it, it is the more serious owing to its weakness. Moreover, whatever favours you confer on the people of Juliopolis will benefit the whole province, for the city lies at the extremity of Bithynia, and through it the large number of persons who travel through the province have to pass.
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Providentissime, domine, fecisti, quod praecepisti Calpurnio Macro clarissimo viro, ut legionarium centurionem Byzantium mitteret. Dispice an etiam Iuliopolitanis simili ratione consulendum putes, quorum civitas, cum sit perexigua, onera maxima sustinet tantoque graviores iniurias quanto est infirmior patitur. Quidquid autem Iuliopolitanis praestiteris, id etiam toti provinciae proderit. Sunt enim in capite Bithyniae, plurimisque per eam commeantibus transitum praebent.
◆
To Trajan.
You acted with your usual prudence, Sir, in instructing that eminent man, Calpurnius Macer, to send a legionary centurion to Byzantium. Consider, I pray, whether for similar reasons one should be sent to Juliopolis also, which, though one of the tiniest of free cities, has very heavy burdens to bear, and if any wrong is done to it, it is the more serious owing to its weakness. Moreover, whatever favours you confer on the people of Juliopolis will benefit the whole province, for the city lies at the extremity of Bithynia, and through it the large number of persons who travel through the province have to pass.
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Providentissime, domine, fecisti, quod praecepisti Calpurnio Macro clarissimo viro, ut legionarium centurionem Byzantium mitteret. Dispice an etiam Iuliopolitanis simili ratione consulendum putes, quorum civitas, cum sit perexigua, onera maxima sustinet tantoque graviores iniurias quanto est infirmior patitur. Quidquid autem Iuliopolitanis praestiteris, id etiam toti provinciae proderit. Sunt enim in capite Bithyniae, plurimisque per eam commeantibus transitum praebent.