Letter 10111: Though it is true my edicts forbid the grants of public money to individuals, yet it does not follow that grants...
Trajan to Pliny.
Though it is true my edicts forbid the grants of public money to individuals, yet it does not follow that grants made years ago ought to be inquired into anew and revoked and annulled, for to do so would shatter the position of a host of persons. Let us therefore ignore all such donations that are twenty years old, for I wish to do what is best, not only for the public funds of each city, but for the individuals living in it.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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