Letter 10117: I approve your apprehension that there is a look of bribery about invitations which are given on a wholesale scale...
Trajan to Pliny.
I approve your apprehension that there is a look of bribery about invitations which are given on a wholesale scale and exceed due limits, and bring people together in whole societies, as it were, to receive customary presents, which is a very different thing from giving a present to each man because you know him. But the reason I selected your prudent self as governor was that you might exercise a moderating influence upon the customs of that province, and that you might so order matters as to secure its future quiet.
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
TRAIANUS PLINIO
Merito vereris, ne in speciem διανομῆς incidat invitatio, quae et in numero modum excedit et quasi per corpora, non viritim singulos ex notitia ad sollemnes sportulas contrahit. Sed ego ideo prudentiam tuam elegi, ut formandis istius provinciae moribus ipse moderareris et ea constitueres, quae ad perpetuam eius provinciae quietem essent profutura.
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