To Trajan.
There is a provision, Sir, in the Lex Pompeia - which is in force in Bithynia - to the effect that no one is to hold office or sit in the senate who is under thirty years of age, and it is also provided in the same law that all ex-magistrates are to have a seat in that Chamber. Then followed an edict of the Emperor Augustus permitting persons to hold the minor offices from their twenty-second year. The question arises, therefore, whether a man who held office before he was thirty can be admitted by the censors to the senate, and, if he can, whether by the same interpretation those who have not held office may also be appointed senators when they reach the age at which they may become magistrates. This practice has already been followed in some places, and it is said to be unavoidable on the ground that it is much preferable to admit into the senate the sons of well-born persons than to admit plebeians. When I was asked my opinion by the censors-elect, I said I thought that those who had held office before they were thirty might be appointed senators in accordance with the terms of the edict of Augustus and the Lex Pompeia, since Augustus allowed those under thirty to hold office, and the law declared that an ex-magistrate should sit in the senate. But I hesitated as to those who had not held office, though they had reached the age when they were eligible for such office. That is why, Sir, I ask your advice on the course you would have me adopt. I enclose with my letter both the heads of the Pompeian Law and the edict of Augustus.
L To Trajan.
There is a provision, Sir, in the Lex Pompeia - which is in force in Bithynia - to the effect that no one is to hold office or sit in the senate who is under thirty years of age, and it is also provided in the same law that all ex-magistrates are to have a seat in that Chamber. Then followed an edict of the Emperor Augustus permitting persons to hold the minor offices from their twenty-second year. The question arises, therefore, whether a man who held office before he was thirty can be admitted by the censors to the senate, and, if he can, whether by the same interpretation those who have not held office may also be appointed senators when they reach the age at which they may become magistrates. This practice has already been followed in some places, and it is said to be unavoidable on the ground that it is much preferable to admit into the senate the sons of well-born persons than to admit plebeians. When I was asked my opinion by the censors-elect, I said I thought that those who had held office before they were thirty might be appointed senators in accordance with the terms of the edict of Augustus and the Lex Pompeia, inasmuch as Augustus allowed those under thirty to hold office, and the law declared that an ex-magistrate should sit in the senate. But I hesitated as to those who had not held office, though they had reached the age when they were eligible for such office. That is why, Sir, I ask your advice on the course you would have me adopt. I enclose with my letter both the heads of the Pompeian Law and the edict of Augustus.
◆
To Trajan.
There is a provision, Sir, in the Lex Pompeia - which is in force in Bithynia - to the effect that no one is to hold office or sit in the senate who is under thirty years of age, and it is also provided in the same law that all ex-magistrates are to have a seat in that Chamber. Then followed an edict of the Emperor Augustus permitting persons to hold the minor offices from their twenty-second year. The question arises, therefore, whether a man who held office before he was thirty can be admitted by the censors to the senate, and, if he can, whether by the same interpretation those who have not held office may also be appointed senators when they reach the age at which they may become magistrates. This practice has already been followed in some places, and it is said to be unavoidable on the ground that it is much preferable to admit into the senate the sons of well-born persons than to admit plebeians. When I was asked my opinion by the censors-elect, I said I thought that those who had held office before they were thirty might be appointed senators in accordance with the terms of the edict of Augustus and the Lex Pompeia, since Augustus allowed those under thirty to hold office, and the law declared that an ex-magistrate should sit in the senate. But I hesitated as to those who had not held office, though they had reached the age when they were eligible for such office. That is why, Sir, I ask your advice on the course you would have me adopt. I enclose with my letter both the heads of the Pompeian Law and the edict of Augustus.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.