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Correspondence With The Emperor TrajanPart IV
Part IV
XXXI
Trajan to Pliny
There is no occasion, my dearest Secundus, to draw off any soldiers in order
to guard the prisons, Let us rather persevere in the ancient customs observed
in this province, of employing the public slaves for that purpose; and the
fidelity with which they shall execute their duty will depend much upon your
care and strict discipline. It is greatly to be feared, as you observe, if the
soldiers should be mixed with the public slaves, they will mutually trust to
each other, and by that means grow so much the more negligent. But my
principal objection is that as few soldiers as possible should be withdrawn
from their standard.
XXXII
To the Emperor Trajan
Gabius Bassus, who commands upon the frontiers of Pontica, in a manner
suitable to the respect and duty which he owes you, came to me, and has been
with me, Sir, for several days, As far as I could observe, he is a person of
great merit and worthy of your favour. I acquainted him it was your order that
he should retain only ten beneficiary^1 soldiers, two horse-guards, and one
centurion out of the troops which you were pleased to assign to my command. He
assured me those would not be sufficient, and that he would write to you
accordingly; for which reason I thought it proper not immediately to recall
his supernumeraries.
[Footnote 1: The most probable conjecture (for it is a point of a good deal of
obscurity) concerning the beneficiarii seems to be that they were a certain
number of soldiers exempted from the usual duty of their office, in order to
be employed as a sort of bodyguards to the general. These were probably foot;
as the equites here mentioned were perhaps of the same nature, only that they
served on horseback. Equites singulares Caesaris Augusti, &c., are frequently
met with upon ancient inscriptions, and are generally supposed to mean the
bodyguards of the emperor. M.]
XXXIII
Trajan to Pliny
I have received from Gabius Bassus the letter you mention, acquainting me
that the number of soldiers I had ordered him was not sufficient; and for your
information I have directed my answer to be hereunto annexed. It is very
material to distinguish between what the exigency of affairs requires and what
an ambitious desire of extending power may think necessary. As for ourselves,
the public welfare must be our only guide: accordingly it is incumbent upon us
to take all possible care that the soldiers shall not be absent from their
standard.
XXXIV
To the Emperor Trajan
The Prusenses, Sir, having an ancient bath which lies in a ruinous state,
desire your leave to repair it; but, upon examination, I am of opinion it
ought to be rebuilt. I think, therefore, you may indulge them in this request,
as there will be a sufficient fund for that purpose, partly from those debts
which are due from private persons to the public which I am now collecting in;
and partly from what they raise among themselves towards furnishing the bath
with oil, which they are willing to apply to the carrying on of this building;
a work which the dignity of the city and the splendour of your times seem to
demand.
XXXV
Trajan to Pliny
If the erecting a public bath will not be too great a charge upon the
Prusenses, we may comply with their request; provided, however, that no new
tax be levied for this purpose, nor any of those taken off which are
appropriated to necessary services.
XXXVI
To the Emperor Trajan
I am assured, Sir, by your freedman and receiver-general Maximus, that
it is necessary he should have a party of soldiers assigned to him, over and
besides the beneficiarii, whom by your orders I allotted to the very worthy
Gemellinus. Those, therefore, whom I found in his service, I thought proper he
should retain, especially as he was going into Paphlagonia,^1 in order to
procure corn. For his better protection likewise, and because it was his
request, I added two of the cavalry. But I beg you would inform me, in your
next despatches, what method you would have me observe for the future in
points of this nature.
[Footnote 1: A province in Asia Minor, bounded by the Black Sea on the north,
Bithynia on the west, Pontus on the east, and Phrygia on the south.]
XXXVII
Trajan to Pliny
As my freedman Maximus was going upon an extraordinary commission to
procure corn, I approve of your having supplied him with a file of soldiers.
But when he shall return to the duties of his former post, I think two from
you and as many from his coadjutor, my receiver-general Virdius Gemellinus,
will be sufficient.
XXXVIII
To the Emperor Trajan
The very excellent young man Sempronius Caelianus, having discovered two
slaves^2 among the recruits, has sent them to me. But I deferred passing
sentence till I had consulted you, the restorer and upholder of military
discipline, concerning the punishment proper to be inflicted upon them. My
principal doubt is this, whether although they have taken the military oath,
they are yet entered into any particular legion. I request you, therefore,
Sir, to inform me what course I should pursue in this affair, especially as it
concerns example.
[Footnote 2: The Roman policy excluded slaves from entering into military
service, and it was death if they did so. However, upon cases of great
necessity, this maxim was dispensed with; but then they were first made free
before they were received into the army, excepting only (as Servius in his
notes upon Virgil observes) after the fatal battle of Cannae; when the public
distress was so great that the Romans recruited their army with their slaves,
though they had not time to give them their freedom. One reason, perhaps, of
this policy might be that they did not think it safe to arm so considerable a
body of men, whose numbers, in the times when the Roman luxury was at its
highest, we may have some idea of by the instance which Pliny the naturalist
mentions of Claudius Isodorus, who at the time of his death was possessed of
no less than 4,116 slaves, notwithstanding he had lost great numbers in the
civil wars. Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 10. M.]
XXXIX
Trajan to Pliny
Sempronius Caelianus has acted agreeably to my orders, in sending such
persons to be tried before you as appear to deserve capital punishment. It is
material, however, in the case in question, to enquire whether these slaves
enlisted themselves voluntarily, or were chosen by the officers, or presented
as substitutes for others. If they were chosen, the officer is guilty; if they
are substitutes, the blame rests with those who deputed them; but if,
conscious of the legal inabilities of their station, they presented themselves
voluntarily, the punishment must fall upon their own heads. That they are not
yet entered into any legion, makes no great difference in their case; for they
ought to have given a true account of themselves immediately upon their being
approved as fit for the service.
XL
To the Emperor Trajan
As I have your permission, Sir, to address myself to you in all my
doubts, you will not consider it beneath your dignity to descend to those
humbler affairs which concern my administration of this province. I find there
are in several cities, particularly those of Nicomedia and Nicea, certain
persons who take upon themselves to act as public slaves, and receive an
annual stipend accordingly; notwithstanding they have been condemned either to
the mines, the public games,^1 or other punishments of the like nature. Having
received information of this abuse, I have been long debating with myself what
I ought to do. On the one hand, to send them back again to their respective
punishments (many of them being now grown old, and behaving, as I am assured,
with sobriety and modesty) would, I thought, be proceeding against them too
severely; on the other, to retain convicted criminals in the public service,
seemed not altogether decent. I considered at the same time to support these
people in idleness would be an useless expense to the public; and to leave
them to starve would be dangerous. I was obliged, therefore, to suspend the
determination of this matter till I could consult with you. You will be
desirous, perhaps, to be informed how it happened that these persons escaped
the punishments to which they were condemned. This enquiry I have also made,
but cannot return you any satisfactory answer. The decrees against them were
indeed produced; but no record appears of their having ever been reversed. It
was asserted, however, that these people were pardoned upon their petition to
the proconsuls, or their lieutenants; which seems likely to be the truth, as
it is improbable any person would have dared to set them at liberty without
authority.
[Footnote 1: A punishment among the Romans, usually inflicted upon slaves, by
which they were to engage with wild beasts, or perform the part of gladiators,
in the public shows. M.]
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