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Correspondence With The Emperor TrajanPart X
Part X
XCI
To the Emperor Trajan
The inhabitants of Sinope^1 are ill supplied, Sir, with water, which,
however, may be brought thither from about sixteen miles` distance in great
plenty and perfection. The ground, indeed, near the source of this spring is,
for rather over a mile, of a very suspicious and marshy nature; but I have
directed an examination to be made (which will be effected at a small expense)
whether it is sufficiently firm to support any superstructure. I have taken
care to provide a sufficient fund for this purpose, if you should approve,
Sir, of a work so conducive to the health and enjoyment of this colony,
greatly distressed by a scarcity of water.
[Footnote 1: A thriving Greek colony in the territory of Sinopis, on the
Euxine.]
XCII
Trajan To Pliny
I would have you proceed, my dearest Secundus, in carefully examining
whether the ground you suspect is firm enough to support an aqueduct. For I
have no manner of doubt that the Sinopian colony ought to be supplied with
water; provided their finances will bear the expense of a work so conducive to
their health and pleasure.
XCIII
To the Emperor Trajan
The free and confederate city of the Amiseni^1 enjoys, by your
indulgence, the privilege of its own laws. A memorial being presented to me
there, concerning a charitable institution,^2 I have subjoined it to this
letter, that you may consider, Sir, whether, and how far, this society ought
to be licensed or prohibited.
[Footnote 1: A colony of Athenians in the province of Pontus. Their town,
Amisus, on the coast, was one of the residences of Mithridates.]
[Footnote 2: Casaubon, in his observations upon Theophrastus (as cited by one
of the commentators), informs us that there were at Athens and other cities of
Greece certain fraternities which paid into a common chest a monthly
contribution towards the support of such of their members who had fallen into
misfortunes; upon condition that, if ever they arrived to more prosperous
circumstances, they should repay into the general fund the money so advanced.
M.]
XCIV
Trajan to Pliny
If the petition of the Amiseni which you have transmitted to me,
concerning the establishment of a charitable society, be agreeable to their
own laws, which by the articles of alliance it is stipulated they shall enjoy,
I shall not oppose it; especially if these contributions are employed, not for
the purpose of riot and faction, but for the support of the indigent. In other
cities, however, which are subject to our laws, I would have all assemblies of
this nature prohibited.
XCV
To the Emperor Trajan
Suetonius Tranquillus, Sir, is a most excellent, honourable, and learned
man. I was so much pleased with his tastes and disposition that I have long
since invited him into my family, as my constant guest and domestic friend;
and my affection for him increased the more I knew of him. Two reasons concur
to render the privilege^1 which the law grants to those who have three
children particularly necessary to him; I mean the bounty of his friends, and
the ill success of his marriage. Those advantages, therefore, which nature had
denied to him, he hopes to obtain from your goodness, by my intercession. I am
thoroughly sensible, Sir, of the value of the privilege I am asking; but I
know, too, I am asking it from one whose gracious compliance with all my
desires I have amply experienced. How passionately I wish to do so in the
present instance, you will judge by my thus requesting it in my absence; which
I would not, had it not been a favour which I am more than ordinarily anxious
to obtain.
[Footnote 1: By the law for encouragement of matrimony (some account of which
has already been given in a previous note), as a penalty upon those who lived
bachelors, they were declared incapable of inheriting any legacy by will; so
likewise, if, being married, they had no children, they could not claim the
full advantage of benefactions of that kind. M.]
XCVI
Trajan to Pliny
You cannot but be sensible, my dearest Secundus, how reserved I am in
granting favours of the kind you desire; having frequently declared in the
senate that I had not exceeded the number of which I assured that illustrious
order I would be contented with. I have yielded, however, to your request, and
have directed an article to be inserted in my register, that I have conferred
upon Tranquillus, on my usual conditions, the privilege which the law grants
to those who have three children.
XCVII^2
To the Emperor Trajan
[Footnote 2: This letter is esteemed as almost the only genuine monument of
ecclesiastical antiquity relating to the times immediately succeeding the
Apostles, it being written at most not above forty years after the death of
St. Paul. It was preserved by the Christians themselves as a clear and
unsuspicious evidence of the purity of their doctrines, and is frequently
appealed to by the early writers of the Church against the calumnies of their
adversaries. M.]
It is my invariable rule, Sir, to refer to you in all matters where I
feel doubtful; for who is more capable of removing my scruples, or informing
my ignorance? Having never been present at any trials concerning those who
profess Christianity, I am unacquainted not only with the nature of their
crimes, or the measure of their punishment, but how far it is proper to enter
into an examination concerning them. Whether, therefore, any difference is
usually made with respect to ages, or no distinction is to be observed between
the young and the adult; whether repentance entitles them to a pardon, or, if
a man has been once a Christian, it avails nothing to desist from his error;
whether the very profession of Christianity, unattended with any criminal act,
or only the crimes themselves inherent in the profession are punishable; on
all these points I am in great doubt. In the meanwhile, the method I have
observed towards those who have been brought before me as Christians is this:
I asked them whether they were Christians; if they admitted it, I repeated the
question twice, and threatened them with punishment; if they persisted, I
ordered them to be at once punished: for I was persuaded, whatever the nature
of their opinions might be, a contumacious and inflexible obstinacy certainly
deserved correction. There were others also brought before me possessed with
the same infatuation, but being Roman citizens,^3 I directed them to be sent
to Rome. But this crime spreading (as is usually the case) while it was
actually under prosecution, several instances of the same nature occurred. An
anonymous information was laid before me containing a charge against several
persons, who upon examination denied they were Christians, or had ever been
so. They repeated after me an invocation to the gods, and offered religious
rites with wine and incense before your statue (which for that purpose I had
ordered to be brought, together with those of the gods), and even reviled the
name of Christ: whereas there is no forcing, it is said, those who are really
Christians into any of these compliances: I thought it proper, therefore, to
discharge them. Some among those who were accused by a witness in person at
first confessed themselves Christians, but immediately after denied it; the
rest owned indeed that they had been of that number formerly, but had now
(some above three, others more, and a few above twenty years ago) renounced
that error. They all worshipped your statue and the images of the gods,
uttering imprecations at the same time against the name of Christ. They
affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they met on a
stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as
to a divinity, binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of
any wicked design, but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to
falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to
deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then
reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal. From this custom, however, they
desisted after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your
commands, I forbade the meeting of any assemblies. After receiving this
account, I judged it so much the more necessary to endeavour to extort the
real truth, by putting two female slaves to the torture, who were said to
officiate^4 in their religious rites: but all I could discover was evidence of
an absurd and extravagant superstition. I deemed it expedient, therefore, to
adjourn all further proceedings, in order to consult you. For it appears to be
a matter highly deserving your consideration, more especially as great numbers
must be involved in the danger of these prosecutions, which have already
extended, and are still likely to extend, to persons of all ranks and ages,
and even of both sexes. In fact, this contagious superstition is not confined
to the cities only, but has spread its infection among the neighbouring
villages and country. Nevertheless, it still seems possible to restrain its
progress. The temples, at least, which were once almost deserted, begin now to
be frequented; and the sacred rites, after a long intermission, are again
revived; while there is a general demand for the victims, which till lately
found very few purchasers. From all this it is easy to conjecture what numbers
might be reclaimed if a general pardon were granted to those who shall repent
of their error.
[Footnote 3: It was one of the privileges of a Roman citizen, secured by the
Sempronian law, that he could not be capitally convicted but by the suffrage
of the people; which seems to have been still so far in force as to make it
necessary to send the persons here mentioned to Rome. M.]
[Footnote 4: These women, it is supposed, exercised the same office as Phoebe,
mentioned by St. Paul, whom he styles deaconess of the church of Cenchrea.
Their business was to tend the poor and sick, and other charitable offices; as
also to assist at the ceremony of female baptism, for the more decent
performance of that rite: as Vossius observes upon this passage. M.]
XCVIII
Trajan to Pliny
You have adopted the right course, my dearest Secundus, in investigating
the charges against the Christians who were brought before you. It is not
possible to lay down any general rule for all such cases. Do not go out of
your way to look for them. If indeed they should be brought before you, and
the crime is proved, they must be punished;^1 with the restriction, however,
that where the party denies he is a Christian, and shall make it evident that
he is not, by invoking our gods, let him (notwithstanding any former
suspicion) be pardoned upon his repentance. Anonymous informations ought not
to be received in any sort of prosecution. It is introducing a very dangerous
precedent, and is quite foreign to the spirit of our age.
[Footnote 1: If we impartially examine this prosecution of the Christians, we
shall find it to have been grounded on the ancient constitution of the state,
and not to have proceeded from a cruel or arbitrary temper in Trajan. The
Roman legislature appears to have been early jealous of any innovation in
point of public worship; and we find the magistrates, during the old republic,
frequently interposing in cases of that nature. Valerius Maximus has collected
some instances to that purpose (L. i., c. 3), and Livy mentions it as an
established principle of the earlier ages of the commonwealth, to guard
against the introduction of foreign ceremonies of religion. It was an old and
fixed maxim likewise of the Roman government not to suffer any unlicensed
assemblies of the people. From hence it seems evident that the Christians had
rendered themselves obnoxious not so much to Trajan as to the ancient and
settled laws of the state, by introducing a foreign worship, and assembling
themselves without authority. M.]
XCIX
To the Emperor Trajan
The elegant and beautiful city of Amastris,^2 Sir, has, among other
principal constructions, a very fine street and of considerable length, on one
entire side of which runs what is called indeed a river, but in fact is no
other than a vile common sewer, extremely offensive to the eye, and at the
same time very pestilential on account of its noxious smell. It will be
advantageous, therefore, in point of health, as well as decency, to have it
covered; which shall be done with your permission: as I will take care, on my
part, that money be not wanting for executing so noble and necessary a work.
[Footnote 2: On the coast of Paphlagonia.]
C
Trajan to Pliny
It is highly reasonable, my dearest Secundus, if the water which runs
through the city of Amastris is prejudicial, while uncovered, to the health of
the inhabitants, that it should be covered up. I am well assured you will,
with your usual application, take care that the money necessary for this work
shall not be wanting.
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