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Correspondence With The Emperor TrajanPart XII
Part XII
CXI
To the Emperor Trajan
The solicitor to the treasury of the city of Amisus instituted a claim,
Sir, before me against Julius Piso of about forty thousand denarii,^1
presented to him by the public above twenty years ago, with the consent of the
general council and assembly of the city: and he founded his demand upon
certain of your edicts, by which donations of this kind are prohibited. Piso,
on the other hand, asserted that he had conferred large sums of money upon the
community, and indeed had thereby expended almost the whole of his estate. He
insisted upon the length of time which had intervened since this donation, and
hoped that he should not be compelled, to the ruin of the remainder of his
fortunes, to refund a present which had been granted him long since, in return
for many good offices he had done the city. For this reason, Sir, I thought it
necessary to suspend giving any judgment in this cause till I shall receive
your directions.
[Footnote 1: About $7,000.]
CXII
Trajan to Pliny
Though by my edicts I have ordained that no largesses shall be given out
of the public money, yet, that numberless private persons may not be disturbed
in the secure possession of their fortunes, those donations which have been
made long since ought not to be called in question or revoked. We will not,
therefore, enquire into anything that has been transacted in this affair so
long ago as twenty years; for I would be no less attentive to secure the
repose of every private man than to preserve the treasure of every public
community.
CXIII
To the Emperor Trajan
The Pompeian law, Sir, which is observed in Pontus and Bithynia, does not
direct that any money for their admission shall be paid in by those who are
elected into the senate by the censors. It has, however, been usual for such
members as have been admitted into those assemblies, in pursuance of the
privilege which you were pleased to grant to some particular cities, of
receiving above their legal number, to pay one^1 or two thousand denarii^2 on
their election. Subsequent to this, the proconsul Anicius Maximus ordained
(though indeed his edict related to some few cities only) that those who were
elected by the censors should also pay into the treasury a certain sum, which
varied in different places. It remains, therefore, for your consideration
whether it would not be proper to settle a certain sum for each member who is
elected into the councils to pay upon his entrance; for it well becomes you,
whose every word and action deserve to be immortalized, to establish laws that
shall endure for ever.
[Footnote 1: About $175.]
[Footnote 2: About $350.]
CXIV
Trajan to Pliny
I can give no general directions applicable to all the cities of
Bithynia, in relation to those who are elected members of their respective
councils, whether they shall pay an honorary fee upon their admittance or not.
I think that the safest method which can be pursued is to follow the
particular laws of each city; and I also think that the censors ought to make
the sum less for those who are chosen into the senate contrary to their
inclinations than for the rest.
CXV
To the Emperor Trajan
The Pompeian law, Sir, allows the Bithynians to give the freedom of their
respective cities to any person they think proper, provided he is not a
foreigner, but native of some of the cities of this province. The same law
specifies the particular causes for which the censors may expel any member of
the senate, but makes no mention of foreigners. Certain of the censors,
therefore, have desired my opinion whether they ought to expel a member if he
should happen to be a foreigner. But I thought it necessary to receive your
instructions in this case; not only because the law, though it forbids
foreigners to be admitted citizens, does not direct that a senator shall be
expelled for the same reason, but because I am informed that in every city in
the province a great number of the senators are foreigners. If, therefore,
this clause of the law, which seems to be antiquated by a long custom to the
contrary, should be enforced, many cities, as well as private persons, must be
injured by it. I have annexed the heads of this law to my letter.
CXVI
Trajan to Pliny
You might well be doubtful, my dearest Secundus, what reply to give to
the censors, who consulted you concerning their right to elect into the senate
foreign citizens, though of the same province. The authority of the law on one
side, and long custom prevailing against it on the other, might justly
occasion you to hesitate. The proper mean to observe in this case will be to
make no change in what is past, but to allow those senators who are already
elected, though contrary to law, to keep their seats, to whatever city they
may belong; in all future elections, however, to pursue the directions of the
Pompeian law: for to give it a retrospective operation would necessarily
introduce great confusion.
CXVII
To the Emperor Trajan
It is customary here upon any person taking the manly robe, solemnizing
his marriage, entering upon the office of a magistrate, or dedicating any
public work, to invite the whole senate, together with a considerable part of
the commonalty, and distribute to each of the company one or two denarii.^1 I
request you to inform me whether you think proper this ceremony should be
observed, or how far you approve of it. For myself, though I am of opinion
that upon some occasions, especially those of public festivals, this kind of
invitation may be permitted, yet, when carried so far as to draw together a
thousand persons, and sometimes more, it seems to be going beyond a reasonable
number, and has somewhat the appearance of ambitious largesses.
[Footnote 1: The denarius = 17 cents. The sum total, then, distributed among
one thousand persons at the rate of, say, two denarii apiece would amount to
about $350.]
CXVIII
Trajan to Pliny
You very justly apprehend that those public invitations which extend to
an immoderate number of people, and where the dole is distributed, not singly
to a few acquaintances, but, as it were, to whole collective bodies, may be
turned to the factious purposes of ambition. But I appointed you to your
present government, fully relying upon your prudence, and in the persuasion
that you would take proper measures for regulating the manners and settling
the peace of the province.
CXIX
To the Emperor Trajan
The athletic victors, Sir, in the Iselastic^2 games, conceive that the
stipend you have established for the conquerors becomes due from the day they
are crowned: for it is not at all material, they say, what time they were
triumphantly conducted into their country, but when they marited that honour.
On the contrary, when I consider the meaning of the term Iselastic, I am
strongly inclined to think that it is intended the stipend should commence
from the time of their public entry. They likewise petition to be allowed the
treat you give at those combats which you have converted into Iselastic,
though they were conquerors before the appointment of that institution: for it
is but reasonable, they assert, that they should receive the reward in this
instance, as they are deprived of it at those games which have been divested
of the honour of being Iselastic, since their victory. But I am very doubtful
whether a retrospect should be admitted in the case in question, and a reward
given, to which the claimants had no right at the time they obtained the
victory, I beg, therefore, you would be pleased to direct my judgment in these
points, by explaining the intention of your own benefactions.
[Footnote 2: These games are called Iselastic from the Greek word eibeXauvw,
invehor, because the victors, drawn by white horses, and wearing crowns on
their heads, were conducted with great pomp into their respective cities,
which they entered through a breach in the walls made for that purpose;
intimating, as Plutarch observes, that a city which produced such able and
victorious citizens, had little occasion for the defence of walls (Catanaeus).
They received also annually a certain honorary stipend from the public. M.]
CXX
Trajan to Pliny
The stipend appointed for the conqueror in the Iselastic games ought not,
I think, to commence till he makes his triumphant entry into his city. Nor are
the prizes, at those combats which I thought proper to make Iselastic, to be
extended backwards to those who were victors before that alteration took
place. With regard to the plea which these athletic combatants urge, that they
ought to receive the Iselastic prize at those combats which have been made
Iselastic subsequent to their conquests, as they are denied it in the same
case where the games have ceased to be so, it proves nothing in their favour;
the notwithstanding any new arrangement which has been made relating to these
games, they are not called upon to return the recompense which they received
prior to such alteration.
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