118 surviving letters between Pliny the Younger and Trajan, spanning 112 AD.
Your filial piety, most sacred emperor, prompted your desire to succeed your father as late as possible, but the...
Words fail me to express the pleasure you have given me, Sir, in that you have thought me worthy of the privileges...
The kindnesses, most excellent of emperors, which I have received at your hands have been so manifold that I am...
Last year, Sir, when I was in serious ill-health and was in some danger of my life I called in an ointment-doctor...
I thank you, Sir, for having so promptly granted my request and for your bestowal of full citizenship on the...
I make a practice of following the rules of my predecessors in not making promiscuous grants of the Alexandrine...
When, Sir, your late father, * both by a very fine speech and by setting them a most honourable example himself,...
You have given me an abundance of private and all the public reasons I could desire for asking leave of absence,...
I cannot express, Sir, in words the joy I experienced when I received your letter telling me that you had granted...
My recent illness, Sir, laid me under great obligations to Postumius Marinus, my doctor, and I will only be able to...
I know, Sir, that you have not lost sight of the requests I put forward, for your memory never forgets an...
As I am convinced. Sir, that the best testimonial to and appreciation of my character is to receive marks of...
I congratulate you, best of emperors, on your most remarkable, magnificent, and illustrious victory * in your own...
It is because I feel sure, Sir, that you will be interested to hear, that I send you news that I have rounded Cape...
You have done well to send me news, my dear Pliny, for I am exceedingly interested to hear what sort of a journey...
I wish it had been possible for you and your companions to reach Bithynia without the slightest inconvenience or...
I beg, Sir, that you will give me the guidance of your advice.
There is no necessity, my dear Pliny, to employ more soldiers in guarding the prisons.
Gabius Bassus, Sir, the prefect of the coast of Pontus, has come to me in a most respectful and dutiful manner, and...
I too have had a letter from Gabius Bassus, in which he says that the force assigned to him by my orders is inadequate.
The people of Prusa, Sir, have a public bath which is in a neglected and dilapidated state.
If the construction of a new bath will not cripple the finances of Prusa, we can indulge their wishes, only it must...
Your legate, Sir, Servilius Pudens, reached Nicomedia on November 24th, and has freed me from the suspense entailed...
Your kindness to me, Sir, has cemented the friendship between Rosianus Geminus and myself, for he was my quaestor...
Maximus, Sir, your freedman and procurator, assures me that he absolutely requires some soldiers in addition to the...
As my freedman Maximus is on the point of setting out to collect stores of corn you did right to give him a guard of...
Sempronius Caelianus, who is an excellent young officer, has sent me two slaves who were discovered among the...
Sempronius Caelianus acted in conformity with my commands in sending to you the slaves, into whose case we must...
As you have given me authority to refer to you wherever I am in doubt, you may, Sir, condescend to hear my...
Let us not forget that you were sent to your province for the express reason that there seemed to be many abuses...
While I was visiting a distant part of the province a most desolating fire broke out at Nicomedia and destroyed a...
You have conceived the idea that a guild of firemen might be formed in Nicomedia on the model of various others...
We have taken the usual vows, * Sir, for your safety, with which the public well-being is bound up, and at the same...
I am pleased to learn from your letter, my dear Pliny, that you and the people of your province have paid the vows...
Sir, the people of Nicomedia spent 3,329,000 sesterces upon an aqueduct, which was left in an unfinished state, and...
Steps must certainly be taken to provide the city of Nicomedia with a water-supply, and I have every confidence that...
The theatre at Nicaea, Sir, the greater part of which has already been constructed, though it is still incomplete,...
You will be best able to judge and determine what ought to be done at the present time in the matter of the theatre...
I consider the splendour of your position and the loftiness of your mind, it seems to me most fitting that I should...
That lake you speak of may perhaps tempt me into making up my mind to connect it with the sea, but obviously careful...
When I asked for a statement of the expenditure of the city of Constantinople - which is abnormally high - it was pointed...
You have done quite right, my dear Pliny, in cancelling the expenditure by the people of Constantinople of those twelve...
I beg you, Sir, to write and tell me whether you wish the permits, * the terms of which have expired, to be...
The permits, of which the terms have expired, ought not to be recognised, and consequently I make it my special duty...
When I wished, Sir, to be informed of those who owed money to the city of Apamea, and of its revenue and...
The memorial of the people of Apamea which you enclosed with your letter makes it unnecessary for me to examine into...
Before my arrival, Sir, the people of Nicomedia had commenced to make certain additions to their old forum, in one...
You may, my dear Pliny, without any religious scruples, if the site seems to require the change, remove the temple...
It is difficult. Sir, to find words to express the pleasure I have received at the favour you have shown my wife's...
We have celebrated. Sir, with the thankfulness appropriate to the occasion, the day on which you preserved the...
I am glad to learn from your letter, my dear Pliny, with what devotion and joy the troops and the provincials have...
Thanks, Sir, to your forethought and my administration the public revenues have either already been collected or are...
I do not see any other remedy, my dear Pliny, than the lowering of the rate of interest, which would facilitate the...
I thank you. Sir, most sincerely that in the midst of your most pressing business of state you have deigned to give...
What steps ought to be taken with respect to those who were banished for three years by the proconsul Servilius...
When, Sir, I was about to hold a court and was calling out the names of the judges, Flavius Archippus began to ask...
Flavius Archippus has implored me, by your safety and eternal fame, to transmit to you a memorial which he has...
It is possible, of course, that Domitian was unaware of the true circumstances in which Archippus was situated when...
You very justly, Sir, express the fear that the lake * may drain itself dry if its waters are turned into the river...
It is clear to me, my dear Pliny, that you have shown diligence and careful consideration in the matter of the lake...
Your freedman, Sir, Lycormas, wrote to me saying that if any embassy came from the Bosphorus on its way to Rome I...
King Sauromates has written to me saying that there are certain matters which you ought to know as soon as possible.
Sir, the problem as to the status and cost of maintenance of children exposed at birth and then reared by others is...
The question you raise as to those who were born free and exposed by their parents, and then reared by other people...
After the messenger of King Sauromates had stayed of his own free will for two days in Nicaea, where he found me, I...
Several persons have petitioned me to grant them leave, as other proconsuls have done before my time, to transfer to...
It would be very hard on the provincials to lay upon them the necessity of approaching the pontifical college...
When I was looking about, Sir, for a place upon which to build the baths which you have graciously allowed to be...
We may certainly utilise the courtyard and the ruined mansion, which you say is unoccupied, for the construction of...
I have been asked by certain persons to give decisions in cases where men claim they were born free, and demand the...
If you will send me the decree of the senate which has made you hesitate, I will form my opinion as to whether or...
Sir, a soldier named Appuleius, who belongs to the garrison at Nicomedia, has written to tell us that a certain...
Sir, a person named Julius Largus, of Pontus, whom I had never seen or heard of before - he must have blindly...
Julius Largus, in picking you out for your loyalty, has acted as though he knew you intimately.
You acted with your usual prudence, Sir, in instructing that eminent man, Calpurnius Macer, to send a legionary...
It is owing to the situation of the free city of Constantinople, and the fact that so many travellers make their way into...
There is a provision, Sir, in the Lex Pompeia - which is in force in Bithynia - to the effect that no one is to hold...
I agree with the construction you place on the law, my dear Pliny, and I think that the Lex Pompeia is superseded by...
When, Sir, I was at Prusa, near Mt.
You need have had no hesitation, my dear Pliny, on the point concerning which you have thought it necessary to...
I have been publicly asked, Sir, by what is and ought to be the most sacred thing in the world to me, I mean your...
As the people of Nicaea declare that Augustus conferred upon them the right to enjoy the property of those citizens...
Sir, I have found Maximus, your freedman and procurator, all the time we have been together, a man of probity,...
Sir, I served with Nymphidius Lupus in the army when he was chief centurion ; when he was prefect I was a military...
I pray, Sir, that you may keep this birthday * and many others in the greatest happiness, and that in strength and...
I acknowledge your prayer, my dear Pliny, that I may celebrate many happy birthdays, and that our Empire may...
The people of Sinope, Sir, are short of a proper water-supply, though a good and plentiful supply might be brought...
Make a careful survey, my dear Pliny, as you have begun to do, to see whether the place which looks dangerous can...
The free and allied city * of Amisus, thanks to your favour, enjoys its own special laws.
If permission has been granted to the people of Amisus, whose memorial you enclosed with your letter, in the laws...
Sir, I have long admired the character and literary abilities of Suetonius Tranquillus, a man of the highest...
You assuredly know, my dear Pliny, how sparingly I grant these favours, for I often declare in the senate that I...
It is my custom, Sir, to refer to you in all cases where I do not feel sure, for who can better direct my doubts or...
You have adopted the proper course, my dear Pliny, in examining into the cases of those who have been denounced to...
The city of Amastris, Sir, which is both elegantly and finely built, boasts among its most striking features a very...
It stands to reason, my dear Pliny, that the stream which flows through the city of Amastris should be covered over,...
We have paid. Sir, with joyfulness and alacrity the vows we publicly pronounced for the years that are past, and we...
I have been glad to learn from your letter, my dear Pliny, that the troops and the provincials in joyful unison have...
We have celebrated with all due religious observance the lucky day upon which you succeeded to the throne and the...
I have been glad to learn from your letter that the anniversary of my succession has been celebrated by the troops...
Valerius Paulinus, Sir, has left me the right of patronage over all his Latin freedmen * to the exclusion of his son...
Your early solicitation of my favour for those who have been placed under your patronage by Valerius Paulinus does...
Publius Attius Aquila, Sir, a centurion of the sixth cohort of horse, * asked me to forward to you a memorial in...
I have read the memorial which you sent to me from Publius Attius Aquila, a centurion of the sixth cohort of horse,...
I beg you, Sir, to send me word what legal rights you wish the cities of Bithynia and Pontus to possess in getting...
The legal position of the cities of Bithynia and Pontus, in getting in moneys which may be due to them for any...
The public prosecutor, Sir, of the city of Amisus has claimed in court before me the sum of 40,000 denarii from...
Though it is true my edicts forbid the grants of public money to individuals, yet it does not follow that grants...
The Lex Pompeia, Sir, which is in use in Bithynia and Pontus, does not make it compulsory for those who are...
It is impossible for me to draw up a general rule as to whether newly-made senators in every city in Bithynia ought...
Sir, according to the Lex Pompeia, the free cities of Bithynia have the right to enrol anyone they please as a...
You did right to hesitate, my dear Pliny, before giving your answer to the censors who consulted you about the...
It is the custom for those who assume the gown of manhood {toga virilis}, or who marry, or enter upon office, or...
I approve your apprehension that there is a look of bribery about invitations which are given on a wholesale scale...
The athletes, Sir, think that the rewards which you have promised as prizes in the iselastic contests * ought to be...
It seems to me that the rewards ought to begin to be due from the date when the winner makes his public entry into...
(†) Calpurnia Hispulla.
You did right, my dear Pliny, in having confidence in my sympathy.