Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)
Page 34
Saving your majesty, sir, it behoves you to condescend to my difficulties, seeing that you have given me the right to refer to you in all matters of doubt. In many cities, and particularly Nicomedia and Nicæa, certain persons who had been condemned to the mines, or the arena, and similar kinds of punishment, exercise the office and ministry of public slaves, and even, in the capacity of public slaves, receive annual wages. On hearing this, I hesitated much and long as to what I ought to do. For, on the one hand, to remit to their punishment, after a great lapse of time, men, most of whom are now in years and who are alleged to be leading honest and discreet lives, seemed to me to be too severe: on the other hand, to retain convicts in public employments appeared to me not quite respectable. Again, I judged that for these people to be supported by the commonwealth in idleness would be useless; and that if they were not supported, there would be actual danger. Perforce, therefore, I have left the whole matter in suspense, till I had consulted you. You will perhaps inquire how it came to pass that they were exempted from the punishments to which they had been condemned, and so did I inquire, but could get no positive information to lay before you. For though the decrees, by which they had been condemned, were produced, no documents were forthcoming to prove their having been let off. There were, however, some who said that they had obtained their dismissal by their prayers at the bidding of the Proconsuls or Legates. What imparts credit to this is, that it must be supposed no one would venture on such an act without authority.
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32 (41.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
Remember that you were sent to the province in which you now are on this very account, that there was much in it which seemed to need rectifying. Now this will be a matter specially requiring correction, that those who have been condemned to punishments should not only have been released from them, as you write, without authority, but should even be removed into the category of respectable servants. Those, then, who have been condemned within the last ten years and have not been liberated by any competent authority, it will be proper to remit to their punishment: if there shall he found some older and aged persons who have been condemned more than ten years ago, we must distribute them in such offices as are not far from being penal. For persons of this kind are usually assigned to the baths, the cleansing of the latrines, also to working on the roads and in the streets.
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33 (42.) — TO TRAJAN.
While I was making a tour through the opposite side of the province, an immense conflagration at Nicomedia consumed a number of private houses and two public edifices — though separated by a road — the Gerusia and Temple of Isis. It spread the wider first through violence of the wind and next through the apathy of the inhabitants, who, it is quite clear, remained idle and motionless spectators of the sad calamity: and, independently of this, there was nowhere any fire-engine for public use, no water-bucket, in short, no implement for keeping down conflagrations. As for these, indeed, in accordance with my orders already given, they will be provided. Do you, sir, consider whether you think a guild of firemen should be instituted, limited to one hundred and fifty men. I will see to it that no one shall be admitted except he be a fireman, and that they shall not use the rights accorded them for any other purpose. Nor will it be difficult to watch such a small number of men.
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34 (43.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
It has come into your head, I see, in accordance with a common precedent, that a guild of firemen might be constituted among the inhabitants of Nicomedia. But I bear in mind that that province of yours, and particularly those cities, are subject to trouble from associations of this description. Whatever name, for whatever reason, we give to these reunions they will shortly become... and secret societies. It is better, then, to procure what may be of assistance in restraining fires, and to admonish owners of property to be themselves ready to keep them down; moreover, if the circumstances require it, to employ the concourse of spectators for the same object.
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35 (44.) — TO TRAJAN.
We are at the same time, sir, renewing and acquitting our solemn vows for your safety, on which the public prosperity depends, praying the gods to grant that they may be ever thus acquitted and thus attested.
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36 (45.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
I have learnt with pleasure, dearest Secundus, from your letter that, in company with the Provincials, you have both acquitted and renewed your vows for my health and safety to the immortal Gods.
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37 (46.) — TO TRAJAN.
The inhabitants of Nicomedia, sir, spent three millions three hundred and twenty-nine thousand sesterces on an aqueduct which was left still unfinished and was even demolished. Two millions of sesterces have been disbursed afresh on another aqueduct. This, too, having been left off, there is need of some further outlay, that those who have mischievously thrown away such large sums may have water at any rate. I have in person found my way to a spring of great purity, from which it seems that the water ought to he conducted to the spot (as was originally attempted) by means of arches, so that it may not reach only to the flat and low-lying parts of the city. A very few arches still remain, and some may further be erected of the squared stones taken from the former construction; some portions, as it seems to me, will have to be made of brickwork, which is both handier and cheaper. But, first of all, it is necessary that a conduit-master or architect should be sent, that what has taken place before may not happen again. All I can say is, that the utility and beauty of the construction will be in all respects worthy of your reign.
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33 (47.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
Care must be taken that water be conducted to the city of Nicomedia. I have full confidence that you will address yourself to this work with all due diligence. But, by the God of Truth, it concerns that same diligence of yours to inquire by whose fault the inhabitants of Nicomedia have thrown away so much money up to this time, and whether they have not been playing into each other’s hands in commencing and then abandoning these aqueducts. Accordingly, whatever you discover on this head, bring to my knowledge.
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39 (48.) — TO TRAJAN.
The theatre of Nicæa, sir, which is now in great part constructed, though yet unfinished, has absorbed, as I hear (for the accounts for the building have not yet been gone into), more than ten millions of sesterces, and I fear to no purpose. For it is subsiding and gaping with huge fissures, either by reason of the soil being wet and spongy, or because the stone itself is poor and friable. It certainly deserves consideration whether it ought to be completed, or abandoned, or even demolished, for the props and substructions, by which it is from time to time kept up, seem to me to be sources of expenditure rather than of strength. Many additions are promised to this theatre by private individuals, as, for instance, galleries all round, and porticoes over the spectators’ seats, all of which are now delayed, owing to the stoppage of the work which must first be completed.
These same people of Nicæa have begun to rebuild the gymnasium, which was destroyed by fire before my arrival, with many more parts and on a larger scale than before, and they have already gone to some expense; as the danger is, to small advantage, for it is ill-arranged and scattered. Moreover, an architect, a rival to be sure of the one by whom the work was commenced, affirms that the walls, though two and twenty feet in thickness, are unable to support the weight imposed on them, in consequence of their being stuffed with cement in the middle and not encased in brickwork.
The people of Claudiopolis, too, are excavating, rather than building, huge baths in a low situation, with a hill actually hanging over it; and this, too, out of the m
oneys which the new members of their Council, added by your favour, have either already paid as their entrance-fees, or are paying in at our demand. Since, then, I fear that, in the one case, the public money, and, in the other, what is of more value than any money, the produce of your favour, may be badly invested, I am compelled to ask you, not only on account of the theatre, but also of these baths, to send an architect. He will judge whether it be more advantageous, after the outlay which has been incurred, to complete the works, in one way or another, as they have been begun, or to rectify what may seem to need improvement, and to transfer operations which may need to be transferred; lest, while we are desirous of not losing what has been spent, we spend badly what will have to be further added.
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40 (49.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
As to what is proper to be done in connection with the theatre, which has been commenced at Nicæa, you who are on the spot will be best able to consider and determine. I shall be satisfied to have intimated to me the opinion at which you arrive. The parts of the work due from private individuals, you will take care to exact from them, then only when the theatre, on account of which they have been promised, is built. These Greeklings are addicted to gymnasia; so perhaps the people of Nicæa have set about building theirs with too much zest; they must, however, be content with one which shall suffice for their necessities.
As to the advice to be given to the people of Claudiopolis, in connection with their baths (which they have commenced in what you describe as an unsuitable spot), it is for you to determine. You cannot be short of architects. There is no province which does not contain experienced and ingenious men of this kind; provided you do not suppose it is shorter to send them from Rome, when they are actually in the habit of coming to us from Greece.
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41 (50.) — TO TRAJAN.
When I contemplate the grandeur of your fortunes and of your mind, it seems to me in the highest degree appropriate to designate to you such works as shall be worthy no less of your immortality than of your glory, as shall be marked by their utility no less than by their excellence. On the borders of the Nicomedian territory there is an extensive lake, by means of which marble, agricultural produce, firewood, and building materials are conveyed, at small cost and labour, in ships to a road, and from that point with much labour, and still more expense, in wagons to the sea.... This work demands many hands, but these, to be sure, are not wanting, for there is a large supply of men in the country parts, and a still larger in the city, and we may confidently expect that all of them will with much alacrity engage in a work which will be of advantage to all. It remains for you, if you shall see fit, to send us a surveyor, or else an architect, who shall carefully examine whether the lake is higher than the sea — the experts in these parts contending that it is higher by forty cubits. I find that a trench was cut in this identical direction by the king; but it is uncertain whether this was done for the purpose of collecting the moisture from the surrounding country, or in order to turn the lake into the river. For it is not completed. And this, too, is doubtful, whether the king was arrested by death, or whether he despaired of carrying through the work. But this very circumstance (for you will suffer me to be ambitious on account of your glory) incites and stimulates me to wish that you may complete that which kings have only commenced.
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42 (51.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
The lake which you mention is such as may possibly induce in us the desire to open it out to the sea. But a careful examination is evidently necessary, lest if its waters be sent down to the sea, they should be entirely drained off, and certainly as to the quantity of its waters and the source whence it derives them. You can ask for a surveyor from Calpurnius Macer, and I will send you from here some person experienced in this kind of work.
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43 (52.) — TO TRAJAN.
On my calling for an account of the expenditure of the community of Byzantium (which has been very great), I learnt, sir, that an envoy is sent to pay his respects to you every year, bearer of a popular decree to that effect, and that twelve thousand sesterces are given him. So, bearing in mind your course of action, I deemed it right to keep back the envoy and to send on the decree, that at the same time the expense might be lightened and a public duty fulfilled. The same city was debited with three thousand sesterces, which, under the head of travelling expenses, were given annually to the envoy who went to pay his respects publicly to the Governor of Mœsia. These sums, I considered, ought for the future to be cut down. I beg, sir, that you would write me word what you think, and so deign either to confirm my judgment or to correct my mistake.
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44 (53.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
You have acted admirably, dearest Secundus, in remitting to the inhabitants of Byzantium those twelve thousand sesterces which were spent on an envoy for the purpose of paying me their respects... although the decree alone shall have been sent through you. The Governor of Mœsia, too, will forgive them if they show their regard for him in a less expensive way.
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45 (54.) — TO TRAJAN.
With regard to diplomas, sir, the date of which has expired, I would beg you to write whether you wish them to be regarded at all, and if so for how long? This will free me from doubt. For I fear that through ignorance I may make a mistake one way or the other, and either confirm what is unlawful or obstruct what is necessary.
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46 (55.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
Diplomas, the date of which has expired, ought not to be in force. Consequently I make it one of my first rules to send new diplomas to all the provinces before they can possibly be required.
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47 (56.) — TO TRAJAN.
Upon my desiring, sir, to be made acquainted with the debts due to the State of Apamea, and its income and expenditure, I was told in reply that, while every one was anxious that the accounts of the colony should be inspected by me, yet that they never had been inspected by any of the pro-consuls, since they were in possession of a prerogative and a very ancient usage of administering the public affairs at their own discretion. I insisted upon all that they said and recited being included in a memorial, which I have sent to you just as I received it, though perceiving that much of its contents does not relate to the subject of inquiry. I beg you to deign to instruct me as to the course you deem it right for me to follow. For I fear lest I should seem either to have exceeded or not to have duly fulfilled the functions of my office.
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48 (57.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
The memorial of the Apameni, which you have joined to your letter, has freed me from the necessity of carefully examining the reasons on the strength of which they wish it to appear that the Proconsuls who have governed their province have abstained from inspecting their accounts, since they have not opposed your inspecting them. Their probity should therefore be rewarded, and they should at once be told that in inspecting the accounts you will be acting by my orders, without prejudice to the prerogatives they enjoy.
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49 (58.) — TO TRAJAN.
Before my arrival, sir, the inhabitants of Nicomedia had begun to add a new Forum to their old one, in a corner of which is a temple of the great mother of the gods, which must be either rebuilt or removed, particularly as it is much lower than the construction which is at the present moment rising. When I inquired whether the temple had been in any way formally consecrated, I learnt that the mode of dedication here differs from ours. Consider, then, sir, whether you think that a temple which has not been formally consecrated can be removed without prejudice to r
eligion. In other respects, it would be most convenient to do so — if religion is no obstacle.
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50 (59.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.
You may, dearest Secundus, without religious scruples — if the situation of the place seems to require it — remove the temple of the mother of the gods to one that is better accommodated to it. Nor need you be troubled about finding no form of dedication, since the soil of a foreign city does not admit of the kind of dedication which takes place under our laws.
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51 (12.) — TO TRAJAN.
‘ It is difficult, sir, to express in words the great pleasure which I felt at your consenting, at the request of my mother-in-law and myself, to transfer her relative Cælius Clemens to this province. For hence I thoroughly understand the measure of your kindness, since I experience such full favour, with all my kindred — a favour I dare not attempt to make a like return for, even though I had it entirely in my power. So I fly to prayers, and entreat the gods that I may not be deemed unworthy of those things which you are so assiduous in conferring on me.