Letter 10005: Last year, Sir, when I was in serious ill-health and was in some danger of my life I called in an ointment-doctor...

To Trajan. Last year, Sir, when I was in serious ill-health and was in some danger of my life I called in an ointment-doctor {iatroliptes}, and I can only adequately repay him for the pains and interest he took in my case if you are kind enough to help me. Let me, therefore, entreat you to bestow on him the Roman citizenship, for he belongs to a foreign race and was manumitted by a foreign lady. His name is Harpocras, his patroness being Thermuthis, the daughter of Theon, but she has been dead for some years. I also beg you to give full Roman citizenship * to the freedwomen of Antonia Maximilla, a lady of great distinction, Hedia, and Antonia Harmeris. It is at the request of their patroness that I beg this favour. [Note: Ius Quiritium - even though they had a Roman owner, some slaves were freed by informal methods of manumission that left them without full citizen rights.]

L To Trajan. Last year, Sir, when I was in serious ill-health and was in some danger of my life I called in an ointment-doctor {iatroliptes}, and I can only adequately repay him for the pains and interest he took in my case if you are kind enough to help me. Let me, therefore, entreat you to bestow on him the Roman citizenship, for he belongs to a foreign race and was manumitted by a foreign lady. His name is Harpocras, his patroness being Thermuthis, the daughter of Theon, but she has been dead for some years. I also beg you to give full Roman citizenship * to the freedwomen of Antonia Maximilla, a lady of great distinction, Hedia, and Antonia Harmeris. It is at the request of their patroness that I beg this favour. (*) Ius Quiritium - even though they had a Roman owner, some slaves were freed by informal methods of manumission that left them without full citizen rights.

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI Proximo anno, domine, gravissima valetudine usque ad periculum vitae vexatus iatralipten assumpsi; cuius sollicitudini et studio tuae tantum indulgentiae beneficio referre gratiam parem possum. Quare rogo des ei civitatem Romanam. Est enim peregrinae condicionis manumissus a peregrina. Vocatur ipse Arpocras, patronam habuit Thermuthin Theonis, quae iam pridem defuncta est. Item rogo des ius Quiritium libertis Antoniae Maximillae, ornatissimae feminae, Hediae et Antoniae Harmeridi; quod a te petente patrona peto.