Letter 10020: There is no necessity, my dear Pliny, to employ more soldiers in guarding the prisons.
L Trajan to Pliny.
There is no necessity, my dear Pliny, to employ more soldiers in guarding the prisons. Let us continue to observe the custom of your province which utilised the public slaves for that purpose, for it depends upon the severity and attention you show whether they will perform their duties faithfully. As you say, the chief danger to be apprehended, if you mix soldiers with the public slaves, is that they will grow more careless, for each will trust to the other. So let this be our standing rule, to withdraw as few soldiers as possible from the standards.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
You did right to hesitate, my dear Pliny, before giving your answer to the censors who consulted you about the...
It seems to me that the rewards ought to begin to be due from the date when the winner makes his public entry into...
I wish it had been possible for you and your companions to reach Bithynia without the slightest inconvenience or...
Steps must certainly be taken to provide the city of Nicomedia with a water-supply, and I have every confidence that...
As the people of Nicaea declare that Augustus conferred upon them the right to enjoy the property of those citizens...