Letter 10072: I have been asked by certain persons to give decisions in cases where men claim they were born free, and demand the...
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger
imperial politics
L To Trajan.
I have been asked by certain persons to give decisions in cases where men claim they were born free, and demand the restitution of their birth-right, * and so act in accordance with the precedents set by the letter of Domitian to Minicius Rufus and by the proconsuls in office here before me. I have consulted the decree of the senate relating to that class of cases, and I find that it only deals with provinces which are governed by proconsuls; ** and so, Sir, I have left the matter open, and postponed a decision until you advise me of the course you wish to be followed
(*) These men, who had been slaves and were afterwards manumitted, wished to have the same status as men who were born free.
(**) Bithynia was a 'senatorial province', which was usually governed by proconsuls; but Pliny had been sent there as the legate of the emperor.
L To Trajan.
I have been asked by certain persons to give decisions in cases where men claim they were born free, and demand the restitution of their birth-right, * and so act in accordance with the precedents set by the letter of Domitian to Minicius Rufus and by the proconsuls in office here before me. I have consulted the decree of the senate relating to that class of cases, and I find that it only deals with provinces which are governed by proconsuls; ** and so, Sir, I have left the matter open, and postponed a decision until you advise me of the course you wish to be followed
(*) These men, who had been slaves and were afterwards manumitted, wished to have the same status as men who were born free.
(**) Bithynia was a 'senatorial province', which was usually governed by proconsuls; but Pliny had been sent there as the legate of the emperor.
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L To Trajan.
I have been asked by certain persons to give decisions in cases where men claim they were born free, and demand the restitution of their birth-right, * and so act in accordance with the precedents set by the letter of Domitian to Minicius Rufus and by the proconsuls in office here before me. I have consulted the decree of the senate relating to that class of cases, and I find that it only deals with provinces which are governed by proconsuls; ** and so, Sir, I have left the matter open, and postponed a decision until you advise me of the course you wish to be followed
(*) These men, who had been slaves and were afterwards manumitted, wished to have the same status as men who were born free.
(**) Bithynia was a 'senatorial province', which was usually governed by proconsuls; but Pliny had been sent there as the legate of the emperor.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.