Letter 10115: You did right to hesitate, my dear Pliny, before giving your answer to the censors who consulted you about the...

Trajan to Pliny. You did right to hesitate, my dear Pliny, before giving your answer to the censors who consulted you about the admission to the senate of citizens belonging to other cities but to the same province. For the authority of the law, and the old-established custom of acting contrary to it, naturally pulled you different ways. My own feeling in the matter is that we should not attempt to disturb past arrangements, and that those persons who have been appointed senators, no matter what cities they belonged to, should retain their position. For the future, however, the Lex Pompeia must be observed, although to try and enforce it retrospectively would necessarily entail great disturbance.

L Trajan to Pliny. You did right to hesitate, my dear Pliny, before giving your answer to the censors who consulted you about the admission to the senate of citizens belonging to other cities but to the same province. For the authority of the law, and the old-established custom of acting contrary to it, naturally pulled you different ways. My own feeling in the matter is that we should not attempt to disturb past arrangements, and that those persons who have been appointed senators, no matter what cities they belonged to, should retain their position. For the future, however, the Lex Pompeia must be observed, although to try and enforce it retrospectively would necessarily entail great disturbance.

TRAIANUS PLINIO Merito haesisti, Secunde carissime, quid a te rescribi oporteret censoribus consulentibus, an <manere deberent> in senatu aliarum civitatium, eiusdem tamen provinciae cives. Nam et legis auctoritas et longa consuetudo usurpata contra legem in diversum movere te potuit. Mihi hoc temperamentum eius placuit, ut ex praeterito nihil novaremus, sed manerent quamvis contra legem asciti quarumcumque civitatium cives, in futurum autem lex Pompeia observaretur; cuius vim si retro quoque velimus custodire, multa necesse est perturbari.