Letter 104
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|pliny younger
To Trajan.
Valerius Paulinus, Sir, has left me the right of patronage over all his Latin freedmen * to the exclusion of his son Paulinus, and I beg of you in the meantime to grant the full Roman rights to three of them. I am afraid it would seem too much to request your indulgence for all alike, and I ought to be the more modest in asking your indulgence as it is granted to me so fully. But those for whom I beg this favour are Caius Valerius Astraeus, Caius Valerius Dionysius, and Caius Valerius Aper.
[Note: Freedmen who had only limited rights, under the terms of the Lex Aelia Sentia.]
L To Trajan.
Valerius Paulinus, Sir, has left me the right of patronage over all his Latin freedmen * to the exclusion of his son Paulinus, and I beg of you in the meantime to grant the full Roman rights to three of them. I am afraid it would seem too much to request your indulgence for all alike, and I ought to be the more modest in asking your indulgence as it is granted to me so fully. But those for whom I beg this favour are Caius Valerius Astraeus, Caius Valerius Dionysius, and Caius Valerius Aper.
(*) Freedmen who had only limited rights, under the terms of the Lex Aelia Sentia.
◆
To Trajan.
Valerius Paulinus, Sir, has left me the right of patronage over all his Latin freedmen * to the exclusion of his son Paulinus, and I beg of you in the meantime to grant the full Roman rights to three of them. I am afraid it would seem too much to request your indulgence for all alike, and I ought to be the more modest in asking your indulgence as it is granted to me so fully. But those for whom I beg this favour are Caius Valerius Astraeus, Caius Valerius Dionysius, and Caius Valerius Aper.
[Note: Freedmen who had only limited rights, under the terms of the Lex Aelia Sentia.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.