To Trajan.
The public prosecutor, Sir, of the city of Amisus has claimed in court before me the sum of 40,000 denarii from Julius Piso, which was given to him out of the public funds twenty years before by the senate and confirmed by a public meeting, and he urged in defence of the claim your edicts, in which donations of that sort are forbidden. Piso, on the other hand, declared that he had made great monetary contributions to the city funds, and had nearly spent all his means. He urged, moreover, the length of time which had elapsed since the gift was made, and begged that he might not be compelled to pay back what he had received many years before for a number of services rendered, saying that to do so would mean the ruin of what position he still had left to him. For these reasons I thought it best to adjourn the case as it stood, that I might consult you on the course you think best to adopt.
L To Trajan.
The public prosecutor, Sir, of the city of Amisus has claimed in court before me the sum of 40,000 denarii from Julius Piso, which was given to him out of the public funds twenty years before by the senate and confirmed by a public meeting, and he urged in defence of the claim your edicts, in which donations of that sort are forbidden. Piso, on the other hand, declared that he had made great monetary contributions to the city funds, and had well-nigh spent all his means. He urged, moreover, the length of time which had elapsed since the gift was made, and begged that he might not be compelled to pay back what he had received many years before for a number of services rendered, saying that to do so would mean the ruin of what position he still had left to him. For these reasons I thought it best to adjourn the case as it stood, that I might consult you on the course you think best to adopt.
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To Trajan.
The public prosecutor, Sir, of the city of Amisus has claimed in court before me the sum of 40,000 denarii from Julius Piso, which was given to him out of the public funds twenty years before by the senate and confirmed by a public meeting, and he urged in defence of the claim your edicts, in which donations of that sort are forbidden. Piso, on the other hand, declared that he had made great monetary contributions to the city funds, and had nearly spent all his means. He urged, moreover, the length of time which had elapsed since the gift was made, and begged that he might not be compelled to pay back what he had received many years before for a number of services rendered, saying that to do so would mean the ruin of what position he still had left to him. For these reasons I thought it best to adjourn the case as it stood, that I might consult you on the course you think best to adopt.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.