To Trajan.
It is the custom for those who assume the gown of manhood {toga virilis}, or who marry, or enter upon office, or dedicate any public work, to invite all the senate, and even a considerable number of the common people, and present each person with one or two denarii. I beg you will tell me whether you think this practice should be kept up, and to what extent, for while I think that the inviting of friends is permissible, especially on solemn occasions, I am afraid that those who invite a thousand persons, or sometimes more, exceed all due limits, and seem to be guilty of what may be regarded as a special kind of bribery.
L To Trajan.
It is the custom for those who assume the gown of manhood {toga virilis}, or who marry, or enter upon office, or dedicate any public work, to invite all the senate, and even a considerable number of the common people, and present each person with one or two denarii. I beg you will tell me whether you think this practice should be kept up, and to what extent, for while I think that the inviting of friends is permissible, especially on solemn occasions, I am afraid that those who invite a thousand persons, or sometimes more, exceed all due limits, and seem to be guilty of what may be regarded as a special kind of bribery.
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To Trajan.
It is the custom for those who assume the gown of manhood {toga virilis}, or who marry, or enter upon office, or dedicate any public work, to invite all the senate, and even a considerable number of the common people, and present each person with one or two denarii. I beg you will tell me whether you think this practice should be kept up, and to what extent, for while I think that the inviting of friends is permissible, especially on solemn occasions, I am afraid that those who invite a thousand persons, or sometimes more, exceed all due limits, and seem to be guilty of what may be regarded as a special kind of bribery.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.