Pliny the Younger→Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius|c. 100 AD|pliny younger
To Romatius Firmus.
You and I were born in the same township, we went to school together, and shared quarters from an early age; your father was on terms of friendship with my mother and my uncle, * and with me - as far as the disparity in our years allowed. These are overwhelming reasons why I ought to advance you as far as I can along the path of dignities. The fact of your being a decurion in our town shows that you have an income of a hundred thousand sesterces , and so that we may have the pleasure of enjoying your society not only as a decurion, but as a Roman knight, I offer you 300,000 sesterces , to make up the equestrian qualification. The length of our friendship is sufficient guarantee that you will not forget this favour, and I do not even urge you to enjoy with modesty the dignity which I thus enable you to attain, as perhaps I ought, just because I know you will do so without any urging from without. People ought to guard an honour all the more carefully, when, in so doing, they are taking care of a gift bestowed by the kindness of a friend. Farewell.
[Note: His maternal uncle; the elder Pliny.]
L To Romatius Firmus.
You and I were born in the same township, we went to school together, and shared quarters from an early age; your father was on terms of friendship with my mother and my uncle, * and with me - as far as the disparity in our years allowed. These are overwhelming reasons why I ought to advance you as far as I can along the path of dignities. The fact of your being a decurion in our town shows that you have an income of a hundred thousand sesterces , and so that we may have the pleasure of enjoying your society not only as a decurion, but as a Roman knight, I offer you 300,000 sesterces , to make up the equestrian qualification. The length of our friendship is sufficient guarantee that you will not forget this favour, and I do not even urge you to enjoy with modesty the dignity which I thus enable you to attain, as perhaps I ought, just because I know you will do so without any urging from without. People ought to guard an honour all the more carefully, when, in so doing, they are taking care of a gift bestowed by the kindness of a friend. Farewell.
(*) His maternal uncle; the elder Pliny.
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To Romatius Firmus.
You and I were born in the same township, we went to school together, and shared quarters from an early age; your father was on terms of friendship with my mother and my uncle, * and with me - as far as the disparity in our years allowed. These are overwhelming reasons why I ought to advance you as far as I can along the path of dignities. The fact of your being a decurion in our town shows that you have an income of a hundred thousand sesterces , and so that we may have the pleasure of enjoying your society not only as a decurion, but as a Roman knight, I offer you 300,000 sesterces , to make up the equestrian qualification. The length of our friendship is sufficient guarantee that you will not forget this favour, and I do not even urge you to enjoy with modesty the dignity which I thus enable you to attain, as perhaps I ought, just because I know you will do so without any urging from without. People ought to guard an honour all the more carefully, when, in so doing, they are taking care of a gift bestowed by the kindness of a friend. Farewell.
[Note: His maternal uncle; the elder Pliny.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.