Letter 45
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|pliny younger
To Trajan.
I beg you, Sir, to write and tell me whether you wish the permits, * the terms of which have expired, to be recognised as valid, and for how long, and so free me from my indecision. For I am afraid of blundering either one way or the other, either by confirming what ought to lapse, or by putting obstacles in the way of those which are necessary.
[Note: Diploma: in this context, probably a permit to use the official post.]
L To Trajan.
I beg you, Sir, to write and tell me whether you wish the permits, * the terms of which have expired, to be recognised as valid, and for how long, and so free me from my indecision. For I am afraid of blundering either one way or the other, either by confirming what ought to lapse, or by putting obstacles in the way of those which are necessary.
(*) Diploma: in this context, probably a permit to use the official post.
◆
To Trajan.
I beg you, Sir, to write and tell me whether you wish the permits, * the terms of which have expired, to be recognised as valid, and for how long, and so free me from my indecision. For I am afraid of blundering either one way or the other, either by confirming what ought to lapse, or by putting obstacles in the way of those which are necessary.
[Note: Diploma: in this context, probably a permit to use the official post.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.