40 The Imperial Government
natewhatproportionof Pliny’slettersreceivednoreply.Somebutnotall
ofthosewhichreceivednoreplywererequestsforfavours,ofatypewhich
Plinycouldhavewritten(andindeedhadwritten)earlier,whileholdingno
office.Oneclearexampleisepist.26,arequestforprefermenttobegranted
toPliny’sformerquaestor,RosianusGeminus.Trajandoesnotreply.Someof
therequests,however,thoughofthesametype,relatedspecificallytoper-
sonswhowereunderPliny’scommandaslegatus.Aconspicuouscaseisepist.
106,therequestforagrantoftheRomancitizenshipforthedaughterofan
auxiliarycenturion.Thisonereceivedapositivereply(107).
Thegroupingbyletter-and-replyobscurestherealchronologyofthecor-
respondence, as it will have presented itself to Pliny.The exchange of let-
tersdependedentirelyonthemovementofmessengers;butnoneoftheseis
everexplicitlyreferredto,exceptfortwomessengers(tabellarii),onesentby
KingSauromatesoftheBosporankingdomandonebyanimperialfreed-
mannamedLycormas.BotharedespatchedontoTrajan(epist.63–64).Ifwe
assume a journeyof six oreight weeks in each direction fora messenger,
thennoneofthereplieslistedunderyearonewillactuallyhavereachedPliny
until year two. Equally, if we think of the letters (35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47,
49)whichPlinysentoffinJanuaryofyeartwo,noneofthereplieswillhave
arrived until long afterepist. 52, written to markTrajan’s day of accession
(dies imperii)on28January,hadbeendespatched.Similarly,Trajan’sbriefac-
knowledgment(epist.36)ofthevowsof1Januaryinyeartwo(35)willalmost
certainlynothavearrivedinBithyniauntilaboutApril.
Equally, it looks as if Pliny’s tourof the cities of Pontus began after he
hadsentoffhisfirstletterofyeartwocongratulatingTrajanonhisbirthday
(natalis)on18October(epist.88).Itwouldthusseemverylikelythatwhen
the messenger returned withTrajan’s reply (84) on the right of Nicaea to
claimthepropertyofcitizenswhodiedintestate(vindicatio bonorum),Pliny
willalreadyhavebeeninPontus.Amessengerwhohadassumedthatwhen
hegotbackhemightfindthelegatusgivingjudgementinPrusaorNicaea
wouldthushavebeenfacedwithanextrajourneyofsome500kilometres
inordertocatchupwithhimintheareaofSinopeorAmisus.Evenwithin
theboundariesofthedoubleprovince,therefore,amessengermovingata
reasonable speed will have needed some ten days to travel from the main
citiesofBithyniatothoseofPontus.Wedohavetokeeptheseconsiderable
distancesconstantlyinmind.WhenPlinywasconsideringthewatersupply
ofthecolonyofSinope(epist.90),hewassome2,400kilometresdistantfrom
Trajanasthecrowflies.Nooneinthemodernworldseemstohaveasked
whatroutetoRomeandbackthemessengerwillhavetaken,orwhatpartof