Gaius Plinius to his friend Montanus : Greetings (1) You will laugh, then you will be angry, then you will laugh, if you read, and unless you read, you will not be able to believe. (2) On the road to Tibur, inside the first milestone, as I noticed just the other day, there is a monument to Pallas inscribed as follows: The senate decreed the praetorian ornaments and 15,000,000 Hs for this man on account of his extraordinary loyalty and pietas towards his patrons. He was content with the honor.

(3) I have never thought a great deal of these honors, which proceed from luck rather than judgment, but this inscription really showed me was a farce and joke they are when they can be thrown off on such scum, such filth, and then that the thief might dare to accept or refuse them and even set this forth and an example of moderation for posterity. (4) Is it worth getting mad about? It is better to laugh, least these people think that they really have something when things have come to them by chance so that they are objects of ridicule.