Pliny, Letter 10.33

Ep. 10.33.1Cum dīversam partem prōvinciae circumīrem, Nīcomēdīae vāstissimum incendium multās prīvātōrum domōs et duo pūblica opera, quamquam viā interiacente, Gerūsian et Īsēon absūmpsit.While I was touring a distant part of the province, a huge fire at Nicomedia destroyed many private houses and two public buildings, the Gerusia and the Iseum, although a road lay between them. Ep. 10.33.2Est autem lātius sparsum, prīmum violentiā ventī, deinde inertiā hominum quōs satis cōnstat ōtiōsōs et immōbilēs tantī malī spectātōrēs perstitisse;It spread more widely, first through the violence of the wind, then through the inertia of the people, who, it is well established, stood by idle and motionless as spectators of so great a disaster; Ep. 10.33.2et aliōquī nūllus usquam in pūblicō sīpō, nūlla hama, nūllum dēnique īnstrūmentum ad incendia compescenda.and besides, there was nowhere in public any pump, any bucket, in short any equipment for putting out fires. Ep. 10.33.2Et haec quidem, ut iam praecēpī, parābuntur;These, indeed, will be provided, as I have already ordered; Ep. 10.33.3tū, domine, dispice an īnstituendum putēs collēgium fabrōrum dumtaxat hominum CL. Ego attendam, nē quis nisi faber recipiātur nēve iūre concessō in aliud ūtantur;you, my lord, consider whether you think a guild of workmen should be established, of no more than a hundred and fifty men. I shall see to it that no one but a genuine workman is admitted and that they do not use the right granted for any other purpose; Ep. 10.33.3nec erit difficile custōdīre tam paucōs.nor will it be difficult to keep watch over so few.