Ep. 10.79.1Cautum est, domine, Pompeiā lēge quae Bīthȳnīs data est, nē quis capiat magistrātum nēve sit in senātū minor annōrum trīgintā.It is laid down, sir, in the Pompeian law which was given to the Bithynians, that no one under thirty years of age may hold a magistracy or be in the senate. Ep. 10.79.1Eādem lēge comprehēnsum est, ut quī cēperint magistrātum sint in senātū.In the same law it is included that those who have held a magistracy should be in the senate. Ep. 10.79.2Secūtum est Dein ēdictum dīvī Augustī, quō permīsit minōrēs magistrātūs ab annīs duōbus et vīgintī capere.Then followed an edict of the deified Augustus, by which he permitted the lesser magistracies to be held from the age of twenty-two. Ep. 10.79.3Quaeritur ergō an, quī minor trīgintā annōrum gessit magistrātum, possit ā cēnsōribus in senātum legī, et, sī potest, an iī quoque, quī nōn gesserint, possint per eandem interpretātiōnem ab eā aetāte senātōrēs legī, ā quā illīs magistrātum gerere permissum est;The question is therefore whether a man who has held a magistracy under the age of thirty can be enrolled in the senate by the censors, and, if he can, whether those too who have not held one can by the same interpretation be enrolled as senators from that age at which they have been permitted to hold a magistracy; Ep. 10.79.3quod aliōquī factitātum adhūc et esse necessārium dīcitur, quia sit aliquantō melius honestōrum hominum līberōs quam ē plēbe in cūriam admittī.and this, moreover, is said to have been done regularly up to now and to be necessary, because it is a good deal better that the children of respectable men be admitted to the council than men from the common people.
Ep. 10.79.4Ego ā dēstinātīs cēnsōribus quid sentīrem interrogātus eōs quidem, quī minōrēs trīgintā annīs gessissent magistrātum, putābam posse in senātum et secundum ēdictum Augustī et secundum lēgem Pompeiam legī, quoniam Augustus gerere magistrātūs minōribus annīs trīgintā permīsisset, lēx senātōrem esse voluisset quī gessisset magistrātum.When I was asked by the censors-elect what I thought, I considered that those who had held a magistracy under thirty could be enrolled in the senate according to both the edict of Augustus and the Pompeian law, since Augustus had permitted those under thirty to hold magistracies, and the law had wished anyone who had held a magistracy to be a senator. Ep. 10.79.5Dē iīs autem quī nōn gessissent, quamvīs essent aetātis eiusdem cuius illī quibus gerere permissum est, haesitābam;About those who had not held one, however, although they were of the same age as those who were permitted to hold office, I was hesitant; Ep. 10.79.5per quod effectum est ut tē, domine, cōnsulerem, quid observārī vellēs.and this led me to consult you, sir, on what you wished to be observed. Ep. 10.79.5Capita lēgis, tum ēdictum Augustī litterīs subiēcī.I have appended to my letter the chapters of the law, and then the edict of Augustus.