limit poket - pocket 10s - what's the right play?

I'm not sure what the best play is here, so I'm putting this out there as food for thought.

You're in late-middle position in a ten-handed limit Hold 'Em game. The first three players limp, the next two players fold, and it's on you. You have pocket 10s. What's the best play?

Let's assume that you know your opponents pretty well, and in general, they all tend to be loose-passive players who are rarely bluffed out of the pot, often chase, and play a wide range of hands from all positions. They will almost always raise their best starting hands, and always call a late-position raise if they have limped into the pot.

My friend argues that always raising the pocket 10s is the right play -- he figures you have the best hand and want to represent strength.

I wonder if calling and waiting for a favorable flop isn't a better play. For one, you can get out cheap if there are overcards on the flop. Two, if you flop a set, your opponents will have no idea of your holding and give you a lot of action Three, by manipulating the size of the pot and opting to keep the size of the pot small, your post-flop bets and raises have a better chance to thinning the field and putting your opponents in a position to make mistakes.

If you raise and the flop comes 8, 5, 2, and everyone checks to you and you bet, your opponents will be getting proper odds to draw to overcards and gut-shot draws. If you simply call pre-flop, keeping the pot smaller, you cut down their odds.

I think that with a larger pair like Aces or Kings, raising makes more sense. For one, you'll be able to bet or raise the flop in most situations (unlike with the tens, where any jack, queen, king or ace will make you pause); and, post-flop, if you flop an overpair, which is likely, opponents won't have overcard outs to your big pair.

I'm going to keep thinking about this, but it seems that automatically raising limpers in position with queens, jacks and tens might not be the best play, especially in limit poker.