[IDEM libro trigensimo primo ad edictum. ] §13.7.25.prSi seruos pigneratos artificiis instruxit creditor, si quidem iam imbutos uel uoluntate debitoris, erit actio contraria: si uero nihil horum intercessit, si quidem artificiis necessariis, erit actio contraria, non tamen sic, ut cogatur seruis carere pro quantitate sumptuum debitor.
[THE SAME, On the Edict, Book 31] If a creditor has instructed pledged slaves in trades, if indeed they were already trained or it was by the will of the debtor, there will be a counter-action; but if neither of these was the case, if indeed they were necessary trades, there will be a counter-action, yet not in such a way that the debtor is forced to do without the slaves due to the amount of the expenses.
sicut enim neglegere ditorem dolus et culpa quam praestat non patitur, ita nec talem efficere pigneratam, ut grauis sit debitori ad reciperandum: puta saltum grandem pignori datum ab homine, qui uix luere potest, nedum excolere, tu acceptum pignori excoluisti sic, ut magni pretii faceres: alioquin non est aequum aut quaerere me alios creditores aut cogi distrahere quod uelim receptum aut tibi paenuria coactum derelinquere.
For just as the fraud and fault for which he is responsible do not allow him to neglect the pledge, so also he must not make the pledged thing of such a character that it is heavy for the debtor to recover: for example, if a large estate was given in pledge by a man who can scarcely redeem it, let alone cultivate it, and you, having received it in pledge, have cultivated it in such a way as to make it of great value; otherwise, it is not fair that I should either have to look for other creditors, or be forced to sell what I wished to have returned, or be compelled by poverty to abandon it to you.
medie igitur haec a iudice erunt dispicienda, ut neque delicatus debitor neque onerosus creditor audiatur.
Therefore, these matters must be examined moderately by the judge, so that neither a fastidious debtor nor an oppressive creditor is heard.