[CELSUS libro septimo digestorum. ] §17.1.48.prQuintus Mucius Scaeuola ait, si quis sub usuris creditam pecuniam fideiussisset et reus in iudicio conuentus cum recusare uellet sub usuris creditam esse pecuniam et fideiussor soluendo usuras potestatem recusandi eas reo sustulisset, eam pecuniam a reo non petiturum.
[CELSUS, Digest, Book VII.] Quintus Mucius Scaeuola says that if anyone has guaranteed money lent at interest, and the debtor, when sued in court, wished to refuse to pay on the ground that the money was lent at interest, but the guarantor, by paying the interest, deprived the debtor of the opportunity to refuse it, he cannot claim that money from the debtor.
sed si reus fideiussori denuntiasset, ut recusaret sub usuris debitam esse nec is propter suam existimationem recusare uoluisset, quod ita soluerit, a reo petiturum.
But if the debtor had notified the guarantor to refuse to pay what was due at interest, and the guarantor, for the sake of his own reputation, did not wish to refuse and thus paid it, he can claim it from the debtor.
hoc bene censuit Scaeuola: parum enim fideliter facit fideiussor in superiore casu, quod potestatem eximere reo uidetur suo iure uti: ceterum in posteriore casu non oportet esse noxiae fideiussori, si pepercisset pudori suo.
Scaeuola rightly decided this: for in the former case, the guarantor acts with too little good faith, since he is seen to deprive the debtor of the opportunity to exercise his own right; whereas in the latter case, it ought not to be to the detriment of the guarantor if he has spared his own sense of honor.
§17.1.48.1Cum mando tibi, ut credendo pecuniam negotium mihi geras mihique id nomen praestes, meum in eo periculum, meum emolumentum sit, puto mandatum posse consistere.
When I commission you to manage my business by lending money and to guarantee that debt to me, so that the risk in it is mine and the profit is mine, I think that a mandate can stand.
§17.1.48.2Ceterum ut tibi negotium geras, tui arbitrii sit nomen, id est ut cuiuis credas, tu recipias usuras, periculum dumtaxat ad me pertineat, iam extra mandati formam est, quemadmodum si mandem, ut mihi quemuis fundum emas.
But that you should manage your own business, that the debt should be at your discretion—that is, that you may lend to whomever you wish and receive the interest yourself, while only the risk belongs to me—is already outside the scope of a mandate, just as if I were to commission you to buy any estate whatsoever for me.