[PROCULUS libro quinto epistularum. ] §17.2.76.prSocietatem mecum coisti ea condicione, ut Nerua amicus communis partes societatis constitueret: Nerua constituit, ut tu ex triente socius esses, ego ex besse: quaeris, utrum ratum id iure societatis sit an nihilo minus ex aequis partibus socii simus.
[PROCULUS, in the fifth book of the Epistles.] You entered into a partnership with me on the condition that Nerva, our common friend, should determine the shares of the partnership. Nerva determined that you should be a partner for one-third, and I for two-thirds. You ask whether this is valid under the law of partnership, or whether we are nonetheless partners in equal shares.
existimo autem melius te quaesitum fuisse, utrum ex his partibus socii essemus quas is constituisset, an ex his quas uirum bonum constituere oportuisset.
I think, however, that it would have been better for you to have asked whether we are partners on the basis of the shares which he determined, or on the basis of those which a good man ought to have determined.
arbitrorum enim genera sunt duo, unum eiusmodi, ut siue aequum sit siue iniquum, parere debeamus (quod obseruatur, cum ex compromisso ad arbitrum itum est), alterum eiusmodi, ut ad boni uiri arbitrium redigi debeat, etsi nominatim persona sit comprehensa, cuius arbitratu fiat
For there are two kinds of arbitrations: one is of such a kind that, whether it be fair or unfair, we must submit to it (which is observed when an arbitrator is resorted to under a compromise); the other is of such a kind that it must be reduced to the decision of a honorable man, even if the person by whose arbitration it is to be made has been specifically named.