[MODESTINUS libro primo excusationum. ] §27.1.1.prἘρέννιος Μοδεστῖνος Ἐγνατίῳ Δέξτρῳ.
[MODESTINUS, On Excuses, book 1.]\n\nHerennius Modestinus to Egnatius Dexter, greeting.
συγγράψας σύγγραμμα, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, χρησιμώτατον, ὅπερ παραίτησιν ἐπιτροπῆς καὶ κουρατορίας ὠνόμασα, τοῦτό σοι πέπομφα. §27.1.1.1Ποιήσομαι δὲ ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ τὴν περὶ τούτων διδασκαλίαν σαφῆ, ἀφηγούμενος τὰ νόμιμα τῇ τῶν Ἑλλήνων φωνῇ, εἰ καὶ οἶδα δύσφραστα εἶναι αὐτὰ νομιζόμενα πρὸς τὰς τοιαύτας μεταβολάς. §27.1.1.2Προσθήσω δὲ τῇ τῶν λεγομένων διηγήσει αὐτὰ τὰ τῶν νόμων ῥήματα, εἴ που καὶ τούτου δεηθείην, ἵνα τήν τε τῶν λεκτέων καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀναγνωστέων χρῆσιν ἔχοντες τὸ ὁλόκληρον τοῖς δεομένοις καὶ τὴν ὠφέλειαν παρασχώμεθα.
Having composed a treatise which is, in my opinion, most useful, and which I have named "On the Excuse of Guardianship and Curatorship", I have sent this to you.\n\nAnd I shall make the instruction on these matters as clear as I can, expounding the legal rules in the language of the Greeks, even though I know that they are considered difficult to express in such translations.\n\nAnd I shall add to the narration of what is said the very words of the laws, if indeed I should have need of this too, so that, by having the use of both what is to be spoken and what is to be read, we may provide the whole matter and the utility to those who need it.
Λεκτέον τοίνυν §27.1.1.3πρῶτον, τίνας οὐ δεῖ χειροτονεῖσθαι. §27.1.1.4Ἀπελευθερικοῖς ὀρφανοῖς εὐγενεῖς οὐ δώσουσιν οἱ ἄρχοντες ἐπιτρόπους ἢ κουράτορας, πλὴν εἰ μὴ παντελὴς ἀπορία κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἀπελευθέρων ἐστίν· ἀπελευθερικοῖς γὰρ ἀπελευθέρους μόνους δεῖν δίδοσθαι τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τόπου ὄντας θείου Μάρκου ὑρατίων κελεύει.
Now, we must speak\n\nfirst, who ought not to be appointed.\n\nTo orphans of freedman status, the magistrates shall not give freeborn persons as guardians or curators, unless there is a complete lack of freedmen in that place; for the constitution of the divine Marcus orders that to those of freedman status, only freedmen who are from the same place ought to be given.
ἐὰν δὲ δοθῇ, ὁ θειότατος Σεβῆρος τῶν ἀφηλίκων προνοούμενος ὑπέύθυνον αὐτὸν εἶναι τῇ ἐπιτροπῇ, ἐὰν μὴ ἐμπροθέσμως δικαιολογήσηται, ἀντέγραψεν. §27.1.1.5Οὐκ ἔξεστιν κουρατορεύειν μνηστῆρα μνηστῆς, ὡς ἡ σύγκλητος λέγει· χειροτονηθεὶς δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀπολυθήσεται.
But if one should be given, the divine Severus, providing for the minors, wrote in a rescript that he is liable to the guardianship unless he excuses himself within the prescribed time limit.\n\nIt is not permitted for a betrothed man to be the curator of his betrothed, as the senate says; and if such a person has been appointed, he shall be released.