[CALLISTRATUS libro secundo quaestionum. ] §35.1.82.prCum seruus ita liber esse iussus sit 'si rationes reddiderit' eique fundum heres dare damnas sit, uideamus, utrum condicio libertati praeposita sit an uero et legato.
[CALLISTRATUS in the second book of Questions.] When a slave has been ordered to be free in this way: 'if he shall have rendered his accounts', and the heir is condemned to give him a tract of land, let us see whether the condition is placed upon the freedom only, or also upon the legacy.
et quidem si libertati soli accipiamus praepositam, nullus tractatus amplius superest: nam legatum purum inuenitur et ideo inutile fit: quod si condicio etiam legato insita sit, quod quidam recte putant, simul cum libertate dies quoque legati utiliter cedit.
And indeed, if we accept that it is placed upon freedom alone, no further discussion remains; for the legacy is found to be unconditional, and therefore becomes void. But if the condition is inherent also in the legacy, which some rightly think, the date of the legacy also successfully arrives at the same time as the freedom.
quid ergo continetur his uerbis 'si rationes reddiderit'? quidam hoc aiunt 'si reliqua reddiderit', quasi nihil intersit, utrum sub hac condicione 'si reliqua' uel hac 'si rationes reddiderit'.
What, then, is contained in these words 'if he shall have rendered his accounts'? Some say this means 'if he shall have paid the balances', as if there were no difference whether it is under this condition 'if the balances' or this 'if he shall have rendered his accounts'.
sed nos neque condicionem meram putamus esse, quae in datione exsistit, neque meram condicionem, quae in facto sit, sed eam condicionem, quae ex mixtura quadam consistit.
But we think that it is neither a pure condition which consists in giving, nor a pure condition which is in an act, but a condition which consists of a certain mixture.
nam non utique si ille in folle reliqua optulerit, liber erit: non enim testator hoc sensit, sed illud, ut rationes reddat, quomodo seruus reddere solet, id est legendas offerre rationes primum, deinde computandas, ut explorari possit, imputationes probe an improbe referantur, accepta recte relata an non recte: ita enim incipit quidem res a facto, peruenit autem ad pecuniam.
For he will not in any case be free if he merely offers the balances in a bag; for the testator did not mean this, but rather that he should render his accounts in the manner a slave is accustomed to render them, that is, first to offer the accounts to be read, and then to be calculated, so that it can be investigated whether the debits are entered honestly or dishonestly, and whether the receipts are correctly reported or not. For in this way, the matter indeed begins from an act, but arrives at money.
inest his uerbis etiam heredes notitia instrui rationum, ut sciant, quid in quaque ratione scriptum sit.
Inherent in these words is also that the heirs are furnished with knowledge of the accounts, so that they may know what is written in each account.
nam quod ipse uiuus facturus erat, ab heredibus suis fieri iussisse intellegitur: ille autem utique non sic solebat seruo suo ostendenti reliqua rationes subscribere, sed ita, ut legeret examinaret exciperet.
For what he himself would have done while alive, he is understood to have ordered to be done by his heirs. But he, at any rate, was not accustomed to sign the accounts of his slave who merely showed the balances in such a way, but rather so that he would read, examine, and take them down.
itaque cum seruo sub hac condicione testamento libertas datur 'si rationes reddiderit', non hanc solam habet significationem, si cautiones instrumentaque omnia actus sui exhibuerit heredi, sed et si reliqua soluerit.
Therefore, when freedom is given to a slave in a testament under this condition: 'if he shall have rendered his accounts', it does not have only this meaning, if he shall have exhibited to the heir all the security bonds and documents of his administration, but also if he shall have paid the balances.