[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo secundo ad edictum. ] §38.2.1.prHoc edictum a praetore propositum est honoris, quem liberti patronis habere debent, moderandi gratia.
[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo secundo ad edictum.] This edict was proposed by the praetor for the purpose of regulating the respect which freedmen ought to show to their patrons.
namque ut Seruius scribit, antea soliti fuerunt a libertis durissimas res exigere, scilicet ad remunerandum tam grande beneficium, quod in libertos confertur, cum ex seruitute ad ciuitatem Romanam perducuntur.
For, as Servius writes, they were formerly accustomed to demand the harshest things from freedmen, namely to repay so great a benefit as is conferred upon freedmen when they are led from slavery to Roman citizenship.
§38.2.1.1Et quidem primus praetor Rutilius edixit se amplius non daturum patrono quam operarum et societatis actionem, uidelicet si hoc pepigisset, ut, nisi ei obsequium praestaret libertus, in societatem admitteretur patronus.
And indeed, the praetor Rutilius was the first to declare that he would not grant the patron anything more than an action for services and of partnership, provided, of course, that he had agreed to this, namely that if the freedman did not perform due respect to him, the patron should be admitted into partnership.
§38.2.1.2Posteriores praetores certae partis bonorum possessionem pollicebantur: uidelicet enim imago societatis induxit eiusdem partis praestationem, ut, quod uinus solebat societatis nomine praestare, id post mortem praestaret.
Later praetors promised the possession of a certain part of the goods; for indeed, the image of partnership introduced the performance of that same part, so that what he, while alive, used to perform in the name of partnership, he should perform after death.