[MODESTINUS libro quarto differentiarum. ] §50.12.9.prEx pollicitatione, quam quis ob honorem apud rem publicam fecit, ipsum quidem omnimodo in solidum teneri: heredem uero eius ob honorem quidem facta promissione in solidum, ob id uero, quod opus promissum coeptum est, si bona liberalitati soluendo non fuerint, extraneum heredem in quintam partem patrimonii defuncti, liberos in decimam teneri diui Seuerus et Antoninus rescripserunt.
[MODESTINUS, in the fourth book on Differences.] The deified Severus and Antoninus replied by rescript that, on account of a promise made by someone to a state for the sake of an office, the promisor himself is indeed bound in full under all circumstances; his heir, however, is bound in full if the promise was made for the sake of an office, but in the case where the promised work has been commenced, if the estate is not sufficient to discharge the liberality, an outside heir is bound for a fifth part of the deceased's estate, and the children for a tenth.
sed et ipsum donatorem pauperem factum ex promissione operis coepti quintam partem patrimonii sui debere diuus Pius constituit.
Moreover, the deified Pius established that even the donor himself, if he has become poor, owes only a fifth part of his own estate on account of a promise of a work that has been commenced.