Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Documents

HS 1,250; I, Gaius Novius Eunus, made that promise. Done at Puteoli. It appears from the first sentence and other documents that • Eunus and Hesycus have an ongoing business relationship (cf. [5] ), and that the main point of the present contract is to bring all the obligations in both directions under a single accounting. There are other similar examples in the archive. The next-to-last sentence gives an example of a term added • by the parties even though it was not required to complete the contract. If the loan is not paid by the specified date, then the debtor will be liable for a further daily penalty (which would amount to an almost 600% rate of interest from that point). I, Quintus Aelius Romanus, have written at the request and order of Marcus Barbatus Celer in his presence (because he says he does not know his letters) that he made a guarantee for the above-mentioned 1,000 denarii 4 to Primus, slave of Publius Attius Severus, on behalf of Menelaus of Ceramos, son of Irenaeus, as is written above. Here we have another document written for the benefit of an • illiterate (cf. [6] ). Somewhat unusually, the writer is a Roman citizen himself, and not (apparently) a dependent. The text [14] TPSulp 78

4 A “ denarius ” is another unit of currency, equivalent to four sesterces .

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