Poemata of the most honorable lord michael psellos to the emperor monomachos

 Shining upon all those in darkness for it says clearly, they have pierced both my hands and my feet. and the twenty-third psalm, of the one of the

 This prophet often fled from the one ruling tyrannically wherefore once, having also fled to a city of foreigners, which was named gath, and fearing

 Of the lord, when everything was inhabited. but a psalm having confession inscribed has a declaration of thanksgiving and gladness for confession

 Since indeed your love of learning, o crown-wearer, longs for the strange and varied explanation and knowledge of the song of songs to be interpreted,

 A word which i loved from the midst of her soul. do you ever rest at midday, o bridegroom? for i am persuaded that you remain purely at midday, that i

 About to recline royally in her, they prepare the bride, seemingly gilding her, so that when the king visits her, he will find her most ready for rest

 Souls mixed up with life may have other cares of worldly matters, but i, having known the pleasure of my bridegroom, will engrave him upon the tablets

 For since the groomsmen and friends of the bridegroom, as we have said above in the discourse concerning this, gilded her who was silvered with their

 Not nourishing (for an herb does not nourish), but making itself brilliant with the beauty of its appearance. for the farmer needs to gain nothing fro

 Saying these things to them, as you will find in sequence: his left hand is under my head, and his right hand will embrace me [2, 6]. the power of the

 Further. behold, he stands behind our wall, peeping through the windows, glancing through the lattices [2, 9]. behold, he says, the word and bridegroo

 Of commands? the old law legislates not to commit adultery, but the present one among us, that of the gospels, commands also to cut off all desire th

 Having comprehended all things, when i arrived at the night of the divine mysteries, having fervently sought the word and bridegroom, i did not find h

 Having become myrrh, so to speak, put to death with christ, it never otherwise becomes incense to the lord. behold the bed of solomon, sixty mighty me

 To her, that is, the church: your eyes are a dove's [4, 1]. just as in a mortal's body there are many members, feet and hands and breasts and chest an

 In these things he hints at the passion of the savior. for know the mountain of myrrh as the passions of the savior, and again know the hill of franki

 You are, he says, o bride, enclosed, having the beauty of all good things in yourself, a fruitful olive tree and a sweet fig tree and again you are a

 Eat, and drink my blood. then be drunk, he says, from gladness and receive forgetfulness of all worldly cares, as if becoming ecstatic from the intoxi

 To the city, they struck me, they wounded me [5, 7]. o, the most beautiful progress of the bride and virgin. for behold, she has ascended even to the

 Having scraped off wickedness from themselves, whence they are filled with good hopes. and again, know his belly as a box, the souls and hearts of all

 Pay attention turn your eyes upon me, for the light of your eyes has given me wings and i have despised all earthly things. but he who fulfills the w

 The word who formed this sought it out after it had long ago fallen and having found it and taken it upon his shoulders, the lord brought it up to he

 By the logos, but an individual and one person with the hypostasis. but do not call the flesh the hypostasis of god, but call it enhypostatic, for the

 While the divine justinian, the new lawgiver, was holding the scepters of the romans, and eutychius the wise was then patriarch. and one hundred and s

 Divine scripture teaches and very many others everywhere in the sacred books have preached, taught, and clarified likewise. not having accepted this,

 Of various ranks. for some drive them from the divine church. others only depose those who were ordained, others afflict them with the penalties of ex

 The power of the so-called tenses. the present as standing, as being today the imperfect as extended (for i was striking has an unfinished meaning)

 I will write but of the nouns that end in psi, again with one of these it forms the genitive, master for the pelops, of the pelops, of the ki

 Having a consonant is never regularly disyllabic but since tetheika is trisyllabic in the middle voice, how could the middle exist? this is against

 To glare fiercely. to be angry: to be enraged. a manger for cattle. to know how to fight: to understand the battle against one's betters. a javelin is

 The boarding. foedera are the treaties. chelidonis is the step below the entrance. psairein is to touch, to move. psephaion is that which is dark. the

 And chambers the hollows. hidden the secret things near the feet the footings arteries, iringes and the bones, pomegranate-like. scraped the shaven

 A dispute whether a trial should take place, the issue is an objection, which you will divide thus: for one part of it is written, and the other is un

 To refashion in different words, with various terms, varying and transposing first what is to be done, then its cause, then what has been omitted, the

 To murder,” he introduced an objection negating the action but if someone should say, “even if you had to, but not in such a way,” he spoke a counter

 When having cut a question into two parts, of which each is a precipice, you question certain enemies for you would either silence them, being unable

 Two main points: the more foundational ones, which both lead the argument back to its beginning and tighten it, and again, further on, set out most be

 (for they love man), properly but not properly, for the concept of philanthropy has another meaning and that which is said by similarity of word is s

 Having summarized the discourse, i have made an easily graspable compilation of the laws. first, it must be explained to you how many parts the law ha

 Again, it is tripartite, for of this law there is the twelve-table of the twelve oracles, the decrees of kings, the laws of the praetors. but it must

 Concerning the division of common property, that concerning the peculium and that from a will, both the institutoria and the exercitoria, that against

 Being formulated: let titius inherit my property but if he is unwilling, let primus inherit. one who has entered into an unlawful marriage is both

 What has been paid does not have a subsequent claim for repetition, as was decided by the law. private agreements do not harm the public interest. the

 To receive a book of the first lawsuit initiated and to add a deadline of twenty days. but the one who has obtained a second trial by recusal cannot r

 Would kill it while grazing. this action is by nature also penal, and it is also utilis, and it is also directa if someone harms a body with a body,

 The judge must decide the case being brought, if some are disputing with each other concerning possession. and one kind of possession is the natural h

 It begins at the seventh hour of the night and has its precise completion by the sixth hour of the next night. an appeal is issued within ten days. af

 In thirty years without claim it is both extinguished and destroyed, in no way further a personal action by this time limit, if the interval is not i

 According to use in itself and according to ownership and the same reciprocity happens for the man. let the son who is sui iuris and dies childless g

 Made. an adolescent is not a witness, nor any woman but if the event is such that it cannot accept the sight of a man, women testify. and a slave may

 They fall into a specific class of contract, into sale, into letting, or also into partnership. but if perhaps it should remain unchangeable into some

 Let him make a choice, he distinguished, he did not weave it into the word of paulus. manifest is in the presence of a multitude for it is necessa

 He reasonably gives the property in question according to the laws but in the court of possession, my lord, the seller, having given double, is not r

 But things for pleasure have by nature been spent of necessary things are the mole of the sea, and to plant a new plant, both a vine and trees, and f

 Somehow public, these belonging to the community, the former to individuals. an indecent gift to a prostitute is confirmed according to the laws. but

 Hear briefly the definitions of diseases and symptoms together. thrush is by nature a twofold ulcer in children for the one is easily cured, white-co

 It empties the belly, bites the stomach, greatly enlarges the liver. twice-boiled cabbage is a binder of the belly, but once-boiled, mixed with salt,

 The tower-sparrow is in all things similar to the aforementioned, but it has tougher flesh than the others. and the nature of the duck, the wood-pigeo

 This is a kind of pulse: there are in all three dimensions in principle, length, width, and depth, the principles of bodies. so the three dimensions o

 More briefly, then relaxing in tone and speed and contracting towards the end of its course, or even changing to the opposite. and again vary these fo

 Called, the third into refined oil. but if it should take on a burnt color, it indicates spasm and immediate death but if it comes from the kidneys,

 It would form, not having putrefied, but having putrefied, a kind of eating herpes. but the humor that is terrible and black in nature, if it contains

 The fire of insatiability is wont to eat. nausea is naturally a surge of the stomach, with bad humors thus intertwined. hiccups are increased either b

 Of the head, spirits and a shattering of the anterior cavities. but learn that epilepsy is of this sort. it is by nature a sudden clonus of the body,

 Of this affliction blindness is the greatest extension of the evil. a chalazion is a certain hardening of fluid in the eyelid, suddenly compacted. a

 Of inflammation with a twofold affection: for one has a stabbing pain, and a twofold cough, on the one hand only without sputum, showing that the dise

 A natural pain of the colon indigestion and colic, obstructions of the stomach, and piercing pains of the sufferer. this is the division of this conn

 But again, excessive cleansing is a sudden flow and again, a flow in women is a pneumatism of the uterus. an impassioned inflammation of the uterus i

 Burning with a fiery heat the affected places in common. and every inflamed swelling is a phlegmon but what is properly called phlegmon arises from g

 The substance of twins. the nature of hermaphrodites is quick to anger. 10 verses on leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal a w

 Is earth, moon, light-bringer, and soul and flesh here and mind appropriately so set one against one somehow, but reasonably, mind against sun, body

 An image, the dignity of the mind, the delightful flower, the place of delight, the comely dwelling of the graces, she who alone had and bore all the

 They flocked to orpheus with insatiable desire, and everyone who saw him stood astounded, looking and if some modesty had not hidden your appearance,

 An old man, from there again wept in response even more, roaring from the depths like a lion and with his groans making a great sound, as if speaking

 Keep the nightingale's mouth shut, it has the songs of orpheus do not comb through the braid of her hair you held a treasure, not a dead little body

 Long ago which nothing is so strong to whiten as a broad hand of gifts and graces. then my old woman, alas, my mother, care for her in her old age an

 Shown to you fittingly. hail, general and king of the whole earth, greatest, all-renowned, power of the empire for men assembled, who do not delight

 With contrary inclinations, sleeps, pains, toils and pleasures. you were not of bronze, nor of iron in nature for christ hates excessive zeal. a grea

 Blasphemies and though appointed a champion of the poor, you strip them naked even to their tunic boasting your zeal like a new elijah, you do not b

 A new thing of life, foul-smelling dog, a serpent in wickedness o idle beast, a grievous burden of the earth o tongue quick to blasphemy and hand re

 A murderer. did you then yield as one slow of speech by nature or running ahead did you seize not a ministry, but a completely foreign unutterable dee

 In verse, but he gladly loved comedy. prol 22 verses of a certain monk jacob from the monastery of the synkellos against psellos o master zeus and fat

 Unmixed wine. from the belly a cry of yours was heard, jacob, in the womb of the jar, and he who pours out the wine for you has hearkened to you, all-

 Let us hang clusters of grapes gracefully, and let us hang wineskins around your neck, / and let us shout loudly, / he who drinks unceasingly is thus

 God beautified and graced you with the beauties of your words. you were devoted to the divine scriptures, o holy one, and tracing the lives of the sai

 Blessed one, you have departed to the lord, on the very day on which the renowned stephen is perfected / the holy martyr, with whom you were also glor

 Of counsels, as initiating the friends as initiates, the body a soul-nourishing table, and he mixes the blood as nectar sweetening the mind. but appro

 Of humility the master a type a type to the disciples showing, the master of humility and of a moderate spirit he who binds all things girds himself w

 Of all ages, a beginning of ways, an unoriginate word of unknown things. he begets thus, then also creates again for works these things of those now b

 31 of psellos, on saint george. how steadfast, how fearless, how beyond nature you courageously bore the pains of contest, most excellent george, glor

 The glory of generals, of the other children of jesse he was the youngest in appearance plain, but beautiful in soul, most manly in judgment, strong

 A medicine, the common health of souls, a collection of good things, salvation for men. for it removes and drives away every sickness of the soul, it

 By counsel he tripped up a woman, but a woman cast him down by bearing god in the flesh, the redeemer of men, his destroyer, she who is blessed among

 That the book of psalms is of david and of him alone, and that he himself composed all of them, both those having superscriptions and those without su

 Of things written, these were referred to christ, and must be expressed in the dative. for christ in the scriptures is called the new david, for he wa

 Is spoken in the voice of the hebrews. the lord is the one who is sung to, to whom we sing the hymns, a psalm is the composition, the melody is the ps

 But the four regions of the world, through which the sound of the psalms was to advance. and seventy-two men constituted the choir and the matter sig

 Of those prophesying who prefigured the glorious things of the new covenant, and the deep and obscure nature of the sayings, which is a characteristic

 To the four hundred and the wretched aquila, being angry with the christians, produced a great corruption of the interpretation. aelius hadrian was r

 About things that are going to happen after some time, and at other times he composes his words about present things. and he often altered the sequenc

 The king, the wonderful and all-wise david the psalmist. who, as a prophet, clearly foresaw future events and those things that were accomplished many

 A book. this too, my christ, is a sign of your providence for a man truly barbarous in language and manners made a great effort to find the book of d

 He counts the impious wretched. on the 2nd psalm, why did they rage it prophesies concerning christ, and calls the nations to faith. this one reveal

 Again: «behold, just as that one was in travail with injustice, he conceived trouble within, he brought forth lawlessness, and dug a deep grave, but h

 He has spoken this prophecy of many. on the 14th psalm, lord, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle? a description of the saints who were perfected i

 Greatest prophet, as if spoken by hezekiah, when that sennacherib campaigns against him, then is sent away empty, having been defeated. for the greate

 Thirdly by the twelve tribes, just as we have found in the histories of the four kingdoms. on the 27th psalm, to you, o lord, will i cry an ode of t

 He saved him from his enemies for he says, “i will bless the lord at all times.” on the 34th psalm, “judge, o lord, those who wrong me” a supplicatio

 To obtain freedom from god. for “as the deer longs for the springs of water, so,” he says, “my soul longs to run to you. for i have thirsted to see yo

 Introducing in its place the new. announcing the overthrow of the sacrifices of the law and the introduction of the new and recent covenant, the most

 Alone, not bearing to see the superstition of the enemies. whence he says, i went far off, o lord, fleeing, and i lodged in the wilderness having fl

 Of idumea? are you not by all means, christ, god, who has cast me off?” on the 60th psalm, “hear, o god, my prayer” it prophesies the calling of the g

 Of the savior and the fall of the most cursed hebrews. for for my thirst, he says, they gave me vinegar to drink, and for my food they have given m

 Through love for humanity, but then again he punishes because of sin, but nevertheless later coming to judgment with angels he will make those who hav

 Reveals of the jews. but this one rebukes the most lawless judges, whom the greatest prophet also called gods. for he says thus to them in the person

 And of the god-man word for he says the lord of all reigned. to the 93rd psalm, god of vengeances is the lord he foretells uprisings and persecut

 Within me.” teaches how one must give thanks to the lord for all things. in this he again advises to honor the master. for “alleluia” wishes to signif

 Of the pure virgin. for to my lord, he says, the lord said, sit at the right hand of my throne and of glory, until i make your enemies as your foot

 Their war and that of their neighbors. however, each of the psalms of ascents has been most beautifully formed and somehow set to melody, as if by a c

 May you eat and see your sons' sons begetting children.” on the 128th, “many a time have they fought against me” it speaks of the victory of the lord'

 Wishing to build the temple of the lord from captivity, were often hindered by their neighbors, as they engaged them in war daily. for he says, unles

 Unceasingly. to the 137th psalm, i will give thanks to you he gives thanks to the lord and prophesies the future. he wrote this in the person of the

 To his saints» the prophet commands all to hymn god unceasingly. the prophet urges every breath and power and nature to the unceasing praise of the lo

 In summer. and it surpasses the whole earth in size for the earth, as it seems, is cone-shaped. and you have set the moon to give light to the night

 And there was the blameless and god-child mary, from the country of jesse and david the prophet. and joachim and anna bore the virgin. and for three y

 The shedding of the blood cleansed adam and purified creation which had been greatly defiled. [.........] because of extreme compassion he fixed a [sw

 A subtle theory. for one thing often refers to two, sometimes three, so that he who cuts up the divine oracles and improperly leaves behind some of th

 An activity was connected to these. and from this, the transfer of the divine mysteries to the altar brings jesus’ entrance from bethany into jerusale

 The joy of the tyrant and the affliction of sufferings and he who demonstrates this through good deeds asks for the lord’s “will to be done” he who

 They deny the power of christ, saying, whence did he have leavened bread, when leaven was absent from the passover in those days because of what moses

 That there are no leavened things in the venerable and all-honorable supper because of which moses threatened in the law, as we said above in the proo

 He himself demonstrates, the master of the old and of the new, abolishing the one as unbelievable and not working for the salvation of mortals, but st

 For this is also half of the modii. and finding another shape having the measure thus, one schoinos at the head and five at the foot, and on both side

 Of the fort. it leaves on the right the rights of so-and-so and the oaks planted there in a row, among which a well-formed mark has been found, and ab

 Setting down the mountainous nature of the place, or rough, or impassable, or even nomadic. but when others have measured with a ten-fathom rope, more

 You will find the perimeter of the place being measured and thus you may hit the mark and you will not miss the measurement. 59 concerning the twelve

 Bowels and intestines, belly the abdomen and call the small of the intestine for me the omentum. they call the veins around the heart *itides*. the p

 Wanting to see the emperor's procession at the church of the holy apostles, he pitilessly beat me (alas for me) with a club, striking unsparingly shou

 Passing by my wretched fortunes. o dearest wife, and more than light, very sweetness of my whole heart, anna my breath, light of my eyes, meadow of gr

 The divine with labor, that he may grant to us a ransom for our errors and complete forgiveness for all our faults, before our material union is broke

 He says, “we know in part, and we speak in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be gone,” and for the most part he counts this one also

 Borne of much love, even if it had some bite and some irony, a letter analogous to the one you sent me. but wishing to speak, yet not wanting to liste

 That coming to you i no longer grind out words. do not, therefore, weary yourself, man, saying this and that begin concisely from his very own ancest

 And at another time stoking the fires at the bath of makres kochalos, which is the official bath of the castle, adapting yourself by many arts and dev

 Ends of the world, by whom he cast down the powerful and the wise and kings. for from these of low birth and of lowly fortune and those who seem insig

 For while putting on airs of knowing the art of verses, you have corrected neither the accents nor your corresponding lines, nor have you harmonized t

 Are you sleeping, writing to me with much boldness and the usual hateful, ignorant folly iambics of which you have never had any experience at all? go

 77 on the ascension having come from the east to the west, you rose again towards the rays of the sun. for having come to earth with compassion, o mas

 Every desire is a pain but if it is for a good youth, the pain is fourfold and if for one beloved, the pain is tenfold and if for more than a frien

concerning the division of common property, that concerning the peculium and that from a will, both the institutoria and the exercitoria, that against one who has appointed someone to a workshop and against one who has appointed someone at sea, and the quod legatorum, being an interdict, the usus, the usufructus, and very many other actions, all of which are quasi-contracts. And again, the actions from quasi-delicts, that against a judge who has judged and acted unlawfully, that against one who has shamelessly torn down an edict, and certain other actions and some of those in factum. Receive again a varied division of actions. of actions, some are from contracts, and others again are derived from delicts; some are real, others personal; some are of good faith, others are somewhat strict; some exact a thing, others a penalty, and others both; some are brought for the whole, others for a part only; some exact a single amount, others a double and triple, and others even a quadruple, and others even more than this, and the more severe of these, in addition to these things, inflict infamy; some are timely, some are of years, some are limited by forty years, and some pass even against heirs; some of these are, as they say, arbitrariae, whenever they depend on judicial mediation, but others are not concerned with the opinion of the judge. And there is another very great division of the laws. And accept this from me also, as it is necessary, that all the canons of the laws, O crown-bearer, are unsound, for they are false in part. A canon is a concise statement of a matter which is, as it were, the subject of the canon; but having erred, it falls away, O master, also from its subject. But wishing to summarize all the laws for you, I will use definitive and brief phrases. Justice is naturally the apportionment of what is just. Natural law is common to all living creatures. Of laws, one is written, the other unwritten, as custom. Freedom is naturally a certain physical license, while slavery is submission to mastery, which, as it is indifferent, is a certain indivisible thing. But the misfortune of the mother, that is, her prostitution, does not harm the one in the womb, depriving him of paternal property. One is not able to manumit, defrauding creditors. After puberty one can write a will; but a seventeen-year-old can manumit. Of children, those from lawful marriages are subject to authority, for these alone are legally subject to their fathers. If someone should receive something from the fisc from a donating emperor or by contracting with him, he immediately becomes its master, but he is sued for up to four years. A mortis causa donatio is like a legacy. One does not mortgage the immovable property of a dowry, nor is one able to sell or alienate it at all. A ward does not make an alienation of property, nor can he do anything without his guardians. Both a son under authority and a slave acquire property, the one for his master, the other for his progenitor, even if they themselves are not aware of the transaction; but a son without his father or a slave without his master cannot inherit, nor even enter upon an inheritance. And if a slave is a usufructuary for us, he brings in the acquisition, just as the bona fide possessor. The fideicommissarius along with the legatee do not have a complete succession of right; for the heir alone has this right. The laws do not prevent one from making a will orally; but they rightly reject household witnesses. If perchance one of those on campaign should make a will, the will is valid for a whole year even after the discharge from his former military service; but a son under authority does not make a will, even if his father should command it, except for his castrensia. Insanity does not overturn a will already made. But if someone is emancipatus, he has contra tabulas. And a slave, if one should wish, one institutes as heir. And twelve ounces are the measure of an inheritance. The slave-heir has power, like the testator. No one making a will, unless he is a soldier, disposes of part of his estate by will, and part not. There is substitution, thus indeed

περὶ διαιρέσεως πραγμάτων ἐπικοίνων, ἡ περὶ πεκουλίου τε ἥ τε ἐκ διαθήκης ἡ ἰνστιτουτορία τε ἥ τ' ἐξκερκιτορία, ἡ κατὰ τοῦ προστήσαντος τινὰ ἐργαστηρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ προστήσαντος τινὰ ἐπὶ θαλάσσης, τὸ κούοδ λεγατόρουμ τε, ἰντέρδικτον τυγχάνον, ὁ οὖσος, ὁ οὐσούφρουκτος, ἄλλαι τ' ἀγωγαὶ πλεῖσται τῶν ὡσανεὶ τυγχάνουσι πᾶσαι συναλλαγμάτων. Αἱ δ' ἀγωγαὶ τῶν ὡσανεὶ πάλιν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἡ κατὰ τοῦ δικάσαντος καὶ παρηνομηκότος, ἡ κατὰ τοῦ συρρήξαντος ἔδικτον ἀναισχύντως, ἄλλαι τέ τινες ἀγωγαὶ καί τινες τῶν ἰν φάκτουμ. ∆έχου πάλιν διαίρεσιν τῶν ἀγωγῶν ποικίλην. τῶν ἀγωγῶν αἱ μέν εἰσιν ἀπὸ συναλλαγμάτων, αἱ δὲ πάλιν κατάγονται ἀπὸ ἁμαρτημάτων· αἱ μέν εἰσι πραγματικαί, αἱ δὲ κατὰ προσώπων· αἱ μέν εἰσι πίστει καλῇ, αἱ δέ εἰσί πως στρίκται· αἱ μὲν πρᾶγμα εἰσπράττουσιν, αἱ δὲ ποινήν, αἱ δ' ἄμφω· αἱ μὲν κινοῦνται εἰς τὸ πᾶν, αἱ δὲ εἰς μέρος μόνον· αἱ μὲν ἁπλοῦν εἰσπράττουσιν, αἱ δὲ διπλοῦν τριπλοῦν τε, αἱ δὲ καὶ τετραπλάσιον, αἱ δὲ καὶ πλέον τούτου, αἱ τούτων δὲ βαρύτεραι πρὸς τούτοις ἀτιμοῦσιν· αἱ μέν εἰσιν ἐπίκαιροι, τινὲς δὲ τῶν χρονίων, αἱ δὲ περιορίζονται τεσσαράκοντα χρόνοις, τινὲς δὲ διαβαίνουσι καὶ κατὰ κληρονόμων· αἱ μέν εἰσιν, ὡς λέγουσι, τούτων ἀρβιτραρίαι, ὁπότε τῆς δικαστικῆς ἤρτηνται μεσιτείας, ταῖς δὲ τῆς ὑπολήψεως τοῦ κρίνοντος οὐ μέλει. ἄλλη τε πλείστη πέφυκε διαίρεσις τῶν νόμων. Καὶ τοῦτο δέ μοι πρόσλαβε, τυγχάνον ἀναγκαῖον, ὡς οἱ κανόνες ἅπαντες τῶν νόμων, στεφηφόρε, ὑπόσαθροι τυγχάνουσι, ψεύδονται γὰρ ἐν μέρει. κανὼν δ' ἐστὶ τοῦ πράγματος συντετμημένος λόγος ὅπερ ὡς ὑποκείμενον τυγχάνει τῷ κανόνι· σφαλεὶς δ' ἐκπίπτει, δέσποτα, καὶ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου. τοὺς νόμους δὲ βουλόμενος πάντας σοι συνοψίζειν ὁριστικοῖς προσχρήσομαι ῥήμασι καὶ συντόμοις. δικαιοσύνη πέφυκε νέμησις τοῦ δικαίου. δίκαιον φυσικόν ἐστι κοινὸν πᾶσι τοῖς ζῴοις. τῶν νόμων ὁ μὲν ἔγγραφος, ὁ δ' ἄγραφος ὡς ἔθος. ἐλευθερία πέφυκεν ἄδεια φυσική τις, δουλεία δὲ ὑποταγὴ τυγχάνει δεσποτείας, ἥτις ὡς ἀδιάφορος ἄτομόν τι τυγχάνει. ἡ συμφορὰ δὲ τῆς μητρός, τουτέστιν ἡ πορνεία, οὐ βλάπτει τὸν ἐν τῇ γαστρί, στεροῦσα τῶν πατρῴων. οὐ σθένει τις ἐλευθεροῦν δανειστὰς περιγράφων. μετὰ τὴν ἥβην γράφειν τις δύναται διαθήκην· ἐλευθεροῦν δὲ δύναται ἑπτακαιδεκαέτης. τῶν παίδων ὑπεξούσιοι οἱ ἐκ νομίμων γάμων, οὗτοι γὰρ μόνοι νομικῶς ὑπείκουσι πατράσιν. εἴ τις ἐκ φίσκου λάβοι τι δωροῦντος βασιλέως ἢ συναλλάττων πρὸς αὐτόν, εὐθὺς τούτου δεσπόζει, ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἐνάγεται μέχρι τετραετίας. ἡ μόρτις καῦσα δωρεὰ ἔοικε τῷ λεγάτῳ. τὰ τῆς προικὸς ἀκίνητα οὐχ ὑποτίθησί τις οὐδὲ πιπράσκειν δύναται οὐδ' ἐκποιεῖν οὐδ' ὅλως. ἐκποίησιν ὁ πούπιλος πραγμάτων οὐ ποιεῖται, οὐδέ τι πράττειν δύναται χωρὶς τῶν ἐπιτρόπων. καὶ υἱὸς ὑπεξούσιος καὶ δοῦλος προσπορίζει, ὁ μέν γε τῷ δεσπόζοντι, ὁ δὲ τῷ φυτοσπόρῳ, κἂν μὴ τυγχάνωσιν αὐτοὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐγνωκότες· υἱὸς δὲ δίχα τοῦ πατρὸς ἢ δοῦλος τοῦ δεσπότου οὐ δύναται κληρονομεῖν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀδιτεύειν. κἄν τις οὐσουφρουκτάριος ἡμῖν ἐστιν οἰκέτης, εἰσάγει τὸν προσπορισμόν, ὥσπερ ὁ βοναφίδε. ὁ φιδικομισάριος σὺν τῷ λεγαταρίῳ ὁλόκληρον διαδοχὴν οὐκ ἔχουσι δικαίου· ὁ κληρονόμος μόνος γὰρ τὸ δίκαιον τοῦτ' ἔχει. ἀγράφως διατίθεσθαι οὐκ εἴργουσιν οἱ νόμοι· οἰκειακοὺς δὲ μάρτυρας ἀθετοῦσιν εἰκότως. εἴ τις διάθοιτο τυχὸν τῶν ἐξεστρατευμένων, ἡ διαθήκη ἔρρωται εἰς ὁλόκληρον χρόνον καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀθέτησιν τῆς προτέρας στρατείας· ὁ δ' ὑπεξούσιος υἱὸς οὐ ποιεῖ διαθήκας, κἂν ὁ πατὴρ κελεύσειε, χωρὶς τῶν κανστρεσίων. οὐκ ἀνατρέπει ἔκστασις προβᾶσαν διαθήκην. εἰ δέ τις ἐμμαγκίπατος, κόντρα ταβούλλας ἔχει. καὶ δοῦλον, εἴ τις βούλοιτο, ἐνιστᾷ κληρονόμον. οὐγκιασμοὶ δὲ δώδεκα μέτρον κληρονομίας. ὡς ὁ τεστάτωρ, δύναται οἰκέτης κληρονόμος. οὐδεὶς διατιθέμενος, εἰ μὴ ᾖ στρατιώτης, μέρει μὲν διατίθεται, μέρει δ' οὔ, τῆς οὐσίας. ἔστιν ὑποκατάστασις, οὕτω δὴ