of the fatherland.

'This is the privilege which, as the African asserts, was of old
bestowed on his race. By virtue thereof they lawfully demand the
inheritance of others, and thus obtain a right which the Roman in a
similar case could never claim. Nor have they this benefit in their
own land; but here they are for this purpose looked upon as all
related to one another.

'The whole nation, in what relates to the advantages of succession, is
regarded as one family.

'Your Experience is therefore to submit the subject of this man's
petition to a diligent examination, and if it shall turn out, as he
alleges, that the deceased has left no sons nor other persons who
might reasonably claim to succeed him, your official staff is to
induct him into the aforesaid property according to the established
usage.

'He will thus cease to be a foreigner, and will acquire the status of
a native possessor, and therewith the usual liability to pay tribute.
He is inferior to other owners only in this one point, that he lacks
the power of alienating his property. Let him who has derived so much
benefit from our commiseration now relieve others. Fortunate and
enviable has turned out his captivity[826], which enables him at one
and the same time to enjoy the citizenship of Rome and the privileges
of the African.'

[Footnote 826: 'Felix illi contigit et praedicanda captivitas.' A
little before, we read, 'Resumat facultatem quam se suspiraverat
amississe.' These sentences suggest the idea that the petitioner had
been brought over in the train of the lately deceased person as a
slave. This a little lessens the difficulty of his being admitted to
the inheritance. Compare Gen. xv. 3, where Abraham, before the birth
of a son, says, 'And one born in my house' (i.e. a slave) 'is mine
heir.']

10. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO DIVERS CANCELLARII IN THE
PROVINCES.

[Sidenote: Taxes to be punctually enforced.]

'Arrears of tribute are like bodily diseases, serious and enfeebling
when they become chronic. A man who is under a load of debt cannot be
called free: he has abandoned the power of controlling his actions to
another. Your supposed indulgence to the taxpayer is no real kindness.
There comes a time when the whole arrear of debt has to be claimed,
and then these venal delays of yours make the demand seem twice as
heavy in the eyes of the unfortunate taxpayer. Cease then to trade
upon the peasants' losses. Exact the whole amount of