r request; and if you can prove that you have come to the age at
which "venia aetatis" should be asked for, we ordain that, with the
proper formalities which have been of old provided in this
matter[493], you shall be admitted to all the rights of an adult, and
that your dispositions of property, whether in city or country, shall
be held valid[494]. You must exhibit that steadfastness of character
which you claim. You say that you will not be caught by the snares of
designing men; and you must remember that now to deny the fulfilment
of your promise will become a much more serious matter than
heretofore.'

[Footnote 493: 'Ut in foro competenti ea quae in his causis reverenda
legum dictat Antiquitas solenniter actitentur.']

[Footnote 494: 'Ita ut in alienandis rusticis vel urbanis praediis
constitutionum servitus auctoritas.']

42. FORMULA OF AN EDICT TO THE QUAESTOR ORDERING THE PERSON WHO ASKS
FOR THE PROTECTION OF A SAJO TO GIVE BAIL.

[Sidenote: Edictum ad Quaestorem, ut ipse spondere debeat qui Sajonem
meretur.]

'Heavy charges are sometimes brought against the Sajones whom with the
best intentions we have granted for the protection of our wealthy
subjects. We are told that the valour of the Sajo is employed not
merely for the protection of him to whom he is assigned, but for
illegal violence and rapine against that person's enemies. Thus our
remedy becomes itself a disease. To guard against this perversion of
our beneficent designs we ordain that anyone asking for the
guardianship of a brave Sajo against violence with which he feels
himself unable to cope, shall give a penal bond to our Officium, with
this condition, that if the Sajo[495] who is assigned to him shall
exceed our orders by any improper violence, he himself shall pay by
way of fine so many pounds of gold, and shall make satisfaction for
the damage sustained by his adversary as well as for the expenses of
his journey [to obtain redress]. For our wish is to repress uncivil
dispositions, not to injure the innocent. As for the Sajo who shall
have wilfully transgressed the limit of our commands, he shall lose
his donative, and--which is the heaviest of all punishments--our
favour also. Nor will we entrust any further duty to him who has been
the violator rather than the executor of our will.'

[Footnote 495: 'Sajus' in the original, and so in the next place where
it occurs.]

43. FORMULA APPROVING THE APPOINTMENT OF A CLERK IN THE RECORD-OFFI