For,
what could happen more shameful to any human being, what more miserable or more bitter
to a man; what disgrace could happen so heavy, what disaster can be imagined so
intolerable? If fortune deprived any one of money, or if the injustice of another took
it from him, still while his reputation is unimpeached, honour easily makes amends for
poverty. And some men, though stained with ignominy, or convicted in discreditable
trials, still enjoy their wealth; are not forced to dance attendance (which is the most
wretched of all states) on the power of another; and in their distresses they are
relieved by this support and comfort; but he whose goods have been sold, who has seen
not merely his ample estates, but even his necessary food and clothing put up under the
hammer, with great disgrace to himself; he is not only erased from the list of men, but
he is removed out of sight, if possible, even beneath the dead. An honourable
Therefore, in truth, when a man's goods are taken possession of according to the praetor's edict, all his fame and reputation is seized at the same time with his goods. A man about whom placards are posted in the most frequented places, is not allowed even to perish in silence and obscurity; a man who has assignees and trustees appointed to pronounce to him on what terms and conditions he is to be ruined; a man about whom the voice of the crier makes proclamation and proclaims his price,—he has a most bitter funeral procession while he is alive, if that may be considered a funeral in which men meet not as friends to do honour to his obsequies, but purchasers of his goods as executioners, to tear to pieces and divide the relics of his existence.
Therefore our ancestors determined that such a thing should seldom happen; the praetors have taken care that it should only happen after deliberation; good men, even when fraud is openly committed, when there is no opportunity of trying the case at law, still have recourse to this measure timidly and hesitatingly; not till they are compelled by force and necessity, unwillingly, when the recognizances have often been forfeited, when they have been often deceived and outwitted. For they consider how serious a matter it is to confiscate the property of another. A good man is unwilling to slay another, even according to law; for he would rather say that he had saved when he might have destroyed, than that he had destroyed when he could have saved. Good men behave so to the most perfect strangers, aye, even to their greatest enemies, for the sake both of their reputation among men, and of the common rights of humanity; in order that, as they have not knowingly caused inconvenience to another, no inconvenience may lawfully befall them. He did not appear to his recognizances. Who? Your own relation. If that matter appeared of the greatest importance in itself, yet its magnitude would be lessened by the consideration of your relationship. He did not appear to his recognizances. Who? Your partner. You might forgive even a greater thing than this, to a man with whom either your inclination had connected you, or fortune had associated you.
He did not appear to his recognizances. Who? He who was always in your company. You therefore have hurled upon him, who allowed it to happen once that he was not in your company, all those weapons which have been forged against those who have done many things for the sake of malversation and fraud.