[142]
“If the contract be taken by the minor, all the plunder
is snatched out of my hands; what then is the remedy? What? The minor must not be
allowed to have the contract.” Where is the usage in the case of selling
property, securities, or lands adopted by every consul, and censor, and praetor, and
quaestor, that that bidder shall have the preference to whom the property belongs,
and at whose risk the property is sold? He excludes that bidder alone to whom alone,
I was nearly saying, the power of taking the contract ought to have been offered.
“For why,”—so the youth might
say—“should any one aspire to my money against my will! What
does he come forward for? The contract is let out for a work which is to be done and
paid for out of my money. I say that it is I who am going to put the place in
repair, the inspection of it afterwards will belong to you who let out the contract.
You have taken sufficient security for the interests of the people with bonds and
sureties; and if you do not think sufficient security has been taken, will you as
praetor send whomsoever you please to take possession of my property, and not permit
me to come forward in defence of my own fortune?”
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