when the creditors are defrauded both by the intention of the
manumitter, and in fact: that is to say, by his property being
insufficient to meet their claims.

4 The same lex Aelia Sentia makes it unlawful for a master
under twenty years of age to manumit, except in the mode of
fictitious vindication, preceded by proof of some legitimate
motive before the council. 5 It is a legitimate motive of manu-
mission if the slave to be manumitted be, for instance, the
father or mother of the manumitter, or his son or daughter, or
his natural brother or sister, or governor or nurse or teacher,
or foster-son or foster-daughter or foster-brother, or a slave
whom he wishes to make his agent, or a female slave whom
he intends to marry; provided he marry her within six months,
and provided that the slave intended as an agent is not less
than seventeen years of age at the time of manumission. 6
When a motive for manumission, whether true or false, has
once been proved, the council cannot withdraw its sanction.

7 Thus the lex Aelia Sentia having prescribed a certain mode
of manumission for owners under twenty, it followed that
though a person fourteen years of age could make a will, and
therein institute an heir and leave legacies, yet he could not con-
fer liberty on a slave until he had completed his twentieth year.
But it seemed an intolerable hardship that a man who had the
power of disposing freely of all his property by will should not
be allowed to give his freedom to a single slave: wherefore we
allow him to deal in his last will as he pleases with his slaves as
with the rest of his property, and even to give them their liberty
if he will. But liberty being a boon beyond price, for which