1You write to me that Sabina, who left us her heirs, nowhere ordered her slave Modestus to be free, but nevertheless wrote him a legacy in these words: 'To Modestus, whom I have ordered to be free'. 2You ask what I think. 2I have consulted legal experts. 2They all agree that neither freedom is owed, because it was not given, nor the legacy, because she gave it to her own slave. 2But to me it seems an obvious mistake, and so I think we ought to do, as if Sabina had written it, what she herself believed she had written. 3I am confident you will come round to my view, since you are accustomed to guard the wishes of the dead most scrupulously, and for good heirs, to have understood those wishes is as good as law.
3For with us honour has no less force than necessity has with others. 4So let him remain in freedom with our consent, and let him enjoy the legacy as if she had provided for everything with the greatest care. 4For she did provide, in choosing her heirs well. 4Farewell.