Digestorum libri
Ex libro XXXI
Dig. 46,3,73Idem libro trigensimo primo digestorum. Ob triginta nummos pecuniae creditae fideiussorem in viginti dedi et pignus: ex venditione autem pignoris creditor decem consecutus est: utrum ex universitate id decedit, ut quidam putant, si in solvendis decem nihil debitor dixisset, an sicut ego puto, in totis decem fideiussori contingit liberatio? quia hoc dicendo potuit hoc efficere debitor, ut, ubi non dixit, id potius soluturum existimetur, quod satisdato debeatur? magis tamen existimo licuisse creditori in id, quod solus debebat reus, accepto referre.
The Same, Digest, Book XXXI. I gave a surety for twenty sesterces, and a pledge for ten, in order to secure thirty sesterces which I had borrowed. The creditor collected ten by the sale of the pledge. Does this sum of ten sesterces decrease the entire debt (as certain authorities hold), if, when paying the ten, the debtor said nothing about it; or (which is my opinion) is the surety entitled to be released from liability for the sesterces on all that is due, for the reason that, by mentioning this, the debtor could have brought it about; and as he did not say anything, he would be held rather to have intended to make payment of that which was secured? I am rather inclined to think that the owner of the obligation should be permitted to credit what was paid upon that part of the claim for which the debtor was severally liable.