ABSTRACT
Slaves could act as agents for their owner in business deals, making valid contracts with a third party on his behalf; the Digest (14, 3) discusses legal actions resulting from obligations entered into by such agents (institores). I Several such cases are recorded in the dossier of wax tablets found at Murecine, near Pompeii. Here Novius Cypaerus appears to have provided storage facilities for foodstuffs, which Evenus had received from a third party, Eunus, as security for a loan.2 The whole transaction is handled by the slaves of Cypaerus and Evenus (himself an imperial freedman). The tablet is dated 2 July, AD 37.
