Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/55

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was formerly a king, in whose reign a law was enacted, that the elder brother should divide the inheritance; and then, that the younger should have the choice. The reason of which was, that they considered it a greater proof of discretion, to apportion than to select; and the elder ought to be the wiser. There was also another law, which permitted the son of a slave to receive an estate, as well as the son of a freeman. Now there were two brothers, the one born of a handmaid, and the other of a free-woman, between whom an estate was to be divided. The elder, therefore, divided it in this manner. On one side he placed the whole inheritance, and on the other, his brother's mother. The latter reflected