Among the most extraordinary benefits which Almighty God has conferred upon Us We think should be classed the impulse We have to add to Our laws that the freedom of slaves (when they are released from their former condition by their masters) shall in every respect be pure, unqualified, and perfect; and for this reason We have already removed the stigma attaching to dedititii; have excluded the freedom of the Latins as imperfect; have shown repetitions to be superfluous; and We detest both the Lex Junia and the Larginian Decree of the Senate, as the latter was originally introduced to no purpose, and was afterwards very properly repealed. We have desired that the mere bestowal of the right of Roman citizenship should confer freedom without considering either the reason for it, the place where it was granted, the age of the person enfranchised, or anything else whatever connected with the same. And as We always endeavor to improve the condition of Our subjects, We have thought it desirable to increase the most admirable enactments of Our predecessors by means of certain additions.

  Therefore We order that if anyone, when manumitting a male or female slave, should declare him or her to be a Roman citizen (and, indeed, he is not allowed to do otherwise), he is hereby notified that, in accordance with the terms of this law, the person who received freedom shall at once, and ever afterwards, have the right to wear a gold ring, and be classed as originally freeborn; that he shall not be required to petition the Emperor for this purpose, or to observe any other formality, but all these things will result from his grant of freedom; and this Our law shall become operative from the present day. We do not criticize any previous enactment on this subject, but ratify all preceding laws, and direct that they shall remain in force, and order that the present provisions may hereafter be observed.

  We add that this law does not in any way encroach upon the rights of patrons, but We preserve them with reference to all kinds of persons, unless he who conferred liberty upon his freedman also granted him these rights, either under the terms of a trust, or at the time when he manumitted him; for if he made such a concession in his favor, the freedman will, for this reason, be absolutely released from the claims of patronage. Those who deserve freedom will therefore enjoy all these privileges, but they will, even after the enactment of this Our Constitution, be compelled to show every mark of respect and reverence enjoined by Our laws upon him who has honored them in this manner. Moreover, freedmen must not lay violent hands upon their patrons, or plot against them, or commit any act whatever to their injury; and if they do, they shall be restored to their former condition, and again be reduced to slavery, in accordance with the laws promulgated on this subject. For if We have absolutely permitted no one whomsoever, even though he may have been born free, to display ingratitude towards a donor, but in the laws which We formerly promulgated, as well as in those daily enacted by Us, have declared gifts bestowed under such circumstances to be void, why should We suffer an emancipator, who bears to his freedman almost the relation of a father, to be subjected to any ill treatment on his part, or to any rude or indecent abuse, or to suffer great loss? If, then, a patron should be able to prove by lawful evidence that either he or his children have been injured in this manner by his freedman, We restore the latter to his former condition, as soon as this has been established. For in this way We restrain all freedmen from indulging in the use of opprobrious names, or vilification, and maintain justice and equity everywhere; thereby accomplishing what is proper for a legislator to do, as well as what is acceptable to God, the freedman, and the former master.
  (1) Wherefore both freedmen and freeborn persons — whether the right to wear a gold ring was conferred upon them expressly when they were manumitted, or whether they have obtained this privilege in consequence of the enactment of this law — must conduct themselves just as if they were originally freeborn, and honor those who manumitted them as they ought to do, and not subsequently render themselves liable to be deprived of their liberty, as guilty of want of affection and gratitude, and condemned by law. For if they entertain sincere and unalloyed reverence and attachment for those who liberated them and their children from slavery, they will always remain freeborn, and will never again be reduced to their former condition.

  Where anyone invested with any dignity whatsoever desires to marry a freedwoman, and make her his lawful wife, he must draw up a marriage contract with her. We add this sole requirement after manumission, and any children previously born, as well as those born after the dotal contracts have been executed, will be free, freeborn, and proper heirs; they will be the successors of their father, and, by the demand of gold rings, they will be released from the condition of their birth; for We make no distinction between matrimonial unions of this kind and those of other freeborn persons. The freedom of the mother, in addition to the nuptial contract, will show that the offspring of the marriage is free, freeborn, and entitled to succeed to the estate of the father.

  Children born under such circumstances are so absolutely free that, where anyone has issue by a female slave, and desires to manumit her and enter into a dotal contract with her, the right of freedom, as well as that of proper heirs and children, will be conferred from the very moment when the marriage contract has been executed. And it is not necessary for freedom expressly to be granted to the children, nor that they be manumitted, either with their mother, or afterwards, or previously, for We grant them their liberty solely by reason of the execution of the marriage contract. For what greater indication of the freedom of his children can a father exhibit than to show that his wife is free, and his lawful spouse, and that he has entered into a marriage contract with her? If a soldier, when bequeathing a legacy to one of his slaves, is held to have given him his freedom by the sole fact of this bequest, how much more reason is there that a father who has made a nuptial contract should not also, by this act alone, have rendered his children free, and his lawful successors? For there is no one who will think that a man who has rendered the mother of his children legitimate would desire to exhibit such a conclusive proof of licentiousness as to leave the children whom he has had by her in servitude.
  (1) We direct that these rules shall apply both to emancipators and to persons who receive their liberty, for if We do not preserve for emancipators the rights which they formerly enjoyed, We shall perhaps render men more reluctant to bestow it. We are using every effort to encourage and confirm grants of freedom, and the increase of such acts in Our Empire, for the desire of this has prompted Us to undertake great wars in Lybia, and in the West, the object of which has been the maintenance of the true religion of God and the liberty of Our subjects.

  As soon as Your Highness is informed of this law, which We have been pleased to enact through love for Our subjects, you will publish it here and in the provinces, by means of special proclamations, in order that Our people may be aware of Our special regard for all their interests, and of the provision We make for their welfare. This law shall be effective in every case which may hereafter arise, for We do not pay any attention to what has passed.