But the person whom they named to this
_public_ office might be legally excused by insanity or blindness, by
ignorance or inability, by previous enmity or adverse interest, by the
number of children or guardianships with which he was already burdened
and by the immunities which were granted to the useful labors of
magistrates, lawyers, physicians, and professors.
Till the infant could speak and think he was represented by the tutor,
whose authority was finally determined by the age of puberty. Without
his consent no act of the pupil could bind himself to his own prejudice,
though it might oblige others for his personal benefit. It is needless
to observe that the tutor often gave security, and always rendered an
account, and that the want of diligence or integrity exposed him to a
civil and almost criminal action for the violation of his sacred trust.
The age of puberty had been rashly fixed by the civilians at fourteen;
but as the faculties of the mind ripen more slowly than those of the
body, a _curator_ was interposed to guard the fortunes of a Roman youth
from his own inexperience and headstrong passions.
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