Section

If the first, second, and third men, after having borne equal amounts as we have set out, together encounter the fourth man—who paid fifty and recovered eighteen and three-quarters from the fifth—they would recover one hundred and fourteen and half an eighth from him. They would say to him: “We have paid five hundred and fifty, each of us having paid one hundred and eighty-three and one-third, while you have paid thirty-one and a quarter. You owe one-quarter of the total, since you are the fourth among us. That amounts to one hundred and forty-five and two and a half eighths. You have paid thirty-one and a quarter of that, leaving you owing us one hundred and fourteen and half an eighth.” They would take that amount from him and divide it among the three of them, each receiving thirty-eight and one-sixth of an eighth. Each would thus have paid one hundred and forty-five and two and a half eighths, just as he has.

If, however, they encountered him separately, one after another, each would recover from him what he had paid under his guarantee towards the fourth man’s own share, together with half of what he had paid on behalf of his two absent fellow purchasers, after deducting what the fourth man had likewise paid under his guarantee, as we explained earlier. When the three subsequently meet, they would recover the appropriate amounts from one another until they had borne equal amounts, just as if all three had encountered him together, as we have explained.

Section

If the first, second, third, and fourth men, after having borne equal amounts—one hundred and forty-five and two and a half eighths each—together encounter the fifth man, from whom the fourth recovered eighteen and three-quarters, and who in turn recovered six and a quarter of that from the sixth, they would recover from him one hundred and six and one-fifth and a quarter of a fifth. They would divide that among the four of them, each being entitled to twenty-six and two-fifths and three-quarters