Bava Batra

and converted into zuzim.  What, [then could the entry] mean?  [Either] "six hundred istira and a zuz" [or] "six hundred zuz and a zuz";  [but] the holder of the bond [must always be] at a disadvantage.' Abaye said: One who is required to present his signature at a court of law  shall not present it at the foot of the scroll [because] a stranger might find it and write [above the signature] that he [has a] claim [of] money upon him; and we learnt [that a person], who produced against another  [a bond in] the latter's  handwriting [showing] that he owes him [a debt], may collect [it] from his free  property. A collector of bridge tolls  once came before Abaye [and] said to him, 'Will the Master give  me his signature so that when the Rabbis come [and] present to me [an authorisation]  I will allow them to pass without [payment of] the toll'.  He was writing it down  for him at the top of a scroll. As [the other] was pulling it,  he  said to him,'The Rabbis have long ago anticipated you'. Abaye said: [Numbers] from three to ten [should] not be written at the end of a line, [because] forgery might be committed by adding letters to them;  and if this occurred, the sentence should be repeated two [or] three times, [since] it [would then] be impossible that [the numbers] should not [once] occur in the middle of a line. In a certain [deed]  it was entered,  'a third of an orchard'.  [The buyer] subsequently  erased the top, and the base of the Beth  and converted  [the second word] into, 'and an orchard'.  [When] he appeared before Abaye [the latter] said to him, 'Why has the Waw so much space round about it?'  Having been placed under arrest  he confessed. In a certain [deed] there was entered, 'the portion of Reuben and Simeon, brothers'.  They had a brother whose name was 'Brothers';  and [the buyer] added to  it  a Waw and converted [the word into], 'and Brothers'.  [When] he came before Abaye  [the latter] said to him. 'Why is there so little space round the Waw'.  He was placed under arrest  and he confessed. A certain deed bore the signatures of Raba and R. Aha b. Adda. He  came before Raba [who] said to him, '[This] signature is mine; never, however, have I signed before R. Aha b. Adda!' He was placed under arrest  and he confessed.  Said [Raba] to him, 'I can well understand how you forged my [signature], but how [could] you manage [that] of R. Aba b. Adda whose hand trembles?' 'I put my hand',  the other replied, 'on a rope-bridge'.  Others say [that] he stood on a hose and wrote. MISHNAH. A LETTER OF DIVORCE [MAY] BE WRITTEN FOR A HUSBAND THOUGH HIS WIFE IS NOT PRESENT,  AND A RECEIPT  [MAY BE WRITTEN] FOR A WIFE THOUGH HER HUSBAND IS NOT PRESENT,  PROVIDED THEY ARE KNOWN.  THE FEE  IS PAID BY THE HUSBAND.