aries, shall make good the
damage, and, to cure him of his impudence and also of his meanness, he
shall pay a double penalty to the injured party. Of these and the like
matters the wardens of the country shall take cognizance, and be the
judges of them and assessors of the damage; in the more important cases,
as has been already said, the whole number of them belonging to any
one of the twelve divisions shall decide, and in the lesser cases the
commanders: or, again, if any one pastures his cattle on his neighbour's
land, they shall see the injury, and adjudge the penalty. And if any
one, by decoying the bees, gets possession of another's swarms, and
draws them to himself by making noises, he shall pay the damage; or if
any one sets fire to his own wood and takes no care of his neighbour's
property, he shall be fined at the discretion of the magistrates. And
if in planting he does not leave a fair distance between his own and
his neighbour's land, he shall be punished, in accordance with the
enactments of many lawgivers, which we may use, not deeming it necessary
that the great legislator of our state should determine all the trifles
which might be decided by any body; for example, husbandmen have had of
old excellent laws about waters, and there is no reason why we should
propose to divert their course: He who likes may draw water from the
fountain-head of the common stream on to his own land, if he do not cut
off the spring which clearly belongs to some other owner; and he may
take the water in any direction which he pleases, except through a house
or temple or sepulchre, but he must be careful to do no harm beyond the
channel. And if there be in any place a natural dryness of the earth,
which keeps in the rain from heaven, and causes a deficiency in the
supply of water, let him dig down on his own land as far as the clay,
and if at this depth he finds no water, let him obtain water from his
neighbours, as much as is required for his servants' drinking, and if
his neighbours, too, are limited in their supply, let him have a fixed
measure, which shall be determined by the wardens of the country.
This he shall receive each day, and on these terms have a share of his
neighbours' water. If there be heavy rain, and one of those on the lower
ground injures some tiller of the upper ground, or some one who has a
common wall, by refusing to give them an outlet for water; or, again,
if some one living on the higher ground reckles