he who is caught, if
he be of less than thirty years of age, shall be struck and beaten off,
but not wounded; and no freeman shall have any right of satisfaction for
such blows. Of these fruits the stranger may partake, just as he may of
the fruits of autumn. And if an elder, who is more than thirty years of
age, eat of them on the spot, let him, like the stranger, be allowed to
partake of all such fruits, but he must carry away nothing. If, however,
he will not obey the law, let him run the risk of failing in the
competition of virtue, in case any one takes notice of his actions
before the judges at the time.

Water is the greatest element of nutrition in gardens, but is easily
polluted. You cannot poison the soil, or the sun, or the air, which
are the other elements of nutrition in plants, or divert them, or steal
them; but all these things may very likely happen in regard to water,
which must therefore be protected by law. And let this be the law: If
any one intentionally pollutes the water of another, whether the water
of a spring, or collected in reservoirs, either by poisonous substances,
or by digging, or by theft, let the injured party bring the cause before
the wardens of the city, and claim in writing the value of the loss;
if the accused be found guilty of injuring the water by deleterious
substances, let him not only pay damages, but purify the stream or the
cistern which contains the water, in such manner as the laws of the
interpreters order the purification to be made by the offender in each
case.

With respect to the gathering in of the fruits of the soil, let a man,
if he pleases, carry his own fruits through any place in which he either
does no harm to any one, or himself gains three times as much as
his neighbour loses. Now of these things the magistrates should be
cognizant, as of all other things in which a man intentionally does
injury to another or to the property of another, by fraud or force,
in the use which he makes of his own property. All these matters a man
should lay before the magistrates, and receive damages, supposing the
injury to be not more than three minae; or if he have a charge against
another which involves a larger amount, let him bring his suit into
the public courts and have the evil-doer punished. But if any of the
magistrates appear to adjudge the penalties which he imposes in an
unjust spirit, let him be liable to pay double to the injured party.
Any one may bring the off