thing to say. But to him who is disobedient when the prelude is over,
cry with a loud voice--He who is taken in the act of robbing temples, if
he be a slave or stranger, shall have his evil deed engraven on his face
and hands, and shall be beaten with as many stripes as may seem good to
the judges, and be cast naked beyond the borders of the land. And if he
suffers this punishment he will probably return to his right mind and
be improved; for no penalty which the law inflicts is designed for evil,
but always makes him who suffers either better or not so much worse as
he would have been. But if any citizen be found guilty of any great or
unmentionable wrong, either in relation to the Gods, or his parents,
or the state, let the judge deem him to be incurable, remembering that
after receiving such an excellent education and training from youth
upward, he has not abstained from the greatest of crimes. His punishment
shall be death, which to him will be the least of evils; and his example
will benefit others, if he perish ingloriously, and be cast beyond the
borders of the land. But let his children and family, if they avoid the
ways of their father, have glory, and let honourable mention be made of
them, as having nobly and manfully escaped out of evil into good. None
of them should have their goods confiscated to the state, for the lots
of the citizens ought always to continue the same and equal.

Touching the exaction of penalties, when a man appears to have done
anything which deserves a fine, he shall pay the fine, if he have
anything in excess of the lot which is assigned to him; but more than
that he shall not pay. And to secure exactness, let the guardians of the
law refer to the registers, and inform the judges of the precise truth,
in order that none of the lots may go uncultivated for want of money.
But if any one seems to deserve a greater penalty, let him undergo a
long and public imprisonment and be dishonoured, unless some of his
friends are willing to be surety for him, and liberate him by assisting
him to pay the fine. No criminal shall go unpunished, not even for a
single offence, nor if he have fled the country; but let the penalty be
according to his deserts--death, or bonds, or blows, or degrading places
of sitting or standing, or removal to some temple on the borders of the
land; or let him pay fines, as we said before. In cases of death, let
the judges be the guardians of the law, and a court selected by