s, and that
he terrifies him with the remembrance of his crime. And therefore the
homicide should keep away from his native land for a year, or, if he
have slain a stranger, let him avoid the land of the stranger for a like
period. If he complies with this condition, the nearest kinsman of the
deceased shall take pity upon him and be reconciled to him; but if he
refuses to remain in exile, or visits the temples unpurified, then
let the kinsman proceed against him, and demand a double penalty. The
kinsman who neglects this duty shall himself incur the curse, and any
one who likes may proceed against him, and compel him to leave his
country for five years. If a stranger involuntarily kill a stranger, any
one may proceed against him in the same manner: and the homicide, if
he be a metic, shall be banished for a year; but if he be an entire
stranger, whether he have murdered metic, citizen, or stranger, he shall
be banished for ever; and if he return, he shall be punished with death,
and his property shall go to the next of kin of the murdered man. If
he come back by sea against his will, he shall remain on the seashore,
wetting his feet in the water while he waits for a vessel to sail; or
if he be brought back by land, the magistrates shall send him unharmed
beyond the border.
Next follows murder done from anger, which is of two kinds--either
arising out of a sudden impulse, and attended with remorse; or committed
with premeditation, and unattended with remorse. The cause of both is
anger, and both are intermediate between voluntary and involuntary.
The one which is committed from sudden impulse, though not wholly
involuntary, bears the image of the involuntary, and is therefore the
more excusable of the two, and should receive a gentler punishment. The
act of him who nurses his wrath is more voluntary, and therefore more
culpable. The degree of culpability depends on the presence or absence
of intention, to which the degree of punishment should correspond. For
the first kind of murder, that which is done on a momentary impulse,
let two years' exile be the penalty; for the second, that which is
accompanied with malice prepense, three. When the time of any one's
exile has expired, the guardians shall send twelve judges to the borders
of the land, who shall have authority to decide whether he may return
or not. He who after returning repeats the offence, shall be exiled
and return no more, and, if he return, shall be put to
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