her or mother, or at a spot
where three ways meet. But to the wizards themselves we must address
a solemn preamble, begging them not to treat the world as if they were
children, or compel the legislator to expose them, and to show men that
the poisoner who is not a physician and the wizard who is not a prophet
or diviner are equally ignorant of what they are doing. Let the law be
as follows:--He who by the use of poison does any injury not fatal to
a man or his servants, or any injury whether fatal or not to another's
cattle or bees, is to be punished with death if he be a physician, and
if he be not a physician he is to suffer the punishment awarded by the
court: and he who injures another by sorcery, if he be a diviner or
prophet, shall be put to death; and, if he be not a diviner, the court
shall determine what he ought to pay or suffer.

Any one who injures another by theft or violence shall pay damages at
least equal to the injury; and besides the compensation, a suitable
punishment shall be inflicted. The foolish youth who is the victim of
others is to have a lighter punishment; he whose folly is occasioned
by his own jealousy or desire or anger is to suffer more heavily.
Punishment is to be inflicted, not for the sake of vengeance, for
what is done cannot be undone, but for the sake of prevention and
reformation. And there should be a proportion between the punishment and
the crime, in which the judge, having a discretion left him, must,
by estimating the crime, second the legislator, who, like a painter,
furnishes outlines for him to fill up.

A madman is not to go about at large in the city, but is to be taken
care of by his relatives. Neglect on their part is to be punished in the
first class by a fine of a hundred drachmas, and proportionally in
the others. Now madness is of various kinds; in addition to that
which arises from disease there is the madness which originates in a
passionate temperament, and makes men when engaged in a quarrel use
foul and abusive language against each other. This is intolerable in a
well-ordered state; and therefore our law shall be as follows:--No one
is to speak evil of another, but when men differ in opinion they are to
instruct one another without speaking evil. Nor should any one seek
to rouse the passions which education has calmed; for he who feeds and
nurses his wrath is apt to make ribald jests at his opponent, with a
loss of character or dignity to himself. And for th