y of stripes; they shall lay him down, and
shall cause him to be beaten before them." "Public disgrace" was
brought on to him who refused to take to himself the wife of his
deceased brother, for she took "off his shoe from his foot, and" did
"spit in his face" (Deut. 25:9). It prescribed the "death" penalty,
as is clear from (Lev. 20:9): "He that curseth his father, or mother,
dying let him die." The Law also recognized the "lex talionis," by
prescribing (Ex. 21:24): "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." Therefore it
seems unreasonable that the Law should not have inflicted the two
other punishments, viz. "exile" and "slavery."

Objection 11: Further, no punishment is due except for a fault. But
dumb animals cannot commit a fault. Therefore the Law is unreasonable
in punishing them (Ex. 21:29): "If the ox . . . shall kill a man or a
woman," it "shall be stoned": and (Lev. 20:16): "The woman that shall
lie under any beast, shall be killed together with the same."
Therefore it seems that matters pertaining to the relations of one
man with another were unsuitably regulated by the Law.

Objection 12: Further, the Lord commanded (Ex. 21:12) a murderer to
be punished with death. But the death of a dumb animal is reckoned of
much less account than the slaying of a man. Hence murder cannot be
sufficiently punished by the slaying of a dumb animal. Therefore it
is unfittingly prescribed (Deut. 21:1, 4) that "when there shall be
found . . . the corpse of a man slain, and it is not known who is
guilty of the murder . . . the ancients" of the nearest city "shall
take a heifer of the herd, that hath not drawn in the yoke, nor
ploughed the ground, and they shall bring her into a rough and stony
valley, that never was ploughed, nor sown; and there they shall
strike off the head of the heifer."

_On the contrary,_ It is recalled as a special blessing (Ps. 147:20)
that "He hath not done in like manner to every nation; and His
judgments He hath not made manifest to them."

_I answer that,_ As Augustine says (De Civ. Dei ii, 21), quoting
Tully, "a nation is a body of men united together by consent to the
law and by community of welfare." Consequently it is of the essence
of a nation that the mutual relations of the citizens be ordered by
just laws. Now the relations of one man with another are twofold:
some are effected under the guidance of those in authority: others
are effected by the will of private individuals. And since whatever
is su