against the enemy, he, besides the other penalties,
shall pay a penalty for the loss which the state has
incurred. And the penalty shall be, that in addition
to his own times of service, he shall serve on behalf
of the disabled person, and shall take his place in
war; or, if he refuse, he shall be liable to be convicted
by law of refusal to serve. The compensation
for the injury, whether to be twofold or threefold
or fourfold, shall be fixed by the judges who convict
him. And if, in like manner, a brother wounds
a brother, the parents and kindred of either sex,
including the children of cousins, whether on the male
or female side, shall meet, and when they have judged
the cause, they shall entrust the assessment of damages
to the parents, as is natural; and if the estimate
be disputed, then the kinsmen on the male side shall
make the estimate, or if they cannot, they shall commit
the matter to the guardians of the law. And when
similar charges of wounding are brought by children
against their parents, those who are more than sixty
years of age, having children of their own, not adopted,
shall be required to decide; and if any one is convicted,
they shall determine whether he or she ought to die,
or suffer some other punishment either greater than
death, or, at any rate, not much less. A kinsman
of the offender shall not be allowed to judge the cause,
not even if he be of the age which is prescribed by
the law. If a slave in a fit of anger wound a
freeman, the owner of the slave shall give him up
to the wounded man, who may do as he pleases with him,
and if he do not give him up he shall himself make
good the injury. And if any one says that the
slave and the wounded man are conspiring together,
let him argue the point, and if he is cast, he shall
pay for the wrong three times over, but if he gains
his case, the freeman who conspired with the slave
shall be liable to an action for kidnapping.
And if any one unintentionally wounds another he shall
simply pay for the harm, for no legislator is able
to control chance. In such a case the judges shall
be the same as those who are appointed in the case
of children suing their parents; and they shall estimate
the amount of the injury.
All the preceding injuries and every kind of assault
are deeds of violence; and every man, woman, or child
ought to consider that the elder has the precedence
of the younger in honour, both among the Gods and also
among men who would live in security and happiness.
Wherefore it is a foul thing and hateful to the Gods
to see an elder man assaulted by a younger in the
city, and it is reasonable that a young man when struck
by an elder should lightly endure his anger, laying
up in store for himself a like honour when he is old.
Let this be the law: Every one shall reverence
his elder in word and deed; he shall respect any one
who is twenty years older than himself, whether male
or female, regarding him or her as his father or mother;
and he shall abstain from laying hands on any one who