Ath. Let us proceed:-If any one slays a free man with his ownhand, and the deed be done in a moment of anger, and withoutpremeditation, let the offender suffer in other respects as theinvoluntary homicide would have suffered, and also undergo an exile oftwo years, that he may learn to school his passions. But he whoslays another from passion, yet with premeditation, shall in otherrespects suffer as the former; and to this shall be added an exileof three instead of two years-his punishment is to be longer becausehis passion is greater. The manner of their return shall be on thiswise: (and here the law has difficulty in determining exactly; forin some cases the murderer who is judged by the law to be the worsemay really be the less cruel, and he who is judged the less cruelmay be really the worse, and may have executed the murder in a moresavage manner, whereas the other may have been gentler. But in generalthe degrees of guilt will be such as we have described them. Of allthese things the guardians of the law must take cognisance):-When ahomicide of either kind has completed his term of exile, the guardiansshall send twelve judges to the borders of the land; these duringthe interval shall have informed themselves of the actions of thecriminals, and they shall judge respecting their pardon and reception;and the homicides shall abide by their judgment. But if after theyhave returned home, any one of them in a moment of anger repeats thedeed, let him be an exile, and return no more; or if he returns, lethim suffer as the stranger was to suffer in a similar case. He whokills his own slave shall undergo a purification, but if he killsthe slave of another in anger, he shall pay twice the amount of theloss to his owner. And if any homicide is disobedient to the law,and without purification pollutes the agora, or the games, or thetemples, he who pleases may bring to trial the next of kin to the deadman for permitting him, and the murderer with him, and may compelthe one to exact and the other to suffer a double amount of finesand purifications; and the accuser shall himself receive the fine inaccordance with the law. If a slave in a fit of passion kills hismaster, the kindred of the deceased man may do with the murderer(provided only they do not spare his life) whatever they please, andthey will be pure; or if he kills a freeman, who is not his master,the owner shall give up the slave to the relatives of the deceased,and they shall be under an obligation to put him to death, but thismay be done in any manner which they please.
And if (which is a rare occurrence, but does sometimes happen) afather or a mother in a moment of passion slays a son or daughter byblows, or some other violence, the slayer shall undergo the samepurification as in other cases, and be exiled during three years;but when the exile returns the wife shall separate from the husband,and the husband from the wife, and they shall never afterwards begetchildren together, or live under the same roof, or partake of the samesacred rites with those whom they have deprived of a child or of abrother. And he who is impious and disobedient in such a case shall bebrought to trial for impiety by any one who pleases. If in a fit ofanger a husband kills his wedded wife, or the wife her husband, theslayer shall undergo the same purification, and the term of exileshall be three years. And when he who has committed any such crimereturns, let him have no communication in sacred rites with hischildren, neither let him sit at the same table with them, and thefather or son who disobeys shall be liable to be brought to trialfor impiety by any one who pleases. If a brother or a sister in afit of passion kills a brother or a sister, they shall undergopurification and exile, as was the case with parents who killedtheir offspring: they shall not come under the same roof, or sharein the sacred rites of those whom they have deprived of theirbrethren, or of their children.
And he who is disobedient shall be justly liable to the lawconcerning impiety, which relates to these matters. If any one is soviolent in his passion against his parents, that in the madness of hisanger he dares to kill one of them, if the murdered person beforedying freely forgives the murderer, let him undergo the purificationwhich is assigned to those who have been guilty of involuntaryhomicide, and do as they do, and he shall be pure. But if he be notacquitted, the perpetrator of such a deed shall be amenable to manylaws;-he shall be amenable to the extreme punishments for assault, andimpiety, and robbing of temples, for he has robbed his parent of life;and if a man could be slain more than once, most justly would he whoin a fit of passion has slain father or mother, undergo many deaths.
How can he, whom, alone of all men, even in defence of his life, andwhen about to suffer death at the hands of his parents, no law willallow to kill his father or his mother who are the authors of hisbeing, and whom the legislator will command to endure any extremityrather than do this-how can he, I say, lawfully receive any otherpunishment? Let death then be the appointed punishment of him who in afit of passion slays his father or his mother. But if brother killsbrother in a civil broil, or under other like circumstances, if theother has begun, and he only defends himself, let him be free fromguilt, as he would be if he had slain an enemy; and the same rule willapply if a citizen kill a citizen, or a stranger a stranger. Or if astranger kill a citizen or a citizen a stranger in self-defence, lethim be free from guilt in like manner; and so in the case of a slavewho has killed a slave; but if a slave have killed a freeman inself-defence, let him be subject to the same law as he who haskilled a father; and let the law about the remission of penalties inthe case of parricide apply equally to every other remission. Wheneverany sufferer of his own accord remits the guilt of homicide toanother, under the idea that his act was involuntary, let theperpetrator of the deed undergo a purification and remain in exile fora year, according to law.