[35]
You had the law—an ancient one—of
damage; you had the law of battery and the law of assault. Now if it had been
sufficient that those guilty at the Dionysia of any of these offences should be
punished according to these laws, there would have been no need for this further
law. But it was not sufficient, and the proof of this is that you made a law to
protect the sanctity of the god during the Holy Month. If, then, anyone is
liable both under those pre-existing laws and under this subsequent one as well
as all the rest of the laws, is he for that reason to escape punishment, or
should he in fairness suffer a heavier one? I think that it should be the
heavier punishment.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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