[19]
The least of these evils, namely abusive language, has, I
think, been provided for to prevent the last and most grievous, that murder may
not ensue, and that men be not led on step by step from vilification to blows,
from blows to wounds, and from wounds to murder, but that in the laws its own
penalty should be provided for each of these acts, and that the decision should
not be left to the passion or the will of the person concerned.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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