[51]
Who is there who ought more to be pardoned, (since you bring me back to the Twelve Tables,)
than a man who without being aware of it kills another? No one, I think. For this is a silent
law of humanity, that punishment for intentions, but not for fortune, may be exacted of a man.
Still our ancestors did not pardon even this. For there is a law in the Twelve Tables,
“If a weapon escapes from the hand”
** If any one slays a thief, he slays him wrongfully. Why? Because there is no law established by which he may do so. What? suppose he defended himself with a weapon? Then he did not slay him wrongfully. Why so? Because there is a law
*****
** If any one slays a thief, he slays him wrongfully. Why? Because there is no law established by which he may do so. What? suppose he defended himself with a weapon? Then he did not slay him wrongfully. Why so? Because there is a law
*****
