Any one who injures another by theft or violence shall pay damages at least equal to the injury; and besides the compensation, a suitable punishment shall be inflicted.  The foolish youth who is the victim of others is to have a lighter punishment; he whose folly is occasioned by his own jealousy or desire or anger is to suffer more heavily.  Punishment is to be inflicted, not for the sake of vengeance, for what is done cannot be undone, but for the sake of prevention and reformation.  And there should be a proportion between the punishment and the crime, in which the judge, having a discretion left him, must, by estimating the crime, second the legislator, who, like a painter, furnishes outlines for him to fill up.

A madman is not to go about at large in the city, but is to be taken care of by his relatives.  Neglect on their part is to be punished in the first class by a fine of a hundred drachmas, and proportionally in the others.  Now madness is of various kinds; in addition to that which arises from disease there is the madness which originates in a passionate temperament, and makes men when engaged in a quarrel use foul and abusive language against each other.  This is intolerable in a well-ordered state; and therefore our law shall be as follows:—­No one is to speak evil of another, but when men differ in opinion they are to instruct one another without speaking evil.  Nor should any one seek to rouse the passions which education has calmed; for he who feeds and nurses his wrath is apt to make ribald jests at his opponent, with a loss of character or dignity to himself.  And for this reason no one may use any abusive word in a temple, or at sacrifices, or games, or in any public assembly, and he who offends shall be censured by the proper magistrate; and the magistrate, if he fail to censure him, shall not claim the prize of virtue.  In any other place the angry man who indulges in revilings, whether he be the beginner or not, may be chastised by an elder.  The reviler is always trying to make his opponent ridiculous; and the use of ridicule in anger we cannot allow.  We forbid the comic poet to ridicule our citizens, under a penalty of expulsion from the country or a fine of three minae.  Jest in which there is no offence may be allowed; but the question of offence shall be determined by the director of education, who is to be the licenser of theatrical performances.

The righteous man who is in adversity will not be allowed to starve in a well-ordered city; he will never be a beggar.  Nor is a man to be pitied, merely because he is hungry, unless he be temperate.  Therefore let the law be as follows:—­Let there be no beggars in our state; and he who begs shall be expelled by the magistrates both from town and country.

If a slave, male or female, does any harm to the property of another, who is not himself a party to the harm, the master shall compensate the injury or give up the offending slave.  But if the master argue that the charge has arisen by collusion, with the view of obtaining the slave, he may put the plaintiff on his trial for malpractices, and recover from him twice the value of the slave; or if he is cast he must make good the damage and deliver up the slave.  The injury done by a horse or other animal shall be compensated in like manner.