Tag: Law

Law & the Common Good

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For so to interpose a little ease,
Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.

—John Milton, Lycidas

Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics

1155a20-25.

Friendship seems to hold cities together. Lawgivers are more attentive to friendship than to justice because their central aim is concord (which is not unlike friendship), and they are keen to do away with discord (enmity, that is).

ἔοικε δὲ καὶ τὰς πόλεις συνέχειν ἡ φιλία, καὶ οἱ νομοθέται μᾶλλον περὶ αὐτὴν σπουδάζειν ἢ τὴν δικαιοσύνην: ἡ γὰρ ὁμόνοια ὅμοιόν τι τῇ φιλίᾳ ἔοικεν εἶναι, ταύτης δὲ μάλιστ᾽ ἐφίενται καὶ τὴν στάσιν ἔχθραν οὖσαν μάλιστα ἐξελαύνουσιν . . .

1160a10.

It seems the political community is a beneficial resource: it brings people together in the first instance, and then it keeps them together. This is what lawgivers aim to achieve, and justice is said to be that which confers universal benefits.

καὶ ἡ πολιτικὴ δὲ κοινωνία τοῦ συμφέροντος χάριν δοκεῖ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς συνελθεῖν καὶ διαμένειν: τούτου γὰρ καὶ οἱ νομοθέται στοχάζονται, καὶ δίκαιόν φασιν εἶναι τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον.

color photograph of supreme court justice john roberts smiling

Larry Benn has a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard College, an M.Phil in English Literature from Oxford University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Making amends for a working life misspent in finance, he’s now a hobbyist in ancient languages and blogs at featsofgreek.blogspot.com.

I Hope this Finds You With Nothing to Write About

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Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 128 (VII.5)

 “Right now I simply have nothing to write to you about. Certainly not politics, since we know the same things and we also know each other’s domestic matters. Jokes are all that remain, if that guy will allow it.

I am one who thinks that it is better to give in to his demands than start a war. It is too late for us to resist someone we’ve been raising against us for ten years!

What’s my strategy? Nothing unless by your judgment and nothing before I’ve completed my own affairs or given them up. Take care of yourself!”

Iam plane mihi deest quid ad te scribam; nec enim de re publica, quod uterque nostrum scit eadem, et domestica nota sunt ambobus. reliquum est iocari, si hic sinat; nam ego is sum qui illi concedi putem utilius esse quod postulat quam signa conferri; sero enim resistimus ei quem per annos decem aluimus contra nos. ‘quid senti<e>s4 igitur?’ inquis. nihil scilicet nisi de sententia tua, nec prius quidem quam nostrum negotium aut confecerimus aut deposuerimus. cura igitur ut valeas…

Top third of a surviving 4th-century Roman letter, from Vitalis to his dominus Achillio, from Franz Steffens’ Lateinische Paläographie (1903), table 13. The letter is reported to be Latin papyrus “Argent 1”, at Strassbourg.

Writing Down the Law

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Plato, Laws 890E

 “Hey now, friend. If we put up with ourselves when we were talking about drinking and music, shouldn’t we dedicate the same energy when talking about the gods and these kinds of topics?

Really, this kind of talk is a big help to good law-making, I think, since proclamation about the law remained final when put down in words, as if they are presented for testing for all time so that even if they are hard to hear at the beginning no one needs to worry about it since it is permitted even for the slowest person to go back and read them often, even if they are long, as long as they are useful. That’s why I think that anyone who has any reason or is a bit righteous won’t hesitate to give his strength to such arguments.”

Λ. Τί δαί, ὦ ξένε; περὶ μέθης μὲν καὶ μουσικῆς οὕτω μακρὰ λέγοντας ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς περιεμείναμεν, περὶ θεῶν δὲ καὶ τῶν τοιούτων οὐχ ὑπομενοῦμεν; καὶ μὴν καὶ νομοθεσίᾳ γέ ἐστί που τῇ μετὰ φρονήσεως μεγίστη βοήθεια, διότι τὰ περὶ νόμους προστάγματα ἐν γράμμασι τεθέντα, ὡς δώσοντα εἰς πάντα χρόνον ἔλεγχον, πάντως ἠρεμεῖ, ὥστε οὔτ᾿ εἰ χαλεπὰ κατ᾿ ἀρχὰς ἀκούειν ἐστὶ φοβητέον, ἅ γ᾿ ἔσται καὶ τῷ δυσμαθεῖ πολλάκις ἐπανιόντι σκοπεῖν, οὔτε εἰ μακρά, ὠφέλιμα δέ· διὰ ταῦτα λόγον οὐδαμῇ ἔχει οὐδὲ ὅσιον ἔμοιγε εἶναι φαίνεται τὸ μὴ οὐ βοηθεῖν τούτοις τοῖς λόγοις πάντα ἄνδρα κατὰ δύναμιν.

I Hope this Finds You With Nothing to Write About

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Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 128 (VII.5)

 “Right now I simply have nothing to write to you about. Certainly not politics, since we know the same things and we also know each other’s domestic matters. Jokes are all that remain, if that guy will allow it.

I am one who thinks that it is better to give in to his demands than start a war. It is too late for us to resist someone we’ve been raising against us for ten years!

What’s my strategy? Nothing unless by your judgment and nothing before I’ve completed my own affairs or given them up. Take care of yourself!”

Iam plane mihi deest quid ad te scribam; nec enim de re publica, quod uterque nostrum scit eadem, et domestica nota sunt ambobus. reliquum est iocari, si hic sinat; nam ego is sum qui illi concedi putem utilius esse quod postulat quam signa conferri; sero enim resistimus ei quem per annos decem aluimus contra nos. ‘quid senti<e>s4 igitur?’ inquis. nihil scilicet nisi de sententia tua, nec prius quidem quam nostrum negotium aut confecerimus aut deposuerimus. cura igitur ut valeas…

Top third of a surviving 4th-century Roman letter, from Vitalis to his dominus Achillio, from Franz Steffens’ Lateinische Paläographie (1903), table 13. The letter is reported to be Latin papyrus “Argent 1”, at Strassbourg.

Three Latin Passages About Treason, For No Particular Reason

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Lucan 4.218-226
“Must we beg Caesar to handle us no worse than
His other slaves? Have your generals lives been begged?
Our safety will never be the price and bribe for foul treason.
This is not a civil war they fight for us to live.
We are dragged this way under the claims of peace.
People would not search for iron in a deep mine,
They would not strengthen any city with walls,
No fierce steed would rush to war,
No sea would bear towered ships of the fleet,
If it were ever just to trade freedom for peace.”

Utque habeat famulos nullo discrimine Caesar,
Exorandus erit? ducibus quoque vita petita est?
Numquam nostra salus pretium mercesque nefandae
Proditionis erit; non hoc civilia bella,
Ut vivamus, agunt. Trahimur sub nomine pacis.
Non chalybem gentes penitus fugiente metallo
Eruerent, nulli vallarent oppida muri,
Non sonipes in bella ferox, non iret in aequor
Turrigeras classis pelago sparsura carinas
Si bene libertas umquam pro pace daretur

 

From the Twelve Tables
“The Law of the Twelve Tables commands that anyone who has conspired with an enemy against the state or handed a citizen to a public enemy, should suffer capital punishment.”

Marcianus, ap. Dig., XLVIII, 4, 3: Lex XII Tabularum iubet eum qui hostem concitaverit quive civem hosti tradiderit capite puniri.

 

Tacitus Histories 3. 57
“How much power the audacity of single individuals can have during civil discord! Claudius Flaventinus, a centurion dismissed by Galba in shame, made the fleet at Misenum revolt with forged letters from Vespasian promising a reward for treason. Claudius Apollinaris, a man neither exceptional for his loyalty nor dedicated in his betrayal, was in charge of the fleet; and Apinius Tiro, an ex-praetor who was by chance at Minturnae then, put himself forth as the leader of the defectors.”

 

Sed classem Misenensem (tantum civilibus discordiis etiam singulorum audacia valet) Claudius Faventinus centurio per ignominiam a Galba dimissus ad defectionem traxit, fictis Vespasiani epistulis pretium proditionis ostentans. Praeerat classi Claudius Apollinaris, neque fidei constans neque strenuus in perfidia; et Apinius Tiro praetura functus ac tum forte Minturnis agens ducem se defectoribus obtulit.

treason

Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 5.1145-1160: On The Origin of the Social Contract

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“The race of man, tired of living in a state of violence
was languishing in feuds and they were eager
to submit themselves to law and strict judgments.
Otherwise, each man would turn himself to vengeance
More harshly than our current laws allow,
And this is why man has avoided living in a state of violence.
From here comes the fear that alters life’s rewards
Since violence and pain entrap the man who wields them
And tend to return most to those who acted first.
It isn’t easy to lead a quiet and peaceful life
If you break the faith of a community’s written peace.
Even if you deceive the races of god and man,
There’s no way to be sure to keep a secret forever.
Often many men reveal themselves by speaking in sleep
Or confused by a lengthy illness, they finally
Disclose their deeply hidden memories and sins.”

 

nam genus humanum, defessum vi colere aevom,
ex inimicitiis languebat; quo magis ipsum
sponte sua cecidit sub leges artaque iura.
acrius ex ira quod enim se quisque parabat
ulcisci quam nunc concessumst legibus aequis,
hanc ob rem est homines pertaesum vi colere aevom.
inde metus maculat poenarum praemia vitae.
circumretit enim vis atque iniuria quemque
atque unde exortast, ad eum plerumque revertit,
nec facilest placidam ac pacatam degere vitam
qui violat factis communia foedera pacis.
etsi fallit enim divom genus humanumque,
perpetuo tamen id fore clam diffidere debet;
quippe ubi se multi per somnia saepe loquentes
aut morbo delirantes protraxe ferantur
et celata [mala] in medium et peccata dedisse.

Sophocles, Elektra 1503-1507: Orestes (!) Wants to Kill All Criminals

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Orestes says at the end of Elektra:

 

“You cannot die wherever you want—
I must guard this bitter poison from you.
It is right that this be the penalty for everyone:
Kill whoever wants to break the law—
Then there wouldn’t be so much treachery.”

 

 

ΟΡ.                      Μὴ μὲν οὖν καθ’ ἡδονὴν
θάνῃς· φυλάξαι δεῖ με τοῦτό σοι πικρόν.
Χρῆν δ’ εὐθὺς εἶναι τήνδε τοῖς πᾶσιν δίκην,
ὅστις πέρα πράσσειν γε τῶν νόμων θέλει,
κτείνειν· τὸ γὰρ πανοῦργον οὐκ ἂν ἦν πολύ.

 

I remain dissatisfied with my translation of πανοῦργον .  I am not at all dissatisfied with the irony that Sheriff Orestes might be calling for his own head.

Euripides, fr.346 (Dictys): A Universal Law of Love?

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“There is one universal law among men

And one that is right to the gods, I believe truly—

And to all animals as well: to love the children we bear.

In everything else, we follow different laws.”

 

εἷς γάρ τις ἔστι κοινὸς ἀνθρώποις νόμος

καὶ θεοῖσι τοῦτο δόξαν, ὡς σαφῶς λέγω,

θηρσίν τε πᾶσι, τέκνα τίκτουσιν φιλεῖν·

τὰ δ’ ἄλλα χωρὶς χρώμεθ’ ἀλλήλων νόμοις.

Aeschylus, Eumenides: Some Highlights on Man, Mortality and Law

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368-371

 

“Mankind’s delusions so sacred under the sky

Shrink as they melt on the earth without honor.”

 

—       δόξαι δ’ ἀνδρῶν καὶ μάλ’ ὑπ’ αἰθέρι σεμναὶ

τακόμεναι κατὰ γᾶς μινύθουσιν ἄτιμοι

 

470-471

“This affair is greater than anyone who is mortal can judge”

 

Αθ.       τὸ πρᾶγμα μεῖζον ἤ τις οἴεται τόδε

βροτοῖς δικάζειν·

 

526-9

 

“Choose neither the anarchic life nor one of despotism.

God gives strength to the middle in all things.”

 

μήτ’ ἄναρκτον βίον

μήτε δεσποτούμενον

αἰνέσῃς.

παντὶ μέσῳ τὸ κράτος θεὸς ὤπασεν

 

644-651: Apollo on Mortal Life

 

“After the dust has soaked up the blood

Of a dying man, there is no resurrection.

My father can’t cast a spell on this

But all other things he can turn back and forth

Without losing his breath at all.”

 

ἀνδρὸς δ’ ἐπειδὰν αἷμ’ ἀνασπάσῃ κόνις

ἅπαξ θανόντος, οὔτις ἔστ’ ἀνάστασις.

τούτων ἐπῳδὰς οὐκ ἐποίησεν πατὴρ

οὑμός, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα πάντ’ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω

στρέφων τίθησιν οὐδὲν ἀσθμαίνων μένει.

 

 

696-7: Athena on the right government

 

“I counsel the citizens here to revere

Neither anarchy nor despotism

And never to cast fear out of this city.”

 

τὸ μήτ’ ἄναρχον μήτε δεσποτούμενον

ἀστοῖς περιστέλλουσι βουλεύω σέβειν,

καὶ μὴ τὸ δεινὸν πᾶν πόλεως ἔξω βαλεῖν.

 

 

704-706: Athena on the establishment of Trial by Jury

 

“This court must be established free of personal gain,

Revered, sharp-hearted, a wakeful guard I set over the land

For the sleeping people.”

 

κερδῶν ἄθικτον τοῦτο βουλευτήριον,

αἰδοῖον, ὀξύθυμον, εὑδόντων ὕπερ

ἐγρηγορὸς φρούρημα γῆς καθίσταμαι.

Critias, fr. 11. 1-4 (Pirithous)

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“A good character is stronger than the law;

It is a thing no orator can ever twist

Over and back as he troubles it and stains

It with words.”

 

τρόπος δὲ χρηστὸς ἀσφαλέστερος νόμου·

τὸν μὲν γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἂν διαστρέψαι ποτέ

ῥήτωρ δύναιτο, τὸν δ’ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω

λόγοις ταράσσων πολλάκις λυμαίνεται

 

Who is Critias? Even Plato (his grand-nephew) liked to talk about him…But, alas, he was one of the Thirty Tyrants too.  So, no friend to Lysias.