[113]
And yet Solon, gentlemen of the jury,—and
even Timocrates cannot pretend to be a legislator of the same calibre as
Solon,—so far from providing such defaulters with the means of
swindling in security, actually introduced a law to ensure that they should
either refrain from crime or be adequately punished. For a theft in day-time of
more than fifty drachmas a man might be arrested summarily and put into custody
of the Eleven. If he stole anything, however small, by night, the person
aggrieved might lawfully pursue and kill or wound him, or else put him into the
hands of the Eleven, at his own option. A man found guilty of an offence for
which arrest is lawful was not allowed to put in bail and refund the stolen
money; no, the penalty was death.
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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