Boox be eafily detected. Words joined to an action The emperors Theodofius, Arcadius, and Hono- or government, we do not for all that intend to pu"nifh him; if he has spoke thro' levity, we must defpife him; if thro' folly, we must pity him; and "if he wrongs us, we must forgive him. แ Where fore leaving things as they are, you must inform us how they ftand, that we may be able to judge "of words by perfons, and that we may well confider "whether we ought to punish or overlook them." CHA P. XIII. Of Writings. N writings there is fomething more permanent IN than in words; but when they are no way preparative to high treason, they are not a fubject of that crime: Si id ex levitate procefferit, contemnendum eft; fi ex infania, miferatione digniffimum; fi ab injuria, remittendum, Leg. unica Cod. Si quis Imperat. maled, 1 And XII. Book 1. And yet Auguftus and Tiberius fubjected faty- Boox rical writers to the fame punishment as for high Chap. 13. treafon; Auguftus (?), because of fome libels that (2) Tacitus's had been wrote against men and women of the first Annals, quality; Tiberius, because of those which he fufpect- This coned to have been written against himself. Nothing tinued unwas more fatal to Roman liberty. Cremutius Cordus following was accused for having called Caffius in his annals Reigns. the last of the Romans (a). der the See the firft law in libellis. Satyrical writings are hardly known in defpotie the Code governments, where dejection of mind on the one de famofis hand, and ignorance on the other, afford neither (a) Tacit. abilities nor will to write. In democracies they Annal. are not hindered for the very fame reafon, which Book 4. causes them to be prohibited in monarchies. Being generally levelled against men of power and authority, they flatter in a democracy the malignity of the people who are the governing party. In monarchies they are forbidden, but rather as a fubject of civil animadverfion, than as a capital crime. They may amufe the general malignity, please the malecontents, diminish the envy against public employments, give the people patience to fuffer, and make them laugh at their fufferings. But no government is fo averfe to fatyrical writings as aristocracy. There the magiftrates are petty fovereigns, but not great enough to defpife affronts. If in a monarchy a fatyrical stroke is defigned against the prince, he is placed in fuch an eminence as it does not reach him; but an ariftocratical lord is pierced to the very heart. Hence the decemvirs who formed an ariftocracy, punished fatyrical writings with death ("). T 3 (b) The law of the twelve CHA P.tables. BOOK CHAP XIV. Breach of Modefty in punishing Crimes. T HERE are rules of modesty obferved by almost every nation in the world; now Chap. 14, it would be very abfurd to infringe thofe rules in 8 15. the punishment of crimes, whofe principal view ought always to be the establishment of order. Was it the intent of those oriental nations who exposed women to elephants trained up for an abominable kind of punishment, was it, I fay, their intent to establish one law by the breach of another? By an ancient custom of the Romans it was not permitted to put girls to death till they were ripe for marriage. Tiberius found out an expedient of having them debauched by the exccutioner before (*) Sueto- they were brought to the place of punishment (°) : thus this bloody and fubtle tyrant deftroyed the morals of the people to preserve their customs. nius in Tiberio, When the magiftrates of Japan caused women to be exposed naked in the market-places, and obliged them to go upon all four like beafts, modefty was (d) Collec-fhocked (d): but when they wanted to compel a mother when they wanted to force a fon voyages I cannot proceed; even nature herself was ftruck tributed to with horror. tion of that con the eftablishment of the Eaft In CHA P. XV. dia Com- Of the Infranchisement of Slaves in order to ac pany. Tom. 5. Part 2. A cufe their Mafter. UGUSTUS made a law that the flaves of those who confpired against his per fon, XII. 279 fon, fhould be fold to the public that they might Book depose against their master (). Nothing ought to Chap. 16. be neglected that may contribute to the discovery () Dio in of an heinous crime; wherefore it is natural that? Xiphiin a government where there are flaves they should be allowed to inform; but they ought not to be admitted as witneffes. Vindex discovered the confpiracy that had been formed in favour of Tarquin; but he was not admitted a witness against the children of Brutus. It was right to give liberty to a person who had rendered fo great a service to his country; but it was not given him in order to enable him to render this fervice. linus. Hence the emperor Tacitus ordained that flaves fhould not be admitted as witnesses against their masters, even in the case of high treafon (f): a law (f) Flavius which was not inferted in Juftinian's compilement. Vopifcus in CHA P. XVI. Of Calumny in respect to the Crime of high T Treafon. O do justice to the Cæfars, they were not the first devisers of the difmal laws which they enacted. It is Sylla* that taught them that calumniators ought not to be punished; but the thing was foon carried fo far as to reward them t. * Sylla made a law de Majeftate, which is mentioned in Cicero's orations pro Cluentio, Art. 3. in Pifonem, Art. 21. 2d. against Verres, Art. 5. familiar epiftles, Book 3. Letter 11. Cæfar and Auguftus inferted them in the Julian laws; others made addi.. tions to them. + Et quò quis diftin&tior accufator eò magis honores affequebatur, ac veluti facrofanétus erat. Tacit. his life. Воок XII. Chap. 17. (8) Collection of voyages IF CHA P. XVII. Of the revealing of Confpiracies. F thy brother the fon of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own foul, entice thee fecretly, faying, Let us go and ferve other gods, thou fbalt furely kill him, thou shalt stone him *. This law of Deuteronomy cannot be a civil law among moft of the nations known to us, because it would pave the way for all manner of crimes. No lefs fevere is the law of feveral countries, which commands the fubjects, on pain of death, to disclose confpiracies in which they are not even fo much as concerned. When fuch a law is established in a monarchical government, it is very proper it fhould be under fome restrictions. It ought not be applied in its full severity, but to the ftrongest cafes of high treason. In those countries it is of the utmost importance not to confound the different degrees of this crime. In Japan, where the laws fubvert every idea of human reafon, the crime of concealment is applied even to the most ordinary cafes. A certain relation (8) makes mention of two young ladies, who were fhut up for life in a box that con- thick fet with pointed nails, one for having had a tributed to love intrigue, and the other for not difclofing it. the efta blishment of the book 5. part 2d. * Deuteron. chap. xiii. y. 6. CHA P. |