§9.874ΑΘ. ἐὰν δὲ ἄψυχόν τι ψυχῆς ἄνθρωπον στερήσῃ, πλὴν ὅσα κεραυνὸς ἤ τι παρὰ θεοῦ τοιοῦτον βέλος ἰόν, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ὅσα τινὸς προσπεσόντος ἢ αὐτὸ ἐμπεσὸν κτείνῃ τινά, δικαστὴν μὲν αὐτῷ καθιζέτω τῶν γειτόνων τὸν ἐγγύτατα ὁ προσήκων γένει, ἀφοσιούμενος ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ τε καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς συγγενείας ὅλης, τὸ δὲ ὀφλὸν ἐξορίζειν, καθάπερ ἐρρήθη τὸ τῶν ζῴων γένος.
ATH. If some lifeless thing deprives a human of life, except for such things as a thunderbolt or any such weapon from God going forth, but of other things, whichever kills someone by falling upon him or because he falls upon it, let the relative, purifying himself and the whole family, set as judge for it 874a¦ the nearest of the neighbors, and let them cast out the convicted thing beyond the borders, just as was said of the animal class.
ἐὰν δὲ τεθνεὼς μὲν αὖ τις φανῇ, ἄδηλος δὲ ὁ κτείνας ᾖ καὶ μὴ ἀμελῶς ζητοῦσιν ἀνεύρετος γίγνηται, τὰς μὲν προρρήσεις τὰς αὐτὰς γίγνεσθαι καθάπερ τοῖς ἄλλοις, προαγορεύειν δὲ τὸν φόνον τῷ δράσαντι, καὶ ἐπιδικασάμενον ἐν ἀγορᾷ κηρῦξαι τῷ κτείναντι τὸν καὶ τὸν καὶ ὠφληκότι φόνου μὴ ἐπιβαίνειν ἱερῶν μηδὲ ὅλης χώρας τῆς τοῦ παθόντος, ὡς, ἂν φανῇ καὶ γνωσθῇ, ἀποθανούμενον καὶ ἔξω τῆς τοῦ παθόντος χώρας ἐκβληθησόμενον ἄταφον.
And if someone is found dead, but the killer is non-apparent, and is not found though they search not carelessly, let the same proclamations be made as for the others, and let him proclaim the murder against the doer, and having brought the suit in the marketplace, let him announce to the one who killed so-and-so and is convicted of murder not to set foot on the temples nor on any part of the country of the victim, so that, if he appears and is known, he shall be put to death and cast out unburied outside the country of the victim.
οὗτος δὴ νόμος εἷς ἡμῖν ἔστω κύριος περὶ φόνου κείμενος.
Let this one law be established as valid for us concerning murder.
καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μέχρι τούτων οὕτως· ὧν δὲ ὁ κτείνας ἐφʼ οἷς τε ὀρθῶς ἂν καθαρὸς εἴη, τάδε ἔστω· Νύκτωρ φῶρα εἰς οἰκίαν εἰσιόντα ἐπὶ κλοπῇ χρημάτων ἐὰν ἑλὼν κτείνῃ, καθαρὸς ἔστω· καὶ ἐὰν λωποδύτην ἀμυνόμενος ἀποκτείνῃ, καθαρὸς ἔστω· καὶ ἐὰν ἐλευθέραν γυναῖκα βιάζηταί τις ἢ παῖδα περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια, νηποινὶ τεθνάτω ὑπό τε τοῦ ὑβρισθέντος βίᾳ καὶ ὑπὸ πατρὸς ἢ ἀδελφῶν ἢ ὑέων· ἐάν τε ἀνὴρ ἐπιτύχῃ γαμετῇ γυναικὶ βιαζομένῃ, κτείνας τὸν βιαζόμενον ἔστω καθαρὸς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ· καὶ ἐάν τις πατρὶ βοηθῶν θάνατον, μηδὲν ἀνόσιον δρῶντι, κτείνῃ τινά, ἢ μητρὶ ἢ τέκνοις ἢ ἀδελφοῖς ἢ συγγεννήτορι τέκνων, πάντως καθαρὸς ἔστω.
And let the matters concerning such things be thus far; and as to whom the killer kills, and under what conditions he would rightly be pure, let these be as follows: If someone catches and kills a thief entering the house by night for the theft of property, let him be pure; and if, defending himself, he kills a highwayman, let him be pure; and if someone forces a free woman or a boy concerning sexual matters, let him die without penalty by the hands of the one violently assaulted, or by the father, brothers, or sons; and if a husband happens upon his wedded wife being forced, and kills the forcing one, let him be pure under the law; and if someone, in helping a father from death, who is doing nothing unholy, kills someone, or a mother, or children, or brothers, or the co-begetter of children, let him be pure in every way.
τὰ μὲν τοίνυν περὶ τροφήν τε ζώσης ψυχῆς καὶ παιδείαν, ὧν αὐτῇ τυχούσῃ μὲν βιωτόν, ἀτυχησάσῃ δὲ τοὐναντίον, καὶ περὶ θανάτων τῶν βιαίων ἃς δεῖ τιμωρίας γίγνεσθαι, νενομοθετήσθω· τὰ δὲ περὶ τὴν τῶν σωμάτων τροφὴν μὲν καὶ παιδείαν εἴρηται, τὸ δʼ ἐχόμενον τούτων, αἱ βίαιοι πράξεις ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων ἀκούσιοί τε καὶ ἑκούσιοι γιγνόμεναι διοριστέον εἰς δύναμιν αἵ τέ εἰσιν καὶ ὅσαι, καὶ ὧν ἂν τυγχάνουσαι τιμωρήσεων τὸ πρόσφορον ἔχοιεν ἂν ἕκασται, ταῦτα μετʼ ἐκεῖνα, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὀρθῶς ἂν νομοθετοῖτο.
Now let the laws indeed be established concerning the nurturing and education of a living soul—by obtaining which it is possible for her to live, but by failing to obtain which the opposite occurs—and concerning violent deaths, what punishments must take place; and the matters concerning the nurturing and education of bodies have been spoken, but that which follows these, the violent actions towards one another, both involuntary and voluntary, must be distinguished as far as possible as to what they are and how many, and which punishments each would obtain to have what is fitting; these things would rightly be legislated, as it seems, after those.
τραύματα δὴ καὶ πηρώσεις ἐκ τραυμάτων τά γε δεύτερα μετὰ θανάτους καὶ ὁ φαυλότατος ἂν τάξειεν τῶν ἐπὶ νόμον τρεπομένων.
Indeed, wounds and maimings from wounds are second after deaths, and even the most ordinary of those turning to law would so arrange them.
τὰ δὴ τραύματα, καθάπερ οἱ φόνοι διῄρηντο, διαιρετέον, τὰ μὲν ἀκούσια, τὰ δὲ θυμῷ, τὰ δὲ φόβῳ, τὰ δὲ ὁπόσα ἐκ προνοίας ἑκούσια συμβαίνει γιγνόμενα·
Therefore, wounds must be divided just as murders were divided: some involuntary, some through anger, some through fear, and all those that happen to occur voluntarily from premeditation.