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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §1.78.1-1.78.5

Penalties for Military Offenses, Treason, and Rape

Passage 79 of 406 · Greek

Summary

Other Egyptian laws are introduced, including the punishment of extreme dishonor for desertion or disobedience in war, bodily mutilation for espionage and falsification, and severe penalties such as castration and mutilation for rape and adultery.

§1.78.1τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ὁ μὲν περὶ τῶν πολέμων κείμενος κατὰ τῶν τὴν τάξιν λιπόντων ἢ τὸ παραγγελθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἡγεμόνων μὴ ποιούντων ἔταττε πρόστιμον οὐ θάνατον, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀτιμίαν·
Of the other laws, the one laid down concerning wars prescribed for those who left their post or did not do what was commanded by the commanders, as a penalty, not death, but the extreme dishonor.
§1.78.2εἰ δʼ ὕστερον ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ὑπερβάλοιντο τὰς ἀτιμίας, εἰς τὴν προϋπάρξασαν παρρησίαν ἀποκαθίστα, ἅμα μὲν τοῦ νομοθέτου δεινοτέραν τιμωρίαν ποιοῦντος τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἢ τὸν θάνατον, ἵνα τὸ μέγιστον τῶν κακῶν ἐθίσῃ πάντας κρίνειν τὴν αἰσχύνην, ἅμα δὲ τοὺς μὲν θανατωθέντας ἡγεῖτο μηδὲν ὠφελήσειν τὸν κοινὸν βίον, τοὺς δὲ ἀτιμωθέντας ἀγαθῶν πολλῶν αἰτίους ἔσεσθαι διὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς παρρησίας.
But if they should later surpass their dishonors by acts of bravery, it restored them to their previously existing freedom of speech, on the one hand because the legislator made dishonor a more terrible punishment than death, so that he might accustom all to judge disgrace to be the greatest of evils, and on the other hand because he believed that while those put to death would in no way benefit the common life, those who were dishonored would be the cause of many goods because of their desire for freedom of speech.
§1.78.3καὶ τῶν μὲν τὰ ἀπόρρητα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπαγγειλάντων ἐπέταττεν ὁ νόμος ἐκτέμνεσθαι τὴν γλῶτταν, τῶν δὲ τὸ νόμισμα παρακοπτόντων ἢ μέτρα καὶ σταθμὰ παραποιούντων ἢ παραγλυφόντων τὰς σφραγῖδας, ἔτι δὲ τῶν γραμματέων τῶν ψευδεῖς χρηματισμοὺς γραφόντων ἢ ἀφαιρούντων τι τῶν ἐγγεγραμμένων, καὶ τῶν τὰς ψευδεῖς συγγραφὰς ἐπιφερόντων, ἀμφοτέρας ἐκέλευσεν ἀποκόπτεσθαι τὰς χεῖρας, ὅπως οἷς ἕκαστος μέρεσι τοῦ σώματος παρενόμησεν, εἰς ταῦτα κολαζόμενος αὐτὸς μὲν μέχρι τελευτῆς ἀνίατον ἔχῃ τὴν συμφοράν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους διὰ τῆς ἰδίας τιμωρίας νουθετῶν ἀποτρέπῃ τῶν ὁμοίων τι πράττειν.
And against those who reported secrets to the enemy, the law commanded that the tongue be cut out, and against those who counterfeited coin or falsified measures and weights or counterfeited seals, and further, against the scribes who wrote false records or removed something of what had been registered, and against those who brought forward false agreements, it ordered both hands to be cut off, so that, being punished in those parts of the body with which each violated the law, he himself might have an incurable misfortune until his end, and by admonishing others through his own punishment might deter them from doing anything of the sort.
§1.78.4πικροὶ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν γυναικῶν νόμοι παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὑπῆρχον.
Severe laws concerning women also existed among them.
τοῦ μὲν γὰρ βιασαμένου γυναῖκα ἐλευθέραν προσέταξαν ἀποκόπτεσθαι τὰ αἰδοῖα, νομίσαντες τὸν τοιοῦτον μιᾷ πράξει παρανόμῳ τρία τὰ μέγιστα τῶν κακῶν ἐνηργηκέναι, τὴν ὕβριν καὶ τὴν φθορὰν καὶ τὴν τῶν τέκνων σύγχυσιν·
For against the one who violated a free woman, they commanded that the private parts be cut off, believing that such a person by a single unlawful act had committed three of the greatest evils: outrage, corruption, and the confusion of children.
§1.78.5εἰ δέ τις πείσας μοιχεύσαι, τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα ῥάβδοις χιλίας πληγὰς λαμβάνειν ἐκέλευον, τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς τὴν ῥῖνα κολοβοῦσθαι, ὑπολαμβάνοντες δεῖν τῆς πρὸς ἀσυγχώρητον ἀκρασίαν καλλωπιζομένης ἀφαιρεθῆναι τὰ μάλιστα κοσμοῦντα τὴν εὐπρέπειαν.
And if someone committed adultery by persuasion, they commanded the man to receive a thousand blows with rods, and the woman's nose to be mutilated, conceiving that from the woman who adorns herself for unforgivable incontinence, that which most decorates her comeliness ought to be taken away.

Notes

  1. §1.78.1τῶν δʼ ἄλλων — A partitive genitive referring back to "laws (νόμων)" from the preceding context. The noun itself is omitted, meaning "of the other laws."
  2. §1.78.2εἰ δʼ ὕστερον ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ὑπερβάλοιντο — The conjunction εἰ with the optative (ὑπερβάλοιντο) paired with an imperfect indicative (ἀποκαθίστα) in the apodosis expresses a past general condition.
  3. §1.78.3τῶν δὲ τὸ νόμισμα παρακοπτόντων — This series of genitive phrases (from τῶν δὲ... to ἐπιφερόντων) functions either as a genitive of separation with the infinitive ἀποκόπτεσθαι (to be cut off from them) or as a genitive of respect introduced at the beginning of the clause to specify the target of the punishment.
  4. §1.78.5τῆς πρὸς ἀσυγχώρητον ἀκρασίαν καλλωπιζομένης — A genitive of separation dependent on the verb ἀφαιρεθῆναι (to be taken away from). The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἀσυγχώρητον ἀκρασίαν modifies the participle καλλωπιζομένης (decorating herself), expressing the purpose or cause ("for the sake of / with a view to unforgivable incontinence").

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §1.78.1-1.78.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc5:1.78.1-1.78.5

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