One day the king decreed a change to the law code. "The punishment for a criminal, justly tried, shall be equivalent to the harm suffered by the victims."
"How wise!" the advisors said. "How succinct! Then the murderer shall be put to death and the robber deprived of his goods."
"No!" The king stood and brought his hand down in a decisive gesture. "The murderer shall sit in a room listening to people prattle about matters of no consequence to him. The same for the robber, the adulterer, and the adjuster of scales. Every other crime shall have the same punishment."
"Surely the costs to the victims are not those," the advisors said, more doubtful than before.
"I am the king, and in every case brought before me, I am made a victim."
Soon crime vanished from the kingdom altogether.
Finis
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