this period of exile was not fixed by any law: that the slayer remained in exile until such time as the relatives accepted ‘appeasement.’ We shall discuss this opinion more fully later, but we may say here that it seems very strange that the State should have guaranteed protection for the property of the slayer, and should, at the same time, have had no voice in determining the limits of his period of exile, no influence in constraining the relatives of the slain to accept ‘appeasement.’ Speaking of involuntary homicide, in another passage, Demosthenes says[70]: ‘If the accused be convicted and be found to have done the deed, neither the prosecutor nor anyone else has control over him, but the law alone. And what does the law command? That a person convicted of involuntary homicide shall on certain stated days leave the country by an appointed road and remain in exile until he has appeased certain[71] of the relatives of the slain (τινα τῶν ἐν γένει τοῦ πεπονθότος): then it permits him to return, not anyhow, but in a particular manner, ordering him to sacrifice and be “purged” and giving other directions which he must carry out. Rightly, men of Athens, does the law prescribe all this. It is just to make the penalty of involuntary homicide less than voluntary, and it is right to prescribe exile guaranteeing (a person) a secure exodus, and for the returning exile to free himself from tabu and be cleansed by customary rites; above all it is right that the laws should control everybody and everything.’ In this passage we find the usual obscurity of language and even apparent discrepancies.