Whoever plots the death of the king or any of his subjects, and, with
a view to the execution of such a crime, consults diviners, augurs,
or soothsayers; should he be freeborn, he shall be scourged, and
be condemned to perpetual slavery in the public service, after the
confiscation of all his property, or he shall be delivered up as a
slave to anyone whom the king may select; and those who have given him
advice shall undergo the same penalty. And if any children should be
implicated in the crime of their parents, they shall be punished in
like manner. But if said children should be innocent, they shall not
be degraded in rank, and shall enjoy full and undisturbed possession
of all the property which their parents have lost. Slaves who are
implicated in such offences shall be tortured in various ways, sold,
and transported beyond sea; as the vengeance of the law does not excuse
those who have voluntarily participated in such infamous proceedings.
=FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.=
=II. Concerning Poisoners.=
Different kinds of crimes should be punished in different ways; and,
in the first place, freemen or slaves who are guilty of preparing,
or administering poison shall be punished in like manner; as for
instance, if they should give poisoned drink to anyone and he should
die in consequence; in such a case those who are guilty shall be put
continuously to the torture, and be punished by the most ignominious
of deaths. But if he who drank the poison should escape with his life,
the party who administered it shall be given up into his power, to be
disposed of absolutely as he may desire.
=FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.=
=III. Concerning Malefactors and their Advisers.=
Enchanters, and invokers of tempests, who, by their incantations, bring
hail-storms upon vineyards and fields of grain; or those who disturb
the minds of men by the invocation of demons, or celebrate nocturnal
sacrifices to devils, summoning them to their presence by infamous
rites; all such persons detected, or found guilty of such offences by
any judge, agent, or superintendent of the locality where these acts
were committed, shall be publicly scourged with two hundred lashes;
shall be scalped; and shall be dragged by force through ten villages
of the neighborhood, as a warning to others. And the judge, lest,
hereafter, the aforesaid persons may again indulge in such practices,
shall place them in confinement, and see that they are provided with
clothing and food, to deprive them of an opportunity of inflicting
further injury; or he may lay the matter before the king, to be
disposed of at his royal pleasure. Those who are convicted of having
given advice to such persons, shall each receive two hundred lashes in
the assembly of the people, in order that all who have aided in the
commission of such a crime may not go unpunished.
=FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.=
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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