(13) Suicide. He 'who slays him who of all men, as they say, is his own
best friend,' is regarded in the same spirit by Plato and by Athenian
law. Plato would have him 'buried ingloriously on the borders of the
twelve portions of the land, in such places as are uncultivated and
nameless,' and 'no column or inscription is to mark the place of his
interment.' Athenian law enacted that the hand which did the deed should
be separated from the body and be buried apart (Telfy).
(14) Injury. In cases of wilful injury, Athenian law compelled the
guilty person to pay double the damage; in cases of involuntary injury,
simple damages (Telfy). Plato enacts that if a man wounds another in
passion, and the wound is curable, he shall pay double the damage, if
incurable or disfiguring, fourfold damages. If, however, the wounding is
accidental, he shall simply pay for the harm done.
(15) Treatment of parents. Athenian law allowed any one to indict
another for neglect or illtreatment of parents (Telfy). So Plato bids
bystanders assist a father who is assaulted by his son, and allows any
one to give information against children who neglect their parents.
(16) Execution of sentences. Both Plato and Athenian law give to the
winner of a suit power to seize the goods of the loser, if he does not
pay within the appointed time (Telfy). At Athens the penalty was also
doubled (Telfy); not so in Plato. Plato however punishes contempt of
court by death, which at Athens seems only to have been visited with a
further fine (Telfy).
(17) Property. (a) Both at Athens and in the Laws a man who has disputed
property in his possession must give the name of the person from whom he
received it (Telfy); and any one searching for lost property must enter
a house naked (Telfy), or, as Plato says, 'naked, or wearing only a
short tunic and without a girdle. (b) Athenian law, as well as Plato,
did not allow a father to disinherit his son without good reason and the
consent of impartial persons (Telfy). Neither grants to the eldest
son any special claim on the paternal estate (Telfy). In the law of
inheritance both prefer males to females (Telfy). (c) Plato and Athenian
law enacted that a tree should be planted at a fair distance from a
neighbour's property (Telfy), and that when a man could not get water,
his neighbour must supply him (Telfy). Both at Athens and in Plato there
is a law about bees, the former providing that a beehive must be set up
at not less a distance than 300 feet from a neighbour's (Telfy), and the
latter forbidding the decoying of bees.
(18) Orphans. A ward must proceed against a guardian whom he suspects
of fraud within five years of the expiration of the guardianship. This
provision is common to Plato and to Athenian law (Telfy). Further, the
latter enacted that the nearest male relation should marry or provide
a husband for an heiress (Telfy),--a point in which Plato follows it
closely.