318 THE KING'S MIRROR 



cause jai. -hatred are murder; wHle^jgunishment inflicted 

 for the sake of love and justice is a holy deed and^ot 

 murder. 



LXI 



CONCERNING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 



Son. Now, if you permit, I wish to ask more fully 

 about penalties; for few men, indeed, are able to com- 

 prehend how it can be a good, holy, and loving deed to 

 take a man's life; wherefore I with many others on the 

 outside should like to have you explain briefly how it 

 can be a good and proper deed to slay men in righteous 

 punishment; inasmuch as all gentle and peaceful per- 

 sons have a great aversion to manslaughter, regarding 

 it as evil and sinful. 



Father. The subjects that we are now discussing are 

 clearly illustrated in the case of Moses. Holy man as 

 he was and meek and right-minded in every way, had 

 he known that his act of punishment was sinful like any 

 other slaughter, he would not have ordered it. But if 

 he had been so zealous in his obstinate wrath that he 

 had done this deed in anger rather than for the sake of 

 justice, God's righteousness would surely have punished 

 him with a severe chastisement and stern revenge for 

 the great slaughter that he committed. For Moses com- 

 manded every man who took up arms with him to spare 

 none, neither father nor brother nor other kinsmen, if 

 they had been guilty of the deed that had called God's 

 anger down upon them .[Moses showed a threefold right- 

 eousness in this chastisement: for those who were with 

 him in the slaughter sanctified their hands in the blood 

 of those whom they slew, since in their deed they ren- 



