Punishment
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2.The purposes of punishing
2a.Punishment as deterrence and example
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 195–196Deceiver to be cast from a rock as a warning to other beggars.read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 7Punishment deters crime but does not instil shame.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 23–25Conspiring friends against the country must be visited with severest punishment.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 178–180Cicero argues pardoning crime is mischievous in this war; severe penalties deter traitors and warn imitators, even extending to children.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 337–338The crime must not pass unpunished, lest the example be dangerous; the guilty should be crushed by his own guilt.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 208–209The Sultan proclaims rewards for capturing Nur-ed-Din and exemplary punishment for anyone concealing him.read · scan
- p. 428Robbers quarter Kasim's body and display it to terrify any other intruder.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 25Remiro's public execution serves to placate the people and shift blame for severities.read · scan
- p. 55Fear is bound by apprehension of punishment that never relaxes; executions need manifest cause.read · scan
- p. 72–73Princes should choose rewards and punishments that will be much spoken of.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 210Bondage preferred to execution as more profitable and deterrent; repentant offenders may be pardoned; intent is as evil as the act.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 95Cage, irons, stocks and chains inflicted as examples and terrors to others.read · scan
- p. 216–217The three are hanged for their crimes near the highway as a warning; Christiana says they have what they deserve.read · scan
- p. 218–219Mercy wishes the hanged three to hang as a sign, their crimes living forever against them.read · scan
- p. 271–272The giant's head is displayed as a terror to deter others from similar crimes.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 352Ministers suffer for their princes; false accusers deserve exemplary punishment.read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 387–388He who is dishonest for gain should be punished for example.read · scan
Daniel Defoe, The Shortest-Way with the DissentersVol. 27
- p. 143–144Insists offences against God and Church should be capital, not bought off for five shillings; a few examples will cow the multitude.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 344Burke expected courts martial, decimation and inquiry into murders, yet the Assembly only issues new decrees.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 321–322Egmont's condemnation and public execution are staged as a terrible spectacle to terrify the people.read · scan
- p. 326Sentence of public beheading as a warning to traitors.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 79–81Hanging exemplary victims is urged as the way to make grain flow; punishment as example.read · scan
- p. 268–269Leaders are seized and four are to be hanged, frightening everyone home.read · scan
- p. 269–270The merchant justifies hanging four leaders as necessary, a Providential warning against looting.read · scan
- p. 459Fear of the hanged men's fate is not what restrains people already suffering prolonged punishment.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 181–183Warning to future offenders that they would be put to trouble even if escaping sentence.read · scan
2b.Punishment as correction and reform of the offender
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 39A ruler need not kill the bad; good example suffices.read · scan
- p. 67To kill without first teaching is cruelty.read · scan
Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2
- p. 14–15Court is a place of punishment not instruction; unintentional wrongdoers should be admonished privately.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 150Lycurgus, given power to punish, forwent vengeance and reformed the offender by instruction.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 127Virgil's reproof wounded Dante then healed, like the javelin of Achilles which wounds then cures.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 142Punishment aims at destroying vice and saving men; rewards and pardon for informers make repentance safer than conspiracy.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 303Harrison judges punishment fitter than alms for counterfeiting idle beggars who feign sores and disease.read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 407–408Revenge must look to future good, not past evil; punishment is only for correcting the offender or directing others.read · scan
Molière, Tartuffe, or The HypocriteVol. 26
- p. 296Cleante urges Orgon to leave the imprisoned Tartuffe to his fate and remorse, hoping for reform.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 277Rejects waiting for irrational acts and then punishing them when education was available.read · scan
2c.Punishment as just desert and retribution
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 297Eurymachus offers amends of oxen and gold; Odysseus rejects atonement and insists the wooers pay with their lives.read · scan
- p. 323–325Odysseus slays the wooers with his bow; divine help makes them fall for their misdeeds.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 119Adultery is an iniquity to be punished by judges; Job invokes bodily ruin on himself if guilty.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 22–23Followers of disloyal men deserve punishment as severe as leaders.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 117Aeneas resolves to kill Helen as just vengeance, the punished crime giving ease to his soul.read · scan
- p. 282The Tuscans seek just revenge and lawful death for their tyrant.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 998–999Lex talionis prescribed: life for life, eye for eye, with remission an expiation.read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36
- p. 268–269Whoever is guilty must suffer, without respect of rank.read · scan
- p. 269–270Sin cannot escape punishment merely because the sinner is high; guilt makes one subject to another.read · scan
- p. 272Pope deserving punishment may be constrained by a council.read · scan
- p. 287–288The Pope broke the compact, forfeited his right to annates and deserves punishment.read · scan
- p. 291Those who abuse excommunication should be severely punished; duty to punish wrong.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 64Cellini insists on punishing the infamous young man despite the company's remonstrances.read · scan
- p. 125–127Cellini threatens Pompeo's messenger with punishment for meddling in his affairs.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 304The first deviser of canting was hanged, called a just reward.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 325He hopes to escape punishment for the crime.read · scan
- p. 340She insists the traitor must pay with his life for his lascivious attempt.read · scan
- p. 454–455Innkeeper insists the madman's insolences deserve punishment.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 442–443Prospero's charms leave his enemies distracted and in his power.read · scan
- p. 449–450Prospero plans to trap the thieves with trumpery and plague them until they roar.read · scan
- p. 450–452Prospero has spirit-hounds hunt the conspirators, pinching them with cramps and convulsions as retribution.read · scan
Ben Jonson, The AlchemistVol. 47
- p. 655–657Face warns the officers are coming and the dock awaits Subtle and Dol, their swindles about to be punished.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 105Felix argues crime must be matched with punishment, especially among the high-ranking.read · scan
- p. 117–119Felix demands Polyeucte's death if he defies the offered grace, calling it stern and just.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 219–220Punishing real tyrants is a noble act of justice, but must be grave, decorous and dignified, not vengeful insult.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 395–397Furst says Melchthal should have silently paid the penalty ordered for his transgression, however hard.read · scan
- p. 471–472Gessler's death as retribution for his cruelty; Harras notes he ignored warnings.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 428–429Judge Braxfield sentences his chess-playing friend to hang for forgery and jokes callously of checkmate.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 160–161Poor murderers are imprisoned or shot, while the rich escape severe consequence.read · scan
Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Contagiousness of Puerperal FeverVol. 38
- p. 253Ignorance may be indulged, but knowing transmission of disease should be regarded as a crime.read · scan
Robert Browning, A Blot in the 'ScutcheonVol. 18
- p. 392Mertoun offers his life in reparation; Tresham realizes haste and anger have undone them.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 283–284The dealer sentenced to eat all the horse meat illustrates fitting retribution.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, Abraham LincolnVol. 28
- p. 429Secession is a crime with assured retribution.read · scan
Treaty with Great Britain (1842)Vol. 43
- p. 287–288Murder, piracy, arson, robbery and forgery are crimes for which offenders must not escape justice by asylum.read · scan
Treaty with MexicoVol. 43
- p. 295–296Indian incursions into Mexico are to be restrained and, if unpreventable, punished with satisfaction exacted.read · scan
Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43
- p. 457–458Arrangements for capture, detention and delivery of accused criminals between the two governments.read · scan
2d.Punishment as prevention, and the defence of extreme severity
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 267–269Ruler promises morning-by-morning destruction of the wicked of the land.read · scan
Songs from the Elder EddaVol. 49
- p. 371–374Brynhild argues the son should die with the father so vengeance is lighter and peace surer.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 170–172Robin pays back the sheriff with death, saying no man could trust him while he lived.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 8A prince uses rebellion as pretext to punish the guilty and secure his position.read · scan
- p. 54Quelling disorder by a few signal examples is more merciful than leniency that leads to rapine and bloodshed.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 160Better to prevent vices by good ordering than to allow wickedness and then punish it.read · scan
Daniel Defoe, The Shortest-Way with the DissentersVol. 27
- p. 141–142Defends destroying dissenters as prevention rather than retribution, dismissing pity as cruelty to posterity.read · scan
- p. 144–145Severity will be brief, curing the contagion so that later ages feel none of it.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 292Government detects and punishes crime afterwards, a less abusable function than prevention.read · scan
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