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§ 59. The strongest case of this is seen in the law which acquits even a homicide if the dying man for gives him. ἀκουσίου This, the manuscript reading, is more probable than Reiske's conjecture ἑκουσίου, which is adopted by Bekker, followed by Kennedy; for it is not likely that deliberate and intentional murder would be pardoned. [The whole of this passage εἰ τοίνυν—τὸν αὐτόν ἐστιν, and § 60 εἶθ᾽ ὑπὲρ—καταλυθήσεται, is repeated almost verbatim in Or. 38 §§ 21 and 22, where the words ἂν ἑλών τις ἀκουσίου φόνου (though one MS the codex Bavaricus has ἑκουσίου) support the reading adopted in the text. Cf. Or. 23, Aristocr., § 72 τὸν ἁλόντα ἐπὶ ἀκουσίῳ φόνῳ φεύγειν ἕως ἂν αἰδέσηταί τινα τῶν ἐν γένει τοῦ πεπονθότος, also ib. § 77, Or. 21 (Mid.) § 43 οἱ φονικοὶ (νόμοι) τοὺς μἑν ἐκ προνοίας ἀποκτιννύντας θανάτῳ καὶ ἀειφυγίᾳ καὶ δημεύσει τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ζημιοῦσι, τοὺς δ᾽ ἀκουσίως αἰδέσεως καὶ φιλανθρωπίας πολλῆς ἠξίωσαν. Meier and Schomann, p. 379 f. Lipsius. S.] μὴ καθαρόν, that he is ἐναγὴς, or has contracted a guilt requiring formal expiation.—αἰδεῖσθαι, ‘to show mercy to a suppliant,’ is almost a technical term. ἐκβαλεῖν ‘To procure his banishment,’ contrasted with ἐκπίπτειν καὶ φεύγειν, infr. οὐδὲ—οὐδενὶ See on Or. 34 § 1. τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα “This expression, ‘I forgive.’” Plat. Phileb. p. 20 B τὸ γὰρ εἰ βούλει ῥηθὲν λύει πάντα φόβον ἑκάστων πέρι, i.e. that single phrase ‘if you please’ does away with all fear in every one of these questions.
Select Private Orations of Demosthenes, Part I. F. A. Paley, M.A., LL.D., and J. E. Sandys, Litt. D. 1898. Cambridge University Press.
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