Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.

Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.

See they suffer death,
But in their deaths remember they are men,
Strain not the laws to read more

See they suffer death,
But in their deaths remember they are men,
Strain not the laws to make their tortures grievous.

The best of us being unfit to die, what an unexpressible absurdity to put the worst to death.

The best of us being unfit to die, what an unexpressible absurdity to put the worst to death.

Let the punishment be equal with the offence.
[Lat., Noxiae poena par esto.]

Let the punishment be equal with the offence.
[Lat., Noxiae poena par esto.]

Two of the cruelest, most primitive punishments our town deals out to those who fall from favor are the empty read more

Two of the cruelest, most primitive punishments our town deals out to those who fall from favor are the empty mailbox and the silent telephone.

He is next to the gods whom reason, and not passion, impels; and
who, after weighing the facts, can read more

He is next to the gods whom reason, and not passion, impels; and
who, after weighing the facts, can measure the punishment with
discretion.
[Lat., Diis proximus ille est
Quem ratio non ira movet: qui factor rependens
Consilio punire potest.]

Punishment is justice for the unjust.

Punishment is justice for the unjust.

'Tis I that call, remember Milo's end,
Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.

'Tis I that call, remember Milo's end,
Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.

It is as expedient that a wicked man be punished as that a sick man be cured by a physician; read more

It is as expedient that a wicked man be punished as that a sick man be cured by a physician; for all chastisement is a kind of medicine.