““The law proposed by Valerius forbade that anyone who had appealed should be scourged with rods or beheaded, but if the law was disregarded on either point it did no more than term it 'a wicked deed'. Such was the sense of shame amongst men at that time that this, I suppose, was thought to impose a legal sanction which would be sufficiently binding. Today hardly anyone would seriously utter such a threat.””
![“[The] penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to the humane theorist, but of which the practice, in a large and vicious community, is seldom consistent with the public safety.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/37b/edward-gibbon-710_community_the-penalty-of-death-was-abolished-in-th_414077.jpg)
![“[Rhodian delegation:] Every city contains wicked citizens from time to time and an ignorant populace all the time.” quote by Livy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5d7/livy-3007_time_rhodian-delegation-every-city-contains-w_191084.jpg)
