Deut. xix. 21.TALIO, Lex talionis. The Punishment of the Talio is appointed by the Law of Moses, against such as had maimed their Neighbour in his Body: Life shall go for Life, Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth, Hand for Hand, Foot for Foot. Interpreters are not agreed about the Sense of these Laws: Some take them in their full rigor, and this Text seems to favour them. So shalt thou put away the evil from among you: And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. The Sadduces admitted of no Mitigation to this Law; but the other Jews, and many Christian Commentators pretend, that as these Laws would produce great Inconveniencies in the literal Execution of them, they ought to be taken in a restrained and mitigated Sense, and that the Offender was to pay a pecuniary Mulct to the Party offended, or to undergo some other Penalty proportionable to the Offence. A Man, for instance, who had struck out his Neighbour’s Eye, was condemned to lose one of his own Eyes, or else to redeem it by a good round Sum: And so of the rest.
Aug. l. 19. c. 25. contra Faust.God did not allow Revenge in this, but restrained it, as St. Austin says; Non fomes, sed limes furoris est. He with-held the Hands of private Persons, by appointing the Law of Retaliation, and by threatening them with the like Punishment that they should make others suffer. This Idem in Ps. cviii.Law is Justice, says St. Austin again; ‘tis the Justice of unjust Men: Not that there can be Injustice in punishing the Guilty, but the Desire of Revenge is unjust. Oculum pro oculo, &c. injustorum justitia est, non quia iniquum est ut recipiat unusquisque quod fecerit, sed quia ulciscendi libido vitiosa est.
Philo de legib.Philo assures us, that the Lex Talionis was not rigorously put in execution, except the Injury was done to a Free-man. But the Rabins did not acknowledge this Distinction: Joseph. Antiq. l.4. c. 8.And Josephus informs us, that it was in the power of the wounded Person to pursue his Vengeance if he pleased, and he could not be forced against his Will to accept of Money instead of a Retaliation. The Greek and Roman Laws, and even the Ecclesiastical and Canon Laws, authorize the Lex Talionis. See Revenge and Revenger.