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THE SHARED PENALTY
Zaleusus flourished about 500 years B. C. His government over the Locrians was severe but just. On one of his decrees, he forbade the use of wine unless it were prescribed as medicine; and in another, he ordered that all adulterers should be punished with the loss of both their eyes. When his own son had subjected himself to this penalty, the father, in order to maintain the authority of the laws, and to show at the same time a becoming parental leniency, shared the penalty with his son, by causing to be thrust out one of his own eyes and one of his offending son. In this way, the majesty of his government was maintained, and his own character as a just and righteous sovereign was magnified in the eyes of his subjects.