CONCERNING THOSE BRUTE BEASTS WHICH ARE THE CAUSES OF A MAN’s
DEATH
XXVI. (144) If a bull gore a man and kill him, let him be Stoned.{12}{#ex 21:28.} For his flesh may not be either offered in sacrifice by the priests, nor eaten by men. Why not? Because it is not consistent with the law of God that man should take for food or for a seasoning to his food the flesh of an animal which has slain a man. (145) But if the owner of the beast knew that he was a savage and ferocious animal, and did not confine him, nor shut him up and take care of him, or if he had heard from others that he was not quiet, and still allowed him to feed at liberty, he shall be liable to a prosecution as guilty of the man’s death. And then the animal which gored the man shall die, and his master shall be put to death also, or else shall pay a ransom and a price for his safety, and the court of justice shall devise what punishment he ought to suffer, what penalty he ought to pay. (146) And if it be a slave who has been killed then he shall pay his full value to his master; but if the bull have gored not a man but another animal, then the owner of the beast which killed him shall take the dead animal and give his master another like him instead of him, because he was aware beforehand of the fierceness of his own beast, and did not guard against it. And if the bull has killed a sheep which belonged to some one else, he shall again restore this man one like it instead of it, and be thankful to him for not exacting a greater penalty of him, since it was he who was the first to do any injury.
CONCERNING PITS
XXVII. (147) Some persons are accustomed to dig very deep pits, either in order to open springs which may bubble up, or else to receive rain water, and then they widen drains under ground; in which case they ought either to build round the mouths of them, or else to put a cover on them; but still they often, out of shameful carelessness or folly, have left such places open, by which means some persons have met with destruction. (148) If, therefore, any traveller passing along the road, not knowing beforehand that there is any such pit, shall step on the hole, and fall in, and be killed, any one of the relations of the dead man who chooses may bring an accusation against those who made the pit, and the tribunal shall decide what punishment they ought to suffer, or what penalty they ought to Pay.{13}{#ex 21:33.} But if a beast fall in and perish, then they who dug the pit shall pay its value to its owner as if it were still alive, and they shall have the dead body for themselves. (149) Again, those men also are committing an injury akin to and resembling that which has just been mentioned, who when building houses leave the roof level with the ground though they ought to protect them with a parapet, in order that no one may fall down into the hole made without perceiving it. For such men, if one is to tell the plain truth, are committing murder, as far as they themselves are concerned, even though no one fall in and perish; accordingly let them be punished equally with those who have the mouths of pits open.
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