d be counted a crime to make him any
return; if he does not attack my country, but is the scourge of his own;
if he has nothing to do with my nation, but torments and cuts to pieces
his own, then in the same manner such depravity, though it does not
render him my personal enemy, yet renders him hateful to me, and the
duty which I owe to the human race is anterior to and more important
than that which I owe to him as an individual.

XX. However, although this be so, and although I am freed from all
obligation towards him, from the moment when, by outraging all laws, he
rendered it impossible for any man to do him a wrong, nevertheless, I
think I ought to make the following distinction in dealing with him.
If my repayment of his benefit will neither increase nor maintain his
powers of doing mischief to mankind, and is of such a character that I
can return it to him without disadvantage to the public, I would return
it: for instance, I would save the life of his infant child; for what
harm can this benefit do to any of those who suffer from his cruelty?
But I would not furnish him with money to pay his bodyguard. If he
wishes for marbles, or fine clothes, the trappings of his luxury will
harm no one; but with soldiers and arms I would not furnish him. If he
demands, as a great boon, actors and courtesans and such things as will
soften his savage nature, I would willingly bestow them upon him. I
would not furnish him with triremes and brass-beaked ships of war, but I
would send him fast sailing and luxuriously-fitted vessels, and all
the toys of kings who take their pleasure on the sea. If his health was
altogether despaired of, I would by the same act bestow a benefit on all
men and return one to him; seeing that for such characters death is
the only remedy, and that he who never will return to himself, had best
leave himself. However, such wickedness as this is uncommon, and is
always regarded as a portent, as when the earth opens, or when fires
break forth from caves under the sea; so let us leave it, and speak of
those vices which we can hate without shuddering at them. As for the
ordinary bad man, whom I can find in the marketplace of any town, who is
feared only by individuals, I would return to him a benefit which I
had received from him. It is not right that I should profit by his
wickedness; let me return what is not mine to its owner. Whether he be
good or bad makes no difference; but I would consider the matter mo