Man is deprived of the faculty of procreation, which was conferred upon him by God, with the same audacity as if the act was not subject to divine retribution, when, indeed, it should be severely punished; and although the ancient legislators were careful to suitably provide for this offence by law, and desired that the State should be free from its commission, I do not know why their statutes were not obeyed; and, just as if some benefit could be obtained from this mutilation of nature, men were constantly deprived of their generative organs, and transformed into entirely different beings than when they came from the hands of their Creator. Therefore, We, not desiring to allow a crime of this kind to go unpunished, do hereby prescribe a penalty by which We intend, if possible, to suppress the boldness of those who deform their fellow-creatures, without even alleging the excuse of religious custom. The laws of former legislators prescribed the penalty of retaliation, and provided that persons who mutilated others in this way should themselves be placed in the same condition, a provision which seems to Me not to be inequitable, although it is, indeed, far from decorous; and it does not seem proper for anyone who ventures to attempt to change the work of God to be punished by imitating what he has done, and mutilating him in the same way. Still, as I have just stated, such a penalty is not inappropriate, so far as the crime itself is concerned. A different punishment was established for those who were audacious enough to commit this wicked act, for their property was confiscated, they were banished for life, and when the person who sustained the injury was a slave, he obtained his freedom. These were the ancient laws on this subject. We, however, deciding with reference to this same matter, do hereby forbid the Lex Talionis to be enforced against such as are guilty of the crime of castration; and We wish them to be liable to the other penalties prescribed for this offence, although it is Our intention to be indulgent to them. Hence We decree that if anyone summons a practitioner of this detestable calling, he shall, in the first place, if he is in the Imperial service, have his name stricken from the list of those employed therein, and then, after having paid a fine of ten pounds of gold into the Treasury, he shall be exiled for ten years. The one, however, who actually commits the crime, shall be scourged with rods, stripped of all his property, and banished for the same time. When the person upon whom the injury was inflicted is of servile condition, he shall be free for the rest of his life; but if he is a freeman, he shall be considered to have voluntarily submitted to the operation, and shall be responsible for what he has suffered. Moreover, if he who was castrated was compelled to undergo the mutilation for the benefit of his health, as is often the case, he shall not be held to have done anything reprehensible either in Our eyes or in those of the law; for, under such circumstances, the object is not to cause a deformity of nature, but is an attempt to correct it.