12.24. 24. Of Anonymous Letters.
The Tartars are obliged to put their names
to their arrows, that the arm may be known which shoots them. When
Philip of Macedon was wounded at the siege of a certain town, these
words were found on the javelin, "Aster has given this mortal wound to
Philip."
[72]
If they who accuse a person did it merely to serve the
public, they would not carry their complaint to the prince, who may be
easily prejudiced, but to the magistrates, who have rules that are
formidable only to calumniators. But if they are unwilling to leave the
laws open between them and the accused, it is a presumption they have
reason to be afraid of them; and the least punishment they ought to
suffer is not to be credited. No notice, therefore, should ever be taken
of those letters, except in cases that admit not of the delays of the
ordinary course of justice, and in which the prince's welfare is
concerned. Then it may be imagined that the accuser has made an effort,
which has untied his tongue. But in other cases one ought to say, with
the Emperor Constantius: "We cannot suspect a person who has wanted an
accuser, whilst he did not want an enemy."
[73]
Footnotes
[72]
Plutarch, "Comparison of some Roman and Greek Histories," tome ii, p. 487.
[73]
Leg. 6, Cod. Theod. de famosis libellis.
