Cyprian Quotes
If a murder is committed privately it is considered a crime. But if it happens with the authority of the state, they call it courage.
Cyprian of Carthage. "Treatise 1: To Donatus." The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, Volume 5, edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Christian Literature Company, 1886, p. 277.
Mandelstam was later sent to a Soviet gulag for writing a poem denouncing Stalin. He died there.
The Pope was justifying his earlier excommunication of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV who in turn excommunicated Pope Gregory.
This law is used to free “honor killing” murderers who have killed female relatives for what they thought was a sexual transgression that “stained the family honor.” The custom exists in some other countries but rarely with such sanction of law. In the case of Article 548 the word “witnesses” is interpreted to mean “heard about it” or even has some reason to suspect it. Each year in Syria hundreds of innocent women, and even girls are killed with impunity. In one 2007 case a 15 year old girl was kidnapped and raped. When she was freed by the police she was jailed. A cousin got her released by agreeing to marry her, but after the marriage, one of her own brothers, with the knowledge and concurrence of the rest of the family, butchered her with a knife. The family then held a party to celebrate the cleansing of their honor.
Charles I had caused the death of his subjects with impunity and was called to account. However, the English Parliament did not know what specific crime the King had committed. Kings had executed people, guilty of crimes and otherwise, for centuries. For what could a king be accountable. Cooke developed the crime of Tyranny and drew up and presented the indictment for that. The King was found guilty and executed. This was the first time in legal history that a ruler was called to account for crimes committed against his own people. It became the foundation for many trials thereafter including that of Saddam Hussein in 2006.
Cyprian (Latin: Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus; ca. 210 to 14 September 258 AD) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berber descent, many of whose Latin works are extant. He is recognized as a saint in the Western and Eastern churches.
