ABSTRACT
I conclude with this reflection: that the severity of punishment must be relative to the state of the nation itself. It should be strongly directed at the senses if it is to impress the callous minds of a people not long out of barbarism. A thunderbolt is needed to fell a lion that merely turns toward a rifle shot. But to the extent that minds are increasingly mollified as the state of society grows in sensibility, so the force of punishment must be reduced if we wish to maintain a constant relationship between the object and the sensation. 1
