If it is a lifeless thing that has caused death, it shall solemnly be cast out before witnesses to acquit the whole family from guilt.[126]
Amongst the Israelites, treating of homicides amongst themselves, compensation was forbidden in like manner.
Numbers xxxv. 31. “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death: but he shall surely be put to death.
“... The land cannot be cleansed of blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it.”
Let us complete this subject with the following story told by Herodotus:[127]—Adrastus, having slain his brother, flees to the court of Croesus. There he becomes as a son to Croesus and a brother to Atys, Croesus' son. This Atys Adrastus has the terrible misfortune to slay, thereby incurring a three-fold pollution. He has brought down upon himself the triple wrath of Zeus Katharsios, Ephestios, and Hetaireios: he has violated his own innocence, his protector's hearth, and the comradeship of his friend.
In despair he commits suicide.