To kill against the law, is a greater crime, than any other injury, life preserved.
And to kill with torment, greater, than simply to kill.
And mutilation of a limb, greater, than the spoiling a man of his goods.
And the spoiling a man of his goods, by terror of death, or wounds, than by clandestine surreption.
And by clandestine surreption, than by consent fraudulently obtained.
And the violation of chastity by force, greater, than by flattery.
And of a woman married, than of a woman not married.
For all these things are commonly so valued: though some men are more, and some less sensible of the same offence. But the law regardeth not the particular, but the general inclination of mankind.
And therefore the offence men take, from contumely, in words, or gesture, when they produce no other harm, than the present grief of him that is reproached, hath been neglected in the laws of the Greeks, Romans, and other both ancient and modern commonwealths; supposing the true cause of such grief to consist, not in the contumely, which takes no hold upon men conscious of their own virtue, but in the pusillanimity of him that is offended by it.
Also a crime against a private man, is much aggravated by the person, time, and place. For to kill one’s parent, is a greater crime, than to kill another: for the parent ought to have the honour of a sovereign, though he surrendered his power to the civil law; because he had it originally by nature. And to rob a poor man, is a greater crime, than to rob a rich man; because it is to the poor a more sensible damage.