Whatever the metaphor of repayment may mean, these arguments show that justice is not satisfied by the simple reenactment of the sin against the sinner. Punishment is not a return in that sense. Nor is it a perfect “echo” or “mirror” of sin. A perfect echo neither adds to nor removes from the original sound; in a perfect reflection nothing is lost or altered by the absorption or scattering of light. The perfect echo or mirror of a sin would be a sin.
