So this robber, this adulterer, shouldn’t they have been destroyed? Not at all, but rather ask this: “This man who has been misled and deceived about the most important things, who has been blinded – not in his vision, the ability to distinguish white from black, but in his judgment, the ability to distinguish good from evil – shouldn’t we destroy him?” If you put it this way, you will see how inhumane your question is. It is like saying, “This blind man, shouldn’t he be destroyed? This deaf-mute?” Epictetus, Discourses 1.18.5–7
