If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
18. And if men strive together. The punishment here enacted for wounds and blows is so slight, that it might have served as a provocative to the mischievousness of the ill-disposed. Since the Law of the Twelve Tables only inflicted a fine of twenty-five asses upon a man who had beaten another unjustly, there was a certain Lucius Veratius, Aul. Gellius. Noct. Attic., 20:1.
Here is, I. A law concerning murder. He had lately said, Thou shalt not kill; here he provides, 1. For the punishing of wilful murder (Exo 21:12): He that smiteth a man, whether upon a sudden passion or in malice prepense, so that he die, the government must take care that the murderer be put to death, according to that ancient law (Gen 9:6), Whoso...
Commenting on Exodus 21:12-21
And if men strive together,.... Quarrel and fight, and wrestle with and box one another: and one smite another with a stone; which lying near him he might take up, and in his passion throw it at his antagonist: or with his fist; with his double fist, as we express it, with his hand closed, that it might come with the greater force, and give...