Eye For An Eye
Before i had my hope in a jar
Suddenly, this jar fell out of my hands
When I heard the sound of death
Hope flew with my young blood
Without the desire to come back
Since then i started hunting
Negativity in the darkness
Falling into holes of fear
People were closing their
Doors to my open wounds
Nobody wanted to stop me
From walking to the mist of fire
My feet were dancing on the
Flames ‘cause my hands were
Numb to get to heaven
The stranger ‘tween you
And me, it’s only myself alone
You sleep under the light of
The world meanwhile I am
Awake till you take me away
A ghost from your wishes
Filled my tongue with blood
As if a Samurai sword had
Slaughtered my fragile voice
‘Fore I could say eye for
an eye
One drop of rain fits all
Although we are still thirsty
One dance and one word
Blooms one ring with my
Heart in the little diamond
Fire Dance -- Satiiiva
The law of retaliation is the principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree, or that the victim is to receive the value of the injury in compensation. In Latin this is "lex talionis;" the English word "talion" means a retaliation authorized by law, in which the punishment corresponds in kind and degree to the injury. The notion dates back to the 18th century BCE when Hammurabi, "the king of justice," collected existing laws from throughout his expanding Babylonian empire, compiled a universal code of laws, inscribed it on upright basalt pillar, and placed it in a public place so that all could see it. For centuries his laws were copied by scribes as part of their writing exercises and they were even partially translated into Sumerian. In 2010 archaeologists from Hebrew University discovered a cuneiform tablet at Hazor, Israel, dating to the 18th or 17th century BCE, that contained laws clearly derived from the Code of Hammurabi. In the 12th century BCE the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte took the stele as plunder to Susa (in the modern Khuzestan province of Iran). In 1901 Gustave Jéquier, a member of an expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan, found it, and Jean-Vincent Scheil published a translation the next year. The nearly complete stele contained 282 laws. The best known one is #196: "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone. If one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone of a man's slave he shall pay one-half his price." This became one of the Jews' laws, as modified in "Leviticus" (24:19–21): "And a man who injures his countryman –- as he has done, so it shall be done to him fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as another person has received injury from him, so it will be given to him." In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reinterpreted the conjunction: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matthew 5:38-39).
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