על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר ג י״אOn the Special Laws, Book III 11
א׳
1[64] If anyone dishonours by violence a woman widowed by the death of her husband or through any other form of separation, the crime he commits is less serious than in adultery, of which it may be said to be the half. The penalty of death should not be enforced in his case: but since he has accepted as highly honourable such vile things as violence, outrage, incontinence and effrontery, he must be indicted and the court must determine for him the penalty he should suffer or the compensation he should pay.
ב׳
2[65] The corruption of a maiden is a criminal offence closely akin to adultery, its brother in fact, for both spring as it were from one mother, licentiousness, to which some whose way it is to bedizen ugly things with specious terms, ashamed to admit its true nature, give the name of love. Still the kinship does not amount to complete similarity, because the wrong caused by the corruption is not passed on to several families as it is with adultery, but is concentrated in one, that of the maiden herself.
ג׳
3[66] Our advice then to one who desires a damsel of gentle birth should be this: “My good sir, have nothing to do with reckless and shameless effrontery or treacherous snares, or anything of the kind, and do not either openly or secretly prove yourself a rascal.
ד׳
4[67] But if you have, heart and soul, centred your affections on the girl, go to her parents, if they are alive, or, if not, to her brothers or guardians or others who have charge of her, lay bare before them the state of your affections, as a free man should, ask her hand in marriage and plead that you may not be thought unworthy of her.
ה׳
5[68] For none of those who have had the care of the girl would behave so stupidly as to set himself in opposition to the increasing earnestness of your entreaties, particularly if, on examination, he finds that your affections are not counterfeited nor superficial, but are genuine and firmly established.”
ו׳
6[69] But if anyone in furious frenzy will have nothing to say to the suggestions of reason, but regarding wild passion and lust as sovereign powers and giving the place of honour to violence above law, as the saying goes, turns to rapine and ravishment and treats free women as though they were servant-maids, acting in peace as he might in war-time, he must be brought before the judges.
ז׳
7[70] And if the victim of the violation has a father he must consider the question of espousing her to the author of her ruin. If he refuses, the seducer must give a dowry to the girl, his punishment being thus limited to a monetary fine, but if the father consents to the union, he must marry her without any delay and agree to give the same dowry as in the former case, and he must not be at liberty to draw back, or to make difficulties. This is in the interest both of himself, to make the rape appear due to legitimate love rather than to lasciviousness, and of the girl, to give her for the misfortune, which she has suffered at their first association, the consolation of a wedlock so firmly established that nothing but death will undo it.
ח׳
8[71] If she has lost her father, she must be asked by the judges whether she wishes to consort with the man or not. And whether she agrees or refuses, the terms agreed upon must be the same as they would have been if her father were alive.