Punishment of Enemies

Thomas Paine: First Principles of Government.

Nothing in human character ever changes: only the times and the trappings of civilization.

“An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
Thomas Paine
Dissertation on First Principles of Government (1795)