XII.11 On thoughts

A cer­tain Marsyas drea­med he cut the throat of Dionysius.¹ Dionysius had him put to death, saying that he would not have dreamt it by night if he had not thought about it by day. That was a great act of tyranny ; for even had he thought about it, he had made no attempt.² The func­tion of laws is to punish only overt acts.