Prospero Farinacci (1544-1618)

portrait by
Giuseppe Cesari detto il Cavalier d'Arpino (1568-1640)

Rome, Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo

Prospero Farinacci, Praxis et theoricae criminalis (2^nd ed. Nürnburg: 1676), 4 quaestio 125, part 6, p.324-340 at 327-328:

One would want that “moderamen inculpatae tutelae” required equality of blows and so the persons who returned blows would give them in equal measure. This is to say that this is, in a certain way, to argue as Jewish scholars do.  A legitimate defense must be conducted in due proportion, not as to the effect but as to the weapons used . . . These speculations on the period of time permitted to defend oneself open the way for men to take revenge on their own authority and to kill their enemies. They avoid the death penalty by claiming ‘I was provoked, I was injured, I was offended.