I am conquered: my life, it is true, as forfeit, is at mercy, but not my wife's and children's.

They made not the war, nor assisted in it.

I could not forfeit their lives; they were not mine to forfeit.

My wife had a share in my estate; that neither could I forfeit.

And my children also, being born of me, had a right to be maintained out of my labour or substance.
Here then is the case: the conqueror has a title to reparation for damages received, and the children have a title to their father's estate for their subsistence: for as to the wife's share, whether her own labour, or compact, gave her a title to it, it is plain, her husband could not forfeit what was her's.