On Self-Defense

I found this interesting quote concerning self-defense from Cato's Letters, one of the early 18th century English defenses of classical liberalism:

The two great Laws of humane Society, from whence all the rest derive their Course and Obligation, are those of Equity and Self-preservation: By the First, all Men are bound alike not to hurt one another ; and by the Second, all Men have a Right alike to defend themselves: Nam jure hoc evenit ut quod quisque ob tutelam corporis sui fecerit, jure secisse exitstimetur, says the Civil Law; that is, "it is a Maxim of the Law, that whatever we do in the Way, and for the Ends of Self defence, we lawfully do;" all the Laws of Society are entirely reciprocal, and no Man ought to be exempt from their Force; and whoever violates this primary Law of Nature, ought by the Law of Nature to be destroyed. He who observes no Law, forfeits all Title to the Protection of Law. It is Wickedness not to destroy a Destroyer; and all the ill Consequences of Self defence are chargeable upon him occasioned them. [John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato's Letters (London: W. Wilkins, T. Woodward, J. Walthoe, and J. Peele, 1723), 2:256-7]

There's nothing terribly radical there (unless, perhaps, you are on faculty somewhere), but it is amusing that the Cato Institute, named after Cato's Letters, is one of the players in bringing the Heller suit to the U.S. Supreme Court.