Matricide and Sexual Difference in Plato's Laws

The treatment of sexual difference in the criminal code of Laws is intriguing. In Lg. 872d1-873, it is proposed as the fairest penalty for those who commit matricide to be born as part of the female nature and be killed by their offspring. It is also notable that, although this criminal code has been the subject of detailed analysis by some scholars, a great silence surrounds this passage. This is eloquent as to the hermeneutical difficulty that any problem involving the representation of women and the feminine represents for the study of Greek philosophy. My proposal is to open some lines of exegesis that can contribute to an analysis of the content of the text. I show that the treatment of matricide, besides referring to the irreducibility of the sexes, can be read in a socio-political key if we consider the elements that are associated in Greek literature with motherhood as an institution.