21
And so deep is his distrust of those who are subject to audit, that he says at the very beginning of the laws, The officer who has not yet submitted his accounts shall not leave the country? Heracles ! some one may answer, because I held an office may I not leave the country? No, for fear you may make profit of the public money or the public acts, and then run away. Furthermore, the man who is subject to audit is not allowed to consecrate his property, or to make a votive offering, or to receive adoption,An official who caused himself to be adopted into some family poorer than his own might thus diminish the security which the state would hold in case of his misconduct in office. or to dispose of his property by will and he is under many other prohibitions. In a word, the lawgiver holds under attachment the property of all who are subject to audit, until their accounts shall have been audited.
22
Yes, but there is a man who has received no public funds and spent none, but has simply had something to do with administrative matters. He too is commanded to render account to the auditors. And how shall the man who has received nothing and spent nothing render account to the state? The law itself suggests and teaches what he is to write; for it commands him to file precisely this statement, I have neither received nor spent any public funds. There is nothing in all the state that is exempt from audit, investigation, and examination. As proof of what I say, hear the laws themselves.
23
The Laws