ed afar off(1065) he began to keep himself at a distance from his
people; was almost inaccessible, and, as it were, invisible to his
subjects, not suffering them to speak, or communicate their affairs to
him, but only by petitions, and the interposition of his officers. And
even those that had the privilege of approaching him, might neither laugh
nor spit in his presence.

This able statesman acted in this manner, in order the better to secure to
himself the possession of the crown. For, having to deal with men yet
uncivilized, and no very good judges of true merit, he was afraid, that
too great a familiarity with him might induce contempt, and occasion plots
and conspiracies against a growing power, which is generally looked upon
with invidious and discontented eyes. But by keeping himself thus
concealed from the eyes of the people, and making himself known only by
the wise laws he made, and the strict justice he took care to administer
to every one, he acquired the respect and esteem of all his subjects.

It is said, that from the innermost part of his palace he saw every thing
that was done in his dominions, by means of his emissaries, who brought
him accounts, and informed him of all transactions. By this means no crime
escaped either the knowledge of the prince, or the rigour of the law; and
the punishment treading upon the heels of the offence, kept the wicked in
awe, and stopped the course of violence and injustice.

Things might possibly pass in this manner to a certain degree during his
administration: but there is nothing more obvious than the great
inconveniencies necessarily resulting from the custom introduced by
Dejoces, and wherein he has been imitated by the rest of the Eastern
potentates; the custom, I mean, of living concealed in his palace, of
governing by spies dispersed throughout his kingdom, of relying solely
upon their sincerity for the truth of facts; of not suffering truth, the
complaints of the oppressed, and the just reasons of innocent persons, to
be conveyed to him any other way, than through foreign channels, that is,
by men liable to be prejudiced or corrupted; men that stopped up all
avenues to remonstrances, or the reparation of injuries, and that were
capable of doing the greatest injustice themselves, with so much the more
ease and assurance, as their iniquity remained undiscovered, and
consequently unpunished. But besides all this, methinks, that very
affectation in princes of makin