ly to the people, that justice to which they have a natural
right, and which ought to be equally open to all; and, in some sense, to
the poor more than the rich, because the latter find a support within
themselves; whereas the very condition of the former exposes them more to
injuries, and therefore calls louder for the protection of the laws. To
guard against surprise, affairs were transacted by writing in the
assemblies of these judges. That false eloquence was dreaded, which
dazzles the mind, and moves the passions. Truth could not be expressed
with too much plainness, as it alone was to have the sway in judgments;
because in that alone the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, the
learned and the ignorant, were to find relief and security. The president
of this senate wore a collar of gold set with precious stones, at which
hung a figure represented blind, this being called the emblem of truth.
When the president put this collar on, it was understood as a signal to
enter upon business. He touched the party with it who was to gain his
cause, and this was the form of passing sentence.

The most excellent circumstance in the laws of the Egyptians, was, that
every individual, from his infancy, was nurtured in the strictest
observance of them. A new custom in Egypt was a kind of miracle.(325) All
things there ran in the old channel; and the exactness with which little
matters were adhered to, preserved those of more importance; and
consequently no nation ever retained their laws and customs longer than
the Egyptians.

Wilful murder was punished with death,(326) whatever might be the
condition of the murdered person, whether he was free-born or otherwise.
In this the humanity and equity of the Egyptians were superior to that of
the Romans, who gave the master an absolute power of life and death over
his slave. The emperor Adrian, indeed, abolished this law; from an
opinion, that an abuse of this nature ought to be reformed, let its
antiquity or authority be ever so great.

Perjury was also punished with death,(327) because that crime attacks both
the gods, whose majesty is trampled upon by invoking their name to a false
oath, and men, by breaking the strongest tie of human society, _viz._
sincerity and veracity.

The false accuser was condemned to undergo the punishment which the person
accused was to have suffered, had the accusation been proved.(328)

He who had neglected or refused to save a man's life when attacke