Their edicts appear to have been issued in the form of a firmán*, or written order, as in all Oriental countries; and from the expression used by Pharaoh in granting power to Joseph, we may infer, that the people who received that order adopted the usual Eastern modet of acknowledging their obedience and respect for the sovereign. Nor can there be any doubt that, besides the custom of kissing the signature attached to those documents, they were expected to "bow the kneet" in the presence of the monarch and chiefs of the country, and even to prostrate themselves to the earth before them. §

JUDGES.

Causes of ordinary occurrence were decided by those who held the office of judges; and the care with which persons were elected to this office is a strong proof of their regard for the welfare of the community, and of their earnest endeavours to promote the ends of justice. None were admitted to it but the most upright and learned individuals; and, in order to make the office more select, and more readily to obtain persons of known character, ten only were chosen from each of the three cities,

Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis; a body of

Like the Khot ê Shereef, " handwriting of the Shereef," or order of the soltans of Constantinople.

The expression in the Hebrew is," according to thy word shall all my people" kiss (" be ruled "), alluding evidently to the custom of kissing a firmán. Gen. xli. 40.

Gen. xli. 43. The word abrek 728 is very remarkable, as it is used to the present day by the Arabs when requiring a camel to kneel and receive its load.

Joseph's brethren bowed to the earth. Gen. xliii. 26. 28. These prostrations are frequently represented in the sculptures.

men, says Diodorus, by no means inferior either to the Areopagites of Athens, or to the senate of Lacedæmon.

These thirty individuals constituted the bench of judges; and at their first meeting they elected the most distinguished among them to be president, with the title of Arch-judge. His salary was much greater than that of the other judges, as his office was more important; and the city to which he belonged enjoyed the privilege of returning another judge, to complete the number of the thirty from whom he had been chosen. They all received ample allowances from the king; in order that, possessing a sufficiency for their maintenance and other necessary expenses, they might be above the reach of temptation, and be inaccessible to bribes: for it was considered of primary importance, that all judicial proceedings should be regulated with the most scrupulous exactitude, sentences pronounced by authorised tribunals* always having a decided influence, either salutary or prejudicial, on the affairs of common life. They felt that precedents were thereby established, and that numerous abuses frequently resulted from an early error, which had been sanctioned by the decision of some influential person, and for this reason they weighed the talents as well as the character of the judge.

The first principle was that offenders should be discovered and punished, and that those who had been wronged should be benefited by the interposition of the laws; since the least compensation

which can be made to the oppressed, and the most effectual preventative of crime, are the speedy discovery and exposure of the offender. On the other hand, if the terror which hangs over the guilty in the hour of trial could be averted by bribery or favour, nothing short of distrust and confusion would pervade all ranks of society; and the spirit of the Egyptian laws was not merely to hold out the distant prospect of rewards and punishments, or merely threaten the future vengeance of the gods*, but to apply the more persuasive stimulus of present retribution.

Besides the care taken by them that justice should be administered according to the real merits of the case, and that before their tribunals no favour or respect of persons should be permitted, another very important regulation was adopted, that justice should be gratuitously administered: and it was consequently accessible to the poor, as well as to the rich. The very spirit of their laws was to give protection and assistance to the oppressedt, and every thing that tended to promote an unbiassed judgment was peculiarly commended by the Egyptian sages.‡

When a case was brought for trial, it was customary for the arch-judge to put a golden chain round his neck, to which was suspended a small figure of

cr

* Diodor. i. 93. ου μυθώδους αλλ' οράτης . . . της κολάσεως.” + Diodor. loc. cit. " των αδικουμένων βοηθειας τυγχανόντων.

When consulted by the Eleans respecting their games, their objection was founded on the persuasion that no unbiassed judgment could be given when the Eleans themselves were admitted to the contest. Herodot. ii. 160., Diodor. i. 95. The former says, in the reign of Psammis, the latter, of Amasis. Vide supra, p. 167.

This

Truth, ornamented with precious stones. was, in fact, a representation of the goddess who was worshipped under the double character of Truth and Justice, and whose name, Thmei*, ap

No. 83.

The goddess of Truth and Justice.

Thebes.

pears to have been the origin of the Hebrew Thummimt; a word, according to the Septuagint translation, implying truth ‡, and bearing a further analogy § in its plural termination. And what makes it more remarkable is, that the chief priest of the Jews, who before the election of a king was also the judge of the nation, was alone entitled

The Egyptian or Coptic name of Justice or Truth. We do not yet read it in the hieroglyphics, as the characters are still uncertain. Hence the Opc of the Greeks.

+ Lord Prudhoe has very ingeniously suggested that the Urim is derived from the two asps or basilisks, urei, which were the emblems of royalty in Egypt. Ouro is the Egyptian word implying a king.

Exod. xxviii. 30.

The goddess frequently occurs in the sculptures in this double ca

to wear this honorary badge; and the Thummim, like the Egyptian figure, was studded with precious stones of various colours. The goddess was represented * having her eyes closed," purporting

No. 84.

The goddess of Truth, "with her eyes closed."

Thebes.

that the duty of a judge was to weigh the question according to the evidence he had heard, and to trust rather to his mind than to what he saw; and was intended to warn him of that virtue which the Deity peculiarly enjoined: an emblematic idea, very similar to "those statues at Thebes of judges without hands, with their chief or president at their head having his eyes turned downwards," signifying, as as Plutarch observes, "that Justice ought neither to be accessible to bribes, nor guided by favour and affection." +

It is not to be supposed that the president and the thirty judges above mentioned were the only house of judicature in the country; each city or + Plut. de Is. s. x.

* Diodor. i. 48.