In the morning at day break, when the head is clearest, and the thoughts most unperplexed, they read the several letters they received; to form a more just and distinct idea of the affairs which were to come under their consideration that day.
As soon as they were dressed, they went to the daily sacrifice performed in the temple; where, surrounded with their whole court, and the victims placed before the altar, they assisted at the prayer pronounced aloud by the high priest, in which he asked of the gods, health and all other blessings for the king, because he governed his people with clemency and justice, and made the laws of his kingdom the rule and standard of his actions. The high priest entered into a long detail of his royal virtues; observing, that he was religious to the gods, affable to men, moderate, just, magnanimous, sincere; an enemy to falsehood; liberal; master of his passions; punishing crimes with the utmost lenity, but boundless in rewarding merit. He next spoke of the faults which kings might be guilty of; but supposed at the same time that they never committed any, except by surprise or ignorance; and loaded with imprecations such of their ministers as gave them ill council, and suppressed or disguised the truth. Such were the methods of conveying instruction to their kings. It was thought that reproaches would only sour their tempers; and that the most effectual method to inspire them with virtue, would be to point out to them their duty in praises conformable to the sense of the laws, and pronounced in a solemn manner before the gods. After the prayers and sacrifices were ended, the councils and actions of great men were read to the king out of the sacred books, in order that he might govern his dominions according to their maxims, and maintain the laws which had made his predecessors and their subjects so happy.
I have already observed, that the quantity as well as quality of what he ate or drank were prescribed, by the laws, to the king: his table was covered with nothing but the most common food; because eating in Egypt was designed, not to tickle the palate, but to satisfy the cravings of nature. One would have concluded, (observes the historian,) that these rules had been laid down by some able physician, who was attentive only to the health of the prince, rather than by a legislator. The same simplicity was seen in all other things; and we read in Plutarch of a temple in Thebes, which had one of its pillars inscribed with imprecations against that king who first introduced profusion and luxury into Egypt.[324]
The principal duty of kings, and their most essential function, is the administering justice to their subjects. Accordingly the kings of Egypt cultivated more immediately this duty; convinced that on this depended not only the ease and comfort of individuals, but the happiness of the state; which would be a herd of robbers rather than a kingdom, should the weak be unprotected, and the powerful enabled by their riches and influence to commit crimes with impunity.
Thirty judges were selected out of the principal cities, to form a body for dispensing justice through the whole kingdom. The prince, in filling these vacancies, chose such as were most renowned for their honesty; and put at their head, him who was most distinguished for his knowledge and love of the laws, and was had in the most universal esteem. They had revenues assigned them, to the end that, being freed from domestic cares, they might devote their whole time to the execution of the laws. Thus honourably maintained by the generosity of the prince, they administered gratuitously 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 [pg 028] 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 attacked, if it was in his power to assist him, was punished as rigorously as the assassin:[329] but if the unfortunate person could not be succoured, the offender was at least to be impeached; and penalties were decreed for any neglect of this kind. Thus the subjects were a guard and protection to one another; and the whole body of the community united against the designs of the bad.