The custom of giving an account of their occupations was not of late introduction; it was adopted in old times; and the above representations are of the time of the 18th dynasty. It appears that they not only enrolled their names and gave in the various particulars required of them, but were obliged to have a passport

436.

from the magistrates; and this may possibly be the paper presented in the preceding woodcut to the scribe; for a document of that kind was required for every ship quitting a port, and all the precautions respecting a man's mode of life would have been useless if he could leave his town for another part of the country without some notice being required on his departure, and some vouchure being shown by him on his arrival at a new place of abode. The tiresome system of passports is exactly what the scrutiny of the cautious "paternal government" of Egypt would have invented; their formula may be recognised in the description of persons, who were parties to the sale of estates, and other private or public contracts; and in a deed of the time of Cleopatra Cocce, and Ptolemy Alexander I., written in Greek, and relating to the sale of a piece of land at Thebes, five individuals are thus described:" Pamonthes, aged about forty-five, of middle size, dark complexion and handsome figure, bald, round faced, and straight nosed; Snachomneus, aged about twenty, of middle size, sallow complexion, round faced, and straight nosed; Semnuthis Persineï, aged about twenty-two, of middle size, sallow com. plexion, round faced, flat nosed, and of quiet demeanour; and Tathlyt Persineï, aged about thirty, of middle size, and sallow complexion, round faced, and straight nosed-the four being children of Petepsais, of the leather-cutters of the Memnonia and the Nechutes the less, the son of Asos, aged about forty, of middle size, sallow complexion, cheerful countenance, long face, and straight nose, with a scar upon the middle of his forehead."

;

During this examination before the magistrates, if excesses were found to have been committed by any one, in an irregular course of life, he was sentenced to the bastinado; but a false statement, or the proof of being engaged in unlawful pursuits, entailed upon him the punishment of a capital crime.

Another, and a fuller account of his conduct was required in the Confession, which the soul of every Egyptian was doomed to make at his death, before he could receive his last passport to eternal happiness.

The laws of the Egyptians were partly a compilation from decisions of learned judges in noted cases; as in some modern countries, and as with the Bedouins, who are guided by pre

cedents and the opinions of their kádis, handed down from past times, rather than by the fixed law of the Koran. They had also a grand code of laws and jurisprudence, known as the celebrated "6 Eight Books of Hermes," which it was incumbent on those high-priests called "prophets" to be thoroughly versed in, and which the king, who held that office, was also required and entitled to know. It was not only in Egypt that the kings were judges; it was usual in many eastern countries to entrust the laws and their administration to them; and Xenophon, who ascribes the origin of the custom in Asia to Cyrus, says that those who wished to present petitions to the king attended at the gate of the palace.* It was probably from a similar custom that the Turkish title "the Sublime Porte" (or "lofty gate") was derived; and the same idea is contained in the common Oriental expression Ana fee bab Allah, "I am waiting at God's gate: (for help), in cases of complete distress.

We are acquainted with few of the laws of the ancient Egyptians; but the superiority of their legislature has always been acknowledged as the cause of the duration of an empire, which lasted with the same form of government for a much longer period than the generality of ancient states. Indeed the wisdom of that people was proverbial, and was held in such consideration by other nations, that we find it taken by the Jews as the standard to which superior learning† in their own country was willingly compared; and Moses had prepared himself for the duties of a legislator, by becoming versed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."

Besides their right of enacting laws, and of superintending al. affairs of religion, and the state, the kings administered justice to their subjects on those questions which came under their immediate cognisance, and they were assisted in the management of state affairs by the advice of the most able and distinguished members of the priestly order. With them the monarch consulted upon all questions of importance relating to the internal administration of the country; and previous to the admission of

*Comp. 2 Sam. xix. 8, and Esther, and other parts of the Bible.
† Of Solomon; 1 Kings, iv. 30.

Joseph to the confidence of Pharaoh, the opinion of his ministers was asked as to the expediency of the measure.

His edicts appear to have been issued in the form of a firmán, or written order, like the Hot e' Sheréef, "handwriting of the Descendant of the Prophet," (or the Turkish Sultan,) and like the royal commands in all Oriental countries; and from the expression used by Pharaoh in granting power to Joseph, we may infer that the people who received his order adopted the same Eastern mode of acknowledging their obedience and respect for the sovereign, now shown to a firmán; the expression in the Hebrew † being," according to thy word shall all people kiss" (be ruled), and evidently alluding to the custom of kissing the signature attached to those documents. They were also expected to "bow the knee‡” in the presence of the monarch and chiefs of the country, and even to prostrate themselves to the ground, as Joseph's brethren did before him.

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 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 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

* Gen. xli. 38, "And Pharaoh said unto his servants (ministers), Can we find such a one as this is ?" Gen. 1. 7, "The elders of his (Pharaoh's) house." And Isaiah xix. 11, "The wise counsellors of Pharaoh."

+ Gen. xli. 40.

Gen. xli. 43. The word abrek is very remarkable, as it is used to the present day by the Arabs, when requiring a camel to kneel and receive its load, and is derived from rûkbeh the "knee.' Hence too báraka a "blessing,"

from "kneeling" in prayer.

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 persou; 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 preventive 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 (as Diodorus shows) was not merely to hold out the distant` prospect of rewards and punishments, nor simply 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 oppressed, and everything that tended to promote an unbiassed judgment was peculiarly commended by the Egyptian sages.