whence in Homer it is accounted facred, and the most folemn Oaths are worn by it. Αλλ' εκ τοι ἐρέω, @ ἐπὶ μέγαν ὅρκον ὁμοῦμαι, μον υἷες Αχαιών But this I do with folemn Oath declare, An Oath, which I'll by this fame Sceptre fwear, Mr. Hugh Hutchin of Linc. Coll. Sometimes we find the Scepters of Kings, and great Perfons adorn'd with Studs of Silver, or Gold, He caft his Sceptre on the Ground Embofs'd with Studs of Gold. To return, the Athenian Judges having heard the Causes they were ap pointed to take Cognizance of, went immediately and deliver'd back the Sceptre to the Prytanes, from whom they received the Reward due to them. This was term'd δικασικὸν m, oι μισθός δικασικός. Sometimes it was an Obolus for every Caufe they decided; fometimes three Oboli, being fometimes rais'd higher than at others, by the Inftance of Men, who endeavour'd by that means to become popular ". No Man was permitted to fit as Judge in two Courts upon the fame Day, that looking like the Effect of Covetoufnefs. And if any of the Judges was convicted of Bribery, he was fin'd P. Ἐπὶ Παλλαδίῳ was a Court of Judicature inftituted in the Reign of Demophoon, the Son of Thefeus, upon this Account; fome of the Argives under the Conduct of Diomedes, or, as others fay, of Agamemnon, being driven in the Night upon the Coasts of Attica, landed at the Haven of Phalerus, and fuppofing it to be an Enemy's Country, went out to fpoil and plunder it. The Athenians presently took the Alarm, and having united themselves into one Body under the Iliad. d. v. 233. n Ulpianus in Timocrat. Hefyshins ibid. Ariftophanis Scholiaftes ex Ariftotele de Repub. Iliad. d. v. 245. Hefycbins. v. Sıxasınóv. • Demosthenes & Condu& Conduct of Demophoon, repuls'd the Invaders with great Lofs, killing a great many of them upon the Place, and forcing the reft to retire into their Ships; but upon the Approach of Day, Acamas, the Brother of Demophoon, finding amongft the dead Bodies the Palladium, or Statue of Minerva brought from Troy, difcover'd that the Perfons they had kill'd, were their Friends and Allies; whereupon (having first advis'd with an Oracle) they gave them an honourable Burial in the Place where they were flain, confecrated the Goddefs's Statue, erected a Temple to her, and instituted a Court of Juftice, in which Cognizance was taken of fuch as were indicted for involuntary Murders. The first that was arraign'd in it, was Demophoon, who, in his return from the forementioned Conflict, kill'd one of his own Subjects by a fudden turn of his Horfe. Others report, that Agamemnon being enrag'd at the Lofs of his Men, and diflatisfied at Demophoon's rafh and hafty Attempt upon them, referr'd the Quarrel to the Decifion of fifty Athenians, and as many Argians, whom they call'd 'Ep, da to way' aμ porépar iedai αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς κρίσεως, becaufe both Parties committed the Determination of their Caufe to them. Afterwards, the Argians were excluded, and the Number of the Epheta reduc'd to fifty one by Draco, whom fome affirm to have been the firft Inftitutor of them; but others with more Probability report, that he regulated and reform'd them, augmented their Power, honour'd them with many important Privileges, and made them fuperior to the Senate of Areopagus. In this State they continu'd till Solon's time, by whom their Power was leffen'd, and their Authority reftrain'd, the Caufes which had formerly been try'd by them, were discharg'd from their Cognizance, and only thofe about Man-flaughter, and Chancemedly, and, as fome fay, Confpiracies against the Lives of Citizens, that were discover'd before they took Effect, left to them. Fifty of them were appointed by Election, five being chofen out of every Tribe, but the odd Man was appointed by Lots; all of them were Men of good Characters, and virtuous Lives, of severe Manners, and fettled Gravity, and no Perfon under the Age of fifty Years was admitted into their Number. Caufes were entred into this Court by the Bars, and the Proceedings were in fome things agreeable to thofe of the Areopagus, for both Parties, the Plaintiff and Defendant, were obliged to confirm their Allega tions by folemn Oaths and Curfes, and then, the Orators having perform'd their Parts, the Judges proceeded to give Sentence 4. a 'Em Aqw, was a Court of Juftice in the Temple of Apollo Delphinius, and Diana Delphinia. Under its Cognizancce came all Murders wherein the Prifoner confefs'd the Fact, but pleaded that it was committed by Permiffion of the Laws, as in the Cafe of Self-prefervation or Adultery, for it was allow'd any one to kill an Adulterer, if he caught him in the Act. The first Perfon that was tried in this Court, was Thefeus, who, in his Journey to Athens, had flain the Rob 9 Paufanias, Harpocration, Suidas, Pollum, lib. VIII. cap. 19, Hefychins, c. Aixasípia. * Plistarch, Solone Bers hers that infested the Ways between Trazen and that Place; and afterwards the Sons of Pallas, that rais'd a Rebellion against him '. Ezi Пporavia, was a Court of Judicature, which had Cognizance of Murders committed by Things without Life, or Senfe, as Stones, Iron, Timber, &c. which, if they kill'd a Man by Accident, or by the Direction of an unknown Hand, or of a Perfon that had efcap'd, had Judgment pafs'd upon them in this Place, and were order'd to be caft out of the Territories of Athens, by the Quaobao. This Court was as antient as Erechtheus, and the first thing that was brought to Trial in it was an Ax, wherewith one of Jupiter's Prieft's kill'd an Ox, (an Animal accounted very facred in thofe Days) that had eaten one of the confecrated Cakes, and as soon as he had committed the Fact, fecur'd himself by flight. This place alfo was the Common-Hall, in which publick Entertainments were made, and the facred Lamp, that burn'd with a perpetual Fire, was kept by Widows, who having pafs'd the Years and Defires of Marriage, were devoted to the Mother of the Gods; which Lamp, as Plutarch in the Life of Numa tells us, was extinct under the Tyranny of Ariftion; it was always manag'd with the fame Rites and Ceremonies that were us'd at Reme, about the Veftal Fire, which he faith was ordain'd and instituted after the Pattern of this, and another holy Fire of the fame Nature amongst the Delphians. Ev Ogearloî, Ev Ogsάrls, was feated upon the Sea-fhore in the Piraeus, and receiv'd its Name & par, because it ftood in a Pit, and therefore Pollux calls it Ev gard, or, as is more probable, from the Hero Phreatus. The Caufes heard in this Court, were fuch as concern'd Perfons that had fled out of their own Country for Murder or those that fled for involuntary Murder, and had afterwards committed a wilful and deliberate Murder. The firft Person that was try'd in this Place, was Teucer, who, as Lycophron reports, was banish'd out of Salamis by his Father Telamon, upon a groundless Sufpicion, that he had been acceffory to Ajax's Death. The Criminal was not permitted to come to Land, or fo much as to caft Anchor, but pleaded his Cause in his Bark, and, if found Guilty, was committed to the Mercy of the Winds and Waves; or, as fome fay, fuffer'd there condign Punishment if Innocent, was only clear'd of the second Fact, and (as 'twas cuftoma #y) underwent a Twelve-month's Banishment for the former". And thus much may fuffice concerning the Courts for capital Of fences; it remains that I give you an Account of thofe, which had the Cognizance of Civil Affairs. Pollux, loc. cit. Paufanias. Idem. Ælian. V. H. lib. VIII. cap. 3. Harpocration. * Demofthen. in Arift, Harpocrat. Pollux loc. cit. Hefychius, CHAP. С Н А Р. XXI. Of fome other Courts of Justice, their Judicial Process, &c. II optation, having Cognizance only of trivial Matters, whofe Agusov, was either fo call'd as being a Court of no great Credit W Value was not above one Drachm; or because it was fituate, áþurà Tółw ↑ Kórews in an obfcure Part of the City. Pollux reports, there were two Courts of this Name, one of which was call'd Пausov purt Cov, and the other Пacusor prov. The Perfons that fate as Judges in the latter of these were the eleven Magiftrates, call'd of "Evdexa w. On which Account it is by fome not plac'd among the ten Courts, the Commons of Athens being all permitted to judge in them; and instead hereof another Court is reckon'd into the ten, call'd To Kay, the new Court, which is mention'd by Ariftophanes *. Ὁ δ αὐτῷ τυμπάνω Αίξας, ἐδίκαζεν εἰς τὸ Καινὸν ἐμπεσών. Teiyavor, was, in all Probability, fo call'd, because it was Triangular3, To iz Auxy, receiv'd its Name from the Temple of the Hero Lycus, in which it was erected. The fame Perfon had a Statue in all the Courts of Juftice, by which he was reprefented with a Woolf's Face, and therefore Λύκε δεκας fignifies Sycophants, and τῆς δωροδοκέντας, thofe who took Bribes, who by Tens, that is, in great Numbers, frequented thofe Places Y. To Marix, was call'd from one Metichus, and Architect, by whom it was built z The Judges in all these Courts were oblig'd to take a folemn Oath, by the Paternal Apollo, Ceres, and Jupiter the King, that they would give Sentence uprightly, and according to Law; if the Law had determin'd the Point debated; or, where the Law was filent, according to the best of their Judgments. Which Oath, as also that which was taken by those that judg'd in the Helia, was given in a Place near the River Iliffus, call'd Ardetus, from a Hero of that Name, who in a publick Sedition united the contefting Parties, and engag'd them to confirm their Treaties of Peace by mutual Oaths in this Place. Hence common and profane Swearers came to be call'd "Apdhælos a. Haix was far die from Hais, becaufe it was Of all the Judicial Courts that handled Civil Affairs, the greateft, and moft frequented, being fo call'd the People's thronging together, or rather an open Place, and expos'd to the Sun C. ·w Harpocrat. Suidas, Paufanias Atticis. x Idem. z Pollux, &c. Demofthen. Vefpis p. 430. Edit. Amftelodam. Y Ariftoph. Schol. Vesp. Zenobius, Harpocrat. Pollux, Snidas, &c. Etymolog. Pollux, Snidas, Hefych. Harpocrat. Ulpian. in The The Judges that fate in this Court, were at the leaft fifty, but the more ufual Number was two or five hundred. When Caufes of great Confequence were to be try'd, it was cuftomary to call in the Judges of other Courts. Sometimes a thousand were call'd in, and then two Courts are faid to have been joyn'd: Sometimes fifteen hundred or two thousand, and then three or four Courts met together. Whence it appears, that the Judges were fometimes five hundred in other Courts. They had Cognizance of civil Affairs of the greatest Weight and Importance, and were not permitted to give Judgment till they had taken a folemn Oath, the Form whereof was this, as we find it in Demofthenes ; " I will give Sentence according to the Laws, and the "Decrees of the People of Athens, and the Council of five hundred ; "I will not consent to place the fupreme Power in the Hands of a fingle Perfon or a few; nor permit any Man to diffolve the Common"wealth, or fo much as to give his Vote, or make an Oration in De"fence of fuch a Revolution; I will not endeavour to discharge pri"vate Debts, nor make any Divifion of Lands or Houfes; I will not "restore Perfons fent into Banishment, nor pardon those that are con"demn'd to die, nor expel any Man out of the City contrary to the "Laws and Decrees of the People and Council of five hundred, nor permit any other Perfon to do it. I will not elect any Perfon into any publick Employ, and particularly, I will not create any Man Archon, Hieromnemon, Embajador, publick Herald, or Synedrus, nor "confent that he fhall be admitted into any of thofe Offices, which are "elected by Lots upon the fame Day with the Archons, who has undergone any former Office, and not given in his Accounts; nor "that any Perfon fhall bear two Offices, or be twice elected into the "fame Office in one Year. I will not receive Gifts myself, nor "fhall any other for me; nor will I permit any other Perfon to do "the like by any Means, whether direct or indirect, to pervert Ju"ftice in the Court of Heliaa. I am not under thirty Years of Age. "I will hear both the Plaintiff and Defendant without Partiality, and 'give Sentence in all the Caufes brought before me. I fwear by Jupiter, Neptune and Ceres, if I violate this Oath, or any part of it, may "I perish with my whole Family; but if I religiously obferve it, may we "live and profper. " Thefe were the ten publick Courts in Athens. There were others of lefs Note, where particular Magiftrates, or the Antal, or the Terrapaxorra, took Cognizance of Caufes belonging to their several Offices; fuch was the Court at Cynofarges, Odeum, Thefeus's Temple, Bucoleum, and fome others. The Method of judicial Procefs was thus; First of all the Plaintiff deliver'd in the Name of the Perfon against whom he brought his Action, together with an Account of his Offence to the Magiftrate, whofe Concern it was (sirayes) to introduce it into the Court where Caufes of that Nature were heard. The Magiftrate then examin'd, whether the Cause was one of thofe which belong'd to his Cognizance, * Pollux, lib. VIII. cap. 10. Harpocrat, Stephan. Byzantin, Y. Hhała. Timocrat, I Orat. in and |