Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/198

 154 Outlines of European History Earliest One of the fancied remedies for their wrongs which the people of"law" ^^ ^^ had long demanded was the putting of the recognized laws into writing (Fig. 78). Hitherto all law, so long ago reduced to writ- ing in the Orient (see Fig. 42), had been a matter of oral tradition t Ij((j ";^^- r'-^vt/^^^'"''- - Fig. 78. Ruins of the Ancient Courthouse of Gortyna and THE Early Greek Code of Laws engraved on its Walls This hall at Gortyna in Crete, dating from the sixth century B.C., was a circular building about one hundred and forty feet across, which served as a courthouse. If any citizen thought himself unjustly treated, he could appeal to the great code engraved in twelve columns on the inside of the stone wall of the building. It covers the curved surface of the wall for about thirty feet, but extends only as high as would permit it to be read easily. It forms the longest Greek inscription now surviving. This code shows a growing sense of justice toward a debtor and forbids a creditor to seize a debtor's tools or furniture for debt ; this illustrates the tendency among the Greeks in the age of Solon (p. 155) and custom in Greece. It was easy to twist such law to favor the man who gave the judge the largest present, just as the judge did for Persis when he swindled his brother Hesiod out of their