Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/259

 CHAP. XI. THE LAW. 253 From this we can understand the respect and at- tacliniont which the ancients long hud for their laws. In theiu they saw no liuman work, but one wliose origin was holy. It was no vain word wlien Phito said, " To obey the laws is to obey the gods." He dges no more thun to express the Greek idea, when, in Crito, lie exhibits Socrates giving his life because the laws demanded it of him. Before Socrates, there was writ- ten upon the rock of Thermopyias, "Passer-by, go and tell Sparta that we lie here in obedience to its laws." The law among the ancients was always holy, and in the time of royalty it was the queen of the kings. In the time of the republic it was the queen of the peo- ple. To disobey it was sacrilege. In ]»rinciple the laws were immutable, since they were divine. It is worthy of remaik that they were never abrogated. Men could indeed make new ones, but old ones still remained, however they might conflict with the new ones. The code of Diaco was not abol- ished by that of Solon; ' nor were the Royal Laws by those of the Twelve Tables. The stone on which the laws were engraved was inviolable ; or, at most, the least scrupulous only thought themselves permitted to turn it round. This jirinciple was the great cause of the confusion which is observable among ancient laws. Contradictory laws and those of different epochs were found together, and all claimed respect. In an oration of Isaeus we tind two men contesting an inher- itance; each quotes a law in his fivor; ihe two laws are absolute comraries, and are equally sacred. In the same manner the code of JManu preserves the ancient ' Andocides, I. 82, S3. Dctnosihcncs, m Everg., 71