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462 BOOK OF TH.S A. AND A. RITE.
I was the just King Alfred of Saxon England ; 1
framed -wise laws, made upright judges, independent
of my will and that of the people, and caused jus/
and speedy judgment to be gi^en. In all my realm,
justice and right were sold to none; denied to none
delayed to none. I slept little ; I wrote much ; }
studied more. I reigned only to bless those ovei
whom I had dominion. I have vanished into th<
thin past, and many ages have marched in solemr
procession by my grave, yet I still live in the mem-
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I was Socrates, the Athenian ; I knew the holy
ory of men. They call me great king, wise law-
giver, just judge ; follow, then, my example, or shud
der to sit in judgment on thy fellows.
mysteries, and reverenced God in nature. In the
sacred groves of Athens, I taught to young and old
that God was one, and the soul of man immortal.
I taught obedience to the laws and decrees of the
people of Athens, and the council of five hundred.
When I sat in the court of the Areopagus, I swore
by the paternal Apollo, by Ceres, and by Jupiter the
King, that I would sentence uprightly and according
to law—or, when the law was silent, to the best of
my judgment ; and that I would not receive gifts, nor
should any other for me ; nor receive bribes from
any passion, prejudice, or affection ; nor allow any
other person to do the like by any means, whether
direct or indirect, to prevent justice in the court.
And when, by an unjust judgment, the same court