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The king of Abyflinia never is feen to walk, nor to fet 

 his foot upon the ground, out of his palace ; and when he 

 would difmount from the horfe or mule on which he rides, 

 he has a fervant with a ftool, who places it properly for 

 him for that purpofe. He rides into the anti-chamber to the 

 foot of his throne, or to the ftool placed in the alcove of his 

 tent. We are told by Athenaeus * fuch was the practice in 

 Perfia, whofe king never fet his foot upon the ground out of 

 his palace. 



The king of Abymnia very often judges capital crimes 

 himfelf. It is reckoned a favourable judicature, fuch as, 

 Glaudian fays, that of a king in perfon mould be, " Piger ad 

 pasnas, ad prcemia velox." No man is condemned by the king in 

 perfon to die for the firft fault, unlefs the crime be of a 

 horrid nature, fuch as parricide or facrilege. And, in general, 

 the life and merits of the prifoner are weighed againft his 

 immediate guilt ; fo that if his firft behaviour has had more 

 merit towards the ftate than his prefent delinquency is 

 thought to have injured it, the one is placed fairly againft 

 the other, and the accufed is generally abfolved when the 

 fovereign judges alone. 



Herodotus f praifes this as a maxim of the kings of Per- 

 iia in capital judgments, almoft in the very words that I 

 have juft now ufed ; and he gives an inftance of it : — Darius 

 had condemned Sandoces, one of the king's judges, to be 

 crucified for corruption, that is, for having given falfe judg- 

 ment for a bribe. The man was already hung up on the 

 crofs, when the king, confidering with himfelf how many 



good. 



■ - ■ - - ■ - I II ■ ■ II ■ MB ■ I l| ■ 1 I 



* Athen,])b. xii. cap. 2. -J- Herod, lib. via*. 



