§ 75. For the regulation of judicial proceedings, they also took no common pains: since they held that the sentences, pronounced by the legal tribunals, had the greatest possible influence, whether beneficial or injurious, on the concerns of common life: and they saw that the punishment of offenders, and the relief of oppressed persons, were the most effectual remedies for the evils of a state: and that if the terror, that arises from the condemnation of the guilty, were to be superseded by money or by favour, there would be nothing but confusion in all ranks of society: and they attained the end they desired, by the selection of the best men out of the most considerable cities as Common Judges: taking ten from Heliopolis, and the same number from Thebes and from Memphis: and the Bench, thus assembled, did not appear to be inferior either to the Areopagites at Athens, or to the Elders among the Lacedaemonians. When these thirty had met, they proceeded to elect the most distinguished of their number as their President, with the title of Arch judge: and his place among themselves was supplied by another person, sent by the same city. The judges all received allowances from the king, sufficient for their support, and the arch judge received a manifold portion. He was distinguished by wearing round his neck a golden chain, suspending a figure adorned with precious stones, which was called Alethía, or Truth: and the trial began when the arch judge put on this image of Truth. Now the whole of the laws of the country being written in eight books, and these books being placed near the judges, it was the custom for the accuser to write down in detail the offense to be proved, and the manner in which the action was committed, and the estimated amount of the damage or the injury: the accused party then, taking the depositions of his opponents, wrote his answer to each of them, either denying the facts, or maintaining that they were not illegal; or, if they were illegal, that the damages were appreciated too highly: the accuser replied again in writing, and the accused party rejoined: and both having given in their writings to the judges, the thirty proceeded to declare their opinions among themselves; and lastly, the arch judge touched one of the contending parties, who was to be successful, with the figure of Truth which he wore.... And this was done, in order to supersede the influence of artificial eloquence, and the fascination of personal appearance, which too often pervert the distribution of justice....