The conditions upon which sanctuary was bestowed, in the ancient days of the patriarchs was that the refugee should not quit the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest, for on this solemn occasion, the great public grief was supposed to over-shadow all merely private affairs. As recorded in the book of Joshua, one claiming sanctuary must stand at the gate of the city and “declare his cause in the ears of the elders”[5]; the elders tried his case, to ascertain if he were guilty of malicious murder, or mere manslaughter, and if the case of murder was established by the “avenger of blood,” who acted as prosecutor, the criminal was given up, even though he clung to the altar,[6] but if the elders found that he was not guilty of wilful murder, he was retained as “a prisoner at large” in the city of refuge, until the demise of the High Priest, when he was allowed to return to his home, duly purged of the crime for which he had fled. If he departed from the “city of refuge” before the death of the High Priest, however, he was regarded as an outlaw and could be slain by any man, as such.[7] According to Plutarch and Dr. Pegge, the right of sanctuary was recognized among the ancient Greeks and the Oratory of Theseus was one of the places of refuge for persons of lowly station, who fled to avoid the oppression of the great and powerful “avengers of blood.” The privilege afforded these lowly ones soon became a license for the protection of criminals, however, and the most notorious criminals were protected from the civil authorities and the holy places and temples came to be used as asylums and resorts for the most notorious criminals.[8] From Greece, the right of sanctuary spread to Rome, and although, by the Roman law, murderers, escaped slaves, robbers, and public debtors were excluded from sanctuary privileges,[9] in the course of time, the priests refused to deliver up the slaves to their masters, the debtors to their creditors, or the murderers to the magistrates, and the temples and churches became regular dens for thieves, murderers and criminals of the worst kind.[10] Long after the civilizations of the ancient Jews and Grecians had passed away, the privilege of sanctuary, which they recognized, was perpetuated in various forms, and in most of the later civilizations we find evidences of similar customs obtaining. Before the privilege of sanctuary was guaranteed by written statute law, the right was recognized by the general usage of the Christian church, in accordance with the early Mosaic law and in all the countries whose civilization borrowed from the ancient Israelites, there is evidence of such a custom.