The freeman must possess, and may bear arms; he is born to them, _schildbürtig_; he wears them on all occasions, public and private, “nihil neque publicae neque privatae rei nisi armati agunt[215];” he is entitled to use them for the defence of his life and honour; for he possesses the right of private warfare, and either alone, or with the aid of his friends, may fight, if it seems good to him. This right is technically named fǽðe, _feud_, from fá, _inimicus_; and to be exposed to it is fǽðe beran, _to bear the feud_[216]. If he be strong enough, or ill-disposed enough, to prefer a violent to a peaceful settlement of his claims, he may attack, imprison and even slay his adversary, but then he must bear the feud of the relations. ----- Footnote 215: Tac. Germ. xiii. A century ago gentlemen wore swords in France and England, and courtiers still wear them. The Hungarian freeman transacts no public business unarmed. Footnote 216: Lex. Fres. ii. 2. ----- Beside the arms he wears, the sign and ornament of his freedom is the long hair which he suffers to float upon his shoulders or winds about his head[217]. ----- Footnote 217: There were differences in this respect among the different races, and in some, the long hair may have been confined to the noble families. Among the Saxons, however, it seems that it was also used by the free: gif freo wíf, locbore, lyswæs hwæt gedó, _if a free woman, that wears long hair, do any wrong_. Lex Æðelb. § 73. To cut a freeman’s hair was to dishonour him. Lex Ælfr. § 35. See also Grimm, Deut. Rechtsalt. pp. 240, 283. Eumenius speaks of the Franks as “prolixo crine rutilantes.” Paneg. Constant. c. 18. ----- His proper measure and value, by which his social position is ascertained and defended, is the wergyld, or _price of a man_. His life, his limbs, the injuries which may be done to himself, his dependants and his property, are all duly assessed; and though not rated so highly as the noble, yet he stands above the stranger, the serf or the freedman. In like manner his land, though not entirely exempt from charges and payments for public purposes, is far less burthened than the land of the unfree. Moreover he possesses rights in the commons, woods and waters, which the unfree were assuredly not permitted to exercise. The great and essential distinction, however, which he never entirely loses under any circumstances, is that he aids in governing himself, that is in making, applying and executing the laws by which the free and the unfree are alike governed; that he yields, in short, a voluntary obedience to the law, for the sake of living under a law, in an orderly and peaceful community.