I said above that the scales have always been the symbol of law.
From the oldest Egyptian cultures (about 3500 B.C.) we know a sepulchral painting representing Anubis, the God of Death, weigh
ing the good deeds of the deceased on a pair of scales. In one scale he has placed the heart of the deceased, in the other some feathers are symbolizing justice. Underneath we see Amemit, the monster, waiting to devour the deceased, if he is found wanting. The scales, then, are not only the symbol of the law, but also of death. This is also stated cosmically, seeing that the Babylonian astronomy has given the name of the Sign of the Scales to the constellation, in which the sun is situated on the 23rd of September, the autumnal equinox. According to the myth the sun, and with it life, dies on this date and is reborn at the vernal equinox, which is Easter. It is important to note, that the pre-Socratic philosophy of nature, especially the so-called Pythagoreans, were later on greatly in
fluenced by the Chaldean wisdom with its mystical interpretation of numbers and its cosmology based on the sun and the stars. The
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Chaldeans not only made a calendar, but also divided the year into four seasons symbolized by the sun wheel with four radii, in a way a double symmetrical symbol of justice.2)
If, for a moment, we turn to the Greek cosmology, we will find that the Greek first operated with two seasons, which were summer and winter. As early as at Homer’s time, however, climatic changes and the dependence of the shipping on the firmament made it suitable to divide the year into three seasons, viz. spring, summer and winter. Autumn as a fourth season is mentioned for the first time in the 5th century B.C. by Hippocrates, the astronomer.3) Even during this period, which was dominated by the Persian expansion in Asia Minor, Greek philosophy was under a strong influence by Persian philosophy, by which the Babylonian culture had been adopted. The philosophers were in search of the eternal and unalterable values in the changing material world and therefore imagined life as a constant cycle.4)
Originally, the Greek gods were not very much interested in the human race.5) The course of nature follows regularities to which even the gods are subject. Winter succeeds summer, and summer succeeds winter, and men may hope for and trust in the alternation of the seasons. In the 7th century, however, the gods and with them
2) Bernhard R ehfeldt, Die Wurzeln des Rechts (1951), Kap. IV, same, Einführung in die Rechtswissenschaft (3. Aufl. ed. by M anfred Rehbinder, 1973) § 21; A. Jeremias, (infra n. 7) p. 184 ff. and 193 ff. The scales are not known as a symbol until about 2000 at the Semitic Dynasty about the time o f Hamurabi. Perhaps the Semites have brought it to Babylon, cf. Jeremias, p. 205; at the same time the Ram became a vernal symbol.
3) Kleine Pauly, II (1958) (cf. n. 5) col. 1301, West (infra n. 4) p. 109.
4) M. L. West, Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient (1971), B. L. van der Waerden, Die Astronomie der Pythagoreer (1951).
5) Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The Justice o f Zeus (1973) p. 161 and passim. See also Roscher, Ausführliches Lexicon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie, re Dike, Horai, Moira and Tyche, and Pauly, Realencyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, re same words.
Regarding Greek law and m ythology, also see Julius Stone, Human Law and Human Justice (1965) §§ 2 - 4 , R u d o lf Hirzel, Themis, Dike und Verwandte (1907), H. Vos, Themis (1956), J. E. Harrison, Themis (1927), Felix Flückiger, Geschichte des Naturrechts I (1954), A. Verdross, Abendländische Rechtsphüosophie (1963), 1.
Abschnitt, Erik Wolf, Griechisches Rechtsdenken I (1950) p. 19 ff., Edgar Boden- heimer, Jurisprudence (rev. ed. 1974), Ch. I.
the seasons became moral quantities. In Homer the three Horae are the goddesses of the seasons, but according to Hesiod they are the goddesses of law, justice and peace as well. The Horae are daughters of Zeus and Themis, who was originally Zeus’ adviser, but as time went on became the goddess of the traditional customary law and social order. Eunomia, one of the Horae, is the custodian of law and order, Dike, the other, is the goddess of law, and Eirene, the third, is the goddess of peace. In this allegory Hesiod illustrates the old Greek view that cosmic order corresponds with human order, and that peace is of vital importance to society and depends on law and the maintenance of law. The enemies of justice are Hubris (insolence or rather excess) and Eris (discord) and the daughters of Eris, who are Dysnomia (disorder), Lethe (forgetfulness) and Amfilogiai (false and ambiguous words).6)
Among these Hubris is of special importance to the under
standing of Greek thought in this area. To commit hubris means to take more than ”one’s portion” , i.e. more than one has been allotted by fate or the Moirae, who, like the Nordic Noms, measure, spin and cut the human thread of life. It is a crucial idea of the later Greek, Roman and European natural law philosophy, that every
body has an allotted portion in life, that he must content himself with this portion and always give every man his due. It is an interesting fact that the three Moirae are the sisters of the Horae and have also, to some extent, the same functions being present on occasions of birth, wedding and death. More interesting still is the metamorphosis which comes about in the course of time. As early as in Pindar, about the year 500, the goddess Tyche has become one of the Moirae. Eventually she becomes the most important one and substitutes the rest. Tyche is the goddess of fortune, therefore also of death, and later she becomes the goddess of good luck and success. During the 6th century Tyche becomes the fourth Hora. It cannot be proved that this change takes place at the same time as the division of the year into four seasons, but it is remarkable, after all, that the fourth season was autumn, and that the scales were made the symbol of autumn, as also done by the Babylonians.
6) See among others West, (loc. cit. n. 4) p. 176 ff. and Frisch, (infra n. 17) I p. 362.
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In the course of the preceding 2200 years the axis of the earth had changed its precession so far that the autumnal and vernal points had moved to another position on the firmament, so that the Virgin had taken the place of the Scales.7) Tyche is often identified with the Virgin, and she is often pictured with the scales in her hand.8)
In this way a double symmetry is established. The four axes, then, represent law, fortune, order and peace. Tyche, however, originally personifies the destiny of man, and it was not until later she came to personify the good fortune. In this latter capacity she is an important goddess of the post-classical era, and her role is taken over by the old Roman Dame Fortune, mostly depicted holding the sun wheel in her hand, but also sometimes with a pair of scales. In Rome she was the goddess of abundance and trade,9) and the scales were a ritual instrument for the transfer of ownership. According to the Law of the Twelve Tables ownership could only be transferred per aes et libram, a ritual which was equivalent to our deed of conveyance at the transfer of real property. The parties struck a piece of copper placed upon a pair of scales, probably a ritualized relic of an earlier weighing practice.1 °)
It is a wellknown fact that the old monetary units were always weight units. The word lot means both the weight used in the scales, the fate one is allotted in one’s life, and the luck one has the chance of winning by means of a lottery ticket. The word has undergone an important change of meaning just as the ideas of the human conditions of life have changed.
In order to get finished with the mythology we might imagine
7) Cf. Jeremias, Handbuch der altorientalischen Geisteskultur, 2. Aufl. 1929, p. 202 and 220.
8) See The O xford Classical D ictionary, re Tyche, Roscher V (loc. cit. n. 5) col. 1330 ff., esp. 1341 and 1343. Also seeP au ly VII (loc. cit. nr. 5) col. 1649; by and by a Pantheia (a universal goddess like Fortune in Rome).
9) / . E. Harrison, (loc. cit. n. 5) p. 524 ff., The Oxford Classical Dictionary, re Tyche, Ho*ae, Fortuna and Fate, and also re Balance and Justice, Pierre Lavedan, Dictionnaire illustré de la m ythologie et des antiquités greques et romaines (ed. 1931) re Balance and Justice, L lo y d Jones, (loc. cit. nr. 5) p. 160.
10) Max Kaser, Das Römische Privatrecht. Erster Abschnitt (1955) p. 37 ff., György Diosdi, Ownership in Ancient and Preclassic Roman Law ( 1 9 7 0 ) p .6 2 f f .
that the later Goddess of Justice represents a combination of Dike and Tyche. If we assume that Tyche represents the scales, it comes natural to look upon the sword as a successor of the staff, which was originally the attribute of Dike. Eunomia and the symbol of the legal power very likely originate from Dike. In Homer Dike is the goddess who comes between the contending parties or strikes the earth between them with her judge’s staff. We can imagine Dike as the arbitrator throwing her staff and thus settling a dispute.11) Also the umpire is in the middle of the contest. In the Iliad we hear that Zeus holds the dead bodies of Achilles and Memnon upon a pair of scales.12) In the Book of Daniel, ch. 5, verse 25, we also find the wellknown story of Daniel interpreting the writing on the wall to the Babylonian king: Mene mene tekel ufarsin, which means: You are weighed and found wanting. Mines and shekels were also monetary and weight units as well, and the anecdote is based on this ambiguity and profundity. The scales, then, symbolize at the same time destiny, trade, morality and law.
III. RECIPROCITY, PROPORTIONALITY AND EQUIVALENCE