eifer, and bring it to a valley, and to a place therein
where there is no land ploughed or trees planted, and let them cut the
sinews of the heifer; then the priests and Levites, and the senate of
that city, shall take water and wash their hands over the head of the
heifer; and they shall openly declare that their hands are innocent of
this murder, and that they have neither done it themselves, nor been
assisting to any that did it. They shall also beseech God to be merciful
to them, that no such horrid act may any more be done in that land.

17. Aristocracy, and the way of living under it, is the best
constitution: and may you never have any inclination to any other form
of government; and may you always love that form, and have the laws for
your governors, and govern all your actions according to them; for you
need no supreme governor but God. But if you shall desire a king, let
him be one of your own nation; let him be always careful of justice and
other virtues perpetually; let him submit to the laws, and esteem God's
commands to be his highest wisdom; but let him do nothing without the
high priest and the votes of the senators: let him not have a great
number of wives, nor pursue after abundance of riches, nor a multitude
of horses, whereby he may grow too proud to submit to the laws. And
if he affect any such things, let him be restrained, lest he become so
potent that his state be inconsistent with your welfare.

18. Let it not be esteemed lawful to remove boundaries, neither our
own, nor of those with whom we are at peace. Have a care you do not
take those landmarks away which are, as it were, a divine and unshaken
limitation of rights made by God himself, to last for ever; since this
going beyond limits, and gaining ground upon others, is the occasion of
wars and seditions; for those that remove boundaries are not far off an
attempt to subvert the laws.

19. He that plants a piece of land, the trees of which produce fruits
before the fourth year, is not to bring thence any first-fruits to God,
nor is he to make use of that fruit himself, for it is not produced
in its proper season; for when nature has a force put upon her at an
unseasonable time, the fruit is not proper for God, nor for the master's
use; but let the owner gather all that is grown on the fourth year, for
then it is in its proper season. And let him that has gathered it carry
it to the holy city, and spend that, together with the tithe of his
o