mply
because there were no ministers of justice supported by the State,
authorised and empowered to carry the sentence of the law into effect.
For example, if a man were slain, his death would remain unpunished,
unless he had a son or a brother, or some other relation to slay the
slayer, or to force him to pay "bod," that is, amends in money, to be
determined by the position of the man who was slain. Provided the man
who was slain had relations, his death was generally avenged, as it was
considered the height of infamy in Iceland to permit one's relations to
be murdered, without slaying their murderers, or obtaining bod from them.
The right, however, permitted to relations of taking with their own hands
the lives of those who had slain their friends, produced incalculable
mischiefs; for if the original slayer had friends, they, in the event of
his being slain in retaliation for what he had done, made it a point of
honour to avenge his death, so that by the lex talionis feuds were
perpetuated. Nial was a great benefactor to his countrymen, by arranging
matters between people, at variance in which he was much helped by his
knowledge of the law, and by giving wholesome advice to people in
precarious situations, in which he was frequently helped by the power
which he possessed of the second sight. On several occasions he settled
the disputes in which his friend Gunnar was involved, a noble, generous
character, and the champion of Iceland, but who had a host of foes,
envious of his renown; and it was not his fault if Gunnar was eventually
slain, for if the advice which he gave had been followed, the champion
would have died an old man; and if his own sons had followed his advice,
and not been over fond of taking vengeance on people who had wronged
them, they would have escaped a horrible death, in which he himself was
involved, as he had always foreseen he should be.

"Dost thou know by what death thou thyself wilt die?" said Gunnar to
Nial, after the latter had been warning him that if he followed a certain
course he would die by a violent death.

"I do," said Nial.

"What is it?" said Gunnar.

"What people would think the least probable," replied Nial.

He meant that he should die by fire. The kind generous Nial, who tried
to get everybody out of difficulty, perished by fire. His sons by their
violent conduct had incensed numerous people against them. The house in
which they lived with their father was beset at