284                        OF J UDICA TURE.

fice themselves to death or danger for the good
of their country, as was M. Regulus and the two
Decii.
 

LVI.
OF JUDICATURE.

Judges ought to remember that their office is jtis
dicere, and not^V/j dare—to interpret law, and not to
make law, or give law; else will it be like the
authority claimed by the Church of Rome, which,
under pretext of exposition of Scripture, doth not
stick to add and alter, and to pronounce that which
they do not find, and by show of antiquity to intro¬
duce novelty. Judges ought to be more learned
than witty ; more reverend than plausible, and more
advised than confident. Above all things, integrity
is their portion and proper virtue. " Cursed" (saith
the law) "is he that removeth the landmark.^' The
mislayer of a mere stone is to blame ; but it is the
unjust judge that is  the  capital  remover of land-