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Iusticia or Justice guards, nourishes and rewards those who honor her, for she is the constant and perpetual wish to render to everyone their due.

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Iusticia has long been represented as a woman in the western world, reaching back to the days of antiquity. The Greek Pythagoreans taught that "iusticia" and "aequitas" [equity] are innate attributes of the femininity. The Roman Praetor or judge also gave expression to justice as the voice of Bona Dea-Fauna-Fatua or the "feminine godhead."

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In 1510, Pope Julius II commissioned the famed Renaissance painter Raphael to paint the room in the Vatican where legal briefs were signed. The resulting ceiling composition encompasses the world in four medallions containing allegorical figures of Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, and Jurisprudence or Iusticia. Together, the four symbols represent humanity's struggle toward higher civilization.

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My image of Iusticia shows her simply with her traditional sword and scales in hand, eloquent in her majesty, the shield of innocence, the guard of truth. The gladsome light of jurisprudence, Justice, like the bright sun, shall break majestic forth.