Page:Little Clay Cart (Ryder 1905).djvu/169

P. 226.10] Vasantasenā and murdered her. Sho now I'm on my way to the court-room. [He walks about and looks around him.] Here is the court-room. I'll go in. [He enters and looks about.] Well, here are the sheats, all arranged. While I'm waiting for the magishtrates, I'll jusht sit down a minute on the grass. [He does so.]

Beadle. [Walks about in another direction, and looks before him.] Here come the magistrates. I will go to them. [He does so.]

Judge. Gild-warden and clerk!

Gild-warden and Clerk. We await your bidding.

Judge. A trial depends to such an extent upon others that the task of the magistrates—the reading of another's thoughts—is most difficult.

Men often speak of deeds that no man saw,

Matters beyond the province of the law;

Passion so rules the parties that their lies

Hide their offenses from judicial eyes;

This side and that exaggerate a thing,

Until at last it implicates the king;

To sum it up: false blame is easy won,

A true judge little praised, or praised by none.

And again:

Men often point to sins that no man saw,

And in their anger scorn the patient law;

In court-rooms even the righteous with their lies

Hide their offenses from judicial eyes;

And those who did the deed are lost to view,

Who sinned with plaintiff and defendant too;

To sum it up: false blame is easy won,

A true judge little praised, or praised by none.

For the judge must be

Learnèd, and skilled in tracing fraud's sly path,

And eloquent, insensible to wrath;