Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/231

Rh these men, I already see; they may not and cannot move without all seeing them and passing judgment on them. What comfort is there in this?" I felt the more certain of this when I saw that if before them great respect was rendered to them, there was behind them and at their sides just as much disrespect. Then also behind each of those who was seated on his throne there stood some who looked asquint at him, muttered about him, and shook their heads over him, mocked him, soiled his back with spittle, snivel, and other matters; others, contriving his fall, undermined his throne, and in my presence this and other accidents befell full many.

2. Now these seats, as I have said, stood on the verge; if one of them was pushed even very slightly, it was immediately overturned, and he who previously puffed himself up now fell downward. The seats were so unstable that if anyone touched them they turned over, and he who sat there found himself on the ground. The higher a seat was, the easier it was to shake it. I found also much malice among these men. They looked at one another jealously; some drove others from their thrones, deprived them of their ruling powers, knocked off their crowns, blotted out their titles. Thus everything was ever chang-