Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/86

82 Sometimes several laid hold of one thing; then again they all left it, and ran off in different directions. Those, indeed, who were under the power of the officers and inspectors more or less kept to that which was appointed to them, for they were forced to do so. Yet here also I saw much confusion. Some broke away from their appointed places, and ran away; others contradicted the overseers, being unwilling to do what was ordered them; others attacked them with cudgels and robbed; indeed, everything, was disorderly. But as all this had to be called order, I dared not say anything.

8. I also perceived other disorder, blindness, and folly. The whole of this market-place was—as were also the streets afterwards—full of holes, pits, and ravines, also of timber and stones, that lay about in every direction, and of other things. No one, however, put anything away, repaired it, or put it in proper order. On the contrary, they walked on unawares, so that first one, then another, knocked against something, fell, and either was killed or knocked down, and my heart quivered, beholding this. But among them, none took notice of this; indeed, when anyone fell they laughed at him. Then seeing a stalk, or the trunk of a tree, or a hole over which some blindly blundered, I began to caution them, but nobody heeded. Some laughed at me, others reviled me, others wanted to