Shortly after this the emperor dispatched messengers to the statue to inquire if the law had been broken the day before. When the statue saw them, it exclaimed:—
“Friends, look up! What see ye written on my forehead?”
They looked up and beheld three sentences that ran thus:—
“Times are altered!
“Men grow worse!
“He who speaks the truth will have his head broken!”
“Go,” said the statue, “declare to His Majesty what ye have seen and read.”
The messenger accordingly departed and returned in haste to the emperor, and related to him all that had occurred.
The emperor ordered his guard to arm and to march instantly to the public square, where the statue was, and commanded that if any one had attempted to injure it, he should be seized, bound hand and foot, and dragged to the judgment hall.
The guard hastened to do the emperor's bidding. They approached the statue and said:—
“Our emperor commands you to tell who it is that threatened you.”
The statue answered: “Seize Focus the carpenter. Yesterday he defied the emperor's edict; this morning he threatened to break my head.”