(Wrenboys make for the dock and Princes the
jury-box.)
Guardian: What do you mean, prisoners, going
up there, that is the place for honourable men!
For a jury! It is here in the criminals' dock your
place is.
Servant: (To Wrenboys.) Oh, that is the wrong
place you're in. That is for the wicked and the
poor that are brought to be tried and condemned.
1st Wrenboy: It is a place the like of that I was
put one time I was charged before a magistrate
for snaring rabbits.
Servant: Silence in the Court. The Judge is
about to speak.
Guardian: (Reading out of book.)
It's laid down in a clause of the Cretian laws,
That were put through a filter by Solon,
That for theft the first time, though a capital crime
A criminal may keep his poll on.
Though (consults another book) some jurists believe
That a wretch who can thieve,
Has earned a full stop, not a colon.
Ogre: That was said by a better than Solon.
Guardian:
And the book says in sum, to cut off the left thumb,
May be penalty enough for a warning;
Though (looks at another book) the Commentors say
That one let off that way
Will be thieving again before morning.
Ogre: So he will, and the jury suborning.