{"id":"01KG8AM1R8TZ36SXV8SFZKRH1G","cid":"bafkreigok7y7hjmhzt3dvs64ixfynq76qld4azb62hkv6w3z4sbmaprmle","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6607,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.535Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":6532,"text":"“bulkheads,” “cofferdams,” “safeguards,” “noble charters,” “shields,”\r\nand “paladiums,” “great and glorious birthrights,” and other\r\nunintelligible gibberish.\r\n\r\nOf the pursuivants, these worthies asked audience of Media.\r\n\r\n“Go, kneel at the throne,” was the answer.\r\n\r\n“Our knee-pans are stiff with sciatics,” was the rheumatic reply.\r\n\r\n“An artifice to keep on your legs,” said the pursuivants.\r\n\r\nAnd advancing they salamed, and told Media the excuse of those\r\nsour-looking varlets. Whereupon my lord commanded them to down on their\r\nmarrow-bones instanter, either before him or the headsman, whichsoever\r\nthey pleased.\r\n\r\nThey preferred the former. And as they there kneeled, in vain did men\r\nwith sharp ears (who abound in all courts) prick their auriculars, to\r\nlist to that strange crackling and firing off of bone balls and\r\nsockets, ever incident to the genuflections of rheumatic courtiers.\r\n\r\nIn a row, then, these selfsame knee-pans did kneel before the king; who\r\neyed them as eagles in air do goslings on dunghills; or hunters, hounds\r\ncrouching round their calves.\r\n\r\n“Your prayer?” said Media.\r\n\r\nIt was a petition, that thereafter all differences between man and man\r\nin Ode, together with all alleged offenses against the state, might be\r\ntried by twelve good men and true. These twelve to be unobnoxious to\r\nthe party or parties concerned; their peers; and previously unbiased\r\ntouching the matter at issue. Furthermore, that unanimity in these\r\ntwelve should be indispensable to a verdict; and no dinner be\r\nvouchsafed till unanimity came.\r\n\r\nLoud and long laughed King Media in scorn.\r\n\r\n“This be your judge,” he cried, swaying his scepter. “What! are twelve\r\nwise men more wise than one? or will twelve fools, put together, make\r\none sage? Are twelve honest men more honest than one? or twelve knaves\r\nless knavish than one? And if, of twelve men, three be fools, and three\r\nwise, three knaves, and three upright, how obtain real unanimity from\r\nsuch?\r\n\r\n“But if twelve judges be better than one, then are twelve hundred\r\nbetter than twelve. But take the whole populace for a judge, and you\r\nwill long wait for a unanimous verdict.\r\n\r\n“If upon a thing dubious, there be little unanimity in the conflicting\r\nopinions of one man’s mind, how expect it in the uproar of twelve\r\npuzzled brains? though much unanimity be found in twelve hungry\r\nstomachs.\r\n\r\n“Judges unobnoxious to the accused! Apply it to a criminal case. Ha!\r\nha! if peradventure a Cacti be rejected, because he had seen the\r\naccused commit the crime for which he is arraigned. Then, his mind\r\nwould be biased: no impartiality from him! Or your testy accused might\r\nobject to another, because of his tomahawk nose, or a cruel squint of\r\nthe eye.\r\n\r\n“Of all follies the most foolish! Know ye from me, that true peers\r\nrender not true verdicts. Jiromo was a rebel. Had I tried him by his\r\npeers, I had tried him by rebels; and the rebel had rebelled to some\r\npurpose.\r\n\r\n“Away! As unerring justice dwells in a unity, and as one judge will at\r\nlast judge the world beyond all appeal; so—though often here below\r\njustice be hard to attain—does man come nearest the mark, when he\r\nimitates that model divine. Hence, one judge is better than twelve.”\r\n\r\n“And as Justice, in ideal, is ever painted high lifted above the crowd;\r\nso, from the exaltation of his rank, an honest king is the best of\r\nthose unical judges, which individually are better than twelve. And\r\ntherefore am I, King Media, the best judge in this land.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTRHCR9XD33CBGEJR5ZA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM1R8VQ904D7EN118E3WM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM1R8BYXZ48W0292EDTM2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.328Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.705Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}