{"id":"01KG8AM1R8VQ904D7EN118E3WM","cid":"bafkreiawyk3v5ijsefypbputax6t2pjap7tozktm7xribx2trvaa3qqmeq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6543,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.535Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":6459,"text":"CHAPTER LX.\r\nBelshazzar On The Bench\r\n\r\n\r\nNow, Media was king of Odo. And from the simplicity of his manners\r\nhitherto, and his easy, frank demeanor toward ourselves, had we\r\nfoolishly doubted that fact, no skepticism could have survived an\r\nillustration of it, which this very day we witnessed at noon.\r\n\r\nFor at high noon, Media was wont to don his dignity with his symbols of\r\nstate; and sit on his judgment divan or throne, to hear and try all\r\ncauses brought before him, and fulminate his royal decrees.\r\n\r\nThis divan was elevated at one end of a spacious arbor, formed by an\r\navenue of regal palms, which in brave state, held aloft their\r\nmajestical canopy.\r\n\r\nThe crown of the island prince was of the primitive old Eastern style;\r\nin shape, similar, perhaps, to that jauntily sported as a foraging cap\r\nby his sacred majesty King Nimrod, who so lustily followed the hounds.\r\nIt was a plaited turban of red tappa, radiated by the pointed and\r\npolished white bones of the Ray-fish. These diverged from a bandeau or\r\nfillet of the most precious pearls; brought up from the sea by the\r\ndeepest diving mermen of Mardi. From the middle of the crown rose a\r\ntri-foiled spear-head. And a spear- headed scepter graced the right\r\nhand of the king.\r\n\r\nNow, for all the rant of your democrats, a fine king on a throne is a\r\nvery fine sight to behold. He looks very much like a god. No wonder\r\nthat his more dutiful subjects so swore, that their good lord and\r\nmaster King Media was demi-divine.\r\n\r\nA king on his throne! Ah, believe me, ye Gracchi, ye Acephali, ye\r\nLevelers, it is something worth seeing, be sure; whether beheld at\r\nBabylon the Tremendous, when Nebuchadnezzar was crowned; at old Scone\r\nin the days of Macbeth; at Rheims, among Oriflammes, at the coronation\r\nof Louis le Grand; at Westminster Abbey, when the gentlemanly George\r\ndoffed his beaver for a diadem; or under the soft shade of palm trees\r\non an isle in the sea.\r\n\r\nMan lording it over man, man kneeling to man, is a spectacle that\r\nGabriel might well travel hitherward to behold; for never did he behold\r\nit in heaven. But Darius giving laws to the Medes and the Persians, or\r\nthe conqueror of Bactria with king-cattle yoked to his car, was not a\r\nwhit more sublime, than Beau Brummel magnificently ringing for his\r\nvalet.\r\n\r\nA king on his throne! It is Jupiter nodding in the councils of Olympus;\r\nSatan, seen among the coronets in Hell.\r\n\r\nA king on his throne! It is the sun over a mountain; the sun over\r\nlaw-giving Sinai; the sun in our system: planets, duke-like, dancing\r\nattendance, and baronial satellites in waiting.\r\n\r\nA king on his throne! After all, but a gentleman seated. And thus sat\r\nthe good lord, King Media.\r\n\r\nTime passed. And after trying and dismissing several minor affairs,\r\nMedia called for certain witnesses to testify concerning one Jiromo, a\r\nfoolhardy wight, who had been silly enough to plot against the majesty\r\nnow sitting judge and jury upon him.\r\n\r\nHis guilt was clear. And the witnesses being heard, from a bunch of\r\npalm plumes Media taking a leaf, placed it in the hand of a runner or\r\npursuivant, saying, “This to Jiromo, where he is prisoned; with his\r\nking’s compliments; say we here wait for his head.”\r\n\r\nIt was doffed like a turban before a Dey, and brought back on the\r\ninstant.\r\n\r\nNow came certain lean-visaged, poverty-stricken, and hence\r\nsuspicious-looking varlets, grumbling and growling, and amiable as\r\nBruin. They came muttering some wild jargon about “bulwarks,”\r\n“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","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTRHCR9XD33CBGEJR5ZA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM1R8TZ36SXV8SFZKRH1G","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.328Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.579Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}