death. These things are injurious to public morals and hinder the advent of a truly golden age.
" Man enjoys life only when his mind is at peace ; when he is in distress, his thoughts turn towards death. Beneath the scourge what is there that cannot be wrung from the lips of the sufferer ? His agony is overwhelm- ing, and he seeks to escape by speaking falsely. The officials profit by the opportunity, and cause him to say what will best confirm his guilt. And then, fearing lest the conviction be quashed by higher courts, they dress the victim's deposition to suit the circumstances of the case, so that, when the record is complete, even were Kao Yao l himself to rise from the dead, he would declare that death still left a margin of unexpiated crime. This, because of the refining process adopted to ensure the establishment of guilt.
" Our magistrates indeed think of nothing else. They are the bane of the people. They keep in view their own ends, and care not for the welfare of the State. Truly they are the worst criminals of the age. Hence the saying now runs, ' Chalk out a prison on the ground, and no one would remain within. Set up a gaoler of Imprisonment has become the greatest of all misfor- tunes, while among those who break the law, who violate family ties, who choke the truth, there are none to be compared in iniquity with the officers of justice themselves.
"Where you let the kite rear its young undisturbed, there will the phoenix come and build its nest. Do not punish for misguided advice, and by and by valuable
1 A famous Minister of Crime in the mythical ages.
a Contrary to what was actually the case in the Golden Age,
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