Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/233

No provostship or bailiehood
Would people need if all were good;
No judge would then be set above
His fellow-man, and therefore Love
Should before Justice be preferred,
Although ’tis true her voice is heard
Restraining evil, which hath been
Wellspring of all earth’s lords, I ween.5880
In whom is freedom lost. For ne’er
Except for Crime and Sin, vile pair,
Had kings been known in any land,
Nor Justice shown her iron hand.
For judges, even from the first,
Bewray themselves as men accurst,
But they their own souls should discern,
In hope the world’s respect to earn
As men, fair, careful, and upright,
Not giving sentence in despite5890
Of truth; not false, with palms that itch
For bribes, alike from poor and rich.

Corrupt judges But judgment set they at a price,
And ancient usage in a trice
Upset to serve their turn; they clip
And gather, grasp and pare and snip;
And poor and helpless men beguile
Of land or chattels; many a while
The judge who hangs the thief is he
Who ought to deck the gallows tree,
If only he were doomed aright
For all the crimes his hands have dight.”