Scribe of the LawThese are relevant references from the Books where Scribes of the Law are mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban He was replaced by a member of the Taurentians, Seremides of Tyros, nominated by Saphronicus of Tyros, Captain of the Taurentians. Shortly thereafter Maximus Hegesius Quintilius was found dead, poisoned by the bite of a girl in his Pleasure Gardens, who, before she could be brought before the Scribes of the Law, was strangled by enraged Taurentians, to whom she had been turned over; On the wooden dais, draped in purple, set on the contest fields, in heavy, carved chairs, sat Svein Blue Tooth and his woman, Bera. Both wore their finery. About them, some on the dais, and some below it, stood his high officers, and his men of law, his counselors, his captains, and the chief men from his scattered farms and holdings; too, much in evidence, were more than four hundred of his men-at-arms. In the crowd, too, in their white robes, were rune-priests. The Companion Contract, thus, had been duly negotiated, with the attention of scribes of the law from both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Confederation of Saleria. "That is not Ephialtes," said a man. "Even if it were," said another fellow, "you apparently did not see the theft, and do not have clear evidence, even of a circumstantial nature, that he is the culprit." The fellow who had said this wore the blue of the scribes. He may even have been a Scribe of the law. "Why would one think of her in the terms of a Ubara?" I asked. "Sworn from Marlenus, she is no longer his daughter." "I am not a scribe of the law," he said. "I do not know." "I will speak what I have heard," said a man, "if no one objects." "No one objects," said a fellow, looking about. "It must be understood clearly," said the man, "that what I speak now is spoken generally, and spoken by hundreds of others, and thus, if any breach of security is involved in this. It is not one for which I am responsible. Further, I am not, intentionally breaching any confidence, nor, as far as I know is security even involved in this matter, at least now. Further, I do not vouch for the accuracy of what I have heard, but merely repeat it, and only at the earnest instigation of others. Indeed, I mention it openly only in order that we may scoff at it, none of us extending to it serious consideration. Indeed, it is so absurd that it cannot be true. I am, thus, merely for our amusement, speaking what is clearly false." "Speak," said a man. "Speak!" said another. "Dietrich has escaped Torcadino!" he said. "With his men?" asked a fellow. "With men and slaves," said the fellow. "Impossible," said a man. "I agree, totally," said our narrator. He was, I suspected, a scribe of the law. Certainly he seemed a circumspect fellow. "It seems you are a slave," said Talena. "I have always been a slave, Mistress," said Lady Tuta. Talena turned to one of her counselors, and they conferred. "Are you a legal slave, my child?" asked one of the counselors, a scribe of the law. "No, Master," said the woman. "You are then a legally free female?" asked the scribe. "Yes, Master," she said. "It is then sufficient," said the scribe to Talena. The free woman must have her respect, her self-esteem, her dignity. She must consider how her friends will view her, and the match, and what they will think of her, and say of her. She must consider her assets, her properties, and their protection. All details of contracts must be arranged, usually with the attention of scribes of the law. She must have a clear understanding of what will be permitted to her companion and what will not be permitted to him. Possession, particularly after a lengthy interval, is often regarded as decisive, by praetors, archons, magistrates, scribes of the law, and such. What is of most importance to the law is not so much that a particular individual owns a slave as that she is owned by someone, that she is absolutely and perfectly owned. I was sure the tavern's legal claim to me would be upheld by the scribes of the law. "As the acrobat, the czehar player, and the swordsman," called Bombastico, "so, too, must the actor practice. Already, today, I have been a pastry cook, a Ubar, a shrewd scribe of the law, a befuddled metal worker, and a sly, oily fellow soliciting patronage for a paga tavern." |
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