Poetry · Chapter
IV: Mr. Justice Field explained
A satirical epitaph for a judge who relied on loaded dice, metaphorically representing corruption in the justice system, with railway metal as the weight of bribery.
What happens
A satirical epitaph for a judge who relied on loaded dice, metaphorically representing corruption in the justice system, with railway metal as the weight of bribery.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Corruption
The judge's use of loaded dice symbolizes the corruption of justice through bribery, particularly by railway interests.
Justice and Revenge
The epitaph mocks the perversion of justice, where legal decisions are determined by dishonest means rather than truth.
Characters to notice
- The Judge
The subject of the epitaph, a student of jurisprudence who settled points of law by throwing loaded dice.
Key passages
“Here sleeps one of the greatest students Of jurisprudence. Nature endowed him with the gift Of the juristhrift. All points of law alike he threw The dice to settle. Those honest cubes were loaded true With railway metal.”
This judge, a supposed master of law, decided every case by rolling dice—dice that were secretly weighted with railroad bribes.
The epitaph uses the metaphor of loaded dice to expose judicial corruption tied to railway interests.