# IV: Mr. Justice Field explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### The Judge

The subject of the epitaph, a student of jurisprudence who settled points of law by throwing loaded dice.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/iv-mr-justice-field
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters