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CHAPTER V.
THE WAPENTAKE.
Once, however, he thought it his duty to derogate from this prudence,
for prudence' sake, thinking that it might be well to make Gwynplaine
uneasy. It is true that this idea arose from a circumstance much graver,
in the opinion of Ursus, than the cabals of the fair or of the church.
Gwynplaine, as he picked up a farthing which had fallen when counting
the receipts, had, in the presence of the innkeeper, drawn a contrast
between the farthing, representing the misery of the people, and the
die, representing, under the figure of Anne, the parasitical
magnificence of the throne--an ill-sounding speech. This observation was
repeated by Master Nicless, and had such a run that it reached to Ursus
through Fibi and Vinos. It put Ursus into a fever. Seditious words, lèse
Majesté. He took Gwynplaine severely to task. "Watch over your
abominable jaws. There is a rule for the great--to do nothing; and a
rule for the small--to say nothing. The poor man has but one friend,
silence. He should only pronounce one syllable: 'Yes.' To confess and to
consent is all the right he has. 'Yes,' to the judge; 'yes,' to the
king. Great people, if it pleases them to do so, beat us. I have
received blows from them. It is their prerogative; and they lose nothing
of their greatness by breaking our bones. The ossifrage is a species of
eagle. Let us venerate the sceptre, which is the first of staves.
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