The Infinite Matrix | Michael Swanwick & Francisco Goya | The Sleep Of

Reason 73

08.08.03

the sleep of reason

by Michael Swanwick

with illustrations by

Francisco JosÉ de Goya y Lucientes

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Davison Art Center,

Wesleyan University

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73. [Plate 21]

The Lions of the Law

The lions of the law, noble as the day and impartial as the dawn, make

short shrift of the innocent. They snatch them up, and pluck their

feathers, and gobble them down like so many juicy little ortolans.

Which is only right. Because what kind of a moron manages to wind up in

court when he's not even guilty? Far better that such idiots be

eliminated from the gene pool before they can procreate and fill the

world with more fools like themselves.

If lions could speak, Wittgenstein tells us, we would not be able to

understand them. So it is with the lions of the law. With their ab

initios and in esses and in extensos, they have rendered themselves

completely incomprehensible to the innocent. "But we didn't do anything

wrong!" the poor saps cry. "If you'd only listen to our side of it!"

like swanwick?

like goya?

so do we.

keep 'em sparring!

send money.

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T H A N K S !

"Ignorantia juris neminem excusat," replies a lion, and holds out a paw.

Another lion hands him the mustard jar. "Ius naturale." A third hands him

the knife.

No sane man would want to find himself in the clutches of the lions of

the law. Still, you have to admire their style. They've got gravitas.

They've got class. The blood on their muzzles is easily wiped away with a

clean lace handkerchief.

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This is the 73rd of 80 stories by Michael Swanwick written to accompany

Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos. For a listing of the most recently

available stories, go to The Sleep of Reason.

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