編集者

解説

付記

おお、律法の主よ、思索の王座に座す者よ。 だがそれは金メッキの詐欺師だ。 つぎはぎの衣をまとい、 真鍮の冠をかぶり、 自らはロバ。 権力は「チャンチャラおかしい」。 とりとめなくおしゃべりを続ける、 愚かな“思想の君主”。 世論という軍の従者、 雷鳴のごとく荒らし回り、 盗み、でたらめをまき散らす。 気取って、 無礼で、 疑われ、 嘘つきで、 それでも“同時代人”に尊敬される！ ―― J.H. バンブルシュック

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Original

A person who combines the judicial functions of Minos, Rhadamanthus and Aeacus, but is placable with an obolus; a severely virtuous censor, but so charitable withal that he tolerates the virtues of others and the vices of himself; who flings about him the splintering lightning and sturdy thunders of admonition till he resembles a bunch of firecrackers petulantly uttering his mind at the tail of a dog; then straightway murmurs a mild, melodious lay, soft as the cooing of a donkey intoning its prayer to the evening star. Master of mysteries and lord of law, high-pinnacled upon the throne of thought, his face suffused with the dim splendors of the Transfiguration, his legs intertwisted and his tongue a-cheek, the editor spills his will along the paper and cuts it off in lengths to suit. And at intervals from behind the veil of the temple is heard the voice of the foreman demanding three inches of wit and six lines of religious meditation, or bidding him turn off the wisdom and whack up some pathos.

Additional notes

O, the Lord of Law on the Throne of Thought, A gilded impostor is he. Of shreds and patches his robes are wrought, His crown is brass, Himself an ass, And his power is fiddle-dee-dee. Prankily, crankily prating of naught, Silly old quilly old Monarch of Thought. Public opinion's camp-follower he, Thundering, blundering, plundering free. Affected, Ungracious, Suspected, Mendacious, Respected contemporaree! J.H. Bumbleshook