which ought to be spewed out, as the surfeit of courts. A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God useth to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking down hills: so when there appeareth on either side an high hand, violent prosecution, cunning advantages taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen, to make inequality equal; that he may plant his judgment as upon an even ground. Qui fortiter emungit, elicit sanguinem;[1] and where the wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh wine, that tastes of the grape-stone. Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences; for there is no worse torture than the torture of laws. Specially in case of laws penal, they ought to have care that that which was meant for terror be not turned into rigour; and that they bring not upon the people that shower whereof the Scripture speaketh, Pluet super eos laqueos;[2] for penal laws pressed are a shower of snares upon the people. Therefore let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of[3] long, or if they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judges confined in the execution: Judicis officium est, ut res, ita tempora rerum, &c.[4] In causes of life and death,
- ↑ He who wrings the nose hard draws blood. Bacon is quoting Proverbs xxx. 33, "Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood."
- ↑ He shall rain snares upon them. "Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup." Psalms xi. 6.
- ↑ Of would now be for; so in Luke xxiii. 8, "for he was desirous to see him of a long season," that is, 'for a long season.'
- ↑ It is the duty of a judge to consider the times as well as the circumstances of facts.
"Judicis officium est, ut res, ita tempora rerum
Quaerere."
P. Ovidii Nasonis Tristium Liber I. Elegia I. 37–38.
