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At last it came into Jove's head, that while strangers were in the House it was not lawful to speak or debate.
9
My lords and gentlemen, said he, I gave you leave to ask questions, and you have made a regular farmyardProverb: meaning unknown. of the place. Be so good as to keep the rules of the House. What will this- person think of us, whoever he is? So Claudius was led out, and the first to be asked his opinion was Father Janus: he had been made consul elect for the afternoon of the next first of July,Perhaps an allusion to the shortening of the consul's term, which was done to give more candidates a chance of the honour. being as shrewd a man as you could find on a summer's day: for he could see, as they say, before and behind.Il. iii, 109; alluding here to Janus's double face. He made an eloquent harangue, because his life was passed in the forum, but too fast for the notary to take down. That is why I give no full report of it, for I don't want to change the words he used. He said a great deal of the majesty of the gods, and how the honour ought not to be given away to every Tom, Dick, or Harry.
