else’s brief these days. I have piles of work and a colossal number of cases. There’s no time left to eat and drink. (Maybe the truth of the matter was that he had nothing left at all, not just time.) How can you expect me to take on your friend’s brief in such a trifling case, when I’ve already turned down five major cases this very morning?
Agent For humanitarian reasons and in the name of the sanctity of chivalry and your inborn sympathy and pity for the weak, I beg you to allow one of your office staff to handle this case. Even if you cannot demean yourself so far as to handle it yourself, all that’s needed is the influence that your name brings to the court.
Lawyer Out of regard for you and sympathy for your friend, I can see no objection.
(The Lawyer shakes hands with the Pāshā, then turns away and leaves.)
Agent (to the Pāshā) Come on, that’ll be twenty pounds.
Pāshā I haven’t a single dirham on me.
Agent Then give me a check from a relative or acquaintance.
Pāshā I don’t understand what you mean. Go away, I’m fed up with you!
Agent How can I leave when you have just reached an agreement with the Lawyer right in front of me?
Pāshā I made no agreement with anyone. Go away!
Agent How can you possibly deny shaking hands with the Lawyer and reaching an agreement with him?
Pāshā How can anyone tolerate this situation? I gestured while talking to my friend, and that resulted in the disaster with the Donkeyman. Now I shake the Lawyer’s hand, and I’m twenty pounds in debt! What kind of world am I in?
١١،٣
قال عيسى بن هشام: فلمّا رأيت لوائح الغضب بدت على وجهه خشيت أن يقع مع السمسار في ورطة أخرى فأدركته ووبخت الرجل على احتياله وتوعدته برفع الأمر إلى النائب العمومي فتخلصنا منه. ونادى الحاجب أرباب القضايا فدخلنا فوجدنا النائب لا زال مستمرًا في حديثه مع زائريه وأشاروا لنا بالتقدم إلى الكاتب فتقدمت بالنيابة عن صاحبي وشرعت في بسط القضية وسوء معاملة البوليس وافترائه فالتفت النائب إلى الكاتب وقال له لا تقبل كلامًا في البوليس واعتمد أقواله وتحقيقه ثم نظر في الساعة فوجد ميعاده حل فأخذ عصاه ونزل يجري مع صاحبيه. وقلت لصاحبي سأذهب للبحث لك عن أحد المحامين الصادقين من أصحابي.
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: I noticed signs of anger on the Pāshā’s face and was afraid there would be another disaster, this time with the Agent. I rushed over. After reprimanding the Agent for his trickery, I proceeded to threaten him, saying that I would raise the matter with the Public Attorney. He went away and left us alone.
The usher who was supervising plaintiffs gave a shout. We went inside and found the Attorney still chatting merrily with his two visitors. They indicated that we should go to talk to his secretary, so I went along and began to explain the case on my companion’s behalf. I told him about the bad treatment we had received from the police and the shocking way they had trumped up the charges. The Attorney turned to his secretary and told him not to allow any statement against the police; he should accept their statements and investigation. With that, he looked at his watch, found that it was the time for his appointment, grabbed his stick, put on his tarboosh, and left in a hurry with his two colleagues.
I must go now, I told my companion, and look for one of my friends who is an honest lawyer.
١٢،٣
الباشا قل لي بالله ما هو المحامي عندكم؟
عيسى بن هشام هو الذي يتكلم عنك بما تعجز عنه ويدافع عنك بما لم تعلمه ولم يخطر على بالك وهي صناعة شريفة يمارسها كثير من الفضلاء، ولكن قد دخل فيها جماعة ليسوا بأهلها فاتخذوا طرق النصب والاحتيال بضاعة للتعيش منها كهذا المحامي وسمساره وهؤلاء هم الذين عناهم علاء الدين علي بن المظفر الكندي بقوله فيهم:
ما وكلاء الحكم إن خاصمـوا
إلا شيـاطيـن أولـوا بـأس
قـوم غـدا شرهـم فاضـلا
عنهـم فباعـوه على النـاس.
Pāshā Tell me, what’s a lawyer in this system of yours?
ʿĪsā He’s the one who speaks on your behalf on matters in which you have no competence. He will defend you in areas you know nothing about, and testify for you about things which normally would not occur to you. His is a noble profession practiced today by many excellent people. However, certain other people have entered the profession who aren’t worthy of it and who use deceit and trickery as a means of making a profit, like this lawyer and his agent. It is people like them whom ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muẓaffar al-Kindī has in mind when he says:
Whenever they litigate, legal attorneys
are simply all-powerful Satans.
They are a people who find they have evil to spare,
so they sell it off to mankind.
مصباح الشرق ٣٥، ١٥ ديسمبر ١٨٩٨
Miṣbāḥ al-sharq 35, December 15, 1898
١،٤
قال عيسى بن هشام: فلمّا حلّ يوم الجلسة رافقت صاحبي إلى المحكمة فوجدت في ساحتها أقوامًا ذوي وجوه مكفهرة، وانقباض في الأسرّة، وأنفاس مقطوعة، وأكف مرفوعة، وباطلا يذكر، وحقًّا يستر، وشاكيًا يتوعد، وجانيًا يتودد، وشاهدًا يتردد، وجنديًا يتمرد، وحاجبًا يستبد، ومحاميًا يستعد، وأمًّا تنوح، وطفلاً يصيح، وفتاة تتلهث، وشيخًا يتأفف، وسمعت أقوالاً متناقضة، وأحاديث متعارضة، ورأيت المحامين للخصمين، يشحذ كل منهما لسانه، ويقدح جنانه، استعدادًا للنزول في ميادين المقال،