they would always write to them with repulsive faces and unkempt hair. these guys are poor. what you see here is overlapping layers of authority. in this one really cramped space. there's the authority of the of brought them all here to discover if someone peacerdered against the and dignity of the state. you get medical authorities in the form of the doctor who's already made his pronouncement. this is actually a religious figure. inheres inegitimacy giving meaning to our mortality and explaining to us what we should do with our feelings when bad things happen. why would god allow these things to happen? so there is the authority of religion. there is an authority to local knowledge, too. so these guys are not as well-fed, but they actually know the guy is not dead. so they have an authority based on local circumstances. then there's this authority of death itself. because there are crammed into this space, and they're really one facing death together in the same intimate place. i want you to remember that, that inquest was the product of this cultural process of grappling