How we cite our quotes: Book, canto, stanza
Quote #7
For during Saturnes ancient raigne it's sayd,/ That all the world with goodnesse did abound… Iustice sate high ador'd with solemne feasts/ And to all people did diuide her dred beheasts./ Most sacred vertue she of all the rest. (V.proem.9-10)
Telling a familiar tale of "everything-was-better-back-in-the-day," our narrator describes a golden age primarily defined by the presence of true justice that is truly respected.
Quote #8
But if ye please, that I your cause decide,/ Perhaps I may all further quarrell end,/ So ye will sweare my iudgement to abide./ Thereto they both did franckly condescend/ And to his doome with listfull eares did both attend. (V.i.25)
In one of Arthegall's first interventions in a quarrel between two squires in Book V, Arthegall explicitly offers himself as a judge and a bringer of justice.
Quote #9
[Mercilla] was about affaires of common wele,/ Dealing of Iustice with indifferent grace,/ And hearing pleas of people meane and base. (V.ix.36)
In this snapshot of Mercilla's court, right before the harrowing trial of Duessa, we see how a queen has to be the ultimate dispenser of justice, assisting even those from lower classes who are "meane and base." Hey, that's a mean (and base) thing to say.