The Circles delayed not to push their victory to the uttermost. The working men they spared but decimated. The militia of the Equilaterals was at once called out; and every Triangle suspected of Irregularity on reasonable grounds, was destroyed by court martial, without the formality of exact measurement by the Social Board. The homes of the military and artisan classes were inspected in a course of visitations extending through upwards of a year; and during that period every town, village, and hamlet was systematically purged of that excess of the lower orders which had been brought about by the neglect to pay the tribute of criminals to the schools and University, and by the violation of the other natural laws of the Constitution of Flatland. Thus the balance of classes was again restored.