BOOK THE TENTH.
381
Whom the Laws cannot reach the Dagger should.
The Maid replied, "I blame thee not, O Chief!
If, reasoning to thine own conviction thus,
Thou didst, well-satisfied, destroy these men 220
Above the Law: but if a meaner one,
Self-constituting him the Minister
Of Justice, to the death of these bad men
Had wrought the deed, him would the Laws have seized,
And doom'd a Murderer: thee, thy power preserved! 225
And what hast thou exampled? thou hast taught
All men to execute what deeds of blood
Their will or passion sentence: right and wrong
Confounding thus, and making Power, of all,
Sole arbiter. Thy acts were criminal, 230
Yet Richemont, for thou didst them self-approved,
I may not blame the agent. Trust me, Chief!
That when a People sorely are opprest,
The hour of violence will come too soon,
And he does wrong who hastens it. He best 235
If, reasoning to thine own conviction thus,
Thou didst, well-satisfied, destroy these men 220
Above the Law: but if a meaner one,
Self-constituting him the Minister
Of Justice, to the death of these bad men
Had wrought the deed, him would the Laws have seized,
And doom'd a Murderer: thee, thy power preserved! 225
And what hast thou exampled? thou hast taught
All men to execute what deeds of blood
Their will or passion sentence: right and wrong
Confounding thus, and making Power, of all,
Sole arbiter. Thy acts were criminal, 230
Yet Richemont, for thou didst them self-approved,
I may not blame the agent. Trust me, Chief!
That when a People sorely are opprest,
The hour of violence will come too soon,
And he does wrong who hastens it. He best 235
"Performs
