BOOK THE NINTH.
335
Now in the form of Honor, fierce to talk
Of satisfaction for his injuries,
And reputation, and the jargon'd phrase
That make mankind genteely violate 400
The law of God. But these are petty deeds
For this proud Fiend, that o'er the ravaged earth
Stalks royally, and bids his liveried slaves,
His hireling train'd assassins, to go forth,
And desolate, and kill!
As on they pass'd 405
Beyond the hideous train, thus Theodore
Pursued: "The bottom of the vast abyss
Thou treadest, Maiden! Here the dungeons are
Where bad men learn repentance; souls diseased
Must have their remedy; and where disease 410
Is rooted deep, the remedy is long
Perforce, and painful."
Thus the Spirit spake,
And led the Maid along a narrow path,
Dark-gleaming to the light of far-off flames,
Of satisfaction for his injuries,
And reputation, and the jargon'd phrase
That make mankind genteely violate 400
The law of God. But these are petty deeds
For this proud Fiend, that o'er the ravaged earth
Stalks royally, and bids his liveried slaves,
His hireling train'd assassins, to go forth,
And desolate, and kill!
As on they pass'd 405
Beyond the hideous train, thus Theodore
Pursued: "The bottom of the vast abyss
Thou treadest, Maiden! Here the dungeons are
Where bad men learn repentance; souls diseased
Must have their remedy; and where disease 410
Is rooted deep, the remedy is long
Perforce, and painful."
Thus the Spirit spake,
And led the Maid along a narrow path,
Dark-gleaming to the light of far-off flames,
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