The Struggle for Law
the soiled sword out of the hand of such venal Justice and brandishes it in a manner that spreads consternation far and wide through the country, causes the state to shake to its very foundations and the prince to tremble on his throne. It is not, however, the savage feeling of vengeance that animates him; he does not turn murderer and brigand, like Karl Moor, who wished “to make the cry of revolt resound through all nature to lead into the fight against the race of hyenas, air, earth and sea,” whose wounded feeling of justice causes him to declare war against all humanity; but it is a moral idea which urges him forward, the idea that “it is his duty to the entire world to consecrate all his strength to the obtaining of satisfaction and to the guarding of his fellow-citizens against similar injustice.” To this idea he sacrifices everything, his family’s happiness, the honor of his name, all his earthly possessions, his blood, and his life; and he carries on no aimless war of extermination, for he directs it only against the guilty one, and against all
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