20 



FABLES. 



some base appetite: for there are those who would 

 not scruple to bring desolation upon their country, 

 and run the hazard of their own necks into the bar- 

 gain, rather than balk a wicked inclination, either 

 of cruelty, ambition, or avarice. But it were to be 

 wished, that all who are hurried on by such blind 

 impulses, would consider a moment before they 

 proceed to irrevocable execution. Injuries and 

 wrongs not only call for revenge and reparation 

 with the voice of equity itself, but oftentimes carry 

 their punishment along with them; and, by an un- 

 foreseen train of events, are retorted on the head of 

 the actor, \vho not seldom, from a deep remorse, 

 expiates them upon himself by his own hand. 



