Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/393

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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 220Above the Law: but if a meaner one,Self-constituting him the MinisterOf Justice, to the death of these bad menHad wrought the deed, him would the Laws have seized,And doom'd a Murderer: thee, thy power preserved! 225And what hast thou exampled? thou hast taughtAll men to execute what deeds of bloodTheir will or passion sentence: right and wrongConfounding thus, and making Power, of all,Sole arbiter. Thy acts were criminal, 230Yet 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

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