Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/63

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51

An easy prey. I persecuted thoseWho taught new doctrines, tho' they taught the truth:And when I heard of thousands by the swordCut off, or blasted by the pestilence,I calmly counted up my proper gains,And sent new herds to slaughter. TemperateMyself, no blood that mutinied, no viceTainting my private life, I sent abroadMurder and Rape; and therefore am I doom'd,Like these imperial Sufferers, crown'd with fire,Here to remain, till Man's awaken'd eyeShall see the genuine blackness of our deeds,And warn'd by them, till the whole human race,Equalling in bliss the aggregate we caus'dOf wretchedness, shall form one brotherhood,One universal Family of Love."
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