Parerga/On the Folly of Vindictiveness
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ON THE FOLLY OF VINDICTIVENESS.
FROM
THE 13th SATIRE OF JUVENAL. (174.)
"Nulla ne perjuri capitis fraudisque nefandæ
Pœna erit?" &c.
Pœna erit?" &c.
"What! shall the perjured wretch no suffering pay
"For his foul crime?"———Suppose him dragged away
In heaviest chains: suppose the power to kill
(Could anger ask aught more?) lay in your will:
Yet still the loss you mourn for, would remain;
Nor would you your embezzled gold regain.———
"But let him suffer for it!—then my mind
"Some consolation for its loss may find:
"His guilty blood is what I wish to see:
"Revenge is sweet—sweeter than life to me!"———
Why thus th' unlearned talk, whose anger springs
Ofttimes for nought, ofttimes for trifling things;
Whom every cross, however frivolous,
Supplies with phrensy's fuel. 'Tis not thus
Chrysippus teaches thee. Wise Thales felt
Not thus;—nor he the good old man, who dwelt
Near sweet Hymettus; whom it would have pain'd
To see the hemlock, which he drank while chain'd,
Shared by his own accuser. By degrees
Man from his errors Heavenly Wisdom frees,
And teaches him the truth. Only a mind
Petty, infirm, and narrow, e'er can find
Pleasure in vengeance. This you straight must see,
Since no man so revengeful e'er can be
As women are. And yet, why should you think
Your criminal escaped, who still must shrink
From his own memory conscious of the deed;
Whose bosom 'neath the silent lash must bleed;
While his own spirit, forced itself to urge
With torture, brandishes the secret scourge?
"For his foul crime?"———Suppose him dragged away
In heaviest chains: suppose the power to kill
(Could anger ask aught more?) lay in your will:
Yet still the loss you mourn for, would remain;
Nor would you your embezzled gold regain.———
"But let him suffer for it!—then my mind
"Some consolation for its loss may find:
"His guilty blood is what I wish to see:
"Revenge is sweet—sweeter than life to me!"———
Why thus th' unlearned talk, whose anger springs
Ofttimes for nought, ofttimes for trifling things;
Whom every cross, however frivolous,
Supplies with phrensy's fuel. 'Tis not thus
Chrysippus teaches thee. Wise Thales felt
Not thus;—nor he the good old man, who dwelt
Near sweet Hymettus; whom it would have pain'd
To see the hemlock, which he drank while chain'd,
Shared by his own accuser. By degrees
Man from his errors Heavenly Wisdom frees,
And teaches him the truth. Only a mind
Petty, infirm, and narrow, e'er can find
Pleasure in vengeance. This you straight must see,
Since no man so revengeful e'er can be
As women are. And yet, why should you think
Your criminal escaped, who still must shrink
From his own memory conscious of the deed;
Whose bosom 'neath the silent lash must bleed;
While his own spirit, forced itself to urge
With torture, brandishes the secret scourge?