Timoleon, Etc. by Herman Melville
English | 1966 | ASIN: B001R30HXE | 38 Pages | PDF | 1 MB
IF more than once, as annals tell,
Through blood without compunction spilt,
An egotist arch rule has snatched,
And stamped the seizure with his sabre's hilt,
And, legalised by lawyers, stood ;
Shall the good heart whose patriot fire
Leaps to a deed of startling note,
Do it, then flinch ? Shall good in weak expire ?

IF more than once, as annals tell,
Through blood without compunction spilt,
An egotist arch rule has snatched,
And stamped the seizure with his sabre's hilt,
And, legalised by lawyers, stood ;
Shall the good heart whose patriot fire
Leaps to a deed of startling note,
Do it, then flinch ? Shall good in weak expire ?
Needs goodness lack the evil grit,
That stares down censorship and ban,
And dumfounds saintlier ones with this-
God's will avouched in each successful man ?
Or, put it, where dread stress inspires
A virtue beyond man's standard rate,
Seems virtue there a strain forbid-