UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGE. 31 Queen Katharine. Ye tell me what ye wish for both, — my ruin : Is this your Christian council? out upon ye! Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge That no king can corrupt. King Henry VIII., Act iii. Sc. I, l. 98. Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold, Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6, l. 168. Queen Katharine. I do believe, Induced by potent circumstances, that You are mine enemy, and make my challenge Refuse you for my judge; whom, yet once more, At all a friend to truth. King Henry VIII., Act ii. Sc. 4, 1. 75. Thieves for their robbery have authority When judges steal themselves.1 Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. 2. 1. 176. 1 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people. Prov. xxviii. 15. Moral Responsibility of Rulers. A Whoe'er is called to guide a state, SOPHOCLES, Antigone, l. 178. ND God forbid, my dear and faithful lord, That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading, Or nicely charge your understanding soul With opening titles miscreate, whose right Suits not in native colours with the truth; Of what your reverence shall incite us to. 'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords King Henry V., Act i. Sc. 2, l. 13. MORAL RESPONSIBILITY OF RULERS. 33 KING HENRY (DISGUISED) CONVERSING WITH A COMMON SOLDIER, THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT. Williams. But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in a battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place ;' some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection. K. Hen. So, if a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon his father that sent him: or if a servant, under his master's command transporting a sum of money, be assailed by robbers and die in many irreconciled iniquities, you may call the business of the master the author of the servant's damnation : but this is not so: the king is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of his son, nor the master of his servant; for they purpose not their death, when they purpose their services. Besides, there is no king, be his cause never so spotless, if it come to the arbitrement of swords, can try it out with all unspotted soldiers: some per adventure have on them the guilt of premeditated and contrived murder; some, of beguiling virgins with the broken seals of perjury; some, making the wars their bulwark, that have before gored the gentle bosom of peace with pillage and robbery. Now, if these men have defeated the law and outrun native punishment, though they can outstrip men, they have no wings to fly from God: war is his beadle, war is his vengeance; so that here men are punished for before-breach of the king's laws in now the king's quarrel: where they feared the death, they have borne life away; and where they would be safe, they perish; then if they die unprovided, no more is the king guilty of their damnation than he was before guilty of those impieties for the which they are now visited. Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every mote out of his conscience : and dying so, death is to him advantage; or not dying, the time was blessedly lost wherein such preparation was gained. King Henry V., Act iv. Sc. 1, 1. 156. Lament over England, degraded by a Wicked Ruler. That is no state which hangs on one man's will. SOPHOCLES, Antigone, l. 737. Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil times. SIR FRANCIS BACON, Essay of Empire. John of Gaunt [Uncle of King Richard]. Methinks I am a prophet new inspired And thus expiring do foretell of him : His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last, For violent fires soon burn out themselves; Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short; He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes; With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder: Light vanity, insatiate cormorant, Consuming means, soon preys upon itself. This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This fortress built by Nature for herself |