The thing which is pointed at in this fable is so obvious, that it will
be impertinent to multiply words about it. When a cruel ill-natured man
has a mind to abuse one inferior to himself, either in power or courage,
though he has not given the least occasion for it, how does he resemble
the Wolf! whose envious, rapacious temper could not bear to see
innocence live quietly in its neighbourhood. In short, wherever ill
people are in power, innocence and integrity are sure to be persecuted:
the more vicious the community is, the better countenance they have for
their own villanous measures. To practise honesty in bad times, is being
liable to suspicion enough; but if any one should dare to prescribe it,
it is ten to one but he would be impeached of high crimes and
misdemeanors: for to stand up for justice in a degenerate and corrupt
state, is tacitly to upbraid the government, and seldom fails of pulling
down vengeance upon the head of him that offers to stir in its defence.
Where cruelty and malice are in combination with power, nothing is so
easy as for them to find a pretence to tyrannize over innocence, and
exercise all manner of injustice.