This is to give Great Men to Understand, that no Power upon Earth can
Protect them in the Exercise of Tyranny and Injustice; but that Sooner,
or Later, Vengeance will Overtake Oppressors. It does likewise Condemn
Treachery, and Breach of Faith, even toward the most Perfidious.
The Morality of This Fiction looks several Ways. Here’s first a League
betwixt an _Eagle_ and a _Fox_; which would be a most Incongruous
Advance, if it were not in the case of That Princely Birds Departure from
the Dignity of her Character, and from the Obligation of Royal Justice:
so that _Æsop_ has aptly enough Match’d a _Faith-Breaking Prince_; with
a Perfidious Subject, and Fancy’d a Knavish Favourite, as the _Fittest
Minister_ for such a _Governour_. In the _Eagles_ Destroying the _Foxes
Cubs_, there’s Power Exercis’d with Oppression, and the Curses of the
_Fox_ that Pursu’d the Oppressor, were not sent in Vain neither, as
appears by the Sequel. We are likewise to take Notice that Justice
is Sacred, and that No Provocation, either of Insolent Language, or
Behaviour, can Warrant the Violation of it.
And it is further Suggested to us, that when People are in a Train of
Wickedness, One Sin Treads upon the Heel of Another. The _Eagle_ begins
with an Invasion upon the Rights of _Hospitality_, and _Common Faith_;
and at the Next Step Advances to _Sacrilege_, in Robbing the Altar. And
what follows upon it now, but a Divine Judgment, that sets Fire to her
Nest, and Avenges the Cause of the very _Fox_, though One of the Falsest
of Creatures! From hence we are to Gather These Two Doctrines for our
Instruction. First, That the Misdemeanours of Temporal Sovereign Powers
are subjected only to the Animadversion of the supreme Lord of the
Universe. And secondly, That in the Case of Tyranny it self, it is not
for Private Men to pretend to any Other Appeal.