This Fable holds forth to us several Morals. Rapine and Injustice,
Meet in the End with Violence. One Murderer is Kill’d by Another.
Adulterers are paid in kind; and One Wicked Man Punishes Another. It is
but according to the Course of the World, for the Stronger to Oppress
the Weaker, and for Thieves Themselves to Rob one Another: But the more
Mighty do well however in Avenging Those that are Oppress’d by the Less
Mighty. And the Fable has This Prospect too, that Princes are as much
Ty’d to Vindicate their Subjects Cause as if it were their Own.
’Tis no News for the Weak and the Poor to be a Prey to the Strong,
and the Rich, and the Vindication of the Innocent is no Ill Plea, or
Masque for the Oppressing of the Guilty. Birds of Prey are an Emblem of
Rapacious Officers. A Superior Power takes away by Violence from Them,
That which by Violence they took away from Others: But it falls out too
often, that the Equity of Restitution is forgotten, after the Execution
of the Punishment. Now what is This way of Proceeding, but Drinking the
Blood of the Widow and the Orphan at second hand? for He that takes away
from a Thief, That which the Thief, to his Knowledge, took from an Honest
Man, and keeps it to Himself, is the Wickeder Thief of the Two, by how
much the Rapine is made yet Blacker by the pretence of Piety and Justice.
Here’s a _Country-man_ takes a _Hawk_ in the Chase of a _Pigeon_, the
_Hawk_ reasons the Case with him; The _Country-man_ Pleads the _Pigeon_’s
Cause, and upon a Fair Hearing; The _Hawk_ stands Condemn’d out of her
own Mouth, and the Innocent is consequently deliver’d from her Oppressor.
Now here’s One Violence Disappointed by Another; A Poor Harmless Wretch
Protected against a Powerful Adversary; Justice done upon a Notorious
Persecutor; and yet after All this Glorious semblance of a Publique
Spirited Generosity, and Tenderness of Nature, the _Man_ only sav’d the
_Pigeon_ from the _Hawk_, that he might Eat it _Himself_: And if we look
Well about us we shall find This to be the Case of most Mediations, we
meet with in the Name of Publique Justice.