There’s Nothing so Little as to be Wholly Despis’d; for the most
Inconsiderable of Creatures may at Some time or Other, by some Means
or Other, come to Revenge it self upon the Greatest; Not by it’s Own
Force so much, as by the Working of Divine Justice, that will not suffer
Oppression to pass Unpunish’d. In cases of Powerful Injustice, the
Greatest are not to Presume, nor the Meanest to Despair.
We are to Distinguish upon This Fable, what the _Eagle_ did as a
_Tyrant_, and what she did as _a Bird of Prey_. And likewise betwixt
a Passion which is purely Vindictive, and Those Counsels where Divine
Justice Interposes toward the Avenging of the Innocent. Here is Power
Triumphing over Weakness; a Criminal Cruelty over Helpless Innocence,
and That Cruelty Inexorable too, and Deaf to the Tears, Supplications,
and Importunities of a Tender Mother, on the Behalf of her Children. Now
for the Humbling of This Unmerciful Pride in the _Eagle_, Providence has
found out a Way, even by the most Despicable of Means and Creatures, to
the Wreaking of a Revenge; which shews likewise that Heaven takes the
Cause of the Weak and the Guiltless into a particular Care.
This Counsel of the Rabbets has somewhat in it of the Debate of Popular
Meetings, where the Number and the Agreement Supplies the Want of Other
Means: And we are taught from hence too, that States are not so much in
Danger of Open Force, as of Secret Mines: For when the Foundation is
once Loosen’d; The Least Breath of a Commotion lays the Whole Building
in Rubbish. We are taught also, that the Only, or at least the Main
Support of Power is Justice, in the Due Distribution of Reward and
Punishment. Where These Two Principles are Perverted, the Government is
off the Ballance, and the Worse Part of it Out Weighs the Other. But the
Judgments of Heaven supply the Defects of Common Justice, and Avenge the
Cause of the Poor and Innocent upon the Heads of the Mighty. Vengeance,
in fine, Treads upon the Heel of Oppression, according to the Doctrine of
This Fable of the _Eagle_ and the _Rabbets_ here.