Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/320

298 A tool of murder; they who ruled the State,

Though with such awful proof before their eyes

That he, who would sow death, reaps death, or worse,

And can reap nothing better, child-like longed

To imitate, not wise enough to avoid;

Or left (by mere timidity betrayed)

The plain straight road, for one no better chosen

Than if their wish had been to undermine

Justice, and make an end of Liberty.

But from these bitter truths I must return

To my own history. It hath been told

That I was led to take an eager part

In arguments of civil polity,

Abruptly, and indeed before my time:

I had approached, like other youths, the shield

Of human nature from the golden side,

And would have fought, even to the death, to attest

The quality of the metal which I saw.

What there is best in individual man,

Of wise in passion, and sublime in power,

Benevolent in small societies,

And great in large ones, I had oft revolved,

Felt deeply, but not thoroughly understood

By reason: nay, far from it; they were yet,