Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/35

N° 16. and Romans, who ungratefully dealt with I know not how many of their most deserving generals; while the profounder politicians, have seen pamphlets, where Tacitus and Machiavel have beea quoted to show the danger of too resplendent a merit. If a stranger should hear these serious outcries of ingratitude against our general without knowing the particulars, he would be apt to inquire, where was his tomb, or whether he was allowed Christian burial? not doubting but we had put him to some ignominious death. Or has he been tried for his life, and very narrowly escaped? has he been accused of high crimes and misdemeanors? has the prince seized on his estate, and left him to starve? has he been hooted at, as he passed the streets, by an ungrateful rabble? have neither honours, offices, nor grants been conferred on him or his family? have not he and they been barbarously stripped of them all? have not he and his forces been ill paid abroad? and does not the prince, by a scanty limited commission, hinder him from pursuing his own methods in the conduct of the war? has he no power at all of disposing of commissions as he pleases? is he not severely used by the ministry or parliament, who yearly call him to a strict account? has the senate ever thanked him for good success, and have they not always publickly censured him for the least miscarriage? Will the accusers of the nation join issue upon any of these particulars, or tell us in what point our damnable sin of ingratitude lies? Why, it is plain and clear; for while he is