RETRIBUTION.
The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree
I planted—they have torn me, and I bleed;
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.
Childe Harold, Canto IV. LORD BYRON.
We but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips.
Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 7. SHAKESPEARE.
So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain,
No more through rolling clouds to soar again,
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart,
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart.
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. LORD BYRON.
Remember Milo's end,
Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.
Essays on Translated Verse. W. DILLON.