"Lust and violence beget lust and violence, and vengeance too, at the appointed time." [940] "Impiety multiplies and perpetuates itself." [941] "The sinner pays the debt he contracted, ends the career that he begins," [942] "and drinks to the dregs the cup of cursing which he himself had filled." [943] Conscience is the instrument in the hands of Justice and Vengeance by which the Most High inflicts punishment. The retributions of sin are "wrought out by God."
The consequences of great crimes, especially in high places, extend to every person and every thing connected with them. "The country and the country's gods are polluted." [944] "The army and the people share in the curse." [945] "The earth itself is polluted with the shedding of blood," [946] "and even the innocent and the virtuous who share the enterprises of the wicked may be involved in their ruin, as the pious man must sink with the ungodly when he embarks in the same ship." [947]
[Footnote 938: ][ (return) ] Tyler, "Theology of the Greek Poets," p. 258.
[Footnote 939: ][ (return) ] Æschylus, "Persæ," l. 821.
[Footnote 940: ][ (return) ] "Agamemnon," l. 763.
[Footnote 941: ][ (return) ] Ibid., l. 788.
[Footnote 942: ][ (return) ] Ibid., l. 1529.
[Footnote 943: ][ (return) ] Ibid., l. 1397.
[Footnote 944: ][ (return) ] Ibid., l. 1645.
[Footnote 945: ][ (return) ] "Persæ," passim.