And oft the crimes of one destructive fall;
The crimes of one are visited on all.
It is idle to inquire where is the justice of this kind of retribution? since it is evident from all the history of mankind that such is the course of nature.
By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. Proverbs, xi. 11.
The king by judgment establisheth the land; but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it. Ch. xxix. 4.
In Simpson’s notes on Beaumont and Fletcher, this passage is compared with the following in Philaster:
In whose name
We’ll waken all the Gods, and conjure up
The rods of vengeance, the abused people:
and it is proposed to understand it in the sense of Fletcher, “that the people might be raised up to punish the crimes of their prince.” There is taste and spirit in this interpretation, which cannot be said for the amendment of Theobald: but the common acceptation seems to me the right one, for the reasons already stated.