“As long as men are more keenly sensitive to the opinions of their fellows than they are to the other goods which existence brings them, as long as this opinion makes personal valor and truthfulness the jewels of their lives, we must expect now and then to have degradation of the essentially noble motives. It is, undoubtedly, a dangerous state of mind, but not one that is degraded.”—(North American Review, October, 1890.)
“The motives of two centuries ago” are the motives of present-day Appalachia. Here the right of private war is not questioned, outside of a judge’s charge from the bench, which everybody takes as a mere formality, a convention that is not to be taken seriously. The argument is this: that when Society, as represented by the State, cannot protect a man or secure him his dues, then he is not only justified but in duty bound to defend himself or seize what is his own. And in the mountains Society with the big S is often powerless against the Clan with a bigger C.
CHAPTER XV
THE BLOOD-FEUD
In Corsica, when a man is wronged by another, public sentiment requires that he redress his own grievance, and that his family and friends shall share the consequences.
“Before the law made us citizens, great Nature made us men.”
“When one has an enemy, one must choose between the three S’s—schiopetto, stiletto, strada: the rifle, the dagger, or flight.”
“There are two presents to be made to an enemy—palla calda o ferro freddo: hot shot or cold steel.”