We are equal and free! is the double lie that entrappeth to him conscripts from earth:
The messengers of that dark despot will pander to thy licence and thy pride,
And draw thee from the crowd where thou art safe, to seize thee in the solitary desert.
Woe unto him whose heart the syren-song of Liberty hath charmed;
Woe unto him whose mind is bewitched by her treacherous beauty;
In mad zeal flingeth he away the fetters of duty and restraint,
And yieldeth up the holocaust of self to that fair Idol of the Damned.
No man hath freedom in aught, save in that from which the wicked would be hindered,
He is free toward God and good; but to all else a bondman.