offences of which each one gave rise to a corresponding act of
retaliation--human justice, and not a power that suddenly, at some
tragic moment, leaps forth like Minerva of old, fully armed, from the
formidable, despotic brow of destiny. In all this there is only one
thing of mystery, and that is the eternal presence of human justice;
but we are aware that the nature of man is very mysterious. Let us in
the meanwhile ponder this mystery. It is the most certain of all, it
is the profoundest, it is the most helpful, it is the only one that
will never paralyse our energy for good And though that patient,
vigilant shadow be not as clearly defined in every life as it was in
Napoleon's, though justice be not always as active or as undeniable, we
shall none the less do wisely to study a case like this whenever
opportunity offers. It will at least give rise to doubt within us, it
will stimulate inquiry; and these things are worth far more than the
idle, short-sighted affirmation or denial that we so often permit
ourselves: for in all questions of this kind our endeavour should not
be to prove, but rather to arouse attention, to create a certain grave,
courageous respect for all that yet remains unexplained in the actions
of men, in their subjection to what appear to be general laws, and in
the results that ensue."

17

Let us now try to discover in what way this great mystery of justice
does truly and inevitably work itself out within us. The heart of him
who has committed an unjust act becomes the scene of ineffaceable
drama, the paramount drama of human nature; and it becomes the more
dangerous, and deadlier, in the degree of the man's greatness and
knowledge.

A Napoleon will say to himself, at such troubled moments, that the
morality of a great life cannot be as simple as that of an ordinary
one, and that an active, powerful will has rights which the feeble,
inert will cannot claim. He will hold that he may the more
legitimately sweep aside certain conscientious scruples, inasmuch as it
is not ignorance or weakness that causes him to disregard these, but
the fact that he views them from a standpoint higher than that of the
majority of men; and further, that his aim being great and glorious,
this passing deliberate callousness of his is therefore truly a victory
won by his strength and his intellect, since there can be no danger in
doing wrong when it is done by one who does it knowingly, and has his
very good r