But to
administer government by a law which ascertains the offence, and directs
the punishment, integrity alone will be sufficient; and as the
perversion of justice will in this case be notorious, and depend not
upon opinion but fact, it will seldom be practised, because it will be
easily punished.'
ALMORAN, who had heard the opinions of HAMET with impatience and scorn,
now started from his feat with a proud and contemptuous aspect: he first
glanced his eyes upon his brother; and then looking disdainfully
downward, he threw back his robe, and stretching out his hand from him,
'Shall the son of Solyman,' said he, 'upon whose will the fate of
nations was suspended, whose smiles and frowns were alone the criterions
of right and wrong, before whom the voice of wisdom itself was silent,
and the pride even of virtue humbled in the dust; shall the son of
Solyman be harnessed, like a mule, in the trammels of law? shall he
become a mere instrument to execute what others have devised? shall he
only declare the determinations of a statute, and shall his ear be
affronted by claims of right? It is the glory of a prince, to punish for
what and whom he will; to be the sovereign, not only of property, but
of life; and to govern alike without prescription or appeal.
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