In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

65 the king and the plotters AT ONE TIME IN THEIR history the Bretts had a merciful and just king, and during his reign there were few offenses for which he could not find an excuse, and pardon. Things went well for a time, and then a plot to kill the good monarch came to light. The king asked to interview the plotters, in order to find out their grievances against him, and so the ringleaders were called, and soon stood before him. [ 127 ] "Do you have a personal reason for hating me?" he asked. "Do I oppress you in any way?" "N0," said the prisoners. "Do you know another country where people have as much freedom and happiness as they have here?" "No," said the prisoners. "Then tell me why you want to kill me?" asked the king. After a pause, one of the prisoners spoke up: "Everybody knows how good you are, and so we figured it this way: if we killed you, and the plot succeeded, we'd be safe, being on the winning side; if we failed, we still had nothing to fear, because we knew you'd let us go free afterwards.', The king turned to his guards and said, "Take these men back and see that the sentence of the court is carried out, because a man who permits himself to be destroyed by his own virtues is not merciful, but a fool." [ 128 ] ...

Share