Fragment LV: O mighty Jove! I wish the powers of heaven

O mighty Jove! I wish the powers of heaven
Would change their method ! that a rule were given
Henceforward, for the wicked and profane,
To check their high presumption, and restrain
Their insolences and their cruelties ;
Who mock your ordinances, and despise
Justice and right :—henceforth should every man,
In his own instance, justify the plan
Of Providence ; and suffer for his crime
During his life; or at the very time,
‘With punishment inflicted on the spot :
For now, so long retarded or forgot,
The retribution ultimately falls
Wide of the mark—the vilest criminals
Escape uninjur’d; and the sad decree
Affects their innocent posterity,
(As oftentimes it happens,) worthy men
Blameless and inoffensive—here again
The case is hard ! where a good citizen,
A person of an honourable mind,
Religiously devout, faithful and kind,
Is doom’d to pay the lamentable score
Of guilt accumulated long before—
Some wicked ancestor’s unholy deed.
—I wish that it were otherwise decreed !
For now we witness wealth and power enjoy’d
By wicked doers; and the good destroy’d
Quite undeservedly ; doom’d to atone,
In other times, for actions not their own.