Thus sternly did the father learn the value of that ancient Aeschylean maxim, to drasanti pathein, the doer of the deed must suffer.

His own impulsiveness, his reckless assumption of the heaviest responsibilities, his overweening confidence in his own strength to move the weight of the world's opinions, had brought him to this tragic pass--to the suicide of the woman who had loved him, and to the sequestration of the offspring whom he loved.
Shelley is too great to serve as text for any sermon; and yet we may learn from him as from a hero of Hebrew or Hellenic story.

His life was a tragedy; and like some protagonist of Greek drama, he was capable of erring and of suffering greatly.

He had kicked against the altar of justice as established in the daily sanctities of human life; and now he had to bear the penalty.

The conventions he despised and treated like the dust beneath his feet, were found in this most cruel crisis to be a rock on which his very heart was broken.