It is for this reason, too, and from this cause, that a great man is seldom, if ever, a good one.

It is inconsistent with the very nature of things to expect it, unless it be from a co-operation of singular circumstances, whose return is with the comets.

Vice, on the contrary, is endowed with strong passions--a feverish thirst after forbidden fruits and waters--a bird-nesting propensity, that carries it away from the haunts of the crowded city, into strange wilds and interminable forests.

It lives upon adventure--it counts its years by incidents, and has no other mode of computing time or of enjoying life.

This fact--and it is undeniable with respect to both the parties--will furnish a sufficient reason why the best heroes of the best poets are always great criminals.