Letter 97 — On the Degeneracy of the Age (§14)

“This view, I maintain, is not at variance with the principles of our school, if it be so explained. And why? Because the first and worst penalty for sin is to have committed sin; and crime, though Fortune deck it out with her favours, though she protect and take it in her charge, can never go unpunished; since the punishment of crime lies in the crime itself. But none the less do these second penalties press close upon the heels of the first—constant fear, constant terror, and distrust in one’s own security. Why, then, should I set wickedness free from such a punishment? Why should I not always leave it trembling in the balance?”