LVI
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Sadi and Ross, James
Whoever has his foe at his mercy, and does not kill him, is his own enemy:—With a stone in his hand, and the snake's head convenient, a wise man hesitates not in crushing it.
Certain people have seen this maxim in an opposite point of view, saying: "It were wiser to delay the execution of captives, inasmuch as the option is left so that you can slay, or you can release them; but if you shall have heedlessly put them to death, the policy is defunct, for the opportunity of repairing it is lost":—There is no great difficulty to separate the soul from the body, but it is not so easy to restore life to the dead: prudence dictates patience in giving the arrow flight, for let it quit the bow and it never can be recalled.