But now, when, as I have said, I began to be weary of the fruitless excursion which I had made so long and so far every morning in vain, so my opinion of the action itself began to alter; and I began, with cooler and calmer thoughts, to consider what I was going to engage in; what authority or call I had to pretend to be judge and executioner upon these men as criminals, whom Heaven had thought fit for so many ages to suffer unpunished to go on, and to be as it were the executioners of His judgments one upon another; how far these people were offenders against me, and what right I had to engage in the quarrel of that blood which they shed promiscuously upon one another.
Doch nu begonnen, gelijk ik zeide, mijne langdurige vruchtelooze togten mij te vermoeijen, en mijne wijze van zien nopens hunne handelwijze begon ook te veranderen, en ik begon koeler en bezadigder te overwegen wat ik wilde ondernemen; welk regt of gezag ik had om mij tot regter en beul te maken, en deze lieden als misdadigers te behandelen, wien de Hemel goedgevonden had, gedurende zoo vele eeuwen straffeloos hunnen gang te laten gaan, en als het ware tot de uitvoerders zijner straffen jegens hen onder elkander te maken; alsmede welk regt ik had mij in dien bloedigen strijd te mengen, dien zij onderling voerden.