{"id":"01KG8AKKW6627MHT0HT4GTF1QA","cid":"bafkreicu2dx6yylbsnt7zhsj5iejbx3ftfusiefj4fjz34xegh6m4nlb6i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8046,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.931Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":7977,"text":"lock pinions in the midmost beyond.\r\n\r\n“But, soaring in the sky over the nations that shall gather their\r\nbroods under their wings, that bloody hawk may hereafter be taken for\r\nthe eagle.\r\n\r\n“And though crimson republics may rise in constellations, like fiery\r\nAldebarans, speeding to their culminations; yet, down must they sink at\r\nlast, and leave the old sultan-sun in the sky; in time, again to be\r\ndeposed.\r\n\r\n“For little longer, may it please you, can republics subsist now, than\r\nin days gone by. For, assuming that Mardi is wiser than of old;\r\nnevertheless, though all men approached sages in intelligence, some\r\nwould yet be more wise than others; and so, the old degrees be\r\npreserved. And no exemption would an equality of knowledge furnish,\r\nfrom the inbred servility of mortal to mortal; from all the organic\r\ncauses, which inevitably divide mankind into brigades and battalions,\r\nwith captains at their head.\r\n\r\n“Civilization has not ever been the brother of equality. Freedom was\r\nborn among the wild eyries in the mountains; and barbarous tribes have\r\nsheltered under her wings, when the enlightened people of the plain\r\nhave nestled under different pinions.\r\n\r\n“Though, thus far, for you, sovereign-kings! your republic has been\r\nfruitful of blessings; yet, in themselves, monarchies are not utterly\r\nevil. For many nations, they are better than republics; for many, they\r\nwill ever so remain. And better, on all hands, that peace should rule\r\nwith a scepter, than than the tribunes of the people should brandish\r\ntheir broadswords. Better be the subject of a king, upright and just;\r\nthan a freeman in Franko, with the executioner’s ax at every corner.\r\n\r\n“It is not the prime end, and chief blessing, to be politically free.\r\nAnd freedom is only good as a means; is no end in itself Nor, did man\r\nfight it out against his masters to the haft, not then, would he\r\nuncollar his neck from the yoke. A born thrall to the last, yelping out\r\nhis liberty, he still remains a slave unto Oro; and well is it for the\r\nuniverse, that Oro’s scepter is absolute.\r\n\r\n“World-old the saying, that it is easier to govern others, than\r\noneself. And that all men should govern themselves as nations, needs\r\nthat all men be better, and wiser, than the wisest of one-man rulers.\r\nBut in no stable democracy do all men govern themselves. Though an army\r\nbe all volunteers, martial law must prevail. Delegate your power, you\r\nleagued mortals must. The hazard you must stand. And though unlike King\r\nBello of Dominora, your great chieftain, sovereign-kings! may not\r\ndeclare war of himself; nevertheless, has he done a still more imperial\r\nthing:—gone to war without declaring intentions. You yourselves were\r\nprecipitated upon a neighboring nation, ere you knew your spears were\r\nin your hands.\r\n\r\n“But, as in stars you have written it on the welkin, sovereign-kings!\r\nyou are a great and glorious people. And verily, yours is the best and\r\nhappiest land under the sun. But not wholly, because you, in your\r\nwisdom, decreed it: your origin and geography necessitated it. Nor, in\r\ntheir germ, are all your blessings to be ascribed to the noble sires,\r\nwho of yore fought in your behalf, sovereign-kings! Your nation enjoyed\r\nno little independence before your Declaration declared it. Your\r\nancient pilgrims fathered your liberty; and your wild woods harbored\r\nthe nursling. For the state that to-day is made up of slaves, can not\r\nto-morrow transmute her bond into free; though lawlessness may\r\ntransform them into brutes. Freedom is the name for a thing that is\r\n_not_ freedom; this, a lesson never learned in an hour or an age. By\r\nsome tribes it will never be learned.\r\n\r\n“Yet, if it please you, there may be such a thing as being free under\r\nCaesar. Ages ago, there were as many vital freemen, as breathe vital\r\nair to-day.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTP2KTDMNH4M9X9D0N8X","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKW6F1V0GD24XCFRAHRX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKW6W6A83AYF62NJJ4DG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:10.118Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.694Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}