Oh God--it's up to me to save her; I'll never let that base
depraver Corrupt her youthful heart with lies, With honeyed words and heated sighs, Or have that noxious worm devour My lovely lily, stalk and blade, Or watch this two-day blossom fade, When it has yet to fully flower; A pair of pistols--nothing more Shall instantly decide the score.
In an observation with unfortunate resonance with our own historical moment, Stael concludes that "son plan, pour parvenir a dominer la France, se fonda sur trois bases principales: contenter les interets des hommes aux depens de leurs vertus,
depraver l'opinion par des sophismes, et donner a la nation pour but la guerre au lieu de la liberte" (365) ["his scheme for arriving at the dominion of France rested upon three principal bases--to satisfy men's interests at the expense of their virtues, to deprave public opinion by sophisms, and to give the nation war for an object instead of liberty" (441)].