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.
Sin embargo, como he dicho, cuando me empezaba a cansar de las infructuosas expediciones matutinas, que realizaba en vano desde hacía tanto tiempo, comencé a cambiar de opinión y a considerar más fría y serenamente la empresa que había decidido llevar a cabo. Me preguntaba qué autoridad o vocación tenía yo para pretender ser juez o verdugo de estos hombres como si fuesen criminales, cuando el cielo había considerado dejarlos impunes durante tanto tiempo para que fuesen ellos mismos los que ejecutaran su juicio.