Fragment: 'What Men Gain Fairly'

What men gain fairly--that they should possess,

And children may inherit idleness,

From him who earns it--This is understood;

Private injustice may be general good.

But he who gains by base and armed wrong,

Or guilty fraud, or base compliances,

May be despoiled; even as a stolen dress

Is stripped from a convicted thief; and he

Left in the nakedness of infamy.