“In the light of that martial code whereby it was formally to be judged, innocence and guilt personified in Claggart and Budd in effect changed places.”

—  Herman Melville , book Billy Budd, Sailor

Source: Billy Budd, the Sailor (1891), Ch. 21
Context: In the light of that martial code whereby it was formally to be judged, innocence and guilt personified in Claggart and Budd in effect changed places. In a legal view the apparent victim of the tragedy was he who had sought to victimize a man blameless; and the indisputable deed of the latter, navally regarded, constituted the most heinous of military crimes.

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Herman Melville 144
American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet 1818–1891

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