"I, Sir, I become the mistress of a -"

 

"Say the word, Therese, out with it: a scoundrel, eh? Oh, I admit it, but I have no other titles to offer you; that our sort does not marry you are doubtless well aware: marriage is one of the sacraments, Therese, and full of an undiscriminating contempt for them all, with none do we ever bother. However, be a little reasonable; that sooner or later you lose what is so dear to you is an indispensable necessity, hence would it not be better to sacrifice it to a single man who thereupon will become your support and protector, is that not better, I say, than to be prostituted to everyone?"

 

"But why must it be," I replied, "that I have no other alternative?"

 

"Because, Therese, we have got you, and because the stronger is always the better reason; La Fontaine made the remark ages ago. Truthfully," he continued rapidly, "is it not a ridiculous extravagance to assign, as you do, such a great value to the most futile² of all things? How can a girl be so dull-witted as to believe that virtue³ may depend upon the somewhat greater or lesser⁴ diameter of one of her physical parts ? What difference does it make to God or man whether this part be intact or tampered⁵ with? I will go further: it being the intention of Nature that each individual fulfill⁶ on this earth all of the purposes for which he has been formed, and women existing only to provide pleasure for men, it is plainly to outrage⁷ her thus to resist the intention she has in your regard. It is to wish to be a creature useless in this world and consequently one contemptible⁸. This chimerical⁹ propriety¹⁰, which they have had the absurdity¹¹ to present to you as a virtue and which, since infancy¹², far from being useful to Nature and society, is an obvious defiance¹³ of the one and the other, this propriety, I say, is no more than a reprehensible¹⁴ stubbornness of which a person as mettlesome¹⁵ and full of intelligence as you should not wish to be guilty. No matter; continue to hear me out, dear girl, I am going to prove my desire to please you and to respect your weakness. I will not by any means touch that phantom¹⁶, Therese, whose possession causes all your delight; a girl has more than one favor to give, and one can offer to Venus in many a temple; I will be content with the most mediocre¹⁷; you know, my dear, near the Cyprean altar, there is situate an obscure grot into whose solitude¹⁸ Love retires, the more energetically to seduce¹⁹ us: such will be the altar where I will burn my incense²⁰; no disadvantages there, Therese; if pregnancies²¹ affright you, 'tis not in this manner they can come about, never will your pretty figure be deformed²² this way; the maidenhead so cherished by you will be preserved unimpaired, and whatever be the use to which you decide to put it, you can propose it unattainted. Nothing can betray a girl from this quarter, however rude or multiple the attacks may be; as soon as the bee has left off sucking the pollen²³, the rose's calix closes shut again; one would never imagine it had been opened. There exist girls who have known ten years of pleasure this way, even with several men, women who were just as much married as anyone else after it all, and on their wedding nights they proved quite as virgin²⁴ as could be wished. How many fathers, what a multitude of brothers have thuswise abused their daughters and sisters without the latter having become on that account any the less worthy²⁵ of a later hymeneal sacrifice! How many confessors have not employed the same route to satisfaction, without parents experiencing the mildest disquiet²⁶; in one word, 'tis the mystery's asylum²⁷, 'tis there where it connects itself with love by ties of prudence²⁸.... Need I tell you further, Therese, that although this is the most secret temple it is howbeit the most voluptuous²⁹; what is necessary to happiness is found nowhere else, and that easy vastness native to the adjacent aperture³⁰ falls far short of having the piquant³¹ charms of a locale into which one does not enter without effort, where one takes up one's abode³² only at the price of some trouble; women themselves reap an advantage from it, and those whom reason compels to know this variety of pleasure, never pine after the others. Try it, Therese, try, and we shall both be contented³³."

 

"Oh Monsieur," I replied, "I have no experience of the thing; but I have heard it said that this perversion³⁴ you recommend outrages³⁵ women in a yet more sensitive manner.... It more grievously offends Nature. The hand of Heaven takes its vengeance³⁶ upon it in this world, Sodom provides the example."

 

"What innocence³⁷, my dear, what childishness," the libertine³⁸ retorted; "who ever told you such a thing? Yet a little more attention, Therese, let me proceed to rectify³⁹ your ideas.

 

"The wasting of the seed destined⁴⁰ to perpetuate⁴¹ the human species, dear girl, is the only crime which can exist such is the hypothesis; according to it, this seed is put in us for the sole purpose of reproduction, and if that were true I would grant you that diverting it is an offense⁴². But once it is demonstrated that her situating this semen in our loins is by no means enough to warrant supposing that Nature's purpose is to have all of it employed for reproduction, what then does it matter, Therese, whether it be spilled in one place or in another? Does the man who diverts it perform a greater evil than Nature who does not employ all of it? Now, do not those natural losses, which we can imitate if we please, occur in an abundance of instances? Our very ability to provoke them, firstly, is an initial proof that they do not offend Nature in the slightest. It would be contrary to all the equity⁴³ and profound wisdom we everywhere recognize in her laws for them to permit what might affront⁴⁴ her; secondly⁴⁵, those losses occur a hundred hundred million times every day, and she instigates⁴⁶ them herself; nocturnal pollutions, the inutility of semen during the periods of woman's pregnancy⁴⁷, are they not authorized⁴⁸ by her laws, enjoined⁴⁹ by them, and do they not prove that, very little concerned for what may result from this liquid to which we so foolishly attach a disproportionate value, she permits us its waste with the same indifference⁵⁰ she herself causes it every day to be wasted; she tolerates reproduction, yes, but much is wanting to prove reproduction is one of her intentions; she lets us go ahead with our reproducing to be sure, but it being no more to her advantage than our abstaining⁵² therefrom, the choice we happen to make is as one to her. Is it not clear that leaving us the power to create, not to create, or to destroy, we will not delight her at all or disappoint her any more by adopting toward the one or the other the attitude which suits us best; and what could be more self-evident than that the course we choose, being but the result of her power over us and the influence upon us of her actions, will far more surely please than it will risk offending her. Ah, Therese ! believe me, Nature frets⁵³ very little over those mysteries we are great enough fools to turn into worship of her. Whatever be the temple at which one sacrifices, immediately she allows incense to be burned there, one can be sure the homage⁵⁴ offends her in no wise; refusals to produce, waste of the semen employed in production, the obliteration⁵⁵ of that seed when it has germinated⁵⁶, the annihilation of that germ even long after its formation, all those, Therese, are imaginary crimes which are of no interest to Nature and at which she scoffs⁵⁷ as she does at all the rest of our institutions which offend more often than they serve her."#p#分页标题#e#

 

Coeur-de-fer waxed warm while expounding⁵⁸ his perfidious⁵⁹ maxims⁶⁰, and I soon beheld⁶¹ him again in the state which had so terrified me the night before; in order to give his lesson additional impact, he wished instantly to join practice to precept⁶²; and, my resistances notwithstanding, his hands strayed toward the altar into which the traitor⁶³ wanted to penetrate⁶⁴.... Must I declare, Madame, that, blinded by the wicked man's seductions; content, by yielding a little, to save what seemed the more essential; reflecting neither upon his casuistries' illogicalities nor upon what I was myself about to risk since the dishonest fellow, possessing gigantic proportions, had not even the possibility to see a woman in the most permissible⁶⁵ place and since, urged on by his native perversity⁶⁶, he most assuredly had no object but to maim⁶⁷ me; my eyes as I say, perfectly⁶⁸ blind to all that, I was going to abandon myself and become criminal through virtue; my opposition⁶⁹ was weakening; already master of the throne, the insolent⁷⁰ conqueror⁷¹ concentrated all his energies in order to establish himself upon it; and then there was heard the sound of a carriage moving along the highway. Upon the instant, Coeur-de-fer forsakes⁷² his pleasures for his duties; he assembles his followers⁷³ and flies to new crimes. Not long afterward⁷⁴, we hear cries, and those bandits, all bloodied⁷⁵ over, return triumphant⁷⁶ and laden⁷⁷ with spoils.

 

"Let's decamp smartly," says Coeur-de-fer, "we've killed three men, the corpses⁷⁸ are on the road, we're safe no longer." The booty is divided, Coeur-de-fer wants me to have my share; it comes to twenty louis, which I am compelled to accept. I tremble at the obligation to take such money; however, we are in a hurry, everyone snatches up his belongings⁷⁹ and off we go.

 

The next day we find ourselves out of danger and in the forest of Chantilly; during supper, the men reckon what their latest operation has been worth to them, and evaluate the total capture at no more than two hundred louis.

 

"Indeed," says one of them, "it wasn't worth the trouble to commit three murders for such a little sum."

 

"Softly, my friends," Dubois answers, "it was not for the sake of their purses I exhorted⁸⁰ you not to spare those travelers, it was solely⁸¹ in the interests of our security; the law's to be blamed for these crimes, the fault's not ours; so long as thieves are hanged like murderers, thefts shall never be committed without assassinations⁸². The two misdeeds are punished equally; why then abstain⁵¹ from the second when it may cover up the first? What makes you suppose, furthermore," the horrid⁸³ creature continued, "that two hundred louis are not worth three killings⁸⁴ ? One must never appraise⁸⁵ values save in terms of our own interests. The cessation of the victims' existences is as nothing compared to the continuation of ours, not a mite⁸⁶ does it matter to us whether any individual is alive or in the grave; consequently, if one of the two cases involves what in the smallest way affects our welfare, we must, with perfect unremorse, determine the thing in our own favor; for in a completely indifferent matter we should, if we have any wits and are master of the situation, undoubtedly⁸⁷ act so as to turn it to the profitable side, entirely⁸⁸ neglecting whatever may befall our adversary⁸⁹; for there is no rational commensuration between what affects us and what affects others; the first we sense physically⁹⁰, the other only touches us morally, and moral feelings are made to deceive; none but physical sensations are authentic⁹¹; thus, not only do two hundred louis suffice for three murders, but even thirty centimes would have sufficed, for those thirty centimes would have procured⁹³ a satisfaction which, although light, must necessarily affect us to a much more lively degree than would three men murdered, who are nothing to us, and by the wrongs done whom we are not in the least touched, no, not even scratched; our organic feebleness, careless thinking, the accursed prejudices in which we were brought up, the vain terrors of religion and law, those are what hamper⁹⁴ idiots and confound their criminal careers, those are what prevent them from arriving at greatness; but every strong and healthy individual, endowed with an energetically organized mind, who preferring himself to others, as he must, will know how to weigh their interests in the balance against his own, will laugh God and mankind to the devil, will brave death and mock at the law, fully¹ aware that it is to himself he must be faithful, that by himself all must be measured, will sense that the vastest multitude of wrongs inflicted⁹⁵ upon others cannot offset⁹⁶ the least enjoyment⁹⁷ lost to himself or be as important as his slightest pleasure purchased by an unheard-of host of villainies. Joy pleases him, it is in him, it is his own, crime's effect touches him not, is exterior⁹⁸ to him; well, I ask, what thinking man will not prefer what causes his delectation to what is alien to him? who will not consent to commit this deed whereof~ he experiences nothing unpleasant, in order to procure⁹² what moves him most agreeably?"#p#分页标题#e#

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