Sanine

"Hm! Yes!" he suddenly began, as they got close to the house, "there

are all sorts of blackguards in this world!"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Sarudine, raising his eyebrows.

"That is so; speaking generally. Blackguards are the most fascinating

people."

"You don't say so?" exclaimed Sarudine, smiling.

"Of course they are. There's nothing so boring in all the world as your

so-called honest man. What is an honest man? With the programme of

honesty and virtue everybody has long been familiar; and so it contains

nothing that is new. Such antiquated rubbish robs a man of all

individuality, and his life is lived within the narrow, tedious limits

of virtue. Thou shalt not steal, nor lie, nor cheat, nor commit

adultery. The funny thing is, that all that is born is one! Everybody

steals, and lies, and cheats and commits adultery as much as he can."

"Not everybody," protested Sarudine loftily.

"Yes, yes; everybody! You have only got to examine a man's life in

order to get at his sins. Treachery, for instance. Thus, after

rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, when we go quietly to

bed, or sit down to table, we commit acts of treachery."

"What's that you say?" cried Sarudine, half angrily.

"Of course we do. We pay taxes; we serve our time in the army, yes; but

that means that we harm millions by warfare and injustice, both of

which we abhor. We go calmly to our beds, when we should hasten to

rescue those who in that very moment are perishing for us and for our

ideas. We eat more than we actually want, and leave others to starve,

when, as virtuous folk, our whole lives should be devoted to their

welfare. So it goes on. It's plain enough. Now a blackguard, a real,

genuine blackguard is quite another matter. To begin with he is a

perfectly sincere, natural fellow."

"Natural?"

"Of course he is. He does only what a man naturally does. He sees

something that does not belong to him, something that he likes--and, he

takes it. He sees a pretty woman who won't give herself to him, so he

manages to get her, either by force or by craft. And that is perfectly

natural, the desire and the instinct for self-gratification being one

of the few traits that distinguish a man from a beast. The more animal

an animal is, the less it understands of enjoyment, the less able it is

to procure this. It only cares to satisfy its needs. We are all agreed

that man was not created in order to suffer, and that suffering is not

the ideal of human endeavour."