which tends to upset everything? The name of it is--the nobility.
The nobility is the thinking principle. The feudal system is
falling--and that means the world. Erudition is in decay.
Civilization is dying. Yes, indeed--You don't believe that? But
if you have any historical outlook at all, you can see that it is
so. The nobility started the Crusades. The nobility has done this
and that and everything. Why is Germany being torn to pieces?
Because the peasantry has risen against the nobility, thus
cutting off its own head. Why is France safe--la France? Because
France is one with the nobility, and the nobility is one with
France--because those two ideas are identical, inseparable. And
why, I ask again, is Sweden at present shaken to its nethermost
foundations? Because the nobility has been crushed. Christian the
Second was a man of genius. He knew how to conquer a country. He
didn't cut off a leg or an arm--nay, he cut off the head. Well,
then! Sweden must be saved, and the King knows how. The nobility
is to be restored, and the Church is to be crushed. What do you
say to that?

Olof (rising). Nothing! (Pause.) You are a freethinker?

Courtier. Of course!

Olof. You don't believe, then, that Balaam's ass could talk?

Courtier. Gracious, no!

Olof. But I do.

Courtier. Really?