"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."