The Inferno

knocked a

he sick man raised himself un

you been

ad

" the doctor

ith a slowness and awkwardness that would have seemed ridic

ur heart be

lowered their voices, and in a low tone the sick man

roval. He put an end to the recital by repeating his usual meaningle

I see there's

awn features and wild eyes. He was all shaken up by t

uarely into a chair, with an affable manner. He started several topics, then in s

ting!"

the doctor,

he

till to

the cons

ell, go

e burden of misery and cruel memories, t

.

ished their examination of the patient in anothe

be stiff. One of them was a y

heir eyes and the night in their heads. The older man stroked hi

g his voice, for fear of bei

f complicity, you might say. Both men fell silen

old i

ty-t

long," the young

d man retorted

his luck won't hol

an with the grey

He put his finger on h

head seemed to be nodding

no possibility

-the guillotine. Besides, the malignant condition has spread. There is pressure upon the submaxillary and subclavicular ganglia, and p

rigid, his arms folded. The young man sat down, leaning back in h

I tell the y

is serious, very serious, but no one ca

so hac

better," said

e insists

t giv

out a little hope

boy, never say anything superfluous at such a time. There's no us

he rea

out by asking questions. Once I thought he had no suspicion a

he human embryo," sai

e other assented and entered int

anism which penetrates the tissue, and selects and impregnates it, sets it vibrating, gives it /another life./

s minutely and in highly scientif

keeps on without ever reaching a limit. Yes, cancer, in th

r bowed assent,

ce begun. And it is then only that we shall dare to tell the ravages due to the spread of incurable diseases. Perhaps we shall even succeed in finding cures for certain in

Russian o

to the inside of people that the

in their vile pretense of b

the idea aroused a kind of passion in

struck more than others by all the evil men involuntarily inflict upon one another. I am neither a politician nor a propagandist. It is not my business to occupy myself with ideas.

ehemence, then his smile vanished at

selves with our own hands besides-the war of the classes, the war of the nations

s getting excited, "why do we continue to

lders, as he had a few moments before

n done, and do it over again-war and injustice. Some day perhaps humanity will succeed in ridding itself of the ghost of the past

ped at this. The

wi

made a gesture

-servility to the past, prejudice which prevents us from doing things differently, according to reas

, as if about to protest and as

could not restrain

om the past and

. I recognise present evils. I pray with all my heart for the new era. More tha

tainly do." And he added violently, "Why do you act as if you did not know it? If we wish to cure ourselves of oppression and

who had risen in great agitation and threw a look

right!" cri

ad drooped, and the old

ll was that he belonged to one or other of the two armies. He moaned and groaned and sobbed and shrieked and invented the most appalling cries. We listened to the sounds that he made in his agony, trying to find one word, the faintest accent, that would at least indicate his nationality. No use. Not a single intel

o attack oppression and

times afterward again,

strength to

young man, rising, wit

y he was

ld. I know that neither work nor material and moral prosperity, nor the noble refinements of progress, nor the wonders of art, need competition inspired by hate. In fact, I know that, on the contrary, these things are destroyed by arms. I know that the map of a country is composed of conventional lines and different names, that our innate love of self leads us closer to those that are like-minded than to those who belong to the same geographical group, and we are more truly compatriots of those who understand and love us and who are on the level

e same vision and

er, a c

grew animated, succu

upporting them. I know that the cure for an abuse does not begin until we refuse to submit to the cult that consecrates it. And I, who have devoted myself for half a

old. These ideas are too new for me. A man's intelligence is capable of holding only a certain quantum of new, creative ideas. When that amount is exhausted, whatever the progress around you may be, one ref

ncerity with equal sincerity, "you have publicly declared your disapproval of the men who pu

htened himself, an

for our country's

ropped from his great thoughts and was

r put in, "what

f have defied us. They have declared themselves ene

t over to his companion, and, in a firmer tone, asked, "How can the thing that is beginning help being revolutionary? Those who are the first to cry out are alone, and therefore ignored or despised. You yourself just said so. But poste

is forehead, and he clenched his fists in hate. "No, that is not the same thing. Besides, discussions like this lead nowhere.