Page 288 - madame-bovary

he added, suddenly assuming a mystic tone of voice while
he rolled a pinch of snuff between his fingers, ‘if the Church
has condemned the theatre, she must be right; we must sub-
mit to her decrees.’
‘Why,’ asked the druggist, ‘should she excommunicate
actors? For formerly they openly took part in religious cer-
emonies. Yes, in the middle of the chancel they acted; they
performed a kind of farce called ‘Mysteries,’ which often of-
fended against the laws of decency.’
The ecclesiastic contented himself with uttering a groan,
and the chemist went on—
‘It’s like it is in the Bible; there there are, you know, more
than one piquant detail, matters really libidinous!’
And on a gesture of irritation from Monsieur
Bournisien—
‘Ah! you’ll admit that it is not a book to place in the hands
of a young girl, and I should be sorry if Athalie—‘
‘But it is the Protestants, and not we,’ cried the other im-
patiently, ‘who recommend the Bible.’
‘No matter,’ said Homais. ‘I am surprised that in our days,
in this century of enlightenment, anyone should still persist
in proscribing an intellectual relaxation that is inoffensive,
moralising, and sometimes even hygienic; is it not, doctor?’
‘No doubt,’ replied the doctor carelessly, either because,
sharing the same ideas, he wished to offend no one, or else
because he had not any ideas.
The conversation seemed at an end when the chemist
thought fit to shoot a Parthian arrow.
‘I’ve known priests who put on ordinary clothes to go