Page 556 - the-idiot

It is manifest that, pricked by remorse—for my client is re-
ligious, in his way, and has a conscience, as I shall prove
later—and desiring to extenuate his sin as far as possible, he
has tried six times at least to substitute lay nourishment for
clerical. That this was merely an experiment we can hard-
ly doubt: for if it had been only a question of gastronomic
variety, six would have been too few; why only six? Why
not thirty? But if we regard it as an experiment, inspired
by the fear of committing new sacrilege, then this number
six becomes intelligible. Six attempts to calm his remorse,
and the pricking of his conscience, would amply suffice, for
these attempts could scarcely have been happy ones. In my
humble opinion, a child is too small; I should say, not suf-
ficient; which would result in four or five times more lay
children than monks being required in a given time. The
sin, lessened on the one hand, would therefore be increased
on the other, in quantity, not in quality. Please understand,
gentlemen, that in reasoning thus, I am taking the point of
view which might have been taken by a criminal of the mid-
dle ages. As for myself, a man of the late nineteenth century,
I, of course, should reason differently; I say so plainly, and
therefore you need not jeer at me nor mock me, gentlemen.
As for you, general, it is still more unbecoming on your part.
In the second place, and giving my own personal opin-
ion, a child’s flesh is not a satisfying diet; it is too insipid,
too sweet; and the criminal, in making these experiments,
could have satisfied neither his conscience nor his appe-
tite. I am about to conclude, gentlemen; and my conclusion
contains a reply to one of the most important questions of