Page 308 - a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man

To discover the mode of life or of art whereby your spirit
could express itself in unfettered freedom.
Stephen raised his hat in acknowledgement.
—Freedom! Cranly repeated. But you are not free enough
yet to commit a sacrilege. Tell me would you rob?
—I would beg first, Stephen said.
—And if you got nothing, would you rob?
—You wish me to say, Stephen answered, that the rights of
property are provisional, and that in certain circumstances
it is not unlawful to rob. Everyone would act in that belief.
So I will not make you that answer. Apply to the jesuit theo-
logian, Juan Mariana de Talavera, who will also explain to
you in what circumstances you may lawfully Kill your king
and whether you had better hand him his poison in a goblet
or smear it for him upon his robe or his saddlebow. Ask me
rather would I suffer others to rob me, or if they did, would
I call down upon them what I believe is called the chastise-
ment of the secular arm?
—And would you?
—I think, Stephen said, it would pain me as much to do
so as to be robbed.
—I see, Cranly said.
He produced his match and began to clean the crevice
between two teeth. Then he said carelessly:
—Tell me, for example, would you deflower a virgin?
—Excuse me, Stephen said politely, is that not the ambi-
tion of most young gentlemen?
—What then is your point of view? Cranly asked.
His last phrase, sour smelling as the smoke of charcoal

308 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man