"Therese," Rodin said to me several days later, "I am going to install you near my daughter; in this way, you will avoid all frictions1 with the other two women, and I intend to give you three hundred pounds wages."
Such a post was, in my situation, a kind of godsend; inflamed2 by the desire to restore Rosalie to righteousness, and perhaps even her father too Were I able to attain3 some influence over him, I repented4 not of what I had just done... Rodin, having had me dress myself, conducted me at once to where his daughter was; Rosalie received me with effusions of joy, and I was promptly5 established.
Ere a week was gone by I had begun to labor6 at the conversions7 after which I thirsted, but Rodin's intransigence8 defeated all my efforts.
"Do not believe," was the response he made to my wise counsels, "that the kind of deference9 I showed to the virtue10 in you proves that I either esteem11 virtue or have the desire to favor it over vice12. Think nothing of the sort, Therese, 'twould be to deceive yourself; on the basis of what I have done in your regard, anyone who was to maintain, as consequential13 to my behavior, the importance or the necessity of virtue would fall into the very largest error, and sorry I would be were you to fancy that such is my fashion of thinking. The rustic14 hovel to which I repair for shelter when, during the hunt, the excessive heat of the sun's rays falls perpendicularly15 upon me, that hut is certainly not to be mistaken for a superior building: its worth is merely circumstantial: I am exposed to some sort of danger, I find something which affords protection, I use it, but is this something the grander on that account? can it be the less contemptible16? In a totally vicious society, virtue would be totally worthless; our societies not being entirely17 of this species, one must absolutely either play with virtue or make use of it so as to have less to dread18 from its faithful followers19. If no one adopts the virtuous20 way, it becomes useless; I am then not mistaken when I affirm that it owes its necessity to naught21 but opinion or circumstances; virtue is not some kind of mode whose value is incontestable, it is simply a scheme of conduct, a way of getting along, which varies according to accidents of geography and climate and which, consequently, has no reality, the which alone exhibits its futility22. Only what is constant is really good; what changes perpetually cannot claim that characterization: that is why they have declared that immutability23 belongs to the ranks of the Eternal's perfections; but virtue is completely without this quality: there is not, upon the entire globe, two races which are virtuous in the same manner; hence, virtue is not in any sense real, nor in any wise intrinsically good and in no sort deserves our reverence25. How is it to be employed? as a prop26, as a device: it is politic27 to adopt the virtue of the country one inhabits, so that those who practice it, either because they have a taste for it or who have to cultivate it because of their station, will leave you in peace, and so that this virtue which happens to be respected in your area will guarantee you, by its conventional preponderance, against the assaults delivered by them who profess28 vice. But, once again, all that is at the dictation of variable circumstances, and nothing in all that assigns a real merit to virtue. There are, furthermore, such virtues29 as are impossible to certain men; now, how are you going to persuade me that a virtue in conflict or in contradiction with the passions is to be found in Nature? And if it is not in Nature and natural; how can it be good? In those men we are speaking of there will certainly be vices30 opposed to these virtues, and these vices will be preferred by these men, since they will be the only modes... the only schemes of being which will be thoroughly31 agreeable to their peculiar32 physical constitutions or to their uncommon33 organs; in this hypothesis, there would then be some very useful vices: well, how can virtue be useful if you demonstrate to me that what is contrary to virtue is useful? In reply to that, one hears that virtue is useful to others, and that in this sense it is good; for if it is posited34 that I must do only what is good to others, in my turn I will receive only good. And this argument is pure sophistry35: in return for the small amount of good I receive at the hands of others thanks to the virtue they practice, my obligation to practice virtue in my turn causes me to make a million sacrifices for which I am in no wise compensated36. Receiving less than I give, I hence conclude a very disadvantageous bargain, I experience much more ill from the privations I endure in order to be virtuous, than I experience good from those who do it to me; the arrangement being not at all equitable37, I therefore must not submit to it, and certain, by being virtuous, not to cause others as much pleasure as I receive pain by compelling myself to be good, would it not be better to give up procuring38 them a happiness which must cost me so much distress39? There now remains40 the harm I may do others by being vicious and the evil I myself would suffer were everyone to resemble me. Were we to acknowledge an efficient circulation of vices, I am certainly running a grave danger, I concede it; but the grief experienced by what I risk is offset41 by the pleasure I receive from causing others to be menaced: and there! you see, equality is re-established: and everyone is more or less equally happy: which is not the case and cannot be the case in a society where some are good and others are bad, because, from this mixture, perpetual pitfalls42 result! and no pitfalls exist in the other instance. In the heterogeneous43 society, all interests are unalike: there you have the source of an infinite number of miseries44; in the contrary association, all interests are identical, each individual composing it is furnished with the same proclivities45, the same penchants, each one marches together with all the others and to the same goal; they are all happy. But, idiots complain to you, evil does not make for happiness. No, not when everyone has agreed to idolise good; but merely cease to prize, instead deflate, heap abuse upon what you call good, and you will no longer revere24 anything but what formerly46 you had the idiocy47 to call evil; and every man will have the pleasure of committing it not at all because it will be permitted (that might be, upon occasion, a reason for the diminishment of its appeal), but because the law will no longer punish it, and it is the law, through the fear it inspires, which lessens48 the pleasure Nature has seen to it we take in crime. I visualize49 a society where it will be generally admitted that incest (let us include this offense50 together with all the others), that incest, I say, is criminal: those who commit incest will be unhappy, because opinion, laws, beliefs, everything will concert to chill their pleasure; those who desist from doing this evil, those who, because of these restraints, will not dare, will be equally unhappy: thus, the law that proscribes51 incest will have done nothing but cause wretchedness. Now, I visualize another society neighboring the first; in this one incest is no crime at all: those who do not desist will not be unhappy, and those who desire it will be happy. Hence, the society which permits this act will be better suited to mankind than the one in which the act is represented as a crime; the same pertains52 to all other deeds clumsily denominated criminal; regard them from this point of view, and you create crowds of unhappy persons; permit them, and not a complaint is to be heard; for he who cherishes this act, whatever it happens to be, goes about performing it in peace and quiet, and he who does not care for it either remains in a kind of neutral indifference53 toward it, which is certainly not painful, or finds restitution54 for the hurt he may have sustained by resorting to a host of other injuries wherewith in his turn he belabors55 whosoever has aggrieved56 him: thus everyone in a criminal society is either very happy indeed, or else in a paradise of unconcern; consequently, there's nothing good, nothing respectable, nothing that can bring about happiness in what they call virtue. Let those who follow the virtuous track be not boastingly proud of the concessions57 wrung58 from us by the structural59 peculiarities60 of our society; 'tis purely61 a matter of circumstance, an accident of convention that the homages demanded of us take a virtuous form; but in fact, this worship is a hallucination, and the virtue which obtains a little pious62 attention for a moment is not on that account the more noble."
Such was the infernal logic63 of Rodin's wretched passions; but Rosalie, gentle and less corrupt64, Rosalie, detesting65 the horrors to which she was submitted, was a more docile66 auditor67 and more receptive to my opinions. I had the most ardent68 desire to bring her to discharge her primary religious duties; but we would have been obliged to confide69 in a priest, and Rodin would not have one in the house; he beheld70 them, and the beliefs they professed71, with horror: nothing in the world would have induced him to suffer one to come near his daughter; to lead the girl to a confessor was equally impossible: Rodin never allowed Rosalie to go abroad unless he accompanied her. We were therefore constrained72 to bide73 our time until some occasion might present itself; and while we waited I instructed the young person; by giving her a taste for virtue, I inspired in her another for Religion, I revealed to her its sacred dogmas and its sublime74 mysteries, and I so intimately attached these two sentiments to her youthful heart that I rendered them indispensable to her life's happiness.
"O Mademoiselle," I said one day, my eyes welling with tears at her compunction, "can man blind himself to the point of believing that he is not destined75 to some better end? Is not the fact he has been endowed with the capacity of consciousness of his God sufficient evidence that this blessing76 has not been accorded him save to meet the responsibilities it imposes? Well, what may be the foundation of the veneration77 we owe the Eternal, if it is not that virtue of which He is the example? Can the Creator of so many wonders have other than good laws? And can our hearts be pleasing unto Him if their element is not good? It seems to me that, for sensitive spirits, the only valid78 motives79 for loving that Supreme80 Being must be those gratitude81 inspires. Is it not a favor thus to have caused us to enjoy the beauties of this Universe ? and do we not owe Him some gratitude in return for such a blessing? But a yet stronger reason establishes, confirms the universal chain of our duties; why should we refuse to fulfill82 those required by His decrees, since they are the very same which consolidate83 our happiness amongst mortals? Is it not sweet to feel that one renders oneself worthy84 of the Supreme Being simply by practicing those virtues which must bring about our contentment on earth, and that the means which render us worthy to live amongst our brethren are the identical ones which give us the assurance of a rebirth, in the life still to come, close by the throne of God! Ah, Rosalie! how blind are they who would strive to ravish away this our hope! Mistaken, benighted85, seduced86 by their wretched passions, they prefer to deny eternal verities87 rather than abandon what may render them deserving of them. They would rather say, 'These people deceive us,' than admit they deceive themselves; the lingering thought of what they are preparing themselves to lose troubles them in their low riot and sport; it seems to them less dreadful to annihilate88 hope of Heaven, than to be deprived of what would acquire it for them! But when those tyrannical passions finally weaken and fade in them, when the veil is torn away, when there is no longer anything left in their disease-eaten hearts to counter the imperious voice of that God their delirium89 disregardingly misprized, Oh Rosalie! what must it be, this cruel awakening90 I and how much its accompanying remorse91 must inflate92 the price to be paid for the instant's error that blinded them I Such is the condition wherein man has got to be in order to construe93 his proper conduct: 'tis neither when in drunkenness, nor when in the transport produced by a burning fever, he ought to be believed or his sayings marked, but when his reason is calmed and enjoys its full lucid94 energy he must seek after the truth, 'tis then he divines and sees it. 'Tis then with all our being we yearn95 after that Sacred One of Whom we were once so neglectful; we implore96 Him, He becomes our whole solace97; we pray to Him, He hears our entreaties98. Ah, why then should I deny Him, why should I be unheeding of this Object so necessary to happiness? Why should I prefer to say with the misguided man, There is no God, while the heart of the reasoning part of human- kind every instant offers me proofs of this Divine Being's existence? Is it then better to dream amongst the mad than rightly to think with the wise? All derives99 nevertheless from this initial principle: immediately there exists a God, this God deserves to be worshiped, and the primary basis of this worship indisputably is Virtue."
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frictions
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| n.摩擦( friction的名词复数 )；摩擦力；冲突；不和 | |
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inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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conversions
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| 变换( conversion的名词复数 )； （宗教、信仰等）彻底改变； （尤指为居住而）改建的房屋； 橄榄球（触地得分后再把球射中球门的）附加得分 | |
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intransigence
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| n.妥协的态度；强硬 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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consequential
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| adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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immutability
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| n.不变(性) | |
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revere
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| vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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posited
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| v.假定，设想，假设( posit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sophistry
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| n.诡辩 | |
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compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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equitable
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| adj.公平的；公正的 | |
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procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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offset
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| n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿 | |
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pitfalls
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| （捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误 | |
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heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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proclivities
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| n.倾向，癖性( proclivity的名词复数 ) | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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lessens
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| 变少( lessen的第三人称单数 )； 减少（某事物） | |
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visualize
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| vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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proscribes
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| v.正式宣布（某事物）有危险或被禁止( proscribe的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pertains
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| 关于( pertain的第三人称单数 )； 有关； 存在； 适用 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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restitution
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| n.赔偿；恢复原状 | |
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belabors
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| vt.毒打一顿（belabor的第三人称单数形式） | |
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aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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structural
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| adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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detesting
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的现在分词 ) | |
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docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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auditor
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| n.审计员，旁听着 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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consolidate
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| v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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benighted
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| adj.蒙昧的 | |
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seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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verities
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| n.真实( verity的名词复数 )；事实；真理；真实的陈述 | |
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annihilate
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| v.使无效；毁灭；取消 | |
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delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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inflate
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| vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价） | |
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construe
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| v.翻译，解释 | |
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lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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yearn
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| v.想念；怀念；渴望 | |
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implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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