From these elementary truths I easily deduced the others and the deistic Rosalie was soon made a Christian1. But by what means, I repeat, could I join a little practice to the morality? Rosalie, bound to obey her father, could at the very most do no more than display her disgust for him, and with a man like Rodin might that not become dangerous ? He was intractable; not one of my doctrines2 prevailed against him; but although I did not win him over, he for his part at least did not shake me.
However, such an academy, dangers so permanent, so real, caused me to tremble for Rosalie, so much so in fact that I could not find myself in any wise guilty in engaging her to fly from this perverse3 household. It seemed to me that to snatch her from her incestuous father were a lesser4 evil than to leave her prey5 to all the risks she must run by staying with him. I had already delicately hinted at the idea and perhaps I was not so very far from success when all of a sudden Rosalie vanished from the house; all my efforts to find out where she was failed. When I interrogated6 his women or Rodin himself I was told she had gone to pass the summer months with a relative who lived ten leagues away. When I made inquiries7 around the neighborhood, they were at first astonished to hear such a question from a member of the household, then, as had Rodin and his domestics, they would answer that she had been seen, everyone had bade her farewell the day before, the day she had left; I received the same replies everywhere. I asked Rodin why this departure had been kept secret from me; why had I not been allowed to accompany my mistress? He assured me the unique reason had been to avoid a scene difficult for both Rosalie and me, and that I would certainly see the person I loved very soon. I had to be content with these answers, but it was more difficult to be convinced of their truth. Was it presumable that Rosalie and how great was her affection for me I could have consented to leave me without so much as one word? and according to what I knew of Rodin's character, was there not much to fear for the poor girl's fate? I resolved to employ every device to learn what had become of her, and in order to find out, every means seemed justifiable8.
The following day, noticing I was alone in the house, I carefully investigated every corner of it; I thought I caught the sound of moans emanating9 from a very obscure cellar.... I approached; a pile of firewood seemed to be blocking a narrow door at the end of a passageway; by removing the obstructions10 I am able to advance... further noises are to be heard... I believe I detect a voice... I listen more carefully... I am in doubt no longer.
"Therese," I hear at last, "O Therese, is it you?"
"Yes, my dear, my most tender friend," I cry, recognizing Rosalie's accents.... "Yes, 'tis Therese Heaven sends to your rescue . . ."
And my numerous questions scarcely allow this interesting girl time to reply. At length I learn that several hours before her disappearance11, Rombeau, Rodin's friend and colleague, had examined her naked and that she had received an order from her father to ready herself to undergo, at Rombeau's hands, the same horrors Rodin exposed her to every day; that she had resisted; that Rodin, furious, had seized her and himself presented her to his companion's frantic12 attacks; that, next, the two men had spoken together in whispers for a very long time, leaving her naked the while, and periodically renewing their probings, they had continued to amuse themselves with her in the same criminal fashion and had maltreated her in a hundred different ways; that, after this session, which had lasted four or five hours, Rodin had finally said he was going to send her to the country to visit one of her family, but that she must leave at once and without speaking to Therese, for reasons he would explain the day afterward13, for he intended to join her immediately. He had given Rosalie to understand he meant to marry her and this accounted for the examination Rombeau had given her, which was to determine whether she were capable of becoming a mother. Rosalie had indeed left under an old woman's guardianship14; she had crossed through the town, in passing said farewell to several acquaintances; but immediately night had fallen, her conductress had led her back to her father's house; she had entered at midnight. Rodin, who was waiting for her, had seized her, had clapped his hand over her mouth to stifle15 her voice and, without a word, had plunged16 her into this cellar where, in truth, she had been decently well fed and looked after.
"I have everything to fear," the poor thing added; "my father's conduct toward me since he put me here, his discourses17, what preceded Rombeau's examination, everything, Therese, everything suggests that these monsters are going to use me in one of their experiments, and that your poor Rosalie is doomed18."
After copious19 tears had flowed from my eyes, I asked the unhappy girl whether she knew where the key to the cellar was kept; she did not; but she did not believe their custom was to take it with them. I sought for it everywhere; in vain; and by the time the hour arrived or me to return upstairs I had been able to give the dear child no more by way of aid than consoling words, a few hopes, and many tears. She made me swear to come back the next day; I promised, even assuring her that if by that time I had discovered nothing satisfactory regarding her, I would leave the house directly, fetch the police and extricate20 her, at no matter what price, from the terrible fate threatening her.
I went up; Rombeau was dining with Rodin that evening. Determined21 to stick at nothing to clarify my mistress' fate, I hid myself near the room where the two friends were at table, and their conversation was more than enough to convince me of the horror of the project wherewith both were occupied.
It was Rodin who was speaking: "Anatomy22 will never reach its ultimate state of perfection until an examination has been performed upon the vaginal canal of a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old child who has expired from a cruel death; it is only from the contingent23 contraction24 we can obtain a complete analysis of a so highly interesting part."
"The same holds true," Rombeau replied, "for the hymeneal membrane25; we must, of course, find a young girl for the dissection26. What the deuce is there to be seen after the age of puberty? nothing; the menstrual discharges rupture28 the hymen, and all research is necessarily inexact; your daughter is precisely29 what we need; although she is fifteen! she is not yet mature; the manner in which we have enjoyed her has done no damage to the membranous30 tissue, and we will be able to handle her with complete immunity31 from interference. I am delighted you have made up your mind at last."
"Oh, I certainly have," Rodin rejoined; "I find it odious32 that futile33 considerations check the progress of science; did great men ever allow themselves to be enslaved by such contemptible34 chains? And, when Michelangelo wished to render a Christ after Nature, did he make the crucifixion of a young man the occasion for a fit of remorse35? Why no: he copied the boy in his death agonies. But where it is a question of the advance of our art, how absolutely essential such means become I And how the evil in permitting them dwindles36 to insignificance37! Only think of it! you sacrifice one, but you save a million, perhaps; may one hesitate when the price is so modest? Is the murder operated by the law of a species different from the one we are going to perform? and is not the purpose of those laws, which are commonly found so wise, the sacrifice of one in order to save a thousand?"
"But what other way can one approach the problem?" Rombeau demanded; "there is certainly no other by which to obtain any information. In those hospitals where I worked as a young man I saw similar experiments by the thousand; but in view of the ties which attach you to this creature, I must confess I was afraid you would hesitate."
"What! because she is my daughter? A capital reason!" Rodin roared, "and what rank do you then fancy this title must allot38 her in my heart? I place roughly the same value (weighing the matter very nicely) upon a little semen which has hatched its chick, and upon that I am pleased to waste while enjoying myself. One has the power to take back what one has given; amongst no race that has ever dwelled upon earth has there been any disputing the right to dispose of one's children as one sees fit. The Persians, the Medes, the Armenians, the Greeks enjoyed this right in its fullest latitude39. The constitution decreed by Lycurgus, that paragon40 of lawgivers, not only accorded fathers every right over their offspring, but even condemned41 to death those children parents did not care to feed, or those which were discovered malformed. A great proportion of savage42 peoples kill their young immediately they are born. Nearly all the women of Asia, Africa, and America practice abortions43, and are not for that reason covered with discredit44; Cook discovered the custom widespread in all the South Sea islands. Romulus permitted infanticide; the law of the twelve tables similarly tolerated it and until the era of Constantine the Romans exposed or killed their children with impunity45. Aristotle recommended this pretended crime; the Stoic46 sect27 regarded it as praiseworthy; it is still very much in use in China. Every day one counts, lying in the streets and floating in the canals of Peking, more than ten thousand individuals immolated47 or abandoned by their parents, and in that wisely-governed empire whatever be the child's age, a father need but put it into the hands of a judge to be rid of it. According to the laws of the Parthians, one killed one's son, one's daughter, or one's brother, even at the age of nubility48; Caesar discovered the custom universal amongst the Gauls; several passages in the Pentateuch prove that amongst the children of God one was allowed to kill one's children; and, finally, God Himself ordered Abraham to do just that. It was long believed, declares a celebrated49 modern author, that the prosperity of empires depends upon the slavery of children; this opinion is supported by the healthiest logic50. Why! a monarch51 will fancy himself authorized52 to sacrifice twenty or thirty thousand of his subjects in a single day to achieve his own ends, and a father is not to be allowed, when he esteems53 it propitious54, to become the master of his children's lives! What absurdity55! O folly56! Oh what is this inconsistency, this feebleness in them upon whom such chains are binding57! A father's authority over his children, the only real one, the one that serves as basis to every other, that authority is dictated58 to us by the voice of Nature herself, and the intelligent study of her operations provides examples of it at every turn and instant. Czar Peter was in no doubt as to this right; he used it habitually59 and addressed a public declaration to all the orders of his empire, in which he said that, according to laws human and divine, a father had the entire and absolute right to sentence his children to death, without appeal and without consulting the opinion of anyone at all. It is nowhere but in our own barbarous France that a false and ludicrous pity has presumed to suppress this prerogative60. No," Rodin pursued with great feeling, "no, my friend, I will never understand how a father, who had the kindness to provide it with life, may not be at liberty to bestow61 death upon his issue. 'Tis the ridiculous value we attach to this life which eternally makes us speak drivel about the kind of deed to which a man resorts in order to disencumber himself of a fellow creature. Believing that existence is the greatest of all goods, we stupidly fancy we are doing something criminal when we convey someone away from its enjoyment62; but the cessation of this existence, or at least what follows it, is no more an evil than life is a good; or rather, if nothing dies, if nothing is destroyed, if nothing is lost to Nature, if all the decomposed63 parts of any body whatsoever64 merely await.dissolution to reappear immediately under new forms, how indifferent is this act of murder! and how dare one find any evil in it? In this connection I ought to act according to nothing but my own whim65; I ought to regard the thing as very simple indeed, especially so when it becomes necessary to an act of such vital importance to mankind... when it can furnish such a wealth of knowledge: henceforth it is an evil no longer, my friend, it is no longer a crime, no, not a petty misdemeanor, it is the best, the wisest, the most useful of all actions, and crime would exist only in refusing oneself the pleasure of committing it."
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1
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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interrogated
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| v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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emanating
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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obstructions
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| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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guardianship
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| n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
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stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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discourses
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| 论文( discourse的名词复数 )； 演说； 讲道； 话语 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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contraction
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| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
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membrane
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| n.薄膜，膜皮，羊皮纸 | |
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dissection
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| n.分析；解剖 | |
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sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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membranous
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| adj.膜的，膜状的 | |
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immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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dwindles
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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allot
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| v.分配；拨给；n.部分；小块菜地 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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abortions
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| n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育 | |
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discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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stoic
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| n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者 | |
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immolated
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| v.宰杀…作祭品( immolate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
nubility
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| n.适婚性 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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esteems
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| n.尊敬，好评( esteem的名词复数 )v.尊敬( esteem的第三人称单数 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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54
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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56
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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decomposed
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| 已分解的，已腐烂的 | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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