"The devil take you with your harping on this egotism! I am not in the
least more stupid than you, you beast, and I cannot understand what
you find so saintly in hatred!"
Magnus frowned:
"First of all: don't shout or I'll throw you out. Do you hear? Yes,
perhaps you are no more stupid than I am, but man's business is
not your business. Do you realize that, you beast? In blowing up
things, I only intend to do business and you want to be the ruler
of another's plant. Let them steal and break down the machinery and
you--you will be concerned only about your salary and the respect
due you? And I--I won't stand that! All this,"--he swept the room
with a broad gesture--"is my plant, _mine_, do you hear, and it is I
who will be robbed. I will be robbed and injured. And I hate those
who rob me. What would you have done, in the long run, with your
billions, if I had not taken them from you? Built conservatories and
raised heirs--for the perpetuation of your kind? Private yachts and
diamonds for your wife? And I...give me all the gold on earth and
I will throw it all into the flames of my hatred. And all because I
have been insulted! When you see a hunchback you throw him a lire. So
that he may continue to bear his hump, yes? And I want to destroy
him, to kill him, to burn him like a crooked log. To whom do you
appeal when you are fooled or when a dog bites your finger? To your
wife, the police, public opinion? But suppose the wife, with the aid
of your butler, plants horns on your head or public opinion fails
to understand you and instead of pitying you prefers to give you a
thrashing--then do you make your appeal to God? But I, I go to no one.
I plead before no one, but neither do I forgive. You understand? I
do not forgive! Only egotists forgive! I consider myself personally
insulted!"
I heard him in silence. Perhaps it was because I was so close to the
fireplace, gazing into the fire and listening to Magnus's words, each
new word intermingled with a fresh blaze of a burning log; no sooner
would the glowing red mass fall apart than the words, too, would break
up into particles, like hot coals. My head was not at all clear and,
under the influence of these burning, flaming, flying words I fell
into a strange, dark drowsiness. But this was what my memory retained:
"Oh, if you could only hate! If you were not so cowardly and weak of
soul! I would take you with me and would let you behold a fire which
would forever dry your miserable tears and burn your sentimental
dreams to ashes! Do you hear the song of the fools of the world? They
are merely loading the cannons. The wise man need only apply the fire
to the fuse, you understand? Could you behold calmly the sight of a
blissful sheep and hungry snake lying together, separated only by a
thin partition? I could not! I would drill just a little opening, a
little opening...the rest they would do themselves. Do you know that
from the union of truth and falsehood comes an explosion? I want to
unite. I shall do nothing myself: I shall only _complete_ what they
have begun. Do you hear how merrily they sing? I will make them dance,
too! Come with me, comrade! You sought some sort of a play--let me
give you an extraordinary spectacle! We shall bring the whole earth
into action and millions of marionettes will begin to caper obediently
at our command: you know not yet how talented and obliging they
are. It will be a splendid play and will give you much pleasure and
amusement...."
A large log fell apart and split into many sparks and hot cinders.
The flame subsided, growing morose and red. A silent heat emanated
from the dimmed, smoke-smeared hearth. It burned my face and suddenly
there arose before me my puppets' show. The heat and fire had conjured
up a mirage. I seemed to hear the crash of drums and the gay ring of
cymbals, while the merry clown turned on his head at the sight of the
broken skulls of the dolls. The broken heads continued to pile up.
Then I saw the scrap heap, with two motionless little legs protruding
from the heap of rubbish. They wore rose slippers. And the drums
continued beating: tump-tump-tump. And I said pensively:
"I think it will hurt them."
And behind my back rang out the contemptuous and indifferent reply:
"Quite possibly."
"Tump-tump-tump...."
"It is all the same to you, Wondergood, but I cannot! Can't you see:
I cannot permit every miserable biped to call himself a man. There
are too many of them, already. They multiply like rabbits, under the
stimulus of physicians and laws. Death, deceived, cannot handle them
all. It is confused and seems to have lost its dignity and moral
authority. It is wasting its time in dancing halls. I hate them. It
has become repulsive to me to walk upon this earth, fallen into the
power of a strange, strange species. We must suspend the law, at least
temporarily, and let death have its fling. However, they themselves
will see to this. No, not I, but they, will do it. Think not that I am
particularly cruel, no--I am only logical. I am only the conclusion,
the symbol of equality, the sum total, the line beneath the column of
figures. You may call it Ergo, Magnus, Ergo! They say: 'two and two'
and I reply: 'four.' Exactly four. Imagine that the world has suddenly
grown cold and immovable for a moment and you behold some such
picture: here is a free and careless head and above it--a suspended
axe. Here is a mass of powder and here a spark about to fall upon it.
But it has stopped and does not fall. Here is a heavy structure, set
upon a single, undermined foundation. But everything has grown rigid
and the foundation holds. Here is a breast and here a hand aiming a
bullet at it. Have I prepared all this? I merely touch the lever and
press it down. The axe falls upon the laughing head and crushes it.
The spark falls into the powder--all is off! The building crashes to
the ground. The bullet pierces the ready breast. And I--I have merely
touched the lever, I, Magnus Ergo! Think: would I be able to kill had
I at my disposal only violins or other musical instruments?"