登陆注册
15460400000004

第4章 CHAPTER I(4)

Then, whatever be his strength, his cleverness, his knowledge of the world, he undergoes convulsions, in which he is crushed as between two gates. For my part, I like the peaceful chances and changes of life; Iwant that wholesome existence in which we find a woman always at our side.""A trifle indecorous, your marriage!" exclaimed de Marsay.

Paul was not to be put out of countenance, and continued: "Laugh if you like; I shall feel myself a happy man when my valet enters my room in the morning and says: 'Madame is awaiting monsieur for breakfast';happier still at night, when I return to find a heart--""Altogether indecorous, my dear Paul. You are not yet moral enough to marry.""--a heart in which to confide my interests and my secrets. I wish to live in such close union with a woman that our affection shall not depend upon a yes or a no, or be open to the disillusions of love. In short, I have the necessary courage to become, as you say, a worthy husband and father. I feel myself fitted for family joys; I wish to put myself under the conditions prescribed by society; I desire to have a wife and children.""You remind me of a hive of honey-bees! But go your way, you'll be a dupe all your life. Ha, ha! you wish to marry to have a wife! In other words, you wish to solve satisfactorily to your own profit the most difficult problem invented by those bourgeois morals which were created by the French Revolution; and, what is more, you mean to begin your attempt by a life of retirement. Do you think your wife won't crave the life you say you despise? Will SHE be disgusted with it, as you are? If you won't accept the noble conjugality just formulated for your benefit by your friend de Marsay, listen, at any rate, to his final advice. Remain a bachelor for the next thirteen years; amuse yourself like a lost soul; then, at forty, on your first attack of gout, marry a widow of thirty-six. Then you may possibly be happy. If you now take a young girl to wife, you'll die a madman.""Ah ca! tell me why!" cried Paul, somewhat piqued.

"My dear fellow," replied de Marsay, "Boileau's satire against women is a tissue of poetical commonplaces. Why shouldn't women have defects? Why condemn them for having the most obvious thing in human nature? To my mind, the problem of marriage is not at all at the point where Boileau puts it. Do you suppose that marriage is the same thing as love, and that being a man suffices to make a wife love you? Have you gathered nothing in your boudoir experience but pleasant memories?

I tell you that everything in our bachelor life leads to fatal errors in the married man unless he is a profound observer of the human heart. In the happy days of his youth a man, by the caprice of our customs, is always lucky; he triumphs over women who are all ready to be triumphed over and who obey their own desires. One thing after another--the obstacles created by the laws, the sentiments and natural defences of women--all engender a mutuality of sensations which deceives superficial persons as to their future relations in marriage, where obstacles no longer exist, where the wife submits to love instead of permitting it, and frequently repulses pleasure instead of desiring it. Then, the whole aspect of a man's life changes. The bachelor, who is free and without a care, need never fear repulsion;in marriage, repulsion is almost certain and irreparable. It may be possible for a lover to make a woman reverse an unfavorable decision, but such a change, my dear Paul, is the Waterloo of husbands. Like Napoleon, the husband is thenceforth condemned to victories which, in spite of their number, do not prevent the first defeat from crushing him. The woman, so flattered by the perseverance, so delighted with the ardor of a lover, calls the same things brutality in a husband.

You, who talk of marrying, and who will marry, have you ever meditated on the Civil Code? I myself have never muddied my feet in that hovel of commentators, that garret of gossip, called the Law-school. I have never so much as opened the Code; but I see its application on the vitals of society. The Code, my dear Paul, makes woman a ward; it considers her a child, a minor. Now how must we govern children? By fear. In that one word, Paul, is the curb of the beast. Now, feel your own pulse! Have you the strength to play the tyrant,--you, so gentle, so kind a friend, so confiding; you, at whom I have laughed, but whom I love, and love enough to reveal to you my science? For this is science. Yes, it proceeds from a science which the Germans are already calling Anthropology. Ah! if I had not already solved the mystery of life by pleasure, if I had not a profound antipathy for those who think instead of act, if I did not despise the ninnies who are silly enough to believe in the truth of a book, when the sands of the African deserts are made of the ashes of I know not how many unknown and pulverized Londons, Romes, Venices, and Parises, I would write a book on modern marriages made under the influence of the Christian system, and I'd stick a lantern on that heap of sharp stones among which lie the votaries of the social 'multiplicamini.' But the question is, Does humanity require even an hour of my time? And besides, isn't the more reasonable use of ink that of snaring hearts by writing love-letters?--Well, shall you bring the Comtesse de Manerville here, and let us see her?""Perhaps," said Paul.

"We shall still be friends," said de Marsay.

"If--" replied Paul.

"Don't be uneasy; we will treat you politely, as Maison-Rouge treated the English at Fontenoy."

同类推荐
  • 开天传信记

    开天传信记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 释迦如来降生礼赞文

    释迦如来降生礼赞文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 五灯会元

    五灯会元

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 金锁流珠引

    金锁流珠引

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Okewood of the Secret Service

    Okewood of the Secret Service

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 守护甜心之喵星人的爱恋

    守护甜心之喵星人的爱恋

    【已完结】“只要是你,我都喜欢。”“无论你变成什么样子,叫什么名字,还记不记得我,我都会一直喜欢你。”“一直一直喜欢你。”
  • TFBOYS之陪伴着他一生

    TFBOYS之陪伴着他一生

    我只希望陪伴他左右一生,哪怕他没有发现我,哪怕他不允许我陪伴他,哪怕他的身边不是我,我也要陪伴他守护他一辈子,即使世界末日来了,我也一定会守护他一辈子
  • 乱世蛟龙

    乱世蛟龙

    如果豪迈的左宗棠和大气的曾国藩作为对手的存在,孰优孰劣?文武双全的石达开在战场上碰到勇猛的李秀成,最后的胜利者会是谁?李诚有幸见证了他们碰撞出的璀璨火花!
  • 兽魂塔

    兽魂塔

    召唤!召唤!召唤!不属于这个世界的寒武意外发现自己具有无限制召唤魔兽的实力,并就此展开了一段旅途......
  • 重生第一千金

    重生第一千金

    陆倾雪,二十一世纪,隐士医仙世家的下任掌门命定继承人。一手金针舞得出神入化医术无双,然惨遭灭门。入俗世,躲仇人,隐身世。身无分文的她,赶上微商崛起好时光。毅然加入,建团队,创公司。得报仇之日,亦是身死穿越时。百里倾雪,盛世王朝,肤黑貌丑,胆小懦弱,自小患忧郁症,怕见生,百里将军府人人疼宠的丑小姐。一朝出门,被人暗杀勒脖子而死。当她穿越而来,代替她成了“她”之时,七色凤星亮,四海惊,天下倾,属于她一生的传奇,此刻,开启---情景一:百里倾雪冷着脸,看着某红衣美男不顾形象的又扯过那剩下的唯一一只野鸡腿猛啃,嘴角忍不住的抽了抽。心里暗道:这得多饿,多无耻,才吃得这么欢这么理所当然。她可还饿着呢,且,这野鸡还是她辛辛苦苦好不容易抓到的。还好不容易才烤熟,现在,居然被啃得差不多了,你说这气人不气人。百里倾雪那本就黑的脸又黑了一分,用仅剩下的那点力气狠狠的踹了一脚那无耻红衣男。寒声道:“放下鸡,不然,我让你再死上一死。“某红衣男被踹本就火大。听到此,似是想到什么不吭声了,翻身抬头狠瞪了百里倾雪一眼,心情莫名的又好了。这才咧着嘴说道:“嘿,丑奴,爷还没有吃饱呢。这么---“他们的相遇,从抢夺一只鸡腿开始---情景二:南宫辕天看着怀中挣扎的百里倾雪那倾城容貌,脑子闪过什么心里阵阵心猿意马。但,想到她胆敢忤逆自己。脸上闪过狠色遂不屑的哼道:“百里倾雪,本王现在看上你了,本王答应许你侧妃之位,不要再玩欲擒故纵的游戏了。“百里倾雪听完南宫辕天那仿佛恩赐般的话,也不挣扎了。面无表情抬头邪邪娇笑一声:“我对猪不感兴趣。“话完瞬间就轻松的退离了南宫辕天的禁锢。然,下一秒则听到南宫辕天咬牙切齿嗜血的对着百里倾雪的背影阴毒的吼叫:“你,你,你个贱人,竟然给本王下药。敬酒不吃吃罚酒,本王发誓一定要娶你然后狠狠的折磨你到死﹍﹍“他们的恩怨再次升级---情景三:“小雪,你只能嫁给朕。不然,朕定要屠尽这城内之人血流成河,誓不罢休。”西门绝迷恋的紧盯着城门上的那抹背对着的绝色红,嘴角缓缓吐出那冰冷令人胆寒的威胁话语。百里倾雪终于转身看向城下的西门绝,声音比地狱罗刹还要冷上几分:“威胁我的人,你知道什么下场吗?死,死,死﹍﹍所以,你该死﹍﹍”他们从东到西,从西到东,从南到北,从北到南。他们﹍﹍他们﹍﹍从那一日起便纠缠在一起﹍﹍男强女强,男配女配绝对炮灰。V:2797188285
  • 妈咪我有两个爸爸

    妈咪我有两个爸爸

    放着总裁不当,去演戏。就为了他暗恋十年的女生。“Boss,韩小姐她回国了。身边有个男的”“跟我去机场”……
  • 末世空间之最强商女

    末世空间之最强商女

    末世来临,所有人都成废材。是投靠军队,还是加入秘密组织。异能修成的路,是重重难渡的天堑。但她面对蝼蚁般逃生的世人,毅然地挑起重担。随我者,得生存。面对不再是旧日的家园,涌现不断的丧尸,她该往哪里去?风雨之中,她伫立不倒。无意中得空间,物资源源不断而来。有异宝,开良田。末世当中,不再是任人宰割,而是傲视天下。(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)
  • 魔契約

    魔契約

    你愿意用你的仇恨换取长生不老吗,如果愿意那么从今日起你就是我的魔契
  • 杀手与医生

    杀手与医生

    一个机缘巧合变得长生不死的医生,遇上一个未成年的女杀手,从此开启变态的人生
  • 悠闲岛主

    悠闲岛主

    当黑帮大佬成了悠闲岛主,会是怎样一副另类情形?蓝天、阳光、沙滩、海浪…却有着另外一面诙谐的场景。“我的目标…是让崇阳岛成为中国的超级大城!下一个香港!中国的迪拜!”李阳深吸了口烟,缓缓吐出烟圈,微笑道。(轻松文,新书上传,求收藏求推荐!)