The Magic Mountain Part 28

revival are personality, freedom, and the rights of man."

The listeners heaved each a deep sigh-they had been holding their breaths during Herr Settembrini's great replication. Hans Castorp did not let himself go altogether, yet could not refrain from slapping the edge of the table with his hand. "Magnificent," he said, between clenched teeth. Joachim too evinced lively approval, despite the word Herr Settembrini had let fall about Prussianism. Both of them turned toward the antagonist who had just suffered this crushing rebuff- Hans Castorp with such eagerness that he fell unconsciously into the very posture he had taken at the pigdrawing, his elbows on the table and his chin in his palm, and peered in suspense into Herr Naphta's face.

And Naphta sat there, tense and motionless, his lean hands in his lap. He said: "I try to introduce a little logic into the debate, and you answer me with lofty sentiments. I was already tolerably well aware that what is called liberalism-individualism the humanistic conception of citizenship-was the product of the Renaissance. But the fact leaves me entirely cold, realizing as I do that your great heroic age is a thing of the past its ideals defunct, or at least lying at their latest gasp, while the feet of those who will deal them the coup de grace coup de grace are already before the door. You call yourself, if I am not mistaken, a revolutionist. But you err in holding that future revolutions will issue in freedom. In the past five hundred years, the principle of freedom has outlived its usefulness. An educational system which still conceives itself as a child of the age of enlightenment, with criticism as its chosen medium of instruction, the liberation and cult of the ego the solvent of forms of life which are absolutely fixed-such a system may still, for a time, reap an empty rhetorical advantage; but its reactionary character is, to the initiated, clear beyond any doubt All educational organizations worthy of the name have always recognized what must be the ultimate and significant principle of pedagogy: namely the absolute mandate, the iron bond, discipline, sacrifice, the renunciation of the ego, the curbing of the personality. And lastly, it is an unloving miscomprehension of youth to believe that it finds its pleasure in freedom: its deepest pleasure lies in obedience." are already before the door. You call yourself, if I am not mistaken, a revolutionist. But you err in holding that future revolutions will issue in freedom. In the past five hundred years, the principle of freedom has outlived its usefulness. An educational system which still conceives itself as a child of the age of enlightenment, with criticism as its chosen medium of instruction, the liberation and cult of the ego the solvent of forms of life which are absolutely fixed-such a system may still, for a time, reap an empty rhetorical advantage; but its reactionary character is, to the initiated, clear beyond any doubt All educational organizations worthy of the name have always recognized what must be the ultimate and significant principle of pedagogy: namely the absolute mandate, the iron bond, discipline, sacrifice, the renunciation of the ego, the curbing of the personality. And lastly, it is an unloving miscomprehension of youth to believe that it finds its pleasure in freedom: its deepest pleasure lies in obedience."

Joachim sat up straight. Hans Castorp reddened. Herr Settembrini excitedly twisted his fine moustache.

"No," Naphta went on. "Liberation and development of the individual are not the key to our age, they are not what our age demands. What it needs, what it wrestles after, what it will create-is Terror."

He uttered the last word lower than the rest; without a motion of his body. Only his eye-gla.s.ses suddenly flashed. All three of them, as they heard it, jumped, even Herr Settembrini, who, however, promptly collected himself and smiled.

"And may one ask," he queried, "whom, or what-you see I am all question, I ask even how to ask-whom, or what you envisage as the bringer of this-this-I repeat the word with some unwillingness-this Terror?"

Naphta sat motionless, flashing like a drawn blade. He said: "I am at your service. I believe I do not err in a.s.suming our agreement in the conception of an original ideal state of man, a condition without government and without force, an unmediated condition as the child of G.o.d, in which there was neither lordship nor service, neither law nor penalty, nor sin nor relation after the flesh; no distinction of cla.s.ses, no work, no property: nothing but equality, brotherhood, and moral perfect.i.tude."

"Very good. I agree," declared Settembrini. "I agree with everything except the relations after the flesh, which obviously must at all times have subsisted, since man is a highly developed vertebrate, and, like other creatures of his kind-"

"As you like. I am merely stating our fundamental agreement with respect to theoriginal, paradisial state of man, his freedom from law, and his unmediated relation with G.o.d, which state was lost to him by his fall. I believe we may go side by side for another few steps of the way: in that we both explain the State as a social contract, taking account of the Fall and entered into as a safeguard against evil, and that we both see in it the origin of sovereign power-"

"Benissimo!" cried Settembrini. "Social contract-why, that is Enlightenment, that is Rousseau. I had no idea-" cried Settembrini. "Social contract-why, that is Enlightenment, that is Rousseau. I had no idea-"

"One moment, pray. We part company here. All power and all control was originally vested in the people, who made it over, together with the right to make laws, to their princes. But from this your school deduces in the first instance the right of the people to revolt from the monarchy. Whereas we, on the contrary-"

"We?" thought Hans Castorp, breathlessly. "Who are 'we'? I must certainly ask Settembrini afterwards, whom he means by 'we.' "

"We, for our part," Naphta was saying, "perhaps no less revolutionary than you, have consistently deduced the supremacy of the Church over the secular power. The temporal nature of the power of the State is, as it were, written on its forehead; but even if it were not, it would be enough to point to the historical fact that its authority goes back to the will of the people, whereas that of the Church rests upon the divine sanction, to establish its character as a device which, if not precisely contrived by the power of evil, is nevertheless a faulty and inadequate makeshift." "The State, my dear sir-"

"I am acquainted with your views on the subject of the national State. As your Virgil has it: 'Fatherland-love conquers all, and hunger unsated for glory.' You add the corrective of a somewhat liberal individualism-that is democracy, but it leaves quite untouched your fundamental relation to the State. That the soul of democracy is the power of money, apparently does not impugn it-or would you deny the fact? Antiquity was capitalistic, because of its State cult. The Christian Middle Ages clearly recognized the inherent capitalism of the secular State: 'Money will be emperor' is a prophecy made in the eleventh century. Would you deny that it has now literally come to pa.s.s, and with it the utter bedevilment of life in general?"

"My dear friend, you have the floor. I am only eager to make the acquaintance of the Great Unknown, the bringer of the Terror."

"A perilous curiosity on your part, as the spokesman of a cla.s.s of society which has acted as the standard-bearer of freedom-considering it is that very freedom that has dragged the world to the brink of destruction. Your goal is the democratic Imperium, the apotheosis of the principle of the national State in that of the universal, the WorldState. And the emperor of this World-State? Your Utopia is monstrous-and yet, at this point, we find ourselves to a certain extent again on common ground. For your capitalistic world-republic is, in truth, transcendental in character; the World-State is the secular State transcended; and we unite in the faith that the final, perfected State, lying dim upon the far horizon, should correspond to man's original, primitive perfection. Since the time of Gregory the Great, the founder of the State of G.o.d, the Church has always regarded it as her task to bring mankind back under the divine guidance. Gregory's claim to temporal power was put forward not for its own sake, but rather because his delegated dictatorship was to be the means and the way to the goal of redemption-a transitional stage between the pagan State and the heavenly kingdom. You have spoken to your pupils here of the b.l.o.o.d.y deeds of the Church, her chastis.e.m.e.nts and her intolerance; very foolishly so, for it stands to reason that the zeal of the G.o.dly cannot be pacifistic in character-Gregory himself said: 'Cursed be the man who holds back his sword from the shedding of blood.' That power is evil we know. But if the kingdom is to come, then it is necessary that the dualism between good and evil, between power and the spirit, here and hereafter, must be for the time abrogated to make way for a single principle, which shall unify asceticism and domination. This is what I mean by the necessity for the Terror." "But the standard-bearer, the standard-bearer?"

"Do you still ask? Is your Manchester liberalism unaware of the existence of a school of economic thought which means the triumph of man over economics, and whose principles and aims precisely coincide with those of the kingdom of G.o.d? The Fathers of the Church called mine and thine pernicious words, and private property usurpation and robbery. They repudiated the idea of personal possessions, because, according to divine and natural law, the earth is common to all men, and brings forth her fruits for the common good. They taught that avarice, a consequence of the Fall, represents the rights of property and is the source of private ownership. They were humane enough, anti-commercial enough, to feel that all commercial activity was a danger to the soul of man and its salvation. They hated money and finance, and called the empire of capital fuel for the fires of h.e.l.l. The fundamental economic principle that price is regulated by the operation of the law of supply and demand, they have always despised from the bottom of their hearts; and condemned taking advantage of chance as a cynical exploitation of a neighbour's need. Even more nefarious, in their eyes, was the exploitation of time; the montrousness of receiving a premium for the pa.s.sage of time-interest, in other words-and misusing to one's own advantage and another's disadvantage a universal and G.o.d-given dispensation."

"Benissimo!" cried Hans Castorp, in his excitement availing himself of Herr Settembrini's formula of a.s.sent. "The time-a universal, G.o.d-given dispensation! That is highly important." cried Hans Castorp, in his excitement availing himself of Herr Settembrini's formula of a.s.sent. "The time-a universal, G.o.d-given dispensation! That is highly important."

"Quite," said Naphta. "Indeed, these humane spirits were revolted by the idea of the automatic increase of money; they regarded as usury every kind of interest-taking and speculation, and declared that every rich man was either a thief or the heir of a thief. They went further. Like Thomas Aquinas, they considered trade, pure and simple, buying and selling for profit, without altering or improving the product, a contemptible occupation. They were not inclined to place a very high value on labour in and for itself, as being an ethical, not a religious concern, and performed not in the service of G.o.d, but as a part of the business of living. This being the case, they demanded that the measure of profit or of public esteem should be in proportion to the actual labour expended, and accordingly it was not the tradesman or the industrialist, but the labourer and the tiller of the soil, who were honourable in their eyes. For they were in favour of making production dependent upon necessity, and held ma.s.s production in abhorrence. Now, then: after centuries of disfavour these principles and standards are being resurrected by the modern movement of communism. The similarity is complete, even to the claim for world-domination made by international labour as against international industry and finance; the world-proletariat, which is today a.s.serting the ideals of the Civitas Dei Civitas Dei in opposition to the discredited and decadent standards of the capitalistic bourgeoisie. The dictatorship of the proletariat, the politico-economic means of salvation demanded by our age, does not mean domination for its own sake and in perpetuity; but rather in the sense of a temporary abrogation, in the Sign of the Cross, of the contradiction between spirit and force; in the sense of overcoming the world by mastering it; in a transcendental, a transitional sense, in the sense of the Kingdom. The proletariat has taken up the task of Gregory the Great, his religious zeal burns within it, and as little as he may it withhold its hand from the shedding of blood. Its task is to strike terror into the world for the healing of the world, that man may finally achieve salvation and deliverance, and win back at length to freedom from law and from distinction of cla.s.ses, to his original status as child of G.o.d." in opposition to the discredited and decadent standards of the capitalistic bourgeoisie. The dictatorship of the proletariat, the politico-economic means of salvation demanded by our age, does not mean domination for its own sake and in perpetuity; but rather in the sense of a temporary abrogation, in the Sign of the Cross, of the contradiction between spirit and force; in the sense of overcoming the world by mastering it; in a transcendental, a transitional sense, in the sense of the Kingdom. The proletariat has taken up the task of Gregory the Great, his religious zeal burns within it, and as little as he may it withhold its hand from the shedding of blood. Its task is to strike terror into the world for the healing of the world, that man may finally achieve salvation and deliverance, and win back at length to freedom from law and from distinction of cla.s.ses, to his original status as child of G.o.d."

Thus Naphta. The little group was silent. The young men looked to Herr Settembrini. It was, they felt, his affair.

He said: "Astounding. I am staggered-I admit it. I had not expected this. Roma Roma locuta locuta. Rome has spoken, and how-how has she spoken! Herr Naphta has before our eyes performed a hieratic salto mortale- salto mortale-if the epithet is inconsistent, the inconsistency has been 'temporarily abrogated'-oh, yes! I repeat, it is astounding. Could you conceive, Professor, of any possible criticism, if only on the score of consistency? A few minutes ago you were at pains to make comprehensible to us a Christian individualism based on the dualism of G.o.d and the world, and to prove its pre-eminence over all politically determined morality. And now you profess a socialism pushed to the point of dictatorship and terrorism. How do you reconcile the two things?" "Opposites," said Naphta, "may be consistent with each other. It is the middling, the neither-one-thing-nor-the-other that is preposterous. Your individualism, as I have already taken the liberty of remarking, is defective. It is a confession of weakness. It corrects its pagan State morality by the admixture of a little Christianity, a little 'rights of man,' a little so-called liberty-but that is all. An individualism that springs from the cosmic, the astrological importance of the individual soul, an individualism not social but religious, that conceives of humanity not as a conflict between the ego and society, but as a conflict between the ego and G.o.d, between the flesh and the spirit-a genuine individualism like that sorts very well with the most binding communism." "Anonymous and communal," said Hans Castorp.

Settembrini glared at him. "Be quiet, Engineer," he said, with a severity probably due to nervous irritation. "Inform yourself, but don't try to express your views. That is an answer, at least," he said, turning to Naphta again. "It gives me cold comfort, but it is an answer. Let us examine all the consequences flowing from it. Along with industry, your Christian communism would reject machinery, technique, material progress. Along with what you call trade-money and finance, which in antiquity ranked higher than agriculture and manual labour-you reject freedom. For it is clear, so clear as to be evident to the meanest intelligence, that all social relations, public and private, would be attached to the soil, as in the Middle Ages; even-I feel some reluctance to say it-even the person of the individual. If only the soil can maintain life, then only the possession of it can confer freedom. Manual labourers and peasants, however honourable their position, if they possess no real property, can only be the property of those who do. As a matter of fact, until well on in the Middle Ages the great ma.s.s of the population, even the town-dwellers, were serfs. In the course of our discussion you have let fall various allusions to the dignity of the human being. Yet you are defending the morality of an economic system which deprives the individual of liberty and self-respect."

"About self-respect and the lack of it," responded Naphta, "there is a good deal to be said. For the moment, I should be glad if the a.s.sociation were to make you conceive of liberty less as a beautiful gesture and more as a serious problem. You a.s.sert that Christian morality, with all its beauty and benignity, makes for servitude. And I, on the other hand, a.s.sert that the question of freedom-the question of cities, to put it more concretely-has always been a highly ethical question, and is historically bound up with the inhuman degeneration of commercial morality, with all the horrors of modern industrialism and speculation, and with the devilish domination of money and finance."

"I must insist that you do not take refuge behind scruples and antinomies, but come out squarely where you belong, in favour of the blackest sort of reaction."

"It would be the first step toward true liberty and love of humanity to free one's mind of the flabby fear engendered by the very mention of the word reaction." "Well, that is enough," declared Herr Settembrini, in a voice that trembled slightly, pushing away his cup and plate-they were empty by now-and rising from the satin sofa. "Enough for to-day, enough for a whole day, I should think. Our thanks, Professor, for the delicious entertainment, and for the very spirituel spirituel discourse. My young friends here from the Berghof are summoned by the service of the cure, and I should like, before they go, to show them my cell up above. Come, gentlemen. discourse. My young friends here from the Berghof are summoned by the service of the cure, and I should like, before they go, to show them my cell up above. Come, gentlemen. Addio Addio, Padre!" Padre!"

Hans Castorp marked the appellation with lifted brows. So now it was padre! padre! They submitted to Herr Settembrini's breaking up the little party and disposing of themselves without giving Naphta the chance to come along supposing he had been inclined. The young men in their turn thanked their host and took their leave, urged by Naphta to come again. They went with Herr Settembrini, Hans Castorp bearing with him the crumbling pasteboard volume containing They submitted to Herr Settembrini's breaking up the little party and disposing of themselves without giving Naphta the chance to come along supposing he had been inclined. The young men in their turn thanked their host and took their leave, urged by Naphta to come again. They went with Herr Settembrini, Hans Castorp bearing with him the crumbling pasteboard volume containing De miseria humanae conditionis De miseria humanae conditionis, which his host put into his hands. The surly Lukacek still sat on his table and sewed at the sleeved garment for the old woman. They had to pa.s.s his open door to mount the ladderlike stair to the top storey. It was, properly speaking, scarcely a storey at all, being simply a loft with naked rafters and beams inside the roof; it had the close air of a garret and smelt of warm shingles. But it was divided into two rooms, which served the republican capitalist and belletristic collaborator on the Sociology of Suffering Sociology of Suffering as study and sleeping-cabinet. These he blithely displayed to his young friends, characterizing them as retired and cosy, in order to supply them with suitable adjectives in which to praise them, which they accordingly did. They both found his quarters charmingly cosy and retired, just as he said. They had a glimpse into the tiny sleeping-chamber, merely a short and narrow bedstead in the corner under the sloping roof, and a small drugget on the floor beside it; then they turned again to the study, which was no less spa.r.s.ely furnished, but orderly to the point of formality, or even frigid. Heavy old-fashioned chairs, four in number, with rush seats, were symmetrically placed on either side the door, the divan was pushed against the wall, and a round table with a green cover held the centre of the room, upon which for all ornament-or, possibly, for refreshment, but in any case with an effect of chaste sobriety-there stood a water-bottle with a gla.s.s turned upside-down over it. Books and pamphlets leaned against each other in a little hanging shelf, and at the open window stood a high-legged, flimsy folding desk, with a small, thick felt mat on the floor beneath it, just large enough to afford standing-room. Hans Castorp took up position here for a minute to try what it was like. This was Herr Settembrini's workshop, where he wrote articles in belles-lettres to contribute to the encyclopaedia of human suffering. The young man rested his elbows on the slanting surface of the desk, and announced that he found the little apartment very retired and cosy. Thus, he presumed, aloud, might Ludovico's father, with his long, aristocratic nose, have bent over his work at Padua-and learned that he was standing, indeed, at the very desk of the deceased scholar; nay, more, that the chairs, the table, even the water-bottle, had been his, and that the chairs had come down from the Carbonaro grandfather, the walls of whose law office at Milan they once had graced. That made a great impression on the young people; the chairs straightway began in their eyes to betray affinity with political agitation-Joachim, who had been sitting all unconscious on one, with his legs crossed, got up at once, looked at it mistrustfully, and did not sit down again. But Hans Castorp, at the elder Settembrini's desk, thought how the younger now laboured here, to mingle the politics of the grandfather and the father's humanism in a blend of literary beauty. At length they all went off together, the author having offered to see his friends to their door. as study and sleeping-cabinet. These he blithely displayed to his young friends, characterizing them as retired and cosy, in order to supply them with suitable adjectives in which to praise them, which they accordingly did. They both found his quarters charmingly cosy and retired, just as he said. They had a glimpse into the tiny sleeping-chamber, merely a short and narrow bedstead in the corner under the sloping roof, and a small drugget on the floor beside it; then they turned again to the study, which was no less spa.r.s.ely furnished, but orderly to the point of formality, or even frigid. Heavy old-fashioned chairs, four in number, with rush seats, were symmetrically placed on either side the door, the divan was pushed against the wall, and a round table with a green cover held the centre of the room, upon which for all ornament-or, possibly, for refreshment, but in any case with an effect of chaste sobriety-there stood a water-bottle with a gla.s.s turned upside-down over it. Books and pamphlets leaned against each other in a little hanging shelf, and at the open window stood a high-legged, flimsy folding desk, with a small, thick felt mat on the floor beneath it, just large enough to afford standing-room. Hans Castorp took up position here for a minute to try what it was like. This was Herr Settembrini's workshop, where he wrote articles in belles-lettres to contribute to the encyclopaedia of human suffering. The young man rested his elbows on the slanting surface of the desk, and announced that he found the little apartment very retired and cosy. Thus, he presumed, aloud, might Ludovico's father, with his long, aristocratic nose, have bent over his work at Padua-and learned that he was standing, indeed, at the very desk of the deceased scholar; nay, more, that the chairs, the table, even the water-bottle, had been his, and that the chairs had come down from the Carbonaro grandfather, the walls of whose law office at Milan they once had graced. That made a great impression on the young people; the chairs straightway began in their eyes to betray affinity with political agitation-Joachim, who had been sitting all unconscious on one, with his legs crossed, got up at once, looked at it mistrustfully, and did not sit down again. But Hans Castorp, at the elder Settembrini's desk, thought how the younger now laboured here, to mingle the politics of the grandfather and the father's humanism in a blend of literary beauty. At length they all went off together, the author having offered to see his friends to their door.

They were silent for some way; but the silence spoke of Naphta, and Hans Castorp could wait. He felt sure Herr Settembrini would mention his house-mate, had come out with them for that very purpose. He was not mistaken.

Drawing a long breath, as if to get a good start, the Italian began: "My friends, I should like to warn you."

As he paused, after that, Hans Castorp asked, affecting surprise: "Against what?" He might as well have said against whom, but expressed himself impersonally to show how completely unconscious he was of Herr Settembrini's meaning-a meaning which even Joachim perfectly comprehended.

"Against the personage whose guest we have just been," answered Settembrini, "and whose acquaintance I have unwillingly been the means of your making. Chance willed it, as you saw, I could not prevent it. But the responsibility is mine, and as such I feel it. It is my duty to point out to your tender years the intellectual perils of intercourse with this man, and to beg you to keep your acquaintance with him within safe limits. His form is logic, but his essence is confusion."

"He does seem rather weird," was Hans Castorp's view. "Some of the things he said were very queer: it sounded as if he meant to say that the sun revolves round the earth." But how could they, he went on, have suspected that a friend of his, Herr Settembrini's, was an unsuitable person for them to a.s.sociate with? As he himself admitted, they had made the acquaintance through him, had met the man first in his company, and seen that the two walked and took tea together. Surely that must mean-

"Of course, Engineer, of course." Herr Settembrini's voice was full of mild resignation, it even trembled. "I am open to this rejoinder, and so you make it. Good. I am quite ready to accept the responsibility. I live under the same roof as this man, our meetings are unavoidable, one word leads on to another, an acquaintance is formed. Herr Naphta is a person of most unusual mental powers. He is by nature discursive, and so am I. Condemn me if you will-I avail myself of the opportunity to cross swords with an antagonist who is after all my equal. I have no one else-anywhere.- In short, it is true that I visit him and he me, we take walks together. We dispute. We quarrel, nearly every day, till we draw blood; but I confess the contrariness and mischievousness of his ideas but render our acquaintance the more attractive. I need the friction. Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them-and I am only confirmed in mine. How could you a.s.sert so much of yours, Lieutenant, or you, Engineer? You are defenceless against intellectual sophistry, you are exposed to danger from the influence of this half fanatical, half pernicious quackery-danger to the intellect and to the soul."

Hans Castorp rejoined that it was probably all true; he and his cousin were naturally more or less p.r.o.ne to such dangers-it was the same old story about the delicate child of life, he understood perfectly. But on the other hand, one might cite Petrarch and his maxim, which was familiar to Herr Settembrini. And after all it was worth listening to, all that Naphta had to say. One must admit that that about the communistic period, when no one would be allowed to receive interest, was first-rate; also some of the things he said about education which he, Hans Castorp, would probably never otherwise have got to hear.

Settembrini compressed his lips, and Hans Castorp hastened to say that, as for hisown att.i.tude, it was of course entirely non-partisan; he only meant that he had enjoyed hearing what Naphta had to say about the deepest desire of youth. "But do explain this one thing to me," he went on. "This person-I call him that by way of showing my detachment, and that I don't by any means altogether agree with all he says, but am inclined to make important reservations-"

"And very rightly so," cried Settembrini gratefully. "-He had a great deal to say against money, the soul of the State, as he expressed himself, and against propertyholding, which he considers thievery; in short, against the capitalistic system, which he called, if I remember rightly, fuel for the fires of h.e.l.l, or something like that. He sang the praises of the Middle Ages for forbidding the taking of interest. And all the time the man himself must have, if I may say so-you get such a surprise when you first enter his room and see all that silk-" "Ah, yes," smiled Settembrini, "the taste is very characteristic of him."

"-the beautiful old furniture," Hans Castorp went on, "the pieta pieta out of the fourteenth century, the Venetian l.u.s.tre, the little page in livery-and such a lot of chocolate layer cake, too-he must personally be pretty well off, I should think-" "Herr Naphta," Settembrini answered, "is, personally, as little of a capitalist as I am." out of the fourteenth century, the Venetian l.u.s.tre, the little page in livery-and such a lot of chocolate layer cake, too-he must personally be pretty well off, I should think-" "Herr Naphta," Settembrini answered, "is, personally, as little of a capitalist as I am."

"But?" queried Hans Castorp. "There is a but in your tone, Herr Settembrini."

"Well, those people never let anyone lack who belongs to them."

"Those people?"

"The Fathers."

"Fathers? What Fathers?"

"Why, Engineer, I mean the Jesuits."

A pause ensued. The cousins displayed the greatest astonishment. Hans Castorp cried out: "What! Good Lord!-you can't mean it! You don't mean to say the man is a Jesuit!" "You have guessed aright," Herr Settembrini said with punctilio.

"I never in all my life-who would ever think of such a thing? So that is why you called him padre!" padre!"

"That was a polite exaggeration," Settembrini answered. "Herr Naphta is not a Father. His illness is to blame for his not having got that far. But he has finished his noviciate and taken his first vows. The state of his health obliged him to give up his theological studies, after which he spent some years in a school belonging to the Society, where he acted as prefect and preceptor of the younger pupils. That was in sympathy with his pedagogic leanings, and he continues in the same line up here, by teaching Latin at the Fridericianum. He has been here five years. When, or if, he can leave this place, remains in doubt. But he belongs to the Society, and even if the bond were a looser one than it is, he would never want for anything. As I told you, he is personally poor; that is to say, without possessions. That is the rule of the Society; which, however, commands immense riches, and, as you saw, looks well after its own."

"Thunder and lightning!" Hans Castorp said. "And I never even knew that such things existed any more! A Jesuit! Well, well! But do tell me-if he is so well looked after by those people, why in the world does he live-I don't mean to say a word about your lodgings, Herr Settembrini, and you are certainly charmingly fixed, at Lukacek's, it is so retired and cosy there; but I mean, if Naphta really has such a pile as that, to speak vulgarly, why doesn't he take another apartment, in a better house, more stately, with a proper entrance and large rooms? There is something secret and suspicious-looking about him, there in that hole, with all that silk-"

Settembrini shrugged his shoulders.

"He is probably guided by considerations of taste and tact," he said "I imagine he salves his anti-capitalistic conscience by living in a poor house, and indemnifies himself by living in the style he keeps. And I should say that discretion plays some role in the affair too. No use advertising to all the world how well the Devil takes care of his own. He shows an unpretentious facade, and behind it gives free rein to tastes- such as a prince of the Church-"

"Extraordinary!" Hans Castorp said. "It is all perfectly new and astonishing to me-I am free to confess. Why, Herr Settembrini we are really very much indebted to you for this new acquaintance. Many a time and oft we shall be going down to pay him a visit-I am sure of that. Such discourse does wonders in the way of enlarging the horizon-it gives one glimpses into a world the existence of which one never dreamed. A proper Jesuit! When I say proper the adjective stands for all that pa.s.ses through my mind ss I say it. I mean, is he a real, actual Jesuit? I know you mean a person can't be proper with the Devil supporting him from behind-but what I I mean is, is he proper mean is, is he proper as a Jesuit? as a Jesuit? That is what I am thinking. He said certain things-you know the ones I mean-about modern communism, and the religious zeal of the proletariat, and not withholding its hand from bloodshed-I wont discuss them further, but surely your grandfather, with his citizen's pike, was a perfect ewe lamb by comparison-please forgive my language. Is that allowed? Do his authorities stand for it? Is that the doctrine of the Roman Church, which all the religious societies all over the world propagate by means of intrigue, or so they say? Isn't it-what is the word? -heretical, abnormal, incorrect? Those are the things I am thinking about Herr Naphta-and I should be pleased to have your opinion on them." That is what I am thinking. He said certain things-you know the ones I mean-about modern communism, and the religious zeal of the proletariat, and not withholding its hand from bloodshed-I wont discuss them further, but surely your grandfather, with his citizen's pike, was a perfect ewe lamb by comparison-please forgive my language. Is that allowed? Do his authorities stand for it? Is that the doctrine of the Roman Church, which all the religious societies all over the world propagate by means of intrigue, or so they say? Isn't it-what is the word? -heretical, abnormal, incorrect? Those are the things I am thinking about Herr Naphta-and I should be pleased to have your opinion on them."

Settembrini smiled. "Very simple. Herr Naphta is, of course, first of all a Jesuit. He is that always, and before everything else. But he is also a man of intellect-or I should not be seeking his society-and as such he is always searching for new combinations, new a.s.sociations and adaptations, new shades of meaning proper to the time. You saw how he surprised even me by his theories. He had never gone so far with me before. I made use of the very evident stimulus of your presence to stir him up to the point of saying his last word on a certain subject. It sounded ridiculous enough, monstrous enough-"