human
One may not smoke; not even a cigarette; and so I cannot sleep. All the past comes back; the golden hours; the June days in London with the sunshine dappling the grass and the silken rustling of the wind in the trees. Do you remember Wordsworth speaks 'of the wind in the trees'? How I wish I could hear it now, breathe it once again. I might get strength then to fight.
gpt
Is the food good?
human
It's all right; I get it from outside. The food doesn't matter. It is the smoking I miss, the freedom, the companionship. My mind will not act when I'm alone. I can only think of what has been and torment myself. Already I've been punished enough for the sins of a lifetime.
gpt
Is there nothing I can do for you, nothing you want?
human
No, Frank, he answered,
gpt
Don't think of it, I said;
human
Yes, Frank.
gpt
I wish you would get the 'Apologia of Plato', I said,
human
Ah, Frank, how much more humane were the Greeks. They let his friends see him and talk to him by the hour, though he was condemned to death. There were no warders there to listen, no degrading conditions.
gpt
Quite true, I cried, suddenly realising how much better Oscar Wilde would have been treated in Athens two thousand years ago.
human
Our progress is mainly change; we don't shed our cruelty; even Christ has not been able to humanise us.
gpt
Do you really think I may win, Frank?
human
Of course you'll win, I replied.
gpt
You must win: you must not think of being beaten. Take it that they will not want to convict you. Say it to yourself in the court; don't let yourself fear for a moment. Your enemies are merely stupid, unhappy creatures crawling about for a few miserable years between earth and sun; fated to die and leave no trace, no memory. Remember you are fighting for all of us, for every artist and thinker who is to be born into the English world.... It is better to win like Galileo than to be burnt like Giordano Bruno. Don't let them make another martyr. Use all your brains and eloquence and charm. Don't be afraid. They will not condemn you if they know you.
human
I have been trying to think, he said,
gpt
That's why you must resolve not to have any more of it, I said;
human
I wish I had seen you when you came out of court, but I really thought you didn't want me; you turned away from me.
gpt
Oh, Frank, how could I? he cried.
human
I should have been so grateful to you.
gpt
I'm very shortsighted, I rejoined,
human
Time is up.
gpt
You must win, I said;