human
Anna, he went on,
gpt
Spare me, I entreat you.
human
I can't, dear. First you must agree with me that your attitude towards life, though a generous one if you like, is not a wise one, and that it leads to the gravest errors. Am I right?
gpt
You are right.
human
You must agree with me that that sort of thing can only make ourselves and others miserable, whereas our duty is to be as happy and to make others as happy as we can. Everything else is rhetoric. Am I right?
gpt
You are right. You are always right.
human
Finally, you must agree that it is better to be reasonable than to be sentimental; better to be arid than to be rhetorical, better to be silent than to speak out everything that is in one's heart; better to be strong than to be weak. Am I not right?
gpt
You are right, always right.
human
Anna, do you know what life is?
gpt
No, I don't know what it really is.
human
Life is a thing which is serious and absurd at the same time.
gpt
It is serious because it is the only thing we know anything about; because every man and every woman, in whatever rank or condition, is bound to be honest, well-behaved, worthy and proper; because if one is rich and noble it is one's duty to be moral in a given way; if one is poor and humble, it is one's duty to be moral in another way.
human
Giustino Morelli----
gpt
No!
human
Giustino Morelli----
gpt
For Heaven's sake, don't speak of him.
human
He was an infamous traitor,
gpt
Anna, he was an honest man. You ought to believe it. You will believe it.
human
Never, never.
gpt
Yes, you will. You ought to do him justice. I, who am a man, I must do him justice. He might have issued from his obscurity; he might have had money, a beautiful wife, a wife whom he loved, for he loved you----
human
No, no.
gpt
Everybody loves in his own way, my dear, retorted Cesare, icily.
human
He loved you. But because he did not wish to be thought self-interested, because he did not wish the world to say of him that he had loved you for your money, because he did not wish to hear you, Anna, some day say the same thing; because he could not endure the accusation of having seduced a young girl for her fortune; because he was not willing to let you suffer, as for some years, at any rate, you would have had to suffer, from poverty and obscurity, he renounced you. Do you understand? He renounced you because he was honest. He renounced you, though in doing so he had to face your anger and your scorn. My dear, that man was a martyr to duty, to use one of your own phrases. Will you allow me to say something which may appear ungracious, but which is really friendly?
gpt
Well, you have no just notion of the seriousness of life. All its responsibilities can be scattered by a caprice, by a passion, to quote what you yourself have said. You would brush aside all obstacles; and you would run the risk of losing all respect, all honour, all peace, all health, thereby. Life, Anna, is a very serious affair.
human
Yes.
gpt
And, at the same time, it's a trifling matter, Anna.