Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/81

 castle of this honest knight, he told him his troubles and asked for his advice on the search he had to make to find a wife whose loss he had never felt so much until he had been unjustly cruel with her.

"My Prince, will you permit me to talk on that subject?" said the commander. "I do not believe that it is ever wise to use force with women. This gentle and sensitive sex does not want to be led with anything except chains of flowers. Think about the power this sex has on us by using gentleness and charms. Is it not unjust to want to punish a person who oppresses us only by her favors? I cannot stand vice in women, but on the other hand, I do not wish to punish them for their weaknesses; for these weaknesses are virtues for us. Don't we gain more by them than we lose? Why then should we punish them for what makes our happiness. Look closely at their faults and you will see that they are very similar to our own. If you are in agreement on this point, then you will also agree that the punishment we impose on them is only an injustice. In that case we are like the women in that injustice is a weakness. I ask you, then, if indulgence is not due because of these faults which we ourselves have."

Frederick agreed with everything he said and a few tears came to his eyes when he saw someone render justice to a sex which he had oppressed with so little cause.

"Be indulgent, yourself," said Frederick, "and do not reproach me for my wrongs. The more my heart is broken in blaming myself for my actions, the more I want to find the one who can cure my heart by having her once more."

"If your wife flees from you, thinking you guilty towards her, it will be difficult for you to find her."

"Don't you think, Sir," asked Mersburg, "that the best thing the prince could do is to go back to his states?"

"Yes, but he will not find his wife there, and it is this wife who is so dear to him and whom he has hurt that he needs. He will be isolated in his palace if he does not share it with the one he loves. The searches he is now making help to keep his heart satisfied and make his mind tranquil. I think he should continue them until he is satisfied that he cannot find the one he loves. The first happiness of a prince should be that of his