Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/250

 fore. You have come for the truth. The truth? Do you expect to find it here? Do you suppose that men are sincere when they are among themselves? Why, nobody is sincere with himself! Gonzalo may laugh at your love, and play the sceptic. He may say that he is going to marry for money, or to be comfortable, or else out of mere cynicism. He might even go so far as to boast that he will deceive you, that he is completely indifferent whether you deceive him or not. Of course any statement of that nature you would accept as pure truth?

. If he ever made such a statement

. He may very easily do so. In fact, I have no doubt but that he has done it already.

. Pepe!

. All of us do such things. We make light of what is most precious, of patriotism, family, love. If anybody were to hear us, and to judge us by appearances, we should surely be set down as depraved. But we are not; we are merely cowards. The hypocrisy of evil is more common, I think, than the hypocrisy of good, yet it has scarcely been studied at all. And no wonder! It is a frank parade of evil, so it does not seem to be hypocrisy. Yet I believe that more good thoughts are concealed, and more good deeds are left undone, because of this hypocrisy which pretends to be evil, than there are evil thoughts and vicious deeds concealed or left undone by hypocrites of the other sort, the hypocrites who pretend to be good. Evil appears to be evil because evil men are evil, and there can be no mistake about it, and so, to seem sincere, the good pretend to be evil, and those who do not pretend to be evil, by contrast appear fools.

. As a result, all men are evil.

. Judged by appearances. Yet, although we are