Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 8).djvu/175

 A Gentleman.

I move that the Chairman order the speaker to sit down.

Eager Voices. Yes, yes! That's right! Sit down! Sit down!

Dr. Stockmann.

[Flaring up.] Then I shall proclaim the truth at every street corner! I shall write to newspapers in other towns! The whole country shall know how matters stand here!

Hovstad.

It almost seems as if the Doctor's object were to ruin the town.

Dr. Stockmann.

Yes, so well do I love my native town that I would rather ruin it than see it flourishing upon a lie.

Aslaksen.

That's plain speaking.

[Noise and whistling. Mrs. Stockmann coughs in vain; the Doctor no longer heeds her.

Hovstad.

[Shouting amid the tumult.] The man who would ruin a whole community must be an enemy to his fellow citizens!

Dr. Stockmann.

[With growing excitement.] What does it matter if a lying community is ruined! Let it be levelled to the ground, say I! All men who live upon a lie