"Have you really done it?" said Cheek. And Victor answered: "The outcome will show you." "Indeed," said Cheek, "it is not surprising. For the proverb says:
A well-devised estranging scheme
The firmest prudence shocks,
As constant floods of water split
The mountains' close-piled rocks."
Then Victor continued: "Having wrought an estrangement, a man should not fail to seek his own advantage in it. As the verse puts it:
The man who studies every book
And understands, yet does not look
To his advantage, learns in vain;
His books are merely mental strain."
"But in the final analysis," said Cheek, "there is no such thing as personal advantage. For
Since worms and filth and ashes cling,
The body is a loathsome thing;
What statecraft therefore may there be
In hurting it vicariously?"
"Ah," replied Victor, "you have no comprehension of the devious ways of statesmanship, the basic support of the profession of counselor. On this point there is a verse:
Let your speech like sugar be,
Steel your heart remorselessly;
Never draw a doubtful breath:
Pay for suffered wrongs with death.
And another thing. This Lively, even when killed will provide us with nourishment. For you know,
