"And our life is concerned with his vileness," Mark answered. "I
hate myself sometimes and wish I was a grocer or a linen draper or
even a soldier or sailor. It's degrading to let your life's work
depend on the wickedness of your fellow creatures, Ganns. I hope a
time is coming when our craft will be as obsolete as bows and
arrows."
The elder laughed.
"What does Goethe say somewhere?" he asked. "That if man endures
for a million years, he'll never lack obstacles to give him trouble,
or the pressure of need to make him conquer them. Then there's
Montaigne--you ought to read Montaigne--wisest of men. He'll tell
you that human wisdom has never reached the perfection of conduct
that itself prescribes; and could it arrive there, it would still
dictate to itself others beyond. In a word, the world will never be
short of crooks while human nature lasts, nor yet of men trained to
lay them by the heels. Crime will continue, in some form or other,
as long as men do; and as the criminal gets cleverer, so must we.
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