"'Happy he who dies as he was born, pure and without stain.'" (Baba Mezzia, 107. a.)
Mann threw upon him a look of ironical compassion that might be literally translated: A fool you have lived, a fool you will die.
"Really," said he, "there is nothing to be done with a man who quotes the Talmud when one is talking business. You wish, then, to be incarcerated in the citadel? And we shall suffer more or less from having been intimate with you. That is the worst of it."
"What can I do?"
"You say that you are not a revolutionist?"
"Truly, I am not."
"Very well, take sides with those who oppose the revolution."
"But they are not content with fighting them legally. They add to it arbitrary terrorism," said Jacob.
"Of two evils choose the lesser."
"Yes; the evil is in the two extremes, or rather the two extremes meet and form one evil. Despotism above, despotism below. I will serve neither the one nor the other. I am between the two."