Rosmer. I do not give my allegiance to the spirit that is
directing this, nor to any of those who are leading the fight. I
want to try to bring men of all shades of opinion together--as
many as I can reach--and bind them as closely together as I can.
I want to live for and devote all the strength that is in me to
one end only--to create a real public opinion in the country.
Kroll. So you do not consider that we have sufficient public
opinion! I, for my part, consider that the whole lot of us are on
the high road to be dragged down into the mire where otherwise
only the common people would be wallowing.
Rosmer. It is just for that reason that I have made up my mind as
to what should be the real task of public opinion.
Kroll. What task?
Rosmer. The task of making all our fellow-countrymen into men of
nobility.
Kroll. All our fellow-countrymen--!
Rosmer. As many as possible, at all events.
Kroll. By what means?
Rosmer. By emancipating their ideas and purifying their
aspirations, it seems to me.
Kroll. You are a dreamer, Rosmer. Are you going to emancipate
them? Are you going to purify them?
Rosmer. No, my dear fellow--I can only try to awake the desire for
it in them. The doing of it rests with themselves.
Kroll. And do you think they are capable of it?
Rosmer. Yes.
Kroll. Of their own power?
Rosmer. Yes, of their own power. There is no other that can do
it.
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