Let me say to you here:  when a man in the silence of the night, meditates upon the causes of enticement for woman, when he finds them in her education and, putting aside personal observation, for the sake of expressing his thoughts, matures them at the sources I have indicated, not allowing himself to use his pen except from inspiration of Bossuet and Massillon, permit me to ask you if there is a word to express my surprise, my grief, on seeing this man dragged into Court—­on account of some passages in his book, and precisely for the truest and most elevated ideas that he was able to bring together!  And I pray you not to forget this in relation to the charge of outrage against religious morals!  And then, if you will permit me, I will put in opposition to all this, under your very eyes, what I myself call attacking the moral, that is to say, satisfaction of the senses without bitterness, without those large drops of cold sweat which fall from the brow of those who give themselves over to it; and I will not quote to you from licentious books in which the authors have sought to arouse the senses; I will quote from only one book—­which is given as a prize in colleges, but whose author’s name I ask leave to withhold until after I have read you a passage from it.  Here is the passage:  I will ask you to pass the volume.  It is a copy that was given to a college student as a prize.  I prefer you to take this copy rather than M. Flaubert’s: 

“The next day I was received into her apartment.  There I felt all that voluptuousness carries with it.  The room was filled with the most agreeable perfumes.  She lay upon a bed which was enclosed in garlands of flowers.  She appeared to be lying there languishingly.  She extended her hand to me and made me sit beside her.  In all, even in the veil which covered her face, there was a charm.  I could see the form of her beautiful body.  A simple cloth which moved as she moved allowed me at one time to see, and at another to lose sight of, her ravishing beauty.”

A simple cloth when it was extended over a dead body appeared to you a lascivious image; here it is extended over a living woman: 

“She noticed that my eyes were occupied, and when she saw them inflamed, the cloth seemed to open itself away from her; I saw all the treasures of a divine beauty.  At this moment she took my hand; my eyes were wandering.  There is only my dear Ardasire, I cry out, who can be as beautiful; but I swear to the gods that my fidelity....  She threw herself on my neck and drew me into her arms.  Suddenly the room became darkened; her veil opened and she gave me a kiss.  I was beside myself; a flame started suddenly through my veins and aroused all my senses.  The idea of Ardasire was far from me.  She remained to me only as a memory ... there appeared to me but one thought....  I was going....  I was going to prefer this one even to her.  Already my hands had wandered to her breasts; they ran rapidly everywhere; love showed itself only in its fury; it hurried on to victory; a moment more and Ardasire could not defend herself.”