Juliette

by Marquis de Sade

  “I have nowhere encountered such prodigality,” said Clairwil, “but I like it. That arrangement whereby scraps are saved for the scullery has chilling effects upon the imagination. Such orgies owe part of their success to the delicious realization that nothing and no one else matters on earth.”

  “Why, what do the underprivileged matter to me when I want for nothing,” said the Prince; “their hardships add a further poignancy to my joys, I would not be so happy if I did not know there was suffering nearby, and ’tis from this advantageous comparison half the pleasure in life is born.”

  “That comparison,” I said, “is very cruel.”

  “It is natural; nothing is crueler than Nature, and those who observe her instructions to the letter will always be murderers or villains.”22

  “My friend,” said Ferdinand, “all those are sound precepts, but they are hurtful to your reputation: if you but knew what they say about you in Naples….”

  “Oh, I am not one to take calumny very seriously,” was the Prince’s reply, “and a reputation is such a little thing, an asset so meager, that I am not in the slightest put out if others amuse themselves gossiping about the things which procure me quite as much amusement from others.”

  “Ah, my Lord,” I said to this distinguished libertine, affecting a dogmatic tone, “they are passions which have brought you to this degree of blindness, and the passions are not the means through which Nature expresses her will, as the corrupt likes of you are prone to claim. They are the products of God’s wrath; and we can obtain deliverance from their imperious grip by imploring the mercy of the Eternal, but that mercy we must earn. ’Tis not by having three or four hundred pricks thrust into your ass every day, ’tis not by permanent avoidance of holy confession, by never partaking of the treasured favors of the eucharist, ’tis not by stiffening yourself against good intentions you will bathe in the glow of Grace. No, Sire, no, ’tis not through such conduct you will blot out your sins or attain their remission. Ah, my Lord, how must I pity you if you persevere in this misbehavior; think of the fate awaiting you in the next world: how can you, free to set a course toward good or toward evil, imagine that the just God who has given you this free will shall not punish you for the wicked use you have put it to? Do you believe, my friend, that an eternity of sufferings does not warrant a little reflection, and that before the certainty of those sufferings it is not worth sacrificing a few miserable penchants, which, even in this life, for the very slender pleasure they bring you, cause you cares, worries, distress, regrets without end? In one word, is it to be fucked that the Supreme Being brought you into this world?”

  Francavilla and the King gazed at me dumbfounded, and for a moment even imagined I had lost my wits.

  Ferdinand finally broke the silence. “Juliette,” he said, “if you are preparing a second chapter to that sermon, tell us so in order that we can listen to it lying down.”

  “I am now come to such a point of impiety and of abandon of all religious sentiment,” Francavilla declared, “that my calm is imperiled by the barest allusion to this deific phantom, dreamt up by the priests who grub their livelihood from ministering to it; I shudder in horror merely at the mention of its name.

  “Throughout every land,” the Prince continued, “we hear it announced that a God has revealed himself; what is his message to men? Does he demonstrate his evident existence to them? Does he teach them what he is? In what his essence consists? Does he clearly explain his intentions to them, his plans? That which we are told concerning what he has said about his plans, does it accord with the effects we observe? Why, no; he intimates to us only that he is the one who is, that he is a hidden God; that his ineffable ways surpass understanding, that he waxes wroth as soon as anyone has the temerity to pry into his secrets and to consult reason in order to evaluate him or judge of his works. Does the revealed comportment of this infamous God correspond to the lofty notions we are asked to entertain of his wisdom, of his goodness … of his justice … of his benevolence … of his supreme power? Not at all: however we scan him, we see him everywhere and always partial, capricious, malignant, tyrannical, unjust, at the very most good for a people he happens to favor, the sworn enemy of everybody else; if he deigns to show himself to some men, he is careful to keep all others in darkest ignorance of his divine intentions. Is this not the picture all revelations give of your abominable God? Do the aims disclosed by this God bear the stamp of reason and wisdom? Do they conduce to the well-being of the people to whom this fabulous goblin declares himself? Upon examining these divine decrees, in no country do I find anything but bizarre ordinances, ridiculous injunctions, ceremonies whose purpose cannot be guessed, puerile practices, an etiquette unworthy of the monarch of Nature, offerings, sacrifices, expiations useful indeed to the ministers of this insipid illusion, but exceedingly burdensome to mankind. I find, moreover, that these regulations very often have for effect or design to render human beings unsociable, disdainful, intolerant, quarrelsome, unjust and inhuman toward all those who have not received the same revelation, nor the same laws, nor the same favors from heaven. And there’s the execrable God you preach to me, Juliette, and you would have me worship such a phantom!”

  “I too would have you worship him,” said Ferdinand. “Kings always encourage religion, religion has since the very beginning lent sinews to tyranny. The day man ceases to believe in God he will assassinate his rulers.”

  “There is no telling which he may decide to destroy first,” I interjected; “but, be sure of it, once he has overthrown the one, it will not be long before he finishes off the other. And if you care to set aside your despot’s point of view for a moment, and weigh the matter by philosophic standards, you will admit that the world would only be the better off if it had neither tyrants nor priests: they are monsters that fatten on the substance of nations, and that never render them any services lest it be to impoverish or to blind them.”

  “This woman here does not like kings,” said Ferdinand.

  “Or gods either,” I replied. “In my eyes, the former are all tyrants, the latter all spooks, and I hold that one must never despotize over men nor deceive them. Nature, when she cast us into the world, created us free and atheists. Force brought weakness to heel, and we got kings. Imposture overawed fools, we had gods. Well, in all that I see cunning scoundrels and phantoms aplenty, but not the slightest hint of natural inspiration.”

  “What would men do without kings or without gods?”

  “They would become more free, more philosophical, and therefore more worthy of the intentions Nature has in their regard, Nature who created them neither to vegetate beneath the scepter of an individual no better endowed than they, nor to hobble in the fetters of a god who is nought but the contrivance of a few fanatic imaginations.”

  “One moment,” said Francavilla, “I am won over to part of Juliette’s argument. No God—she is right, indubitably; but that curb gone, some other must be found for the people: the philosopher has no need of one, I know, but restraints are salutary for the rabble, and upon it alone royal authority must make itself felt, that is what I urge.”

  “We are fully agreed,” I said, “like you, I yielded this point to Ferdinand when we first discussed these affairs together.”

  “Then,” Francavilla resumed, “it is by the extremest terror religious chimeras must be replaced; deliver the people from the fear of a hell to come and they’ll go berserk straightway; instead, for that superstitious dread substitute a prodigiously more severe penal code, laws which are aimed exclusively at the people, since nobody else threatens the State, discontents always arising from that one class. The rich man will not fret at the idea of restraints which never affect him, since he buys himself out of all objections of principle when, with his money, he acquires in his turn the right to vex all those who live under his heel. You will never find a single member of the upper class resenting even the blackest shadow of tyranny when he is able to exercise real tyranny over his inferiors. These
bases established, it is therefore necessary that a suzerain rule with utmost harshness, and that to certify his right to do what he likes to the people, he leave his allies free in their turn to undertake, within their own provinces, whatever suits their pleasure; these latter he must cuirass with his influence, his might, his consideration; to them he must say, And you too, promulgate laws, but such only as will buttress mine; and in order that my blows be telling, in order that my throne be unshakable, support my power with all that portion of power I leave to you, and enjoy your privileges in a peaceful manner, in such sort that mine are never endangered. …”

  “That,” said Olympia, “is the pact which kings once made with the clergy.”

  “Yes; but the clergy, basing its power upon the omnipotence of a fantastic God, became stronger than the royalty; the priests assassinated kings instead of supporting them, and that is not what I am asking for: I wish final authority to remain with the government, while the authority it leaves to the upper class and to philosophers would be utilized by them only in the interests of their individual passions, upon condition these at all times and in every sense promote the interests of the State; for the State can never be governed uniquely either by theocrat or by despot; the chief agent of that State must annihilate the first rival to pose a threat to his power, some of which he must share with those who, seeing themselves standing to gain from his pre-eminence over them, agree to come now and then to his aid with those forces which he allows them to enjoy in peace when he is himself at peace, everyone, chief and vassals, joining forces to combat, to subdue, to fetter the popular hydra, the sole aim of whose strivings is always to burst the chains that keep it in subservience.”

  “Pursuant to this line of reasoning, it is certain,” said Clairwil, “that the laws enacted against the population cannot be too repressive.”

  “They must be modeled upon those of Draco,” said Francavilla, “they must be written out in blood, must be revitalized by blood, must cause it to flow every day, must, above all, keep the people in the most deplorable poverty; the people are never dangerous save when comfortable—”

  “And when educated?”

  “And when educated, to be sure: they must hence be kept in the profoundest ignorance as well; their slavery must be perpetual and grinding, and every possible means of escape from it must be denied them, as will assuredly be the case when the figures who support and surround the government are there to prevent the people from breaking loose from irons which it is in the upper class’ interests to tighten day and night. You cannot imagine how far such tyranny is able to extend.”

  “I sense it,” said Clairwil; “yes, I sense that it would reach the point where those rogues depended utterly upon the tyrant, or upon those near him, for the very right to breathe.”

  “That’s it,” said the Prince, seizing enthusiastically at this idea, “the government itself must regulate the population, must command all the means for snuffing it out if it becomes troublesome, for increasing it if that is esteemed advantageous; its justice must never be weighed elsewhere than in the scales of the ruler’s interests or passions, combined solely with the passions and interests of those who, as we have just said, have obtained from him all the allotments of authority necessary to multiply his own a hundredfold when they are conjugated.23 Glance at the governments of Africa and Asia: all of them are organized in accordance with these principles, and all invariably maintain themselves thereby.”

  “In many of them,” said Charlotte, “the people are not reduced to what you seem to consider their appropriate condition.”

  “True,” Francavilla admitted, “there have been stirrings in a few outlying districts, and there is work yet to be done before the masses are in such a state of dread and exhaustion that they cease even to be able to conceive of revolt.”

  “It is to that end,” said Ferdinand, “I would like to see priests among them.”

  “Beware of that expedient, since, as you have just been told, it is the surest way to raise up a power that will soon eclipse your own by dint of the deific machinery which; in the clergy’s hands, serves only to forge weapons for the destruction of governments, and which is never used for any other purpose; atheize and incessantly demoralize the people whom you wish to subjugate; so long as they cringe before no god but you, so long as there are no morals except yours, you will always be their sovereign.”

  “An immoral man is dangerous,” said Ferdinand.

  “Yes, when he has some authority, because he then feels the urge to abuse it; never, when he is a slave. It matters very little that a man believe or not believe there is wrong in killing me, once I have so thoroughly shackled him that he has not the means to harm a fly; and when moral depravity has softened him, he will be that much less loath to wear the collar I rivet round his neck.”

  “But,” asked Charlotte, “how is he to become soft under the yoke? Rather, it would seem to me, only luxury and easy living have that effect upon man.”

  “His fiber rots in the thick of crime,” the Prince rejoined. “Now, leave him the broadest outlets for his criminal capacities; never punish him save when his darts are directed against you; so proceed and you will obtain two excellent results: the immorality that you require, and depopulation, which may often be of even greater usefulness to you. Allow incest, rape, murder among your subjects; forbid them marriage, authorize sodomy, prohibit them worship of any sort, and you will soon have them reduced to the abjection your policy demands.

  “And how do you multiply punishments when you tolerate everything meriting them?” I wondered, with some appearance of logic.

  “Why,” said Francavilla, “it’s virtues you then hammer, or revolts against your power; and, never fear, you have a thousand times more of them than you need in order to be busy striking off heads all day long. Besides, are motives so indispensable? The despot obtains blood whenever he likes, his will alone is enough to cause it to flow: conspiracies may be supposed at any time; you foment them, you occasion them; the scaffolds go up, and in the twinkle of an eye, there’s a carnage.”

  “If Ferdinand cares to leave these matters in my hands,” said Charlotte, “I guarantee him I shall provide legitimate pretexts every day: let him sharpen the blade and I shall furnish the victims.”

  “Cousin,” said the King, “my wife is becoming fidgety.”

  “I am not surprised,” said Clairwil, “for I am myself fearfully on edge. To watch fuck and fuck not is cruel when you have a warm constitution.”

  “Let us then go out for a breath of air,” said the Prince; “in these wooded bowers we may perhaps find the wherewithal to appease these ladies’ ardors.”

  All the gardens were illuminated: from orange trees, peach trees, apricot trees, fig trees we plucked fruit cooled by the evening dews as we strolled along the delightful pathways that brought us to the Temple of Ganymede. This temple was softly lit by tapers set high under the ceiling, which reflected light enough for pleasures but not so much as to tire the eye. Green and rose-colored columns supported this edifice, garlands of myrtle and lilac twined around them and formed agreeable festoons between one column and the next.

  No sooner were we arrived there than subdued music filled the air with sweetness. Charlotte, drunk with lust and very hot from wine and spirits, proceeded straight to the nearest couch, and we others did the same.

  “’Tis their turn now,” Francavilla said to the King, “they must be left to show what they can do, with the essential recommendation, nevertheless, to offer nothing but their asses, for this is a place of worship consecrated to the adoration of asses only; any deviation from these laws would be a sin warranting expulsion from the temple. Moreover, the agents that will be furnished to them would consent to no infidelity.”

  “Little do we care,” said Clairwil, the first of us to have stripped off her clothes. “We much prefer having our asses used than our cunts, and provided we receive friggings meanwhile, there will be no regrets heard from us.”

/>   Francavilla now drew away the pink satin spread covering what we supposed was an ottoman. Ah, what an extraordinary article that drapery had been concealing! Imagine a long couch with separate places, or rather stalls, for four; each woman was to enter the stall and kneel on the seat reserved for her, her rump raised high, her thighs spread wide; her elbows rested on chair-arms padded with cotton and covered with black satin, as was the rest of this uncommon piece of furniture. By her hands and within easy reach were the loins of two men, one on either side, who to her manipulation provided each a gigantean member, the only part of them that was visible, their bodies being otherwise hidden underneath black shrouds. Cunningly disposed platforms supported those recumbent bodies, and a mechanism ensured that once those pricks had discharged, they disappeared in a trice and were replaced by new ones the next instant.

  Yet another and still” more unusual fixture operated beneath the woman’s belly. By taking her position in the stall, that woman lowered herself over, and engulfed, unavoidably and, as it were, involuntarily, a soft and flexible dildo which, through a system of springs and clockwork, filed away automatically and without cease, every fifteen minutes squirting a given measure of warm and sticky fluid into her vagina, that fluid possessing an odor and a viscosity which would have led anyone to mistake it for the purest, the freshest sperm. A very pretty girl, of whom nothing but the head was visible, with her chin pressed against the dildo, frigged, lingually, the clitoris of the woman, and was likewise relayed by another, by means of a trap-door arrangement, as soon as she began to tire. Ahead of the woman placed as I have described there were to be seen, upon round stools, other objects, which were varied or replaced when the woman so desired; upon those stools, I say, one saw cunts or pricks; in a manner that this woman had at the level of her mouth, and could conveniently suck, either a penis or a clitoris. In sum, it resulted that the woman, kneeling upon the cushioned seat containing the levers which set everything in motion, and comfortably resting upon her elbows, was tupped by a dildo, mouthed by a girl, while frigging a prick with each hand, presenting her ass to the very genuine prick which was to come up and sodomize her, and alternately sucking, according to her tastes, now a prick, now a cunt, even an asshole.