E
25 PrSsor Bernhand
48 PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY
Bernhardi: Thereby Your Reverence surely
executed the measure of your responsibility;
but perhaps the effect which this testimony
produced, might be some reward.
Priest: I doubt, Professor, if its effect will
be favorable to me outside of the court-room.
But you can imagine, Professor, that I did not
come here for the purpose of recapitulating
my testimony before the court. That which
prompts me to call upon you at this late hour
is the fact that I have a further admission to
to make to you.
Bernhardi A further admission?
Priest: Before the court, I expressed my
conviction that you did not act with hostile
intentions towards me or my church. Now I
feel myself prompted to admit that in this
special case—understand, Professor, in this
special case—you acted correctly in your ca¬
pacity as a physician, and that you only obey¬
ed your duty as I did mine.
Bernhardi: Do I understand you aright?
You admit that I could not have acted differ¬
ently?
Priest: Not as a physician.
Bernhardi: If this is your real opinion,
Your Reverence, I must say that you had bet¬
ter opportunity, or perhaps the only proper
chance, to admit it a few hours ago.
Priest: I need not assure you that it was
not lack of courage that sealed my lips; other¬
wise should Ithen be here, Professor?
Bernhardi: What then?
Priest: I will tell you. That which silenced
me in court was the conviction which came to
—.
box 31/8
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY 49
me by holy inspiration, that one word more
might cause infinite damage to a truly sacred
cause; the most sacred in the world to me.
Bernhardi: I cannot imagine, that for a
courageous man like you, Your Reverence,
there could be anything more sacred than the
truth. Nothing.
Priest: What! Nothing more sacred than
intangible truth for which I might have stood
until the end in this single case? You don't
mean that. Should I have acknowledged that
you had the right to send me away from the
death-bed of a Christian—a sinner—the ene¬
mies of the church would certainly have abused
such a declaration far beyond my responsi¬
bility. The slight truth that I had uttered
would have been twisted and misinterpreted,
so that it would have become a lie. And what
would have been the result of that? I should
have appeared as a renegade, a traitor, not
only before those to whom I owe obedience, but
even before my God.
Bernhardi: Then why do you do it now?
Priest: Because at the very instant I re¬
ceived that inspiration, I pledged myself to
make the confession to you personally, some¬
thing which the public would have misunder¬
stood and misconstrued.
Bernhardi: I
thank you for this, Your
Reverence, and let me express the hope that
vou will never again be put into the position to
have to testify publicly in a cause where greater
things are at stake than my humble self. For it
might happen, that what appears to me in this
instance, as your own personal scruple, might
25 PrSsor Bernhand
48 PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY
Bernhardi: Thereby Your Reverence surely
executed the measure of your responsibility;
but perhaps the effect which this testimony
produced, might be some reward.
Priest: I doubt, Professor, if its effect will
be favorable to me outside of the court-room.
But you can imagine, Professor, that I did not
come here for the purpose of recapitulating
my testimony before the court. That which
prompts me to call upon you at this late hour
is the fact that I have a further admission to
to make to you.
Bernhardi A further admission?
Priest: Before the court, I expressed my
conviction that you did not act with hostile
intentions towards me or my church. Now I
feel myself prompted to admit that in this
special case—understand, Professor, in this
special case—you acted correctly in your ca¬
pacity as a physician, and that you only obey¬
ed your duty as I did mine.
Bernhardi: Do I understand you aright?
You admit that I could not have acted differ¬
ently?
Priest: Not as a physician.
Bernhardi: If this is your real opinion,
Your Reverence, I must say that you had bet¬
ter opportunity, or perhaps the only proper
chance, to admit it a few hours ago.
Priest: I need not assure you that it was
not lack of courage that sealed my lips; other¬
wise should Ithen be here, Professor?
Bernhardi: What then?
Priest: I will tell you. That which silenced
me in court was the conviction which came to
—.
box 31/8
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY 49
me by holy inspiration, that one word more
might cause infinite damage to a truly sacred
cause; the most sacred in the world to me.
Bernhardi: I cannot imagine, that for a
courageous man like you, Your Reverence,
there could be anything more sacred than the
truth. Nothing.
Priest: What! Nothing more sacred than
intangible truth for which I might have stood
until the end in this single case? You don't
mean that. Should I have acknowledged that
you had the right to send me away from the
death-bed of a Christian—a sinner—the ene¬
mies of the church would certainly have abused
such a declaration far beyond my responsi¬
bility. The slight truth that I had uttered
would have been twisted and misinterpreted,
so that it would have become a lie. And what
would have been the result of that? I should
have appeared as a renegade, a traitor, not
only before those to whom I owe obedience, but
even before my God.
Bernhardi: Then why do you do it now?
Priest: Because at the very instant I re¬
ceived that inspiration, I pledged myself to
make the confession to you personally, some¬
thing which the public would have misunder¬
stood and misconstrued.
Bernhardi: I
thank you for this, Your
Reverence, and let me express the hope that
vou will never again be put into the position to
have to testify publicly in a cause where greater
things are at stake than my humble self. For it
might happen, that what appears to me in this
instance, as your own personal scruple, might