On closer examination the principal
motive here also appears to be pleasure in intellectual production. He
frees himself from an unpleasant impression by improvising against his
victim. He makes a grotesque picture with inner satisfaction and is
astonished if the victim, deeply offended, in turn takes up arms
against him. His resemblance to Luther in this respect is very
striking. Neither the king nor the reformer cared whether his behavior
was dignified or seemly, for both of them, excited like men on the
hunting field, entirely forgot the consequences in the joy of the
fight. Both did themselves and their great causes serious injury in
this way, and were honestly surprised when they discovered the fact.
To be sure, the blows with the cudgel or the whip which the great monk
of the sixteenth century dealt were far more terrible than the
pin-pricks of the great prince in the age of enlightenment. But when a
king teases and mocks and sometimes pinches maliciously, it is harder
to forgive him for his undignified behavior; for he frequently engages
in an unequal contest with his victims. The great prince treated all
his political opponents in this way, and aroused deadly enemies
against himself. He joked at the table, and put in circulation
stinging verses and pamphlets about Madame de Pompadour in France and
the Empresses Elizabeth and Maria Theresa. Similarly, he sometimes
caressed, sometimes scolded and scratched his poetical ideal,
Voltaire; but he also proceeded in this way with people whom he really
esteemed highly, in whom he put the greatest confidence, and whom he
took into the circle of his intimate friends.
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