Is the
co-existence of irreconcilable opposites in human nature anything new?
The story of Judas may be of some value if it reminds us that man is
incalculable, and that, although in theory, and no doubt in reality, he
is a unity, the point from which the divergent forces in him rise is
often infinitely beyond our exploration; a lesson not merely in
psychology but for our own guidance, a warning that side by side with
heroic virtues there may sleep in us not only detestable vices, but
vices by which those virtues are contradicted and even for the time
annihilated. The mode of betrayal, with a kiss, has justly excited
loathing, but it is totally unintelligible. Why should he have taken
the trouble to be so base when the movement of a finger would have
sufficed? Why was any sign necessary to indicate one who was so well
known? The supposition that the devil compelled him to superfluous
villainy in order that he might be secured with greater certainty and
tortured with greater subtlety is one that can hardly be entertained
except by theologians.
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