Chapter XVII

Torture, as the art of discovering the truth, is barbaric nonsense; it is the application of a material means to a spiritual end.

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Capital punishment is the result of a mystic idea, totally misunderstood to-day. The death penalty has not as its object to _preserve_ society, _materially_ at least. Its object is the _preservation_ (spiritually) of society and the guilty one. In order that the sacrifice be perfect, there must be assent and joy on the part of the victim. To give chloroform to one condemned to death would be an impiety, for it would be to wipe out the consciousness of his grandeur as victim and to destroy his chance of gaining paradise.

As to torture, it is born of the infamous side of the heart of man, athirst for voluptuousness. Cruelty and voluptuousness, identical sensations, like extreme heat and extreme cold.