"Elias!" I cried, "I feel an inspiration! Just as I was thinking of a
scapegoat, there is one! I see it! Look!--behold! There he is! Is not
your course plain now? Lay your crime upon that goat, and then forget all
about it."
Elias looked at me in stupid ignorance.
"I should like to do that, Christian, but how am I to lay my remorse upon
that goat?"
"Nothing can be plainer. What did the Romans do to get rid of their
criminals, polluted with every crime? Why they flung them off the
Tarpeian rock, to be sure. Well, having laid your imprecations upon that
goat, fling him down the Holderloch, and there will be an end of it all."
"But"--replied Elias.
"I know your objections beforehand," I replied. "You are going to say
that you see no connection between Kaspar Evig, whose shade follows you,
and that goat. But beware! be careful! Where was the connection between
the waters of the Ganges, Circe's salt-cakes, and the scapegoat with the
crimes to be expiated? None at all. Well, for all that, the expiation
was held to be good; therefore lay your curses and imprecations upon that
goat, and throw him over! I order you to do that! I feel it my duty to
see this thing done.
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