R. has been writing to the King for several days, his letter grows and grows, at the King’s wish he is writing a complete report on our undertaking, also on our life here. —
I work with the children. In the afternoon R. tells me that he knows why it would nowadays be impossible for a great poet to emerge—because everyone shares the same shallow and optimistic philosophy, one which makes it impossible to perceive the world profoundly and truthfully. We come to the conclusion that the great power of the Jesuits lies not in their external means, but in their correct recognition of the world’s wickedness; their attempts to turn this recognition to their own advantage is what makes them so execrable.
In the evening we begin on Xenophon’s Anabasis[i].
[i] Xenophon: “Anabasis – The “Train of the 10,000”: The retreat of the mercenary army of Prince Cyrus the Younger through the Persian Empire after losing a battle against his brother Artaxerxes, in which Xenophon himself took part.