It is I that have the real good of the town at heart! I want to lay bare the evils that, sooner or later, must come to light. Ah! You shall see whether I love my native town. BURGOMASTER. You, who, in your blind obstinacy, want to cut off the town’s chief source of prosperity! DR. STOCKMANN. That source is poisoned, man! Are you mad? We live by trafficking in filth and corruption! The whole of our flourishing social life is rooted in a lie! BURGOMASTER. Idle fancies—or worse. The man who scatters broadcast such offensive insinuations against his native place must be an enemy of society. DR. STOCKMANN. [_Going towards him._] You dare to——! MRS. STOCKMANN. [_Throwing herself between them._] Thomas! PETRA. [_Seizing her father’s arm._] Keep calm, father! BURGOMASTER. I will not expose myself to violence. You have had your warning now. Reflect upon what is due to yourself and to your family. Good-bye. [_He goes._ */ DR. STOCKMANN. [_Walking up and down._] And I must put up with such treatment! In my own house, Katrina! What do you say to that! MRS. STOCKMANN. Indeed, it’s a shame and a disgrace, Thomas—— PETRA. Oh, if I could only get hold of uncle——! DR. STOCKMANN. It’s my own fault. I ought to have stood up against them long ago—to have shown my teeth—and used them too!—And to be called an enemy of society! Me! I won’t bear it; by Heaven, I won’t! MRS. STOCKMANN. But my dear Thomas, after all, your brother has the power—— DR. STOCKMANN. Yes, but I have the right. MRS. STOCKMANN. Ah yes, right, right! What good does it do to have the right, if you haven’t any might? PETRA. Oh, mother—how can you talk so? DR. STOCKMANN. What! No good, in a free community, to have right on your side? What an absurd idea, Katrina! And besides—haven’t I the free and independent press before me—and the compact majority at my back? That is might enough, I should think! MRS. STOCKMANN. Why, good heavens, Thomas! you’re surely not thinking of——? DR. STOCKMANN. What am I not thinking of? MRS. STOCKMANN. ——of setting yourself up against your brother, I mean. DR. STOCKMANN. What the devil would you have me do, if not stick to what is right and true? PETRA. Yes, that’s what I should like to know? MRS. STOCKMANN.