Puerility? Ah well, in some ways no doubt it was. We certainly underestimated the difficulty of such an undertaking. HOFFMANN And that you really did go to America, in all seriousness, and with empty hands ... Why, think, man, what it means to acquire land and foundation for a model state with empty hands. That was almost cr ... At all events it was unique in its naivete. LOTH And yet I'm particularly satisfied with the result of my American trip. HOFFMANN [_Laughing with a touch of boisterousness._] Cold water treatment. That was an excellent result, if that's what you mean.... LOTH It may well be that I cooled down quite a little. But that process is hardly peculiar to myself. It is one which every human being undergoes. But it's a far cry from that to failing to realise the value of those ... well, let's call them, our hotheaded days. And it wasn't so frightfully simple-minded, as you represent it. HOFFMANN Well, I don't know about that. LOTH All you have to do is to think of the average silliness that surrounded us in those days: the fraternity goings on at the universities, the swilling, the duelling. And what was all the noise about? It was about Hecuba, as Fips used to say. Well, we at least, didn't make a fuss about Hecuba; we had our attention, fixed on the highest aims of humanity. And, in addition to that, those silly times cleared me thoroughly of all prejudices. I took my leave of sham religion and sham morality and a good deal else.... HOFFMANN I'm perfectly prepared to admit that much. If, when all's said and done, I am an open-minded, enlightened man to-day, I owe it, as I wouldn't dream of denying, to the days of our intercourse! I am the last man to deny that. In fact I'm not in _any_ respect a monster. Only you mustn't try to run your head through a stone wall.--You mustn't try to force out the evils under which, more's the pity, the present generation suffers, only to replace them by worse ones. What you've got to do is--to let things take their natural course. What is to be, will be! You've got to proceed practically, practically! And you will recall that I emphasised that just as much in those days as now. And that principle has paid. And that's just it. All of you, yourself included, proceed in a most unpractical way. LOTH I wish you'd explain just how you mean that. HOFFMANN It's as simple as ... You don't make use of your capabilities. Take yourself, for instance: a fellow with your knowledge, energy and what not! What road would have been closed to you? Instead of going ahead, what is it you do? You _compromise_ yourself, at the very start, to _such_ a degree, that ... well, honestly, old man, didn't you regret it once in a while? LOTH I can't very well regret the fact that I was condemned innocently. HOFFMANN As to that, of course, I can't judge. LOTH