57The male gender language was maintained in this section, which deals with this obsolete 19th century male-oriented custom. Actually, we continue to practice a more subtle form of dueling nowadays in our daily lives by using words and other antagonistic attitudes that are just as destructive – Tr.
- Can dueling be considered a case of lawful self-defense?
“No, it is murder and an absurd custom worthy of barbarians. In a more advanced and moral civilization, people will understand that dueling is as foolish as the combats of antiquity that were regarded as ‘the judgment of God’.” - Can dueling be considered as murder on the part of him who, knowing his own weakness, is almost certain to be killed?
“It is suicide.”
– And when the odds are equal, is it murder or suicide?
“It is both.”
In all cases, even in those in which the odds are equal, the dueler is culpable, first because he coolly and deliberately attacks the life of his fellow-man; second, because he exposes his own life needlessly and without benefit to anyone else.
- In dueling, what is the value of what is called “the point of honor”?
“That of pride and vanity – two sores of humankind.”
– But aren’t there cases in which honor really is at stake, and where refusal would be cowardice?
“It depends on customs and usages. Each country and each epoch has a different way of regarding such matters. Nevertheless, when human beings are better and more advanced morally, they will understand that the true point of honor is above earthly passions, and that it is neither by killing nor by getting themselves killed that a wrong is redeemed.”
There is more greatness and true honor in recognizing wrongdoing if we err, or in forgiving if we are right, and in all cases, in not attaching importance to insults that cannot harm us.
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