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Les liaisons dangereuses, volume 2 (of 2) / or, Letters collected in a private society and published for the instruction of others cover

Les liaisons dangereuses, volume 2 (of 2) / or, Letters collected in a private society and published for the instruction of others

Chapter 67: LETTER THE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THIRD THE VICOMTE DE VALMONT TO THE MARQUISE DE MERTEUIL
By Choderlos de Laclos
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About This Book

A sustained correspondence among members of aristocratic society chronicles calculated schemes of seduction, rivalry, and revenge. Two former intimates manipulate others to assert power, exploiting youthful innocence and social expectations while a devoted suitor and a devout woman suffer from deceit. The epistolary structure exposes competing perspectives and private rationalizations, revealing hypocrisy, shifting alliances, and the corrosive effects of vanity and desire. As letters multiply, reputations are weaponized, emotional wreckage accumulates, and moral consequences lead to tragic outcomes, offering a portrait of interpersonal power struggles and the performative nature of social life.

LETTER THE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THIRD
THE VICOMTE DE VALMONT TO THE MARQUISE DE MERTEUIL

I answer your letter at once, and I will try to be clear; a thing which is not easy with you, when once you have made up your mind not to understand.

Long phrases were not required to establish the fact that, when each of us possesses all that is necessary to ruin the other, we have a like interest in mutual consideration: there is no question, therefore, of that. But, between the violent course of destroying one another, and that, doubtless the better, of remaining united as we have been, of becoming even more so by resuming our old liaison; between these two courses, I say, there are a thousand others to adopt. It was not ridiculous, therefore, to tell you, nor is it to repeat, that from this day forward I will be either your lover or your enemy.

I am admirably conscious that this choice will embarrass you; that it would suit you better to beat about the bush; and I am quite aware that you have never loved to be placed thus betwixt a plain yes or no: but you must also feel that I cannot let you out of this narrow circle without running the risk of being tricked; and you may have foreseen that I would not endure that. It is for you now to decide: I am able to leave you the choice, but not to remain in uncertainty.

I warn you only that you will not impose on me by your arguments, be they good or bad; that neither will you seduce me by any more of those cajoleries with which you seek to adorn your refusals; and that, at last, the time for frankness has arrived. I ask nothing better than to be able to set you the example; and I declare to you with pleasure, that I prefer peace and union: but, if both are to be broken, I believe the right and the means are mine.

I will add, then, that the least obstacle presented by you will be taken by me as a veritable declaration of war: you will see that the answer I exact from you requires neither long nor fine phrases. Two words will suffice.

Paris, 4th December, 17**.

REPLY OF THE MARQUISE DE MERTEUIL

(Written at the foot of the above letter)

Very well! War!