Thursday, February 11:
R. is unpleasantly surprised by the bill from Herr Maurer, which exceeds his expectations by several thousand florins. But he says, “Even if I have to spend the rest of my life paying off the house, I am glad to have brought it into being.” He still has letters to write concerning the organization of rehearsals in the summer. I also settle correspondence; the girls on the ice; Fidi with me to Frau von Aufsess.
In the evening we read Gfrörer with much interest, his interpretation of the Gospel of Saint John very intelligent and engrossing. How utterly sublime the utterances of our Saviour! — When I talk to R. about honorable deaths, he says: “It is remarkable how frequently they occur; yet one wonders why the death of the Saviour is so incomparably moving, why no martyr’s death comes anywhere near it. Probably because he connected his death with the founding of a religion, knowing that only through dying could he do anything for mankind. That is tragedy par excellence — that even if he had been acknowledged, Christ could not have prevailed, since the Jews would have demanded political action from him, and, unacknowledged, all that remained to him was death.”