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Vienna, August 2, 1873
Dear Friend,
It is in vain that you try to console me upon the loss of my biblical study; I have not suffered a similar loss for years. The disaster is in no way mitigated by the fact that you do not know what you have missed, for it was intended for your perusal. Although I cannot tell what my letter and the Zeplichal are doing in Hungary,1 and can swear an oath that I in no way commissioned their journey, I am hopeful that they may find their way to you. If not, then the loss of the letter can never be made good, but I shall certainly let you have another Zeplichal, should the former not have reached you by August tenth.
I have nearly two weeks' news to report to you, and therefore make bold to scribble the items down haphazardly, as they spring to mind.
(You complain about my unclear script, adding that you yourself have become used to it. To whom else do you show my letters?)
I can only hope that the one so favored is not Herr Hilferding. How did that Saul come to be amongst the prophets, and how do you come to be one of his disciples? Is philosophy his major subject, does he hope to earn his living from it, or does he live on the manna our Lord rains down on him, merely practicing philosophy for the love of it? Far better he were a philosophical lover, he who will need it to console himself over the gap separating his brilliant genius from the simple sense of his unphilosophical wife. Does he really aim to be a second Christ, redeeming mankind for a second time? And does he really imagine that he can bring redemption with philosophy? Believe me, if anyone wishes to turn himself into so great a fool, he must be born to it; it cannot be acquired very easily by study. A strange man, indeed, this Joshua Xϱιστoς [Christos], far better he