The Count of Monte Cristo

Dantès’s New Escape Proposal

Dantès reasons that another could repeat what Faria has done, only better. The corridor Faria has already bored runs parallel to the outer gallery, roughly fifteen feet from it. Dantès proposes they dig a cross-shaped opening from the corridor into the gallery, kill the sentry who patrols it, and make their escape. He offers his own strength and courage, assuring Faria that he will demonstrate the patience Faria has already shown. Inspired by the older man’s example, Dantès resolves that what has once been done may be done again.

Faria Refuses to Harm a Sentry

Faria halts the planning, making clear that Dantès misunderstands the nature of his courage and intentions. He distinguishes between waging war against circumstances, which he does not regard as sinful, and waging war against men, which he cannot bring himself to do. Though he has no scruple about boring through walls or destroying staircases, he cannot persuade himself to pierce a heart or take a life. He presses Dantès to explain why he has never thought of striking down his jailer and fleeing in the man’s clothes, and uses the question to argue that natural repugnance and moral instinct restrain even the desperate from committing such crimes.

第十六章 A Learned Italian

Chapter 16, “A Learned Italian,” continues the deepening conversation between Dantès and the Abbé Faria within the Château d’If. After Faria’s earlier revelation that Dantès himself had unknowingly thought of the possibility of exchange rather than escape, the chapter follows Dantès’s wonder at the old priest’s extraordinary self-education and resourcefulness. Faria explains how he has spent years studying historical prison escapes, manufacturing his own writing materials from prison scraps, composing a major treatise on shirt-linen, and mastering multiple languages — all while confined. The chapter closes with Faria inviting Dantès to follow him back through the subterranean passage to view his life’s work firsthand.