Well, anyhow, Hans Castorp considered, so much was granted: that in the antithesis between body and soul it was undoubtedly the body which embodied⁠—the body embodied, that wasn’t so bad, was it?⁠—the evil principle; in so far as the body was naturally nature⁠—pretty good, too, that!⁠—and nature, being diametrically opposed to the spirit and reason, was by that fact intrinsically evil⁠—mystically evil, one might say, if it didn’t sound like showing off! But it followed from this that the body should be treated accordingly, and made to profit from disciplinary methods, which might also be called mystically evil. Herr Settembrini, for instance, that time when the weakness of the flesh had prevented him from attending the Congress for the Advancement of Civilization at Barcelona, ought to have had a Saint Elizabeth at his side⁠—!