MUSSOLINI AND EARLY FASCISM 23
a challenging air of self-satisfaction reminiscent of Monsieur
Jourdain or Erostrates. He scorned fixed principles and
asserted that £ imperialism is the eternal and unchangeable
law of life' ; he criticized Marxism for its over-simplifica-
tion of history while proclaiming that £ it is blood that turns
the bloodstained wheels of history '. In this way he aban-
doned dogma for platitude, but platitudes, vividly expressed,
circulated rapidly in the vast province which is Italy, and
there was nothing easier to replace, without troubling about
past or future commitments.
This is what Mussolini needed, while on January 29, 1919,
he described himself as c a cynic, insensible to everything
except adventure—mad adventure 5. Could he be taken at
his word and judged on his own definition ? An adventurer,
yes, since his only end in life was personal success, to which
everything must be subordinated. A cynic too, since,
according to one of his friends, who nevertheless remained
loyal to him, c friendship and sentiment have no place in
his heart'. But there was nothing in him of the Titan
storming heaven or the romantic hero carried away by the
violence of his convictions. He inclined to the classical,
c since he can interpret all the grand passions without feeling
them 5 : passions both individual and collective on which
he played as on a keyboard. Angelica Balabanoff, who
knew him well, tells of occasions when he seemed a miserable
creature, scared of the prick of a hypodermic needle ; others
describe him fearlessly making his way through a hostile
mob. But to talk in terms of current psychology of his
cowardice or courage is to miss his real personality.
Mussolini was too shrewd to be really brave, but he was
shrewd enough not to be the slave of his nerves. He had a
fine instinct for the road to success and eventually always
managed to take it. With no love of danger for its own sake,
he would do all he could to avoid or reduce it, but when it
was a question of asserting himself, or of self-preservation,
he was ready to accept whatever the situation dictated.
When the world war broke out he was careful not to follow
the Garibaldists into the Argonnes, nor did he commit
himself after May 1915 as his friend Corridoni did. He
waited to go to the front with his own class, and when he