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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: facetious jests stirred up the minds of the populace? and what an
excitement was produced among the mob by the new liveries, and the
extravagant devices of his followers!
Machiavel. I am convinced he had no design.
Regent. Be that as it may, it is bad enough. As I said before, he injures us
without benefiting himself. He treats as a jest matters of serious import;
and, not to appear negligent and remiss, we are forced to treat seriously
what he intended as a jest. Thus one urges on the other; and what we are
endeavouring to avert is actually brought to pass. He is more dangerous
than the acknowledged head of a conspiracy; and I am much mistaken if it
is not all remembered against him at court. I cannot deny that scarcely a
Egmont | 
