Necessity, as the Greeks knew already, is not only a blind goddess, but a cruel one too.

There was a lot of talk,after the war, in trying to explain what had happened, about inhumanity. But I am sorry, there is no such thing as inhumanity. There is only humanity and more humanity: and that Doll is a good example [a character who was instructed to shoot German wounded because it was too much effort to bring them home] What else was he, Doll, but a good family man who wanted to feed his children, and who obeyed his government, even though in his innermost being he didn't agree? If he has been born in France or America, he'd have been called a pillar of society and a patriot; but he was born in Germany and so he is a criminal. Necessity, as the Greeks knew already, is not only a blind goddess, but a cruel one too.

J. Littell, The Kindly Ones (2006) tr. C. Mundell, 589