7Aprilапреля · 7-е апреля
Платить добром за зло и естественнее, и легче, и разумнее чем платить злом за зло.
To repay evil with good is more natural, and easier, and more reasonable than to repay evil with evil.
1. И когда пришли на место, называемое Лобное, там распяли его и злодеев, одного по правую, а другого по левую сторону. Иисус же говорил: Отче! прости им, ибо не знают, что делают.
1. And when they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him and the evildoers, one on the right and the other on the left. And Jesus said: Father! Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
From Luke · shortened by Tolstoy .
The Russian Bible (Synodal translation)И когда пришли на место, называемое Лобное, там распяли Его и злодеев, одного по правую, а другого по левую сторону.
Иисус же говорил: Отче! прости им, ибо не знают, что делают.
Source text: ru.wikisource.orgIn English · King James Version, 1611And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Luke, 23:33–34.
The Synodal text, with the last sentence of verse 34 («И делили одежды Его, бросая жребий») left out and the pronouns of Jesus in lower case.
Translation note. «Лобное», “of the skull”, names the place the KJV calls Calvary. For Christ’s words the KJV has “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
2. Никто никогда не уставал доставлять себе всевозможные блага. Но ведь величайшее благо, которое человек может себе доставить, это — действовать сообразно с своей высшей природой, а высшая, божественная природа твоей души велит тебе не уставая делать добро другим, как высшее благо для самого себя.
2. No one has ever grown tired of procuring for himself every possible good. And yet the greatest good a man can procure for himself is to act in accordance with his higher nature; and the higher, divine nature of your soul bids you do good to others without tiring, as the highest good for yourself.
From Meditations · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedTo act “according to nature” becomes to act “in accordance with his higher nature,” and it is “the higher, divine nature of your soul” that bids you do good to others.
Original · Ancient GreekΟὐδεὶς κάμνει ὠφελούμενος, ὠφέλεια δὲ πρᾶξις κατὰ φύσιν·μὴ οὖν κάμνε ὠφελούμενος, ἐν ᾧ ὠφελεῖς.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1862No man is tired of receiving what is useful. But it is useful to act according to nature. Do not then be tired of receiving what is useful by doing it to others.
Source text: gutenberg.orgTolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньНикто никогда не уставал доставлять себе всевозможные блага. Но ведь величайшее благо, которое человек может себе доставить, это — действовать сообразно с законом своего разума, а закон этот велит тебе, не уставая, делать добро другим, как высшее благо для самого себя.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Meditations, VII.74.
From Thoughts of Wise Men (1903), May 5, revised. Marcus: "No man is tired of receiving what is useful. But it is useful to act according to nature. Do not then be tired of receiving what is useful by doing it to others." The 1903 text already expands it: the greatest good a man can get himself is «действовать сообразно с законом своего разума, а закон этот велит тебе, не уставая, делать добро другим, как высшее благо для самого себя». For the Circle Tolstoy changed «законом своего разума, а закон этот» (the law of one's reason, and this law) to «своей высшей природой, а высшая, божественная природа твоей души» (one's higher nature, and the higher, divine nature of your soul). Marcus's word is nature (κατὰ φύσιν), with nothing higher or divine about it, and his "what is useful" (ὠφέλεια) is «величайшее благо» (the greatest good) in both Russian versions. The 1903 Marcus came from the Посредник edition of L. D. Urusov's Russian, «Размышления римского императора Марка Аврелия о том, что важно для самого себя» (Jubilee vol. 40 commentary); Urusov's wording was not compared, as the saved 1882 scan has no text layer.
3. Плати добром за зло.
3. Repay evil with good.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Word for word from Thoughts of Wise Men (1903), May 5. No rabbinic saying in these words was found. Tolstoy's Talmud sayings in that book came from his two Russian anthologies, Gurvich's «Живая мораль» (1901) and «Мировоззрение талмудистов» (1874–76) (Jubilee vol. 40 commentary), neither of them online.
Searched: Thoughts of Wise Men (1903), where the line stands on May 5 signed «Талмуд», and its commentary (Jubilee vol. 40); the Jubilee vols. 41–42 (text, commentary, name index, attribution corrections); Conway's Sacred Anthology (1874), its section "Love of Enemies" and every Talmud line; Pirkei Avot in Hebrew and in Gorfinkle's English; a web search for the Russian wording.
4. Чем отомстить своему врагу? Стараться делать ему как можно больше добра.
4. How is one to take revenge on one’s enemy? By trying to do him as much good as possible.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Word for word from Thoughts of Wise Men (1903), May 5, signed Epictetus there too. The commentary on that book (Jubilee vol. 40) says its Epictetus of May 5 was taken from «Иллюстрированный настольный календарь т-ва «Просвещение» на 1902 год», a desk calendar, which was not found. No such saying was found in the Discourses.
Searched: Epictetus's Discourses in Greek and in Long's English (searched for enemy, revenge, avenge); Thoughts of Wise Men (1903) and its commentary (Jubilee vol. 40); the Jubilee vols. 41–42.
5. Побеждай гнев кротостью, зло добром, скупого щедростью, лгуна правдой.
5. Overcome anger with meekness, evil with good, the miser with generosity, the liar with truth.
From Dhammapada · close to the original .
Original · PaliAkkodhena jine kodhaṁ, …
… asādhuṁ sādhunā jine; …
Jine kadariyaṁ dānena, …
… saccenālikavādinaṁ.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · F. Max Müller, 1881223. Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Dhammapada, v. 223 (Kodhavagga).
Close to the Pali, 'conquer anger by non-anger (akkodhena), the bad by good, the miser by giving, the liar by truth'. Müller has 'anger by love'; Tolstoy's «кротостью» (by meekness) is nearer the Pali, which suggests a source other than Müller, perhaps Gerasimov's Russian Dhammapada (1898), Tolstoy's source in 1903, not found online. Conway prints Müller's English (p. 307). Not in Thoughts of Wise Men (1903).
Translation note. The Russian italic is broken only at the commas; it is set here as one span.
6. Обращаясь с ближними так, как они того заслуживают, мы делаем их только хуже. Обращаясь же с ними так, как будто они лучше того, что они в действительности, мы заставляем их становиться лучше.
6. By treating our neighbors as they deserve, we only make them worse. But by treating them as if they were better than they really are, we make them become better.
From Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedTaking people “merely as they are” becomes treating our neighbors “as they deserve,” treating them “as if they were what they should be” becomes treating them “as if they were better than they really are,” and improving them “as far as they can be improved” becomes “we make them become better”: Goethe’s limit is gone.
Original · German"Wenn wir", sagtest du, "die Menschen nur nehmen, wie sie sind, so machen wir sie schlechter; wenn wir sie behandeln, als wären sie, was sie sein sollten, so bringen wir sie dahin, wohin sie zu bringen sind."
Source text: gutenberg.orgIn English · Thomas Carlyle, 1824‘When we take people,’ thou wouldst say, ‘merely as they are, we make them worse: when we treat them as if they were what they should be, we improve them as far as they can be improved.’
Source text: gutenberg.orgTolstoy’s own version · На каждый деньОбращаясь с ближними так, как они того заслуживают, мы делаем их только хуже. Обращаясь же с ними так, как будто они лучше того, чтò они представляют в действительности, мы заставляем их становиться лучше.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795–96), Book VIII, ch. 4, Lehrjahre VIII.4, Therese's letter to Natalie (Gutenberg text, Band 8); Carlyle, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Book VIII, ch. IV.
The saying is Natalie's, quoted back to her by Therese in a letter: “If we take people only as they are, we make them worse; if we treat them as if they were what they should be, we bring them to where they can be brought.” Tolstoy changes all three parts. “Take people only as they are” (die Menschen nur nehmen, wie sie sind) becomes «Обращаясь с ближними так, как они того заслуживают» (treating our neighbors as they deserve); “as if they were what they should be” (als wären sie, was sie sein sollten) becomes «как будто они лучше того, что они в действительности» (as if they were better than they really are); and “we bring them to where they can be brought” (so bringen wir sie dahin, wohin sie zu bringen sind) becomes «мы заставляем их становиться лучше» (we make them become better), so Goethe's limit on the improvement is gone. «Люди» (people) become «ближние» (neighbors). Tolstoy reprinted it in «На каждый день» (the tolstoy block). Carlyle's English is quoted from the 1896 reprint of his translation of 1824.
7. Отвечай добром за зло — и ты уничтожишь в злом человеке всё удовольствие, которое он получает от зла.
7. Answer evil with good, and you will destroy in the wicked all the pleasure they get from evil.
8. Учи свое сердце, а не учись у него.
8. Teach your heart, and do not learn from it.
Probably from Mahaparinirvana Sutra · close to the original .
Details
A likely source, not certain. Mahaparinirvana Sutra (大般涅槃經), 40-fascicle Chinese version, fasc. 28, chapter of the Bodhisattva Lion's Roar (師子吼菩薩品).
The same saying in the same turn: 'may I be the teacher of my mind, and not take my mind as teacher' (願作心師不師於心), one of a bodhisattva's vows in the Chinese Nirvana Sutra (Dharmaksema, 5th century). It became a proverb in Japanese Buddhism. How it reached Tolstoy was not found, and no European rendering of it was found in the saved anthologies; hence candidate. No public-domain English translation exists. Not in Thoughts of Wise Men (1903).
Searched: Thoughts of Wise Men (1903) and its source list (Jubilee vol. 40); Conway's Sacred Anthology; Müller's Dhammapada; Beal's Catena of Buddhist Scriptures (1871); Carus's Gospel of Buddha; The Voice of the Silence; Coit, Southgate (both), and Tileston; Chinese Wikisource for 願作心師.
Тот, кто хоть раз испытал радость отплатить добром за зло, тот никогда уж не пропустит случая получить эту радость.
Those who have even once known the joy of repaying evil with good will never again miss a chance to have that joy.
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