11Decemberдекабря · 11-е декабря
Из всех родов труда самый радостный — это труд земледельческий.
Of all kinds of labor, the most joyful is labor on the land.
1. Все народы в конце концов признают истину, давно уже постигнутую теми людьми, которые были их умственными руководителями, а именно ту, что первая добродетель человечества состоит в признании своего несовершенства и в подчинении законам высшего существа. «Прах ты и в прах возвратишься», есть первая истина, которую мы познаем относительно себя; а вторая заключается в том, чтобы возделывать землю, из которой мы взяты, что и составляет главную нашу обязанность. В этой работе и тех отношениях, которые она устанавливает между нами, животными и растениями, заключаются основные условия развития наших высших способностей и нашего величайшего благополучия. Без этой же работы немыслимы для человека ни мир, ни развитие его ума и духовных сил.
1. It will be found ultimately by all nations, as it was found long ago by those who have been leaders in human force and intellect, that the initial virtue of the race consists in the acknowledgment of their own lowly nature and submission to the laws of higher being. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” is the first truth we have to learn of ourselves; and to till the earth out of which we were taken, our first duty: in that labour, and in the relations which it establishes between us and the lower animals, are founded the conditions of our highest faculties and felicities: and without that labour, neither reason, art, nor peace, are possible to man.
From Fors Clavigera, Letter LIII · close to the original .
Tolstoy’s version, in EnglishAll nations in the end acknowledge the truth long since grasped by those who were their guides in thought: namely, that the first virtue of mankind lies in acknowledging its own imperfection and in submitting to the laws of a higher being. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” is the first truth we learn about ourselves; and the second is that we are to till the ground from which we were taken, and this is our chief duty. In this work, and in the relations it establishes between us, the animals and the plants, lie the fundamental conditions for the development of our higher faculties and of our greatest well-being. Without this work neither peace nor the development of his mind and spiritual powers is conceivable for man.
John Ruskin’s own wordsAnd it will be found ultimately by all nations, as it was found long ago by those who have been leaders in human force and intellect, that the initial virtue of the race consists in the acknowledgment of their own lowly nature and submission to the laws of higher being. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” is the first truth we have to learn of ourselves; and to till the earth out of which we were taken, our first duty: in that labour, and in the relations which it establishes between us and the lower animals, are founded the conditions of our highest faculties and felicities: …
… and without that labour, neither reason, art, nor peace, are possible to man.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Fors Clavigera, Letter LIII (Brantwood, Good Friday 1875), Letter LIII, after the commentary on Pope's 'Essay on Man', the paragraph beginning 'And it will be found ultimately by all nations'.
Close, the whole paragraph, with small changes: 'their own lowly nature' becomes 'their own imperfection'; 'the lower animals' becomes 'animals and plants'; 'neither reason, art, nor peace, are possible to man' becomes 'neither peace nor the development of his mind and spiritual powers is thinkable for man' (art drops out); the opening 'And' is dropped. Ruskin's own paragraph is printed here, from 'it will be found'.
Translation note. Tolstoy kept the author’s words closely, so the author’s own English is printed here (ruling 1); Tolstoy’s Russian, translated, is in the source panel. Genesis 3:19, in the KJV wording, which matches Tolstoy’s; “till the ground from which we were taken” echoes Genesis 3:23.
2. Кто покупает хлеб на базаре, того можно уподобить осиротевшему грудному ребенку: многие кормилицы кормят его, но ребенок все-таки голодает; кто же потребляет собственный хлеб, тот подобен ребенку, вскармливаемому грудью материнскою.
2. He who buys his bread in the market may be likened to an orphaned infant at the breast: many wet nurses feed it, and still the child goes hungry; but he who eats his own bread is like a child nursed at its mother’s breast.
From Avot de-Rabbi Natan · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · Hebrewרבי אחאי בן יאשיה אומר הלוקח תבואה מן השוק למה הוא דומה לתינוק שמתה אמו ומחזירין אותו על פתחי מיניקות אחרות ואינו שבע.
האוכל משלו דומה לתינוק המתגדל על שדי אמו.
Source text: sefaria.orgTolstoy’s own version · «Мысли мудрых людей на каждый день»Кто покупает (зерновой) хлеб на базаре, того можно уподобить осиротевшему грудному ребенку: многие кормилицы кормят его, но ребенок все-таки голодает; кто же потребляет собственный хлеб, тот подобен ребенку, вскармливаемому грудью материнскою.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Avot de-Rabbi Natan (version A), ch. 31.
R. Achai b. Josiah: 'one who buys grain in the market, what is he like? an infant whose mother died, carried from door to door to other wet-nurses, and not satisfied ... one who eats of his own is like an infant raised at its mother's breast'. Faithful to both halves; the middle clause ('one who buys baked bread in the market is as if dug and buried') and the sequel on peace of mind are dropped. In Avot de-Rabbi Natan, a minor tractate printed with the Talmud, not in the Talmud proper. The 1903 text has '(grain) bread'. No public-domain English translation was consulted.
3. Все рабочие и мастеровые люди возвратятся впоследствии к земледелию, как говорит писание.
«И сойдут с кораблей своих все владеющие веслом, все плавающие по морю... к земле пристанут» (Иезекииль 22, 27).
3. All workmen and craftsmen will in time return to tilling the land, as Scripture says.
“And all that handle the oar, all that sail the sea, shall come down from their ships... they shall come to land” (Ezekiel 22:27).
From Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot · close to the original .
Original · Aramaicואמר רבי אלעזר עתידים כל בעלי אומניות שיעמדו על הקרקע שנאמר
וירדו מאניותיהם כל תופשי משוט מלחים כל חובלי הים על הארץ יעמדו
Source text: sefaria.orgIn English · S. H. Glick, En Jacob (Ein Yaakov), 1916 (via Sefaria), 1916In the future all the professional men will become farmers, as it is said (Ez. 27, 29) And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, will come down from their ships and stand upon the land.
Source text: sefaria.orgTolstoy’s own version · «Мысли мудрых людей на каждый день»Все рабочие и мастеровые люди возвратятся впоследствии к земледелию, как говорит св. писание: «И сойдут с кораблей своих все владеющие веслом, все плавающие по морю... к земле пристанут» (Иезекииль XXVII, 29).
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot, 63a; Ezekiel 27:29.
R. Eleazar: 'in the future all craftsmen will stand upon the land, as it is said: they shall come down from their ships, all that handle the oar ...'. Faithful. The verse is Ezekiel 27:29: the Circle's reference «Иезекииль 22, 27» is a slip (the 1903 anthology has XXVII, 29). R. Eleazar's next saying, that no occupation is lower than farming, is not quoted.
Translation note. The verse is Ezekiel 27:29 (KJV: “all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land”); the reference is printed as 22:27 and kept.
4. Воистину самая лучшая пища та, которую вы сами или ваши дети заработали.
4. Truly, the best food is that which you yourselves or your children have earned.
From Hadith: Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Ahkam no. 1358 · close to the original .
In English · A. N. Matthews, Mishcat-ul-Masabih (Calcutta, 1809-10), 1810Verily the best things which you eat are those which you earn yourselves, or which your children earn.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Hadith: Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Ahkam no. 1358 (also Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah); in Mishkat al-Masabih, Book of Sales, ch. I, Tirmidhi 1358; Matthews, Mishcat-ul-Masabih vol. II, Book XII ('On Barter'), ch. I.
Tolstoy's Russian is word for word Matthews' English of the Mishkat ('Verily the best things which you eat are those which you earn yourselves, or which your children earn'), so the Mishkat in this translation, or a book quoting it, was probably his source (the Jubilee editors sign another of his Muhammad sayings 'Предание Мишкат', July 11). The Arabic says 'the best of what you eat is from your own earning, and your children are of your earning', i.e. a father may live from what his children earn; Matthews and Tolstoy make the children earners. A hadith, not the Qur'an. Not in Tolstoy's 1909 booklet from Suhrawardy's Sayings of Muhammad; his 1909 «Для души» has a shorter form ('Which is the best food? That which you have earned yourselves').
5. «В поте лица снеси хлеб твой». Это неизменный закон физический. Женщине дан закон родить, мужчине работать. Женщина не может освободиться от своего закона. Если она усыновит не ею рожденного ребенка, это будет все-таки чужой ребенок, и она лишится радости материнства. То же с трудами мужчин. Если мужчина ест хлеб, выработанный не им, он лишается всей радости труда.
5. “In the sweat of thy face eat thy bread.” This is an unchanging physical law. To woman is given the law of giving birth, to man the law of working. A woman cannot free herself from her law. If she adopts a child not born of her, it will still be another’s child, and she will lose the joy of motherhood. So it is with the labors of men. If a man eats bread he has not worked for, he loses all the joy of labor.
From «Трудолюбие и тунеядство, или Торжество земледельца» · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThe argument is restated as a law, with “the joy of labor” added.
Original · RussianВ поте лица твоего снеси хлеб твой, дондеже возвратишися в землю, от нее же взят …
Поэтому я лучше за деньги найму другую женщину родить для меня дитя, или за деньги куплю готового ребенка, и он будет мой собственный, как и тот, которого я сама рожу.
Собери со всего света сокровища и отдай их за дитя, а оно не будет твоим, а как было чужое, так чужим тебе и останется.
Также и муж: и он тоже может отказаться от хлебной работы, купить деньгами один фунт хлеба; а он как был чужой, так и будет чужим.
Source text: az.lib.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. «Трудолюбие и тунеядство, или Торжество земледельца» (written 1880s; Posrednik, 1906, with Tolstoy's preface), the epigraph (Gen. 3:19) and §§ 11-14.
A summary in Tolstoy's words of Bondarev's argument from Eve's and Adam's 'penances': a woman cannot buy a child and make it hers ('as it was another's, so it remains another's to you'), and a man cannot buy bread with money and make it his ('as it was another's, so it stays another's'). Tolstoy states it as 'an unchanging physical law' and replaces Bondarev's 'it stays another's' with the loss of 'the joy of motherhood' and 'all the joy of labour', which are not in Bondarev. The 1888 abridgment in «Русское дело», edited by Tolstoy, was not checked. No public-domain English translation is given (the 1890 English versions were made from the French).
Translation note. Genesis 3:19, quoted in Church Slavonic («снеси», “eat”); the KJV has “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread”.
6. Большего уважения заслуживает живущий от трудов рук своих, чем тот, кто кичится одною своею богобоязненностью.
Стыдно человеку, когда ему советуют в трудолюбии подражать муравью; вдвойне стыдно, если он совету этому не следует.
6. He who lives by the labor of his own hands deserves more respect than he who prides himself on his fear of God alone.
It is shameful for a man to be advised to imitate the ant in diligence; doubly shameful if he does not follow the advice.
From Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot · joined by Tolstoy from several places .
In English · S. H. Glick, En Jacob (Ein Yaakov), 1916 (via Sefaria), 1916He who enjoys life through the labor of his hand, is greater than he who fears God, …
Source text: sefaria.orgYalkut Shimoni on Nachר' שמעון בן אלעזר אומר עלוב הוא האדם הזה שצריך ללמוד מן הנמלה, אלו למד ועשה עלוב היה אלא שצריך ללמוד מדרכיה ולא למד
Source text: sefaria.orgTolstoy’s own version · «Мысли мудрых людей на каждый день»Большего уважения заслуживает живущий от трудов рук своих, чем тот, кто кичится одною своею богобоязненностью. Стыдно человеку, когда ему советуют в трудолюбии подражать муравью; вдвойне стыдно, если он совету этому не следует.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot; Yalkut Shimoni on Proverbs (after Deuteronomy Rabbah 5:2), Berakhot 8a; Yalkut Shimoni, Nach 938.
Two sayings joined. (1) Ulla in Berakhot 8a: 'greater is he who enjoys the fruit of his labour than he who fears Heaven' (with Ps. 112:1 and 128:2 as proof); Tolstoy makes the God-fearing man one who 'prides himself on his fear of God alone', a sharpening not in the Talmud. (2) R. Simeon b. Eleazar on Prov. 6:6 ('go to the ant, thou sluggard'): 'wretched is the man who must learn from the ant; had he learned and done it, he would be wretched still, but he must learn from its ways and has not learned', rendered 'shameful ... doubly shameful'. The second is Midrash, not Talmud. Same wording as Tolstoy's 1903 anthology. No public-domain English of the Yalkut was consulted.
Земледелие не есть одно из занятий, свойственных людям. Земледелие есть единственное занятие, свойственное всем людям и дающее наибольшую независимость и благо.
Tilling the land is not one of the occupations natural to people. Tilling the land is the one occupation natural to all people, and the one that gives the greatest independence and the greatest good.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/december/11