11Novemberноября · 11-е ноября
Совершенство нравственное недостижимо, но приближение к нему есть закон жизни человеческой.
Moral perfection is unattainable, but drawing nearer to it is the law of human life.
1. Нет никакого нравственного закона, если я не могу исполнять его. Люди говорят: мы рождены эгоистами, скупыми, похотливыми и не можем быть иными.
Нет, мы можем. Первое дело — сердцем почувствовать, чем мы должны быть. И это чувство даст нам силу.
1. There is no moral law if I cannot fulfill it. People say: we were born selfish, miserly, lustful, and cannot be otherwise.
No, we can. The first thing is to feel with the heart what we ought to be. And that feeling will give us strength.
From Ethical Religion · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · Stanton Coit, The Message of Man… avaricious, lustful, and cannot be otherwise. We can be !
Source text: archive.orgSalter’s own wordsThere is no duty if I cannot perform it. And as duty exists and charms and binds me, I know I can do it.
Men say we are born selfish, avaricious, lustful, and cannot be otherwise. You can be ; and the first thing is to feel in your heart of hearts that you ought to be, — and the iron weight of that obligation felt in your inmost soul will transform you and give you its iron strength.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Ethical Religion (1889), p. 312 (1889 ed.); Coit, The Message of Man, ch. 'We have the power to do right', vv. 9-11.
Faithful in substance, via Coit (who has 'We can be!' for Salter's 'You can be'); Tolstoy says 'moral law' for 'duty' and shortens the last clause to 'this feeling will give us strength'. Coit gives Salter as: 'There is no duty if I cannot perform it. Men say we are born selfish, avaricious, lustful, and cannot be otherwise. We can be! And the first thing is to feel in our heart of hearts that we ought to be, and the iron weight of that obligation will transform us and give us its iron strength.'
2. Вы — свободные деятели, и вы это чувствуете. Все возможные софизмы той жалкой философии, которая старается противопоставить фаталистическое учение громкому голосу человеческой совести, человеческого сознания, не в силах были заставить замолчать двух неподкупных свидетелей человеческой свободы: укоров совести и величия мученичества. Начиная с Сократа и до Христа и от Христа вплоть до тех людей, которые из века в век умирают за истину, все мученики веры протестуют против этого рабского учения и громко говорят нам: «Мы тоже любили жизнь и всех людей, которыми жизнь наша была красна и которые умоляли нас прекратить борьбу. Каждое биение нашего сердца громко взывало к нам: живи! но ради исполнения долга мы предпочли смерть». И начиная с Каина и вплоть до самого жалкого шпиона наших дней, все изменники и предатели, избравшие путь зла, слышат в глубине души голос осуждения, укора, голос, не дающий им покоя, который вечно твердит им: «Зачем вы свернули с истинного пути? Вы деятели свободные, а, стало быть, ответственны за свои поступки».
2. You are free agents, and you feel it. All the possible sophistries of that pitiful philosophy which tries to set a fatalist doctrine against the loud voice of the human conscience, of human consciousness, have not been able to silence the two incorruptible witnesses to human freedom: the reproaches of conscience and the greatness of martyrdom. From Socrates to Christ, and from Christ down to the men who from age to age die for the truth, all the martyrs of faith protest against this slavish doctrine and say to us aloud: “We too loved life and all the people who made our life beautiful and who begged us to give up the struggle. Every beat of our heart cried out to us: live! But to fulfill our duty we chose death.” And from Cain down to the most wretched spy of our day, all the traitors and betrayers who have chosen the way of evil hear in the depth of their souls the voice of condemnation, of reproach, a voice that gives them no rest and keeps on repeating to them: “Why did you turn aside from the true way? You are free agents, and therefore answerable for your deeds.”
From Doveri dell'uomo · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThose who die for their country become those who die for the truth.
Original · ItalianVoi siete e vi sentite liberi. Tutti i sofismi d'una misera filosofia, che vorrebbe sostituire una dottrina di non so quale fatalismo al grido della coscienza umana, non valgono a cancellare due testimonianze invincibili a favore della libertà: il rimorso e il Martirio.
Da Socrate a Gesù, da Gesù fino agli uomini che muoiono a ogni tanto per la Patria, i Martiri di una Fede protestano contro quella servile dottrina, gridandovi: «noi amavamo la vita; amavamo esseri che ce la facevano cara e che ci supplicavano di cedere: tutti gl'impulsi del nostro core dicevano vivi! a ciascuno di noi; ma per la salute delle generazioni avvenire, scegliemmo morire».
Da Caino alla spia volgare dei nostri giorni, i traditori dei loro fratelli, gli uomini che si son messi sulla via del male, sentono nel fondo dell'anima una condanna, una irrequietezza, un rimprovero che dice a ciascun d'essi: perché t'allontanasti dalle vie del bene? Voi siete liberi e quindi responsabili.
Source text: it.wikisource.orgIn English · Emilie Ashurst Venturi, 1862From Socrates to Jesus, from Jesus down to the men who from time to time still die for their country, all the martyrs of Faith protest against the servile doctrine, and cry aloud unto you: …
From Cain down to the vulgar spy of the present day, all the betrayers of their fellows, all the men who have chosen the path of evil, have heard and hear in the depths of their secret soul, a voice of blame, disquiet, and reproof …
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Doveri dell'uomo (The Duties of Man), Chapter VII, "Doveri verso se stessi" (Doveri dell'uomo, London 1860).
Otherwise close, but Tolstoy changes the martyrs' cause: Mazzini's men who die 'per la Patria' become those who die 'for the truth' («за истину»), and 'for the salvation of the generations to come, we chose to die' becomes 'for the fulfilment of duty we chose death'. He adds 'conscience' to 'remorse' and the closing «Вы деятели свободные, а, стало быть, ответственны».
3. Если ты спросишь: «что же делать?» то позволь мне ответить: что таков, каков ты теперь, ты ничего сделать не в силах. Дело, которое тебе предстоит сейчас, состоит в том, чтоб по возможности перестать быть пустым отголоском своего и чужого себялюбия и легкомыслия и стать хотя бы и не великой, но честной душой. Ты должен заглянуть в себя и убедиться, есть ли там хоть след души. До тех пор ничего нельзя сделать. О, братья, мы должны, насколько возможно, восстановить в себе душу и совесть, заменить наше легкомыслие искренностью и наши мертвые, каменные сердца живыми! Только тогда мы начнем понимать предстоящий нам бесконечный ряд хороших дел в их более или менее ясной последовательности. Сделайте первый шаг, и второй будет легче, яснее, выполнимее.
3. If thou ask again, What is to be done? allow me to reply: By thee, for the present, almost nothing. Thou there, the thing for thee to do is, if possible, to cease to be a hollow sounding-shell of hearsays, egoisms, purblind dilettantisms; and become, were it on the infinitely small scale, a faithful discerning soul. Thou shalt descend into thy inner man, and see if there be any traces of a soul there; till then there can be nothing done! O brother, we must if possible resuscitate some soul and conscience in us, exchange our dilettantisms for sincerities, our dead hearts of stone for living hearts of flesh. Then shall we discern, not one thing, but, in clearer or dimmer sequence, a whole endless host of things that can be done. Do the first of these; do it; the second will already have become clearer, doabler.
From Past and Present · close to the original .
Tolstoy’s version, in EnglishIf you ask, “What, then, am I to do?” let me answer: such as you are now, you can do nothing. The work before you now is to cease, as far as you can, to be an empty echo of your own and others’ selfishness and frivolity, and to become a soul, if not a great one, then an honest one. You must look into yourself and make sure whether there is even a trace of a soul there. Until then nothing can be done. O brothers, we must, as far as we can, restore the soul and conscience within us, replace our frivolity with sincerity, and our dead hearts of stone with living ones! Only then shall we begin to understand the endless succession of good deeds before us, in their more or less clear order. Take the first step, and the second will be easier, clearer, more within your power.
Carlyle’s own wordsIf thou ask again, therefore, on the Morrison's-Pill hypothesis, What is to be done? allow me to reply: By thee, for the present, almost nothing.
Thou there, the thing for thee to do is, if possible, to cease to be a hollow sounding-shell of hearsays, egoisms, purblind dilettantisms; and become, were it on the infinitely small scale, a faithful discerning soul. Thou shalt descend into thy inner man, and see if there be any traces of a soul there; till then there can be nothing done!
O brother, we must if possible resuscitate some soul and conscience in us, exchange our dilettantisms for sincerities, our dead hearts of stone for living hearts of flesh. Then shall we discern, not one thing, but, in clearer or dimmer sequence, a whole endless host of things that can be done. Do the first of these; do it; the second will already have become clearer, doabler; …
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Past and Present (1843), Book I, chapter IV 'Morrison's Pill' (Russian: Загадка сфинкса, tr. L. P. Nikiforov, 1900), Book I, ch. IV, paragraph beginning 'If thou ask again, therefore, on the Morrison's-Pill hypothesis'.
Close, lightly smoothed: the 'Morrison's-Pill hypothesis' is dropped, 'hollow sounding-shell of hearsays, egoisms, purblind dilettantisms' becomes 'empty echo of your own and others' selfishness and frivolity', 'a faithful discerning soul' becomes 'an honest soul', 'O brother' becomes 'O brothers', and the sentence ends at 'the second will be easier'. Carlyle's own words are printed here; the three excerpts run continuously.
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. Carlyle’s “on the Morrison’s-Pill hypothesis” is left out, as Tolstoy leaves it out.
4. Человек уронил дорогой жемчуг в море и, чтоб достать его, стал черпать ковшом воду. Морской дух вышел и спросил: «Скоро ли ты перестанешь?» Человек сказал: «Когда вычерпаю море и достану жемчужину». Морской дух вынес ему жемчужину.
4. A man dropped a precious pearl into the sea and, to recover it, began to bail out the water with a ladle. The spirit of the sea came out and asked, “Will you stop soon?” The man said, “When I have bailed out the sea and found the pearl.” The spirit of the sea brought the pearl out to him.
Последствия внешние не в нашей воле, но усилие всегда возможно, и благотворные внутренние последствия всегда сопутствуют усилию.
Outward consequences are not in our power, but effort is always possible, and beneficent inward consequences always go with effort.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/november/11