23Octoberоктября · 23-е октября
Совесть есть сознание божественного начала, живущего в нас.
Conscience is the consciousness of the divine principle that lives in us.
Translation note. Совесть / сознание do not echo in Russian; “conscience / consciousness” in English is a gain worth keeping.
1. «Совесть! Детские заблуждения, предрассудки воспитания, — слышу я дружные голоса мнимых мудрецов. — В уме человека нет ничего, кроме того, что дано опытом», — говорят они.
Даже больше, они отвергают очевидное и всеобщее согласие всех народов, и против поразительного единства суждения всех людей о том, что добро и что зло, они разыскивают какой-нибудь известный им одним пример (как будто свойства всех людей могут быть уничтожены извращением какого-нибудь описываемого путешественником темного народца), и полагают, что как только доказано, что есть уроды, то общее свойство всего человечества уже ничего не значит. «Все, — говорят они, — если содействуют общему благу, то делают это только ради своей выгоды». — Но почему же есть люди, которые служат общему благу для своей явной невыгоды? Как это идти на смерть ради своей выгоды?
Конечно, каждый действует для своего блага, но если нет нравственного, духовного блага, то объяснить выгодой можно только поступки злых людей. Какая ужасная философия была бы та, при которой нельзя было бы объяснить добродетельные поступки иначе, как подыскав для них подлые побуждения.
Совесть! Да, совесть верный судья добра и зла, совесть — это то, что делает человека подобным богу, только совесть составляет превосходство природы человека. Без совести в человеке нет ничего, что возвышало бы его над животным, кроме печального преимущества блуждать без какого-нибудь руководства от заблуждения к заблуждению.
1. “Conscience! The errors of childhood, the prejudices of upbringing!” I hear the would-be sages cry in chorus. “There is nothing in the human mind but what experience has put there,” they say.
They go further still. They reject the plain and universal agreement of all nations; against the striking unanimity of all mankind’s judgment of what is good and what is evil, they hunt out some example known only to themselves — as if the nature common to all men could be canceled by the perversity of some benighted tribe described by a traveler — and they suppose that once it is shown that monsters exist, the common nature of all humanity counts for nothing. “Everyone who works for the common good,” they say, “does it only for his own advantage.” Then why are there people who serve the common good to their own evident loss? How does one go to one’s death for one’s own advantage?
Of course everyone acts for his own good; but if there is no moral, spiritual good, then self-interest can explain only the deeds of the wicked. What a dreadful philosophy it would be that could account for virtuous deeds only by hunting up base motives for them!
Conscience! Yes, conscience is the sure judge of good and evil; conscience is what makes man like God; conscience alone is the excellence of man’s nature. Without conscience there is nothing in man to raise him above the beasts, except the sad privilege of wandering without any guide from error to error.
From Émile, ou De l’éducation, Book IV: Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · FrenchMais à ce mot j’entends s’élever de toutes parts la clameur des prétendus sages : erreurs de l’enfance, préjugés de l’éducation, s’écrient-ils tous de concert ! Il n’y a rien dans l’esprit humain que ce qui s’y introduit par l’expérience ; & nous ne jugeons d’aucune chose que sur des idées acquises. Ils font plus ; cet accord évident & universel de toutes les Nations, ils l’osent rejetter ; & contre l’éclatante uniformité du jugement des hommes, ils vont chercher dans les ténebres quelque exemple obscur & connu d’eux seuls, comme si tous les penchans de la Nature étoient anéantis par la dépravation d’un peuple, & que sitôt qu’il est des monstres, l’espece ne fût plus rien.
Que lui sert de donner aux plus suspects voyageurs l’autorité qu’il refuse aux Écrivains les plus célebres ?
Chacun, dit-on, concourt au bien public pour son intérêt ; mais d’où vient donc que le juste y concourt à son préjudice ? Qu’est-ce qu’aller à la mort pour son intérêt ? Sans doute nul n’agit que pour son bien ; mais s’il n’est un bien moral dont il faut tenir compte, on n’expliquera jamais par l’intérêt propre que les actions des méchans. Il est même à croire qu’on ne tentera point d’aller plus loin. Ce seroit une trop abominable philosophie que celle où l’on seroit embarrassé des actions vertueuses ; où l’on ne pourroit se tirer d’affaire qu’en leur controuvant des intentions basses & des motifs sans vertu …
Conscience ! conscience ! instinct divin ; immortelle & céleste voix, guide assuré d’un être ignorant & borné, mais intelligent & libre ; juge infaillible du bien & du mal, qui rends l’homme semblable à Dieu ; c’est toi qui fais l’excellence de sa nature & la moralité de ses actions ; sans toi je ne sens rien en moi qui m’éleve au-dessus des bêtes, que le triste privilege de m’égarer d’erreurs en erreurs à l’aide d’un entendement sans regle, & d’une raison sans principe.
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · Barbara Foxley, 1911But at this word I hear the murmurs of all the wise men so-called. Childish errors, prejudices of our upbringing, they exclaim in concert! There is nothing in the human mind but what it has gained by experience; and we judge everything solely by means of the ideas we have acquired. They go further; they even venture to reject the clear and universal agreement of all peoples, and to set against this striking unanimity in the judgment of mankind, they seek out some obscure exception known to themselves alone; as if the whole trend of nature were rendered null by the depravity of a single nation, and as if the existence of monstrosities made an end of species.
To what purpose does he credit the most untrustworthy travellers, while he refuses to believe the greatest writers?
Self-interest, so they say, induces each of us to agree for the common good. But how is it that the good man consents to this to his own hurt? Does a man go to death from self-interest? No doubt each man acts for his own good, but if there is no such thing as moral good to be taken into consideration, self-interest will only enable you to account for the deeds of the wicked; possibly you will not attempt to do more. A philosophy which could find no place for good deeds would be too detestable; you would find yourself compelled either to find some mean purpose, some wicked motive …
Conscience! Conscience! Divine instinct, immortal voice from heaven; sure guide for a creature ignorant and finite indeed, yet intelligent and free; infallible judge of good and evil, making man like to God! In thee consists the excellence of man's nature and the morality of his actions; apart from thee, I find nothing in myself to raise me above the beasts--nothing but the sad privilege of wandering from one error to another, by the help of an unbridled understanding and a reason which knows no principle.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Émile, ou De l’éducation, Book IV: Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard, Book IV, Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard, the passage on conscience; Collection complète des œuvres (Genève, 1782), t. V, pp. 58–62.
Three of Rousseau's paragraphs condensed, skipping the four that come between the second and the closing apostrophe. Tolstoy drops the apostrophe to Montaigne but folds its "suspect travellers" into a parenthesis, adds "spiritual" to Rousseau's "moral good", and trims the epithets of the apostrophe ("divine instinct, immortal and heavenly voice", "infallible judge") to a "true judge of good and evil"; his likely intermediary was A. A. Rusanova's 1903 Russian translation (vol. 42 source list).
2. Не делай того, что осуждает твоя совесть, и не говори того, что несогласно с правдой. Поступай так, и ты исполнишь всю задачу своей жизни.
Никто не может насиловать твою волю; на нее нет ни вора, ни разбойника; не желай неразумного, желай общего блага, а не личного, как большая часть людей.
Задача жизни не в том, чтобы быть на стороне большинства, а в том, чтобы жить согласно с внутренним, сознаваемым тобою законом.
2. Do not do what your conscience condemns, and do not say what does not agree with the truth. Act so, and you will fulfill the whole task of your life.
No one can force your will; no thief or robber can reach it. Do not desire what is unreasonable; desire not your personal good, as most people do, but the common good.
The task of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to live in accordance with the inner law of which you are conscious.
From Meditations · joined by Tolstoy from several places .
Original · Ancient GreekΕἰ μὴ καθήκει, μὴ πράξῃς· εἰ μὴ ἀληθές ἐστι, μὴ εἴπῃς.
Λῃστὴς προαιρέσεως οὐ γίνεται· τὸ τοῦ Ἐπικτήτου.
Τέχνην, ἔφη, δεῖ περὶ τὸ συγκατατίθεσθαι εὑρεῖν καὶ ἐν τῷ περὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς τόπῳ τὸ προσεκτικὸν φυλάσσειν, ἵνα μεθ’ ὑπεξαιρέσεως, ἵνα κοινωνικαί, ἵνα κατ’ ἀξίαν, καὶ ὀρέξεως μὲν παντάπασιν ἀπέχεσθαι, ἐκκλίσει δὲ πρὸς μηδὲν τῶν οὐκ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν χρῆσθαι.
Οὐ περὶ τοῦ τυχόντος οὖν, ἔφη, ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγών, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ μαίνεσθαι ἢ μή.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1862If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.
No man can rob us of our free will (Epictetus, iii. 22, 105).
Epictetus also said, a man must discover an art [or rules] with respect to giving his assent; and in respect to his movements he must be careful that they be made with regard to circumstances, that they be consistent with social interests, that they have regard to the value of the object; and as to sensual desire, he should altogether keep away from it; and as to avoidance [aversion], he should not show it with respect to any of the things which are not in our power.
The dispute then, he said, is not about any common matter, but about being mad or not.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDiscourses III.22.105… εἰρήνη πᾶσα. λῃστὴς προαιρέσεως οὐ γίνεται, τύραννος οὐ γίνεται.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comDiscourses III.22.105 · George Long, 1890All is peace; there is no robber who takes away his will, …
… no tyrant.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comRelated · Tolstoy's own earlier Russian of the same three thoughts: the epigraph to ch. VIII of 'О…Не делай того, что осуждает твоя совесть, и не говори того, что несогласно с правдой. Соблюдай это самое важное, и ты исполнил всю задачу своей жизни …
Никто не может насиловать твою волю, на нее нет ни вора, ни разбойника; не желай неразумного, желай общего блага, а не личного, как большая часть людей. Задача жизни не в том, чтобы быть на стороне большинства, а в том, чтобы не попасть в ряды умалишенных …
Source text: ru.wikisource.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Meditations (thought 2 also Epictetus, Discourses), XII.17; XI.36-37 (= Epictetus, Discourses III.22.105); third thought probably XI.38, reworked.
Thought 1 = XII.17 (excerpt 1); Tolstoy's closing 'do so and you will fulfil the whole task of your life' has no counterpart in the Greek, where the sentence that follows is corrupt (Long: 'something wrong here'). Thought 2 = XI.36, Marcus quoting Epictetus (Discourses III.22.105), run into a loose paraphrase of XI.37 (assent with regard to the common good, abstain from desire); 'neither thief nor robber' doubles Epictetus' single 'robber of the will'. Thought 3 is not in the Meditations as worded: in his 1904 epigraph Tolstoy ran XI.36-37 straight on into 'the task of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but not to fall into the ranks of the insane', which answers to XI.38 ('not about any common matter, but about being mad or not'); in 1908 he replaced the madness clause with 'to live by the inner law you are conscious of', so the third thought is at most a heavy reworking of XI.38 (candidate, moderate confidence). This 1904 epigraph is also the earliest known source of the English 'The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority...' misattributed to Marcus.
3. Тысячи внешних голосов зовут нас куда-то в сторону, но только один внутренний, слабый голос совести может быть нашим надежным руководителем.
3. A thousand voices from without call us aside; only one faint inner voice, the voice of conscience, can be our sure guide.
Probably from "Key Thoughts" aphorism, The World's Advance-Thought · reworded by Tolstoy .
Not in Leo Tolstoy as EditorThe thought is Lucy Mallory’s, but her exact aphorism was not found in the issues of her journal searched.
Lucy Mallory’s own wordsWe will never find the Way, the Truth and the Life by asking of the Babel of external voices.
The Infallible Guide is within the …
Source text: archive.orgDetails
A likely source, not certain. "Key Thoughts" aphorism, The World's Advance-Thought (Portland, Oregon), vol. XVI, no. 3 (New Series), January 1904, Issue of January 1904, aphorism signed Lucy A. Mallory (archive.org IAPSOP scan, vol. 16, 1903-1904, partial).
Same thought, not the same words: Mallory sets the 'Babel of external voices' against the 'Infallible Guide' within; Tolstoy's text has 'thousands' of voices, names the inner guide as conscience, and calls its voice weak. The Jubilee commentary lists the journal (1894-1904) among Tolstoy's sources; Mallory recast her aphorisms often, so the exact one may be in an issue not scanned.
Searched: archive.org IAPSOP scans of The World's Advance-Thought, vols. 2-6 (1887-1892) and 14-22 (1901-1909, most volumes partial), searched for 'thousand voices', 'voice(s) of conscience', 'still small voice', 'outer/external/outside voices', 'voices ... call', 'safe/true/only guide'; archive.org full-text search for 'thousand voices' + conscience + Mallory and for 'external voices' + Mallory; Coit's The Message of Man. Issues of 1904-1907 are only partly scanned.
4. Всем людям свойственно грешить.
Различие между людьми бывает в степени угрызений совести после греха.
4. To sin is common to all men.
Men differ in how deeply their conscience gnaws at them after the sin.
From Rosmunda · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedA murderer’s plea in a play becomes a maxim; an either/or becomes a matter of degree.
Original · ItalianD’uomo è il fallir; ma dal malvagio il buono scerne il dolor del fallo.
Source text: it.wikisource.orgIn English · Charles Lloyd, 1815To fail Is human; but contrition for a fault Distinguishes the virtuous from the wicked.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Rosmunda (tragedy, 1783), Act III, scene 1 (Almachilde to Romilda); Tragedie, vol. II (Bari: Laterza, 1946), p. 26.
A line spoken by Almachilde, the murderer of Romilda's father, pleading his remorse to her, not a maxim in Alfieri's own voice. Tolstoy lifts it out of the play and turns Alfieri's either/or (sorrow for the fault divides the good from the wicked) into a matter of degree ("the degree of remorse").
Нельзя бороться с требованиями совести — это требования бога, и потому лучше сразу покориться им.
You cannot fight the demands of conscience: they are the demands of God, and so it is better to yield to them at once.
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