24Octoberоктября · 24-е октября
Если бы основа жизни всех нас не была бы одна и та же, ничем нельзя бы было объяснить испытываемое нами чувство сострадания.
If the foundation of life were not one and the same in all of us, nothing could explain the compassion we feel.
1. Ничем нельзя смягчить нашего гнева, даже справедливого, так быстро, как сказавши гневающемуся: «да ведь он — несчастный!» Ибо, что дождь для огня, то и сострадание для гнева. Пусть всякий человек, вспылив гневом против другого человека и задумав причинить ему страдание, — живо представит себе, что он уже сделал это, и видит теперь его страдающим духовно или телесно или в борьбе с нуждой и нищетой, и может сказать себе: это дело моих рук. Если не другое что, то это может потушить его гнев.
1. Nothing softens our anger, even just anger, so quickly as saying to the one who is angry: “But he is a poor unfortunate!” For what rain is to fire, compassion is to anger. Let anyone who has flared up in anger against another and means to make him suffer picture vividly that he has already done it, and sees him now suffering in spirit or in body, or struggling with want and poverty, and can say to himself: this is my doing. If nothing else will, this can put out his anger.
From Preisschrift über die Grundlage der Moral · close to the original .
Original · German… daß unſern Zorn, ſelbſt wenn er gerecht iſt, nichts ſo ſchnell befänftigt, wie hinſichtlich des Gegenſtandes deſſelben die Rede: „es iſt ein Unglücklicher“. Denn was für das Feuer der Regen, das iſt für den Zorn das Mitleid. Dieſerhalb rathe ich Dem, der nicht gern etwas zu bereuen haben möchte, daß, wenn er von Zorn gegen einen Andern entbrannt, dieſem ein großes Leid zuzufügen gedenkt, er ſich lebhaft vorſtellen möge, er hätte es ihm bereits zugefügt, ſähe ihn jetzt mit ſeinen geiſtigen, oder körperlichen Schmerzen, oder Noth und Elend, ringen, und müßte zu ſich ſagen: das iſt mein Werk. Wenn irgend Etwas, ſo ver⸗ mag dieſes ſeinen Zorn zu dämpfen.
Source text: archive.orgIn English · Arthur Brodrick Bullock, 1903When our wrath is kindled against a person, nothing quenches it so quickly, even when it is righteous, as the words: "He is an unfortunate man." And the reason is obvious: Compassion is to anger as water to fire. Therefore, whoever would fain have nothing to repent of, let him listen to my advice. When he is inflamed with rage, and meditates doing some one a grievous injury, he should bring the thing vividly before his mind, as a _fait accompli_; he should clearly picture to himself this other fellow-being tormented with mental or bodily pain, or struggling with need and misery; so that he is forced to exclaim: "This is my work!" Such thoughts as these, if anything, will avail to moderate his wrath.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Preisschrift über die Grundlage der Moral (1840), in Die beiden Grundprobleme der Ethik (2nd ed. 1860), Part III, § 19 ("Bestätigungen des dargelegten moralischen Grundfundaments"), point 6; p. 238 of the 1860 edition.
Not from the Parerga but from the prize essay on the basis of morality. Tolstoy renders it nearly sentence by sentence, but drops the framing "I advise anyone who would not wish to have anything to repent", turns words said about the object of our anger into words said to the angry man, and omits the closing remark that pity is the antidote to anger (with the Voltaire lines). His "rain" follows the German; Bullock has "water".
2. Прямой путь или правило поведения, которому надо следовать, недалеко от людей. То, что далеко от людей, т. е. несогласно с их природой, не должно быть принимаемо за правило поведения. Плотник, вытесывающий топорище, имеет перед собою образец того, что делает. Взяв в руки топорище того топора, которым он тешет, он смотрит на него с той и другой стороны и после того, как сделал новое топорище, рассматривает их оба, чтобы видеть, насколько они сходны; так и мудрый человек, который питает к другим такие же чувства, какие он питает к себе, находит верное правило поведения. Он не делает другим того, что он не желает, чтобы ему сделали.
2. The straight way, the rule of conduct one must follow, is not far from men. What is far from men — that is, contrary to their nature — must not be taken as a rule of conduct. A carpenter hewing an axe handle has before him the pattern of what he is making. Taking in his hand the handle of the very axe he hews with, he looks at it from this side and that, and when he has made the new handle he examines the two together to see how alike they are. So the wise man, who bears others the same feelings he bears himself, finds the true rule of conduct. He does not do to others what he would not wish done to himself.
From Doctrine of the Mean · shortened by Tolstoy .
What Tolstoy read · G. Pauthier, 1846La voie droite ou la règle de conduite que l'on doit suivre n'est pas éloignée des hommes. Si les hommes se font une règle de conduite éloignée d'eux [c'est-à-dire, qui ne soit pas conforme à leur propre nature], elle ne doit pas être considérée comme une règle de conduite.
L'artisan qui taille un manche de cognée sur un autre manche N'a pas son modèle éloigné de lui.
Prenant le manche modèle pour tailler l'autre manche, il le regarde de côté et d'autre, et, après avoir confectionné le nouveau manche, il les examine bien tous les deux pour voir s'ils diffèrent encore l'un de l'autre.
Celui dont le cœur est droit, et qui porte aux autres les mêmes sentiments qu'il a pour lui-même, ne s'écarte pas de la loi morale du devoir prescrite aux hommes par leur nature rationnelle; il ne fait pas aux autres ce qu'il désire qui ne lui soit pas fait à lui-même.
Source text: gutenberg.orgOriginal · Chinese道不遠人。人之爲道而遠人，不可以爲道。詩云：『伐柯伐柯，其則不遠。』執柯以伐柯，睨而視之，猶以爲遠。故君子以人治人，改而止。忠恕違道不遠
而不願，亦勿施於人。
Source text: zh.wikisource.orgIn English · James Legge, 1893The path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a course which is far from the common indications of consciousness, this course cannot be considered the path.
In hewing an axe-handle, in hewing an axe-handle, The pattern is not far off.
We grasp one axe-handle to hew the other, and yet if we look askance from the one to the other, we may consider them as apart. Therefore, the superior man governs men according to their nature, with what is proper to them; and as soon as they change what is wrong, he stops. When one cultivates to the utmost the moral principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path. What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), ch. 13.1-3.
Tolstoy's Russian follows Pauthier's French almost phrase by phrase ('la voie droite ou la règle de conduite' = 'прямой путь или правило поведения', the bracketed gloss 'not conformable to their nature' kept). He drops the sentence on the superior man governing men by what is human in them and stopping once they amend, and fuses §2 and §3 so the axe-handle simile leads straight to the man who feels for others as for himself.
3. Когда ты бранишь человека и враждуешь с ним, ты забываешь, что люди — твои братья, и ты делаешься им врагом, вместо того чтобы быть их другом. Этим ты сам себе вредишь, потому что когда ты перестал быть добрым и общительным существом, каким тебя бог создал, и вместо того стал диким зверем, который подкрадывается, раздирает и губит свою жертву, — тогда ты потерял самую дорогую свою собственность. Ты чувствуешь потерю кошелька с деньгами, почему же ты не чувствуешь своего убытка, когда ты потерял свое лучшее богатство: доброту души?
3. When you abuse a man and are at enmity with him, you forget that men are your brothers, and you become their enemy instead of their friend. By this you harm yourself; for when you have ceased to be the kind and sociable creature God made you, and have become instead a wild beast that stalks, tears and destroys its prey, then you have lost your most precious possession. You feel the loss of a purse of money; why do you not feel your loss when you have lost your best wealth — goodness of soul?
From Discourses · reworded by Tolstoy .
Original · Ancient Greek… ἐὰν δʼ ἀπελθὼν ψέγῃς σου τὸν ἀδελφόν, λέγω σοι …
… ἐπελάθου, τίς εἶ καὶ τί σοι ὄνομα.
… εἰ δὲ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἐπελάθου καὶ ἀντὶ ἀδελφοῦ ἐχθρὸς ἐγένου, οὐδὲν ἀντʼ οὐδενὸς ἠλλάχθαι φανεῖ σεαυτῷ;
… εἰ δʼ ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου, ἡμέρου ζῴου καὶ κοινωνικοῦ, θηρίον γέγονας βλαβερόν, ἐπίβουλον, δηκτικόν, οὐδὲν ἀπολώλεκας; ἀλλὰ δεῖ σε κέρμα ἀπολέσαι, ἵνα ζημιωθῆς, ἄλλου δʼ οὐδενὸς ἀπώλεια ζημιοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον;
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1890But if you go and blame your brother, I say to you, You have forgotten who you are and what is your name.
… and if you have forgotten the brother and instead of a brother have become an enemy, would you appear not to have changed one thing for another in that case? And if instead of a man, who is a tame animal and social, you are become a mischievous wild beast, treacherous, and biting, have you lost nothing? But, (I suppose) you must lose a bit of money that you may suffer damage? And does the loss of nothing else do a man damage?
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Discourses, II.10.12-14.
Epictetus speaks of one's own brother, in a discourse on the duties each role ('son', 'brother', 'citizen') names; Tolstoy makes it 'people are your brothers' and adds that God made man good and social. The 'bit of money' becomes a lost purse, and the losses Epictetus lists (modesty, self-restraint, gentleness) are gathered into 'goodness of soul'.
Translation note. The Jubilee text reads «Когда ты бранить» — a misprint for «бранишь» (you abuse); translated as the latter.
4. Есть много людей, более несчастных, чем ты. Это изречение, правда, не служит кровлей, под которой можно было бы жить, однако оно достаточно для того, чтобы под ним укрыться от ливня.
4. There are many people more unhappy than you. This saying, it is true, is no roof to live under; but it is enough to shelter under from a downpour.
From Vermischte Schriften, vol. 2 · close to the original .
Original · German„Es gibt ſehr viele Menfchen, die ungluͤcklicher ſind als du“ — gewaͤhrt zwar kein Dach, darunter zu wohnen, allein ſich bey einem Regen— ſchauer darunter zu retiriren, iſt das Saͤtz⸗ chen gut genug.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Vermischte Schriften, vol. 2 (Göttingen, 1801), "Bemerkungen vermischten Inhalts"; first written in Sudelbuch J, Vol. 2, part II "Bemerkungen vermischten Inhalts", section 15 "Gute Rathschläge und Maximen" (manuscript: Sudelbuch J, 1789–1793).
Faithful: the saying (in quotation marks in the 1801 text, italic in Tolstoy) and the roof/shower image are kept; "very many" becomes "many" and the "Regenschauer" a downpour. The 1801 edition reads "Regenschauer" where the manuscript text (Promies, on zeno.org) has "Schauer". No public-domain English translation of this aphorism was found (Project Gutenberg and archive.org searched).
5. Ты стонешь от своих несчастий. Если б ты помнил то, что испытывают другие, ты меньше жаловался бы на свои страдания.
5. You groan over your misfortunes. If you remembered what others endure, you would complain less of your own sufferings.
Probably from Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia · reworded by Tolstoy .
Not in Leo Tolstoy as EditorThe Jubilee editors signed it Solon; the nearest text is an anecdote in Valerius Maximus, and Tolstoy’s direct source is unknown.
Original · LatinIdem, cum ex amicis quendam grauiter maerentem uideret, in arcem perduxit hortatusque est ut per omnes subiectorum aedificiorum partes oculos circumferret.
'cogita nunc tecum' inquit 'quam multi luctus sub his tectis et olim fuerint et hodieque uersentur …
… insequentibus saeculis sint habitaturi ac mitte mortalium incommoda tamquam propria deflere'.
… quo colligebat non oportere nos quae fortuito patiamur praecipuae et intolerabilis amaritudinis iudicare.
Source text: thelatinlibrary.comIn English · Samuel Speed, 1678The same person, when he beheld one of his Friends in a deep affliction, brought him to a high Tower, and bid him survey every part of the lower Buildings: which when he had done, …
… how many occasions of lamentations formerly there were, and still are in those meaner roofs, and will happen hereafter, and cease to bewail the common inconveniences of …
From whence he collected, that we ought not to accompt those things most intolerably bitter, which we suffer by chance.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comDetails
A likely source, not certain. Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia, VII.2 ext. 2.
The 1908 and earlier printings carry no signature; the Jubilee editors added 'Солон', on their stated basis of primary sources and Tolstoy's autographs (vol. 42, pp. 582-583, table of corrected signatures: '24 октября, 4 | Подписи нет | Солон'). The nearest ancient text found is Valerius Maximus' Solon, who takes a grieving friend up the citadel to think of all the griefs under the roofs below and bids him stop lamenting mortal ills as his own; Tolstoy's two sentences would be a maxim distilled from that anecdote (or from an anthology that had already distilled it). Unconfirmed: Tolstoy's direct source is unknown.
Searched: Jubilee vol. 42 commentary (ru.wikisource page scans, pp. 582-583), which names no source; web searches for a Solon saying on others' misfortunes in Stobaeus found none; Valerius Maximus VII.2 ext. 2 (Latin Library) and Speed's 1678 English (EEBO-TCP A64912) consulted. Plutarch, Consolatio ad Apollonium 106b gives the related 'common heap of misfortunes' to Socrates.
Истинное сострадание начинается только тогда, когда, поставив себя в воображении на место страдающего, испытываешь действительное страдание.
True compassion begins only when, putting yourself in imagination in the sufferer’s place, you actually suffer.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/october/24