War and Peace (168 page)

CHAPTER XII

From the time the law of Copernicus was discovered and proved, the mere recognition of the fact that it was not the sun but the earth that moves sufficed to destroy the whole cosmography of the ancients. By disproving that law it might have been possible to retain the old conception of the movements of the bodies, but without disproving it, it would seem impossible to continue studying the Ptolemaic worlds. But even after the discovery of the law of Copernicus the Ptolemaic worlds were still studied for a long time.

From the time the first person said and proved that the number of births or of crimes is subject to mathematical laws, and that this or that mode of government is determined by certain geographical and economic conditions, and that certain relations of population to soil produce migrations of peoples, the foundations on which history had been built were destroyed in their essence.

By refuting these new laws the former view of history might have been retained; but without refuting them it would seem impossible to continue studying historic events as the results of man's free will. For if a certain mode of government was established or certain migrations of peoples took place in consequence of such and such geographic, ethnographic, or economic conditions, then the free will of those individuals who appear to us to have established that mode of government or occasioned the migrations can no longer be regarded as the cause.

And yet the former history continues to be studied side by side with the laws of statistics, geography, political economy, comparative philology, and geology, which directly contradict its assumptions.

The struggle between the old views and the new was long and stubbornly fought out in physical philosophy. Theology stood on guard for the old views and accused the new of violating revelation. But when truth conquered, theology established itself just as firmly on the new foundation.

Just as prolonged and stubborn is the struggle now proceeding between the old and the new conception of history, and theology in the same way stands on guard for the old view, and accuses the new view of subverting revelation.

In the one case as in the other, on both sides the struggle provokes passion and stifles truth. On the one hand there is fear and regret for the loss of the whole edifice constructed through the ages, on the other is the passion for destruction.

To the men who fought against the rising truths of physical philosophy, it seemed that if they admitted that truth it would destroy faith in God, in the creation of the firmament, and in the miracle of Joshua the son of Nun. To the defenders of the laws of Copernicus and Newton, to Voltaire for example, it seemed that the laws of astronomy destroyed religion, and he utilized the law of gravitation as a weapon against religion.

Just so it now seems as if we have only to admit the law of inevitability, to destroy the conception of the soul, of good and evil, and all the institutions of state and church that have been built up on those conceptions.

So too, like Voltaire in his time, uninvited defenders of the law of inevitability today use that law as a weapon against religion, though the law of inevitability in history, like the law of Copernicus in astronomy, far from destroying, even strengthens the foundation on which the institutions of state and church are erected.

As in the question of astronomy then, so in the question of history now, the whole difference of opinion is based on the recognition or nonrecognition of something absolute, serving as the measure of visible phenomena. In astronomy it was the immovability of the earth, in history it is the independence of personality—free will.

As with astronomy the difficulty of recognizing the motion of the earth lay in abandoning the immediate sensation of the earth's fixity and of the motion of the planets, so in history the difficulty of recognizing the subjection of personality to the laws of space, time, and cause lies in renouncing the direct feeling of the independence of one's own personality. But as in astronomy the new view said: "It is true that we do not feel the movement of the earth, but by admitting its immobility we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting its motion (which we do not feel) we arrive at laws," so also in history the new view says: "It is true that we are not conscious of our dependence, but by admitting our free will we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting our dependence on the external world, on time, and on cause, we arrive at laws."

In the first case it was necessary to renounce the consciousness of an unreal immobility in space and to recognize a motion we did not feel; in the present case it is similarly necessary to renounce a freedom that does not exist, and to recognize a dependence of which we are not conscious.

Footnotes

[1]
The most fascinating woman in Petersburg.

[2]
God has given it to me, let him who touches it beware!

[3]
Cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood.

[4]
To err is human.

[5]
You expect to make an income out of the government.

[6]
So that squares matters.

[7]
Hors d'oeuvres.

[8]
Do you know the proverb?

[9]
That suits us down to the ground.

[10]
Hollow.

[11]
I just ask you that.

[12]
Catherine.

[13]
A bastard.

[14]
And all that follows therefrom.

[15]
"Marlborough is going to the wars; God knows when he'll return."

[16]
To understand all is to forgive all.

[17]
Kutuzov.

[18]
"Good God, what simplicity!"

[19]
"Forty thousand men massacred and the army of our allies destroyed, and you find that a cause for jesting!"

[20]
"It is all very well for that good–for–nothing fellow of whom you have made a friend, but not for you, not for you."

[21]
"A very good morning! A very good morning!"

[22]
"Busy already?"

[23]
"Hurrah for the Austrians! Hurrah for the Russians! Hurrah for Emperor Alexander!"

[24]
"And hurrah for the whole world!"

[25]
"But my dear fellow, with all my respect for the Orthodox Russian army, I must say that your victory was not particularly victorious."

[26]
"We must let him off the u!"

[27]
Fine eyes.

[28]
Ours.

[29]
"Woman is man's companion."

[30]
The marshalls.

[31]
Bridgehead.

[32]
That their fire gets into his eyes and he forgets that he ought to be firing at the enemy.

[33]
"That Russian army which has been brought from the ends of the earth by English gold, we shall cause to share the same fate—(the fate of the army at Ulm)."

[34]
"This is a pleasure one gets in camp, Prince."

[35]
"On vous fera danser."

[36]
"What's he singing about?"

[37]
Daughter of Matthew.

[38]
"I love you."

[39]
Anna Pavlovna.

[40]
The little one is charming.

[41]
"Indeed, Sire, we shall do everything it is possible to do, Sire."

[42]
"Hang these Russians!"

[43]
Nicholas.

[44]
Till tomorrow, my dear fellow.

[45]
"You clear out of this."

[46]
I love you.

[47]
Fruhstuck: breakfast.

[48]
Denisov.

[49]
To indicate he did not want more tea.

[50]
"Europe will never be our sincere ally."

[51]
"Delighted to see you. I am very glad to see you."

[52]
"You must know that this is a woman."

[53]
"For heaven's sake."

[54]
"But, my dear, you ought on the contrary to be grateful to me for explaining to Pierre your intimacy with this young man."

[55]
"Princess, on my word, I did not wish to offend her."

[56]
"In a minute I shall be at your disposal."

[57]
"The principle of monarchies is honor seems to me incontestable. Certain rights and privileges for the aristocracy appear to me a means of maintaining that sentiment."

[58]
"If you regard the question from that point of view."

[59]
The Illuminati sought to substitute republican for monarchical institutions.

[60]
"That's a superb animal."

[61]
"Of a charming woman, as witty as she is lovely."

[62]
"That girl shall be my wife."

[63]
"Delighted to see you."

[64]
"He is all the rage just now."

[65]
To be a man.

[66]
"Cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood."

[67]
The French shawl dance.

[68]
"He is charming; he has no sex."

[69]
To force the guard.

[70]
Death gives relief and death is peaceful.

[71]

Poisonous nourishment of a too sensitive soul,
Thou, without whom happiness would for me be impossible,
Tender melancholy, ah, come to console me,
Come to calm the torments of my gloomy retreat,
And mingle a secret sweetness
With these tears that I feel to be flowing.

[72]
Are the pretty women.

[73]
"To shed (or not to shed) the blood of his peoples."

[74]
Old style.

[75]
Those whom (God) wishes to destroy he drives mad.

[76]
"Long live the king."

[77]
"Royalty has its obligations."

[78]
Forty–two.

[79]
"Food for cannon."

[80]
"Moscow, the Asiatic capital of this great empire, the sacred city of Alexander's people, Moscow with its innumerable churches shaped like Chinese pagodas."

[81]
"Child of the Don."

[82]
"Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait."

[83]
"Don't see it that way, that's the trouble."

[84]
"When in doubt, my dear fellow, do nothing."

[85]
"Think it over; get into the barque, and take care not to make it a barque of Charon."

[86]
"It is the talk of all Moscow. My word, I admire you!"

[87]
"Who excuses himself, accuses himself."

[88]
"A little bit in love with the young man."

[89]
A kind of entrenchment.

[90]
"The war must be extended widely. I cannot sufficiently commend that view."

[91]
"Oh, yes, the only aim is to weaken the enemy, so of course one cannot take into account the loss of private individuals."

[92]
Lay member of the Society of Jesus.

[93]
A masterly woman.

[94]
"Oh, Mamma, don't talk nonsense! You don't understand anything. In my position I have obligations."

[95]
"No, tell him I don't wish to see him, I am furious with him for not keeping his word to me."

[96]
"Countess, there is mercy for every sin."

[97]
"That Asiatic city of the innumerable churches, holy Moscow! Here it is then at last, that famous city. It was high time."

[98]
"Bring the boyars to me."

[99]
"My dear, my tender, my poor mother."

[100]
"House of my Mother."

[101]
To Rostopchin's ferocious patriotism.

[102]
"Good day, everybody!"

[103]
"Are you the master here?"

[104]
"Quarters, quarters, lodgings! The French are good fellows. What the devil! There, don't let us be cross, old fellow!"

[105]
"You can't pass!"

[106]
"Look here, no nonsense!"

[107]
Though a foreigner, Russian in heart and soul.

[108]
Our most gracious sovereign.

[109]
Whose flames illumined his route.

[110]
"My child! I love you and have known you a long time."

[111]
"Thank you for coming, my dear."

[112]
As looters.

[113]
Large battalions are always victorious.

[114]
A captain of Cossacks.

[115]
"Ah, it's you! Do you want something to eat? Don't be afraid, they won't hurt you."

[116]
"Come in, come in."

[117]
"Thank you, sir."

[118]
"Who goes there?"

[119]
"Lancers of the 6th Regiment."

[120]
"Password."

[121]
"Tell me, is Colonel Gerard here?"

[122]
"When an officer is making his round, sentinels don't ask him for the password… I am asking you if the colonel is here."

[123]
"Good day, gentlemen."

[124]
"To your places."

[125]
"Get along, get along!"

[126]
"I have acted the Emperor long enough; it is time to act the general."

[127]
"It is great."

[128]
That it is great.

[129]
"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."

[130]
Knight without fear and without reproach.

[131]
History of the year 1812. The character of Kutuzov and reflections on the unsatisfactory results of the battles at Krasnoe, by Bogdanovich.

[132]
"Long live Henry the Fourth, that valiant king! That rowdy devil."

[133]

Who had a triple talent
For drinking, for fighting,
And for being a gallant old boy…

[134]
Without faith or law.

[135]
"I'm your man."