Scene 1
The scene is laid in Moscow. A large room. In it a carpenter's bench; a table with papers on it; a book-cupboard; a looking-glass and pictures on the wall behind, with some planks leaning in front of them. A Carpenter and Nicholas Ivánovich wearing a carpenter's apron are working at the bench, planing.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [takes a board from the vice] Is that all right?
CARPENTER [setting a plane] Not quite, you must do it more boldly—like this.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. It is easy to say boldly, but I can't manage it.
CARPENTER. But why should your honour trouble to learn to be a carpenter? There are such a lot of us nowadays that we can hardly get a living as it is.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [at work again] I'm ashamed to lead an idle life.
CARPENTER. Yours is that kind of position. God has given you property.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. That's just where it is. I don't believe that God gave it, but that some of us have taken it, and taken it from our brother men.
CARPENTER [taken aback] That's so! But still you've no need to do this.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I understand that it must seem strange to you that while living in this house where there is such superfluity, I should wish to earn something.
CARPENTER [laughs] No. Everybody knows that gentlefolk want to master everything. Well, now go over it again with the smoothing plane.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. You won't believe me and will laugh, but still I must tell you that formerly I was not ashamed to live in this way, but now that I believe in Christ's law, which tells us we are all brothers—I am ashamed to live so.
CARPENTER. If you are ashamed of it, give away your property.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I wanted to, but failed, and gave it to my wife.
CARPENTER. But after all it would not be possible for you to do it—you are too used to comforts.
[Voice outside the door] Papa, may I come in?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. You may, you always may.
Enter Lyúba.
LYÚBA. Good-day, Jacob!
CARPENTER. Good-day, Miss!
LYÚBA. Borís has gone to his regiment. I am afraid of what he may do or say there. What do you think?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. What can I think? He will do what is natural to him.
LYÚBA. It is awful. He has such a short time to serve[33] and may go and ruin his whole life.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. He did well not to come to see me. He understands that I can't say anything to him but what he knows himself. He told me that he handed in his resignation because he sees that not only is there no more immoral, lawless, cruel and brutal occupation than this one, the object of which is to kill, but also that there is nothing more degrading and mean than to have to submit implicitly to any man of higher rank who happens to come along. He knows all that.
LYÚBA. That's just why I am afraid. He knows that, and may want to take some action.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. His conscience—the God that dwells within him—will decide that. Had he come to me I should have given him only one piece of advice: not to do anything in which he is guided by his reason alone—nothing is worse than that—but only to act when his whole being demands it. Now I, for instance, wished to act according to Christ's injunction: to leave father, wife and children and to follow Him, and I left home, but how did it end? It ended by my coming back and living with you in luxury in town. Because I was trying to do more than I had strength for, I have landed myself in this degrading and senseless position: I wish to live simply and to work with my hands, but in these surroundings, with lackeys and porters, it seems a kind of affectation. I see that, even now, Jacob Nikonórych is laughing at me.
CARPENTER. Why should I laugh? You pay me, and give me my tea. I am grateful to you.
LYÚBA. I wonder if I had not better go to him.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. My dear, my darling, I know you find it hard and are frightened, though you should not be so. After all, I am a man who understands life. Nothing evil can happen. All that appears evil really makes one's heart more joyful; only understand that a man who has started on that path will have to choose, and it sometimes happens that God's side and the Devil's weigh so equally that the scales oscillate, and it is then that the great choice has to be made. At that point any interference from outside is terribly dangerous and tormenting. It is as though a man were making such terrible efforts to draw a weight over a ridge that the slightest touch would cause him to break his back.
LYÚBA. Why should he suffer so?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. That is as though a mother were to ask why she should suffer. There can be no childbirth without suffering, and it is the same in spiritual life. One thing I can tell you. Borís is a true Christian, and consequently is free, and if you cannot as yet be like him, or believe in God as he does, then believe in God through him.
MARY IVÁNOVNA [behind door] May I come in?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. You may always come in. What a reception I'm having here to-day.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Our priest, Vasíly Nikonórovich, has come. He is going to the Bishop, and has resigned his living!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Impossible!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. He is here! Lyúba, go and call him! He wants to see you. [Exit Lyúba]. I had another reason for coming. I want to speak to you about Ványa. He behaves abominably, and does his lesson so badly that he can't possibly pass; and when I speak to him he is rude.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Mary, you know I am out of sympathy with the whole manner of life you are all leading, and with the education you are giving to the children. It is a terrible question for me, whether I have a right to see them perishing before my very eyes …
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Then you should suggest something else, something definite. But what do you offer?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I cannot say what. But can only say that first we should get rid of all this depraving luxury.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. So that they should become peasants! I cannot agree to that.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Then don't consult me. The things that grieve you are natural and inevitable.
Enter Priest and Lyúba. The Priest and Nicholas Ivánovich kiss[34] one another.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Is it possible that you have thrown it all up?
PRIEST. I could stand it no longer.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I did not expect it so soon.
PRIEST. But it was really impossible. In our calling we cannot be indifferent. We have to hear confessions, and to administer the Sacrament, and when once one has become convinced that it is all not true …
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Well, and what now?
PRIEST. Now I am going to the Bishop to be questioned. I am afraid he will exile me to the Solovétsk Monastery. At one time I thought of asking you to help me to escape abroad, but then I considered that it would seem cowardly. Only, there is my wife!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Where is she?
PRIEST. She has gone to her father's. My mother-in-law came and took our boy away. That hurt me very much. I should much like … [pauses, restraining his tears].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Well, may God help you! Are you staying with us?
PRINCESS [running into the room] There now, it has happened. He has refused to serve, and has been put under arrest. I have just been there but was not admitted. Nicholas Ivánovich, you must go.
LYÚBA. Has he refused? How do you know?
PRINCESS. I was there myself! Vasíly Andréevich, who is a Member of the Council, told me all about it. Borís just walked in and told them he would serve no longer, would take no oath, and in fact said everything Nicholas Ivánovich has taught him.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Princess! Can such things be taught?
PRINCESS. I don't know. Only this is not Christianity! What is your opinion, Father?
PRIEST. I am no longer “Father.”
PRINCESS. Well, all the same. However, you are also one of them! No, I cannot leave things in this state. And what cursed Christianity it is that makes people suffer and perish. I hate this Christianity of yours. It's all right for you, who know you won't be touched; but I have only one son, and you have ruined him!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Do be calm, Princess.
PRINCESS. Yes you, you have ruined him! And having ruined him, you must save him. Go and persuade him to abandon all this nonsense. It's all very well for rich people, but not for us.
LYÚBA [crying] Papa, what can be done?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I will go. Perhaps I can be of some use. [Takes off his apron].
PRINCESS [helping him on with his coat] They would not let me in, but now we will go together and I shall get my way. [Exeunt].
Curtain.
Scene 2
A Government office. A Clerk is seated at a table, and a Sentinel is pacing up and down. Enter a General with his Adjutant. The Clerk jumps up, the Sentinel presents arms.
GENERAL. Where is the Colonel?
CLERK. Gone to see that new conscript, Your Excellency.
GENERAL. Ah, very well. Ask him to come here to me.
CLERK. Yes, Your Excellency.
GENERAL. And what are you copying out? Isn't it the conscript's evidence?
CLERK. Yes, sir, it is.
GENERAL. Give it here.
The Clerk hands General the paper and exit. The General hands it to his Adjutant.
GENERAL. Please read it.
ADJUTANT [reading] “These are my answers to the questions put to me, namely: (1) Why I do not take my oath. (2) Why I refuse to fulfil the demands of the Government. (3) What induced me to use words offensive not only to the army but also to the Highest Authorities. In reply to the first question: I cannot take the oath because I accept Christ's teaching, which directly and clearly forbids taking oaths, as in St. Matthew's Gospel, ch. 5 vv. 33–37, and in the Epistle of St. James, ch. 5 v. 12.”
GENERAL. Of course he must be arguing! Putting his own interpretations!
ADJUTANT [goes on reading] “The Gospel says: ‘Swear not at all, but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; and what is more than these is of the evil one!’ St. James's Epistle says: ‘Before all things, brethren, swear not by the heavens nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, that ye fall not into temptation!’ But apart from the fact that the Bible gives us such clear injunctions not to swear—or even if it contained no such injunctions—I should still be unable to swear to obey the will of men, because as a Christian I must always obey the will of God, which does not always coincide with the will of men.”
GENERAL. He must be arguing! If I had my way, there would be none of this.
ADJUTANT [reading] “I refuse to fulfil the demands of men calling themselves the Government, because …”
GENERAL. What insolence!
ADJUTANT. “Because those demands are criminal and wicked. They demand of me that I should enter the army, and learn and prepare to commit murder, though this is forbidden both in the Old and the New Testaments, and above all by my conscience. To the third question …”
Enter Colonel followed by Clerk. The General shakes hands with Colonel.
COLONEL. You are reading the evidence?
GENERAL. Yes. Unpardonably insolent language. Well, go on.
ADJUTANT. “To the third question: What induced me to use offensive words before the Court, my answer is: that I was induced to do so by the wish to serve God, and in order to expose the fraud carried on in His name. This desire, I hope to retain till I die, and therefore …”
GENERAL. Come; that's enough; one can't listen to all this balderdash. The fact is all this sort of thing must be eradicated, and action taken to prevent the people being perverted. [To Colonel] Have you spoken to him?
COLONEL. I have been doing so all the time. I tried to shame him, and also to convince him that it would only be worse for himself, and that he would gain nothing by it. Besides that, I spoke of his relations. He was very excited, but holds to his opinions.
GENERAL. A pity you talked to him so much. We are in the army not to reason, but to act. Call him here!
Exit Adjutant with Clerk.
GENERAL [sits down] No, Colonel, that's not the way. Fellows of this kind must be dealt with in a different manner. Decisive measures are needed to cut off the diseased limb. One maggoty sheep infects the whole flock. In these cases one must not be too squeamish. His being a Prince, and having a mother and a fiancée, is none of our business. We have a soldier before us and we must obey the Tsar's will.
COLONEL. I only thought that we could move him more easily by persuasion.
GENERAL. Not at all—by firmness; only by firmness! I have dealt with men of that sort before. He must be made to feel that he is a nonentity—a grain of dust beneath a chariot wheel, and that he cannot stop it.
COLONEL. Well, we can try!
GENERAL [getting irritable] No need to try! I don't need to try! I have served the Tsar for forty-four years, I have given and am giving my life to the service, and now this fellow wants to teach me and wants to read me theological lectures! Let him take that to the Priest, but to me—he is either a soldier or a prisoner. That's all!
Enter Borís guarded by two Soldiers and followed by Adjutant and Clerk.
GENERAL [pointing with a finger] Place him there.
BORÍS. I need no placing. I shall stand or sit where I like, for I do not recognise your authority.
GENERAL. Silence! You don't recognise authority? I will make you recognise it.
BORÍS [sits down on a stool] How wrong it is of you to shout so!
GENERAL. Lift him, and make him stand!
Soldiers raise him.
BORÍS. That you can do, and you can kill me; but you cannot make me submit …
GENERAL. Silence, I tell you. Hear what I have to say to you.
BORÍS. I don't in the least want to hear what you have to say.
GENERAL. He is mad! He must be taken to the hospital to be examined. That is the only thing to do.
COLONEL. The order was to send him to be examined at the Gendarmes' office.
GENERAL. Well, then, send him there. Only put him into uniform.
COLONEL. He resists.
GENERAL. Bind him. [To Borís] Please hear what I have to say to you. I don't care what happens to you, but for your own sake I advise you, bethink yourself. You will rot in a fortress, and not do any good to anyone. Give it up. Well, you flared up a bit and I flared up. [Slaps him on the shoulder] Go, take the oath and give up all that nonsense. [To Adjutant] Is the Priest here? [To Borís] Well? [Borís is silent] Why don't you answer? Really you had better do as I say. You can't break a club with a whip. You can keep your opinions, but serve your time! We will not use force with you. Well?
BORÍS. I have nothing more to say, I have said all I had to.
GENERAL. There, you see, you wrote that there are such and such texts in the Gospels. Well, the Priest knows all about that. Have a talk with the Priest, and then think things over. That will be best. Good-bye, and I hope “au revoir,” when I shall be able to congratulate you on having entered the Tsar's service. Send the Priest here. [Exit, followed by Colonel and Adjutant].
BORÍS [To Clerk and Convoy Soldiers] There you see how they deceive you. They know that they are deceiving you. Don't submit to them. Lay down your rifles and go away. Let them put you into the Disciplinary Battalions and flog you; it will not be as bad as it is to serve such impostors.
CLERK. But how could one get on without an army? It's impossible.
BORÍS. That is not for us to consider. We have to consider what God demands of us; and God wants us.
ONE OF THE SOLDIERS. But how is it that they speak of “the Christian army”?
BORÍS. That is not said anywhere in the Bible. It's these impostors who invented it.
Enter a Gendarme Officer with Clerk.
GENDARME OFFICER. Is it here that the conscript, Prince Cheremshánov, is being kept?
GENDARME OFFICER. Come here, please. Are you Prince Borís Siménovich Cheremshánov, who refuses to take the oath?
BORÍS. I am.
GENDARME OFFICER [sits down and points to a seat opposite] Please sit down.
BORÍS. I think our conversation will be quite useless.
GENDARME OFFICER. I don't think so. At any rate not useless to you. You see it's like this. I am informed that you refuse military service and the oath, and are therefore suspected of belonging to the Revolutionary Party, and that is what I have to investigate. If it is true, we shall have to withdraw you from the service and imprison you or banish you according to the share you have taken in the revolution. If it is not true, we shall leave you to the military authorities. You see I express myself quite frankly to you, and I hope you will treat us in the same way.
BORÍS. In the first place I cannot trust men who wear this sort of thing [pointing to the Gendarme Officer's uniform]. Secondly, your very occupation is one I cannot respect, and for which I have the greatest aversion. But I do not refuse to answer your questions. What do you wish to know?
GENDARME OFFICER. In the first place, tell me your name, your calling, and your religion?
BORÍS. You know all that and I will not reply. Only one of the questions is of great importance to me. I am not what is called an Orthodox Christian.
GENDARME OFFICER. What then is your religion?
BORÍS. I do not label it.
GENDARME OFFICER. But still?…
BORÍS. Well then, the Christian religion, according to the Sermon on the Mount.
GENDARME OFFICER. Write it down [Clerk writes. To Borís] Still you recognise yourself as belonging to some nationality or rank.
BORÍS. No, I don't. I recognise myself as a man, and a servant of God.
GENDARME OFFICER. Why don't you consider yourself a member of the Russian Empire?
BORÍS. Because I do not recognise any empires.
GENDARME OFFICER. What do you mean by not recognising? Do you wish to overthrow them?
BORÍS. Certainly I wish it, and work for it.
GENDARME OFFICER [To Clerk] Put that down. [To Borís] How do you work for it?
BORÍS. By exposing fraud and lies, and by spreading the truth. When you entered I was telling these soldiers not to believe in the fraud into which they have been drawn.
GENDARME OFFICER. But beside this method of exposing and persuading, do you approve of any others?
BORÍS. No, I not only disapprove, but I consider all violence to be a great sin; and not only violence, but all concealment and craftiness …
GENDARME OFFICER. Write that down. Very well. Now kindly let me know whom you are acquainted with. Do you know Ivashénko?
BORÍS. No.
GENDARME OFFICER. Klein?
BORÍS. I have heard of him, but never met him.
Enter Priest (an old man wearing a cross and carrying a Bible). The Clerk goes up to him and receives his blessing.
GENDARME OFFICER. Well, I think I may stop. I consider that you are not dangerous, and not within our jurisdiction. I wish you a speedy release. Good-day. [Presses Borís's hand].
BORÍS. One thing I should like to say to you. Forgive me, but I can't help saying it. Why have you chosen this wicked, cruel profession? I should advise you to give it up.
GENDARME OFFICER [smiles] Thank you for your advice, but I have my reasons. My respects to you. [To Priest] Father, I relinquish my place to you [Exit with Clerk].
PRIEST. How can you so grieve the authorities by refusing to fulfil the duty of a Christian, to serve the Tsar and your Fatherland?
BORÍS [smiling] Just because I want to fulfil my duty as a Christian, I do not wish to be a soldier.
PRIEST. Why don't you wish it? It is said that, “To lay down one's life for a friend” is to be a true Christian.…
BORÍS. Yes, to “lay down one's life,” but not to take another man's. That is just what I want to do, to “lay down my life.”
PRIEST. You do not reason rightly, young man. John the Baptist said to the soldiers …
BORÍS [smiling] That only goes to prove that even in those days the soldiers used to rob, and he told them not to!
PRIEST. Well, but why don't you wish to take your oath?
BORÍS. You know that the Gospels forbid it!
PRIEST. Not at all. You know that when Pilate said: “I adjure thee by the living God, art thou the Christ?” the Lord Jesus Christ answered “I am.” That proves that oaths are not forbidden.
BORÍS. Are not you ashamed to talk so? You—an old man.
PRIEST. Take my advice and don't be obstinate. You and I cannot change the world. Just take your oath and you'll be at ease. Leave it to the Church to know what is a sin and what is not.
BORÍS. Leave it to you? Are you not afraid to take so much sin upon yourself?
PRIEST. What sin? Having been brought up firmly in the faith, and having worked as a priest for thirty years, I can have no sins on my shoulders.
BORÍS. Whose then is the sin, when you deceive such numbers of people? What have these poor fellows got in their heads? [Points to Sentinel].
PRIEST. You and I, young man, will never settle that. It is for us to obey those placed above us.
BORÍS. Leave me alone! I am sorry for you and—I confess—it disgusts me to listen to you. Now if you were like that General—but you come here with a cross and the Testament to persuade me in the name of Christ, to deny Christ! Go [excitedly]. Leave me—Go. Let me be taken back to the cell that I may not see anyone. I am tired, dreadfully tired!
PRIEST. Well, if that is so, good-bye.
Enter Adjutant.
ADJUTANT. Well?
PRIEST. Great obstinacy, great insubordination.
ADJUTANT. So he has refused to take the oath and to serve?
PRIEST. On no account will he.
ADJUTANT. Then he must be taken to the hospital.
PRIEST. And reported as ill? That no doubt would be better, or his example may lead others astray.
ADJUTANT. To be put under observation in the ward for the mentally diseased. Those are my orders.
PRIEST. Certainly. My respects to you. [Exit].
ADJUTANT [approaches Borís] Come, please. My orders are to conduct you——
BORÍS. Where to?
ADJUTANT. First of all to the hospital, where it will be quieter for you, and where you will have time to think things over.
BORÍS. I've thought them over long ago. But let us go! [Exeunt].
Curtain.