"I am thinking of the pleasant life that my parents must lead. To think that at sixty my father can still fuss about, and talk of 'palliatives,' and doctor people, and do the bountiful to the peasants, and, in short, enjoy himself, and that my mother has her days so crammed full of occupations (including sighing and groaning) that she does not know which to begin upon first! On the other hand, I——"
"Yes, you?"
"Am doing what you see—lying under a rick. The space occupied by my body is small indeed compared with the surrounding immensity in which it has neither part nor lot, and the portion of time allotted to me here on earth is insignificant indeed compared with the eternity which I have never known, and shall never enter! Yet in this same atom, in this same mathematical point which I call my body, the blood circulates, and the brain operates at will. A fine discrepancy for you—a fine futility!"
"I would remark that what you have just said applies to every human being in creation."
"True. What I mean is that my parents know not a single tedious moment, nor are in the least distressed with the thought of their insignificance—it is a thought which never stinks in their nostrils; whereas I—well, I feel nothing but weariness and rancour in my breast."
"Rancour? Why rancour?"
"How can you ask? Have you forgotten the recent past?"
"No: only, I do not recognise your right to be angry: unhappy, perhaps, but not——"
"I perceive you to understand love as it is understood by all our modern young men. That is to say, chirping 'Tsip, tsip, tsip!' like pullets, you take to your heels as soon as ever you see love approaching. I, however, am different.—But enough of this. What is past help is best not talked about." Bazarov rolled over on to his elbow. "Ah! Here is a young ant towing in its wake a half-dead fly. Pull, brother, pull! Never mind that the fly hangs back, but avail yourself of your animal right to abjure all sympathy, seeing that our friend has only himself to thank for his trouble."
"Do not speak like that," expostulated Arkady. "How are you yourself to thank for your trouble?"