No More Learning

LADY. Oh, oh ! this!
I must not listen to stuff like
(Here all the rest, exchanging feeble witticisms, hastily followed the lady of the house to the dinner
awaiting them. )
? Ill
THIRD DISCUSSION Audiatur et tertia para
? THE THIRD DISCUSSION Audiatur et tertia pars
THIS time, in accordance with the general wish, we met in the garden earlier than usual, so that we might have leisure to finish the discussion. Some- how all were in a more serious mood than yesterday.
POLITICIAN (to Mr. Z. ). I believe you wanted to
make some statement about what I said last after-
noon, did you not?
MR. Z. Yes. It has to do with your definition
thatpeacefulpoliticsisasymptomofprogress. It brought to my mind the words of a character in
Tourguenev's Smoke, that "progress is a symp- tom. " I don't know what that character meant
exactly, but the literal meaning of these words is
perfectly true. Progress is certainly a symptom.
POLITICIAN. A symptom of what?
"
MR. Z. It is a pleasure to talk with clever
1
That is just the question to which I have been leading. I believe that progress a visible
and accelerated progress is always a symptom of the end.
POLITICIAN. I can understand that if we take,
for instance, creeping paralysis. Its progress is a symptomoftheend. Butwhyshouldthe,progress
people. "
1 A Russian
proverb. (Translator. )
? 124 SOLOVIEV
of culture and cultured life always be a symptom of the end?
MR. Z. It is not so obvious, no doubt, as in the case of paralysis, but it is so all the same.
POLITICIAN. That you are certain of it is quite
clear, but it is not clear to me at all what it is you
are so certain of. And, to begin with, encouraged
by your praise, I will again put you that simple question of mine which seemed to you so clever.
You say, "a symptom of the end. " The end of
what, I ask you?
MR. Z. Naturally the end of what we have been
talking about. As you remember, we have been discussing the history of mankind, and that his- torical "process" which has doubtless been going
on at an ever-increasing rate, and which I am certain is nearing its end.
LADY. C'est la fin du monde, n'est-ce pas ? The
argument is becoming a most extraordinary one ! GENERAL. At last we have got to the most
interesting subject.
PRINCE. You will not, of course, forget Anti-
Christ either.
MR. Z. Certainly not. He takes the most
prominent place in what I have to say.
PRINCE (to Lady). Pardon me, please. I am
now exceedingly busy on very urgent matters. I am very anxious to hear the discussion on this most
fascinating subject, but, I am sorry to say, I must return home.
? THE END OF HISTORY 125
GENERAL. Return home? And what about whist ?
POLITICIAN. I had a presentiment from the very first day that some villainy or other was being pre- pared. Where religion is involved, never expect anygood. Tantumreligiopotuitsuaderemalorum.
PRINCE. No villainy is about to be perpetrated. I will try to come back at nine o'clock, but now I
positively have no time.
LADY. Why this sudden urgency ?
Howis it that you didn't inform us of those important matters before? No, I refuse to believe you. Candidly, it
is Anti-Christ that has scared you, isn't it?
PRINCE. I heard so frequently yesterday that
politeness is everything, that under the spell of this theory I have ventured for the sake of politeness
to tell a lie.
Now I see that I am wrong, and I
tell you frankly that though I am busy with many important matters, I am leaving this discussion mainly because I consider it a sheer waste of time to discuss things which can be of interest only to Papooses and such like.
POLITICIAN. Your very polite sin is now expiated, it seems.
LADY. Why get cross? If we are stupid, en- lighten us. Take me, for instance. You see, I am not cross with you for having been called a Papoose. Why, even Papooses may have correct ideas. God makes infants wise. But if it is so difficult for you to hear about Anti-Christ, we'll agree on this : Your
? 126 SOLOVIEV
villa is only a few steps from here. You go home to your work now, and towards the end of the discussion come back after Anti-Christ. . . .
PRINCE. Very well. I will come, with pleasure. (AfterthePrincehadleftthecompany. ) GENERAL
(laughing). 1
" The cat knows whose meat he's eaten
up. "
LADY. What, you think our Prince is an Anti-
Christ?
GENERAL. Well, not personally, not he per-
sonally ; as that.
it will be a long time before he gets as far But he is on the right track, all the same.
As
heard, my little ones, that Anti-Christ is coming, and there are many Anti-Christs now. " So, one of these "many . . . "
it is said in the Gospel of St. John :
LADY. One
against one's wish. God will not punish him for that. He simply has been led astray. He knows that he will not discover his own gunpowder, whilst wearing a fashionable coat is an honour after all. It is only as if one were transferred from the Army to the Guards. For a big General it makes no difference, but for a small officer it is very flattering.
may
find oneself
amongst
POLITICIAN. The psychology is very sound. Yet I am unable to see why he should have become so angrywjienAnti-Christwasmentioned. Takeme, for instance. I have no faith whatever in things mystical, and so it does not annoy me. On the
1 ARussian
proverb. (Translator. )
" You have
the " " many
? THE END OF HISTORY 127
contrary, it rather excites my curiosity from a
general human standpoint : I know that for many it is something very serious ; it is clear, then, that in this matter some side of human nature has found
its expression, a side which is possibly atrophied in my consciousness, but which does not cease to pre-
serve its objective interest even for me. I, for
instance, am a very bad judge of paintings : I cannot draw even a straight line or a circle, nor am I able to perceive what is bad and what is good in the works of painters. Yet I am interested in the
art of painting from the standpoint of general education and general aesthetics.
LADY. It is difficult to be offended at such a harm- less thing as art. But religion, for instance, you hate with all your heart, and only just now you quoted some Latin curse against it.
gloomy-intolerant utterances of the companion who
has just left us. Still, religious ideas -per se interest
me very much amongst others this idea of the
"
Anti-Christ. " Unfortunately, all I have been able
to read on this subject is confined to the book by Renan, and he considers the question only in relation to historical evidence, which in his opinion pointsindubitablytoNero. Butthisisnotsufficient.
POLITICIAN. A curse !
Good gracious !
words of my favourite poet Lucretius, I merely blamed religion for its bloodstained altars and the criesofthehumanbeingssacrificeduponthem. I can hear an echo of this bloodthirstiness in the
In the
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We know that the idea of " Anti-Christ " was held bytheJewslongbeforethetimeofNero andwas
applied by them to the King Antiochus Epiphanes.
" It is still believed in by the Russian
old-believers," so there must be some truth in it, after all.
GENERAL. The leisure your Excellency enjoys affords you every opportunity for the discussion of
such high matters. But our poor Prince employs so much of his time in preaching evangelical morals
that he is naturally prevented from pondering on Christ or Anti-Christ : even for his whist he cannot
get more than three hours a day. LADY. Youareverysevereonhim,General. It
is true that all of his crowd seem unnatural, but then they look so miserable, too : you won't find in
them any joy, good humour, or placidity. Yet is it
not said in the Gospels that Christianity is the joy of the Holy Ghost?
GENERAL. The position is, indeed, very difficult :
to be lacking in Christian spirit, and yet to pass themselves off as true Christians.
MR. Z. As Christians par excellence without pos- sessing what constitutes the real excellence of
Christianity.
GENERAL. It seems to me that this pitiful position
is just the position of Anti-Christ, which for the more clever and sensitive is made more burdensome by the knowledge they have that no luck can help them.
MR. Z. In any case it is beyond doubt that the
? THE END OF HISTORY 129
Anti-Christianity which, according to the Bible, both in the Old and the New Testaments, marks the clos-
ing scene of the tragedy of history, will be not a
mere infidelity to or a denial of Christianity, or materialism or anything similar to it, but that it
will be a religious imposture, when the name of Christ will be arrogated by such forces in mankind which are in practice and in their very essence alien, and even inimical, to Christ and His Spirit.
GENERAL. Naturally so. The Devil would not be what he is if he played an open game !
POLITICIAN. I am afraid, however, lest all the Christians should prove mere impostors, and there- fore, according to you, mere Anti-Christs. The
only exception will perhaps be the unconscious masses of the people, in so far as such are still exist-
ing, and a few originals like yourselves, ladies and gentlemen. In any case, there can be no doubt
that the name of "Anti-Christ" justly applies to those persons, who here in France, as well as in our
country, are particularly busy about Christianity, make of it their special occupation, and consider the
name of Christian some sort of monopoly or privi- lege of their own. In our time such people fall in
one of the two categories equally alien, I hope, to the spirit of Christ. They are either mad slaugh-
terers ready to revive forthwith the terrors of the
inquisition and to organise religious massacres after
the style of those "pious" abbes and "brave"
""
Catholic officers who recently gave vent to their
K
? 130 SOLOVIEV
feelings on the occasion of celebrating some de- tected swindler. 1 Or they may be the new ascetics and celibates who have discovered virtue and con- science as some new America, whilst losing at the same time their inner truthfulness and common sense. The first cause in one a moral repulsion. The second make one yawn for very boredom.
GENERAL. This is quite true. Even in the past,
Christianity was unintelligible to some and hateful to others. But it remained to our time to make it
either repulsive or so dull that it bores men to death. I can imagine how the Devil rubbed his hands and laughed until his stomach ached when he learned of this success. Good gracious me!
LADY. Well, is this Anti-Christ as you understand him?
Some signs indicating his nature
MR. Z. Oh, no !
are given here, but he himself is still to come.
1 The Politician obviously refers here to the public sub-
"" scription opened in commemoration of the suicide Henry,
in which one French officer stated that he subscribes in the hope of seeing a new St. Bartholomew massacre ; another officer wrote that he was looking forward to an early execu- tion of all Protestants, Freemasons, and Jews, whilst an abb6 confessed that he lived by anticipation of that glorious time when the skin stripped off the Huguenots, the Masons, and the Jews will be used for making cheap carpets, and when he will, as a good Christian, always tread such a carpet with his feet. These statements, amongst tens of thousands of others in a similar vein, were published in
the paper, La Libre Parole. (Author. )
? THE END OF HISTORY 131
LADY. Then will you explain in the simplest way possible what the matter really is?
MR. Z. As to simplicity, that cannot, I am afraid, be guaranteed. It is difficult to assume true sim-
plicity whenever you wish. But a sham, artificial, false simplicity nothing can be worse than that. There is an old saying which was often repeated by
a friend of mine, now dead :
"
Many a simplicity is
hurtful"
LADY. This is not so simple either.
GENERAL.
I believe it is the same as the popular
"
Some simplicities are worse than thefts. " MR. Z. You've guessed it!
LADY. Now I understand it too.
MR. Z. It is a pity, though, that one cannot ex- plain all about Anti-Christ by proverbs.
LADY. Then explain as best you can.
MR. Z. Verywellthen. Inthefirstplace,tellme whether you recognise the existence and the power of evil in the world?
LADY. One would prefer not to recognise it, but one can hardly help doing so. Death alone would make one believe it : for death is an evil one cannot
"
the last enemy to be destroyed will be death but before it is de- stroyed, it is clear that evil is not only strong in
itself but even much stronger than good.
MR. Z. And what is your opinion?
GENERAL. I have never shut my eyes before
bullets and shells, and shall certainly not cto so K2
proverb :
escape. I verily believe that "
? 132 SOLOVIEV
when faced with subtle questions. Certainly, evil is as real as good. There is God, but there is the Devil also of course, so long as God tolerates him.
POLITICIAN. As for myself, I shall abstain from adefiniteanswerforatime. Myviewdoesnotgo deeply to the root of the matter, and that side of it which is clear to me I explained as best I could
yesterday.
But I am interested to know what other
people think of it. I can understand perfectly well
the Prince's mode of thought. In other words, I
understand that there is no real thought in his case
at all, but only a naked pretension qui ria ni rime ni
raison. The positive religious view, however, is
much more intelligent and more interesting. Only
up to the present all my acquaintance with it was
confined to its official form, which affords me very littlesatisfactionindeed. Ishouldbeverypleased
to hear, instead of the vapourings of mealy-mouthed parsons, the natural human word.
MR. Z. Of all the stars that rise on the mental horizon of a man who carefully reads our Sacred Books, I think there is none so clear, illuminating,
" andstartlingasthatshininginthewords, Thinkest
thou that I come to bring peace on Earth? I come not to bring peace, but a sword. " He came to bring truth to the earth, and truth, like good, before everything else divides.
LADY. This needs to be explained. If you are right, why is it that Christ is called the Prince of
? THE END OF HISTORY 133
Peace, and why did He say that peacemakers will be called the children of God?
MR. Z. And you are so kind that you wish me also to obtain that higher distinction by making
peace between contradictory texts? LADY. I do wish it.
MR. Z. Then, please note that the only way of
making peace between them is by distinguishing between the good or true peace and the bad or wrong
peace. Thisdistinctionwasclearlypointedoutby Him who brought to us the true peace and the good
"
enmity :
My peace I leave with you, My peace I
give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. " There is therefore the good peace the
peace of Christ, resting on the division which Christ came to bring to the world, namely, the division be- tween good and evil, between truth and untruth. Thereisalsothebadpeace thepeaceoftheworld which endeavours to blend or to unite together ex- ternally elements which internally are at war with one another.
LADY. But how can you show the difference be- tween the good and the bad peace ?
MR. Z. InverymuchthesamewayastheGeneral
did when, the other day, he remarked in a jocular
way that one may have a good peace like that, for instance, concluded by the treaties of Nistadt and
Kuchuk-Kainardji. Beneath this joke lies hidden aseriousandsignificantmeaning. Asinthepolitical struggle, so in the spiritual one; the good peace is
? 134 SOLOVIEV
that concluded when the object of the war is
accomplished.
LADY. And what is the object of the war between
good and evil ? I am not sure if it is even necessary
for them to wage a war with each other, or if such
a thing as an actual conflict is possible between
them corps a corps! In the ordinary war, when one side becomes the stronger, the opposing side
also looks for reinforcements, and the struggle has to be decided by pitched battles, with guns and bayonets. You will find nothing like this in the
struggle between good and evil. In this struggle, when the good side becomes stronger, the bad side
immediately weakens, and the struggle never leads on to a real battle. So that all this must be taken onlyinametaphoricalsense. Thusitisone'sduty tofosterthegrowthofgoodinman. Evilwillthen diminish as a matter of course.
MR. Z. In other words, you believe that it is
enough for kind people to grow still kinder, and that then wicked people would go on losing their malice until finally they become as kind as the others.
LADY. I believe that is so.
MR. Z. But do you know of any case when the kindness of a kind man made the wicked man also kind, or at least less wicked?
LADY. No, candidly I do not. Neither have I seen or heard of such cases. . . . But, pardon me, is not what you have said just now similar to what
? THE END OF HISTORY 135
you were discussing with the Prince the other day? That even Christ, however kind He was, could not convert the souls of Judas and the impenitent thief ? You will not forget that the Prince has still to answer this, will you?
MR. Z. Well, since I don't believe the Prince to be Anti-Christ, I have little faith in his coming, and still less in his theological presence of mind. How- ever, in order to relieve our discussion from the burden of this unsolved question, I will state the objection which the Prince should make from his
standpoint. "Why did not Christ regenerate the wicked souls of Judas and Co. by the power of His
goodness? " For the simple reason, the answer
would run, that it was a dark time, and only a few
choice souls reached that degree of moral develop-
ment which allows of an adequate response to the
inner power of truth. And Judas and Co. were too
""
backward for that. Furthermore, Jesus Himself
"
said to His disciples :
do also, and even more than this you will do" It follows that at a higher stage of moral progress in mankind, such as is reached at the present time, the true disciples of Christ are able by the power of their kindness, and by forcibly refusing to resist evil, to perform moral miracles surpassing even those which were possible eighteen centuries ago. . . .
GENERAL. Just a moment ! If they are able to perform miracles, why don't they ? Or have you seen
Deeds which I do, you will
? 136 SOLOVIEV
some of these new miracles? Even now, after "eighteen centuries of moral progress in Christian consciousness," our Prince is still unable to en- lighten my dark soul. Just as I was a barbarian before I met him, so I remain. I am just what I have always been. After God and Russia, what I love most is military work in general, and
the artillery in particular. And in my lifetime I have met not only our Prince, but other non-
resisters as well, and some perhaps even stronger than he.
MR. Z. Why assume such a personal attitude?
And why hold me responsible ? I only produced on behalf of your absent opponent a text from the
Gospels which he forgot.
LADY. Now I think I must defend our poor
Prince. Ifhewantedtobereallyclever,hewould "
say to the General
:
I and those whom have you
found to hold my views consider ourselves to be true
disciples of Christ, but only in the sense of a general
trend of thought and action, and not of having any
greater power of doing good. But we are certain
that there are, or will shortly be somewhere, Chris- tians-more perfect than we, and they will be able
to enlighten even your obscurity. "
MR. Z. This answer would, no doubt, be very
ingenious, as it would introduce an unknown quan- tity. But it can hardly be called serious. Suppose
" We can do
or should
than what Christ did, nothing even equal to it,
they say,
say :
nothing greater
? words of Christ
:
Alas !
THE END OF HISTORY 137
nothing even which falls little short of it"? What conclusion could be drawn from this according to the rules of sound logic?
GENERAL. Only one, it seems, namely, that the
" You will do what I did, and even more than this," were addressed not to these gentle- men, but to other persons who do not resemble them
in the least.
LADY. Yet it is possible to imagine that some man
will carry out Christ's commandment about loving his enemies and forgiving those who do wrong to him. And then he will, with the help of Christ Himself, acquire the power to convert wicked souls into good ones.
MR. Z. Not so long ago an experiment was tried in this direction, and not only did it not realise
its object, but it actually proved the very opposite towhatyouaresupposingnow. Therelive'daman
whose kindness knew no bounds. He not only
forgave every wrong done to him, but for every evil returned deeds of kindness. Now what do you
suppose happened? Do you think he stirred the soul of his enemy and regenerated him morally?
LADY. What case are you talking about? What manwashe? Whereandwhendidhelive?
MR. Z. Not so long ago, and in St. Petersburg. I fancy I knew him. His name is M. Delarue, a
court chamberlain.
he only exasperated the evil spirit of the villain, and died miserably by his hand.
? 138 SOLOVIEV
LADY. I have never heard of him, though I think
I can count on my fingers all the leading people of
the city.
POLITICIAN. Neither can I recollect him. But
what is the story about this chamberlain?
MR. Z. Ithasbeensplendidlytoldinanunpub-
lished poem by Count Alexis Tolstoy.
LADY. Unpublished? Then it is sure to be a
farce. What can it have to do with the serious
problems we are discussing?
MR. Z. I can assure you, madame, that, farcical
though it is in its form, it contains a very serious
story, and, what is more to the point, one true to
life. At any rate, the actual relationship between
kindness and wickedness in human life is portrayed
in these amusing verses with a much greater skill
thanIcouldevershowinmyseriousprose. More-
over, I have not the slightest doubt that when the
heroes of some world-wide popular novels, skilfully
and seriously tilling the psychological mould, have become a mere literary recollection for book-lovers,
this farce, which in an exaggerated and wildly cari- catured form plumbs the very depth of the moral problem, will retain all its artistic and philosophic truth.
LADY. I don't believe in your paradoxes. You are seized with the spirit of contradiction, and wil-
fully brave public opinion.
MR. Z. I should probably have "braved" it had
it really existed. Still, I am going to tell you the
? THE END OF HISTORY 139
story of court chamberlain Delarue, since you do not know it, and I happen to remember it by heart :
The impious assassin struck with a dagger The great Delarue
In the breast: the other bowed, uncov'ring politely,
And said
:
" How d'you do "
!
The villain plunged again more deeply the dagger, Far as he could :
Andsmilingstillthestabbedmanmurmured "Yourweapon's
:
Remarkably good. "
The villain next the right of the other attacking,
Him wounds in the chest ;
Delarue at him a finger shaking in fun says,
"How a " naughty jest !
And now in frenzy wild the villain all over With wounds ill to see
: Disfigurestheother'sbody. Delarue "Howtime'sflying
!
Delarue cries.
The villain lies at his feet repentant and grieving,
Confessing his wrong :
Delarue the prostrate man upraises with arms that
Are loving and strong.
I see you weep. For what ? No use in bewailing
A trifle, my dear sir !
I'll speak the Tsar on your behalf. He'll on you
A pension confer.
The ribbon of Stanislaus shall deck your bosom soon
Does that make you vain?
I can secure these things, as having the Tsar's ear,
His chief Chamberlain.
Or would you care to wed my daughter, my Mary ? If that is your desire
Ten thousand pounds in notes I will on you settle, A gift from her sire.
"
The villain knelt and sobbed and cried, asking pardon,
Will you stay to tea?
Disliking the scene. ""
"
For God's sake, man, get up from the floor ! "It isn't too clean.