Alyosha! Alyosha! What do you say to that! Ah, you casuist! He must have been with the Jesuits, somewhere, Ivan. Oh, you stinking Jesuit, who taught you? But youre talking nonsense, you casuist, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. Dont cry, Grigory, well reduce him to smoke and ashes in a moment. Tell me this, O ass; you may be right before your enemies, but you have renounced your faith all the same in your own heart, and you say yourself that in that very hour you became anathema accursed. And if once youre anathema they wont pat you on the head for it in hell. What do you say to that, my fine Jesuit?
There is no doubt that I have renounced it in my own heart, but there was no special sin in that. Or if there was sin, it was the most ordinary.
Hows that the most ordinary?
You lie, accursed one! hissed Grigory.
Consider yourself, Grigory Vassilyevitch, Smerdyakov went on, staid and unruffled, conscious of his triumph, but, as it were, generous to the vanquished foe. Consider yourself, Grigory Vassilyevitch; it is said in the Scripture that if you have faith, even as a mustard seed, and bid a mountain move into the sea, it will move without the least delay at your bidding. Well, Grigory Vassilyevitch, if Im without faith and you have so great a faith that you are continually swearing at me, you try yourself telling this mountain, not to move into the sea for thats a long way off, but even to our stinking little river which runs at the bottom of the garden. Youll see for yourself that it wont budge, but will remain just where it is however much you shout at it, and that shows, Grigory Vassilyevitch, that you havent faith in the proper manner, and only abuse others about it. Again, taking into consideration that no one in our day, not only you, but actually no one, from the highest person to the lowest peasant, can shove mountains into the seaexcept perhaps some one man in the world, or, at most, two, and they most likely are saving their souls in secret somewhere in the Egyptian desert, so you wouldnt find themif so it be, if all the rest have no faith, will God curse all the rest? that is, the population of the whole earth, except about two hermits in the desert, and in His wellknown mercy will He not forgive one of them? And so Im persuaded that though I may once have doubted I shall be forgiven if I shed tears of repentance.
Stay! cried Fyodor Pavlovitch, in a transport of delight. So you do suppose there are two who can move mountains? Ivan, make a note of it, write it down. There you have the Russian all over!
Youre quite right in saying its characteristic of the peoples faith, Ivan assented, with an approving smile.
You agree. Then it must be so, if you agree. Its true, isnt it, Alyosha? Thats the Russian faith all over, isnt it?
No, Smerdyakov has not the Russian faith at all, said Alyosha firmly and gravely.
Im not talking about his faith. I mean those two in the desert, only that idea. Surely thats Russian, isnt it?
Yes, thats purely Russian, said Alyosha smiling.
Your words are worth a gold piece, O ass, and Ill give it to you today. But as to the rest you talk nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. Let me tell you, stupid, that we here are all of little faith, only from carelessness, because we havent time; things are too much for us, and, in the second place, the Lord God has given us so little time, only twentyfour hours in the day, so that one hasnt even time to get sleep enough, much less to repent of ones sins. While you have denied your faith to your enemies when youd nothing else to think about but to show your faith! So I consider, brother, that it constitutes a sin.
Constitute a sin it may, but consider yourself, Grigory Vassilyevitch, that it only extenuates it, if it does constitute. If I had believed then in very truth, as I ought to have believed, then it really would have been sinful if I had not faced tortures for my faith, and had gone over to the pagan Mohammedan faith. But, of course, it wouldnt have come to torture then, because I should only have had to say at that instant to the mountain, Move and crush the tormentor, and it would have moved and at the very instant have crushed him like a blackbeetle, and I should have walked away as though nothing had happened, praising and glorifying God. But, suppose at that very moment I had tried all that, and cried to that mountain, Crush these tormentors, and it hadnt crushed them, how could I have helped doubting, pray, at such a time, and at such a dread hour of mortal terror? And apart from that, I should know already that I could not attain to the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven (for since the mountain had not moved at my word, they could not think very much of my faith up aloft, and there could be no very great reward awaiting me in the world to come). So why should I let them flay the skin off me as well, and to no good purpose? For, even though they had flayed my skin half off my back, even then the mountain would not have moved at my word or at my cry. And at such a moment not only doubt might come over one but one might lose ones reason from fear, so that one would not be able to think at all. And, therefore, how should I be particularly to blame if not seeing my advantage or reward there or here, I should, at least, save my skin. And so trusting fully in the grace of the Lord I should cherish the hope that I might be altogether forgiven.
Chapter VIII.
Over the Brandy
The controversy was over. But, strange to say, Fyodor Pavlovitch, who had been so gay, suddenly began frowning. He frowned and gulped brandy, and it was already a glass too much.
Get along with you, Jesuits! he cried to the servants. Go away, Smerdyakov. Ill send you the gold piece I promised you today, but be off! Dont cry, Grigory. Go to Marfa. Shell comfort you and put you to bed. The rascals wont let us sit in peace after dinner, he snapped peevishly, as the servants promptly withdrew at his word.
Smerdyakov always pokes himself in now, after dinner. Its you hes so interested in. What have you done to fascinate him? he added to Ivan.
Nothing whatever, answered Ivan. Hes pleased to have a high opinion of me; hes a lackey and a mean soul. Raw material for revolution, however, when the time comes.
For revolution?
There will be others and better ones. But there will be some like him as well. His kind will come first, and better ones after.
And when will the time come?
The rocket will go off and fizzle out, perhaps. The peasants are not very fond of listening to these soupmakers, so far.
Ah, brother, but a Balaams ass like that thinks and thinks, and the devil knows where he gets to.
Hes storing up ideas, said Ivan, smiling.
You see, I know he cant bear me, nor any one else, even you, though you fancy that he has a high opinion of you. Worse still with Alyosha, he despises Alyosha. But he doesnt steal, thats one thing, and hes not a gossip, he holds his tongue, and doesnt wash our dirty linen in public. He makes capital fish pasties too. But, damn him, is he worth talking about so much?
Ah, brother, but a Balaams ass like that thinks and thinks, and the devil knows where he gets to.
Hes storing up ideas, said Ivan, smiling.
You see, I know he cant bear me, nor any one else, even you, though you fancy that he has a high opinion of you. Worse still with Alyosha, he despises Alyosha. But he doesnt steal, thats one thing, and hes not a gossip, he holds his tongue, and doesnt wash our dirty linen in public. He makes capital fish pasties too. But, damn him, is he worth talking about so much?
Of course he isnt.
And as for the ideas he may be hatching, the Russian peasant, generally speaking, needs thrashing. That Ive always maintained. Our peasants are swindlers, and dont deserve to be pitied, and its a good thing theyre still flogged sometimes. Russia is rich in birches. If they destroyed the forests, it would be the ruin of Russia. I stand up for the clever people. Weve left off thrashing the peasants, weve grown so clever, but they go on thrashing themselves. And a good thing too. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again, or how does it go? Anyhow, it will be measured. But Russias all swinishness. My dear, if you only knew how I hate Russia. That is, not Russia, but all this vice! But maybe I mean Russia. Tout cela cest de la cochonnerie. Do you know what I like? I like wit.
Youve had another glass. Thats enough.
Wait a bit. Ill have one more, and then another, and then Ill stop. No, stay, you interrupted me. At Mokroe I was talking to an old man, and he told me: Theres nothing we like so much as sentencing girls to be thrashed, and we always give the lads the job of thrashing them. And the girl he has thrashed today, the young man will ask in marriage tomorrow. So it quite suits the girls, too, he said. Theres a set of de Sades for you! But its clever, anyway. Shall we go over and have a look at it, eh? Alyosha, are you blushing? Dont be bashful, child. Im sorry I didnt stay to dinner at the Superiors and tell the monks about the girls at Mokroe. Alyosha, dont be angry that I offended your Superior this morning. I lost my temper. If there is a God, if He exists, then, of course, Im to blame, and I shall have to answer for it. But if there isnt a God at all, what do they deserve, your fathers? Its not enough to cut their heads off, for they keep back progress. Would you believe it, Ivan, that that lacerates my sentiments? No, you dont believe it as I see from your eyes. You believe what people say, that Im nothing but a buffoon. Alyosha, do you believe that Im nothing but a buffoon?
No, I dont believe it.
And I believe you dont, and that you speak the truth. You look sincere and you speak sincerely. But not Ivan. Ivans supercilious. Id make an end of your monks, though, all the same. Id take all that mystic stuff and suppress it, once for all, all over Russia, so as to bring all the fools to reason. And the gold and the silver that would flow into the mint!
But why suppress it? asked Ivan.
That Truth may prevail. Thats why.
Well, if Truth were to prevail, you know, youd be the first to be robbed and suppressed.
Ah! I dare say youre right. Ah, Im an ass! burst out Fyodor Pavlovitch, striking himself lightly on the forehead. Well, your monastery may stand then, Alyosha, if thats how it is. And we clever people will sit snug and enjoy our brandy. You know, Ivan, it must have been so ordained by the Almighty Himself. Ivan, speak, is there a God or not? Stay, speak the truth, speak seriously. Why are you laughing again?