 Dead Souls Part 2 Chapter 4 Section 4 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol translated by DJ Hogarth Part 2 Chapter 4 Section 4 read by Kalinda Meanwhile, Samoos Vitov's feats in the military sphere were being rivaled by the wonders worked by Chichikov's lawyer in the civilian field of action As a first step, the lawyer caused it to be intimated to the local governor that the public prosecutor was engaged in drawing up a report to his, the local governor's detriment Whereafter the lawyer caused it to be intimated also to the chief of gendarmerie that a certain confidential official was engaged in doing the same by him Whereafter, again, the lawyer confided to the confidential official in question that owing to the documentary exertions of an official of a still more confidential nature than the first he, the confidential official first mentioned, was in a fair way to find himself in the same boat as both the local governor and the chief of gendarmerie with the result that the whole trio were reduced to a frame of mind in which they were only too glad to turn to him, Samoos Vitov, for advice The ultimate and farcical upshot was that report came crowding upon report and that such alleged doings were brought to light as the sun had never before beheld In fact, the documents in question employed anything and everything as material, even to announcing that such and such an individual had an illegitimate son that such and such another kept a paid mistress and that such and such a third was troubled with a gadabout wife Whereby there became interwoven with and welded into Chichikov's past history and the story of the dead souls, such a crop of scandals and innuendos could any mortal decide to which of these rubbishy romances to award the poem, since all of them presented an equal claim to that honour Naturally, when at length, the dossier reached the governor-general himself, it simply flabbergasted the poor man and even the exceptionally clever and energetic secretary to whom he deputed the making of an abstract of the same very nearly lost his reason with the strain of attempting to lay hold of the tangled end of the skein It happened that just at that time the prince had several other important affairs on hand and affairs of very unpleasant nature That is to say, famine had made its appearance in one portion of the province and the Chinovniks sent to distribute food to the people had done their work badly In another portion of the province, certain Raskolniki were in a state of ferment owing to the spreading of a report that an antichrist had arisen who would not even let the dead rest but was purchasing them wholesale Wherefore, the said Raskolniki were summoning folk to prayer and repentance and under cover of capturing the antichrist in question were bludgeoning non-antichrists in batches Footnote Raskolniki to centers or old believers, i.e. members of the sect which refused to accept the revised version of the church service books promulgated by the patriarch Nikon in 1665 End footnote Lastly, the peasants of a third portion of the province had risen against the local landowners and superintendents of police for the reason that certain Raskols had started a rumor that the time was come when the peasants themselves were to become landowners and to wear frock coats while the landowners in being were about to revert to the peasant state and take their own wares to market Wherefore, one of the local Volosts, oblivious of the fact that an order of things of that kind would lead to a superfluity like of landowners and of superintendents of police had refused to pay its taxes and necessitated recourse to forcible measures Footnote Volosts Fiscal districts End footnote Hence it was in a mood of the greatest possible despondency that the poor prince was sitting plunged when word was brought to him that the old man who had gone bail for Chichikov was waiting to see him Show him in, said the prince, and the old man entered A fine fellow, your Chichikov, began the prince angrily, you defended him and went bail for him even though he has been up to business which even the lowest thief would not have touched Pardon me, Your Highness, I do not understand to what you are referring I am referring to the matter of the fraudulent will, the fellow ought to have been given a public flogging for it Although to exculpate Chichikov is not my intention, might I ask you whether you do not think the case is non-proven? At all events, sufficient evidence against him is still lacking What? We have as chief witness the woman who personated the deceased and I will have her interrogated in your presence Touching a bell, the prince ordered her to be sent for It is a most disgraceful affair he went on and ashamed though I am to have to say it some of our leading chinovniks including the local governor himself have become implicated in the matter Yet you tell me that this Chichikov ought not to be confined among thieves and rascals Clearly the governor general's wrath was very great indeed Your Highness, said Murotsov, the governor of the town is one of the heirs under the will, wherefore he has a certain right to intervene Also, the fact that extraneous persons have meddled in the matter is only what is to be expected from human nature A rich woman dies and no exact regular disposition of her property is made Hence there comes flocking from every side a cloud of fortune-hunters What else could one expect such as human nature? Yes, but why should such persons go and commit fraud? answered the prince irritably I feel as though not a single honest chinovnik were available as though every one of them were a rogue Your Highness, which of us is altogether beyond reproach? The chinovniks of our town are human beings and no more Some of them are men of worth and nearly all of them skilled in business, though also unfortunately largely interrelated Now tell me this, Atanasiy Vasilievich, said the prince, for you were about the only honest man of my acquaintance What has inspired and used such a penchant for defending rascals? This, replied Murotsov, take any man you like of the persons whom you thus termed rascals That man nonetheless remains a human being That being so, how can one refuse to defend him when all the time one knows that half his errors have been committed through ignorance and stupidity Each of us commits faults with every step that we take, each of us entails unhappiness upon others with every breath that we draw And that, although we may have no evil intention whatever in our minds Your Highness himself has, before now, committed an injustice of the gravest nature I have, cried the prince, taken aback by this unexpected turn given to the conversation Murotsov remained silent for a moment as though he were debating something in his thoughts Then he said, nevertheless it is as I say, you committed the injustice in the case of the lad Dierpianikov What, Atanasiy Vasilievich, the fellow had infringed on one of the fundamental laws he had been found guilty of treason I am not seeking to justify him, I am only asking you whether you think it right that an inexperienced youth who had been tempted and led away by others should have received the same sentence as the man who had taken the chief part in the affair That is to say, although Dierpianikov and the man Voron-Driani received an equal measure of punishment, their criminality was not equal If, exclaimed the prince excitedly, you know anything further concerning the case, for God's sake tell it me at once only the other day that I forward a recommendation that St. Petersburg should remit a portion of the sentence Your Highness, replied Murotsov, I do not mean that I know of anything which does not lie also within your own cognizance though one circumstance there was which might have told in the lad's favour had he not refused to admit it, lest another should suffer injury All that I have in my mind is this, on that occasion were you not a little over hasty in coming to a conclusion? You will understand, of course, that I am judging only according to my own poor lights and for the reason that on more than one occasion you have urged me to be frank In the days when I myself acted as a chief of gendarmerie, I came in contact with a great number of accused, some of them bad, some of them good And in each case I found it well also to consider a man's past career, for the reason that unless one views things calmly, instead of at once decrying a man He is apt to take alarm, and to make it impossible thereafter to get any real confession from him If, on the other hand, you question a man as friend might question friend, the result will be that straight away he will tell you everything Nor ask for mitigation of his penalty, nor bear you the least malice, in that he will understand that it is not you who have punished him, but the law The Prince relapsed into thought. Until presently there entered a young chinovnik. Portfolio in hand, this official stood waiting respectfully Care and hard work had already imprinted their insignia upon this fresh young face, for evidently he had not been in the service for nothing As a matter of fact his greatest joy was to labour at a tangled case and successfully to unravel it At this point a long hiatus occurs in the original I will send corn to the localities where famine is worse, said Morozov, for I understand that sort of work better than do the chinovniks And will personally see to the needs of each person Also, if you will allow me, Your Highness, I will go and have a talk with the Raskolniki They are more likely to listen to a plain man than to an official God knows whether I shall succeed in calming them, but at least no chinovnik could do so For officials of the kind merely draw up reports and lose their way among their own documents, with the result that nothing comes of it Nor will I accept from you any money for these purposes, since I am ashamed to devote as much as a thought to my own pocket at a time when men are dying of hunger I have a large stock of grain lying in my granaries, in addition to which I have sent orders to Siberia that a new consignment shall be forwarded me before the coming summer Avassurity will God reward you for your surfaces at Denazi Vasilevich Not another word will I say to you on the subject, for you yourself feel that any words for me would be inadequate Yet tell me one thing, I refer to the case of which you know Have I the right to pass over the case? Also, would it be just and honorable on my part to let the offending chinovniks go unpunished? Your Highness, it is impossible to return a definite answer to those two questions And the more so because many rascals are at heart men of rectitude Human problems are difficult things to solve Sometimes a man may be drawn into a vicious circle, so that, having once entered it, he ceases to be himself But what would the chinovniks say if I allowed the case to be passed over? Would not some of them turn up their noses at me and declare that they have affected my intimidation? Surely they would be the last persons in the world to respect me for my action Your Highness, I think this, that your best course would be to call them together and to inform them that you know everything And to explain to them your personal attitude, exactly as you have explained it to me And to end by it once requesting their advice and asking them what each of them would have done had he been placed in similar circumstances What? You think that those chinovniks would be so accessible to lofty motives that they would cease thereafter to be a venal and meticulous? I should be laughed at for my pains I think not, Your Highness Even the base or section of humanity possesses a certain sense of equity Your wisest plan, Your Highness, would be to conceal nothing and to speak to them as you have just spoken to me If, at present, they imagine you to be ambitious and proud and unapproachable and self-assured Your action would afford them an opportunity of seeing how the case really stands Why should you hesitate? You would but be exercising your undoubted right Speak to them as though delivering not a message of your own, but a message from God I will think it over, the Prince said musingly, and meanwhile, I thank you from my heart for your good advice Also, I should order Chichikov to leave the town, suggested Moritzov Yes, I will do so Tell him from me that he is to depart hence as quickly as possible and that the further he should remove himself the better it will be for him Also, tell him that it is only owing to your efforts that he has received a pardon at my hands Moritzov bowed and proceeded from the Prince's presence to that of Chichikov He found the prisoner cheerfully enjoying a hearty dinner which, under hot covers, had been brought him from an exceedingly excellent kitchen But almost the first words which he uttered showed Moritzov that the prisoner had been having dealings with the army of bribetakers As also that in those transactions his lawyer had played the principal part Listen, Polyvanovich, the old man said, I bring you your freedom but only on this condition that you depart out of the town forthwith Therefore gather together your effects and waste not a moment, lest worse befall you Also, of all that a certain person has contrived to do on your behalf, I am aware Wherefore, let me tell you, as between ourselves, that should the conspiracy come to light, nothing on earth can save him And in his fall he will involve others rather than be left unaccompanied in the lurch and not see the guilt shared How is it that when I left you recently you were in a better frame of mind than you are now? I beg of you not to trifle with the matter Oh, me, what boots that wealth for which men dispute and cut one another's throats? Do they think that it is possible to prosper in this world without thinking of the world to come? Believe me when I say that until a man shall have renounced all that leads humanity to contend without giving a thought to the ordering of spiritual wealth He will never set his temporal goods either upon a satisfactory foundation Yes, even as times of want and scarcity may come upon nations, so may they come upon individuals No matter what may be said to the contrary, the body can never dispense with the soul Why, then, will you not try to walk in the right way and by thinking no longer of dead souls but only of your own living one regain with God's help the better road? I, too, am leaving the town to-morrow, hasten, therefore, lest bereft of my assistance you meet with some dire misfortune And the old man departed, leaving Chichikov plunged in thought Once more had the gravity of life begun to loom large before him Yes, Murotsov was right, he said to himself, it is time that I were moving Leaving the prison, a warder carrying his effects in his wake, he found Selifan and Petrushka overjoyed at seeing their master once more at liberty Well, good fellows, he said kindly, and now we must pack and be off True, true, Polyvanovich, agreed Selifan, and by this time the roads will have become firmer, for much snow has fallen Yes, high time is it that we were clear of the town, so weary of it am I that the sight of it hurts my eyes Go to the coach-builders, commanded Chichikov, and have sledge-runners fitted to the Kolioska Chichikov then made his way into the town, though not with the object of paying farewell visits, in view of recent events that might have given rise to some awkwardness But for the purpose of paying an unobtrusive call to the shop where he had obtained the cloth for his latest suit There he now purchased four more artians of the same smoked-gray shot-with-flame color material as he had had before With the intention of having it made up by the tailor who had fashioned the previous costume And by promising double remuneration he induced the tailor in question so to hasten the cutting out of the garments that, through sitting up all night over the work, the man might have the hole ready by the break of day True, the goods were delivered a trifle after the appointed hour, yet the following morning saw the coat and breeches completed And while the horses were being put to, Chichikov tried on the clothes, and found them equal to the previous creation, even though during the process he caught sight of a bald patch on his head, and was led mournfully to reflect Alas! why did I give way to such despair? Surely I indeed not have torn my hair out so freely Then, when the tailor had been paid, our hero left the town But no longer was he the old Chichikov, he was only a ruin of what he had been, and his frame of mind might have been compared to a building recently pulled down to make room for a new one, while the new one had not yet been erected owing to the non-receipt of the plans from the architect Muratsov, too, had departed, but at an earlier hour, and in a tilt-wagon with Ivan Potapich An hour later the Governor-General issued to all and sundry officials a notice that, on the occasion of his departure for St. Petersburg, he would be glad to see the Corps of Chinovniks at a private meeting Accordingly, all ranks and grades of officialdom repaired to his residents, and there awaited, not without a certain measure of trepidation and of searching of heart The Governor-General's entry When that took place, he looked neither clear nor dull Yet his bearing was proud, and his step assured The Chinovniks bowed, some of them to the waist, and he answered their salutations with a slight inclination of the head Then he spoke as follows Since I am about to pay a visit to St. Petersburg, I have thought it right to meet you and to explain to you privately my reasons for doing so An affair of a most scandalous character has taken place in our midst To what affair I am referring, I think most of those present will guess Now, an automatic process has led to that affair bringing about the discovery of other matters Those matters are no less dishonorable than the primary one And to that I regret to have to add that there stand involved in them certain persons whom I had hitherto believed to be honorable Of the object aimed at by those who have complicated matters to the point of making their resolution almost impossible by ordinary methods, I am aware As also I am aware of the identity of the ringleader, despite the skill with which he has sought to conceal his share in the scandal But the principal point is that I propose to decide these matters not by formal documentary process, but by the more summary process of court-martial And that I hope, when the circumstances have been laid before his imperial majesty, to receive from him authority to adopt the course which I have mentioned For I conceive that when it has become impossible to resolve a case by civil means, and some of the necessary documents have been burnt And attempts have been made, both through the adduction of an excess of false and extraneous evidence and through the framing of fictitious reports To cloud an already sufficiently obscure investigation with an added measure of complexity When all these circumstances have arisen, I conceive that the only possible tribunal to deal with them is a military tribunal But on that point I should like your opinion The prince paused for a moment or two as though awaiting a reply But none came, seeing that every man had his eyes bent upon the floor, and many of the audience had turned white in the face Then, he went on, I may say that I am aware also of a matter which those who have carried it through believe to lie only within the cognizance of themselves The particulars of that matter will not be set forth in documentary form, but only through process of myself acting as plaintiff and petitioner and producing none but ocular evidence Among the throng of Chinovniks, someone gave a start, and thereby caused others of the more apprehensive sort to fall to trembling in their shoes Without saying, does it go, that the prime conspirators ought to undergo deprivation of rank and property, and that the remainder ought to be dismissed from their posts For though that course would cause a certain proportion of the innocent to suffer with the guilty, there would seem to be no other course available Seeing that the affair is one of the most disgraceful nature, and calls allowed for justice Therefore, although I know that to some my action will fail to serve as a lesson, since it will lead to their succeeding to the posts of dismissed officials As well as that others hitherto considered honorable will lose their reputation, and others entrusted with new responsibilities will continue to cheat and betray their trust Although all this is known to me, I still have no choice but to satisfy the claims of justice by proceeding to take stern measures I am also aware that I shall be accused of undue severity, but lastly I am aware that it is my duty to put aside all personal feeling and to act as the unconscious instrument of that retribution which justice demands Over every face there passed a shutter, yet the prince had spoken calmly, and not a trace of anger or any other kind of emotion had been visible on his features Nevertheless he went on, the very man in whose hands the fate of so many now lies, the very man whom no prayer for mercy could ever have influenced, himself desires to make a request of you Should you grant that request, all will be forgotten and blotted out and pardoned, for I myself will intercede with the throne on your behalf That request is this, I know that by no manner of means, by no preventive measures, and by no penalties will dishonesty ever be completely extirpated from our midst For the reason that its roots have struck too deep, and that the dishonorable traffic and bribes has become a necessity to, even the mainstay of, some whose nature is not innately venal Also I know that to many men it is an impossibility to swim against the stream Yet now, at this solemn and critical juncture, when the country is calling aloud for saviours, and it is the duty of every citizen to contribute and to sacrifice his all I feel that I cannot but issue an appeal to every man in whom a Russian heart and a spark of what we understand by the word nobility exist For after all, which of us is more guilty than his fellow? It may be to me the greatest culpability should be assigned, in that at first I may have adopted towards you too reserved an attitude, that I may have been overhasty in repelling those who desired but to serve me, even though other services I did not actually stand in need Yet, had they really loved justice and the good of their country, I think that they would have been less prone to take offense at the coldness of my attitude, but would have sacrificed their feelings and their personality to their superior convictions For hardly can it be that I failed to note their overtures and the loftiness of their motives, or that I would not have accepted any wise and useful advice proffered At the same time, it is for a subordinate to adapt himself to the tone of his superior, rather than for a superior to adapt himself to the tone of his subordinate Such a course is at once more regular and more smooth of working, since a core of subordinates has but one director, whereas a director may have a hundred subordinates But let us put aside the question of comparative culpability The important point is that before us all lies the duty of rescuing our fatherland Our fatherland is suffering, not from the incursion of a score of alien tongues, but from our own acts, in that, in addition to the lawful administration, there has grown up a second administration possessed of infinitely greater powers than the system established by law And that second administration has established its conditions, fixed its tariff of prices, and published that tariff abroad Nor could any ruler, even though the wisest of legislators and administrators, do more to correct the evil than limit it in the conduct of his more venal chinovniks by setting over them, as their supervisors, men of superior rectitude No, until each of us shall come to feel that, just as arms were taken up during the period of the upheaval of nations, so now each of us must make a stand against dishonesty, all remedies will end in failure As a Russian, therefore, as one bound to you by consanguinity and identity of blood, I make to you my appeal I make it to those of you who understand wherein lies nobility of thought I invite those men to remember the duty which confronts us, whatsoever, our respective stations I invite them to observe more closely their duty, and to keep more constantly in mind their obligations of holding true to their country, in that before us the future looms dark, and that we can scarcely hear the manuscript of the original comes abruptly to an end End of Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogle, translated by DJ Hogarth