登陆注册
4606300000975

第975章

The time came in eight or ten days, when I was beginning to think she had had enough of me, for she had seen me without summoning me to speak to her.

She began by saying what I desired should be done was done already.

"All the letters sent to foreign countries and all the important State records are marked with both dates."

"But I must point out to your majesty that by the end of the century the difference will be of twelve days, not eleven."

"Not at all; we have seen to that. The last year of this century will not be counted as a leap year. It is fortunate that the difference is one of eleven days, for as that is the number which is added every year to the epact our epacts are almost the same. As to the celebration of Easter, that is a different question. Your equinox is on March the 21st, ours on the l0th, and the astronomers say we are both wrong; sometimes it is we who are wrong and sometimes you, as the equinox varies. You know you are not even in agreement with the Jews, whose calculation is said to be perfectly accurate;

and, in fine, this difference in the time of celebrating Easter does not disturb in any way public order or the progress of the Government."

"Your majesty's words fill me with admiration, but the Festival of Christmas----"

"I suppose you are going to say that we do not celebrate Christmas in the winter solstice as should properly be done. We know it, but it seems to me a matter of no account. I would rather bear with this small mistake than grievously afflict vast numbers of my subjects by depriving them of their birthdays. If I did so, there would be no open complaints uttered, as that is not the fashion in Russia; but they would say in secret that I was an Atheist, and that I disputed the infallibility of the Council of Nice. You may think such complaints matter for laughter, but I do not, for I have much more agreeable motives for amusement."

The czarina was delighted to mark my surprise. I did not doubt for a moment that she had made a special study of the whole subject.

M. Alsuwieff told me, a few days after, that she had very possibly read a little pamphlet on the subject, the statements of which exactly coincided with her own. He took care to add, however, that it was very possible her highness was profoundly learned on the matter, but this was merely a courtier's phrase.

What she said was spoken modestly and energetically, and her good humour and pleasant smile remained unmoved throughout. She exercised a constant self-control over herself, and herein appeared the greatness of her character, for nothing is more difficult. Her demeanour, so different from that of the Prussian king, shewed her to be the greater sovereign of the two; her frank geniality always gave her the advantage, while the short, curt manners of the king often exposed him to being made a dupe. In an examination of the life of Frederick the Great, one cannot help paying a deserved tribute to his courage, but at the same time one feels that if it had not been for repeated turns of good fortune he must have succumbed, whereas Catherine was little indebted to the favours of the blind deity. She succeeded in enterprises which, before her time, would have been pronounced impossibilities, and it seemed her aim to make men look upon her achievements as of small account.

I read in one of our modern journals, those monuments of editorial self-conceit, that Catherine the Great died happily as she had lived.

Everybody knows that she died suddenly on her close stool. By calling such a death happy, the journalist hints that it is the death he himself would wish for. Everyone to his taste, and we can only hope that the editor may obtain his wish; but who told this silly fellow that Catherine desired such a death? If he regards such a wish as natural to a person of her profound genius I would ask who told him that men of genius consider a sudden death to be a happy one? Is it because that is his opinion, and are we to conclude that he is therefore person of genius? To come to the truth we should have to interrogate the late empress, and ask her some such question as:

"Are you well pleased to have died suddenly?"

She would probably reply:

"What a foolish question! Such might be the wish of one driven to despair, or of someone suffering from a long and grievous malady.

Such was not my position, for I enjoyed the blessings of happiness and good health; no worse fate could have happened to me. My sudden death prevented me from concluding several designs which I might have brought to a successful issue if God had granted me the warning of a, slight illness. But it was not so; I had to set out on the long journey at a moment's notice, without the time to make any preparations. Is my death any the happier from my not foreseeing it?

Do you think me such a coward as to dread the approach of what is common to all? I tell you that I should have accounted myself happy if I had had a respite of but a day. Then I should not complain of the Divine justice."

"Does your highness accuse God of injustice, then?"

"What boots it, since I am a lost soul? Do you expect the damned to acknowledge the justice of the decree which has consigned them to eternal woe?"

"No doubt it is a difficult matter, but I should have thought that a sense of the justice of your doom would have mitigated the pains of it."

"Perhaps so, but a damned soul must be without consolation for ever."

"In spite of that there are some philosophers who call you happy in your death by virtue of its suddenness."

"Not philosophers, but fools, for in its suddenness was the pain and woe."

"Well said; but may I ask your highness if you admit the possibility of a happy eternity after an unhappy death, or of an unhappy doom after a happy death?"

"Such suppositions are inconceivable. The happiness of futurity lies in the ecstasy of the soul in feeling freed from the trammels of matter, and unhappiness is the doom of a soul which was full of remorse at the moment it left the body. But enough, for my punishment forbids my farther speech."

"Tell me, at least, what is the nature of your punishment?"

同类推荐
  • Essays and Lectures

    Essays and Lectures

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 帝鉴图说

    帝鉴图说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 词谑

    词谑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 妇人前阴诸疾带下交肠门

    妇人前阴诸疾带下交肠门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 金刚般若经赞述

    金刚般若经赞述

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 及格的幸福:缘分天定

    及格的幸福:缘分天定

    “是否这样的伤害才是你给我的全部?”“留不下你的心,我也要霸道的留下你的人!”……“幸福如果可以用一百分来算的话,你给我的却只够及格成绩!”“我无法给予你满分的幸福,却依旧要你留在我的身边,因为我给你的是满分的爱!”……“爱情没有对错,而你却强行的加入对错,那么谁对谁错呢?”“为何你的世界变成了黑色,为何我走不进你的世界,到底哪里出了错?”
  • 十二星宫

    十二星宫

    神话时代!诸神降临人类,统治和奴役人类,在压迫和反抗中人类诞生了十二位绝世强者,身穿黄金战衣,带领人类经过数万年的战斗,成为大陆的主宰,但是为了防止诸神再度降临人类大陆,这十二位强者分别坐守大陆十二处,建立传承,成立十二星宫!至万年以后,十二座星宫!成为天下战士的朝拜圣地!这十二座星宫分别为:分别为白羊星宫、金牛星宫、双子星宫、巨蟹星宫、狮子星宫、处女星宫、天秤星宫、天蝎星宫、人马星宫、摩羯星宫、水瓶星宫和双鱼星宫。
  • 断食

    断食

    断食是当前风靡全球的瘦身排毒疗法,通过一段时间不吃食物,让超负荷的内脏得到休息,还能让体内的垃圾与毒素排出体外,并达到减肥、助孕、增强免疫力、延缓衰老等效果。当其它的减重法都不能达到预期效果时,断食肯定能让你减得最快,减得最多,最不易反弹!本书是国内第一本完整收录目前正流行的13种断食方法的全集,5位断食大师的实践经验总结。书中真实展现了13种断食方法的体验日记,分析每种断食方法的优缺点、适合人群及实践注意事项,让您最快速了解.
  • 玩转古代:调皮宠后

    玩转古代:调皮宠后

    她,世界上最年轻的考古学家,意外穿越到古代,先掉粪池还不够,居然还被人看了个精光!最倒霉的是,她居然……居然被那个传说中的皇帝看上了,要选为皇后?虽然她是觉得他很俊美啦,可是成为他的皇后那是要变成短命鬼的哎,她打死都不干啦!情节虚构,请勿模仿!
  • 玛丽来到清泰街

    玛丽来到清泰街

    清泰街原是老城区的一条主街,南通渭河渡口,北连仪凤街,一座凤凰台把两条街南北隔开。仪凤街上有早年间的县衙、文庙、学道门,建筑虽已破旧,却都是飞檐斗拱、雕梁画栋。而清泰街上则全是小门小户,砖砌的门楼,两扇木板门,简陋却也素净。站在凤凰台上朝两厢观望,仪凤街好似大家闺秀,清泰街分明就是小家碧玉。小却自有其小的好处,简洁明秀,质朴无华,三十几家住户,三五家门店,街两旁柳树成荫,垂柳依依,有一丝悠然、幽静,又透出些许冷寂之气。清泰街上的人物,也都似这条街一样不事张扬。文革中,凤凰台上城头变幻大王旗,摇旗呐喊的都出在仪凤街。
  • 打印一个新地球

    打印一个新地球

    深冷的夜晚,你蜷缩在被窝中,不想做任何事情。除非,紧张而急促的电话铃把你吵醒。我不太喜欢夜间接任何工作上的电话,特别是在北京初暖还寒的春天。雾气那么浓重,PM2.5会给人带去多大伤害,还不可知。我做医生的妹妹曾经告诉我,她的研究表明,每隔六七年,PM2.5的含量就会达到一个峰值,而此后的六七年就是城市中肺癌发病的尖峰时刻。这样的天气,无论是情感还是理智,都不可能使我离开被窝离开家门。但是,电话还是顽固地又响了起来。我瞥了一眼号码,有一种似曾相识又模糊不清的感觉。接还是不接?我翻看了一下床头那个以塔罗牌为画面的日历。
  • 汉末昂魏

    汉末昂魏

    新书《战国谋天下》发布,有兴趣的朋友可以看一看,万分感谢朋友们的支持。曹子修一梦睡到了建安二年,附身到曹操长子曹昂的身上,此时曹操刚刚击败张绣,距离历史上的身死已经不足旬日,曹昂如何在这暗流涌动之中保住自己的性命,同时让这煌煌大魏,彻底执掌在曹昂之手!
  • 拐个皇帝回现代

    拐个皇帝回现代

    她是个平凡的小女子,想不到一次意外让她穿越到了古代,还遭遇了一个冰山一样的酷皇帝。这个男的臭屁的不行,不仅抱着别的女人,好吧!惹到了她,就别怪她不仗义了,少年,跟姑奶奶回现代吧!
  • 玩个小号遭雷劈

    玩个小号遭雷劈

    她的大号是《盛世》天龙里的所谓大神一枚,让无数小女子趋之若鹜。她建了个小号,想要导正性别,试试玩女号的感觉,却在建号的第一天就乌龙地卷进了天龙里最狗血的一段八卦恋情之间。她只是出来打个酱油的,怎么突然就成了重要女配?
  • 老子大智慧

    老子大智慧

    老子哲学与古希腊哲学一起构成了人类哲学的两个源头,老子也因其深邃的哲学思想而被尊为“中国哲学之父”。本文从做人准则、处世准则、做事之道、修身养性四个方面对老子处世之道 进行了较为透辟的分析,以古今中外一些经典事例为背景,采用了浅显易懂的文字进行叙述。