登陆注册
5261400000079

第79章 II(9)

Tens of thousands of the best people. Some shut up in prisons, others ruined by false educa-tion, by the vain desire to bring them up as we wish. But not succeeding in this, whatever might have been is ruined as well, for it is made impos-sible. It is as if we were trying to make buck-wheat out of corn sprouts by splitting the ears.

One may spoil the corn, but one could never change it to buckwheat. Thus all the youth of the world, the entire younger generation, is being ruined.

But woe to those who destroy one of these little ones, woe to you if you destroy even one of them. On your soul, however, are hosts of them, who have been ruined in your name, all of those over whom your power extends.

"But what can I do?" exclaimed the Tsar in despair. "I do not wish to torture, to flog, to corrupt, to kill any one! I only want the welfare of all. Just as I yearn for happiness myself, so I want the world to be happy as well. Am I actu-ally responsible for everything that is done in my name? What can I do? What am I to do to rid myself of such a responsibility? What can I do? I do not admit that the responsibility for all this is mine. If I felt myself responsible for one-hundredth part of it, I would shoot myself on the spot. It would not be possible to live if that were true. But how can I put an end, to all this evil?

It is bound up with the very existence of the State. I am the head of the State! What am I to do? Kill myself? Or abdicate? But that would mean renouncing my duty. O God, O God, God, help me!" He burst into tears and awoke.

"How glad I am that it was only a dream," was his first thought. But when he began to recollect what he had seen in his dream, and to compare it with actuality, he realised that the problem propounded to him in dream remained just as important and as insoluble now that he was awake. For the first time the young Tsar became aware of the heavy responsibility weighing on him, and was aghast. His thoughts no longer turned to the young Queen and to the happiness he had anticipated for that evening, but became centred on the unanswerable question which hung over him: "What was to be done?"

In a state of great agitation he arose and went into the next room. An old courtier, a co-worker and friend of his father's, was standing there in the middle of the room in conversation with the young Queen, who was on her way to join her husband. The young Tsar approached them, and addressing his conversation principally to the old courtier, told him what he had seen in his dream and what doubts the dream had left in his mind.

"That is a noble idea. It proves the rare nobility of your spirit," said the old man. "But forgive me for speaking frankly--you are too kind to be an emperor, and you exaggerate your responsibility. In the first place, the state of things is not as you imagine it to be. The people are not poor. They are well-to-do. Those who are poor are poor through their own fault. Only the guilty are punished, and if an unavoidable mistake does sometimes occur, it is like a thunder-bolt--an accident, or the will of God. You have but one responsibility: to fulfil your task coura-geously and to retain the power that is given to you. You wish the best for your people and God sees that. As for the errors which you have com-mitted unwittingly, you can pray for forgiveness, and God will guide you and pardon you. All the more because you have done nothing that demands forgiveness, and there never have been and never will be men possessed of such extraordinary qual-ities as you and your father. Therefore all we implore you to do is to live, and to reward our endless devotion and love with your favour, and every one, save scoundrels who deserve no happi-ness, will be happy."

"What do you think about that?" the young Tsar asked his wife.

"I have a different opinion," said the clever young woman, who had been brought up in a free country. "I am glad you had that dream, and I agree with you that there are grave responsibili-ties resting upon you. I have often thought about it with great anxiety, and I think there is a simple means of casting off a part of the responsibility you are unable to bear, if not all of it. A large proportion of the power which is too heavy for you, you should delegate to the people, to its representatives, reserving for yourself only the supreme control, that is, the general direction of the affairs of State."

The Queen had hardly ceased to expound her views, when the old courtier began eagerly to refute her arguments, and they started a polite but very heated discussion.

For a time the young Tsar followed their argu-ments, but presently he ceased to be aware of what they said, listening only to the voice of him who had been his guide in the dream, and who was now speaking audibly in his heart.

"You are not only the Tsar," said the voice, "but more. You are a human being, who only yesterday came into this world, and will perchance to-morrow depart out of it. Apart from your duties as a Tsar, of which that old man is now speaking, you have more immediate duties not by any means to be disregarded; human duties, not the duties of a Tsar towards his subjects, which are only accidental, but an eternal duty, the duty of a man in his relation to God, the duty toward your own soul, which is to save it, and also, to serve God in establishing his kingdom on earth.

You are not to be guarded in your actions either by what has been or what will be, but only by what it is your own duty to do.

***

He opened his eyes--his wife was awakening him.

Which of the three courses the young Tsar chose, will be told in fifty years.

同类推荐
  • 指頭畫說

    指頭畫說

    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。
  • 唇口门

    唇口门

    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。
  • 辽方镇年表

    辽方镇年表

    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。
  • 养老奉亲书

    养老奉亲书

    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。
  • 春草斋集

    春草斋集

    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
  • 礼记

    礼记

    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。
  • 大明影侯

    大明影侯

    知天命,逆天难。平逆贼,荡天下。帝国荣耀,自今日起。951328264,作者粉丝交流群,欢迎。
  • 良辰美警

    良辰美警

    见到倒霉的,没见过这么倒霉的,警察抓贼朝天开枪都能不幸正好被击中,吕男男觉得自己人品真是好到家了,作为一个电视台工作人员,她决定把这件事公布于众,可是偏偏开枪小警察的上司陆弘竟然是自己的旧识,还是自己曾经追过并且没有追上的男人,她更曾经为了他被大学开除过,吕男男决定假如陆弘不赔偿给自己一百万的话,她坚决不答应这件事简单了解,她要动用她所有的关系让陆弘从‘人民公仆’彻底变成‘人民’……这是一个警察与媒体人员不得不说的故事。
  • 拜师八戒

    拜师八戒

    重生到西游世界的高老庄,成功拜猪八戒为师,主角成了猪八戒的徒弟,孙悟空的师侄。看主角如何畅游西游世界。(新书三国之武魂通天已经上传,值得一读!)
  • 天地一掌

    天地一掌

    这个世界里,什么都有可能。这是少年的世界,他之所想,他之所成;他之所梦,他之所圆。花若开的沉默,则这个世界将会颤抖。
  • 联邦快递:使命必达的力量

    联邦快递:使命必达的力量

    本书通过阐释“联邦快递,使命必达”的含义、使命感与责任的关系、使命感在职业发展中的核心作用等,帮助员工培养职业使命感,使得员工和企业获得双赢。通过本书的阅读,读者将了解到怎样做一个富有使命感的员工,怎样做一个富有使命感的领导,以及如何培养使命感,如何打造富有使命感的组织,从而为领导和员工提高执行力提供有益的帮助。
  • 你有罪:诡案现场鉴证2犯罪升级

    你有罪:诡案现场鉴证2犯罪升级

    两年时间里,浴场岸边陆续漂来十四只女性脚掌,是空难受害者的残肢?还是海底冤魂的招引?活着的人,思维正常,工作正常,待人接物正常,但却穿着寿衣招摇过市,想象着自己是一具尸体。这恐怖的想法和行为,是被鬼魂附体?是被蛊惑操纵?还是另有隐情?碎尸杀人后,被丢弃到荒郊野外的尸体碎块却自行回到人类社区,是怨灵作祟?还是尸体的报复?……曲州市接二连三的发生离奇死亡事件,当地公安厅却不敢公布破案过程。诡异的现场,扑朔迷离的线索,谁能侦破其中的阴谋?真相,到底如何……看女法医如何拨开重重迷雾,通过蛛丝马迹锁定狡猾真凶?别回头!也许,凶手就在你背后……
  • 下嫁公主不如妾:斗夫

    下嫁公主不如妾:斗夫

    冷宫公主下嫁状元,他说她不配,固执的将她拒之门外。是天定姻缘还是命中劫难。三天上青楼两天不归家,婆婆要纳妾,公公要休她,小妾要逼她,斗夫斗妾斗婆婆,铁腕乾坤,公主闹革命,绵羊急了也变狼,她从来不是善类……
  • 民国的农村2:农产考

    民国的农村2:农产考

    齐如山先生在本书中介绍了华北地区土地出产的农产品的情况。华北地区出产的弄产品可以说是甲于天下,地球上任何地区出产的谷类,远不及华北多,所以华北历来号称百谷。华北地区的出产农产品的类别已经很复杂了,而每类之中又有许多种,例如高粱之中就又分几十种,谷子也有几十种,本书对其每一种的来历、生长季节甚至销售情况都有记录,这是另一种“舌尖上的中国”。
  • 蜀山剑侠传8

    蜀山剑侠传8

    小说以峨眉弟子“三英二云”、“七矮”等的修真学艺、斩妖除魔为故事核心。“三英”之一的李英琼是整套小说的主角,小说详细描述了她从一个普通女子,经过无数次的机缘巧合,得到了长眉真人的紫郢剑以及白眉和尚的定珠,获得了圣姑的一甲子功力,最终成长为峨嵋派后辈中最杰出的人物……