Resurrection

When the examination of the articles of material evidence was

finished, the president announced that the investigation was now

concluded and immediately called on the prosecutor to proceed,

hoping that as the latter was also a man, he, too, might feel

inclined to smoke or dine, and show some mercy on the rest. But

the public prosecutor showed mercy neither to himself nor to any

one else. He was very stupid by nature, but, besides this, he had

had the misfortune of finishing school with a gold medal and of

receiving a reward for his essay on "Servitude" when studying

Roman Law at the University, and was therefore self-confident and

self-satisfied in the highest degree (his success with the ladies

also conducing to this) and his stupidity had become

extraordinary.

When the word was given to him, he got up slowly, showing the

whole of his graceful figure in his embroidered uniform. Putting

his hand on the desk he looked round the room, slightly bowing

his head, and, avoiding the eyes of the prisoners, began to read

the speech he had prepared while the reports were being read.

"Gentlemen of the jury! The business that now lies before you is,

if I may so express myself, very characteristic."

The speech of a public prosecutor, according to his views, should

always have a social importance, like the celebrated speeches

made by the advocates who have become distinguished. True, the

audience consisted of three women--a semptress, a cook, and

Simeon's sister--and a coachman; but this did not matter. The

celebrities had begun in the same way. To be always at the height

of his position, i.e., to penetrate into the depths of the

psychological significance of crime and to discover the wounds of

society, was one of the prosecutor's principles.

"You see before you, gentlemen of the jury, a crime

characteristic, if I may so express myself, of the end of our

century; bearing, so to say, the specific features of that very

painful phenomenon, the corruption to which those elements of our

present-day society, which are, so to say, particularly exposed

to the burning rays of this process, are subject."

The public prosecutor spoke at great length, trying not to forget

any of the notions he had formed in his mind, and, on the other

hand, never to hesitate, and let his speech flow on for an hour

and a quarter without a break.

Only once he stopped and for some time stood swallowing his

saliva, but he soon mastered himself and made up for the

interruption by heightened eloquence. He spoke, now with a

tender, insinuating accent, stepping from foot to foot and

looking at the jury, now in quiet, business-like tones, glancing

into his notebook, then with a loud, accusing voice, looking from

the audience to the advocates. But he avoided looking at the

prisoners, who were all three fixedly gazing at him. Every new

craze then in vogue among his set was alluded to in his speech;

everything that then was, and some things that still are,

considered to be the last words of scientific wisdom: the laws of

heredity and inborn criminality, evolution and the struggle for

existence, hypnotism and hypnotic influence.