Soloveitchik nodded, as with childish pleasure.

"Well, at that time Semenoff was very ill. He was living in the Crimea,

where he gave lessons. There, solitude and the presentiment of his

approaching death drove him to despair. Lande heard of this, and

determined to go thither and save this lost soul. He had no money, and

no one was willing to lend any to a reputed madman. So he went on foot,

and, after walking over a thousand versts, died on the way, and thus

sacrificed his life for others."

"And you, oh! do tell me," cried Soloveitchik with flashing eyes, "do

you recognize the greatness of such a man?"

"He was much talked about at the time," replied Sanine thoughtfully.

"Some did not look upon him as a Christian, and for that reason

condemned him. Others said that he was mad and not devoid of self-

conceit, while some denied that he had any moral force; and, since he

would not fight, they declared that he was neither prophet nor

conqueror. I judge him otherwise. At that time he influenced me to the

point of folly. One day a student boxed my ears, and I became almost

mad with rage. But Lande stood there, and I just looked at him and--

Well, I don't know how it was, but I got up without speaking, and

walked out of the room. First of all I felt intensely proud of what I

had done, and secondly I hated the student from the bottom of my heart.

Not because he had struck me, but because to him my conduct must have

been supremely gratifying. By degrees the falseness of my position

became clear to me, and this set me thinking. For a couple of weeks I

was like one demented, and after that I ceased to feel proud of my

false moral victory. At the first ironical remark on the part of my

adversary I thrashed him until he became unconscious. This brought

about an estrangement between Lande and myself. When I came to examine

his life impartially, I found it astonishingly poor and miserable."

"Oh! how can you say that?" cried Soloveitchik. "How was it possible

for you to estimate the wealth of his spiritual emotions?"

"Such emotions were very monotonous. His life's happiness consisted in

the acceptance of every misfortune without a murmur, and its wealth, in

the total renunciation of life's joys and material benefits. He was a

beggar by choice, a fantastic personage whose life was sacrificed to an

idea of which he himself had no clear conception."




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