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Chapter 12 - Nikolai writes to Sónya
Before the beginning of the campaign, Rostov had received a letter from his parents in which they told him briefly1 of Natasha’s illness and the breaking off of her engagement to Prince Andrey (which they explained by Natasha’s having rejected him) and again asked Nikolai to retire from the army and return home. On receiving this letter, Nikolai did not even make any attempt to get leave of absence or to retire from the army, but wrote to his parents that he was sorry Natasha was ill and her engagement broken off, and that he would do all he could to meet their wishes. To Sonya he wrote separately.
“Adored friend of my soul!” he wrote. “Nothing but honor could keep me from returning to the country. But now, at the commencement of the campaign, I should feel dishonored, not only in my comrades’ eyes but in my own, if I preferred my own happiness to my love and duty to the Fatherland. But this shall be our last separation. Believe me, directly the war is over, if I am still alive and still loved by you, I will throw up everything and fly to you, to press you forever to my ardent2 breast.”
It was, in fact, only the commencement of the campaign that prevented Rostov from returning home as he had promised and marrying Sonya. The autumn in Otradnoe with the hunting, and the winter with the Christmas holidays and Sonya’s love, had opened out to him a vista3 of tranquil4 rural joys and peace such as he had never known before, and which now allured5 him. “A splendid wife, children, a good pack of hounds, a dozen leashes6 of smart borzois, agriculture, neighbors, service by election . . . ” thought he. But now the campaign was beginning, and he had to remain with his regiment7. And since it had to be so, Nikolai Rostov, as was natural to him, felt contented8 with the life he led in the regiment and was able to find pleasure in that life.
On his return from his furlough Nikolai, having been joyfully9 welcomed by his comrades, was sent to obtain remounts and brought back from the Ukraine excellent horses which pleased him and earned him commendation from his commanders. During his absence he had been promoted captain, and when the regiment was put on war footing with an increase in numbers, he was again allotted10 his old squadron.
The campaign began, the regiment was moved into Poland on double pay, new officers arrived, new men and horses, and above all everybody was infected with the merrily excited mood that goes with the commencement of a war, and Rostov, conscious of his advantageous11 position in the regiment, devoted12 himself entirely13 to the pleasures and interests of military service, though he knew that sooner or later he would have to relinquish14 them.
The troops retired15 from Vilna for various complicated reasons of state, political and strategic. Each step of the retreat was accompanied by a complicated interplay of interests, arguments, and passions at headquarters. For the Pavlograd hussars, however, the whole of this retreat during the finest period of summer and with sufficient supplies was a very simple and agreeable business.
It was only at headquarters that there was depression, uneasiness, and intriguing16; in the body of the army they did not ask themselves where they were going or why. If they regretted having to retreat, it was only because they had to leave billets they had grown accustomed to, or some pretty young Polish lady. If the thought that things looked bad chanced to enter anyone’s head, he tried to be as cheerful as befits a good soldier and not to think of the general trend of affairs, but only of the task nearest to hand. First they camped gaily17 before Vilna, making acquaintance with the Polish landowners, preparing for reviews and being reviewed by the Emperor and other high commanders. Then came an order to retreat to Sventsyani and destroy any provisions they could not carry away with them. Sventsyani was remembered by the hussars only as the drunken camp, a name the whole army gave to their encampment there, and because many complaints were made against the troops, who, taking advantage of the order to collect provisions, took also horses, carriages, and carpets from the Polish proprietors18. Rostov remembered Sventsyani, because on the first day of their arrival at that small town he changed his sergeant19 major and was unable to manage all the drunken men of his squadron who, unknown to him, had appropriated five barrels of old beer. From Sventsyani they retired farther and farther to Drissa, and thence again beyond Drissa, drawing near to the frontier of Russia proper.
On the thirteenth of July the Pavlograds took part in a serious action for the first time.
On the twelfth of July, on the eve of that action, there was a heavy storm of rain and hail. In general, the summer of 18l2 was remarkable20 for its storms.
The two Pavlograd squadrons were bivouacking on a field of rye, which was already in ear but had been completely trodden down by cattle and horses. The rain was descending21 in torrents22, and Rostov, with a young officer named Ilyin, his protege, was sitting in a hastily constructed shelter. An officer of their regiment, with long mustaches extending onto his cheeks, who after riding to the staff had been overtaken by the rain, entered Rostov’s shelter.
“I have come from the staff, Count. Have you heard of Raevski’s exploit?”
And the officer gave them details of the Saltanov battle, which he had heard at the staff.
Rostov, smoking his pipe and turning his head about as the water trickled23 down his neck, listened inattentively, with an occasional glance at Ilyin, who was pressing close to him. This officer, a lad of sixteen who had recently joined the regiment, was now in the same relation to Nikolai that Nikolai had been to Denisov seven years before. Ilyin tried to imitate Rostov in everything and adored him as a girl might have done.
Zdrzhinski, the officer with the long mustache, spoke24 grandiloquently25 of the Saltanov dam being “a Russian Thermopylae,” and of how a deed worthy26 of antiquity27 had been performed by General Raevski. He recounted how Raevski had led his two sons onto the dam under terrific fire and had charged with them beside him. Rostov heard the story and not only said nothing to encourage Zdrzhinski’s enthusiasm but, on the contrary, looked like a man ashamed of what he was hearing, though with no intention of contradicting it. Since the campaigns of Austerlitz and of 1807 Rostov knew by experience that men always lie when describing military exploits, as he himself had done when recounting them; besides that, he had experience enough to know that nothing happens in war at all as we can imagine or relate it. And so he did not like Zdrzhinski’s tale, nor did he like Zdrzhinski himself who, with his mustaches extending over his cheeks, bent28 low over the face of his hearer, as was his habit, and crowded Rostov in the narrow shanty29. Rostov looked at him in silence. “In the first place, there must have been such a confusion and crowding on the dam that was being attacked that if Raevski did lead his sons there, it could have had no effect except perhaps on some dozen men nearest to him,” thought he, “the rest could not have seen how or with whom Raevski came onto the dam. And even those who did see it would not have been much stimulated30 by it, for what had they to do with Raevski’s tender paternal31 feelings when their own skins were in danger? And besides, the fate of the Fatherland did not depend on whether they took the Saltanov dam or not, as we are told was the case at Thermopylae. So why should he have made such a sacrifice? And why expose his own children in the battle? I would not have taken my brother Petya there, or even Ilyin, who’s a stranger to me but a nice lad, but would have tried to put them somewhere under cover,” Nikolai continued to think, as he listened to Zdrzhinski. But he did not express his thoughts, for in such matters, too, he had gained experience. He knew that this tale redounded32 to the glory of our arms and so one had to pretend not to doubt it. And he acted accordingly.
“I can’t stand this any more,” said Ilyin, noticing that Rostov did not relish33 Zdrzhinski’s conversation. “My stockings and shirt . . . and the water is running on my seat! I’ll go and look for shelter. The rain seems less heavy.”
Ilyin went out and Zdrzhinski rode away.
Five minutes later Ilyin, splashing through the mud, came running back to the shanty.
“Hurrah! Rostov, come quick! I’ve found it! About two hundred yards away there’s a tavern34 where ours have already gathered. We can at least get dry there, and Marya Hendrikhovna’s there.”
Marya Hendrikhovna was the wife of the regimental doctor, a pretty young German woman he had married in Poland. The doctor, whether from lack of means or because he did not like to part from his young wife in the early days of their marriage, took her about with him wherever the hussar regiment went and his jealousy35 had become a standing36 joke among the hussar officers.
Rostov threw his cloak over his shoulders, shouted to Lavrushka to follow with the things, and — now slipping in the mud, now splashing right through it — set off with Ilyin in the lessening37 rain and the darkness that was occasionally rent by distant lightning.
“Rostov, where are you?”
“Here. What lightning!” they called to one another.
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1
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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allured
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| 诱引，吸引( allure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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leashes
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| n.拴猎狗的皮带( leash的名词复数 ) | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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8
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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13
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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15
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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16
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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19
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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23
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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grandiloquently
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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28
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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29
shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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30
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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redounded
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| v.有助益( redound的过去式和过去分词 )；及于；报偿；报应 | |
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33
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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34
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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35
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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36
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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