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Chapter 1 - Nikolai Rostóv returns home on leave
The Bible legend tells us that the absence of labor1 — idleness — was a condition of the first man’s blessedness before the Fall. Fallen man has retained a love of idleness, but the curse weighs on the race not only because we have to seek our bread in the sweat of our brows, but because our moral nature is such that we cannot be both idle and at ease. An inner voice tells us we are in the wrong if we are idle. If man could find a state in which he felt that though idle he was fulfilling his duty, he would have found one of the conditions of man’s primitive2 blessedness. And such a state of obligatory3 and irreproachable4 idleness is the lot of a whole class — the military. The chief attraction of military service has consisted and will consist in this compulsory5 and irreproachable idleness.
Nikolai Rostov experienced this blissful condition to the full when, after 1807, he continued to serve in the Pavlograd regiment6, in which he already commanded the squadron he had taken over from Denisov.
Rostov had become a bluff7, good-natured fellow, whom his Moscow acquaintances would have considered rather bad form, but who was liked and respected by his comrades, subordinates, and superiors, and was well contented8 with his life. Of late, in 1809, he found in letters from home more frequent complaints from his mother that their affairs were falling into greater and greater disorder9, and that it was time for him to come back to gladden and comfort his old parents.
Reading these letters, Nikolai felt a dread10 of their wanting to take him away from surroundings in which, protected from all the entanglements11 of life, he was living so calmly and quietly. He felt that sooner or later he would have to re-enter that whirlpool of life, with its embarrassments12 and affairs to be straightened out, its accounts with stewards13, quarrels, and intrigues14, its ties, society, and with Sonya’s love and his promise to her. It was all dreadfully difficult and complicated; and he replied to his mother in cold, formal letters in French, beginning: “My dear Mamma,” and ending: “Your obedient son,” which said nothing of when he would return. In 1810 he received letters from his parents, in which they told him of Natasha’s engagement to Bolkonsky, and that the wedding would be in a year’s time because the old prince made difficulties. This letter grieved and mortified15 Nikolai. In the first place he was sorry that Natasha, for whom he cared more than for anyone else in the family, should be lost to the home; and secondly16, from his hussar point of view, he regretted not to have been there to show that fellow Bolkonsky that connection with him was no such great honor after all, and that if he loved Natasha he might dispense17 with permission from his dotard father. For a moment he hesitated whether he should not apply for leave in order to see Natasha before she was married, but then came the maneuvers18, and considerations about Sonya and about the confusion of their affairs, and Nikolai again put it off. But in the spring of that year, he received a letter from his mother, written without his father’s knowledge, and that letter persuaded him to return. She wrote that if he did not come and take matters in hand, their whole property would be sold by auction19 and they would all have to go begging. The count was so weak, and trusted Mitenka so much, and was so good-natured, that everybody took advantage of him and things were going from bad to worse. “For God’s sake, I implore20 you, come at once if you do not wish to make me and the whole family wretched,” wrote the countess.
This letter touched Nikolai. He had that common sense of a matter-of-fact man which showed him what he ought to do.
The right thing now was, if not to retire from the service, at any rate to go home on leave. Why he had to go he did not know; but after his after-dinner nap he gave orders to saddle Mars, an extremely vicious gray stallion that had not been ridden for a long time, and when he returned with the horse all in a lather21, he informed Lavrushka (Denisov’s servant who had remained with him) and his comrades who turned up in the evening that he was applying for leave and was going home. Difficult and strange as it was for him to reflect that he would go away without having heard from the staff — and this interested him extremely — whether he was promoted to a captaincy or would receive the Order of St. Anne for the last maneuvers; strange as it was to think that he would go away without having sold his three roans to the Polish Count Golukhovski, who was bargaining for the horses Rostov had betted he would sell for two thousand rubles; incomprehensible as it seemed that the ball the hussars were giving in honor of the Polish Mademoiselle Przazdziecka (out of rivalry22 to the Uhlans who had given one in honor of their Polish Mademoiselle Borzozowska) would take place without him — he knew he must go away from this good, bright world to somewhere where everything was stupid and confused. A week later he obtained his leave. His hussar comrades — not only those of his own regiment, but the whole brigade — gave Rostov a dinner to which the subscription23 was fifteen rubles a head, and at which there were two bands and two choirs24 of singers. Rostov danced the Trepak with Major Basov; the tipsy officers tossed, embraced, and dropped Rostov; the soldiers of the third squadron tossed him too, and shouted “hurrah!” and then they put him in his sleigh and escorted him as far as the first post station.
During the first half of the journey — from Kremenchug to Kiev — all Rostov’s thoughts, as is usual in such cases, were behind him, with the squadron; but when he had gone more than halfway25 he began to forget his three roans and Dozhoyveyko, his quartermaster, and to wonder anxiously how things would be at Otradnoe and what he would find there. Thoughts of home grew stronger the nearer he approached it — far stronger, as though this feeling of his was subject to the law by which the force of attraction is in inverse26 proportion to the square of the distance. At the last post station before Otradnoe he gave the driver a three-ruble tip, and on arriving he ran breathlessly, like a boy, up the steps of his home.
After the rapture27 of meeting, and after that odd feeling of unsatisfied expectation — the feeling that “everything is just the same, so why did I hurry?”— Nikolai began to settle down in his old home world. His father and mother were much the same, only a little older. What was new in them was a certain uneasiness and occasional discord28, which there used not to be, and which, as Nikolai soon found out, was due to the bad state of their affairs. Sonya was nearly twenty; she had stopped growing prettier and promised nothing more than she was already, but that was enough. She exhaled29 happiness and love from the time Nikolai returned, and the faithful, unalterable love of this girl had a gladdening effect on him. Petya and Natasha surprised Nikolai most. Petya was a big handsome boy of thirteen, merry, witty30, and mischievous31, with a voice that was already breaking. As for Natasha, for a long while Nikolai wondered and laughed whenever he looked at her.
“You’re not the same at all,” he said.
“How? Am I uglier?”
“On the contrary, but what dignity? A princess!” he whispered to her.
She told him about her romance with Prince Andrey and of his visit to Otradnoe and showed him his last letter.
“Very glad,” answered Nikolai. “He is an excellent fellow. . . . And are you very much in love?”
“How shall I put it?” replied Natasha. “I was in love with Boris, with my teacher, and with Denisov, but this is quite different. I feel at peace and settled. I know that no better man than he exists, and I am calm and contented now. Not at all as before.”
Nikolai expressed his disapproval34 of the postponement35 of the marriage for a year; but Natasha attacked her brother with exasperation36, proving to him that it could not be otherwise, and that it would be a bad thing to enter a family against the father’s will, and that she herself wished it so.
“You don’t at all understand,” she said.
Nikolai was silent and agreed with her.
Her brother often wondered as he looked at her. She did not seem at all like a girl in love and parted from her affianced husband. She was even-tempered and calm and quite as cheerful as of old. This amazed Nikolai and even made him regard Bolkonsky’s courtship skeptically. He could not believe that her fate was sealed, especially as he had not seen her with Prince Andrey. It always seemed to him that there was something not quite right about this intended marriage.
“Why this delay? Why no betrothal37?” he thought. Once, when he had touched on this topic with his mother, he discovered, to his surprise and somewhat to his satisfaction, that in the depth of her soul she too had doubts about this marriage.
“You see he writes,” said she, showing her son a letter of Prince Andrey’s, with that latent grudge38 a mother always has in regard to a daughter’s future married happiness, “he writes that he won’t come before December. What can be keeping him? Illness, probably! His health is very delicate. Don’t tell Natasha. And don’t attach importance to her being so bright: that’s because she’s living through the last days of her girlhood, but I know what she is like every time we receive a letter from him! However, God grant that everything turns out well!” (She always ended with these words.) “He is an excellent man!”
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1
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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2
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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3
obligatory
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| adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的 | |
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4
irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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5
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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6
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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7
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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8
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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9
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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10
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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11
entanglements
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| n.瓜葛( entanglement的名词复数 )；牵连；纠缠；缠住 | |
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12
embarrassments
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| n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事 | |
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13
stewards
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| （轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家 | |
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14
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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15
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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16
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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17
dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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18
maneuvers
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| n.策略，谋略，花招( maneuver的名词复数 ) | |
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19
auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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20
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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21
lather
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| n.(肥皂水的)泡沫，激动 | |
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22
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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23
subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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24
choirs
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| n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼 | |
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25
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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26
inverse
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| adj.相反的，倒转的，反转的；n.相反之物；v.倒转 | |
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27
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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28
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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29
exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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30
witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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31
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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32
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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33
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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34
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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35
postponement
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| n.推迟 | |
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36
exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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37
betrothal
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| n. 婚约, 订婚 | |
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38
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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