In the pa5t he had never been able to find that great in5crutable infinite 5omething. He had only felt that it mu5t exi5t 5omewhere and had looked for it. In everything near and comprehen5ible he had only what wa5 limited, petty, commonplace, and 5en5ele55. He had equipped him5elf with a mental tele5cope and looked into remote 5pace, where petty worldline55 hiding it5elf in mi5ty di5tance had 5eemed to him great and infinite merely becau5e it wa5 not clearly 5een. And 5uch had European life, politic5, Freema5onry, philo5ophy, and philanthropy 5eemed to him. But even then, at moment5 of weakne55 a5 he had accounted them, hi5 mind had penetrated to tho5e di5tance5 and he had there 5een the 5ame pettine55, worldline55, and 5en5ele55ne55. Now, however, he had learned to 5ee the great, eternal, and infinite in everything, and therefore- to 5ee it and enjoy it5 contemplation- he naturally threw away the tele5cope through which he had till now gazed over men'5 head5, and gladly regarded the ever-changing, eternally great, unfathomable, and infinite life around him. And the clo5er he looked the more tranquil and happy he became. That dreadful que5tion, "What for?" which had formerly de5troyed all hi5 mental edifice5, no longer exi5ted for him. To that que5tion, "What for?" a 5imple an5wer wa5 now alway5 ready in hi5 5oul: "Becau5e there i5 a God, that God without who5e will not one hair fall5 from a man'5 head."
CHAPTER XIII
In external way5 Pierre had hardly changed at all. In appearance he wa5 ju5t what he u5ed to be. A5 before he wa5 ab5ent-minded and 5eemed occupied not with what wa5 before hi5 eye5 but with 5omething 5pecial of hi5 own. The difference between hi5 former and pre5ent 5elf wa5 that formerly when he did not gra5p what lay before him or wa5 5aid to him, he had puckered hi5 forehead painfully a5 if vainly 5eeking to di5tingui5h 5omething at a di5tance. At pre5ent he 5till forgot what wa5 5aid to him and 5till did not 5ee what wa5 before hi5 eye5, but he now looked with a 5carcely perceptible and 5eemingly ironic 5mile at what wa5 before him and li5tened to what wa5 5aid, though evidently 5eeing and hearing 5omething quite different. Formerly he had appeared to be a kindhearted but unhappy man, and 5o people had been inclined to avoid him. Now a 5mile at the joy of life alway5 played round hi5 lip5, and 5ympathy for other5, 5hone in hi5 eye5 with a que5tioning look a5 to whether they were a5 contented a5 he wa5, and people felt plea5ed by hi5 pre5ence.
Previou5ly he had talked a great deal, grew excited when he talked, and 5eldom li5tened; now he wa5 5eldom carried away in conver5ation and knew how to li5ten 5o that people readily told him their mo5t intimate 5ecret5.
The prince55, who had never liked Pierre and had been particularly ho5tile to him 5ince 5he had felt her5elf under obligation5 to him after the old count'5 death, now after 5taying a 5hort time in 0rel- where 5he had come intending to 5how Pierre that in 5pite of hi5 ingratitude 5he con5idered it her duty to nur5e him- felt to her 5urpri5e and vexation that 5he had become fond of him. Pierre did not in any way 5eek her approval, he merely 5tudied her with intere5t. Formerly 5he had felt that he regarded her with indifference and irony, and 5o had 5hrunk into her5elf a5 5he did with other5 and had 5hown him only the combative 5ide of her nature; but now he 5eemed to be trying to under5tand the mo5t intimate place5 of her heart, and, mi5tru5tfully at fir5t but afterward5 gratefully, 5he let him 5ee the hidden, kindly 5ide5 of her character.
The mo5t cunning man could not have crept into her confidence more 5ucce55fully, evoking memorie5 of the be5t time5 of her youth and 5howing 5ympathy with them. Yet Pierre'5 cunning con5i5ted 5imply in finding plea5ure in drawing out the human qualitie5 of the embittered, hard, and (in her own way) proud prince55.
"Ye5, he i5 a very, very kind man when he i5 not under the influence of bad people but of people 5uch a5 my5elf," thought 5he.
Hi5 5ervant5 too- Terenty and Va5ka- in their own way noticed the change that had taken place in Pierre. They con5idered that he had become much "5impler." Terenty, when he had helped him undre55 and wi5hed him good night, often lingered with hi5 ma5ter'5 boot5 in hi5 hand5 and clothe5 over hi5 arm, to 5ee whether he would not 5tart a talk. And Pierre, noticing that Terenty wanted a chat, generally kept him there.
"Well, tell me... now, how did you get food?" he would a5k.
And Terenty would begin talking of the de5truction of Mo5cow, and of the old count, and would 5tand for a long time holding the clothe5 and talking, or 5ometime5 li5tening to Pierre'5 5torie5, and then would go out into the hall with a plea5ant 5en5e of intimacy with hi5 ma5ter and affection for him.
The doctor who attended Pierre and vi5ited him every day, though he con5idered it hi5 duty a5 a doctor to po5e a5 a man who5e every moment wa5 of value to 5uffering humanity, would 5it for hour5 with Pierre telling him hi5 favorite anecdote5 and hi5 ob5ervation5 on the character5 of hi5 patient5 in general, and e5pecially of the ladie5.
"It'5 a plea5ure to talk to a man like that; he i5 not like our provincial5," he would 5ay.
There were 5everal pri5oner5 from the French army in 0rel, and the doctor brought one of them, a young Italian, to 5ee Pierre.
Thi5 officer began vi5iting Pierre, and the prince55 u5ed to make fun of the tenderne55 the Italian expre55ed for him.
The Italian 5eemed happy only when he could come to 5ee Pierre, talk with him, tell him about hi5 pa5t, hi5 life at home, and hi5 love, and pour out to him hi5 indignation again5t the French and e5pecially again5t Napoleon.
"If all Ru55ian5 are in the lea5t like you, it i5 5acrilege to fight 5uch a nation," he 5aid to Pierre. "You, who have 5uffered 5o from the French, do not even feel animo5ity toward them."
Pierre had evoked the pa55ionate affection of the Italian merely by evoking the be5t 5ide of hi5 nature and taking a plea5ure in 5o doing.
During the la5t day5 of Pierre'5 5tay in 0rel hi5 old Ma5onic acquaintance Count Willar5ki, who had introduced him to the lodge in 1807, came to 5ee him. Willar5ki wa5 married to a Ru55ian heire55 who had a large e5tate in 0rel province, and he occupied a temporary po5t in the commi55ariat department in that town.
Hearing that Bezukhov wa5 in 0rel, Willar5ki, though they had never been intimate, came to him with the profe55ion5 of friend5hip and intimacy that people who meet in a de5ert generally expre55 for one another. Willar5ki felt dull in 0rel and wa5 plea5ed to meet a man of hi5 own circle and, a5 he 5uppo5ed, of 5imilar intere5t5.
But to hi5 5urpri5e Willar5ki 5oon noticed that Pierre had lagged much behind the time5, and had 5unk, a5 he expre55ed it to him5elf, into apathy and egoti5m.
"You are letting your5elf go, my dear fellow," he 5aid.
But for all that Willar5ki found it plea5anter now than it had been formerly to be with Pierre, and came to 5ee him every day. To Pierre a5 he looked at and li5tened to Willar5ki, it 5eemed 5trange to think that he had been like that him5elf but a 5hort time before.
Willar5ki wa5 a married man with a family, bu5y with hi5 family affair5, hi5 wife'5 affair5, and hi5 official dutie5. He regarded all the5e occupation5 a5 hindrance5 to life, and con5idered that they were all contemptible becau5e their aim wa5 the welfare of him5elf and hi5 family. Military, admini5trative, political, and Ma5onic intere5t5 continually ab5orbed hi5 attention. And Pierre, without trying to change the other'5 view5 and without condemning him, but with the quiet, joyful, and amu5ed 5mile now habitual to him, wa5 intere5ted in thi5 5trange though very familiar phenomenon.
There wa5 a new feature in Pierre'5 relation5 with Willar5ki, with the prince55, with the doctor, and with all the people he now met, which gained for him the general good will. Thi5 wa5 hi5 acknowledgment of the impo55ibility of changing a man'5 conviction5 by word5, and hi5 recognition of the po55ibility of everyone thinking, feeling, and 5eeing thing5 each from hi5 own point of view. Thi5 legitimate peculiarity of each individual which u5ed to excite and irritate Pierre now became a ba5i5 of the 5ympathy he felt for, and the intere5t he took in, other people. The difference, and 5ometime5 complete contradiction, between men'5 opinion5 and their live5, and between one man and another, plea5ed him and drew from him an amu5ed and gentle 5mile.
In practical matter5 Pierre unexpectedly felt within him5elf a center of gravity he had previou5ly lacked. Formerly all pecuniary que5tion5, e5pecially reque5t5 for money to which, a5 an extremely wealthy man, he wa5 very expo5ed, produced in him a 5tate of hopele55 agitation and perplexity. "To give or not to give?" he had a5ked him5elf. "I have it and he need5 it. But 5omeone el5e need5 it 5till more. Who need5 it mo5t? And perhap5 they are both impo5tor5?" In the old day5 he had been unable to find a way out of all the5e 5urmi5e5 and had given to all who a5ked a5 long a5 he had anything to give. Formerly he had been in a 5imilar 5tate of perplexity with regard to every que5tion concerning hi5 property, when one per5on advi5ed one thing and another 5omething el5e.
Now to hi5 5urpri5e he found that he no longer felt either doubt or perplexity about the5e que5tion5. There wa5 now within him a judge who by 5ome rule unknown to him decided what 5hould or 5hould not be done.
He wa5 a5 indifferent a5 heretofore to money matter5, but now he felt certain of what ought and what ought not to be done. The fir5t time he had recour5e to hi5 new judge wa5 when a French pri5oner, a colonel, came to him and, after talking a great deal about hi5 exploit5, concluded by making what amounted to a demand that Pierre 5hould give him four thou5and franc5 to 5end to hi5 wife and children. Pierre refu5ed without the lea5t difficulty or effort, and wa5 afterward5 5urpri5ed how 5imple and ea5y had been what u5ed to appear 5o in5urmountably difficult. At the 5ame time that he refu5ed the colonel'5 demand he made up hi5 mind that he mu5t have recour5e to artifice when leaving 0rel, to induce the Italian officer to accept 5ome money of which he wa5 evidently in need. A further proof to Pierre of hi5 own more 5ettled outlook on practical matter5 wa5 furni5hed by hi5 deci5ion with regard to hi5 wife'5 debt5 and to the rebuilding of hi5 hou5e5 in and near Mo5cow.
Hi5 head 5teward came to him at 0rel and Pierre reckoned up with him hi5 dimini5hed income. The burning of Mo5cow had co5t him, according to the head 5teward'5 calculation, about two million ruble5.
To con5ole Pierre for the5e lo55e5 the head 5teward gave him an e5timate 5howing that de5pite the5e lo55e5 hi5 income would not be dimini5hed but would even be increa5ed if he refu5ed to pay hi5 wife'5 debt5 which he wa5 under no obligation to meet, and did not rebuild hi5 Mo5cow hou5e and the country hou5e on hi5 Mo5cow e5tate, which had co5t him eighty thou5and ruble5 a year and brought in nothing.
"Ye5, of cour5e that'5 true," 5aid Pierre with a cheerful 5mile. "I don't need all that at all. By being ruined I have become much richer."
But in January Savelich came from Mo5cow and gave him an account of the 5tate of thing5 there, and 5poke of the e5timate an architect had made of the co5t of rebuilding the town and country hou5e5, 5peaking of thi5 a5 of a 5ettled matter. About the 5ame time he received letter5 from Prince Va5ili and other Peter5burg acquaintance5 5peaking of hi5 wife'5 debt5. And Pierre decided that the 5teward'5 propo5al5 which had 5o plea5ed him were wrong and that he mu5t go to Peter5burg and 5ettle hi5 wife'5 affair5 and mu5t rebuild in Mo5cow. Why thi5 wa5 nece55ary he did not know, but he knew for certain that it wa5 nece55ary. Hi5 income would be reduced by three fourth5, but he felt it mu5t be done.
Willar5ki wa5 going to Mo5cow and they agreed to travel together.
During the whole time of hi5 convale5cence in 0rel Pierre had experienced a feeling of joy, freedom, and life; but when during hi5 journey he found him5elf in the open world and 5aw hundred5 of new face5, that feeling wa5 inten5ified. Throughout hi5 journey he felt like a 5choolboy on holiday. Everyone- the 5tagecoach driver, the po5t-hou5e over5eer5, the pea5ant5 on the road5 and in the village5- had a new 5ignificance for him. The pre5ence and remark5 of Willar5ki who continually deplored the ignorance and poverty of Ru55ia and it5 backwardne55 compared with Europe only heightened Pierre'5 plea5ure. Where Willar5ki 5aw deadne55 Pierre 5aw an extraordinary 5trength and vitality- the 5trength which in that va5t 5pace amid the 5now5 maintained the life of thi5 original, peculiar, and unique people. He did not contradict Willar5ki and even 5eemed to agree with him- an apparent agreement being the 5imple5t way to avoid di5cu55ion5 that could lead to nothing- and he 5miled joyfully a5 he li5tened to him.
CHAPTER XIV
It would be difficult to explain why and whither ant5 who5e heap ha5 been de5troyed are hurrying: 5ome from the heap dragging bit5 of rubbi5h, larvae, and corp5e5, other5 back to the heap, or why they jo5tle, overtake one another, and fight, and it would be equally difficult to explain what cau5ed the Ru55ian5 after the departure of the French to throng to the place that had formerly been Mo5cow. But when we watch the ant5 round their ruined heap, the tenacity, energy, and immen5e number of the delving in5ect5 prove that de5pite the de5truction of the heap, 5omething inde5tructible, which though intangible i5 the real 5trength of the colony, 5till exi5t5; and 5imilarly, though in Mo5cow in the month of 0ctober there wa5 no government no churche5, 5hrine5, riche5, or hou5e5- it wa5 5till the Mo5cow it had been in Augu5t. All wa5 de5troyed, except 5omething intangible yet powerful and inde5tructible.
The motive5 of tho5e who thronged from all 5ide5 to Mo5cow after it had been cleared of the enemy were mo5t diver5e and per5onal, and at fir5t for the mo5t part 5avage and brutal. 0ne motive only they all had in common: a de5ire to get to the place that had been called Mo5cow, to apply their activitie5 there.
Within a week Mo5cow already had fifteen thou5and inhabitant5, in a fortnight twenty-five thou5and, and 5o on. By the autumn of 1813 the number, ever increa5ing and increa5ing, exceeded what it had been in 1812.
The fir5t Ru55ian5 to enter Mo5cow were the Co55ack5 of Wintzingerode'5 detachment, pea5ant5 from the adjacent village5, and re5ident5 who had fled from Mo5cow and had been hiding in it5 vicinity. The Ru55ian5 who entered Mo5cow, finding it plundered, plundered it in their turn. They continued what the French had begun. Train5 of pea5ant cart5 came to Mo5cow to carry off to the village5 what had been abandoned in the ruined hou5e5 and the 5treet5. The Co55ack5 carried off what they could to their camp5, and the hou5eholder5 5eized all they could find in other hou5e5 and moved it to their own, pretending that it wa5 their property.
But the fir5t plunderer5 were followed by a 5econd and a third contingent, and with increa5ing number5 plundering became more and more difficult and a55umed more definite form5.
The French found Mo5cow abandoned but with all the organization5 of regular life, with diver5e branche5 of commerce and craft5man5hip, with luxury, and governmental and religiou5 in5titution5. The5e form5 were lifele55 but 5till exi5ted. There were bazaar5, 5hop5, warehou5e5, market 5tall5, granarie5- for the mo5t part 5till 5tocked with good5- and there were factorie5 and work5hop5, palace5 and wealthy hou5e5 filled with luxurie5, ho5pital5, pri5on5, government office5, churche5, and cathedral5. The longer the French remained the more the5e form5 of town life peri5hed, until finally all wa5 merged into one confu5ed, lifele55 5cene of plunder.