War and Peace

part of his vital energy. He did nothing, did not even think 
or find time to think, but only talked, and talked success-
fully, of what he had thought while in the country.
He sometimes noticed with dissatisfaction that he re-
peated the same remark on the same day in different circles. 
But he was so busy for whole days together that he had no 
time to notice that he was thinking of nothing.
As he had done on their first meeting at Kochubey’s, 
Speranski produced a strong impression on Prince Andrew 
on the Wednesday, when he received him tete-a-tate at his 
own house and talked to him long and confidentially.
To Bolkonski so many people appeared contemptible and 
insignificant creatures, and he so longed to find in someone 
the living ideal of that perfection toward which he strove, 
that he readily believed that in Speranski he had found this 
ideal of a perfectly rational and virtuous man. Had Sper-

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anski sprung from the same class as himself and possessed 
the same breeding and traditions, Bolkonski would soon 
have discovered his weak, human, unheroic sides; but as it 
was, Speranski’s strange and logical turn of mind inspired 
him with respect all the more because he did not quite 
understand him. Moreover, Speranski, either because he 
appreciated the other’s capacity or because he considered 
it necessary to win him to his side, showed off his dispas-
sionate calm reasonableness before Prince Andrew and 
flattered him with that subtle flattery which goes hand in 
hand with self-assurance and consists in a tacit assumption 
that one’s companion is the only man besides oneself ca-
pable of understanding the folly of the rest of mankind and 
the reasonableness and profundity of one’s own ideas.
During their long conversation on Wednesday evening, 
Speranski more than once remarked: ‘We regard everything 
that is above the common level of rooted custom...’ or, with 
a smile: ‘But we want the wolves to be fed and the sheep to 
be safe...’ or: ‘They cannot understand this...’ and all in a 
way that seemed to say: ‘We, you and I, understand what 
they are and who we are.’
This first long conversation with Speranski only 
strengthened in Prince Andrew the feeling he had experi-
enced toward him at their first meeting. He saw in him a 
remarkable, clear-thinking man of vast intellect who by his 
energy and persistence had attained power, which he was 
using solely for the welfare of Russia. In Prince Andrew’s 
eyes Speranski was the man he would himself have wished 
to beone who explained all the facts of life reasonably, con-

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sidered important only what was rational, and was capable 
of applying the standard of reason to everything. Every-
thing seemed so simple and clear in Speranski’s exposition 
that Prince Andrew involuntarily agreed with him about 
everything. If he replied and argued, it was only because 
he wished to maintain his independence and not submit to 
Speranski’s opinions entirely. Everything was right and ev-
erything was as it should be: only one thing disconcerted 
Prince Andrew. This was Speranski’s cold, mirrorlike look, 
which did not allow one to penetrate to his soul, and his 
delicate white hands, which Prince Andrew involuntarily 
watched as one does watch the hands of those who possess 
power. This mirrorlike gaze and those delicate hands irritat-
ed Prince Andrew, he knew not why. He was unpleasantly 
struck, too, by the excessive contempt for others that he 
observed in Speranski, and by the diversity of lines of argu-
ment he used to support his opinions. He made use of every 
kind of mental device, except analogy, and passed too bold-
ly, it seemed to Prince Andrew, from one to another. Now 
he would take up the position of a practical man and con-
demn dreamers; now that of a satirist, and laugh ironically 
at his opponents; now grow severely logical, or suddenly rise 
to the realm of metaphysics. (This last resource was one he 
very frequently employed.) He would transfer a question to 
metaphysical heights, pass on to definitions of space, time, 
and thought, and, having deduced the refutation he needed, 
would again descend to the level of the original discussion.
In general the trait of Speranski’s mentality which struck 
Prince Andrew most was his absolute and unshakable belief 

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in the power and authority of reason. It was evident that the 
thought could never occur to him which to Prince Andrew 
seemed so natural, namely, that it is after all impossible to 
express all one thinks; and that he had never felt the doubt, 
‘Is not all I think and believe nonsense?’ And it was just this 
peculiarity of Speranski’s mind that particularly attracted 
Prince Andrew.
During the first period of their acquaintance Bolkonski 
felt a passionate admiration for him similar to that which he 
had once felt for Bonaparte. The fact that Speranski was the 
son of a village priest, and that stupid people might mean-
ly despise him on account of his humble origin (as in fact 
many did), caused Prince Andrew to cherish his sentiment 
for him the more, and unconsciously to strengthen it.
On that first evening Bolkonski spent with him, having 
mentioned the Commission for the Revision of the Code of 
Laws, Speranski told him sarcastically that the Commission 
had existed for a hundred and fifty years, had cost millions, 
and had done nothing except that Rosenkampf had stuck 
labels on the corresponding paragraphs of the different 
codes.
‘And that is all the state has for the millions it has spent,’ 
said he. ‘We want to give the Senate new juridical powers, 
but we have no laws. That is why it is a sin for men like you, 
Prince, not to serve in these times!’
Prince Andrew said that for that work an education in 
jurisprudence was needed which he did not possess.
‘But nobody possesses it, so what would you have? It is a 
vicious circle from which we must break a way out.’

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A week later Prince Andrew was a member of the Com-
mittee on Army Regulations andwhat he had not at all 
expectedwas chairman of a section of the committee for the 
revision of the laws. At Speranski’s request he took the first