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Book 15 Chapter 14

JUST AS IT IS DIFFICULT to explain why the ants hurry back to a scattered ant-hill, some dragging away from it bits of refuse, eggs, and corpses, while others run back again, and what is their object in crowding together, overtaking one another, fighting with each other, so it would be hard to give the reasons that induced the Russians, after the departure of the French, to flock back to the place which had been known as Moscow. But just as looking at the ants hurrying about a ruined ant-heap, one can see by the tenacity, the energy, and the multitude of the busy insects that though all else is utterly destroyed, there is left something indestructible and immaterial that was the whole strength of the colony, so too Moscow in the month of October, though without its governing authorities, without its churches, without its holy things, without its wealth and its houses, was still the same Moscow as it had been in August. Everything was shattered except something immaterial, but mighty and indestructible.

The motives of the people, who rushed from all parts to Moscow after it was evacuated by the enemy, were of the most varied and personal kind, and at first mostly savage and brutal impulses. Only one impulse was common to all—the attraction to the place which had been called Moscow in order to set their energies to work there.

Within a week there were fifteen thousand persons in Moscow, within a fortnight twenty-five thousand; and so it went on. The number went on mounting and mounting till by the autumn of 1813 it had reached a figure exceeding the population of the city in 1812.

The first Russians to enter Moscow were the Cossacks of Wintzengerode's detachment, the peasants from the nearest villages and the residents who had fled from Moscow and concealed themselves in the environs. On entering the ruined city, and finding it pillaged, the Russians fell to pillaging it too. They continued the work begun by the French. Trains of peasants' waggons drove into Moscow to carry away to the villages all that had been abandoned in the ruined Moscow houses and streets. The Cossacks carried off what they could to their tents; the householders collected all they could out of other houses, and removed it to their own under the pretence that it was their property.

But the first pillaging parties were followed by others; and every day as the numbers pillaging increased, the work of plunder became more difficult and assumed more definite forms.

The French had found Moscow deserted but with all the forms of an organically normal town life still existent, with various branches of trades and crafts, of luxury, and political government and religion. These forms were lifeless but they still existed. There were markets, shops, stores, corn-exchanges, and bazaars—most of them stocked with goods. There were factories and trading establishments. There were palaces and wealthy houses filled with articles of luxury. There were hospitals, prisons, courts, churches, and cathedrals. The longer the French remained, the more these forms of town life perished, and at the end all was lost in one indistinguishable, lifeless scene of pillage.

The longer the pillaging of the French lasted, the more complete was the destruction of the wealth of Moscow and of the forces of the pillagers. The longer the pillaging lasted that was carried on by the Russians on their first return to the capital, and the more there were taking part in it, the more rapidly was the wealth of Moscow and the normal life of the town re-established.

Apart from those who came for plunder, people of all sorts, drawn thither, some by curiosity, some by the duties of office, some by self-interests—householders, priests, officials, high and low, traders, artisans, and peasants—flowed back to Moscow from all sides, as the blood flows to the heart.

Within a week the peasants who had come with empty carts to carry off goods were detained by the authorities, and compelled to carry dead bodies out of the town. Other peasants, who had heard of their companions' discomfiture, drove into the town with wheat, and oats, and hay, knocking down each others' prices to a figure lower than it had been in former days. Gangs of carpenters, hoping for high wages, were arriving in Moscow every day; and on all sides there were new houses being built, or old half-burnt ones being repaired. Tradesmen carried on their business in booths. Cook-shops and taverns were opened in fire-blackened houses. The clergy held services in many churches that had escaped the fire. Church goods that had been plundered were restored as offerings. Government clerks set up their baize-covered tables and pigeon-holes of papers in little rooms. The higher authorities and the police organised a distribution of the goods left by the French. The owners of houses in which a great many of the goods plundered from other houses had been left complained of the injustice of all goods being taken to the Polygonal Palace. Others maintained that the French had collected all the things from different houses to one spot, and that it was therefore unfair to restore to the master of the house the things found in it. The police were abused and were bribed; estimates for government buildings that had been burnt were reckoned at ten times their value; and appeals for help were made. Count Rastoptchin wrote his posters again.


很难解释到底是为了什么目的蚂蚁从被毁坏的巢穴中匆匆忙忙的出来,有一些拖着细小颗粒的食物、蚁卵和死蚁的尸体从巢穴中出来,另外一些又返回巢穴——为什么它们互相冲撞、追逐、厮杀,与此相似的是,令人同样地难以解释,到底是什么原因使得俄国人民在法国人撤退之后,又在那块从前被叫作莫斯科的地方聚集起来。然而,与此相类似的是,当我们观察在被毁坏了的蚁穴周围散布的蚂蚁时,虽然蚁穴已完全被毁坏,但是,从挖洞的昆虫那种毫不松懈、充满活力和无限的数量可以看得出来,虽然一切都被毁掉了,但是,那种营造蚁穴的全部力量是坚不可摧的,是非物质的东西,却依旧存在着,——莫斯科的情形正是这样,十月间,虽然没有政府,没有教堂,没有神圣的东西,没有财富,没有房屋,然而依然是八月间的那个莫斯科。一切都被毁掉了,但是那种非物质的、然而却是强有力的、坚不可摧的东西依然存在着。

莫斯科在肃清了敌人之后,人们怀着各式各样的个人动机——最初大多数人怀着一种野蛮的兽性动机,从四面八方拥入莫斯科。只有一种动机是人们所共有的,那就是赶快到那个从前叫做莫斯科的地方,去到那里从事自己的活动。

过了一周以后,莫斯科已有居民一万五千人,两个星期以后,就有了二百万五千人了,以此类推。这个数字不断地增加了又增加,到了一八一三年秋天,就超过一八一二年的人口数量了。

第一批进入莫斯科的俄国人是温岑格罗德部队的哥萨克、莫斯科附近村庄的农民和从莫斯科逃出后隐藏在莫斯科郊区的居民。进入被破坏了的莫斯科的俄国人,发现莫斯科已被洗劫之后,他们也开始抢劫起来。他们继续干法国人干过的事情。农民们把装载东西的马车赶到莫斯科来,以便把丢弃在莫斯科被毁坏了的房屋内和大街上的一切东西都运回到乡下去。哥萨克们把所有能搬走的东西都搬运到他们的营房里;原先的房主们把他们在别人的房子里发现的任何东西统统搬走,他们谎称这些东西是他们的财产。

但是,紧接着第一批抢劫者进城抢劫之后,又来了第二批、第三批。然而,随着抢劫者的与日俱增,要想抢到东西,就变得越来越困难了,并已形成了一些更加确定的方式。

法国人在占领了莫斯科之后,虽然发现莫斯科已经是一座空城,但仍具有一个有机地、正常地生活过的城市的一切组织形式,它有各种各样的商业和手工业,有奢侈品,有政府管理机构和宗教团体。这些机构虽然完全瘫痪了,然而它却依然存在着。这里有商场、小铺子、商店、粮店、集市——大部分都还存有货物;这里有工厂、作坊;有富丽堂辉的宫殿和巨贾权贵的府第;这里有医院、监狱、政府机关、礼拜堂、大教堂。法国人占领的时间越久,这些城市生活组织形式就被消灭的越多,最后,变得一塌糊涂,遭受劫难之后,呈现成一片死气沉沉的废墟了。

法国人的抢劫持续的时间越久,莫斯科的财富遭受的破坏就越严重,抢劫者的力量也就损失得越多。而俄国人占领了自己的首都之后,开始了俄国人自己的抢劫,这种抢劫越是继续进行,参加抢劫的人就越来越多,莫斯科的财富和城市的正常生活反倒恢复得越快。

除了抢劫者之外,还有各式各样的人,有的受好奇心的驱使,有的为了政府的公务,有的为了个人打算:房产主、僧侣、大大小小的官吏、商人、手工业者、农民,他们从四面八方就像血液流入心脏那样涌进莫斯科。

一个星期之后,那些赶着载货的空大车以便把东西运走的农民,被政府当局扣留了下来,迫使他们把城里的死尸运到城外去。另外的农民在听到伙伴们在城内抢不到东西时,他们就把粮食、燕麦、干草运到城内,他们互相压低价格,把价格压得比从前还要低。农村里只能干粗木工活的木匠,为了多挣点工资,他们从四面八方涌入莫斯科,一时间,到处都在建造木头房子,修理被大火烧焦的房子。商人们搭起棚子开始营业。饭店和旅店在被火烧过的房子里营业。神甫们在许多未遭受火灾的教堂里恢复了做礼拜。施主们捐助教堂里被抢劫走的东西。官员们在小屋子里安放了铺上粗呢子的办公桌和文件柜,高级官员和警察负责分配被法国人抢劫所剩下的财物。那些从别人家搬来很多东西的房主们抱怨说,把东西都搬到克里姆林宫大厅多棱宫去是不公平的;另外一些人则坚持说,法国人把抢去的东西集中堆放,因此要把这些东西都给了法国人存放东西的房主是不公平的;人们咒骂着警察又对警察行贿;对被烧掉的一般的东西作出高出十倍的估价,要求政府给予补偿,拉斯托普钦伯爵又来写他的告示了。



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