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Part 2 Chapter 33
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THE AIM OF THE LAW.

"Well, and how are the children?" Nekhludoff asked his sister when he was calmer. The sister told him about the children. She said they were staying with their grandmother (their father's mother), and, pleased that his dispute with her husband had come to an end, she began telling him how her children played that they were travelling, just as he used to do with his three dolls, one of them a negro and another which he called the French lady.

"Can you really remember it all?" said Nekhludoff, smiling.

"Yes, and just fancy, they play in the very same way."

The unpleasant conversation had been brought to an end, and Nathalie was quieter, but she did not care to talk in her husband's presence of what could be comprehensible only to her brother, so, wishing to start a general conversation, she began talking about the sorrow of Kamenski's mother at losing her only son, who had fallen in a duel1, for this Petersburg topic of the day had now reached Moscow. Rogozhinsky expressed disapproval2 at the state of things that excluded murder in a duel from the ordinary criminal offences. This remark evoked3 a rejoinder from Nekhludoff, and a new dispute arose on the subject. Nothing was fully4 explained, neither of the antagonists5 expressed all he had in his mind, each keeping to his conviction, which condemned6 the other. Rogozhinsky felt that Nekhludoff condemned him and despised his activity, and he wished to show him the injustice7 of his opinions.

Nekhludoff, on the other hand, felt provoked by his brother-in-law's interference in his affairs concerning the land. And knowing in his heart of hearts that his sister, her husband, and their children, as his heirs, had a right to do so, was indignant that this narrow-minded man persisted with calm assurance to regard as just and lawful8 what Nekhludoff no longer doubted was folly9 and crime.

This man's arrogance10 annoyed Nekhludoff.

"What could the law do?" he asked.

"It could sentence one of the two duellists to the mines like an ordinary murderer."

Nekhludoff's hands grew cold.

"Well, and what good would that be?" he asked, hotly.

"It would be just."

"As if justice were the aim of the law," said Nekhludoff.

"What else?"

"The upholding of class interests! I think the law is only an instrument for upholding the existing order of things beneficial to our class."

"This is a perfectly11 new view," said Rogozhinsky with a quiet smile; "the law is generally supposed to have a totally different aim."

"Yes, so it has in theory but not in practice, as I have found out. The law aims only at preserving the present state of things, and therefore it persecutes12 and executes those who stand above the ordinary level and wish to raise it--the so-called political prisoners, as well as those who are below the average--the so-called criminal types."

"I do not agree with you. In the first place, I cannot admit that the criminals classed as political are punished because they are above the average. In most cases they are the refuse of society, just as much perverted13, though in a different way, as the criminal types whom you consider below the average."

"But I happen to know men who are morally far above their judges; all the sectarians are moral, from--"

But Rogozhinsky, a man not accustomed to be interrupted when he spoke14, did not listen to Nekhludoff, but went on talking at the same time, thereby15 irritating him still more.

"Nor can I admit that the object of the law is the upholding of the present state of things. The law aims at reforming--"

"A nice kind of reform, in a prison!" Nekhludoff put in.

"Or removing," Rogozhinsky went on, persistently16, "the perverted and brutalised persons that threaten society."

"That's just what it doesn't do. Society has not the means of doing either the one thing or the other."

"How is that? I don't understand," said Rogozhinsky with a forced smile.

"I mean that only two reasonable kinds of punishment exist. Those used in the old days: corporal and capital punishment, which, as human nature gradually softens17, come more and more into disuse," said Nekhludoff.

"There, now, this is quite new and very strange to hear from your lips."

"Yes, it is reasonable to hurt a man so that he should not do in future what he is hurt for doing, and it is also quite reasonable to cut a man's head off when he is injurious or dangerous to society. These punishments have a reasonable meaning. But what sense is there in locking up in a prison a man perverted by want of occupation and bad example; to place him in a position where he is provided for, where laziness is imposed on him, and where he is in company with the most perverted of men? What reason is there to take a man at public cost (it comes to more than 500 roubles per head) from the Toula to the Irkoatsk government, or from Koursk--"

"Yes, but all the same, people are afraid of those journeys at public cost, and if it were not for such journeys and the prisons, you and I would not be sitting here as we are."

"The prisons cannot insure our safety, because these people do not stay there for ever, but are set free again. On the contrary, in those establishments men are brought to the greatest vice18 and degradation19, so that the danger is increased."

"You mean to say that the penitentiary20 system should be improved."

"It cannot he improved. Improved prisons would cost more than all that is being now spent on the people's education, and would lay a still heavier burden on the people."

"The shortcomings of the penitentiary system in nowise invalidate the law itself," Rogozhinsky continued again, without heeding21 his brother-in-law.

"There is no remedy for these shortcomings," said Nekhludoff, raising his voice.

"What of that? Shall we therefore go and kill, or, as a certain statesman proposed, go putting out people's eyes?" Rogozhinsky remarked.

"Yes; that would be cruel, but it would be effective. What is done now is cruel, and not only ineffective, but so stupid that one cannot understand how people in their senses can take part in so absurd and cruel a business as criminal law."

"But I happen to take part in it," said Rogozhinsky, growing pale.

"That is your business. But to me it is incomprehensible."

"I think there are a good many things incomprehensible to you," said Rogozhinsky, with a trembling voice.

"I have seen how one public prosecutor22 did his very best to get an unfortunate boy condemned, who could have evoked nothing but sympathy in an unperverted mind. I know how another cross-examined a sectarian and put down the reading of the Gospels as a criminal offence; in fact, the whole business of the Law Courts consists in senseless and cruel actions of that sort."

"I should not serve if I thought so," said Rogozhinsky, rising.

Nekhludoff noticed a peculiar23 glitter under his brother-in-law's spectacles. "Can it be tears?" he thought. And they were really tears of injured pride. Rogozhinsky went up to the window, got out his handkerchief, coughed and rubbed his spectacles, took them off, and wiped his eyes.

When he returned to the sofa he lit a cigar, and did not speak any more.

Nekhludoff felt pained and ashamed of having offended his brother-in-law and his sister to such a degree, especially as he was going away the next day.

He parted with them in confusion, and drove home.

"All I have said may be true--anyhow he did not reply. But it was not said in the right way. How little I must have changed if I could be carried away by ill-feeling to such an extent as to hurt and wound poor Nathalie in such a way!" he thought.

“哦,孩子们好吗?”聂赫留朵夫稍稍平静下来,问姐姐说。

姐姐讲起她的两个孩子,说他们跟奶奶住在一起。她看到弟弟跟丈夫争论结束,很高兴,就讲起她的孩子们怎样玩旅行游戏,就象她弟弟小时候玩两个布娃娃——一个黑人,一个法国女人——那样。

“你还记得吗?”聂赫留朵夫笑眯眯地说。

“你看,他们的玩法跟你从前一模一样。”

弟弟跟丈夫的不愉快谈话结束了。娜塔丽雅感到放心,但她不愿当着丈夫的面讲只有她弟弟才听得懂的话。为了让大家都能参加谈话,她就讲起那件刚传到此地的彼得堡新闻:卡敏斯基决斗身亡,他母亲失去这个独子悲痛极了。

拉戈任斯基表示不赞成把决斗致死排除在普通刑事罪之外。

他这种说法受到聂赫留朵夫的批驳。于是原来意见分歧的题目重又引起激烈的争论。两人都没有把自己的意见讲清楚,但各人坚持各人的观点,谴责对方的想法。

拉戈任斯基觉得,聂赫留朵夫谴责他,蔑视他的全部工作。他想对聂赫留朵夫指出,他的观点是完全错误的。聂赫留朵夫呢,姑且不谈姐夫干预他土地方面的事而使他恼火(他在内心深处却感到,姐夫、姐姐和他们的孩子,作为他财产的继承人,是有权干预他的事的),他感到愤恨的是,那些显然荒谬和罪恶的事,这个目光短浅的人却自认为是正确和合法的。姐夫这种自以为是的态度激怒了聂赫留朵夫。

“那么,这类事法院会怎么处理呢?”聂赫留朵夫问。

“法院会判处决斗中的一方服苦役,就象普通的杀人犯那样。”

聂赫留朵夫又双手发凉,他情绪激动地讲起来。

“嘿,那又怎么样?”他问。

“那就伸张了正义。”

“这么说,法院活动的目的就是伸张正义罗,”聂赫留朵夫说。

“还有什么别的目的呢?”

“维护阶级利益。照我看来,法院只是一种行政工具,用来维护现存的有利于我们阶级的制度罢了。”

“这倒是一种全新的观点,”拉戈任斯基若无其事地笑着说。“一般认为法院是另有使命的。”

“我看理论上可以这样说,但实际并非如此。法院的唯一宗旨就是维持社会现状,因此它要迫害和处决那些品德高于一般水平并想提高这个水平的人,也就是所谓政治犯,同时又要迫害和处决那些品德低于一般水平的人,也就是所谓犯罪型。”

“第一,说政治犯被判刑是因为他们的品德高于一般人,这我不能同意。他们中间的多数都是社会渣滓,跟您认为品德低于一般人的犯罪型同样堕落,虽然表现方式有所不同。”

“可是我认得一些人,他们的品德比审判他们的法官不知要高多少倍。那些教派信徒个个都品德高尚,意志坚强……”

不过,拉戈任斯基有个习惯,说话的时候不许别人打岔,因此他不听聂赫留朵夫说,只管自己讲下去。这使聂赫留朵夫更加恼火。

“说法院的宗旨在于维持现存制度,这我也不能同意。法院有法院的宗旨,那就是要么改造……”

“关在监狱里改造,真是太好了,”聂赫留朵夫插嘴说。

“……要么去掉威胁社会生存的道德败坏分子和兽性难驯的家伙,”拉戈任斯基固执地继续说。

“问题就在于现在的社会既不能做到这一点,也不能做到那一点。现在的社会是无能为力的。”

“这话什么意思?我不明白,”拉戈任斯基勉强装出笑容说。

“我想说的是,合理的惩罚其实只有两种:那就是古代常用的体罚和死刑,但随着社会风气的好转,这些刑罚用得越来越少了,”聂赫留朵夫说。

“哦,这种话从您嘴里听到真是新鲜得很。”

“是啊,把一个人痛打一顿,使他以后不再做挨打的事,这是有道理的;砍掉一个对社会有害的危险分子的脑袋,这也是完全有道理的。这两种惩罚都是有道理的。可是把一个游手好闲、学坏样而堕落的人关进牢里,使他不愁衣食而又被迫无所事事,并且同极端堕落的人相处在一起,这有什么意思呢?还有,为了一点点事情把一个人从图拉省押解到伊尔库次克省,或者从库尔斯克省押解到别的地方,而国家要在每人头上花费五百多卢布①,这又有什么意思?……”

--------

①指流放。

“不过,说实在的,这种公费旅行人家是害怕的。要是没有这种旅行和监狱,我和您就不可能这样安安稳稳地坐在这里了。”

“这种监狱并不能保障我们的安全,因为那些人不是一辈子关在那里,他们会被放出来。结果就正好相反,他们在那种地方变得更加罪恶和堕落,也就是说变得更加危险了。”

“您是说,这种惩治制度必须加以改进。”

“改进是不可能的。改良监狱花费的钱会超过国民教育的经费。这样就会给人民增加负担。”

“不过,即使惩治制度有缺点,也不能因此就废除法院,”

拉戈任斯基又不听内弟的话,继续讲他自己的观点。

“那些缺点是无法克服的,”聂赫留朵夫提高嗓门说。

“那怎么办?得把人杀掉?还是象一位政府要人所提议的那样,把他们的眼睛挖出来?”拉戈任斯基得意扬扬地笑着说。

“是的,这样做残酷是残酷,但还有点效果。可是现在的办法呢,既残酷,又没有效果,而且极其愚蠢,简直使人无法理解,头脑健全的人怎么能参与象刑事法庭那样荒谬而残酷的工作。”

“可我就参与了这工作,”拉戈任斯基脸色发白说。

“那是您的事。但我不能理解。”

“我看您不理解的事多着呢,”拉戈任斯基声音发抖地说。

“我在法庭上看到,副检察官怎样千方百计硬把一个男孩治罪,而那个男孩只会引起一切头脑健全的人的同情。我还知道一个检察官审讯教派信徒,竟然认为读福音书是触犯刑法。总而言之,法院的全部活动就在于干这种毫无意义的残酷勾当。”

“我要是这样想,就不会干这一行了,”拉戈任斯基说着站起来。

聂赫留朵夫看见姐夫的眼镜底下有一种古怪的亮光。“难道那是眼泪吗?”聂赫留朵夫想。真的,这是屈辱的眼泪。拉戈任斯基走到窗口,掏出手帕,清了清喉咙,动手擦眼镜,然后又擦擦眼睛。他回到沙发旁,点着一支雪茄,不再说什么。聂赫留朵夫看到他把姐夫和姐姐得罪到这个地步,心里感到又难过又羞愧,特别是因为他明天就要动身,从此再也见不到他们了。他窘态毕露地同他们告了别,便回家去了。

“我说的话多半是正确的,至少他没有话好反驳我。但我不该用那种态度对他说话。我能这样被邪恶的感情所支配,能这样得罪姐夫,弄得可怜的娜塔丽雅这样伤心,可见我这人改变得很少,”他想。


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 duel 2rmxa     
n./v.决斗;(双方的)斗争
参考例句:
  • The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
  • Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。
2 disapproval VuTx4     
n.反对,不赞成
参考例句:
  • The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
  • They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。
3 evoked 0681b342def6d2a4206d965ff12603b2     
[医]诱发的
参考例句:
  • The music evoked memories of her youth. 这乐曲勾起了她对青年时代的回忆。
  • Her face, though sad, still evoked a feeling of serenity. 她的脸色虽然悲伤,但仍使人感觉安详。
4 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
5 antagonists 7b4cd3775e231e0c24f47e65f0de337b     
对立[对抗] 者,对手,敌手( antagonist的名词复数 ); 对抗肌; 对抗药
参考例句:
  • The cavalier defeated all the antagonists. 那位骑士打败了所有的敌手。
  • The result was the entire reconstruction of the navies of both the antagonists. 双方的海军就从这场斗争里获得了根本的改造。
6 condemned condemned     
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
  • The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。
7 injustice O45yL     
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利
参考例句:
  • They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
  • All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。
8 lawful ipKzCt     
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的
参考例句:
  • It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
  • We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。
9 folly QgOzL     
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话
参考例句:
  • Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
  • Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。
10 arrogance pNpyD     
n.傲慢,自大
参考例句:
  • His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
  • Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。
11 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
12 persecutes d834cbc660d3d13133dd7c039a2b5b65     
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的第三人称单数 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人
参考例句:
13 perverted baa3ff388a70c110935f711a8f95f768     
adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 );腐蚀;败坏;使堕落
参考例句:
  • Some scientific discoveries have been perverted to create weapons of destruction. 某些科学发明被滥用来生产毁灭性武器。
  • sexual acts, normal and perverted 正常的和变态的性行为
14 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
15 thereby Sokwv     
adv.因此,从而
参考例句:
  • I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市,因此对它不怎么熟悉。
  • He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民,因而得到了投票权。
16 persistently MlzztP     
ad.坚持地;固执地
参考例句:
  • He persistently asserted his right to a share in the heritage. 他始终声称他有分享那笔遗产的权利。
  • She persistently asserted her opinions. 她果断地说出了自己的意见。
17 softens 8f06d4fce5859f2737f5a09a715a2d27     
(使)变软( soften的第三人称单数 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰
参考例句:
  • Iron softens with heat. 铁受热就软化。
  • Moonlight softens our faults; all shabbiness dissolves into shadow. 月光淡化了我们的各种缺点,所有的卑微都化解为依稀朦胧的阴影。 来自名作英译部分
18 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
19 degradation QxKxL     
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变
参考例句:
  • There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
  • Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。
20 penitentiary buQyt     
n.感化院;监狱
参考例句:
  • He worked as a warden at the state penitentiary.他在这所州监狱任看守长。
  • While he was in the penitentiary her father died and the family broke up.他坐牢的时候,她的父亲死了,家庭就拆散了。
21 heeding e57191803bfd489e6afea326171fe444     
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • This come of heeding people who say one thing and mean another! 有些人嘴里一回事,心里又是一回事,今天这个下场都是听信了这种人的话的结果。 来自辞典例句
  • Her dwarfish spouse still smoked his cigar and drank his rum without heeding her. 她那矮老公还在吸他的雪茄,喝他的蔗酒,睬也不睬她。 来自辞典例句
22 prosecutor 6RXx1     
n.起诉人;检察官,公诉人
参考例句:
  • The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
  • The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。
23 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
参考例句:
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。


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