Part 3 Chapter 4

SIMONSON.

Mary Pavlovna's influence was one that Maslova submitted to because she loved Mary Pavlovna. Simonson influenced her because he loved her.

Everybody lives and acts partly according to his own, partly according to other people's, ideas. This is what constitutes one of the great differences among men. To some, thinking is a kind of mental game; they treat their reason as if it were a fly-wheel without a connecting strap, and are guided in their actions by other people's ideas, by custom or laws; while others look upon their own ideas as the chief motive power of all their actions, and always listen to the dictates of their own reason and submit to it, accepting other people's opinions only on rare occasions and after weighing them critically. Simonson was a man of the latter sort; he settled and verified everything according to his own reason and acted on the decisions he arrived at. When a schoolboy he made up his mind that his father's income, made as a paymaster in government office was dishonestly gained, and he told his father that it ought to be given to the people. When his father, instead of listening to him, gave him a scolding, he left his father's house and would not make use of his father's means. Having come to the conclusion that all the existing misery was a result of the people's ignorance, he joined the socialists, who carried on propaganda among the people, as soon as he left the university and got a place as a village schoolmaster. He taught and explained to his pupils and to the peasants what he considered to be just, and openly blamed what he thought unjust. He was arrested and tried. During his trial he determined to tell his judges that his was a just cause, for which he ought not to be tried or punished. When the judges paid no heed to his words, but went on with the trial, he decided not to answer them and kept resolutely silent when they questioned him. He was exiled to the Government of Archangel. There he formulated a religious teaching which was founded on the theory that everything in the world was alive, that nothing is lifeless, and that all the objects we consider to be without life or inorganic are only parts of an enormous organic body which we cannot compass. A man's task is to sustain the life of that huge organism and all its animate parts. Therefore he was against war, capital punishment and every kind of killing, not only of human beings, but also of animals. Concerning marriage, too, he had a peculiar idea of his own; he thought that increase was a lower function of man, the highest function being to serve the already existing lives. He found a confirmation of his theory in the fact that there were phacocytes in the blood. Celibates, according to his opinion, were the same as phacocytes, their function being to help the weak and the sickly particles of the organism. From the moment he came to this conclusion he began to consider himself as well as Mary Pavlovna as phacocytes, and to live accordingly, though as a youth he had been addicted to vice. His love for Katusha did not infringe this conception, because he loved her platonically, and such love he considered could not hinder his activity as a phacocytes, but acted, on the contrary, as an inspiration.

Not only moral, but also most practical questions he decided in his own way. He applied a theory of his own to all practical business, had rules relating to the number of hours for rest and for work, to the kind of food to eat, the way to dress, to heat and light up the rooms. With all this Simonson was very shy and modest; and yet when he had once made up his mind nothing could make him waver. And this man had a decided influence on Maslova through his love for her. With a woman's instinct Maslova very soon found out that he loved her. And the fact that she could awaken love in a man of that kind raised her in her own estimation. It was Nekhludoff's magnanimity and what had been in the past that made him offer to marry her, but Simonson loved her such as she was now, loved her simply because of the love he bore her. And she felt that Simonson considered her to be an exceptional woman, having peculiarly high moral qualities. She did not quite know what the qualities he attributed to her were, but in order to be on the safe side and that he should not be disappointed in her, she tried with all her might to awaken in herself all the highest qualities she could conceive, and she tried to be as good as possible. This had begun while they were still in prison, when on a common visiting day she had noticed his kindly dark blue eyes gazing fixedly at her from under his projecting brow. Even then she had noticed that this was a peculiar man, and that he was looking at her in a peculiar manner, and had also noticed the striking combination of sternness--the unruly hair and the frowning forehead gave him this appearance--with the child-like kindness and innocence of his look. She saw him again in Tomsk, where she joined the political prisoners. Though they had not uttered a word, their looks told plainly that they had understood one another. Even after that they had had no serious conversation with each other, but Maslova felt that when he spoke in her presence his words were addressed to her, and that he spoke for her sake, trying to express himself as plainly as he could; but it was when he started walking with the criminal prisoners that they grew specially near to one another.

谢基尼娜的影响是玛丝洛娃甘心情愿接受的。玛丝洛娃所以愿意接受，是因为她喜欢谢基尼娜。另一种影响来自西蒙松。这种影响的产生是由于西蒙松一爱一上了玛丝洛娃。

任何人过日子，做事情，总是部分按照自己的思想，部分顺从别人的想法。人过生活在多大程度上按照自己的思想，在多大程度上顺从别人的想法，这是人与人之间重大区别之一。有些人运用自己的思想往往象做智力游戏那样，把理智当作卸去传动皮带的飞轮，让它任意转动；可是在行动上往往顺从别人的想法，也就是顺从风俗、传统和法律。另一些人却把自己的思想看作一切行动的指针，几乎总是倾听自己理智的要求，顺应这种要求，只偶尔服从别人的决定，而且服从以前先要经过分析批判，看它是否正确。西蒙松就是属于这一类人。不论遇到什么事，他总是理智地反复思考，然后作出决定，一旦作出决定，就坚决实行。

还在中学念书的时候，他就断定父亲做军需官挣来的钱是不义之财。他要父亲把财产还给老百姓，可是父亲不仅不听他，反而把他痛骂一顿，他就离家出走，从此不用父亲的钱。他断定今天的一切罪恶都是由于老百姓没有受过教育，因此他就离开大学，参加民粹派，到乡下去当教师，大胆向学生和农民宣传他认为正确的东西，反对他认为谬误的东西。

他被捕了，受到审讯。

在法庭上，他公然声明法官无权审问他。法官不理他的话，继续对他进行审讯，他就打定主意不再回答，对他们的问题一概置之不理。他被流放到阿尔汉格尔斯克省。他在那里自己制定了一套教义，来指导自己的一切行动。这种教义认为世间万物都是活的，根本没有死的东西，我们认为死的和无机的一切东西，只不过是我们所无法理解的巨大有机体的组成部分。因此人既是这个巨大有机体的组成部分，就有责任维护这个有机体和所有组成部分的生命。因此他认为杀生是一种犯罪行为：他反对战争，反对死刑，反对屠一杀。不仅反对杀害人类，而且反对杀害一切动物。在婚姻问题上，他也有自己的一套理论，认为生儿育女只是人类的低级职能，人类的高级职能在于为活着的人服务。他用血液里存在吞噬细胞这个事实来证实他的理论。他认为，单身汉相当于吞噬细胞，它们的责任就在于帮助有机体中衰弱有病的部分。自从他确立了这样的理论以后，就一直按照它生活，尽管年轻的时候也曾沉湎于酒色。他现在认为自己同谢基尼娜一样，是人间的吞噬细胞。

他对玛丝洛娃的一爱一，并不违背这个理论，因为他的一爱一情是柏拉图式的，他认为这种一爱一情不仅不会妨碍他象吞噬细胞那样帮助弱者，而且会更加激励他去这样做。

不仅解决一精一神问题他有一套自己的办法，就是处理实际问题，他也大多有自己的方式。他处理各种实际问题都有自己的理论，并定出一套规则：每天应当工作几小时，休息几小时，吃什么东西，穿什么衣服，怎样生炉子，怎样点灯，等等。

虽然如此，西蒙松见到人却非常胆怯和谦逊。但他一旦做出决定，那就什么也不能拦阻他。

就是这样一个人的一爱一情对玛丝洛娃影响特别大。玛丝洛娃凭着女人的敏一感很快察觉他在一爱一她。她想到她居然能在这样一个不平凡的人心里唤一起一爱一情，她的自信心也就提高了。聂赫留朵夫向她求婚是出于宽宏大量和过去那件事；西蒙松一爱一的却是今天的她，而且纯粹是因为喜欢她。此外，她觉得西蒙松把她看作一个不平凡的女一性一，品德特别高尚，跟一般女人不一样。她不太清楚究竟他认为她具有哪些品德，但不管怎样，为了不使他失望，她就竭力把她认为自己具有的最好品德表现出来。这样也就促使她努力做一个她所能做到的最好的好人。

这种情况早在监狱里就开始了。有一天，政治犯会见探监人，她发觉他那双纯朴善良的深蓝色眼睛，从突出的前额和眉一毛一下特别执拗地盯住她。早在那时，她就发觉他有点特别，瞅她的神气也有点特别，她还发现他那直立的头发和皱起的眉头显得很严肃，而眼神却象孩子一般纯洁善良，这两种表情竟能同时表现在一张脸上，不能不使人感到惊奇。到了托木斯克后，她调到政治犯中间来，她又看到了他。尽管他们没有谈过一句话，但是两人对视的目光却表明他们都还认得，而且相互都很尊重。此后他们也没有作过意义深长的谈话，但玛丝洛娃觉得，有她在场，他说话总是说给她听的，是为她而说的，并且竭力把话说得明白易懂。他们之间的关系特别接近，是从西蒙松跟刑事犯一起步行开始的。