The Light Shines in Darkness

Act I

The scene represents the verandah of a fine country-house, in front of which a croquet-lawn and tennis-court are shown, also a flower-bed. The children are playing croquet with their governess. Mary Iv novna Sar ntsova, a handsome elegant woman of forty; her sister, Alex ndra Iv novna K hovtseva, a stupid, determined woman of forty-five; and her husband, Peter Semy novich K hovtsef, a fat flabby man, dressed in a summer suit, with a pince-nez, are sitting on the verandah at a table with a samov r and coffee-pot. Mary Iv novna Sar ntsova, Alex ndra Iv novna K hovtseva, and Peter Semy novich K hovtsev are drinking coffee, and the latter is smoking.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. If you were not my sister, but a stranger, and Nicholas Iv novich not your husband, but merely an acquaintance, I should think all this very original, and perhaps I might even encourage him, J'aurais trouv tout a tr s gentil; (I should have considered it all very pretty.) but when I see that your husband is playing the fool-yes, simply playing the fool-then I can't help telling you what I think about it. And I shall tell your husband, Nicholas, too. Je lui dirai son fait, ma ch re. (I will tell him the plain fact, my dear.) I am not afraid of anyone.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. No. You don't think so, but I tell you that, if you let it go on, you will be beggared. Du train que cela va (At the rate things are going.)

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Yes, beggared! And please don't interrupt me, my dear! Anything a man does always seems right to you!

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. But you never do know what you are saying, because when you men begin playing the fool, il n'y a pas de raison que a finisse. (There is no reason for it to stop.) I am only saying that if I were in your place, I should not allow it. J'aurais mis bon ordre toutes ces lubies. (I should put an end to all these fads.) What does it all mean? A husband, the head of a family, has no occupation, abandons everything, gives everything away, et fait le g n reux droite et gauche. (And plays the bountiful left and right.) I know how it will end! Nous en savons quelque chose. (We know something about it.)

PETER SEMY NOVICH [to Mary Iv novna]. But do explain to me, Mary, what is this new movement? Of course I understand Liberalism, County Councils, the Constitution, schools, reading-rooms, and tout ce qui s'en suit; (Note: All the rest of it.) as well as Socialism, strikes, and an eight-hour day; but what is this? Explain it to me.

PETER SEMY NOVICH. I confess I did not understand. The Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount-and that churches are unnecessary! But then how is one to pray, and all that?

MARY IV NOVNA. It began last year, after his sister died. He was very fond of her, and her death had a very great effect on him. He became quite morose, and was always talking about death; and then, you know, he fell ill himself with typhus. When he recovered, he was quite a changed man.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. But, all the same, he came in spring to see us again in Moscow, and was very nice, and played bridge. Il tait tr s gentil et comme tout le monde. (Note: He was very nice, and like everybody else.)

MARY IV NOVNA. He was completely indifferent to his family, and purely and simply had l'id e fixe. He read the Gospels for days on end, and did not sleep. He used to get up at night to read, made notes and extracts, and then began going to see bishops and hermits-consulting them about religion.

MARY IV NOVNA. From the time of our marriage-that's twenty years ago-till then he had never fasted nor taken the sacrament, but at that time he did once take the sacrament in a monastery, and then immediately afterwards decided that one should neither take communion nor go to church.

MARY IV NOVNA. Yes, a month before, he would not miss a single service, and kept every fast-day; and then he suddenly decided that it was all unnecessary. What can one do with such a man?

PETER SEMY NOVICH. Do let me speak. I say that that is not the point. The point is this: if he denies the Church, what does he want the Gospels for?

MARY IV NOVNA. Well, so that we should live according to the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount, and give everything away.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. And where has he found in the Sermon on the Mount that we must shake hands with footmen? It says "Blessed are the meek," but it says nothing about shaking hands!

MARY IV NOVNA. Yes, of course, he gets carried away, as he always used to. At one time it was music, then shooting, then the school. But that doesn't make it any the easier for me!

MARY IV NOVNA. He did not tell me, but I know it is about some trees of ours that have been felled. The peasants have been cutting trees in our wood.

MARY IV NOVNA. Yes, they will probably be sent to prison and ordered to pay for the trees. Their case was to be heard to-day, he told me of it, so I feel certain that is what he has gone about.

MARY IV NOVNA. Yes, that is what it leads to. As it is, they break our apple-trees and tread down the green cornfields, and he forgives them everything.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. That is just why I say that it must not be allowed to go on. Why, if it goes on like that, tout y passera. (Note: Everything will be lost.) I think it is your duty as a mother to prendre tes mesures. (note: To take measures.)

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. What indeed! Stop him! Explain to him that this cannot go on. You have your children! What sort of an example is it for them?

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Yes, but "Aide toi et Dieu t'aidera!" (Note: God helps those who help themselves.) You must make him feel that he has not only himself to think of, and that one can't live like that.

MARY IV NOVNA. The worst of all is that he no longer troubles about the children, and I have to decide everything myself. I have an unweaned baby, besides the older children: girls and boys, who have to be looked after, and need guidance. And I have to do it all single-handed. He used to be such an affectionate and attentive father, but now he seems no longer to care. Yesterday I told him that V nya is not studying properly, and will not pass his exam., and he replied that it would be by far the best thing for him to leave school altogether.

MARY IV NOVNA. Nowhere! That's the most terrible thing about it; everything we do is wrong, but he does not say what would be right.

MARY IV NOVNA. Sty pa has now finished at the University, and ought to choose a career; but his father says nothing about it. He wanted to take a post in the Civil Service, but Nicholas Iv novich says he ought not to do so. Then he thought of entering the Horse-Guards, but Nicholas Iv novich quite disapproved. Then the lad asked his father: "What am I to do then-not go and plough after all?" and Nicholas Iv novich said: "Why not plough? It is much better than being in a Government Office." So what was he to do? He comes to me and asks, and I have to decide everything, and yet the authority is all in his hands.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. And tell him straight out that you can't go on like this. That you do your duty, and he must do his; or if not-let him hand everything over to you.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA [contemptuously] Nicholas Iv novich gave it you! And do you agree with Nicholas Iv novich and Mr. Renan?

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. But if you are, as it is called, a faithful servant of the Church, why don't you convert Nicholas Iv novich?

PRIEST. Everyone, in fact, has his own views on these matters, and Nicholas Iv novich really maintains much that is quite true, only he goes astray, in fact, on the main point, the Church.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA [contemptuously] And what are the many things that Nicholas Iv novich maintains that are quite true? Is it true that the Sermon on the Mount bids us give our property away to strangers and let our own families go begging?

PRIEST. The Church, in fact, sanctions the family, and the Holy Fathers of the Church, in fact, blessed the family; but the highest perfection really demands the renunciation of worldly advantages.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Of course the Anchorites acted so, but ordinary mortals, I should imagine, should act in an ordinary way, as befits all good Christians.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Ah! I see that instead of bringing Nicholas Iv novich to reason, you support him. That, I tell you straight out, is wrong!

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. I'm dreadfully sorry for my sister. I see how she suffers. Seven children, one of them unweaned, and then all these fads to put up with. It seems to me quite plain that he has something wrong here [touching her forehead. To Priest] Now tell me, I ask you, what new religion is this you have discovered?

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. I ask you, what creed is it that bids us shake hands with every peasant and let them cut down the trees, and give them money for v dka, and abandon our own families?

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. He says it is Christianity. You are a priest of the Orthodox Greek Church, and therefore you must know and must say whether Christianity bids us encourage robbery.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Not asked, indeed! Why, I am asking you! He told me yesterday that the Gospels say, "Give to him that asketh of thee." But then in what sense is that meant?

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. And I think not in the plain sense; we have always been taught that everybody's position is appointed by God.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Oh, yes. It's just as I was told; you take his side, and that is wrong! I say so straight out. If some young school teacher, or some young lad, lickspittles to him, it's bad enough-but you, in your position, should remember the responsibility that rests on you.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. What sort of religion is it, when he does not go to church, and does not believe in the sacraments? And instead of bringing him to his senses, you read Renan with him, and interpret the Gospels in a way of your own.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Please don't teach me. I am sure the Reverend Father is not angry with me. What if I have spoken plainly. It would have been worse had I bottled up my anger. Isn't that so?

Enter Ly ba and Lisa. Ly ba, Mary Iv novna's daughter, is a handsome energetic girl of twenty. Lisa, Alex ndra Iv novna's daughter, is a little older. Both have kerchiefs on their heads, and are carrying baskets, to go gathering mushrooms. They greet Alex ndra Iv novna, Peter Semy novich, and the priest.

PETER SEMY NOVICH. Now mind you bring back plenty of mushrooms. A little village girl brought some lovely white ones this morning. I'd go with you myself, but it's too hot.

LY BA. Sty pa is cycling to the station, the tutor has gone to town with papa. The little ones are playing croquet, and V nya is out there in the porch, playing with the dogs.

LY BA. Yes. He has gone himself to hand in his application to enter the Horse-Guards. He was horribly rude to papa yesterday.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Of course, it's hard on him too. Il n'y a pas de patience qui tienne. (Note: There are limits to human endurance.) The young man must begin to live, and he is told to go and plough!

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Never mind. Still Sty pa must begin life, and whatever he proposes, it's all objected to. But here he is himself.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA.Quand on parle du soleil on en voit les rayons. (Note: Speak of the sun and you see its rays.) We were just talking about you. Ly ba says you were rude to your father.

STY PA. Not at all. There was nothing particular. He gave me his opinion, and I gave him mine. It is not my fault that our views differ. Ly ba, you know, understands nothing, but must have her say about everything.

STY PA. I don't know what Papa has decided. I'm afraid he does not quite know himself; but as for me, I have decided to volunteer for the Horse-Guards. In our house some special objection is made to every step that is taken; but this is all quite simple. I have finished my studies, and must serve my time. To enter a line regiment and serve with tipsy low-class officers would be unpleasant, and so I'm entering the Horse-Guards, where I have friends.

STY PA. Papa! What is the good of talking about him? He is now possessed by his id e fixe. (Note: Fixed idea.) He sees nothing but what he wants to see. He says military service is the basest kind of employment, and that therefore one should not serve, and so he won't give me any money.

LISA. No! Sty pa. He did not say that! You know I was present. He says that if you cannot avoid serving, you should go when you are called; but that to volunteer, is to choose that kind of service of your own free will.

LISA. Yes, but he does not exactly say that he will not give you the money; but that he cannot take part in an affair that is contrary to his convictions.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Don't I know that Lisa always takes up with any kind of nonsense. She scents nonsense. Elle flaire cela de loin. (Note: She scents it from afar.)

LY BA. Let me see the telegram, Aunt. [Reads] "Arriving all three by the mail train. Cheremsh novs." That means the Princess, Bor s, and T nya. Well, I am glad!

V NYA. Of course, because you're sweet on T nya! You'd better cast lots; for two men must not marry one another's sisters. (Note: In Russia the relationships that are set up by marriage debar a marriage between a woman's brother-in-law and her sister.)

PETER SEMY NOVICH. Dear me, I shall be glad to see her. I have not met her since those days in Rome when she used to sing duets with me. She sang beautifully. She has two children, has she not?

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Not intimate, but they lodged together abroad last year, and I believe that la princesse a des vues sur Ly ba pour son fils. C'est une fine mouche, elle flaire une jolie dot. (Note: The princess has her eye on Lyba for her son. She is a knowing one, and scents a nice dowry.)

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. They were. The prince is still living, but he has squandered everything, drinks, and has quite gone to the dogs. She petitioned the Emperor, left her husband, and so managed to save a few scraps. But she has given her children a splendid education. Il faut lui rendre cette justice. (Note: One must do her that much justice.) The daughter is an admirable musician; and the son has finished the University, and is charming. Only I don't think Mary is quite pleased. Visitors are inconvenient just now. Ah! here comes Nicholas.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. How d'you do, Al na; (Note: Alna is an abbreviation, and a pet name, for Alexndra.) and you, Peter Semy novich. [To the Priest] Ah! Vas ly Nikan rych. [Shakes hands with them].

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. There is still some coffee left. Shall I give you a cup? It's rather cold, but can easily be warmed up. [Rings].

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. I have. Yes. If there is any tea or coffee left, I will have some. [To Priest] Ah! you've brought the book back. Have you read it? I've been thinking about you all the way home.

Enter man-servant, who bows. Nicholas Iv novich shakes hands with him. Alex ndra Iv novna shrugs her shoulders, exchanging glances with her husband.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [caressing her]. Yes, I'll come directly. Just let me eat something first. Go and play, and I'll soon come.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Yes! They were. They themselves pleaded guilty. [To Priest] I thought you would not find Renan very convincing

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [vexed]. Of course I don't approve of it. [To Priest] The main question for you is not Christ's divinity, or the history of Christianity, but the Church

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Then how was it? They confessed their guilt, et vous leur avez donn un d menti? (Note: And you contradicted them.) They did not steal them-but only took the wood?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [who had begun talking to the priest, turns resolutely to Alex ndra Iv novna]. Al na, my dear, do not pursue me with pinpricks and insinuations.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. And if you really want to know why I can't prosecute the peasants about the wood they needed and cut down

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Well, if you want me to tell you why I can't agree with those people being shut up in prison, and being totally ruined, because they cut down ten trees in a forest which is considered to be mine

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Even if I considered that forest mine, which I cannot do, we have 3000 acres of forest, with about 150 trees to the acre. In all, about 450,000 trees-is that correct? Well, they have cut down ten trees-that is, one 45-thousandth part. Now is it worth while, and can one really decide, to tear a man away from his family and put him in prison for that?

STY PA. Ah! but if you don't hold on to this one 45-thousandth, all the other 44,990 trees will very soon be cut down also.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. But I only said that in answer to your aunt. In reality I have no right to this forest. Land belongs to everyone; or rather, it can't belong to anyone. We have never put any labour into this land.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. How did I get my savings? What enabled me to save up? And I didn't preserve the forest myself! However, this is a matter which can't be proved to anyone who does not himself feel ashamed when he strikes at another man-

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Just as when a man feels no shame at taking toll from others' labour without doing any work himself, you cannot prove to him that he ought to be ashamed; and the object of all the Political Economy you learnt at the University is merely to justify the false position in which we live.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. However, all this is of no importance to me. What is important is that in Yef m's (Note: Yefm was the peasant who had cut down the tree.) place I should have acted as he did, and I should have been desperate had I been imprisoned. And as I wish to do to others as I wish them to do to me-I cannot condemn him, but do what I can to save him.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [smiling] I don't know which I am to reply to. [To Peter Semy novich] It's true. One should not possess anything.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. But if one should not possess anything, one can't have any clothes, nor even a crust of bread, but must give away everything, so that it's impossible to live.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. No. It is given just that men may live. Yes. One should give everything away. Not only the forest we do not use and hardly ever see, but even our clothes and our bread.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Yes, the children's too. And not only our bread, but ourselves. Therein lies the whole teaching of Christ. One must strive with one's whole strength to give oneself away.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Yes, even if you gave your life for your friends, that would be splendid both for you and for others. But the fact is that man is not solely a spirit, but a spirit within a body; and the flesh draws him to live for itself, while the spirit of light draws him to live for God and for others: and the life in each of us is not solely animal, but is equipoised between the two. But the more it is a life for God, the better; and the animal will not fail to take care of itself.

STY PA. Why choose a middle course: an equipoise between the two? If it is right to do so-why not give away everything and die?

PRIEST [agitated] How shall I put it? Well, the historic part is insufficiently worked out, and it is not fully convincing, or let us say, quite reliable; because the materials are, as a matter of fact, insufficient. Neither the Divinity of Christ, nor His lack of Divinity, can be proved historically; there is but one irrefragable proof.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Of course, it would be excellent if there existed a set of infallible people to confide in. It would be very desirable; but its desirability does not prove that they exist!

PRIEST. And I believe that just that is the proof. The Lord could not in fact have exposed His law to the possibility of mutilation or misinterpretation, but must in fact have left a guardian of His truth to prevent that truth being mutilated.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Very well; but we first tried to prove the truth itself, and now we are trying to prove the reliability of the guardian of the truth.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Faith-yes, we need faith. We can't do without faith. Not, however, faith in what other people tell us, but faith in what we arrive at ourselves, by our own thought, our own reason faith in God, and in true and everlasting life.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [hotly] There, that is the most terrible blasphemy! God has given us just one sacred tool for finding the truth-the only thing that can unite us all, and we do not trust it!

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Where are the contradictions? That twice two are four; and that one should not do to others what one would not like oneself; and that everything has a cause? Truths of that kind we all acknowledge because they accord with all our reason. But that God appeared on Mount Sinai to Moses, or that Buddha flew up on a sunbeam, or that Mahomet went up into the sky, and that Christ flew there also-on matters of that kind we are all at variance.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. No, even there, you are not united, but have all gone asunder; so why should I believe you rather than I would believe a Buddhist Lama? Only because I happened to be born in your faith?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. You say the Church unites. But, on the contrary, the worst dissensions have always been caused by the Church. "How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens."

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Yes, Christ united; but we have divided: because we have understood him the wrong way round. He destroyed all Churches.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. It is not a question of words! Besides those words don't refer to what we call "Church." It is the spirit of the teaching that matters. Christ's teaching is universal, and includes all religions, and does not admit of anything exclusive; neither of the Resurrection nor the Divinity of Christ, nor the Sacraments-nor of anything that divides.

PRIEST. That, as a matter of fact, if I may say so, is your own interpretation of Christ's teaching. But Christ's teaching is all founded on His Divinity and Resurrection.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. That's what is so dreadful about the Churches. They divide by declaring that they possess the full indubitable and infallible truth. They say: "It has pleased us and the Holy Ghost." That began at the time of the first Council of the Apostles. They then began to maintain that they had the full and exclusive truth. You see, if I say there is a God: the first cause of the Universe, everyone can agree with me; and such an acknowledgment of God will unite us; but if I say there is a God: Brahma, or Jehovah, or a Trinity, such a God divides us. Men wish to unite, and to that end devise all means of union, but neglect the one indubitable means of union-the search for truth! It is as if people in an enormous building, where the light from above shone down into the centre, tried to unite in groups around lamps in different corners, instead of going towards the central light, where they would naturally all be united.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. That's what is terrible! Each one of us has to save his own soul, and has to do God's work himself, but instead of that we busy ourselves saving other people and teaching them. And what do we teach them? We teach them now, at the end of the nineteenth century, that God created the world in six days, then caused a flood, and put all the animals in an ark, and all the rest of the horrors and nonsense of the Old Testament. And then that Christ ordered everyone to be baptized with water; and we make them believe in all the absurdity and meanness of an Atonement essential to salvation; and then that he rose up into the heavens which do not really exist, and there sat down at the right hand of the Father. We have got used to all this, but really it is dreadful! A child, fresh and ready to receive all that is good and true, asks us what the world is, and what its laws are; and we, instead of revealing to him the teaching of love and truth that has been given to us, carefully ram into his head all sorts of horrible absurdities and meannesses, ascribing them all to God. Is that not terrible? It is as great a crime as man can commit. And we-you and your Church-do this! Forgive me!

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Really, Nicholas, you have no pity on him! Though he is a priest, he is still only a boy, and can have no firm convictions or settled views.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Give him time to settle down and petrify in falsehood? No! Why should I? Besides, he is a good, sincere man.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. If it were really so good, everyone would be ready to believe you. As it is, no one believes you, and your wife least of all. She can't believe you.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Well, just you try and explain it to her! She will never understand, nor shall I, nor anyone else in the world, that one must care for other people and abandon one's own children. Go and try to explain that to Mary!

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Yes, and Mary will certainly understand. Forgive me, Alex ndra, but if it were not for other people's influence, to which she is very susceptible, she would understand me and go with me.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. To beggar your children for the sake of drunken Yef m and his sort? Never! But if I have made you angry, please forgive me. I can't help speaking out.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. I am not angry. On the contrary, I am even glad you have spoken out and given me the opportunity-challenged me-to explain to Mary my whole outlook on life. On my way home to-day I was thinking of doing so, and I will speak to her at once; and you will see that she will agree, because she is wise and good.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. But I have no doubts. For you know, this is not any invention of my own; it is only what we all of us know, and what Christ revealed to us.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Just wait a bit, and don't argue, but listen. Isn't it true that at any moment we may die, and either cease to exist, or go to God who expects us to live according to His will?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Well, what can I do in this life other than what the supreme judge in my soul, my conscience-God-requires of me? And my conscience-God-requires that I should regard everybody as equal, love everybody, serve everybody.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Naturally, my own too, but obeying all that my conscience demands. Above all, that I should understand that my life does not belong to me-nor yours to you-but to God, who sent us into the world and who requires that we should do His will. And His will is

MARY IV NOVNA. Why, your coffee is quite cold! Why do you drink it like that? By the way, we must prepare for our visitors. You know the Cheremsh novs are coming?

MARY IV NOVNA. Well, I wanted to have a talk with you about Sty pa. After all, something must be decided. He, poor fellow, feels depressed, and does not know what awaits him. He came to me, but how can I decide?

MARY IV NOVNA. But, you know, he wants to enter the Horse-Guards as a volunteer, and in order to do that he must get you to countersign his papers, and he must also be in a position to keep himself; and you don't give him anything. [Gets excited].

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Mary, for heaven's sake don't get excited, but listen to me. I don't give or withhold anything. To enter military service of one's own free will, I consider either a stupid, insensate action, suitable for a savage if the man does not understand the evil of his action, or despicable if he does it from an interested motive.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [getting irritable] I lived when I did not understand; and when nobody gave me good advice. However, it does not depend on me but on him.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. The labour of others does not belong to me. To give him money, I must first take it from others. I have no right to do that, and I cannot do it! As long as I manage the estate I must manage it as my conscience dictates; and I cannot give the fruits of the toil of the overworked peasants to be spent on the debaucheries of Life-Guardsmen. Take over my property, and then I shall not be responsible!

MARY IV NOVNA. You know very well that I don't want to take it, and moreover I can't. I have to bring up the children, besides nursing them and bearing them. It is cruel!

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Mary, dear one! That is not the main thing. When you began to speak I too began and wanted to talk to you quite frankly. We must not go on like this. We are living together, but don't understand one another. Sometimes we even seem to misunderstand one another on purpose.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Well then, try and understand! This may not be a convenient time, but heaven knows when we shall find a convenient time. Understand not me-but yourself: the meaning of your own life! We can't go on living like this without knowing what we are living for.

MARY IV NOVNA. We have lived so, and lived very happily. [Noticing a look of vexation on his face] All right, all right, I am listening.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Yes, I too lived so-that is to say, without thinking why I lived; but a time came when I was terror-struck. Well, here we are, living on other people's labour-making others work for us-bringing children into the world and bringing them up to do the same. Old age will come, and death, and I shall ask myself: "Why have I lived?" In order to breed more parasites like myself? And, above all, we do not even enjoy this life. It is only endurable, you know, while, like V nya, you overflow with life's energy.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Anyhow, I saw that I was terribly unhappy, and that I made you and the children unhappy, and I asked myself: "Is it possible that God created us for this end?" And as soon as I thought of it, I felt at once that he had not. I asked myself: "What, then, has God created us for?"

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. And in the Gospels I found the answer, that we certainly should not live for our own sake. That revealed itself to me very clearly once, when I was pondering over the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. You know?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. That parable seemed to show me more clearly than anything else where my mistake had been. Like those labourers I had thought that the vineyard was my own, and that my life was my own, and everything seemed dreadful; but as soon as I had understood that my life is not my own, but that I am sent into the world to do the will of God

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Well, if we know it we cannot go on living as we are doing, for our whole life-far from being a fulfilment of His will-is, on the contrary, a continual transgression of it.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [after a pause] No, it's not that. But do, Mary, consider one thing-that we have only one life, and can live it well, or can waste it.

MARY IV NOVNA. I can't think and argue! I don't sleep at night; I am nursing. I have to manage the whole house, and instead of helping me, you say things to me that I don't understand.

MARY IV NOVNA. I can't now-they have arrived! I must go to meet them. [Exit behind corner of house. Sty pa and Ly ba follow her].

Alex ndra Iv novna, with her husband and Lisa, come out on to the verandah. Nicholas Iv novich paces up and down wrapt in thought.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Al na, what is going on between us is very important. Jokes are out of place. It is not I who am convincing her, but life, truth, God: they are convincing her-therefore she cannot help being convinced, if not to-day then to-morrow, if not to-morrow It is awful that no one ever has time. Who is it that has just come?

PETER SEMY NOVICH. It's the Cheremsh novs. Catiche Cheremsh nov, whom I have not met for eighteen years. The last time I saw her we sang together: "La ci darem la mano." [Sings].

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Please don't interrupt us, and don't imagine that I shall quarrel with Nicholas. I am telling the truth. [To Nicholas Iv novich] I am not joking at all, but it seemed to me strange that you wanted to convince Mary just when she had made up her mind to have it out with you!

In the 1600s, Balthasar Gracian, a jesuit priest wrote 300 aphorisms on living life called "The Art of Worldly Wisdom." Join our newsletter below and read them all, one at a time.