Book 2 Part 5 Chapter 3 (Chapter 145 overall)

Chapter Summaries: Doctor Metivier. The old prince's name-day, December 6 (18) 1811. the doctor beards the lion. The prince's indignation. Threatens to send his daughter away. The dinner party. Count Rostopchin's epigram. Discussion of current politics. Boris expresses his opinion. Cacoethes Scribendi. General Chatrof's criticism. The prince's treatment of his daughter. French ideas. The old prince agrees with Rostopchin.
Briggs: Prince Bolkonsky treats Dr Metivier as a spy. Congenial conversation.
Maude: Dr Metivier treated as a spy by the old Prince. The dinner on the Prince's nameday
Pevear and Volkhonsky (Chapters 3-4): Scandal with Dr. Metivier. The prince's name-day dinner. Political talk. Pierre and Marya discuss Boris and Julie Karagin.

Translation:

III. In the year 1811 in Moscow lived a fast entering into fashion French doctor, huge by height, beautiful, as kind as French and, as said all in Moscow, a doctor of extraordinary art — Metivier. He was adopted into the houses of higher society not as a doctor, but as an equal. Prince Nikolay Andreich, who laughed above medicine, in the latter time, by the advice of m-lle Bourienne, allowed to himself this doctor and used him. Metivier two times a week was at the prince’s. On Nikolay’s day, on the name day of the prince, all Moscow was at the entrance of his home, but he told to not take anyone; but only a few, the list of which he delivered to Princess Marya, were told to call for dinner. Metivier, arriving in the morning with congratulations, in the quality of doctor, found it decent to force an upset of the order,521 as he said to Princess Marya, and entered to the prince. It happened so, that on this nameday morning the old prince was in one of his worst locations of spirit. He the whole morning went by the home, finding fault with all and made the view that he did not understand what was spoken to him, and that he was not understood. Princess Marya firmly knew this state of quiet spirit and preoccupied grumpiness, which usually allowed an explosion of madness, and as a before charged, with cocked hammers, gun, went all this morning expecting the inevitable shot. The morning to the arrival of the doctor passed safely. Skipping the doctor, Princess Marya sat with a book in the living room at the door against which she could hear all that was happening in the office. First she heard only the voice of Metivier, then the voice of her father, then both voices began talking together, the door swung open and on the doorstep appeared the scared, beautiful figure of Metivier with his black crest, and the figure of the prince in cap and smock with disfigured madness on his face and pupiless eyes. — Do you not understand? — shouted the prince, — But I understand! A French spy, Bonaparte’s slave, a spy, out of a prepared home — Out, I speak! — and he slammed shut the door. Metivier shrugging his shoulders came up to mademoiselle Bourienne, coming running from the shouting of the neighboring room. — The prince is really not healthy, — bile flowing to the head. Do not worry, I will call tomorrow,522 — said Metivier and, attaching his finger to his lips, hastily got out. Behind the door were heard steps in shoes and shouting: "Spies, traitors, everywhere traitors! In this house no minutes of peace!" After the departure of Metivier the old prince called to himself his daughter and all his power of anger collapsed on her. She was to blame in that to him she let a spy. Because he said to her to put together the list, and those who were not on the list to not be let in. What for again did she let this bastard! She was the only cause. "With her he could not have minutes of peace and could not die calmly," he said. No, mother, break up, break up, this you know, you know! I now can no more, — he said and got out of the room. And as if fearing, she would not manage to be somewhat comforted, he returned to her and, trying to accept a calm view, added: — And do not think, so I said this to you in a moment of anger, but I am calm, and I have thought over this; and this is my will — break up, search places for yourself!... — but he did not withstand and with that bitterness, which may be only in a human which loves, he, apparently himself suffering, shook his fists and screamed at her: — And though would some fool take her to get married! — he slammed the door, called to himself m-lle Bourienne and fell silent in the office. In two hours gathered together the chosen six persons to dinner. The visitors — the known Count Rastopchin, Prince Lopuhin with his nephew, General Chatrov, an old, battle fellow of the prince, and of the young Pierre and Boris Drubetskoy — were waiting for him in the living room. The other day arrived in Moscow on vacation Boris, who wished to be presented to Prince Nikolay Andreyevich and managed to such an extent ingratiate his location that the Prince for him made an exception of all idle young people, which he did not take to himself. The house of the prince was not that what is called "the world," but this was such a little club, which although about it was not heard in the city, it was a flatter only to be adopted. This Boris got a week to that backwards, when at him Rastopchin said to the commander in chief, who called the count for dinner on Nikolay’s day that he may not be: — On this day really I always ride to attach to the relics of Prince Nikolay Andreevich. — Ah yes, yes, — was the response of the commander in chief. — How is he?.. The not large society, gathered at the old fashioned, high, with old furniture, living room before dinner, was appearing the gathered, solemn advice tribunals. All was silent and should they speak they spoke quietly. Prince Nikolay Andreich got out serious and silent. Princess Marya appeared still quieter and more timid than usually. The visitors reluctantly turned to her because of how they saw that she was not to their talking. Count Rastopchin alone held the thread of conversation, telling about the latest city, then political news. Lopuhin and the old general occasionally took part in the conversation. Prince Nikolay Andreich listened to, as a supreme judge listening to a report, which he did, only occasionally silently or shortly verbally stating how he accepted that note that was reported to him. The tone of conversation was such that it was understood nothing was approved of what was done in the political world. Events were told obviously confirming that all was going worse and worse; but in every story and judgment it was amazing that the narrator stopped or were stopped any time on that border where judgment could relate to the face of the sovereign emperor. Behind dinner conversation called for being about the latest political news, about the capture by Napoleon of the possessions of the duke of Oldenburg and about the Russian hostile to Napoleon note, sent to all European courts. — Bonaparte arrives from Europe as a pirate on a conquered ship, — said Count Rastopchin, repeating now a few times spoken by him phrase. — I am amazed only by the patience or blinding of the sovereigns. Now business reaches to the pope, and Bonaparte is now not embarrassed to want to topple the head of the Catholic religion, and all keep silent! Only our sovereign protested against the capture of possessions of the duke of Oldenburg. And that... — Count Rastopchin fell silent, feeling that he stood on that turn, where now it cannot be to condemn. — Offered other possessions instead of the Oldenburg duchies, — said Prince Nikolay Andreich. — exactly as I peasants from Bald Mountains resettled to Bogucharovo and to Ryazan, so is he with dukes. — The duke of Oldenburg tolerates his misfortune with surprising strength of character and calmness,523 — said Boris, respectfully marching into conversation. He said this because of how from Petersburg he had the honor to present to the duke. Prince Nikolay Andreich looked at the young man as if he would have wanted to say something to him in this, but thought, considering him too young for this. — I was reading our protest about the Oldenburg case and was surprised at the bad edition of this note, — said Count Rastopchin, with the careless tone of a man judging about a case he was well familiar with. Pierre with naive surprise looked at Rastopchin, not understanding why he was bothered by the bad edition of the note. — Do all care how the note is written, count? — he said, — if the content of it is strong. — My dear, with 500 thousands troops it would be easy to have a good syllable,524 — said Count Rastopchin. Pierre got why Count Rastopchin was bothered by the edition of the note. — It seems, the hack quite got a divorce, — said the old prince: — there in Petersburg all write, not only notes, — new laws all write. My Andryusha there for Russia wrote a whole volume of laws. Now all write! — and he unnaturally bursted out laughing. The conversation shut up in a moment; the old general coughing turned on himself attention. — Deigned to hear about the last event looking on Petersburg? How to myself the new French envoys showed! — What? Yes, I heard something; he said something awkwardly to his majesty. — His majesty turned his attention to a grenadier division in ceremonial march, — continued the general, — and as if a messenger with no attention turned and as if allowed himself to say that we in ourselves in France to such nonsense do not turn attention. The sovereign deigned to say nothing. At the next look, they speak, the sovereign not once deigned to turn to him. All fell silent: at this fact, carried off personally to the sovereign, could have no judgments declared. — Daring! — said the prince. — Do you know Metivier? I now kicked him out from myself. He was here, let to me, as I requested nobody to be let, — said the prince, angrily looking at his daughter. And he told all of his conversation with the French doctor and the causes that made him sure that Metivier was a spy. Although these causes were extremely insufficient and were not clear, no one objected. Behind the hot dinner was given champagne. The visitors got up from their places, and congratulated the old prince. Princess Marya also came up to him. He looked at her with a cold, angry look and set up to her his shriveled, shaved cheek. All the expression of his face said to her that the morning conversation between them was not forgotten, that his solution was left in previous strength, and that only thanks to the presence of the guests he did not speak to her this now. Now coming out to the living room to coffee, the elderly sat down together. Prince Nikolay Andreich was more revived and expressed his form of thoughts about the lying ahead war. He said that our war with Bonaparte to this will be unhappy, while we will search for unions with the Germans and butt into European affairs, into what sucked us into the Tilsit peace. We for Austria, nor against Austria do not need to fight. Our politics are all in the East, but regarding Bonaparte alone — armament on the border and hardness in politics, and he will never dare to step on the Russian border, as he did in the seventh year. — And where are we, prince, to fight with the French! — said Count Rastopchin. — Don't we against our teachers and gods take up arms? Look at our young people, look at our mistresses. Our gods— the French, our kingdom of heaven — Paris. He began to speak louder, obviously so he would be heard by all. — Costumes French, thought French, feeling French! You from here Metivier in stitches kicked out, because of how he is French and a scoundrel, but our ladies behind him come crawling. Yesterday I was at an evening, of five mistresses three were Catholic and, by the approval of the pope, on Sunday were sewing canvas. But themselves a little bit not naked sitting, as signboards for a shopping bath, with permission they say. Oh, see in our young people, prince, I would take the old club of Peter the Great from the cabinet of curiosities, and in Russian would break off sides, and all nonsense would jump off! All fell silent. The old prince with a smile on his face watched Rastopchin and approvingly rocked his head. — Well, farewell, your excellency, do not be ill, — said Rastopchin, with his peculiar fast movements lifting and holding out his hand to the prince. — Goodbye, darling, — the psaltery always absorbs you! — said the old prince, holding him behind the arm and substituting it for a kiss on the cheek. With Rastopchin had risen the others. 521 de forcer la consigne, (to force the order,) 522 la bile et le transport au cerveau. Tranquillisez-vous, je repasserai demain, (bile and transportation to the brain. Calm yourself, I will come back tomorrow,)

523 Le duc d’Oldenbourg supporte son malheur avec une force de caractère et une résignation admirable, (The Duke of Oldenburg supports his misfortune with a force of character and admirable resignation,) 524 Mon cher, avec nos 500 mille hommes de troupes, il serait facile d’avoir un beau style, (My dear, with our 500 thousand troops, it would be easy to have a good style,)   

Time: 1811, St. Nicholas Day (Dole adds 6th of December (O.S.), two o'clock

Locations: Prince Bolkonsky's house in Moscow
Mentioned: France (and French), Oldenburg, Russia (and Russian), Europe (and European), Lysyya Gory, Bogucharovo, Ryazan estates, St. Petersburg, German, Tilsit, Austria, East, Paris

Pevear and Volokhonsky Notes: A French doctor Metivier has become famous and is invited into society. Reminder that Nikolai Bolkonsky does not believe in medical science, but Mlle Bourienne's power over him brings Metivier into Bolkonsky's circle.

Huge contrast with the name day of Nikolai and the way Count Rostof welcomes people early in the novel on his wife and daughter's name day.

Nikolai of course thinks Metivier is a spy for the French.

"Spies, traitors, traitors everywhere! Not a moment's peace in my own house!"

"he could not control himself and with that spitefulness which belongs only to someone who loves, he shook his fists at her, obviously suffering,"

Boris has weaseled himself into Bolkonsky's circle and Pierre intersects into this part of the story.

The difference between how political news is discussed here with the Anna Pavlovna circle: "Prince Nikolai Andreevich listened as a supreme court justice listens to a report being made to him, only occasionally indicating by
a grunt or a brief phrase that he has taken into consideration what is being reported to him. The tone of the conversation made it clear that no one approved of what was happening in the political world."

The duke of Oldenburg and the kidnapping of the pope episodes are discussed superficially by Rastopchin.

Nikolai makes a very revealing analogy: "He (Napoleon) moves dukes around the way I move peasants from Bald Hills to Bogucharovo and my Ryazan estates."

Rastopchin has problems with the poor wording of the note to the French, which bewilders Pierre.

"It seems there are lots of scribblers around," said the old prince. "There in Petersburg they're writing all the time, not only notes but new laws. My Andryusha wrote a whole volume of laws for Russia there. Nowadays
everybody writes!"'

The nonsense about the formalities and ceremony between the French and the Russians: "this fact, which referred personally to the sovereign, it was impossible to express any opinion."

No one calls out Bolkonsky for calling Metivier a spy.

"He (Bolkonsky) said that our wars with Bonaparte would be unsuccessful so long as we sought alliance with the Germans and meddled in the affairs of Europe, which we had been drawn into by the peace of Tilsit. We had
no need to fight either for or against Austria. Our politics all lie in the East, and in relation to Bonaparte there is one thing--armed borders and firm politics--and he will never dare cross Russian borders as in the year seven."

Count Rastopchin says rather dramatically and astonishingly in what must be a gross exaggeration: "The French are our gods, and our kingdom of heaven is Paris...French clothes, French thoughts, French feelings!"
Rastopchin criticizes the way Catholicism and ladies are permeating Russian society.

Characters (characters who do not appear, but are mentioned are placed in italics. First appearances are in Bold. First mentions are underlined. Final appearance denoted by *):

Metivier (Bell adds M. to the front of his name for monsieur).

Prince Nikolai Andreyitch (also “old prince” and “illustriousness”)

Mademoiselle Bourienne

Princess Mariya

Napoleon Bonaparte

Count Rostopchin (Bell spells it “...Rostopchine”)

Prince Lopukhin (as in Dole, Mandelker, Weiner, and Briggs. “...Lopuhin” in Garnett and Edmonds. “...Lapoukhine” in Bell.)

General Chatrof (Prince Lopukhin’s nephew. “...Chatrov” in Edmonds, Weiner, Maude, and Dunnigan. “..Tchatrov” in Garnett. “...Tchatrow” in Bell. Also “old general”.)

Pierre

Boris Drubetskoi

Emperor Alexander (“majesty”, “sovereign”, and “the Emperor”)

Duke of Oldenburg (also “Duchy of Oldenburg”. Bell uses “Grand Duchy of Oldenburg”)

The pope (also “head of the Catholic religion”)

Prince Andrei (“My Andryusha”)

Peter the Great (Rostopchin mentions his “cudgel”)

(also “governor-general of the city”, who is not Rostopchin, yet. “commander-in-chief of Moscow” in Garnett and Briggs. Mandelker just has “commander-in-chief.” Since the person invites Rostopchin to a St. Nicholas
Day dinner, his name is probably Nikolai, though the governor-general of Moscow before Rostopchin was Ivan Gudovich, who does not appear to be mentioned by name in the novel.

There is also the French ambassador the story is told about, who is evidently not Caulaincourt, see below.)

Abridged Versions: Line break after the governor-general asks “How is he?” in Dole. Mandelker puts an ellipsis afterwards. No break at all in Bell.
Gibian: Chapter 3.

Fuller: Entire chapter is cut.

Komroff: The Metivier setup and episode is removed and we go straight to the St Nicholas day party. Some of the conversation is removed, including, of course, the Metivier section, but Bolkonsky talking about his
son writing laws as well. Followed by a break.

Kropotkin: Entire chapter is cut.

Bromfield: Chapter 9: The old prince and Metivier actually have a conversation about politics, or at least, Metivier speaks to him about politics, mentioning Napoleon and Spain, the continental system, Speransky,
French and Russian policy in the Mediterranean, and Catherine the Great. The prince then decides Metivier is a spy. “After that day a rumour that Metivier was Bonaparte’s spy spread throughout Moscow, and
was half believed.” The conversation with Rostopchin is a little longer, starting with Nikolai Andreevich and Rostopchin having a problem with the ministers and the way the coins no longer represent the Tzar. We
also get the name of the French ambassador (Lauriston, see Book 3 Chapter 3) that disrespects the Tsar. The old prince also calls Kutuzov old and isn’t able to talk about Bonaparte. “He was beginning to feel
he did not understand this man: following Napoleon’s marriage to the daughter of the Austrian Kaiser the year before, the old prince had no longer been able to despise him with confidence, but nor could he
believe in his strength either.” No break of any kind.
Simmons: Chapter 3: entire chapter is cut and replaced with "Old Prince Bolkonski furiously blames his daughter for allowing the French physician Metivier to visit him, and insists they must think of parting. Among
at the Prince's dinner are Pierre, Boris Drubetskoy, whose social climbing continues, and Count Rostopchin, Governor General and Commander in Chief of Moscow and an extreme reactionary. He and the old prince
approve the threatening rupture in the peaceful Russian-French relations.

Edmundson: Act Three Scene 4: Bolkonsky's soiree also includes Anna and Vasili (Rastopchin and the like are not here). Maria and Pierre have their conversation about Andrei and Natasha and she also includes

her desire to leave on a pilgrimage.

Act Three Scene 5: Pierre with Napoleon reflects on his drinking, his inability to achieve his goals, and death.

Additional Notes: Dole: (on Rostopchin) “Wrote satires under the pseudonym of Sila Andreyevitch Bogatuiref. His bulletins were masterpieces of eloquence.”

Maude: “a favourite of Tsar Paul...He was noted for his conservative views and his opposition to Speranski’s reforms.” Maude also calls him “a most eccentric and unreliable man.”

Garnett: “In May 1809 Napoleon imprisoned Pope Pius VII (1742-1830) and seized lands belonging to the Catholic Church.”

Kaufman Page 144: “But what could be more human, Princess Marya knows, than a proud old man painfully aware that his glory has passed? Or a widower at once desperate for his daughter’s affection and

constitutionally incapable of receiving, let alone returning, it? Or a frail father who fumbles around for his spectacles lying right next to him, who makes a false step with his weakening legs while looking up quickly

to make sure nobody has noticed, who suddenly drops his napkin, dozes off, and hangs his tired, gray head over (Page 145) his plate at the dinner table?”

Christian: Viii: “so many of Tolstoy’s mature opinions are to be found in embryonic form at a very early age. It cannot be said too often that his ‘conversion’ was not a sudden volte-face, the sour grapes of a man

growing too old to enjoy the pagan, sensual and materialistic pleasures of life, and devoting his last years to saving his soul and making his peace with God. The germ of almost everything that came to fruition

in his thinking and writing after 1880 can be found in one or other of his letters of the previous thirty years: his pacifism, his rejection of capital punishment, his hostility towards state institutions and bureaucratic

practices, his unconventional views on primary and secondary education, his distrust of university professors, doctors and journalists, his hatred of big cities and an urban society based n the buying and selling

of property, his painful awareness of the contrast between his own material well-being and the poverty surrounding him and his concern to just his art in terms of usefulness to the community as a whole.”

Herold Page 296: .Napoleon annexed of the northwest coast of Germany...Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, thus dispossessing Alexander’s brother-in-law. Alexander was as incensed at this insult as he was at the fact

that the French Foreign Office did everything it could to prevent Turkey from making peace with Russia. Another point of friction was the Polish policy adopted by Alexander in 1811, when, in order to weaken the

French-controlled Grand Duchy of Warsaw, he sent out feelers to the (page 297) Polish leaders, suggesting the reconstitution of a Kingdom of Poland, with himself as its king.”