17 March, Kazan    It’s now six days since I entered the clinic,1 and for six days now I’ve been almost satisfied with myself. Les petites causes produisent de grands effets. I caught gonorrhoea where one usually catches it from of course; and this trivial circumstance gave me a jolt which made me mount the step which I had put my foot on long ago, but had been quite unable to heave my body on to (probably because, withing thinking, I put my left foot on instead of my right). Here I’m completely alone, nobody disturbs me, I haven’t any servants here, nobody helps me – consequently nothing extraneous has any influence on my reason or memory, and my work must necessarily make progress. But the chief advantage is that I’ve come to see clearly that the disorderly life which the majority of fashionable people take to be a consequence of youth is nothing other than a consequence of the early corruption of the soul.

Solitude is just as good for a man who lives in society, as social intercourse is for a man who doesn’t. Let a man withdraw from society, let him retreat into himself, and his reason will soon cast aside the spectacles which showed him everything in a distorted form, and his view of things will become so clear that he will be quite unable to understand how he had not seen it all before. Let reason do its work and it will indicate to you your destiny, and will give you rules with which you can confidently enter society. Everything that is in accord with man’s primary faculty – reason – will likewise be in accord with everything that exists; an individual’s reason is a part of everything that exists, and a part cannot upset the organisation of the whole. But the whole can destroy the part. Therefore educate your reason so that it will be in accord with the whole, with the source of everything, and not with the part, with human society; then your reason will merge into one with the whole, and then society, as the part, will have no influence over you. It’s easier to write ten volumes of philosophy than to put one single principle into practice.

18 March    I’ve been reading Catherine’s Instructions,2 and since I’ve generally made it a rule when reading any serious work to think about it and copy out any remarkable thoughts from it, I’ll write down my opinion here about the first six chapters of this remarkable work. […]

Chapter I comprises a proof of the fact that Russia is a European power. Chapter II contains proofs of the necessity for autocracy, which are the more convincing in that she speaks about the Monarch in the abstract. However great a woman’s mind may be, you will always find in its manifestations a certain pettiness and inconsistency, and so Catherine includes as one of her proofs of the necessity for absolute power: ‘Another reason is that it is better to obey the laws under one master than to be subject to the wills of many’; or ‘The intention and end of absolute government is the glory of the citizens, the state and the sovereign’. […]

Chapter V, On the Condition of all People in Civil Society, begins with the philosophical idea that a happy man is a man whose will, though under the influence of external circumstances, can subdue his passions. When I read this, I thought Catherine would deduce from this proposition the notion of the law as an external circumstance influencing the will and making man happy through being subject to the law; but she passes on to the notion of the possibility of equality within the state, i.e. the subjection of all men to the same laws. Her notions of freedom under monarchical rule are as follows: freedom, she says, is man’s ability to do everything he ought to do, and not to be compelled to do what he ought not to do. I would like to know what she understands by the words ought and ought not; if she means by the words what he ought to do the natural law, it clearly follows from this that freedom can only exist in a state in whose legislation natural law is in no way different from positive law – an idea which is perfectly correct. Further, in support of her opinion, Catherine adduces an extremely ingenious proof: freedom is the right to act in accordance with the laws. But if a citizen acts illegally, he thereby gives others the right to act likewise, and so freedom is violated. […]

19 March    A passion for the sciences is beginning to manifest itself in me; but although it is the noblest of all man’s passions, I shall never surrender myself to it in a one-sided manner, i.e. completely destroy feeling, not concern myself with application, and only endeavour to educate my mind and fill my memory with facts. Onesidedness is the main cause of man’s unhappiness.

I’ll now continue my analysis of Catherine’s Instructions. […] She goes on to say that people can be governed by moderation, not severity (I would add to that: ‘in monarchies’). She then says that punishments ought to be derived from the nature of the crime itself. I would again add: ‘in monarchies’. For history shows us that the laws of Draco and Lycurgus, which were very harsh and incompatible with the nature of the crime, were tolerated; for in a republic, as Montesquieu rightly observes, the people are at once both the subordinate and the absolute power, and therefore since laws in such a case are the expression of the will of the people, they are tolerated by the people, and since the people governs itself there is no need for punishments to be derived from the nature of the crime, for in republics the will of the citizens serves as the standard of punishment. Catherine goes on to divide crimes into crimes against religion, against morals, against law and order and against the security of the citizens, and in indicating what sort of punishments ought to be applied to each class of crime, arrives at a completely false conclusion by deriving each punishment from the essence of the crime. Actually with regard to the last class of crime she says that the punishments for such crimes should be banishment, a life for a life, or a monetary fine where property has been alienated; but she also says that since for the most part those who attempt to appropriate the property of others do not own any themselves, the fine should be replaced by the death penalty. This idea is unworthy of the great Catherine. For how can an injured party be compensated for theft by the death of the other party? Surely the state can both compensate the injured party for his loss and retain a member of society who might still be useful to it. The whole of the next chapter serves to refute this false idea. Here she argues quite correctly for the need for moderation with regard to punishments, then speaks about the mistakes sometimes made by a legislator, saying that a legislator often employs severity in order to eradicate a particular evil, but that when the main evil has been eliminated there still remains the abuse created by this severity. Further on she completely contradicts herself when she says that it is highly unjust to punish murderers and robbers in like manner, and then says that punishments which disfigure the human body should be abolished. But how can one accept the death penalty without accepting disfigurement? The chief disfigurement of the body is its separation from the soul. […]

Chapter IX contains some rules for judicial procedure in general. […] The idea that major criminals might choose the judges for their own trials shows Catherine’s endeavour to justify monarchical rule and to contend that freedom exists in obeying laws which emanate from the monarch, but she forgets that freedom to obey laws which do not emanate from the people is not freedom. […]

21 March    In Chapter X the basic principles and the most dangerous errors connected with criminal legal procedure are expounded.

At the beginning of this chapter she asks herself a question. ‘Whence do punishments derive, and whence the right to punish?’ To the first question she replies: ‘Punishments derive from the need to safeguard the laws.’ To the second question she also replies very ingeniously. She says: ‘The right to punish belongs to the laws alone, but only the monarch as the representative of the state as a whole can make laws.’ Throughout the Instructions we are constantly presented with two heterogeneous elements which Catherine has constantly sought to reconcile, namely the recognition of the need for constitutional rule, and self-love, i.e. her desire to be the absolute sovereign of Russia. For example, while saying that under monarchical rule only the monarch can have legislative power, she accepts the existence of such power as axiomatic without referring to its origin. A subordinate government cannot impose punishments because it is a part of the whole, but a monarch has this right because he is the representative of all the citizens, Catherine says. But is the representation of the people by the sovereign in absolute monarchies the expression of the sum total of the free, individual wills of the citizens? No, the expression of the general will in absolute monarchies amounts to the following: I tolerate a lesser evil, because if I didn’t tolerate it, I would be subjected to a greater evil.

A second question concerns the proper measures necessary for keeping an accused person in custody and for detecting a crime. In trying to solve the first part of this question she says that keeping an accused person in custody is the punishment which precedes the conviction. Catherine felt the falsity of this notion and the injustice of this practice, and tried to justify it by saying that any accused person is bound to be guilty.3 But why should a person who is a hundred times more guilty than the one accused, but who has not been accused because he has no enemies, not suffer an equal punishment? In my opinion, keeping an accused person in custody can never be justified, for it is the height of injustice to subject the innocent and the guilty to the same punishments but to discriminate between the rich and the poor, for the rich can easily find bail for themselves, but the poor seldom can.

In the same chapter there occurs a purely republican idea. She actually says that hearings of cases should be in public, so that citizens should be aware of their security under the protection of the laws. But can there exist security of citizens under the protection of the laws when not only judicial sentences but even the laws themselves can be altered at the will of an autocrat? […]

22 March    In my opinion intention, since it is a mental act not outwardly expressed, can never be contrary to judicial law, for it is not subject to it. No mental acts can be subject to anything except the will; and the will is an unlimited faculty. Although it is said that acts which evince criminal intent are punishable, these acts ought not to be punished, for the acts themselves do no harm, while the intention is subject to the influence of the will, and so an evil intention can be changed to a good one before it it realised. The most powerful manifestation of a person’s conscience is usually just before the perpetration of an evil deed. […]

24 March    I have changed a lot; but I still haven’t achieved the degree of perfection (in my studies) which I would like to achieve. I don’t carry out what I prescribe for myself; what I do carry out, I don’t carry out well; I don’t exercise my memory. Therefore I’ll write down some rules here which, it seems to me, will help me a lot if I follow them. (1) What is required to be carried out without fail, carry out in spite of everything. (2) What you do carry out, carry out well. (3) Never refer to a book if you forget something, but try to remember it yourself. (4) Make your mind work constantly with all possible vigour. (5) Always read and think aloud. (6) Don’t be ashamed to tell people who interrupt you that they are interrupting you; first of all let a person feel it, but if he doesn’t understand, apologise and tell him outright. In accordance with my second rule I intend without fail to finish my commentary on the whole of Catherine’s Instructions.

Question V about the scale of punishments is resolved as follows: the evil which a punishment inflicts on a criminal ought to be greater than the good which the crime might have afforded him. I don’t agree with this. Crime and punishment ought to be completely commensurate. […]

Chapter XIII speaks about manufactured wares and trade. Catherine rightly remarks that agriculture is the basis of all trade, and that in a country where people do not own their own property, agriculture cannot flourish; for people usually take more care of things which belong to them than of things which can always be taken away from them. That is the reason why agriculture and trade cannot flourish in our country as long as serfdom4 exists, for a man who is subservient to another man not only cannot be assured of owning his own property permanently, but cannot even be assured of his own personal fate. Then: ‘Skilled farmers and craftsmen ought to be given bonuses.’ In my opinion it is equally necessary for a state to punish evil and to reward good.

25 March    It is not enough to deter people from evil; it is also necessary to encourage them to do good. She goes on to say that those peoples which are lazy because of their climate must be accustomed to activity by depriving them of all means of subsistence except labour; she also observes that these peoples are usually given to pride, and that this very pride may serve as a means of eradicating laziness. But peoples which are lazy because of their climate are always endowed with passionate feelings, and if they were to be active, it would be the worse for the state. Catherine would have done better to have said people, and not peoples. And indeed, if we apply her remarks to private individuals we shall find that they are exceedingly just.

Then she says that in highly populated countries machines which replace manual labour are frequently unnecessary and even harmful, but that for exported wares it is very necessary to use machines, for the peoples which we sell them to can buy the same goods from neighbouring peoples.

I think just the opposite: machines for manufacturing wares for circulating within the state are infinitely more useful than machines for manufacturing wares for export. For machines for manufacturing wares of general utility would improve the condition of the citizens as a whole by making these wares much cheaper, while goods for export only benefit private individuals. It seems to me that the cause of the poverty of the lower classes in England is, first, that they don’t own landed property, and secondly that all the attention there is directed exclusively to foreign trade.

Catherine says very rightly that monopolies are a great evil for trade. In my opinion a monopoly is an evil and an oppresssive influence on trade, the merchant class and the citizens themselves. For trade it is an evil because, if the monopoly did not exist, there would be a greater number of traders engaged in that branch of trade, instead of one individual or company. For the merchant class – because it is deprived of participation in that branch of trade. And for the citizens – because each monopolist imposes as it were his own laws on them. Unfortunately this evil has taken deep root in our country.

Catherine goes on to say that it would be very useful to found a bank; but so that the citizens should have no doubts about the integrity of such a bank, she says that it needs to be established under some charitable organisation.

Many of Catherine’s ideas are extremely odd; she constantly wants to argue that although a monarch is not limited by anything external, he is limited by his own conscience; but if a monarch were to regard himself as unlimited, despite all natural laws, this would mean that he has no conscience, and is limiting himself by something which he does not possess. Then Catherine tries to argue that neither a monarch nor his noblemen should engage in trade. The fact that a monarch should not engage in trade is clear enough, for there would be no need for him to trade at all in order to acquire possession of everything in his own state if he wished to do so.

But why should noblemen in Russian not trade? If we had an aristocracy which limited the monarch, it would indeed have plenty to do without trade. But we don’t have one. Our aristocracy of birth is disappearing and has almost disappeared already because of poverty; and that poverty has come about because noblemen have been ashamed to engage in trade. God grant that in our time noblemen may come to understand their high destiny, which is simply and solely to increase their power. What supports despotism? Either lack of education among the people, or lack of strength on the part of the oppressed section of the people. […]

Chapter XV speaks about the nobility. Here Catherine defines what the nobility is and what its duties are; its duties she considers to be the defence of the country and the administration of justice in it. And she considers its basic principles to be virtue and honour. Montesquieu recognised honour alone as the basis (principe) of all monarchical government, but she adds virtue to it; indeed, virtue may be taken to be the basis of monarchical government. But history demonstrates to us that it has never actually been so as yet. Her idea that nobody may deprive a nobleman of his rights of nobility as long as he is worthy of that title is a remarkable one. In conclusion, she says of the nobility that the right to enjoy honours and renown should belong to those whose ancestors were worthy of honours and renown. After Krylov’s fable about the geese,5 nothing more needs to be said about this false idea. […]

26 March    Chapter XX contains various clauses which call for explanation. It speaks first of all about the crime of contumely of the imperial majesty. To wit – this crime is a combination of words and action which aims to do harm to the monarch or the monarchy. For example, when a citizen goes out into the square and rouses up the people by his words, he is not punished for the words, but for the action of which the words were the origin or the consequence. But speeches directed against the government, because of the difficulty of proving the crime, ought not to be punished by death, as all crimes against the imperial majesty generally are, but merely by corrective punishments. Writings of a similar sort, however, ought to be punished by death. This ordinance clearly demonstrates that in a despotic government a monarch cannot rely on the loyalty of his citizens. Why not? Because, since despotism does not contain an agreement whereby one person possesses a right and the citizens an obligation, or vice-versa, but authority is wielded by one person by means of force, since, I say, such an agreement has never existed in a despotism, then there cannot exist any obligation either on the part of the citizens. But if we want to uphold authority which derives from predominant force or abuse, then the best way is force and abuse, as Catherine has expressed it by laying down punishments for expressing one’s thoughts. […]

Generally speaking the following may be said about the Empress Catherine’s Instructions. As I have already said before, we find two contradictory principles everywhere in it – the revolutionary spirit, to the influence of which the whole of Europe was then subject, and the spirit of despotism which her vanity would not allow her to renounce. Although she was aware of the superiority of the former, it is nevertheless the latter that prevails in her Instructions. The republican ideas borrowed for the most part from Montesquieu (as Meyer6 rightly remarks) she used as a means of justifying despotism, but for the most part unsuccessfully. Hence we often find in her Instructions ideas which are deficient in proofs or lack them altogether, republican ideas side by side with the most despotic ones and, finally, deductions which are often completely opposed to logic.

From the first glance at the Instructions we recognise that it was the intellectual fruit of a woman who, despite her great intellect, her exalted feelings and her love of truth, was unable to overcome her petty vanity which obscures her great merits. Generally speaking we find in this work more pettiness than soundness, more wit than reason, more vanity than love of truth and, finally, more self-love than love of the people. This latter tendency is apparent throughout the Instructions, in which we find only ordinances concerning public law, i.e. relationships of state (Catherine’s own relationships as its representative), and not civil law, i.e. relationships between private citizens. In conclusion I would say that the Instructions brought more fame to Catherine than benefit to Russia.

7 April, 8 am    I have never kept a diary before, because I could never see the benefit of it. But now that I am concerned with the development of my own faculties, I shall be able to judge from a diary the progress of that development. The diary should contain a table of rules, and it should also define my future activities. In exactly a week’s time I shall be leaving for the country.7 What should I do during that week? Study English and Latin, and Roman law and ordinances: to wit, read The Vicar of Wakefield,8 learning all the unfamiliar words, and go through the first part of the grammar; read the first part of the Institutions9 both for the sake of the language and for the sake of Roman law; finish the rules for my inner education; and win back what I lost at chess.

8 April, 6 am    Hope is bad for a happy man and good for an unhappy one.

Although I have gained a lot since I began to study myself, I am still very dissatisfied with myself. The more progress you make in self-improvement, the more you see the faults in yourself, and Socrates rightly said that the highest state of a man’s perfection is the knowledge that he knows nothing.10

9 April, 6 am    I am quite satisfied with myself as regards yesterday. I am beginning to acquire physical will-power, but my mental will-power is still very weak. With patience and application I am sure that I shall achieve everything I want.

17 April    I have not behaved all this time as I wished to behave. The cause has been, first, my return home from the clinic; and secondly the company which I have begun to associate with more often. I conclude from this that with every change of situation I shall need to think very seriously what external circumstances will influence me in the new situation, and how this influence can be eliminated. If my return home from the clinic could have such an influence on me, what influence will my transition from the life of a student to the life of a landowner have?11

There is bound to be a change in my way of life. But this change must not be the work of external circumstances, but of the mind.12 Here I am faced with the question: what is the purpose of a man’s life? Whatever the point of departure for my reasoning, whatever I take as its source, I always come to the same conclusion: the purpose of a man’s life is the furtherance in every possible way of the all-round development of everything that exists. If I reflect as I look at nature, I see that everything in it is constantly developing and that each constituent part unconsciously furthers the development of the other parts; and man, since he is likewise a part of nature, though one endowed with consciousness, must also, like the other parts – but by the conscious use of his mental faculties – strive for the development of everything that exists. If I reflect as I look at history, I see that the whole human race has constantly striven to achieve this purpose. If I reflect rationally, i.e. if I consider only a man’s mental faculties, I find in each man’s mind this same unconscious striving which is the necessary requirement of his mind. If I reflect as I look at the history of philosophy, I shall find that people everywhere have always come to the same conclusion that the purpose of a man’s life is the all-round development of mankind. If I reflect as I look at theology, I shall find that almost all peoples recognise a perfect existence, to strive to attain which is recognised to be the purpose of all men’s lives. And so I think that I can safely take as the purpose of my life the conscious striving for the all-round development of everything that exists.

I would be the unhappiest of men if I could not find a purpose for my life – a purpose both general and useful – useful because my immortal soul when fully mature will pass naturally into a higher existence and one that is appropriate to it. So now my whole life will be a constant and active striving to achieve this one purpose.

Now I ask myself, what will be the purpose of my life in the country for the next two years? (1) To study the whole course of law necessary for my final examination at the university. (2) To study practical medicine, and some theoretical medicine. (3) To study languages: French, Russian, German, English, Italian and Latin. (4) To study agriculture, both theoretical and practical. (5) To study history, geography and statistics. (6) To study mathematics, the grammar school course. (7) To write a dissertation. (8) To attain an average degree of perfection in music and painting. (9) To write down rules. (10) To acquire some knowledge of the natural sciences. (11) To write essays on all the subjects I shall study.

18 April    I wrote down a lot of rules all of a sudden13 and wanted to follow them all, but I wasn’t strong enough to do so. But now I want to set myself one rule only, and to add another one to it only when I’ve got used to following that one. The first rule which I prescribe is as follows: No. 1. Carry out everything you have resolved must be carried out. I haven’t carried out this rule.

19 April    Got up extremely late, and only resolved at 2 o’clock what to do during the day.

14 June, Yasnaya Polyana14    After nearly two months I’m taking up my pen again in order to continue my diary. Oh, it’s difficult for a man to develop what is good in himself under the sole influence of what is bad. […]

16 June    Shall I ever reach the stage of being independent of all extraneous circumstances? In my opinion that would be the greatest perfection; for in a man who is independent of all extraneous influence, spirit will necessarily of its own need take precedence over matter, and then he will attain his destiny. I am beginning to get used to the first rule which I prescribed for myself, and today I will prescribe another one, namely the following: regard the society of women as a necessary unpleasantness of social life, and avoid it as much as possible. From whom, indeed, do we derive sensuality, effeminacy, frivolity in everything and a multitude of other vices, if not from women? Who is to blame for the fact that we lose our innate feelings of boldness, resolution, judiciousness, justice, etc., if not women? A woman is more receptive than a man, and therefore women were better than us in virtuous ages; but in the present depraved and corrupt age they are worse than us.

General rule. All actions should be resolutions of the will, and not the unconscious fulfilment of bodily needs. Since we have already said that feelings and reason influence the physical will, these two faculties should determine the rules by which the physical will might operate for its own development. Feelings give it direction and indicate its purpose, but reason gives it the means by which it can achieve this purpose.

Rule 1    Each morning plan everything that you ought to do during the whole day, and carry out everything planned, even if carrying it out involves some harm. Apart from developing the will, this rule will also develop the mind, which will determine the actions of the will more judiciously. 2 Sleep as little as possible (sleep, in my opinion, is a state in which a man’s will is completely non-existent). 3 Put up with all bodily discomforts without giving outward expression to them. 4 Stick to your word. 5 If you once start anything at all, don’t give it up without finishing it. 6 Always keep a table in which to define all the most trivial circumstances of your life, even how many pipes to smoke a day. 7 If you do a thing, harness all your bodily faculties to what it is you are doing. But if your way of life changes, change these rules too.

(Feelings determine their own purpose.)

The source of all feelings is love in general, which can be divided into two sorts of love: love of ourselves or self-love, and love of everything around us. (I do not admit love of God, because it is impossible to call by the same name a feeling which we have for beings like ourselves or lower than ourselves, and a feeling for the highest, incomprehensible being, unlimited in space, time and power.) These two basic feelings mutally interact on each other. A general rule: all emotional acts should be, not unconscious fulfilments of emotional needs, but resolutions of the will. All feelings which have love of the whole world as their source are good; all feelings which have self-love as their source are bad. Let us look at each category of feeling separately. What feelings derive from self-love? (1) love of fame, (2) love of gain, and (3) love (between a man and a woman).

Now let us see what the rules ought to be for making the will prevail over each of these feelings.

Rule 8    Don’t worry about the approbation of people you either don’t know, or else despise. 9    Concern yourself more with yourself than with the opinion of others. 10    Be good, and try not to let anyone know that you are good. (Love of fame is sometimes good for others, but not for oneself.) 11    Always look for the good side in other people, and not the bad. Always tell the truth. If, when you are acting for yourself, your actions seem strange, don’t try to justify them to anyone. The following rule needs to be added to the ones for subordinating the feelings to the will. 12    Never express your feelings outwardly.

Rule 13    Always live less well than you could live. 14    Don’t change your way of life, even if you become ten times richer. 15    Use any increase in your estate not for yourself, but for society.

First rule. Keep away from women. Second rule. Mortify your desires by hard work.

The feelings which derive from love are: (1) love of all creation, (2) love of one’s country, (3) love of individual people.

Rule 16    Sacrifice all other feelings of love to universal love, and then the will will demand only the fulfilment of the needs of universal love, and will prevail over it. 17    Sacrifice a tenth part of all you might have at your disposal, for the good of others.

Love yourself and others equally, and give help rather to those who are less fortunate than you, and whom you can more conveniently help.

Rule 18    All these feelings are to be subordinated to one another in the order in which they stand here.

Rule 19    Decide on all your intellectual occupations at the beginning of the day. 20    When you are studying a subject, try to direct all your intellectual faculties to that subject. 21    Try not to let anything external, physical or emotional, influence the direction of your ideas, but let the ideas determine their own direction. 22    Try not to let any pain, physical or emotional, influence your intellect.

Whatever intellectual occupation you begin, don’t give it up until you have finished it. Since this rule could lead to great abuses, it must be limited here by the following rule: have a purpose for your life as a whole, a purpose for a certain period of your life, a purpose for a certain time, a purpose for a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour and a minute, sacrificing the lower purposes to the higher ones.

Rule 23    Draw up a plan of everything you are studying, and learn it off by heart. 24    Learn some poems each day in a language you are weak at. 25    Repeat in the evening everything you have learned during the day. Every week, every month and every year examine yourself in everything you have been studying, and if you find you have forgotten anything, begin again from the beginning.

Activity is of three kinds: physical, emotional and intellectual activity. Accordingly, rules for developing activity can also be divided into rules for developing physical, emotional and intellectual activity.

Rule 26    Think up as many occupations as possible for yourself. 27    Don’t have any servants. 28    Don’t ask for helpers for a job which you can finish on your own.

Since we have already said that all feelings which derive from self-love are bad, it follows that we ought only to give rules here whereby the activity of feelings which derive from love in general might be developed. 29    Feelings which concern love in general. Let your love for the whole human race be expressed in some form every day. 30    Feelings which concern love of one’s country. Be as useful to your country as you can. 31    Feelings which concern love of individual people. Try to find as many people as possible whom you can love more than all your neighbours. 32    Feelings which concern love of one’s relatives.15

Rule 32    Don’t build châteaux en Espagne. 33    Try to give your intellect as much food as possible.

We have five main intellectual faculties: the faculty of imagination, the faculty of memory, the faculty of comparison, the faculty of drawing conclusions from these comparisons and, finally, the faculty of putting these conclusions in order.

Rule 34    All games which require reflection are very good for developing this faculty.

I have already spoken about rules for developing the faculty of memory.

Rule 35    Study carefully the objects you are comparing. 36    Compare any new idea you come across with the ideas you already know. Justify all abstract ideas by examples.

Rule 36    Study mathematics. 37    Study philosophy. 38    Make critical notes when reading any philosophical work.

Rule 39    Study your own being and its organisation. 40    Reduce to one general conclusion all your information about any one branch of knowledge. 41    Compare all conclusions with each other, so that no one conclusion should contradict any other. 42    Write compositions which are not trivial, but scholarly.

General rule: the more you fulfil any one of your needs, the more it increases, and the less you fulfil it, the less active it becomes. Rule 4216    Love all people equally, not excluding yourself from this love. 43    Love each neighbour as yourself, but love two neighbours more than yourself.

Examine every object from all aspects. Examine every act from the aspect of its harmfulness and its benefit. With every act, consider how many ways it can be done and which of these ways is best. Consider the causes of every phenomenon and the possible consequences of it.

Notes

1 Of Kazan University.

2 Catherine the Great’s Instructions to the Commission for the Composition of a Plan for a New Code of Laws, known for short as the Nakaz (Instruction), was first published in 1767. Catherine borrowed many of her ideas on enlightened despotism and on crime and punishment from Montesquieu and Beccaria, and Tolstoy had been set the task by his professor of civil law at Kazan University of comparing the Nakaz with Montesquieu’s De l’esprit des lois – a task which he claims to have interested him greatly. For a full text of the Nakaz see: Catherine the Great’s Instruction to the Legislative Commission, 1767; volume II of Russia under Catherine the Great, ed. P. Dukes, Newtonville, Mass., 1977.

3 Catherine does not say this.

4 Literally ‘slavery’, but translated here and in similar contexts as ‘serfdom’.

5 Who were proud of the fact that ‘their ancestors had saved Rome’.

6 Professor of civil law at Kazan University.

7 To the Yushkovs’ estate near Kazan.

8 Oliver Goldsmith’s novel is not included in the list of books which Tolstoy later claimed to have made an impression on him at different periods of his life. (Letters, II, 484)

9 Justinian’s Code of Laws (Corpus juris civilis).

10 As reported by Diogenes.

11 Tolstoy had already requested permission to withdraw from the university, and left Kazan for Yasnaya Polyana on 23 April.

12 Dusha (‘soul’, ‘heart’, ‘mind’) has often been translated as ‘mind’, especially in contexts where, as here, dushevny is also used in the meaning of ‘mental’.

13 See p. 000. These rules were written down in a separate notebook betwen March and May.

14 Tolstoy reached Yasnaya Polyana on 1 May.

15 No rule is formulated, and another Rule 32 follows.

16 A second Rule 42.