Vadim Novgorodsky short. I WOULD

Ya. B. Knyazhnin

Vadim Novgorodsky

Tragedy in verse in five acts

CHARACTERS

Rurik, Prince of Novgorod.

Vadim, posadnik and commander.

Ramida, his daughter.

Prenest, the mayor.

Vigor, posadnik.

Izved, Rurik's confidante.

Selena, Ramidin's confidante.

Action in Novgorod on the square.

COMMENT

The tragedy is based on the legendary news of the uprising of the Novgorodians led by Vadim against Rurik, contained in the Nikon Chronicle. From historians of the XVIII century. this report is brought by V. N. Tatishchev, M. V. Lomonosov, M. M. Shcherbatov. N. M. Karamzin and S. M. Solovyov considered it rather a fiction. V. O. Klyuchevsky in the "Course of Russian History", on the contrary, writes about the indignation of the Novgorodians and the death of "brave Vadim" as a historical fact.

The tragedy was written in late 1788 - early 1789 and given to the theater. P. A. Plavilshchikov (Vadim), Ya. E. Shusherin (Rurik), E. F. Baranova (Ramida) were supposed to play in the intended performance. However, due to the beginning of the French Revolution, Knyazhnin took the tragedy out of the theatre. The play was published only after the death of Knyaznin in 1793 (see above on this page). Permission for the publication was given to E. R. Dashkova (in her Notes, she said that she had agreed to the publication of the tragedy without reading it). Shortly after the publication on September 30, 1793 of the 39th part of the Russian Featre, Prosecutor General A. N. Samoilov appeared to E. R. Dashkova with a reprimand for publishing the tragedy. An investigation began, which was conducted by A. N. Samoilov under the supervision of the Empress. At the meetings on December 7, 14 and 24, 1793, the Senate, at the suggestion of Samoilov, considered the tragedy "Vadim of Novgorod" and ordered it to be burned. On December 24, the nominal decree of Catherine II on the destruction of the play is also dated. The discovered copies of a separate edition were burned on Aleksandrovskaya Square in St. Petersburg (near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra).

Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. the tragedy was not published, although it was known and distributed in the lists, especially in the era of the Decembrists, in whose work the theme of Vadim occupies a prominent place. In the early 1820s, A. S. Pushkin turned to the image of Vadim, in 1829 Lermontov wrote the poem “The Last Son of Liberty” dedicated to the Novgorod hero. The opposite interpretation of Vadim as a low-minded ambitious man, proposed by Catherine II, was also continued (tragedy by P. A. Plavilshchikov "Rurik" - see this edition).

In 1871, in "Russian Antiquity" (vol. 3, No. 6), P. A. Efremov printed the text of Knyazhnin's tragedy with some cuts. With the same cuts (without four verses of Prenest's monologue from 4 phenomena II of the act, starting with the words "Autocracy is everywhere the doer of troubles ..."), she appeared in the "Bibliographic description of rare and wonderful books" published by A. E. Burtsev (St. Petersburg. , 1901). In its entirety (but with textological distortions) the tragedy was published by VF Savodnik (Pg., 1914). The original text of "Vadim of Novgorod" after the first edition (1793) first appeared only in the collection "Russian Literature of the 18th Century" (L., 1937), prepared by G. A. Gukovsky.

^ STEP ONE

PHENOMENON I

Prenest and Vigor

Already Vadim, having accomplished the war with glory,

Finally comes to his father's country;

But he hides his return from all citizens

And only two will honor us to see?

Why did he appoint an hour to meet with us,

Until the sun shines on our eyes,

On the square itself, formerly only sacred to us,

Where is the people of Novgorod, exalted by freedom,

Subject only to being laws and gods,

Charters handed midnight to all countries?

Autocratic power now devours everything,

And Rurik has been harvesting fruits here for many centuries, -

Here, I think, is the secrecy of Vadimova's wine.

His fatherland is disgusting for him,

Where, bow before a mortal on the throne,

He will see himself in the same share with the slaves.

See him; and after him those warriors of the crowd,

Which glory in the way led his feet.

EVENT 2

Vadim, followed by several military leaders who were with him at war,

Prenest and Vigor

Do I see you, Vigor, Preneste magnanimous?

We are always obedient to your commands,

For us, your sacred order was fulfilled.

Friends! in my own country, do I see you?

Already the dawn illuminates the tops of those towers,

Which Novgrad raises to the clouds.

See Perun's temple, where his thunder is silent, -

In inaction, Perun, seeing villainy, sleeps!

And these glorious, sacred halls,

Where our nobles are great, like gods,

But they are always equal and lesser of the citizens,

The solid freedoms of these countries,

The people with the name that was revered,

Trembling kings were given laws.

O Novgrad! what were you and what are you now?

(To everyone.)

Host of heroes! you measure his greatness;

And I, from sorrow, seeing him in chains,

Powerless to do it, I hate life ...

Do you shudder?.. And how not to tremble,

When from the slavery of the abyss we dare to look

Kind to the former height of the fatherland!

All the power of the North is useless before it,

His power, knowing no enemies,

Equal in horror with the power of the gods.

And today this magnificent city, this lord of the North -

Could we expect a bit of shame!--

This proud giant, the lord himself at his feet

Defeated, then forgot that before he could.

I forgot! - But how to forget? Whatever the eye strikes

All the glory of the fallen depicts him.

Let's look at the fields - the thunder still sounds there,

By which the goth is slain, daring us to be an enemy;

Or turn our eyes to the interior of the city,

Rivers where joy flowed with freedom -

Everywhere are those paths where proud kings

Submission was carried to us, in vain with us at.

This is the place, those honors are a witness,

When our people are here, benefactor to the lords,

The Varangians took the persecuted king under the roof,

Silenced his enemies in awe.

Citizens! remember that time is full of glory;

But remember - in order to overthrow the vile burden! ..

O shame! This king, then subdued, dejected,

Presented with prayer, in the middle of our walls

He turns his forehead to dust before us;

And today - O formidable fate! - He possesses us -

This Rurik! .. I can’t continue anymore,

But your feeling can finish you,

What my voice cannot do in despair.

And our heart is sadness, yours is similar, it gnaws.

Fatherland, we are in vain cast down into misfortune,

In despair, we mourn a part of him.

Do you mourn? - Oh, terrible changes!

Do you mourn? - But who are you? - Or wives?

Il Rurik could transform your spirit so much,

Why do you only cry when your duty is to smash?

We are hungry after you forever to glorify ourselves,

Destroy the proud throne, restore the fatherland;

But though zeal burns in our hearts,

However, there is still no way to do so.

Neglecting the days, both vile and harsh,

If we must die, we are ready to die;

But so that our death is not in vain from evil

Could save the fatherland

And so that, trying to break the bonds, we are in captivity,

They would not have aggravated these bonds more and more.

You will know for yourself, Vadim, how difficult it is to destroy the throne,

Which Rurik erected here without obstacles,

Called by petition from a whole people.

You will know how they have taken away freedom

It has been replaced by a charming power.

You will know how his power is respected

And how few true sons of the fatherland,

Which, feeling the gnawing sting of slavery,

We would be ashamed of the fact that there is a mortal in the world,

In whose hands their liberty, life and honor.

By Rurik's cunning, the forces are civilly weak;

And the Varangian army is filled with a dull hail.

We must expect the help of the immortals,

And the gods can give us a convenient opportunity.

So we should only rely on the gods

And in the herd a man without glory to grovel?

But the gods gave us freedom to return:

And the heart - to dare, and the hand - to smash!

Their help is in us. What else do you want?

Go, crawl, wait in vain for their thunder;

And I, alone for you in anger, seething here,

I will move to die, not enduring the lord.

Oh rock! Fatherland excommunicated for three summers,

For the glory of his victory carried away,

Leaving liberty I, bliss in these walls,

On us who have risen, I overthrow pride to dust;

I bring the fruits of my exploits to the people;

What do I see here? The nobles who lost their freedom

In vile timidity bent before the king

And kissing their yoke under the scepter.

Tell me how you are, in vain the fall of the fatherland,

Could a minute of life extend to shame?

How can you endure the light and how do you want to live?

As before, we burn with love for the fatherland ...

Not in a word, it must prove it b - with your blood!

Sacred is the word only from your throw words.

Or maybe the fatherland belongs to the slaves?

Having a righteous spirit, saddened by sadness,

In vain, against us you are darkened by anger,

You burden the most innocent only with fierce guilt.

As soon as you left this country before the army,

Many nobles, seeing a means to villainy

And only strong fatherlands to disaster,

Pride, envy, anger, rebellion were brought into the city.

The abode of silence has become hell.

The holy truth has departed from here.

Freedom, trembling, bent over to fall.

Internecine strife with an impudent brow

On the corpses of fellow citizens erected a house of death.

Aspiring all the people to be the food of greedy crows,

Fought in fury for the election of tyrants.

The whole Volkhov, smoking with blood, boiled.

Deplorable Novgorod! you are not mature for salvation!

Venerable Gostomysl, decorated with gray hairs,

Losing all sons under these walls

And crying not about them - about the misfortune of fellow citizens,

One to the joy of us immortal was given.

He invites this Rurik to help;

With his sword, he returns bliss to us.

At that time, exhausted by years and disaster,

Days ended Gostomysl, illumined with joy,

What could the fatherland restore calm;

But, retreating to the gods, honoring Rurik's heroism,

He bequeathed to the people, may he retain power,

Who finished his moaning and attack.

Our people, touched by only great merit,

He placed a savior over himself as lord.

Lord! Rurika! Whom did this people save?

When he came to our aid, what did he do for us?

He paid his debt! .. But if his good deeds

You seemed to be worthy of retribution -

Or should you have been free to pay

And put your slavery as a gift to merit?

O low souls! falling under rock

And carried away by chance by the stream,

Blessed would Rurik be, if he could become,

Clothed in purple, equal to our citizens:

This great title among the kings is forever glorious,

He would have been richly rewarded with this honor.

Say: Gostomysl, I am convinced by heroism,

I bequeathed bonds to you to end your misfortune.

Or was the freedom of fellow citizens his inheritance?

Or could he give you, as well as those animals,

Which for himself everyone can curb?

Closed in the pride of the fatherland by love

And unite your blood with the royal blood,

Under the guise of stopping the general attack,

He gave power here to his daughter's son;

And I will give him my only begotten daughter,

Having a soul who is not slavish, noble,

Seeking the fatherland to save me after

And not sparing life, he will surpass all mortals.

Ramida is the price I offer.

Tyrants gates - my son! .. I know your passion for her.

You know, she is seduced by beauty,

Alkali honor to be a gift in kinship with me;

But I neglected to accept a tyrant as a son

And, a citizen, he wanted a citizen of Novgorod.

Reveal, are you worthy of this name.

Or, erecting an idol of slaves on their heads,

Sacrifice me, and honor, and everything to him, -

See my daughter, too, smitten, dead.

To be worthy of being the dearest hand only,

One is ready to despise countless regiments,

By which Rurik asserts his throne.

How much happiness this my spirit hungers for

And how much I love my fatherland, -

With weapons in hand, I will show you.

I swear by Perunov by the sacred name,

I swear by my heart, Ramida deceived,

Hold on to everything.

Take my oath as well.

Oh the fire of heroes! I now know you!

Hope you citizens! consolation for the fatherland!

(To the military leaders who came with him.)

My champions! Let's leave the walls of the city

And, taking advantage of the rest of the weak darkness,

In those gloomy wilds we will depart from here,

Where are my warriors, crowned with victory,

Feeding the rage of aspirations are inexpressible,

To whom the damage of the fatherland kindled in them,

Decided to die or overthrow the throne.

Vigor will follow us to the heroes of the sim,

Prenest will stay here to rule over hearts.

Go.

The Warlords and Vigor leave.

EVENT 3

Vadim and Prenest

I entrust our part to you:

Try to ignite that passion for the fatherland,

Which created citizens as heroes,

Which in the hearts of the state closed.

Whatever you feel, let them feel it.

Compare yourself, Prenest, with my reverence.

Although Vigor strives for an equal path with you,

But your success becomes my desire.

Blessed is when you are obliged to reward,

To Ramida I can crown your flame.

And seduced by your beautiful daughter,

And admired by your flattering respect,

I am ashamed, sacrificing my blood,

That the heat for the fatherland divides my love.

And maybe your respect diminishes

The reward, with which Vadim consoles my heart.

Believe me, although above all I honor this gift,

But the position of my love is not harmful to the heat,

In which I find all my happiness.

And if, to the sorrow of Ramida, I melt,

Although I am unwilling to stay forever,

I can be unhappy, dishonest - never!

You will see me, all hope is deprived,

For society, a heroic aspiration is on your trail,

As with hope equally carrying the chest,

Disregarding life, in a bloody path of glory.

This I hope, Knowing the heart of Prenesta;

But the daughter of Vadimov is so little honored,

Why do you think she is unwilling to see

And society in you to despise the savior?

My blood is in her: she will not be cowardly

And - only she is always obedient to her position -

Those hearts of weakness know how to curb,

Which bliss in us is convenient to revive.

Raised by me, you will be a witness

To her my power is law, and happiness is virtue.

Sorry. Already a ray of sunshine, spreading light,

The village is calling me to the dense forests.

Alas! when everything is already enslaved here,

There is no fatherland here - everything is contained there,

Where are our heroes, contributing over fate,

Ready to die or trample on the scepter.

But the daughter, who does not know Vadim's return,

Why do you deprive you of consolation?

Be careful to open my arrival to her:

Though bitter for my parent's soul,

That the hour of a meeting I put off with her,

But I prefer my own country.

I hasten to arrange everything so that in the coming night,

Having seen freedom here, to see my daughter.

Ya. B. Knyazhnin.

Yakov Borisovich Knyazhnin (1742–1791) was the son of a vice-governor; he received a good education and began to write poetry from childhood. As a young man, he went through the service of Nikita Panin in a foreign collegium, then he was a military man, quickly "made a career" and at the age of 22 became an adjutant at the duty adjutant generals of the empress. In 1773, he lost at cards and squandered government money (almost 6,000 rubles). The case began, ending only in 1777 with the transfer of his estate of 250 “souls” of peasants to the custody of his mother and the exclusion of him from the service. He was in poverty for several years, earning money by transfers; then he was taken to his service by the nobleman I.I. Betsky, who was in charge of a number of educational institutions, orphanages, construction of palaces and other construction work of the monarchy. Knyaznin served as Betsky's secretary until his death. At one time he led the teaching of sciences at the Smolny Institute for "noble maidens", he himself taught Russian literature in the Cadet gentry corps. He met Sumarokov closely after his first major success in dramaturgy: the production of the tragedy Dido (1769), and soon married his daughter, Katerina Alexandrovna, who also wrote poetry in her youth. In the 1780s, writers and lovers of literature and theater gathered in the Knyazhnin house; "It was one of the salons in which the tastes and worldview of the advanced noble youth were formed.

Knyazhnin wrote tragedies, comedies in verse and prose, comic operas and poems; he translated a lot - among other things, the tragedy of Corneille and Voltaire's poem "Henriade". Contemporaries repeatedly pointed out that in his original works he borrowed too much from the French (and sometimes from the Italians); in fact, most of Knyazhnin's works are free adaptations of other people's plays; not without reason Pushkin called him in "Eugene Onegin" "receptive". However, its popularity at the end of the XVIII century was very high. He was considered the best Russian tragedian, and his comedies were highly valued.

Knyazhnin's teachers taught him to hate tyranny; his struggle with the reaction in the name of the ideal of freedom (albeit subjectively limited for him by the framework of the noble constitution) determined the highest achievements of his work, original and completely Russian, despite the “reciprocity” in relation to the plots and numerous details of his plays. It was Knyazhnin's courage in his fight against the reaction that caused the troubles that poisoned the last months of his life, and perhaps hastened his death. The French Revolution also stimulated the rise of political activity in Knyazhnin. He wrote an article or pamphlet with the emphatic title "Woe to my fatherland"; this work of his, which has not come down to us, was not printed, but fell into the hands of those in power; what happened then, we don’t know exactly, but we know that something happened that “foggy” the end of his life and had a strong effect on him, according to S.N., who knew him well. Glinka. Probably this story was reflected in the words of Pushkin, conveying the legend, most likely exaggerating the facts: “Knyaznin died under the rods” (the so-called “Notes on Russian History of the 18th Century”), as well as in the message of Bantysh-Kamensky that Knyazhnin visited severe interrogation of Sheshkovsky, allegedly because of "Vadim", known to Sheshkovsky in the manuscript (see below), after which he fell ill and died. The same Glinka, who knew Knyazhnin’s manuscript incompletely and from a draft, conveys its contents (it should be remembered that he tried to “justify” Knyazhnin before the tsarist government and therefore, no doubt, softened the meaning of what was stated): “Knyaznin’s main idea was that with the course of circumstances and that in order to avert too sharp a break

The Tragedy of Princess. Without a doubt, the crowning achievement of Knyazhnin's dramatic work, his most responsible and politically important genre, was tragedy.

Knyazhnin wrote seven tragedies, of which one, "Olga", has not yet been published, although her text has been preserved *; the other six are: Dido (1769), borrowed from a tragedy by Lefranc de Pompignan and partly from Metastasio's play of the same name; "Vladimir and Yaropolk" (1772), a reworking of "Andromache" by Racine; "Rosslav" (1784); The Mercy of Titus, a free translation of Metastasio's opera of the same name; "Sophonisba", a reworking of Voltaire's tragedy of the same name; Vladisan, an imitation of Voltaire's Merope; "Vadim Novgorodsky" (1789).

"Vadim" Princess. A difficult fate befell Knyazhnin's tragedy "Vadim of Novgorod", written in 1789. This tragedy is without a doubt the best work of Knyazhnin, and politically the most meaningful and bold.

In "Vadim" Knyazhnin used the motifs of Voltaire's tragedies "Brutus" and "The Death of Caesar" and Kornelev's "Cinna"*. The tragedy is based on the message of the Nikon Chronicle (under the year 863) that the Novgorodians were dissatisfied with the insults from Rurik and his relatives and that "of the same summer, Rurik killed Vadim the Brave and many other beaten Novgorodians, his advisers." This record of the chronicle served as an occasion for a number of Russian writers to create the image of a free Novgorodian, a republican, rebelling against the princely autocracy; sketches of the tragedy and Pushkin's poem about Vadim have come down to us; Ryleev wrote the thought "Vadim"; young Lermontov wrote a poem about Vadim - "The Last Son of Liberty." At the beginning of this tradition of freedom-loving interpretation of the image of Vadim, there is a pathetic play by Knyaznin, but it, in turn, was a response to Catherine II's play "Historical performance from the life of Rurik" (1786). The Empress made Vadim a prince and Rurik's cousin. He is not at all a Republican, not an ideological opponent of Rurik, but simply an ambitious man who plotted to usurp his cousin's power himself. Rurik defeated Vadim and offers him the position of his assistant. Vadim repents, longs to make amends and prove his loyalty to the monarch. Catherine's play is artistically helpless and crudely reactionary in its tendency. Knyaznin covered the same topic in a completely different way.

In his tragedy, Vadim is a republican, a hater of tyrants. Of course, the historical point of view is alien to Knyazhnin, and he portrays Vadim in the spirit of the ideal of a free man according to the concepts of the revolutionary enlighteners of the 18th century. and at the same time a hero in the ancient Roman style like Cato and Brutus, as they were imagined by the same enlighteners of the 18th century. However, for Knyazhnin, the thought of the primordial freedom of the Russian people, of the alien character of autocracy, is also important for Knyazhnin. Vadim Knyazhnina is the guardian of the freedom inherent in his homeland, and he does not seek new forms of government, but the preservation of what belongs to Novgorod by right and by tradition. It has already been pointed out above that this point of view was inherited by the Decembrists.

During the absence of Vadim from Novgorod, an important and sad event occurred: power passed to Rurik and the republic turned into a monarchy. "Having returned, Vadim does not want to come to terms with the loss of liberty by his fatherland; he raises an uprising; but he is defeated and perishes. Commits suicide with him and his daughter Ramida, in love with Rurik and loved by him. Such is the plot scheme of the tragedy of Knyazhnin. Vadim, a fiery republican, is opposed in the tragedy by Rurik, an ideal monarch, wise and meek, ready to reign for the good of the country; but the sharper and deeper is the formulation of the question by Knyazhnin that he still condemns tyranny, because he wants to reveal the problem in its essence, in principle. He wants to say that the king can be a good person - and yet he is hated as a king. It's not about people, but about the very principle Severe Republican prowess, the mighty and gloomy figure of Vadim, for whom there is no life outside of freedom, who sacrifices not only his life, but also happiness and life to the idea and the fatherland his beloved daughter, gives the tragedy of Knyazhnin a majestic and gloomy character. The somewhat sugary meekness of Rurik pales before the titanic image of Vadim, magnificent, despite his conventionality. The republican tirades of Vadim and his like-minded people sounded like revolutionary proclamations and speeches in 1789, when the tragedy was written, and in 1793, when it was published, especially since readers of that time were accustomed to seeing "allusions" in tragedies, allusions to living political modernity; indeed, Knyazhnin himself had in mind in his play, of course, not the ninth century, but the eighteenth, and in the speeches of his republicans he addressed directly his compatriots and contemporaries. At the same time, it is not important that Knyazhnin, speaking of freedom, imagines it to himself, perhaps in a rather limited way. The fiery preaching of hatred for the autocracy was important.

Vadim asks his friends and associates.

The denouement of Knyaznin's tragedy is remarkable in its originality of design: Rurik defeated Vadim. Moreover, he decides to enter into an argument with Vadim. He declares that he did not want a crown, that the people themselves, exhausted by strife, asked him to become a monarch; he speaks of his intention to reign virtuously. Then he removes the crown from the head and says, addressing the people:

Now I am giving you back your pledge;

As I received it, I am so pure and return it.

You can turn the crown into nothing,

Or put it on the head of Vadim.

Vadim on the head! How I dread slavery

Toliko I abhor his tool!

So, Rurik is right; the people themselves ask him to be a monarch, the people love a monarchy; this is how some critics understood Knyazhnin - and misunderstood.

The whole princess is with Vadim. But he admits that the monarchy has won, the people are deceived, they believe in the principle of tsarism, the ancient freedom of Russia is forgotten. Noble freedom-loving people are dying without the support of the people. All they have to do is die free. After all, the recognition of the victory of tyranny is not its approval. Knyaznin hates her, fights her with his artistic word, but he came to a pessimistic conclusion in Vadim; evil has won, the struggle is coming to an end, if not over. Shame on a country that has submitted to tyrants. And seeing how the people ask Rurik to "rule over him", Vadim, i.e. Knyazhnin himself exclaims, again addressing his contemporaries:

O vile slaves, asking for your fetters!

O shame! The whole spirit of the citizens from here "is exterminated!

Vadim! Behold the society of which you are a member!

The tragedy remained unpublished and unstaged. Two years after Knyazhnin's death, in 1793, the year of the Jacobin dictatorship, Knyazhnin's heirs (in particular, his son-in-law) gave his unpublished plays to the publisher Glazunov for publication.

A difficult fate befell Knyazhnin's tragedy "Vadim of Novgorod", written in 1789. This tragedy is without a doubt the best work of Knyazhnin, and politically the most meaningful and bold.

In "Vadim" Knyazhnin used the motifs of Voltaire's tragedies "Brutus" and "Death of Caesar" and Kornel's "Cinna". The tragedy is based on the message of the Nikon Chronicle (under the year 863) that the Novgorodians were dissatisfied with the insults from Rurik and his relatives and that "of the same summer, Rurik killed Vadim the Brave and many other beaten Novgorodians, his advisers." This record of the chronicle served as an occasion for a number of Russian writers to create the image of a free Novgorodian, a republican, rebelling against the princely autocracy; sketches of the tragedy and Pushkin's poem about Vadim have come down to us; Ryleev wrote the thought "Vadim"; young Lermontov wrote a poem about Vadim - "The Last Son of Liberty." At the beginning of this tradition of freedom-loving interpretation of the image of Vadim, there is a pathetic play by Knyaznin, but it, in turn, was a response to Catherine II's play "Historical performance from the life of Rurik" (1786). The Empress made Vadim a prince and Rurik's cousin. He is not at all a Republican, not an ideological opponent of Rurik, but simply an ambitious man who plotted to usurp his cousin's power himself. Rurik defeated Vadim and offers him the position of his assistant. Vadim repents, longs to make amends and prove his loyalty to the monarch. Catherine's play is artistically helpless and crudely reactionary in its tendency. Knyaznin covered the same topic in a completely different way.

During the absence of Vadim from Novgorod, an important and sad event occurred: power passed to Rurik and the republic turned into a monarchy. Returning, Vadim does not want to come to terms with the loss of liberty by his fatherland; he raises a rebellion; but he is defeated and perishes. Commits suicide with him and his daughter Ramida, in love with Rurik and loved by him. Such is the plot scheme of the tragedy of Knyazhnin. Vadim, a fiery republican, is opposed in the tragedy by Rurik, the ideal monarch, wise and meek, ready to reign for the good of the country; but the sharper and deeper the formulation of the question by Knyazhnin is that he nevertheless condemns tyranny, for he wants to reveal the problem in its essence, in principle. He wants to say that a king can be a good person - and yet he is hated as a king. It's not about people, it's about principle. The harsh republican virtues, the powerful and gloomy figure of Vadim, for whom there is no life outside of freedom, who sacrifices not only his life, but also the happiness and life of his beloved daughter to the idea and the fatherland, gives the tragedy of Knyazhnin a majestic and gloomy character. The somewhat sugary meekness of Rurik pales before the titanic image of Vadim, magnificent, despite his conventionality. The republican tirades of Vadim and his like-minded people sounded like revolutionary proclamations and speeches in 1789, when the tragedy was written, and in 1793, when it was published, especially since readers of that time were accustomed to seeing "allusions" in tragedies, allusions to living political modernity; indeed, Knyazhnin himself had in mind in his play, of course, not the ninth century, but the eighteenth, and in the speeches of his republicans he addressed directly his compatriots and contemporaries. At the same time, it is not important that Knyazhnin, speaking of freedom, imagines it to himself, perhaps in a rather limited way. The fiery preaching of hatred for the autocracy was important.

Vadim asks his friends and associates:

So we should only rely on the gods,

And in the herd Man without glory to grovel?

But the gods gave us freedom to return

And the heart - to dare, and the hands - to smash!

Their help is in us! What else do you want?

Go, crawl, wait in vain for their thunder;

And I'm alone for you in anger here boiling,

I will move to die, impatient of the lord! ..

What do I see here? The nobles who lost their freedom

In vile timidity bent before the king

(And kissing their yoke under the scepter.

Say: how are you, in vain the fall of the fatherland,

Could a minute of life extend to shame?

How can you endure the light and how do you want to live?

This is Kniazhnin's appeal to his contemporaries. The story of Vadim’s assistant, Prenest, became famous, about how he spoke to the Novgorod nobles, “whom the proud spirit murmured against the crown ...

And anger lightning in silence fed ...

... Already with the army, Vadim brought punishment to tyranny;

Kohl, just like him, is disgusting to you with a crown,

The proud will not escape his fall,

Who gives us a taste of the honeycomb of deceit,

We are driven to sorrow by the autocratic kingdom.

He is magnanimous today, meek, just,

But having strengthened his throne, he is proud without fear,

Kohl honors the laws today, being equal with us in everything,

Laws after all and we will be trampled under foot!

Having penetrated your future with your wisdom,

Do not be lulled by the bliss of this power:

What is it that Rurik was born to be this hero?

What hero in a crown has not gone astray?

The greatness of his poison is intoxicated,

Who among the kings in purple was not corrupted?

Autocracy, troublemaker everywhere,

Harms the purest virtue,

And opening the unforbidden paths to passions,

Gives freedom to be tyrants to kings...

... Now I am giving you back your pledge;

As I received it, I am so pure and return it.

You can turn the crown into nothing,

Or put it on the head of Vadim.

Vadim on the head! How I dread slavery

Toliko I abhor his tool!

(Rurik, pointing to the people who stood before Rurik,

on his knees to make it easier for him to wield it.)

See, my lord, the whole city is at your feet!

Father of the people! see your prayers of children;

Leave intentions, their happiness predyasti.

So, Rurik is right; the people themselves ask him to be a monarch, the people love a monarchy; this is how some critics understood Knyazhnin - and misunderstood.

O vile slaves, asking for your fetters!

O shame! The whole spirit of the citizens from here is exterminated!

Vadim! Behold the society of which you are a member!

If you honor the power of a monarch worthy of punishment,

See my excuses in the hearts of my citizens;

And what can you say against it?

Tell me to give me the sword and I will answer!

(Rurik gives a sign that Vadim should be given the sword.)

Vadim is now pleased; he promises that both Rurik and Ramida will be pleased. And Rurik is so self-confident that he thinks that Vadim can retreat from his views and can become his father. But Vadim Knyazhnina is not the Vadim of Catherine II; He says:

I can't bear such a vile sight!

Listen to me, Rurik, to me, people, and you, Ramida.

(K. Rurik.)

I see your power is pleasing to heaven;

You have given the hearts of citizens a different feeling;

Everything fell before you; the world loves to crawl;

But can I be seduced by such a world?

(To the people.)

You want to be enslaved under the trampled scepter!

I no longer have a fatherland of citizens!”

And, "stabbing", Vadim defeats Rurik:

In the midst of your victorious troops,

In the plaintiff, who can see everything at your feet,

What are you against someone who dares to die?

It would be naive to think that Knyazhnin's pessimism could make him give up the fight. After all, his very tragedy “Vadim of Novgorod” is a courageous feat of struggle against the all-powerful tyranny, which gave “a different feeling to the hearts of citizens”, a bold attempt to turn these hearts to their ancient rights, to freedom, to Russian prowess. A few days passed, the French Revolution began, and Knyazhnin, who received historical support, writes: "Woe to my fatherland."

"Vadim Novgorodsky" was completed by the author just before the French Revolution. Knyazhnin gave the new tragedy to the theater for staging, but when the revolution broke out, he took Vadim back; probably, the story of "Woe to my fatherland" also played a role here, and may be decisive. The tragedy remained unpublished and unstaged. Two years after Knyazhnin's death, in 1793, the year of the Jacobin dictatorship, Knyazhnin's heirs (in particular, his son-in-law) gave his unpublished plays to the publisher Glazunov for publication. Glazunov gave "Vadim" to the printing house of the Academy of Sciences. According to the situation, the tragedy was censored at the Academy of O.P. Kozodavlev, a writer and official, who was instructed to view the play by Dashkova, the president of the Academy. Kozodavlev approved the tragedy, and it was published as a separate edition in July 1793. Then the same set (with minor differences) was used to print "Vadim" in the XXXIX volume of the collection of Russian dramatic plays "Russian Theatre", published by the Academy. At the end of September this volume was also published. And now the tragedy began to be intensively bought up; she made a strong impression. At the same time, General Count I.P. Saltykov, who was informed about the nature of the tragedy, informed his favorite Zubov about it, and he told Ekaterina. In 1793, she did not want to tolerate the propaganda of the Jacobin ideas; she was very frightened by the French revolution and was very afraid that the "contagion" would not spread to Russia. In 1790, she had already dealt with Radishchev. Now there appeared "Vadim" of that same Knyazhnin, about whose "criminal" manuscript "Woe to my fatherland" she could not, of course, forget. Catherine was angry with Dashkova, who allowed the tragedy to be printed at the Academy of Sciences. Knyaznin could no longer suffer the punishment of an angry autocrat, but his tragedy suffered punishment. Catherine ordered, and the Senate sentenced: to confiscate, if possible, all copies of "Vadim" and publicly burn them. Vadim was torn out of the XXXIX volume of the Russian Theatre, while also taking neighboring plays. The two sons of Knyazhnin, sergeants of the guard, were interrogated and asked whether their father really wrote “Vadim”, and not someone else who hid behind the name of the deceased poet. Glazunov was arrested for a time; other people were also interrogated.

As a result, "Vadim" in the first edition became the greatest bibliographic rarity, and new editions could not appear until 1871, when it was published in the journal "Russian Antiquity" by P.A. Efremov, - and then with the omission of four verses in Prenest's speech: "Autocracy, troublemaker everywhere", etc. (in a few separate reprints of this publication, the "criminal" four verses have been restored).

There were many people in Russia in 1793 who sympathized with the ideas expressed in Vadim. But there were also quite a few reactionaries who were angry at these ideas together with Catherine II. Among them was, for example, the notorious N.E. Struisky, a tyrant landowner, a torturer and torturer of his serfs, moreover, obsessed with poetic creativity: he wrote a lot of outrageous bad poetry and printed most of them in his own printing house in his village of Ruzaevka. In the same place, in 1794, his pamphlet “Letter on the Russian Theater of the Present Condition” was embossed, inappropriately addressed to Dmitrevsky, a friend of Knyazhnin, Fonvizin, Krylov. In absurd verses, Struisky is indignant at the fact that the modern theater dispels the pernicious poison of free-thinking and anarchy. He means "Sorena" Nikolev, and then "Vadim" Knyazhnin, saying that a certain tragedian

Enveloping the autocracy of the monarch,

Disgracefully raving exciting spirit and temper:

Disappear, he says, this pernicious charter,

Which is enclosed in one royal will!

... The Creator wanted to reveal himself as Aristophanes

And upraise your neck, to show yourself as a titan.

But not Athens here! Here is the Russian country,

The power from God here is given to the monarchs ...

... Whether I will weave my thought in verses here,

To splash and indulge iniquity,

Or more to inflame and lead to violence

Praise so that I become the vile Vadim,

Whom the fates were cast down for a century!

And honored with the monarch's indulgence,

Attracted by madness, he lost respect ...

Struisky is angry: why does Knyazhnin want to exterminate tyrants; Struisky finds that there are no tyrants in the world; Struisky is angry that Knyazhnin praises liberty, which, they say, is suitable not for people, but only for animals; Struysky claims that such works are a call to rebellion, and after all, the French Revolution, in his opinion, is the result of insidious propaganda by writers like Voltaire. Struisky's vicious attacks are a kind of measure of the progressive significance of the Knyazhnin tragedy.

Meanwhile, in the XIX and still in the XX centuries. "Vadim Novgorodsky" by Knyazhnin also caused a variety of assessments and various interpretations.

In 1871, publishing "Vadim" in "Russian Antiquity", P.A. Efremov prefaced the text of the tragedy with a preface, in which, outlining the censorship history of the play, he also gave its interpretation. He believed that the persecution of "Vadim" was due only to the fact that he appeared at the wrong time, in 1793; Referring to the remark of Yevgeny Bolkhovitinov, a contemporary of Knyaznin, that "Vadim" seemed like an alarm, Efremov continued:

“At present, such terrible views are inapplicable to the innocent tragedy of Knyazhnin, for in general “Vadim” not only does not conclude anything harmful, but even praises the monarchist principle. The people who banned the play looked at her extremely one-sidedly; they did not want to delve into its idea, but settled on two or three verses that seemed harsh and "Jacobean", forgetting that all the faces in the play cannot say the same thing, and that supposedly harsh tirades mean nothing in general the impression of the play, representing Rurik as a benevolent ruler, equipped with all possible virtues and the savior of Novgorod from unbridled freedom, civil strife and arbitrariness. If Vadim had been published five or six years earlier, it would have passed without arousing condemnation.

In this view of Vadim, Efremov developed the point of view expressed, however, more cautiously, even earlier by M.N. Longinov in his article “Ya.B. Knyazhnin and his tragedy "Vadim" ("Russian Messenger", 1860, February, book 2). It should be pointed out that Efremov, apparently, was forced to emphasize the "innocence" of the tragedy of Knyazhnin, wishing in this way to justify the possibility of reprinting it before the authorities. In 1881, an article by V.Ya. Stoyunin "Knyazhnin - writer" ("Historical Bulletin" No. 7-8); V.Ya. Stoyunin believes that both the republican and the monarch are each good in their own way in the tragedy of Knyaznin. At the same time, in his opinion, “the whole tragedy suggests such an idea: a virtuous monarch should not be afraid of republican ideas among the people who love him and whom he wants to do good.”

V. Savodnik, who published “Vadim of Novgorod” in 1914 (according to the text of the list of the beginning of the 19th century), in the preface to this edition, states the idea that Knyazhnin in his tragedy preached the ideal of a virtuous monarch in the person of Rurik. He emphasizes that “Vadim’s republican tirades, with their praise of freedom and sharp attacks against unlimited power, do not at all stand apart in the Russian drama literature of that time – and if the expression of these ideas and feelings in the tragedy of Knyazhnin caused censorship persecution, meanwhile, as Nikolev was honored with the favor of the Empress for his tragedy, then this, according to the correct remark of Acad. Su-. Khomlinov, is explained only by the fact that Nikolev's work appeared before the revolution, and "Vadim" was published after it.

He further writes: “Regarding the question of how fair the accusations against Knyaznin were of preaching republican ideas, we must certainly come to a negative conclusion. Although there is no doubt that Knyazhnin to a certain extent adopted many of the views of the French Enlightenment philosophy of the 18th century, which were also reflected in his works, we have no evidence to suggest that he was inclined to any extreme conclusions, especially in the field of political ideas ... Rurik , and not at all Vadim, is the real hero of the tragedy - and all of it, taken as a whole, gives the impression of the apotheosis of monarchical "power".

Yu. Veselovsky in his brochure “Ya.B. Knyaznin approaches a similar view: although he does not consider Vadim a monarchist tragedy, he still thinks that the struggle between the two worldviews—monarchist and republican—remained unresolved in the tragedy. “Under such conditions, there can be no talk of a purely republican character of the famous and ill-fated play,” says Y. Veselovsky. Thus, bourgeois criticism tried to "neutralize" the princess's tragedy, just as it tried to neutralize Radishchev. Under the influence of this tradition was G. V. Plekhanov, who tried to prove in his "History of Russian Social Thought" that Knyazhnin was "a loyal subject of Catherine II."

M.A. returns to the question of “Vadim”. Gabel in the article "The Literary Heritage of Ya. B. Knyaznin" ("Literary Heritage", No. 9-10, 1933). She cites the opinions on this issue not only of the scientists mentioned above, but also of those who considered Vadim a radical play, not devoid of revolutionary spirit. So, for example, I.I. Zamotin interprets the image of Vadim as the image of Brutus, who remains at the height of his republican vocation even at the time of his death. Zamotin believes that Knyazhnin in "Vadim" is a Republican, that he is on the side of Vadim, despite the presence of "exaltation of enlightened absolutism" in the person of Rurik. M.A. Gabel, in turn, shows that Knyazhnin justifies Vadim in the tragedy, makes him, and not Rurik, his hero. At the same time, she says that Vadim is not a democrat-republican, and, like Knyazhnin himself, he is a representative of the noble, aristocratic opposition against despotism, autocracy, in particular against Catherine II.

To the article by M.A. Gabel replied to Prof. N.K. Gudziy in No. 19-21 of the same journal (1935) in the article "On the ideology of Knyaznin". N.K. Gudziy rejects Gabel's interpretation of Vadim, and partly Zamotin's. He convincingly proves the incorrectness of the thesis of M.A. Gabel about the aristocracy of Knyazhnin, about his alleged closeness to Shcherbatov. N.K. Gudziy provides clear evidence both of Knyaznin's democratic position in his comedies and operas, and of the fact that his Vadim is not a noble frondeur, but "a defender of the idea of people's rule", "a guardian of the welfare of the people in general, and not just nobles." But then N.K. Gudziy quite inconsistently states that the main meaning of "Vadim" is "an apology for the enlightened monarchical power, which was embodied in practice for Knyazhnin in the activities of Catherine II, and there is no reason to suspect the presence of any hidden critical attitude towards this power in the tragedy." Unfortunately, N.K. Gudziy does not support this thesis with anything other than indications that Rurik speaks of himself as a benefactor of the people who have retained liberty. Meanwhile, the tragedy, as it was clear to both Catherine II and other contemporaries, not hidden, but quite openly expressed a critical attitude towards despotism. As for the argument repeatedly cited in bourgeois literature that, they say, the life of Knyazhnin, an official and a nobleman, does not allow the thought that he fell into a heresy against despotism, then the above data about "Roslav", about the manuscript "Woe to my Fatherland”, as well as the analysis of Knyazhnin’s works in general, show that “Vadim”, precisely as an anti-monarchist tragedy, was a natural conclusion from his entire creative path.

Prenest and Vigor, posadniks of Novgorod, are waiting for Vadim, discussing why he wanted to come to the city in secret. Here Vadim arrives with the military leaders. He delivers a fiery and sad speech to his followers that Novgorod, which was always a free city, is now under the heel of the damned Rurik (Rurik). Vadim cannot understand how it happened that Rurik, who once asked the city for help, now rules it. Vigor says that after the departure of Vadim with the army, the local nobility, having forgotten all the oaths, began a struggle for power. Gostomysl, the oldest and most respected citizen, lost all his sons in the internecine war, so he convinced the people to invite Rurik to power, who proved himself to be a brave and wise ruler.
Vadim is confused. If Rurik unsheathed the sword of the rage to end the bloody civil strife, then this is how he repaid the debt for all the help provided to him by Novgorod, but freedom is too high a price for this. Gostomysl had no right to decide who would rule the city. Vadim offers the hand of his daughter Ramida to the one who will free Novgorod from the power of Rurik. Prenest and Vigor show extraordinary determination - both have feelings for Ramida. Then Vadim releases everyone except Prenest. He says that he would prefer to see him as a son-in-law, but Prenest replies that, even being rejected by Ramida, he will remain faithful to Vadim. This position surprises Vadim, because the daughter will only do what he orders her to do.
Ramida's confidante Selena fears that after her marriage to Rurik, she may neglect their friendship. Ramida, in turn, reassures her friend that the throne is not important and not desirable for her, she loves Rurik himself, and she only needs him, even if he is not a prince. Selena warns Ramida that her father greatly values the freedom of the city and is unlikely to favorably accept her wedding with Rurik, which will only strengthen his power. But Ramida reassures the confidante, saying that she will not go against the will of her father, but hopes that Vadim will see a worthy husband in Rurik. Here comes Rurik. He shares the news that Vadim is back in Novgorod. This news pleases him, as the issue that weighs on him will finally be resolved. To know the cities are on his side, but is Ramida favorable to him? The girl assures the prince of the purity of her feelings.
Upon learning that Ramida loves a hated enemy, Vadim is horrified and pushes his daughter away. Ramida doesn't understand what could have made her father so angry? Vadim asks Prenest, who has approached, what can be done in this situation. Prenest said that he appealed to the Novgorod nobility with a call to remove the tyrant, whose Vikings were already teeming with the whole city. The nobility came to their senses and showed their readiness to immediately deal with the prince, but Prenest advised first to wait for Vadim to approach with the army. Vadim points out to his daughter that she is destined for Prenest, Ramida does not dare to disobey her father.
Vigor heard the last words, and held a grudge for such an unfair decision, promising to avenge it.
Ramida is in despair that she is forced to abandon her beloved, obeying duty. Selena advises to tell Rurik about everything, but Ramida would rather die than betray her father. Rurik, who has approached, asks why his beloved has changed so much and avoids him, although everything is ready for the wedding ceremony, which was postponed until Vadim arrived. Ramida runs away, wishing him happiness, but not with her anymore.
Rurik shares what happened with his confidante Izved. He advises the prince not to give in to feelings that could humiliate someone who is respected by the whole city. Rurik agrees with the adviser, and he also promises to find out the reason for Ramida's behavior. Prenest arrives and Izved shares rumors about his planned marriage to Ramida.
Rurik demands to obey him and confess everything. Prenest proudly advises to moderate impulses of pride, he is not afraid of death and is ready to die for the freedom of Novgorod. Rurik accuses Prenest of rebellion and the nobility of Novgorod, who only want power.
Prenest reproaches himself for his temper, which could cause Rurik to suspect Vadim's loyalty. Thinking about who could turn him in led him to Vigor. Prenest, as if in spirit, asks him a direct question, but Vigor does not confess. Then he adds that they are comrades-in-arms while Novgorod is in the hands of the enemy, as soon as they get rid of it, all disagreements will be decided by a duel.
Izved announces Rurik about the disclosure of the conspiracy, that Prenest fled, and that Vadim's soldiers, who confessed to everything, were taken prisoner. Rurik performs a generous act and orders to release the enemies. The confidant warns that such a move can cost the prince dearly, but he stands his ground.
Ramida asks Rurik about the unrest that weighs on the city and reproaches him for closing his heart to her. Rurik replies that he will not fall into her trap again and wants to live without her. In desperation, Ramida asks for death, since she is rejected by her beloved. Rurik talks about wanting to fight Vadim so that he and Ramida can be happy together. The girl, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, says that her father ordered her to go down the aisle with Prenest, and she cannot reject the will of her father. Ramida encourages Rurik to befriend Vadim, giving up power.
Rurik replies with a firm refusal, since once having given up the reins of government, he was again called upon by people to rule, and to reject power means dooming the people to trouble. Ramida cannot say anything against, and both are convinced that their love has no future.
Izved informs Rurik about Vadim's troops standing at the walls of the city. The prince goes to battle and asks his beloved to mourn him if he is destined to fall in battle. Ramida replies that she will not shed tears, she will let herself bleed.
Ramida is tormented by thoughts of a harsh fate that forces her to balance between her father and her beloved, both possible outcomes of the battle frighten her. Finally, the battle ends.
Captured Vadim and his warriors appear, accompanied by Rurik's guards. Ramida was about to rush to her father, but he brushed her off with the words that her father was not the slave Rurik. Vadim wanted to be killed in battle as soon as possible, like Prenest and Vigor, and reproaches his daughter for her love for a tyrant. Ramida takes an oath to remain faithful to her father's word. Vadim asks to execute himself, Rurik's mercy will only offend him.
Rurik enters, surrounded by warriors, nobility, people, and invites Vadim to forget the differences by signing peace. Vadim is disgusted by the very idea of an alliance with the invader. Then Rurik recalls that civil strife prompted him to take power in Novgorod into his own hands. Wanting to prove the sincerity of his intentions, he removes the crown from his head and turns to the people with a request to decide whether he should reign over them. The people kneel in agreement. Rurik asks Vadim what he wants now. Vadim demands a sword and receives it. With the words that now everyone will be happy, he plots to kill himself. Ramida begs him not to do this, and, wanting to prove her loyalty to her father, stabs herself to death. Rejoicing, Vadim follows his daughter.
Rurik reproaches the gods for the fact that power cost him so dearly. And although the crown is very heavy, the prince will no longer refuse it.
Author - Kraschenko A.V.

Please note that this is only a summary of the literary work "Vadim Novgorodsky". This summary omits many important points and quotations.

Ya. B. Knyazhnin

Vadim Novgorodsky

Tragedy in verse in five acts

CHARACTERS

Rurik, Prince of Novgorod.

Vadim, posadnik and commander.

Ramida, his daughter.

Prenest, the mayor.

Vigor, posadnik.

Izved, Rurik's confidante.

Selena, Ramidin's confidante.

Action in Novgorod on the square.

COMMENT

For the first time - ed. SPb., 1793, in the same year - "The Russian Theatre, or the Complete Collection of All Russian Theatrical Works", part 39. Published according to the ed.: Knyazhnin Ya. B. Izbr., Op. L., 1961, p. 249--304 (B-ka poet. Large series). The tragedy is based on the legendary news of the uprising of the Novgorodians led by Vadim against Rurik, contained in the Nikon Chronicle. From historians of the XVIII century. this report is brought by V. N. Tatishchev, M. V. Lomonosov, M. M. Shcherbatov. N. M. Karamzin and S. M. Solovyov considered it rather a fiction. V. O. Klyuchevsky in the "Course of Russian History", on the contrary, writes about the indignation of the Novgorodians and the death of "brave Vadim" as a historical fact. The tragedy was written in late 1788 - early 1789 and given to the theater. P. A. Plavilshchikov (Vadim), Ya. E. Shusherin (Rurik), E. F. Baranova (Ramida) were supposed to play in the intended performance. However, due to the beginning of the French Revolution, Knyazhnin took the tragedy out of the theatre. The play was published only after the death of Knyaznin in 1793 (see above on this page). Permission for the publication was given to E. R. Dashkova (in her Notes, she said that she had agreed to the publication of the tragedy without reading it). Shortly after the publication on September 30, 1793 of the 39th part of the Russian Featre, Prosecutor General A. N. Samoilov appeared to E. R. Dashkova with a reprimand for publishing the tragedy. An investigation began, which was conducted by A. N. Samoilov under the supervision of the Empress. At the meetings on December 7, 14 and 24, 1793, the Senate, at the suggestion of Samoilov, considered the tragedy "Vadim of Novgorod" and ordered it to be burned. On December 24, the nominal decree of Catherine II on the destruction of the play is also dated. The discovered copies of a separate edition were burned on Aleksandrovskaya Square in St. Petersburg (near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra). Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. the tragedy was not published, although it was known and distributed in the lists, especially in the era of the Decembrists, in whose work the theme of Vadim occupies a prominent place. In the early 1820s, A. S. Pushkin turned to the image of Vadim, in 1829 Lermontov wrote the poem “The Last Son of Liberty” dedicated to the Novgorod hero. The opposite interpretation of Vadim as a low-minded ambitious man, proposed by Catherine II, was also continued (tragedy by P. A. Plavilshchikov "Rurik" - see this edition). In 1871, in "Russian Antiquity" (vol. 3, No. 6), P. A. Efremov printed the text of Knyazhnin's tragedy with some cuts. With the same cuts (without four verses of Prenest's monologue from 4 yavl. II of the act, starting with the words "Autocracy is a troublemaker everywhere ..."), it appeared in the "Bibliographic Description of Rare and Wonderful Books" published by A. E. Burtsev (St. Petersburg, 1901). In its entirety (but with textological distortions) the tragedy was published by VF Savodnik (Pg., 1914). The original text of "Vadim of Novgorod" after the first edition (1793) first appeared only in the collection "Russian Literature of the 18th Century" (L., 1937), prepared by G. A. Gukovsky. STEP ONE PHENOMENON I Night. Prenest and Vigor Vigor Already Vadim, having accomplished the war with glory, Comes at last to his father's country; But why does he hide his return from all citizens And deigns to see only two of us? Why did he appoint an hour to meet with us, Until the ray of the sun illuminates our eyes, On the square itself, previously only sacred to us, Novgorod where the people, sublime with freedom, Subject only to being laws and gods, Did the statutes give midnight to all countries? Prenest Autocratic power now devours everything, And Rurik gathers the fruits of many centuries here, - Here, I think, is the secrecy of Vadim's wine. His fatherland is repugnant to him, Where, bow down before a mortal on the throne, He will see himself in the same share with the slaves. See him; and after him those warriors of the crowd, Whom his steps led to the path of glory. PHENOMENON 2 Vadim, followed by several commanders who were with him at war, Preneste and Vigor Vadim Do I see you, Vigor, are Preneste magnanimous? Prenest We are always obedient to your commands, For us your sacred orders have been fulfilled. Vadim Friends! in my own country, do I see you? The dawn already illuminates the tops of those towers, Which Novgrad raises to the clouds. Behold the temple of Perun, where his thunder is silent, - In inaction, Perun, seeing villainy, sleeps! And here are those glorious, sacred halls, Where our nobles are great, like gods, But always equal even to the smallest of citizens, Fences firm freedoms of these countries, The people with the name that they revered, Laws were given to trembling kings. O Novgrad! what were you and what are you now? (Addressing everyone.) Host of heroes! you measure his greatness; And I, from sorrow, seeing him in chains, I am powerless to do it, I hate life ... Do you shudder? All the power of the North, before it is useless, His power, knowing no enemies, Equal in horror with the power of the gods. And today this magnificent city, this lord of the North-- Could we expect a fraction of shame!-- This proud giant, the lord himself at his feet Defeated, he forgot that before he could. I forgot! - But how to forget? No matter what the eye strikes, All the glory that has fallen depicts it. Let's look at the fields - the thunder still sounds there, With which the goth is slain, daring to be an enemy to us; Or let us turn our eyes to the insides of the city, Rivers where joy flowed with freedom, - Everywhere are those paths where proud kings Submission to us carried, in vain with us. Here is the place, witness of those honors, When our people are here, benefactor to the lords, Having taken the persecuted king, the Varangians under shelter, Made his enemies be silent in trembling. Citizens! remember that time is full of glory; But remember - in order to overthrow the vile burden! .. O shame! This king, then submissive, dejected, Presenting himself with prayer, in the middle of our walls, His forehead declines to dust before us; And now - oh terrible fate! - he possesses us - This Rurik! .. I can’t go on anymore, But your feeling can finish you, What my voice cannot do in despair. Vigor And our heart sadness, like yours, gnaws. Fatherland we in vain cast down into misfortune, In desperation we mourn a part of it. Vadim Do you mourn? - Oh, terrible changes! Do you mourn? - But who are you? - Or wives? Il Rurik could transform your spirit so much, That you only cry when your duty is to smash? Prenest We yearn after you forever to glorify ourselves, To destroy the proud throne, to restore the fatherland; But even though diligence burns in our hearts, However, he still does not see the ways to that. Neglecting the days, both vile and harsh, If we must die, we are ready to die; But so that our death, not in vain from evil, could save the dear fatherland, And so that, striving to break the bonds in captivity, We would not burden these bonds more and more. You will know for yourself, Vadim, how difficult it is to destroy the throne, Which Rurik erected here without obstacles, Called by petition from a whole people. You will know how the freedom taken away by him has been replaced by his charming power. You will know how honored his state is And how few true sons of the fatherland, Who, feeling the gnawing sting of slavery, Would be ashamed of the fact that there is a mortal in the world, In whose hands their liberty, life and honor. By Rurik's cunning, the forces are civilly weak; And the Varangian army is filled with a dull hail. We must expect the help of the immortals, And the gods can give us a convenient opportunity. Vadim So we should only rely on the gods And in the herd a man without glory should crawl? But the gods gave us the freedom to return: And the heart - to dare, and the hand - to smash! Their help is in us. What else do you want? Go, crawl, wait in vain for their thunder; And I, boiling here alone in anger for you, I will move to die, not enduring the master. Oh rock! Excommunicated from the fatherland for three years, For the glory of his victory, carried away, Leaving freedom, bliss in these walls, I overthrow pride to dust upon us who have been erected; I bring the fruits of my exploits to the people; What do I see here? Nobles who have lost their freedom, In vile timidity bent before the king And kissing their yoke under the scepter. Tell me how you, in vain the fall of the fatherland, Could prolong your life for a minute by shame? And if you could not preserve freedom - How can you endure the world and how do you want to live? Vigor As before, we burn with love for the fatherland ... Vadim Not in a word, it should prove it b - with your blood! Sacred is the word only from your throw words. Or maybe the fatherland belongs to the slaves? Vigor Having a righteous spirit, saddened by sadness, In vain, you are darkened by anger against us, You burden the most innocent only with fierce guilt. As soon as before the army you parted with this country, Many nobles, seeing a means to villainy, And only strong fatherlands for disaster, Pride, envy, anger, rebellion entered the city. The abode of silence has become hell. The holy truth has departed from here. Freedom, trembling, bent over to fall. Civil strife with an impudent brow On the corpses of fellow citizens erected a house of death. Aspiring all the people to be the food of greedy ravens, Fought furiously for the election of tyrants. The whole Volkhov, smoking with blood, boiled. Deplorable Novgorod! you are not mature for salvation! Venerable Gostomysl, adorned with gray hairs, Losing all his sons under these walls, And weeping not for them - for the misfortune of fellow citizens, He was given to us as immortal joy. He invites this Rurik to help; With his sword, he returns bliss to us. At that time, exhausted by years and disaster, Gostomysl ended his days, illuminated with joy, That could restore calm to the fatherland; But, retreating to the gods, honoring Rurik's heroism, He bequeathed to the People, may he retain power, Ending his groaning and attack. Our people, touched by the merit of only a great one, Placed a savior over them as master. Vadim Vladyka! Rurika! Whom did this people save? When he came to our aid, what did he do for us? He paid his debt!.. But if his beneficence Seemed you to be worthy of retribution - Or should you have been paid with freedom And put your slavery as a gift to merit? O low souls! falling under the rock And carried away by chance by the stream, Ah! if only you could respect yourself! Blessed would Rurik be, if he could become, Clothed in purple, equal to our citizens: With this great title among kings forever glorious, With this honor he would be richly awarded. Say: Gostomysl, I am convinced by heroism, I bequeathed bonds to you in order to end your misfortune. Or was the freedom of fellow citizens his inheritance? Or could he give you, as well as those animals, Which everyone can curb for himself? Closed in the pride of the fatherland with love And unite your blood with the royal blood, Under the guise of stopping the general attack, He gave power here to his daughter's son; And I will give that my only begotten daughter, Having a soul who is not slavish, noble, Aspiring for the fatherland to save me after And sparing life, will surpass all mortals. Ramida is the price I offer. Tyrants gates - my son! .. I know your passion for her. You know, she is seduced by beauty, Alkali honor to be a gift in kinship with me; But I neglected to accept a tyrant as a son And, a citizen, I wanted a citizen of Novgorod. Reveal, are you worthy of this name. Or, having erected an idol of slaves on their heads, Me, and honor, and all to him, sacrifice, - See also my daughter, slain, dead. Vigor To be worthy of being the dearest hand only, Ready alone to despise the innumerable regiments By which Rurik asserts his throne. Prenest Koliko of this happiness, my spirit is hungry And how much I love my fatherland, - With a weapon in my hands, I will show you that. Vigor I swear by the sacred name of Perunov, I swear by my heart, deluded by Ramida, To dare everything. PRENEST Take my oath, too. Vadim Oh, the heat of heroes! I now know you! Hope you citizens! consolation for the fatherland! (To the military leaders who came with him.) My champions! Let us leave the walls of the city And, taking advantage of the remnant of the weak darkness, We will retreat to those gloomy jungles from here, Where my warriors, crowned with victory, Feeding the fury of unspeakable aspirations, To which the damage of the fatherland ignited in them, Decided to die or overthrow the throne. Vigor will follow us to these heroes, Prenest will remain here to rule the hearts. Go. The Warlords and Vigor leave. PHENOMENON 3 Vadim and Prenest Vadim I entrust our part to you: Try to ignite that passion for the fatherland, which created citizens as heroes, which the state closed in the hearts. Whatever you feel, let them feel it. Compare yourself, Prenest, with my reverence. Although Vigor strives for an equal path with you, But your success becomes my desire. Blessed is when, you are obliged to reward, To Ramida I can crown your flame. And seduced by your beautiful daughter, And admired by your flattering respect, I am ashamed, carrying my blood for sacrifice, That my love divides the heat for the fatherland. And maybe your respect is lessened by the Reward, which Vadim consoles my heart with. Believe me, although I honor this gift above all, But the position of my love is not harmful to the heat, In which I find all my happiness. And if, to the grief of Ramida, I melt, Although I remain unwilling forever, I can be unhappy, dishonest - never! You will see me, deprived of all hope, Aiming for society in your heroic footprint, As well as with hope equally carrying your chest, Neglecting life, on the path of bloody glory. Vadim This I hope, Prenesta heart knowing; But honoring Vadimov's daughter so little, Why do you think I'm unwilling to see her And despise society as a savior in you? My blood is in her: she will not be cowardly And - only she is always obedient to her position - She knows how to curb those hearts of weakness, Which it is convenient to revive in us. Brought up by me, you will be a witness to her, My power is the law, and happiness is a virtue. Sorry. Already a ray of sun, spreading light, Calls me from here to the dense forests. Alas! when everything here is already enslaved, There is no fatherland here - everything is contained there, Where our heroes, contributing over fate, Are ready to die or trample the scepter with their feet. Preneest But daughter, who does not know Vadim's return, Why do you deprive you of consolation to see? Vadim Be careful not to open my arrival to her: Although it is bitter for my parental soul, That I put off the hour of meeting with her, But I prefer my fatherland to myself. I hasten to arrange everything so that on the coming night, Seeing freedom here, seeing my daughter.

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On the square itself... - This refers to the square where the veche was held. Knyazhnin, like many Russian thinkers of the 18th century, believed that the republic was the original form of Novgorod statehood. By which the Gotf is smitten, daring us to be an enemy. - Goths (modern Goths) - a people of Germanic origin, in the III-IV centuries. neighbored with the Slavs. Here, perhaps, they mean the wars that Novgorod waged with the Swedes, also a people of Germanic origin. In the XVIII century. the Swedes were sometimes called Goths (for example, in the odes of M.V. Lomonosov). ... The Varangian took the persecuted king under the roof ... - According to the "Tale of Bygone Years" Rurik was a Varangian (Norman). Charming power ... - seductive, deceitful power. Venerable Gostomysl... - Gostomysl is a legendary Novgorod posadnik whose name is associated with the calling of the Varangian princes to Novgorod. He gave power here to his daughter's son... - Rurik was considered the grandson of Gostomysl by many historians of the 18th century: I. N. Boltin, V. N. Tatishchev, M. M. Shcherbatov. Catherine II followed this opinion in her historical writings. ACT TWO PHENOMENON 1 Ramida and Selena Selena Behold, the hour you desired is approaching, In which your father, crowned with victory, Vadim, having delighted this city with his arrival, Ramida will bring with him a darkness of joys. You will see the beloved of the parent, the hero, Who, having arranged the peace of society, To the end of the beloved daughter of torment, Comes from his victorious hands To give her in a crown to the flaming one. I am sure of your sensitive soul, I do not honor your greatness to my own detriment. Rurik's wife, who ascended the throne, I hope she will remain Ramida for me And never forget Selena's friendship. Ramida You know the feelings of Ramida's soul. Selena, do not deprive me of this friendship, Which exalts my bliss; It equally comforts my captive spirit, Like that immortal, irresistible passion, Without which all happiness for me is an attack. Believe me: this brilliance of the crown, the exaltation of the throne For the feelings of the Ramidins, contemptible consolation! In self-interest, in pride, I do not ruin my heart. Not a prince in Rurik, I love Rurik. Selena You are worthy to have a soul with a hero; But in anticipation of your joys, calm, Preparing to be happily married to him, Do you not grieve with a presentiment of what kind of Soul, intoxicated with the most tender love? Does not the voice of contrite freedom cry out? Is not your great father imagined In anger, in rage, in vain is the royal crown here? Ramida Why bother my bliss with this misfortune? And what is freedom before Rurik's power? Believe me, the parent himself, this hero in vain, Freedom, pride - everything will be forgotten for him. Is it possible for anyone to hate Rurik? To adore, you just need to see it. Deprived of all comforts by his liberty, Didn't he feel that I, and this whole city, As Rurik brought a solemn army to us. Imagine this heroic brow, The throne of his divine soul of kindness, The hope of the future ruler of bounty, Those eyes, full of lightning and meekness, When, having subdued here the terrible waves of confusion, The people of gratitude drew to their feet. If a person can be similar to the gods, Of course, Rurik alone is only equal to them. Remember how he is, victorious, glorious, Satisfied only with what he did to us, In his soul he found a reward for that And, with courage interrupting our deplorable groans, He renounced the crown enviable by everyone here. Then the people, fearing their return of troubles, Tears irrigated this hero's trail. In what sorrows did this whole city sink; It seemed that our last hour was approaching. My spirit trembled throughout the fatherland, And with Rurik the whole world of Ramidin perished. You saw it all. Selena, you are unemotional. Say: if the universe were subject to you With subservience at your feet, Or would you not give your power to him? And peace to joy, truthful against yourself, Under the rule of Rurik, how happy you would be! Selena There is no doubt about that, he is worthy of power; But if your father, to whom here the throne of Civilians of all sorts of misfortunes seemed more intolerable, Against Rurik, unfortunately, took up arms; Whenever, despite the crying daughter... Ramida From the thought of this my spirit trembles even now. Alas! if my fate will be so much malicious, Though I will not bear the torment of incomparable grief, Koliko Rurik I mortally love, I will die, but I will not transgress my position; And, obeying my parental authority, At his feet I will end all my misfortunes ... But no! Why, why should I break my heart And pour tears over my groaning chest? What can not be - why should I be tormented by this And be afraid of only the saddest dream? We will remove the ferocity of these thoughts from ourselves. Vadim can’t feed anger towards Rurik, He can’t: and the hero loves the hero. Your doubt humiliates both. Equal in glory, what can confuse them? What can make a parent jealous? That vile quality only of vile souls and black ones, So that, in vain, dignity on the heights of immeasurable And being powerless to fly up to them, In their gloomy brilliance not to endure. And the true hero, nourished by the light of glory, Satisfied with himself, above this poison. But let Vadim be alarmed by the crown here - Or will he not be my father to Rurik? Let us reject vain fear and fierce only thoughts. Selena, you count all my joys! But how can you imagine them! Tell me, who can be happier than me? Behold Rurik marches, and his kind sight Shows how useless your doubts are. PHENOMENON 2 Rurik, Ramida, Selena, Rurik's escorts Rurik On fast wings, those hours already hover, Which bring my happiness to this city, In which your father, only greedily awaited by me, In laurels returned to the fatherland by fate, For all the work he will reward me with Ramida And marriage will confirm all my bliss. The nobles and the people gave me a crown here And, obeying the law with my heart, They consider power above my liberty. Great is this honor; but I would have been attacked, If you would have rejected me from your heart And did not want to decorate my throne with yourself. However, my flame to you, no matter how fierce, Although I do not honor those bitter moments in my life, In which, removed from your beauty, I suffer, I still do not consider myself happy, If Ramida is not grief equal to passion, Gives me happiness, my position in it is in vain ; And for their citizens, as a reward for their salvation, Though small ones will endure coercion. In order to describe my feeling in a word, You - you alone I want to be. Although your charms are food for my soul, Although, losing you, my life will be suffering, But I will prefer this bitter part to that part, So that, in vain, always your beauty in despondency, Meeting my wife’s eyes with horror, Always find deadly reproaches in them. Believe in my heart pretending to be a stranger: It is a hundred times more pleasant for me to be tormented by myself, As, having extracted fierce joy from the anguish of others, To taste the sweetness characteristic of some tyrants. Reveal to me the feeling of your heart; Do I not upset him at least a little by the fact that I turn on happiness in life in you alone, that I combine myself with my soul in you? Ramida How can you, my lord! Can you imagine that Ramidin's spirit could incline itself To low pretense without passion, to be forced And to indulge in burdensome bonds to torment? And what, tell me, could that be the fault? Or a crowned brow? Believe me, if someone were on the throne of the universe, Opening my immense field of pride, Shining with crowns without number to my eyes And giving my power of the world for love, If Ramida had not chosen him with her heart, She would have despised scepters with him and thrones; And if he had called his power to help, I would have been able to reject the attack by death. The local citizen, who has grown up in freedom, Nothing in all of nature can surprise. Subject only to the gods and my father, With all my heart I strive for you, not for a crown. You listen to the voice of the soul without flattery, without art; My feelings are not akin to any pretense; And if I couldn’t love Rurik, I’d say it with equal frankness, As now my deceived spirit is broadcasting: If Rurik includes everything in my love, When it depends on my heart, So there is no one happier in the world. Rurik Oh, the drag hour! more precious than my whole life! I have never tasted a more perfect consolation; Listening to the sweet words from your lips, My fate seems envious to the gods. I am sure, delighted with the recognition desired, I, with a heart strengthened by a new life today, I go where duty calls me to rule: In it, Rurik will no longer find a burden; And no matter how burdensome are countless cares, Works, sorrows, spiritual sorrows, Which the power of monarchs requires is heavy, I will be happy and most misfortune; Although Rurik will lose his life for your people, Ramida's single gaze will pay me for everything. PHENOMENON 3 Vadim (hidden in the clothes of a simple warrior), Ramida, Selena Vadim (in the distance, not seeing Ramida) Terrible news pierced my heart! Oh, cruel daughter! How to demolish Vadim! Ramida burns with love for Rurik... The tyrant is already depriving me of the last one... But here she is... Ramida Do I see you, my parent, Hero! Let me in your arms... Vadim (rejecting her) Wait. Ramida What do I see?.. You answer my delights with Contempt!.. Or do you neglect your daughter? Decorated with laurels, you don't know it And you give up nature as a sacrifice of pride? Vadim Unhappy! If I hated you, I would have seen your delight with indifference And, having perceived caresses, I would not have rejected you. But - oh, misfortune is immeasurable top! - Look and by this know the regrettable appearance: Disdaining, I cannot but love Ramida. Ramida Ah, every dreadful speech of yours, Stab in my heart, strikes like a sharp sword. What is my fault, tell me, beloved parent? What is your spirit tormenting, hero and conqueror? Open to me, weeping parent at my feet, Why, depriving you, my fate is so strict to me? So that with your heart you again turned to Ramida, What should I do, tell me? .. Your eyes are more confused! Speak, command - for my father's love Should I shed all my blood at this hour? Spill! She's yours! take your gift back! Vadim Voice of your position, how pleasant it is to hear! I, having not destroyed my parental feelings for you, do not demand life, but honor from you. Ramida What do I hear?.. Or do you suspect your daughter?.. Do you demand honor - or do you not know me? Vadim I don't know... You, now entering into yourself, Can you give me an answer full of joy? Shining, as always, with the infection of beauty, will you find the old Ramida in your heart? Ramida You amaze me with questions like thunder! You are the judge in yourself, and you are not a father ... By the gods and by you myself, I swear that I am the same Ramida that I will not change a century; That a daughter worthy of Vadim, but unhappy; That honor is always subject to his rules; What do I love more than the whole parent; That I, not knowing guilt, suffer a terrible execution. Reveal my crime! Vadim You burn with passion For the one who wears the crown here - and you don't know guilt! Destroy this message, what does this city sound like ... Ah, if untruth struck me; If my feelings Ramida kept; If my enemy is your enemy in the radiance of the crown, - Dare, my dear daughter! into the arms of her father... Unhappy! You cry, and your chest languishes. My infamy is becoming clear to me! Ramida When a vice is to love the savior of citizens, Who is given from the gods to the joy of mortals; Who, stop public groans, Denied here the crown presented to him; Who, implored by the people with a stream of tears, He lifted heavenly blessings with him to the throne; Who, like a father, is waiting for Vadim - Ramida considers herself guilty! I deserve punishment. Here is my chest, pierce! Tear their captive heart into pieces. Losing everything with him - both heaven and earth - I will accept your mortal blow for the gift of a dredge. Vadim Fall on me heavenly firmament! You ask for death - you deserve to taste death! Blazing with a villainous flame and pernicious, You are a parricide, instilling me in a coffin; Renegade! betraying your fatherland, And the freedom of fellow citizens, and the sanctity of our rights! O you, accomplice of the treacherous tyrant, Who with meekness gave us a mortal wound! Go to him, go, tell him; your father is here, That he wants to pluck the crown from his head. May he come to prevent his fall And, piercing my heart, end my torment. Come and direct the sword of my villain On the chest of your unfortunate parent And, by the death of your father, the obstacles are freed, Ascend the throne, you are stained with my blood! .. Ramida Wait, my parent! Ah, have pity on me! Your reproaches, your appearance is so formidable, Your anger - it more than inflicts fear on me, Which your poor daughter asks in vain ... Know, my parent, know me at this hour: I am worthy of you, even though I suffer, groaning .. This tender fire of love, which was only pleasant to me before, Rurik's merit was deceived in hope, This fire, with which I fed my life, I am mortally tormented, in vain your hatred, This fierce fire - I swear, and I see my vice in it And my heart is weak, tormented , I hate For the fact that I, trying to put out the flame in it, With this flame, I must extinguish the light of life ... Leave me that, leave that, opening my heart, I say it, only angering you more; I sincerely owe my parent, And I need help in unbearable sorrow. I pour my father into the depths of deathly sadness, I call on the Parent to my joy ... With a paternal eye you look at me And have pity on me, blaming the unfortunate. Pity - I will overcome, I will appear worthy of you And, having done your will, I will die in peace. Command! you will obediently see me. Vadim You are worthy of me, but you want to die! Who? you! Vadim's daughter! and the daughter is free hail! Overcome, live and be my consolation. Swear to submit in all your destiny. Ramida I swear!.. How can I be like you? Vadim Destroying the heat of vile poison from the heart, Marching with me to the temple of eternal glory, To turn love into hatred to a tyrant. Ramida I swear... even though I can't do this... I swear... if I have to... dying all the time, Do not see him forever or see him, rejecting. Vadim Swear - so that I can know my daughter in everything And show Ramida to the world without shame - Swear that, having overcome the souls of slaves with passionate torment, Of our fellow citizens you will give your hand to him, For the freedom of society, who is more than all the hero Will show that he deserves to own you. Swear a reward to be a tyrant for a fall. Ramida What do you want! Alas! this torment is beyond my strength! Or is that sacrifice not enough ... Vadim Go away from my eyes, disappear before me! To be my daughter I propose a way; And you... No, you're not a daughter, and I don't know you! Keeping my father's love, I'm just crashing. Ramida Wait, my father! I swear to do everything! If there are few cruel torments that I will undertake, You invent more ... Vadim I will embrace my daughter! Do not cry, die the longing that your chest is oppressing. What can torment us, since glory is to come? (Seeing Prenest.) Prenest! homeland to salvation are there any views? Are you already worthy of the hand of my Ramida? PHENOMENON 4 Vadim, Ramida, Preneste Preneste All feelings striving to be like you And, serving society, deserve Ramida, As soon as you left me, hurrying beyond the city, Immediately I directed my steps to the nobles, Whom the proud spirit murmured against the crown And anger lightning fed in silence. Having collected them, I told them rivers! “Behold, that hour is coming, In which heaven hands over the fate of citizens to us; In which our city, this formerly king of kings, This home of great only men, With the freedom of its radiance deprived, Under the yoke of a scepter shamefully dejected, It will be possible to ascend to height again, So that the North To give laws to everything. Already from the outside blows are directed at the throne: Already with the army, Vadim brought punishment to tyranny. If, just like him, the crown is disgusting to you, The proud man will not escape his fall, Who, giving us to taste the honeycomb of deceit, We are drawn to sorrow by the autocratic kingdom He is magnanimous today, meek, just, But, having strengthened his throne, proud without fear, If he honors the laws today, being equal with us in everything, After all, the laws will trample us underfoot! : What is it that this Rurik was born to be a hero - What hero in a crown did not go astray? He was intoxicated with his greatness with poison - Who was not corrupted from the kings in purple? It harms even the purest virtue And, having opened unforbidden paths to passions, Gives freedom to be tyrants to kings, Look at the rulers of all kingdoms and ages, Their power is the power of the gods, and weakness is men! "Then, so that they are furious against the rays of the crown And rather to irritate their proud hearts, I portrayed to them the misfortunes of the peoples: Those deplorable autocracy, cruel consequences, Around which flattery with a censer, Unbridledly bringing decent honor to the gods, Equals criminals in crowns with immortals And intoxicates with the blood of subjects on thrones. Anger is more than a flame of my features of words, - "Imagine, - I said, - you are mortal gods, In arrogance of their law honoring their will, By vile whims attracting our share And giving primacy to the slaves of their passions, - Before them he is great Who is the villain more than all. Shall we also wait for such a terrible part, When our ruler, in his calm power, Having proudly removed the mask of cunning from his face, Reveals a monster under the brilliance of the crown? Always surrounded by ferocity and fear, His foot will consider us dust And Appropriating the fruit of the labors of countless years, He will take away everything from us - and even the light of the sun, To meanness reward his vile flatterers. Already there is an event of such sad omens; Our entire city is filled with Varangians; Already with us, placing his slaves in a row, Remains of liberty and takes away our rights; And your great spirit on the edge of the abyss slumbers! "Wake up! .." Suddenly their cry stopped my voice: "Let's go pierce the tyrant's chest this very hour!" eat my verb would seem. And how to depict the movement of these men, These haters and slavery and kings; Their eyes are full of tears from anger and shame, Lightnings fly from a furious gaze, Crimson gloomy faces, this image of menacing clouds. From which liberties a reliable beam shone And inevitably a tyrannical fall. In the end, changing their anger into a frenzy, Forgetting the dangers and tearing out the sword, They strive to stop the days of the villain! “Friends,” I said to them, “untimely heroism, Weaning the fruit, is not a great property of hearts. Salvation awaits your hands. Great only deeds must let us mature; In the coming night at the walls of Vadim we will ripen; In the coming night we will open the gates to the hero, And with him leading our freedom to the ranks. Accordingly, as the abyss of waters is confused by whirlwinds, Feeling a stronghold with the desire of fury, The constrained one boils, roars and tears in vain, Such is the host of heroes in anger remains And asks the sun to shorten its clear path, So that the darkness will bring the hour in which to strike them. With these words, Vigor comes out. Vadim This I expected, knowing our heroes And honoring the virtues of Prenest. (Pointing to the daughter.) This is the reward, the crown of your labors. Prenest My fate is now in her mouth others, I do not dare to call myself happy until then. Ramida It is my duty as a parent to obey in everything. (Leaves.) SCENE 5 Vadim, Prenest, Vigor Vigor (aside) What do I hear? Should I trust my feelings?.. (To Vadim.) The army is confused by your absence... Vadim I go.
(To Prenest.) Do everything as you started! PHENOMENON 6 Vigor (one) So, I was, oh fate, their cunning game! A price has been set for the salvation of society - Ramida was given to Preneste, not to me. What did this Prenest do? Vadim, what glory, What success gives him excellent rights? Why am I so smitten with you? But Vigor cannot be humiliated in vain, And if I should be deprived of Ramida... Tremble, creating insults so mortal to me!

COMMENTS

Solemn army - triumphant, victorious. ...you are impassive. - Here: impartial. ACT THREE PHENOMENON 1 Ramida and Selena Selena Dry up the streams of your bitterest tears, Do not plunge your soul into despair. Ramida Selena! all my feel you torment! O fate! oh terrible state! O debt, barbaric debt! I must keep life And not for Rurik, but for another to live. I must, as an enemy, hate him, in whom my captive spirit is accustomed to see bliss... To see him all the time, to listen to his love, to reciprocate with tenderness for tenderness - In that I found, blinded by hope, What cannot be given to me and all the universe... Beloved! On this day, could I foresee That I, hiding a deathly sadness in my heart, Which without you cannot be consoled, And I will have to be horrified to see you; What, my soul is in vain in you - O formidable fate! - The most tender passion should be considered a vice And what - O top of evil torments, unheard of even in hell! oh fear! - I will unite myself with that, Who should thrust his sword into the dearest chest! .. One consolation is death in an unbearable torment; But even that unfortunate consolation has been taken away; This refuge deprives me of rock; I can’t die, I won’t change my father. Selene! you are me, a rejected, orphan, And not tied to the world by anything else, Under the yoke of office, shedding currents of tears, Abandoned by my father, forgotten from heaven, Do not leave me in these cruel moments! When both mortals and the gods are cruel to me, In friendship only your joy is all mine. Not for long will I burden Selena Not for long! Selena Place my hope in friendship; She will fulfill everything, just wish. Should I, Rurik revealing your torment And your father's vicious militia, Reveal to him all his dangers? Ramida I wish death, and nothing more! You want me, a cruel and vicious daughter, Suffering from the fact that my passion is endless, Arming myself with betrayal against my parent, Finding joy, bowing to villainy. Not! over myself I will not give rock so much power; I will die in torment, not deserving of misfortune. I'm not looking for dishonor from friendship: That help alone, Selena, I want, So that you perceive my mortal groans, So that you ease the torment with compassion And so that, as death will interrupt this life happily, Reveal all my innocence to Rurik. Selena Se Rurik marches. Ramida My spirit is failing! Let's hide. PHENOMENON 2 Ramida, Selena, Rurik and Izved Rurik Me Ramida is running away! It's in vain, can I believe my eyes? When they touch those joyful hours, In which your father will bring to the walls here All my bliss. .. What changes in vain? .. You turn your eyes away, trembling, pale! .. You know, all my happiness is only you alone ... Or could you be insidious against me? .. The salvation of your people is grateful, A faithful friend of society, a hero ours, your father, All that is holy to us, and the gods, at last, could contribute to my love vows; But the heart did not strive for only sacred objects: That would be nothing without your heart ... The dearest word of the mouth is above all to me; With this word from you, I am sure of happiness, I considered my ardor for you crowned, Immeasurable, And knowing that on this day your father will enter the city, To hasten my soul's joy For the wedding celebration, everything is now ready. You repeat that dearest word, With which your eyes have become so dissimilar at this hour, Transforming the light of the sun into mortal darkness for me; Do you love me like you said before? Or, to slay the fierce, gave hope? Ramida Leave unfortunately born into the world, Be happy without me, there is no other way. Rurik What do I hear? You command me to be happy, And my heart is cruel! you vomit. Can I feel my soul without you? You deprived of what the light can seduce? Having lost Ramida, what will reward the loss? For all my tenderness you prepare the coffin in return! Ramida Kol, daughter of Vadimov, shy and weak, It is possible, tormented, not to be the passions of a slave, - A hero like you, having given happiness to the people, It is convenient to return their souls to freedom. Rurik What the most terrible advice from the lips of others; Each speech of yours, like a storm, the spirit is crushed; The walls here oscillate in the eyes of the eclipsing ones, I can't understand the sudden change of roofing felt... Oh, the thought is terrible! could someone else touch you? Perform ferocity, piercing the back of the chest! Ramida O deadly thought! so you can believe, That Ramida can be hypocritical before you, That the world can endure and live not for you?.. Ah, what am I doing? Everything that flattered me, everything became a crime. Can I say that? .. O fate, o terrible fate! .. I even see you as a terrible vice! PHENOMENON 3 Rurik, Izved Rurik Hiding! And I, as if struck by the sky, Immovable, astonished by a thunderclap, In petrification, having destroyed all feelings, I see nothing, I do not remember myself. Was Ramida here? Did she tell me? Or did the worst dream in a dream confuse my spirit? Ramida that was: everything was in reality; And in vain I tear my heart out of its shackles. Izved Reject the passion that humiliates you, You, whom all of Novgorod adores, To whom for work - glory is immortal bribe! Do not allow yourself to be humiliated to shame, So that for a collaborator, and gloomy and contemptible, Ramida sees herself rejected. Rurik Can I endure this mortal blow? Or can its flattery be so vile, To, closing itself to me with the most tender passion, To swear by my sacred power And in order to betray my pride, It’s not worth it, perhaps, who even look at the world! I will eradicate all the poison from the heart of love. I must preserve the glory I have acquired, And not as a lover, but as a monarch, to remain here, And even forget the name of this Ramida; I must overcome only vile torment ... But, ah! why this groan, this weeping and sighing? Are those speeches interrupted and that confusion of words? What would all this be if it weren't for love? There is a certain secret that gnaws at her heart; And she does not share this secret with me. (To Izved.) Finish my death, complete your blow! Deprive me of the rest of my soul! You took away all my hope, you cruel one! And fill those deep wounds with poison, Which, to the sorrow of Ramida, are given to me! Who is the impudent enemy, who has poisoned my days? Who steals Ramida's heart from me? Izved When my master commands me, I must open... Rurik No! I don't want to know; I am afraid of myself; I tremble with raptures, Which, having stirred up my spirit, weakened in passion, Moved to baseness, shameful of royal power, And, urging me to avenge my subject, Will present Rurik as a tyrant in this country. If I have to suffer, I will suffer alone; But, hiding from the eyes of my mortal wound in the heart, I will not give consolation to my destroyers, So that I am saved - the city hates me. I am equal to myself all the time, Although I am unhappy, I will remain forever glorious; And, having hidden the groaning love with goodness, If the vile hearts of my enemies despised by me Are convenient to console themselves with my torment, Your prince does not want to equalize with their meanness. Izved Se a thought worthy of those exalted on the throne. It is possible for someone to give his passions a law, Who, like a stone, affirms the heart among their waves, He alone possesses worthy mortals! He alone is worthy to represent the immortals And divide their dominion in purple. At these words, Praenest appears in the distance. I am sure that your spirit, calm in excitement, Your greatness will not be unworthy. So that you can heal your passionate heart more easily, I must open a low partner. (Pointing to PRENEST.) Behold, an insignificant enemy of the Tsar's tranquility! Is he worthy of wrath as the savior of these countries? Rurik Prenest! .. Oh heavens, you bind my spirit! Izved A rumor spreads throughout the city, That with his heart Ramida gives him his hand. Rurik I must confirm my unbearable torment! PHENOMENON 4 Rurik, Preneste, Izved Rurik (Preneste) Come closer to me, happy citizen! Although you have many reasons for fear, Although you should shudder before your master, But you will be able to confess to me without trembling. Speak without fear. PRENEST (aside) Everything is open now! (To Rurik.) Outbursts of pride of the ruler die! Can I be disturbed by your malice? - Whoever is not afraid of death, before that, your scepter is worthless! Rurik Judging by your feelings and mine, You think to see mortal executions in them. If Prenest had owned it, then he would have been convenient; But can Rurik be like Prenest? In vain do you prepare to dare to die, And in vain do you dare to despise my scepter. You show your guilt with pride, To irritate me - but you do not irritate me. To anger at you I will not bow the scepter And, following the passion, I will not change myself. I am calm before you that you are my enemy, I know - And, knowing everything, I despise you and Ramida. If there are only those who are low among the citizens of the heart, Who, blinded by the brilliance of the crown, Crawling around the throne, seized by selfishness, Revealed the exploits of the heroes of the secret And sold you the fatherland and honor, Do not think that I, closing in timid flattery, In the bends of vile lies could to grovel And that I am your enemy, to deny from honor: It is more glorious to die for society with Vadim, How to see the light of the sun for the sake of your graces! Rurik (aside) What do I hear? bad news! Prenest Your throne stands over the abyss! Revenge me, if you want, with a useless execution; But know, when you want to save yourself, Fight the whole city to destroy all the heroes; Rule over the dead - or step off the throne. Rurik Your threats to me cannot be an obstacle Fortunately for your people to possess. Why did I save this city in order to hand it over to the proud nobles, rebellious and seditious, The only dissatisfied with my power, That I curbed them to do evil to the people And in imaginary liberty to cover my tyranny? You gave me a scepter here to end the misfortune, And it is not in your power to take away this scepter. On virtue my throne is established; I see clearly that he is covered by the gods; They, your spirit at this hour, plunged into error, Hidden from me revealed a crime; And you yourself betrayed your accomplices; Let everyone tremble, and even Vadim himself! SCENE 5 PRENEST (alone) What have I done? Confused by his questions, I let him see Vadim's sword lifted up on him, And I enlightened his dark eyes at the conspiracy drawn up by the heroes. Burning with love for Ramida, he is charming, He only knew that I ... But who is that dishonest, Who could open? Through the deceit of some, he sought revenge. Behold it... PHENOMENON 6 Prenest, Vigor Prenest Tell me, who could inspire a tyrant, That I can deprive him of Ramida? Didn't you, knowing her father's addiction to me, Throw him, me and society into misfortune And your jealousy ... Vigor Not me. Prenest In our hearts A sacred secret is hidden from the eyes of others. Can I turn doubt to another, And how can you assure? Vigor Not me. Enough words To justify all my honor. A Russian - such as you, such as I - If he speaks a word, the gods must also believe! Uniform slaves are convenient to be hypocrites. In your doubt I forgive you: You, thinking that I am vile, have humiliated yourself. Although I hate the happy enemy in you, But I won’t offend myself with meanness in anger. In order to be happy to exterminate my partner, I won’t be able to forget myself so much, So that, by deflecting my spirit to vile insinuation, Through a tyrant, anger to reach revenge, And, crouching only vilely, like a snake, I won’t hide my hatred with flowers. Losing Ramida by you, I suffer mortally; I am your enemy, and I thirst to shed your blood; But the fatherland calls us to save him - And now, Preneste, now my only object! One tyrant attracts my vengeance. My misfortune - the misfortune of the people darkens. But after the throne - our fear of freedom - is overthrown, crushed, will turn into dust, When the consoling ray of liberty peeps through, Then Vigor will appear to you as your enemy And which of us will live - the weapon will decide! PRENEST (leaves) A dreadful aspiration does not frighten me. ACT FOUR PHENOMENON I Rurik, Izved Izved Villainous intentions are now all open, And you can see all the abysses dug around you. Though this proud Prenest has vanished from the city walls And carried away the sacrament of villainy with him, But Vadim's warriors have been caught by me here. The crowd of these villains, kept under guard, Confessed to everything, opened a fierce knife, Which hatred prepared the nobles On the chest of the savior of this rebellious city. Filled with the most ferocious poison for you. I know the names... Rurik I don't want to know them. Not in vain traitors, treason will turn away. What do I need to know, who is vile before me: Whom I saved them - I will be saved by that hand; As I began, always marching along the straight path, I will show the people who I am and who Vadim is. To know all traitors is a sign of timidity. May the oblivion of their oblivion hide the meanness of eternal darkness; Despised by me, in the darkness of their crime, Not worthy of my wrath, Invisible in the pride that they perceived, Let them fall into the dust, when they raised their heads! If the gods strike Vadim with this hand, All will disappear, these countries are embarrassing peace! .. Go and prepare my Varangians for battle; Let's go, under the canopy of the gods of the immortal hand, Not my throne - to defend the holy truth... Oh, you who can always penetrate Through the veil of pretense of hearts into dark bends; O you, by which the abysses of the underground Tol are clearly visible, how bright are the skies; Turning your eyes on my spirit, Behold, gods, how I break my heart, That I proceed to shed the blood of citizens in due course. (To Izved.) Return freedom to the warriors of Vadim; Pay with my bounty for malice; So that, having appeared before him, they showed the hero That I am his friendship, I do not stand vile anger; But, not being afraid of him, I strive to repel the Blow with which he dares to threaten me. Izved Generosity to enemies lifts their pride; Generosity is a disaster for us... And is Vadim worth your respect? Rurik When he is not worth it, I deserve it. To the Novgorodians, in the pride of their hard-hearted, This harmful liberty of defenders only firm, I can show by the example of my feelings, That virtue is a hundred times higher than them. Go and fulfill my will of meekness, I am right - and I entrust my share to heaven! PHENOMENON 2 Rurik (one) Over the abysses here my throne is established; For my goodness, I am surrounded by malice, And my heart is constricted by sorrow all the time. Behold the fate of the lords, who keep their duty sacred: Always tormented, there is no joy to be seen. Mortals do not stand to possess them; Benefactors have done torment - They are never worth doing good! .. Be ashamed of this thought, exalted to the throne! When the rulers in the radiance of the crowns The majesty of the gods is immutable, Equal to them and the spirit is immutable. Though mortals are weakly immersed in vice, Though they themselves, burdening their fate in madness, Ingratitude attracts the thunder of the sky, But the gods shine on them like a sunbeam; Putting a feast in the gifts of nature of the whole universe, In spite of malice, pour bounties into the world. PHENOMENON 3 Rurik, Ramida Ramida The whole city is alarmed - I am most embarrassed! Cold blood in me, all turned to the heart. My chest is crowded, and the light of the sun is fading. I rise up a storm in sight, I have no shelter ... I don’t dare to turn to your heart; Poor Ramida cannot be flattered by that; I'm already trembling before your eyes, I'm like a criminal before my judges... But the gods see... Rurik Why such boldness? Beware of calling immortals to perjury! Or are you, trying to show me sincerity, Do you want to catch me in an interrupted network? Do not think that I, like before, Humiliated, blinded, in shameful hope, Accepted all your pretense in my heart, With which your spirit played me so fiercely, And, continuing to flicker before your eyes, I was sacrificed to my villain by them. Everything has now been revealed, and those hours have passed, In which your unfaithful beauties Filled the captive spirit with you all the time And showed me all happiness in you alone. Do not be flattered more by those and in your pride Do not expect a stream of bitterest tears At your feet, the liya, the ruler of the sowing country, Was the most contemptible suppliant of the mercy of love; Or so that, with jealousy, I am enraged, That heart would be taken away, by which I am despised. Reproaches, complaints and tender frenzy, Raptures of jealousy, sincere explanations, Those groans of sorrow, those outbursts of anger, Which are flattering to such haughty beauty, The essence of my sensitive heart is lower. Believe, no matter what you endure, but I am a hundred times closer To die, as to give freedom to my weaknesses Despised me by this means to attract. Whatever the cost, but the heart has already decided to forget the Unfaithful - and now everything has happened; Everything is done; I have already been delivered from your flattery, Above the torments of love, above low revenge, I know how to honor myself, So that, having overcome my heart, I give it to another. Another of my love will know the price; Another will pay me treason for yours; Other charms of your beauty will eclipse And futile heat to you will be destroyed from the heart. May you be happy with those who flamingly burn, I am happy in another way ... You shed tears, Ramida! Ramida You, fate, depriving me of everything, To aggravate your ferocity, Darkened my innocence with the darkness of vice And deprived me of the last consolation: When it is forbidden for me to live for Rurik, In the tomb, be mourned by Rurik! Rurik You cry and die, Ramida, you wish; And you tear away your heart so fiercely From my heart that lives by you. Since sincerity tears before me - Leave, Ramida, I should not doubt, You cannot humiliate yourself with flattery, - Leave it to me, if I offended you with that, That my spirit showed you bitter coldness. Leave! I, blinding myself in annoyance, Wanted to be healed, concluding death in my heart. Do not believe, do not believe the words of desperate love And interrupt the currents that are pouring from the eyes. Who? I? so that I stop loving you, Ramida! To lose your beloved view Or not to see the light of the sun is the same for me; My heart is only given to you alone. My flame will never be destroyed by anything. If you love me, let your father strive to bring down his blow on me; To my daughter, I keep the heat in my heart, Refuting his injustices, I will die or win, adoring Ramida. Ramida O terrible oaths, of which I am a slave! O duty, o fierce duty! O terrible fate! I am deprived of any hope and consolation: Insurmountable barriers between us are! Rurik Obstacles?.. Ramida If my father falls to you (Great sense of the arc you know, hero!), The daughter is overthrown by the enemy, can I be yours? And if, mourned by my weakness, You are expelled from these full walls of sorrow, You remain forever removed from me, Can I be yours? Appointed at the cost of another... Rurik If unjust fate Definitely I fall on the battlefield, Pad - but dead, and all my part will come true. When will the immortal gods give me victory, Or my father's feelings are unfairly strict, Taking in my heart and transforming my spirit, For all my love I will languish my chest, Will you be able to obey him blindly? Ramida Can you have the slightest doubt about that? Accustomed to the power of the father sacred to honor, It is my duty, having fulfilled everything, to suffer in silence And, bearing my torment without grumbling, In misfortune to make him a consolation. To part with you - let life be worth it, But - the gift of a father - before him my life is nothing to me! Deeply enclosing my torment in my heart, To another I will give my trembling hand And I will make my father the desired fierce marriage. Rurik And behold your love for me is not a false sign! You did not feel love for me in the least, Your pretense was a veil, What did you darken my tender passion at this hour, Those groans, those tears of your insidious eyes - Only one curtain of yours for another passion, To Prenest the proud, my villain of power. Ramida Could I, despising low doubts And this - which I am above - your anger, In silence, retired, without grumbling, calmly, With disdain to answer with dignity; But time is precious: know that there is a means, If you love me, interrupt Vadim's revenge And unite with him in a knot of friendship. We are happy when you can agree. Rurik Kohl must, I am ready to shed all my blood. Ramida Our hero, our savior, are you not higher than crowns, With what do ordinary kings adorn themselves And who are contemptible as true heroes? it is together. I do not believe that your spirit could be power-hungry. Leave that dream, by which you offended pride, You attract anger at yourself from everywhere, And by which you separate yourself forever from Ramida. In vain the whole price of yourself is in your heart only, Not in mortal pomp, you are content with the fact that you are worthy to be in heaven with the gods; An equal citizen to all, take the crown with your feet And, surrounded by a storm, destroy this throne - The dwelling of sorrows and the abyss of terrible evils. Rurik It's too late! - You know how respected the throne is by me. Do you remember how this city, seduced by silence, By terrible storms, which I tamed, I paid for my happiness with the throne; I rejected power then - and could reject it with glory: It is great to neglect greatness with power! But after the people, with groaning, with a stream of tears, brought their supplications to my feet, Fearing again to bear the overthrown burden by me, Forced my goodness to become a debt. My crown is a pledge of happiness, And my power has become a joy to hearts, How vile, in vain the swords are rebellious against me, It is inevitable to overthrow everything again in misfortune, If I had earned honor before, having renounced power, Now I would humble myself, giving away the right, In your hearts citizens inscribed with love; I must protect him with my blood! Possessing like a father, I must despise life; I am more worthy than others on the throne to die. Do not draw me to such baseness! So that I can be a friend with your great father, Not meanness is a means, no! - Ramida, you yourself, If those darkness of our misfortunes would disappear, Before the light I would be ashamed, Loving the worthy, despised would be humiliated. Grown up on her laurels, glorious daughter of a hero, Be the judge between honor and love now! Ramida I feel your duty, no matter how bitterly I moan; I, crying, not you, but I blame my rock! Can I discredit the fact that, keeping your honor, You sacrifice the unfortunate me to glory. The immutability of my fate is guilty of that! Feel the same and you my sacred position And, following the honor, do not forbid me to do so! Loving me, you should be an enemy to your father, And I, loving you, no matter how I feel in sorrow, Honoring the honor is equal to you, I will not be yours. Trying to change the gentle heat into enmity, Although I won’t be able to conquer my heart, But I can obey my position, Having lost You, every hour I part with my soul. Rurik Oh terrible fate! Ramida O part, mortal part! Rurik On this day, did I foresee only a fierce attack, I expect happiness from your heart? .. Ramida I affirm hope in your heart. By the merit of your society, enticing myself, Could I foresee that the fierce fate of me Near the edge of happiness will overthrow death into the abyss! Rurik Everything perished for us! Ramida Oh, groans are useless! PHENOMENON 4 Rurik, Ramida, Izved Izved Hurry, O sovereign! already by the army of Vadim, Being tea in his pride is invincible, The fields near the local walls are burdening at this hour. Rurik I'm going where the fierce duty calls me! (To Ramida.) I go, having lost you, worthy of being you, Then remembering - that the monarch, forget your lover And, sacrificing joy to my society, Eternal torment or death to accept a reward. If honor on the way I am destined to fall dead, Remembering my only tender passion for you, As a reward to me for seeing me in the coffin, Having done the end of my father’s cruel anger, With tears you honor my coffin with precious ones And calm my sad shadow with a groan. Ramida Having fulfilled my duties to my father, I will not shed tears for you, but currents of blood! ACT FIVE PHENOMENON 1 Ramida (alone) Already fierce abuse boils and blood flows like a river. Both Rurik and Vadim, with a murderous hand In each other, are trying to take away my life at this hour. What are you heroes for, only to be exterminated?.. Oh, how unhappy I am! lover and father-- Dearest names for happy hearts, And to me, and to me, you are the sources of suffering!.. In the abyss of sorrows, turmoil, hesitation My spirit is trembling, loving you both, At this hour I would like to run away from myself ... I am left in sorrow from everyone, forgotten, And you, Selena, you are hidden from my eyes, You will not come to share mortal sadness with me And satisfy my mortal longing with friendship! .. Alas! in this terrible hour, I am a burden to myself ... Can I beg, immortal, your goodness, Can I pity you, the gods, bow, So that, interrupting my life, then forestall the time, When I am struck by the end of the battle, Or my father I will anger with my groaning, Or I will see with horror in the laurels of Rurik. When I burn with a flame against you, Gods, smash your chest, I will vilify with misfortune, Rip out this eternal love from your soul ... But the sound pierces the ear! .. Everything has happened! .. O fear! The earth is shaking, and the light is fading in the eyes! .. PHENOMENON 2 Vadim (disarmed, with a crowd of captives,
guards from Rurik warriors), Ramida Ramida Do I see you, beloved parent? Vadim My laurel withered, alas, and Rurik is the winner! O shame! I've been cast into fetters at last... Slave Rurikov - Ramida is not a father! Go, do not multiply my terrible longing!.. O sun! darken your ray, otherwise beautiful, And hated by me and the worst of eternal darkness! Everything is done now, we have become slaves!.. Slaves?.. No! Vadim is above this misfortune! The universe, gods, you, lying according to your power, Will be able to betray the whole world to tyrants And expose yourself to happiness and blind; Let everything be enslaved to happy villains, - But the heart of that Vadim is excluded You cannot shake my soul And, armed with thunder, give me a ruler ... What am I waiting for? .. O daughter, unhappy and kind! When our life is useless to the fatherland, Having become idle witnesses of its shackles, Should we crawl in a crowd of tyrant slaves?.. Are you crying, struck by my grief? Do not Cry! consolation is unfortunate frank. It is terrible and bitter for timid souls, Pleasant and sweet for generosity: Do not be, stop this world - tyrants sacrifice - to see; Death is a blessing if life must be hated! Let us die, evade meanness and malice, In one unfortunate refuge - in the coffin! We'll die!.. But what? Oh fate!.. I hate life, And I don't see the means to die unhappy. With the sword of this last hope, I am deprived! (To Ramida.) O you, in whom my spirit must be inspired, O daughter of the fatherland that fell with me! When I am honored equally in misfortune by you, If I am in bonds with you, as in laurels, father - Make an end to all of our disasters, Deliver me the instrument of the desired death And save yourself from the shame of living with me! Fly on wings and speed up to bring, How should we save our honor at this very hour From the sight of a fierce enemy victorious! .. You tremble! .. Is your life tolerable without honor? I feel like my daughter is going to take me away. You are wicked against your father, still keeping your heat, - Behold your timidity, the vile cause, Behold the fierce fate of Vadim's peak! .. O you! closing your eyes for society forever, How happier you are today than I am, Prenest, Vigor! Unfading are covered with laurel, both of you, glory in the fields descended into the darkness of the coffin! The fatherland still breathed at that hour; Sweet hope accompanied you; And I am the plaything of my chasing fate And the low victim of Ramidin's vice, - I must taste untold sorrows ... Ramida The daughter can not be more unfortunate to endure These lightnings from your so many menacing looks to me, These unrighteous reproaches that are mortal for me! If I must overthrow the burdens of this life, Calm down, sir, you will be pleased! My life is nothing to me, when its deprivation to You, my parent, may be a consolation. I swear at your feet, I swear in this fierce hour, That I see you for the last time And that the last time, showing my torment, I sprinkle your hands with bitter tears. Blessed, if, having spilled my unfortunate blood, I will return the love of my parents to my coffin, And I will attract groans to the pity of the heart! But you do not expect that, inhuman daughter, I agreed with your despair, And I would have given my father a remedy for death; So that, having become a participant in parricide, I cursed myself at the last minute. Forgive me, my parent, forgive me for the last time! (Wants to go.) Vadim Don't leave me, you vile life to bear! Every minute, every moment is shameful to me! Wherever I turn my confused eyes, To my torment all my shame shows. It seems to me that everything is here, having taken on a dull look, It demands freedom, lost by me! Every breath I take seems to be my fault! This air is what I breathe, the earth is where I stand, And the walls cry out, cursing my life today: There is no fatherland, and you look at the world; I couldn’t save him, but you don’t die!.. O mortal thought, gnawing at my heart, Like a furious wave in the hour of stormy thunderstorms, Refuting my spirit, only before hard: Behold, this merciful Rurik will soon come to us And, turning into a fierce goodness your thunder, My heart will break forgiveness with shame! O terrible extreme! O abyss of shame! Don't let me live through this unbearable vision... It's all too late!.. This is my enemy! PHENOMENON 3 Rurik (behind him nobles, warriors, people), Vadim, Ramida, Izved Rurik (Vadim) Although I was forced, Vadim, to fight with you, I can’t enjoy my victory, When it feeds in you that enmity, which from your I don't expect feelings. Vadim What right gives you hope to be flattered, When you won, to reconcile with me? Is not this shining crown on the head? This disgust of all free hearts! Though your yoke is justified by victory today. Contemptuously right by me, given by one force. Can a crown paint over evil? I wish that when this could happen, So that, with happiness placed among the immortals, You would like to be my friend, armed with thunder, I would gladly be able to see you in heaven, To despise you there with your strength! Rurik This fruitless lad of vain pride Worthy, perhaps, to attract contempt to himself, But I honor Ramidin's father in misfortune, On this day, the creator's bloody misfortunes to the fatherland. Vadim (to the people) For the return of your lost freedom Why could not shed all my blood, peoples! Rurik Nobles, warriors, citizens, all the people! What was the fruit of your freedom before? Confusion, robbery, murder and violence, Deprivation of all blessings and abundance in disasters. And every one here, when he was only strong, Honored one thing with the law to overthrow the law; Armed with a sword and a flame of discord, He flowed to power, immersed in the blood of citizens. Sacred are all your bonds, the vague city was destroying: Sons against fathers, fathers against children, To serve tyrants, stretching out their fierce hands, They sought vile tribute to patricide. Citizens saw in each other only enemies, All forgot honesty, forgot the gods. Profit here alone was the owner of all hearts, Silver is the only god and greed is virtue ... Vadim In place of the liberties of heavenly beauty You, self-will showing us traits ... Rurik Let me finish everything that I want to say. Between us judge the people I put. Although the victory has now subjected you to me... Vadim Has subjected you? What are you Vadimova and the spirit of the winner? Rurik I, knowing how to forget happiness, I will force you to be my friend by the truth. Vadim My friend? you? in a crown? Stop being captivated! Rather, heaven and hell will unite! Rurik Whether I wanted a crown, you know that yourself. I did not bring salvation to these countries for myself: Called by the people, I closed the abyss, I am satisfied that part of your tear ended, Did I want to sell charity And humiliate the price of my deeds with the bribe of the throne? Did I seek the power from which I denied? And can it be that I am seduced by the scepter? Or did the throne give me glory with its splendor? Who saved the people from troubles - above the kings, In the comforts of dozing under the shadow of the crown, But then your fellow citizens deplorable groans My spirit forced them not to deprive them of happiness. Having begun to do good, he had to complete it. Here I took the crown I rejected, To obey your law for you. How do I darken my throne? Where is the first judge? You are free, happy; I'm the only one moaning! Which citizen, who preserves virtue, Can reproach that I was a doer of evil? Honoring the most sacred charter of the only truth, Have I taken even a line from your rights? And if sometimes from the severity of the law From the lips of the unfortunate I heard the pity of a groan, Which I deprived those who groaned with truth, For that - comforted me with my generosity. Tell me: is it true, citizens, am I telling? I, the gods, call you as witnesses! You know that, having your power, I was afraid of weaknesses under the burden of falling And, a whim of pride, I depressed by duty. He carried the yoke of the scepter, not noticing himself. I always remembered that there are Judges in heaven, thundering earthly rulers in their hearts, Who, shaking the king on the throne, Cry all the time to his all-powerful will: “We see every tear flowing, Which is allowed by your splendor; We draw from the weak with a violent hand; We see a drop of every spilled blood - Tremble with all your radiance! Do not justify yourself, great burden, Necessity - tyrants to apologize. Speak, people, we keep my power, Have I angered the gods with my rule? (To Vadim.) But don't you think that, being greedy for power from above, For that I show my scepter only rejoicing, To incline the people, I am happy in this country, Out of mercy, still leave me a crown; And so that pride, not glory, I am subdued, Against the will of all, one is stubborn, I wanted to hold the reigns of the reins, Seeking rewards for my merit by violence. When I moved up against you to fight, I did not pay lust for power, but tribute to honor: I had to support my glory and, And justify society's respect for me; I had to, wanting to leave my power, And not to dishonor myself with a shadow of timidity. And descending from the throne - or step straight into the coffin, Or blunt the sting of slander with victory. (To the people, taking off the crown.) Now I am handing your pledge back to you; As I received it, I am so pure and return it. You can transform the crown into nothing Or lay it on the head of Vadim. Vadim Vadim on the head! How I am horrified by slavery, Toliko I abhor its instrument! Izved (Rurik, pointing out the people who knelt before Rurik
to beg him to rule over him) See, sir, the whole city is at your feet! Father of the people! see your prayers of children; Leave intentions, their happiness predyaschit! Vadim O vile slaves, asking for your fetters! O shame! The whole spirit of the citizens from here is exterminated! Vadim! this society of which you are a member! Rurik If you honor the power of a monarch worthy of punishment, See my excuses in the hearts of my citizens; And what can you say against it? Vadim Veli give me the sword and I will answer. Rurik gives a sign to give Vadim a sword. Ramida (aside) This is my last hour, and now everything will be done! Vadim (to the one who brought the sword) Give it! .. (To Rurik.) Now Vadim will reconcile with you. This is the only way to be your friend. Rurik Be more - and become my father. Feel the voice of nature in your great soul. Or the one whom your peoples so much honor, Who is their father, should not be your son? To completely destroy your unrighteous wrath - If the happiness of the fatherland is dear little, Whose abyss is closed by my hand; If the generous heavens themselves are not enough for me, Look at the groaning daughter at the streams of tears, Which poison my soul is sad: In her heart you see my sacred rights, So that you can unite yourself with me with it. Vadim It's all over now, since you returned the sword. O sky! I don't want a reward anymore! (To Rurik.) All terrible barriers are crumbling between us: You, the people, and my daughter, and I will be satisfied! Rurik Oh heaven! How can I repay your generosity? O hour, blessed hour! An unexpected change! (To Vadim.) Allow both my daughter and me to embrace the knees of the Hero and father. (To Ramida.) You shed a stream of tears, When your parent ceased to be cruel to us! O you, I have one reward for virtue, In which the love of your citizens is my witness. Soul of my soul! What terrible darkness of the dearest charms has eclipsed the beautiful vision? Vadim (aside) I can no longer endure such a vile sight! .. Listen to me, Rurik, people and you, Ramida: (to Rurik) I see that your power is pleasing to heaven. You gave citizens a different feeling in their hearts. Everything fell before you: the world loves to grovel; But can I be seduced by such a world? (To the people.) You want to be enslaved, trampled under the scepter! I have no more fatherland, citizens! (To Ramida.) You are devoted to love with both heart and soul - So, I don’t have a daughter anymore ... Ramida Wait, my parent! Don't finish these words... Wait! my spirit is ready to expose you, That you despise your unfortunate daughter in vain... I know what you are doing at this hour, And your great spirit, all open before me, clearly tells me what I should do. I will fulfill your most terrible will And in my tender youth I will destroy the share, Which for me was woven from flowers. When that love has become vicious, For which I was deceived by my life, See if I am worthy to be your daughter. (He stabs himself.) Rurik O frenzy, fatal to me! Vadim Oh joy! Everything that I am will disappear in this country! O beloved daughter! Blood is truly heroic! (To Rurik.) In the middle of your victorious army, In the crown, able to see everything at your feet, - What are you against the one who dares to die? (He stabs himself.) Rurik O rock, o formidable rock! O righteous gods! Why did you want to be so strict with me, To strike me with the death of Ramida? You knew how to plunge an eternal sword into my heart, Depriving me of everything and happiness and consolation! .. For virtue, there is no reward for me in the world! .. In my greatness, only a burden to me! Suffering, I must be a victim to this country And, the groaning guardian of my position, To be a slave, I must be the ruler! I will not deceive myself from the path, Where, having become like you, I will avenge you, gods!