Page 435 - the-brothers-karamazov

no more... come not at all, never, never!’ And he let Him out
into the dark alleys of the town. The Prisoner went away.’
‘And the old man?’
‘The kiss glows in his heart, but the old man adheres to
his idea.’
‘And you with him, you too?’ cried Alyosha, mournfully.
Ivan laughed.
‘Why, it’s all nonsense, Alyosha. It’s only a senseless poem
of a senseless student, who could never write two lines of
verse. Why do you take it so seriously? Surely you don’t sup-
pose I am going straight off to the Jesuits, to join the men
who are correcting His work? Good Lord, it’s no business of
mine. I told you, all I want is to live on to thirty, and then...
dash the cup to the ground!’
‘But the little sticky leaves, and the precious tombs, and
the blue sky, and the woman you love! How will you live,
how will you love them?’ Alyosha cried sorrowfully. ‘With
such a hell in your heart and your head, how can you? No,
that’s just what you are going away for, to join them... if not,
you will kill yourself, you can’t endure it!’
‘There is a strength to endure everything,’ Ivan said with
a cold smile.
‘The strength of the Karamazovs — the strength of the
Karamazov baseness.’
‘To sink into debauchery, to stifle your soul with corrup-
tion, yes?’
‘Possibly even that... only perhaps till I am thirty I shall
escape it, and then-.’
‘How will you escape it? By what will you escape it? That’s

The Brothers Karamazov