Page 1745 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

therefore he could not wish for war or advocate war for
any general objects whatever. He said as Mihalitch did and
the people, who had expressed their feeling in the
traditional invitations of the Varyagi: ‘Be princes and rule

over us. Gladly we promise complete submission. All the
labor, all humiliations, all sacrifices we take upon
ourselves; but we will not judge and decide.’ And now,
according to Sergey Ivanovitch’s account, the people had
foregone this privilege they had bought at such a costly
price.
He wanted to say too that if public opinion were an
infallible guide, then why were not revolutions and the
commune as lawful as the movement in favor of the
Slavonic peoples? But these were merely thoughts that
could settle nothing. One thing could be seen beyond
doubt—that was that at the actual moment the discussion
was irritating Sergey Ivanovitch, and so it was wrong to
continue it. And Levin ceased speaking and then called the
attention of his guests to the fact that the storm clouds
were gathering, and that they had better be going home
before it rained.

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