Тарас Бульба | страница 11



Пора доставать козацкой славы!"
These words were like sparks falling on dry wood.И слова эти были как искры, падавшие на сухое дерево.
The husbandman broke his plough; the brewers and distillers threw away their casks and destroyed their barrels; the mechanics and merchants sent their trade and their shop to the devil, broke pots and everything else in their homes, and mounted their horses.Пахарь ломал свой плуг, бровари и пивовары кидали свои кади и разбивали бочки, ремесленник и торгаш посылал к черту и ремесло и лавку, бил горшки в доме. И все, что ни было, садилось на коня.
In short, the Russian character here received a profound development, and manifested a powerful outwards expression.Словом, русский характер получил здесь могучий, широкий размах, дюжую наружность.
Taras was one of the band of old-fashioned leaders; he was born for warlike emotions, and was distinguished for his uprightness of character.Тарас был один из числа коренных, старых полковников: весь был он создан для бранной тревоги и отличался грубой прямотой своего нрава.
At that epoch the influence of Poland had already begun to make itself felt upon the Russian nobility.Тогда влияние Польши начинало уже оказываться на русском дворянстве.
Many had adopted Polish customs, and began to display luxury in splendid staffs of servants, hawks, huntsmen, dinners, and palaces.Многие перенимали уже польские обычаи, заводили роскошь, великолепные прислуги, соколов, ловчих, обеды, дворы.
This was not to Taras's taste.Тарасу было это не по сердцу.
He liked the simple life of the Cossacks, and quarrelled with those of his comrades who were inclined to the Warsaw party, calling them serfs of the Polish nobles.Он любил простую жизнь козаков и перессорился с теми из своих товарищей, которые были наклонны к варшавской стороне, называя их холопьями польских панов.
Ever on the alert, he regarded himself as the legal protector of the orthodox faith.Вечно неугомонный, он считал себя законным защитником православия.
He entered despotically into any village where there was a general complaint of oppression by the revenue farmers and of the addition of fresh taxes on necessaries.Самоуправно входил в села, где только жаловались на притеснения арендаторов и на прибавку новых пошлин с дыма.
He and his Cossacks executed justice, and made it a rule that in three cases it was absolutely necessary to resort to the sword. Namely, when the commissioners did not respect the superior officers and stood before them covered; when any one made light of the faith and did not observe the customs of his ancestors; and, finally, when the enemy were Mussulmans or Turks, against whom he considered it permissible, in every case, to draw the sword for the glory of Christianity.