Maximum-assistance view: every word above everyday vocabulary is explained at every appearance; each name is introduced at its first appearance in the chapter.

CHAPTER VIII

The friends were silent. Neither cared to begin talking (neither of them wanted to start talking). Pierre (the big young man, a guest in this house) continually (again and again) glanced at Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is); Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is) rubbed (moved his hand back and forth on) his forehead with his small hand.

“Let us go and have supper,” he said with a sigh (a long, sad breath out), going to the door.

They entered the elegant (beautiful and in good taste), newly decorated (with new paint, paper and furniture), and luxurious (very rich and comfortable) dining room. Everything from the table napkins (small cloths for wiping hands and mouth at meals) to the silver (the knives, forks and spoons), china (fine plates and cups), and glass bore that imprint of newness (all looked brand new) found in the households of the newly married (the homes of people who have just married). Halfway through supper Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is) leaned his elbows on the table and, with a look of nervous agitation (a worried, restless feeling) such as Pierre had never before seen on his face, began to talk—as one who has long had something on his mind (has been thinking about something for a long time) and suddenly determines to speak out (decides to say it openly).

“Never, never marry, my dear fellow (a warm way of speaking to a friend)! That’s my advice: never marry till you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable of (you are able to do), and until you have ceased (stopped) to love the woman of your choice (the woman you have chosen) and have seen her plainly as she is (seen what she is really like), or else you will make a cruel and irrevocable (that can never be undone) mistake. Marry when you are old and good for nothing (no longer any use)—or all that is good and noble (fine and honourable) in you will be lost. It will all be wasted on trifles (small unimportant things). Yes! Yes! Yes! Don’t look at me with such surprise. If you marry expecting anything from yourself (still hoping to do great things) in the future, you will feel at every step (all the time) that for you all is ended, all is closed (there is nothing left ahead of you) except the drawing room (the world of parties and polite visits (a drawing room was where guests were met)), where you will be ranged side by side with (placed next to) a court lackey (a servant of the ruler's household, who only obeys) and an idiot (a very stupid person)!... But what’s the good? (what use is it?)...” and he waved his arm.

Pierre took off his spectacles (glasses worn on the nose), which made his face seem different and the good-natured (kind and friendly) expression still more apparent (even easier to see), and gazed (looked for a long time) at his friend in amazement (very surprised).

“My wife,” continued Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is), “is an excellent woman, one of those rare women with whom a man’s honor is safe (a husband need never fear she will shame him); but, O God (a cry of despair), what would I not give now (how much I would give) to be unmarried (single, with no wife)! You are the first and only one to whom I mention this, because I like you.”

As he said this Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is) was less than ever like (now quite unlike) that Bolkónski (Prince Andrew himself, as the bored man he seemed at Anna Pávlovna’s party) who had lolled (sat leaning far back, doing nothing) in Anna Pávlovna’s (the lady who gave the evening party) easy chairs (soft comfortable armchairs) and with half-closed eyes had uttered French phrases between his teeth (spoke French words through half-closed lips, as if bored). Every muscle of his thin face was now quivering (shaking a little) with nervous excitement; his eyes, in which the fire of life had seemed extinguished (all life and energy had seemed to be gone), now flashed with brilliant light. It was evident that the more lifeless (dull, with no energy) he seemed at ordinary times, the more impassioned (full of strong feeling) he became in these moments of almost morbid irritation (an anger so strong it seemed almost like an illness).

“You don’t understand why I say this,” he continued, “but it is the whole story of life. You talk of Bonaparte (Napoleon, the French ruler) and his career (his rise in life),” said he (though Pierre had not mentioned Bonaparte (Pierre had not said a word about him; he is arguing with himself)), “but Bonaparte when he worked went step by step toward his goal. He was free, he had nothing but his aim to consider, and he reached it. But tie yourself up with (bind yourself to) a woman and, like a chained convict (a prisoner held in chains), you lose all freedom! And all you have of hope and strength merely weighs you down (makes you feel heavy and tired) and torments (causes great pain to) you with regret. Drawing rooms (the big front rooms where guests are met), gossip (talk about other people's private lives), balls (large evening parties with dancing), vanity (too much pride in how one looks and seems), and triviality (things of no importance)—these are the enchanted circle I cannot escape from (a trap, like a magic ring, that keeps me in and will not let me out). I am now going to the war, the greatest war there ever was, and I know nothing and am fit for nothing (no good at anything). I am very amiable (friendly and pleasant) and have a caustic wit (a clever way of saying sharp, hurtful things),” continued Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is), “and at Anna Pávlovna’s they listen to me (he mocks himself: at the parties of Anna Pávlovna, the lady who gives them, people admire him, and that is all his life is good for). And that stupid set (that silly group of people) without whom my wife cannot exist, and those women.... If you only knew what those society women (women from the rich important families who go to parties) are, and women in general! My father is right. Selfish, vain (too proud of how they look), stupid, trivial (caring only about small things) in everything—that’s what women are when you see them in their true colors (as they really are)! When you meet them in society (at the parties of rich important families) it seems as if there were something in them (they had something real and worthwhile inside them), but there’s nothing, nothing, nothing! No, don’t marry, my dear fellow (a warm way of speaking to a friend); don’t marry!” concluded (finished speaking) Prince Andrew.

“It seems funny to me (it seems strange to me),” said Pierre, “that you, you should consider yourself (you think of yourself as) incapable (not able to do anything) and your life a spoiled life (a ruined life, a life that has failed). You have everything before you (your whole future is still ahead of you), everything. And you....”

He did not finish his sentence, but his tone showed how highly he thought of his friend (how much he admired his friend) and how much he expected of him in the future.

“How can he talk like that?” thought Pierre. He considered his friend a model of perfection (an example of how a man should be) because Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is) possessed in the highest degree (very strongly) just the very qualities Pierre lacked (did not have), and which might be best described as strength of will (the power to make himself do what he decides). Pierre was always astonished (very surprised) at Prince Andrew’s calm manner of treating everybody, his extraordinary memory, his extensive reading (having read a great many books) (he had read everything, knew everything, and had an opinion about everything), but above all (most of all) at his capacity for (his great ability in) work and study. And if Pierre was often struck by (often noticed with surprise) Andrew’s lack of capacity for (not being able to do) philosophical meditation (long deep thinking about life and its meaning) (to which he himself was particularly addicted (loved very much)), he regarded (saw) even this not as a defect (a fault) but as a sign of strength.

Even in the best, most friendly (warm, like a friend) and simplest (most plain and ordinary) relations of life (ties between people, such as friendships), praise and commendation (praise) are essential (needed), just as grease is necessary to wheels that they may run smoothly (just as oil makes wheels turn easily).

“My part is played out (my part in life is over, like an actor's at the end of a play),” said Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is). “What’s the use of talking about me? Let us talk about you,” he added after a silence, smiling at his reassuring (comforting) thoughts.

That smile was immediately reflected (copied, as in a mirror) on Pierre’s face.

“But what is there to say about me?” said Pierre, his face relaxing into (slowly changing into) a careless, merry smile (a happy smile with no worry in it). “What am I? An illegitimate son (a son born to parents who were not married to each other)!” He suddenly blushed crimson (went bright red in the face), and it was plain (it was clear) that he had made a great effort to say this. “Without a name and without means (with no family name of my own and no money)... And it really...” But he did not say what “it really” was. “For the present (for now) I am free and am all right. Only I haven’t the least idea (I have no idea at all) what I am to do (what I should do); I wanted to consult you (ask your advice) seriously.”

Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is) looked kindly at him, yet his glance—friendly (warm, like a friend) and affectionate (warm and loving) as it was (though it was)—expressed a sense of his own superiority (the feeling that he himself was better).

“I am fond of you (I like you very much), especially as you are the one live man among our whole set (the only one of all our friends who is really alive). Yes, you’re all right! Choose what you will (choose whatever you want); it’s all the same (it makes no difference). You’ll be all right anywhere. But look here (listen to me): give up (stop) visiting those Kurágins (a rich noble family whose young men live wildly) and leading that sort of life (living that kind of life). It suits you so badly (it is so wrong for you)—all this debauchery (wild living, with drinking and women), dissipation (wasting life on pleasure), and the rest of it (and all the other things like that)!”

“What would you have (what else can I do), my dear fellow (a warm way of speaking to a friend)?” answered Pierre, shrugging (lifting and dropping) his shoulders. “Women, my dear fellow; women! (he means women are why he lives this way: he likes them too much to stop)”

“I don’t understand it,” replied Prince Andrew (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is). “Women who are comme il faut (French: proper and respectable), that’s a different matter; but the Kurágins’ set (the group of people around Prince Vasíli's family) of women, ‘women and wine’ (a life spent chasing women and drinking) I don’t understand!”

Pierre was staying at Prince Vasíli Kurágin’s (a powerful nobleman close to the ruler of Russia) and sharing the dissipated life (the wild life of drinking and pleasure) of his son Anatole (Prince Vasíli's younger son), the son whom they were planning to reform (the son they hoped a wife would make behave better) by marrying him to Prince Andrew’s (Pierre's friend, the young nobleman whose house this is) sister.

“Do you know? (a way of starting a remark, not a real question)” said Pierre, as if suddenly struck by a happy thought (as if a good idea had suddenly entered his head), “seriously, I have long been thinking of it (I have been thinking about it for a long time).... Leading such a life (living like that) I can’t decide or think properly about anything. One’s head aches (your head hurts), and one spends all one’s money (you spend all your money). He asked me for tonight (Anatole invited me for tonight), but I won’t go.”

“You give me your word of honor (your solemn promise) not to go?”

“On my honor (I promise)!”