“Well, the exception only proves the rule. Besides, Gontcharov’s genius is quite open to dispute. But let us drop names and turn to facts. What would you say, my good sir, for instance, to this eloquent fact: when one of the mob forces his way where he has not been permitted before, into society, into the world of learning, of literature, into the Zemstvo or the law courts, observe, Nature herself, first of all, champions the higher rights of humanity, and is the first to wage war on the rabble. As soon as the plebeian forces himself into a place he is not fit for he begins to ail, to go into consumption, to go out of his mind, and to degenerate, and nowhere do we find so many puny, neurotic wrecks, consumptives, and starvelings of all sorts as among these darlings. They die like flies in autumn. If it were not for this providential degeneration there would not have been a stone left standing of our civilization, the rabble would have demolished everything. Tell me, if you please, what has the inroad of the barbarians given us so far? What has the rabble brought with it?” Rashevitch assumed a mysterious, frightened expression, and went on: “Never has literature and learning been at such low ebb among us as now.

The men of today, my good sir, have neither ideas nor ideals, and all their sayings and doings are permeated by one spirit⁠—to get all they can and to strip someone to his last thread. All these men of today who give themselves out as honest and progressive people can be bought at a rouble a piece, and the distinguishing mark of the ‘intellectual’ of today is that you have to keep strict watch over your pocket when you talk to him, or else he will run off with your purse.” Rashevitch winked and burst out laughing. “Upon my soul, he will!” he said, in a thin, gleeful voice. “And morals! What of their morals?” Rashevitch looked round towards the door. “No one is surprised nowadays when a wife robs and leaves her husband. What’s that, a trifle! Nowadays, my dear boy, a chit of a girl of twelve is scheming to get a lover, and all these amateur theatricals and literary evenings are only invented to make it easier to get a rich merchant to take a girl on as his mistress.⁠ ⁠… Mothers sell their daughters, and people make no bones about asking a husband at what price he sells his wife, and one can haggle over the bargain, you know, my dear.⁠ ⁠…”