The greatest men have committed follies under the influence of passion, but just in this is their greatness, that they open their eyes in proper season. Zolzik said to himself that in promising Burak to inscribe Repa in the list of recruits he had committed his first stupidity; in going to Repa's wife and attacking her at the hemp, he had committed the second; when he frightened her and her husband with the enrolment, he committed the third stupidity. Oh, lofty moment! in which a man truly great says to himself, "I am an ass!" thou didst come to Barania-Glova, thou didst descend, as if on wings, from that region where the lofty rests on the sublime, for Zolzik said to himself plainly, "I am an ass!" But was he to reject the plan now, when he had shed his own blood for it (in his enthusiasm he had said, the blood of his own breast)? Was he to reject the plan when he had sanctified it by a new pair of trousers, for which he had not paid Srul, the tailor, and a pair of nankeens, he did not know himself whether he had worn them twice?--No, and never! On the contrary now, when to his projects against Repa's wife was added a desire for vengeance against both, and Kruchek with them, Zolzik swore to himself that he would be a fool unless he poured tallow into Repa's skin. He meditated over methods the first day, while changing poultices; he meditated the second day, while changing poultices; he meditated the third day, while changing poultices; and do you know what he thought out? Well, he didn't think out anything! On the fourth day, the guard brought him diachylum from the apothecary in Oslovitsi; Zolzik spread it on a cloth, applied it, and how wonderful were the effects of this medicament! Almost simultaneously he cried out, "I have found it!" In fact, he had found something. CHAPTER IV. WHICH MAY BE ENTITLED: THE BEAST IN THE SNARE. A few days later, I do not know well whether five or six, in a private room of the public-house in Barania-Glova sat Burak the mayor, the councilman Gomula, and young Repa. The mayor took his glass,-- "You might stop quarrelling, when there is nothing to quarrel about." "But I say that the Frenchman will not give up to the Prussian," replied Gomula, striking the table with his fist. "The Prussian is cunning, the dog blood!" answered Repa. "What good is it that he is cunning? The Turk will help the Frenchman, and the Turk is the strongest." "What do ye know! The strongest is Harubanda [Garibalda]." "You must have got out of bed shoulders first. But where did you pull out Harubanda?" "What need had I to pull him out? Haven't people said that he sailed down the Vistula in boats with a great army? But the beer in Warsaw didn't please him, for generally it is better at home, so he went back." "Don't lie for nothing. Every Schwab[8] is a Jew." [8] A Suabian, a German. "But Harubanda is no Schwab." "What is he?" "Well what? He must be Cæsar and that's the end of it!" "You are terribly wise!"