[Footnote 3: This word, which is the Russian equivalent for _Ham_ of the Bible, describes a man in a state of serfdom. Since the abolition of serfdom in Russia, it has come to define the plebeian; and is a sort of personification of the rabble. The satirist Stchedrin has defined _Kham_ as “one who eats with a knife and takes milk with his after-dinner coffee.” Merezhkovsky has written a book on Gorky under the title of “The Future Kham.”--_Translator_.] [Footnote 4: Bossiak literally means “a barefooted one,” but may be more freely translated a “tramp.” This type has come very much into vogue since Gorky has put him into his stories.--Translator.] [Footnote 5: This phrase signifies punishment inflicted by the authorities without a trial.] [Footnote 6: The name by which the members of the Constitutional Democratic Party are known. It is a development of the initials “C. D.”] [Footnote 7: Reference to the identity of the Black Hundred.] [Footnote 8: See note on page 44.] [Footnote 9: The Black Hundred.] [Footnote 10: Betty.] [Footnote 11: Nickname for Social Democrats.] [Footnote 12: Nickname for Social Revolutionaries.] [Footnote 13: A political party of moderate liberals which owes its name to the fact that on October 17, 1905, the Russian Constitution was established and the Duma organized.] [Footnote 14: Member of the Social Democratic Party.] [Footnote 15: See note on page 26.] [Footnote 16: See note on page 44.] [Footnote 17: Whips.] [Footnote 18: Members of the Social Revolutionary Party are supposed to wear black shirts, those of the Social Democratic Party red.] [Footnote 19: Forest fires are one of the numerous problems of Russia. They seem to be difficult to put out, and sometimes go on for weeks. Hence the numerous references in the following pages to the constant odour of forest flames.] [Footnote 20: These two Greek Fates are important and recurring symbols in Sologub’s philosophy. The world of Aisa is the world of chaos and chance, in which man is too often lost in trying to emerge from it. The people who belong to Ananke are those who, acting of necessity, define their world clearly and conquer chaos. Theirs is the immutable truth. See also Introduction.] [Footnote 21: A line from a poem by Pushkin.] [Footnote 22: Siberian island famous for its prison.] [Footnote 23: Usually brought along as witnesses.] [Footnote 24: I have it on the authority of one who was of the party that it actually took place at the house of a celebrated living poet in St. Petersburg. The lost cap belonged to Dmitry Merezhkovsky, who immediately wrote a much-discussed article in an important newspaper under the title of “What has become of our Cap?” The above is an actual quotation from it. The sarcastic remark about “throwing back the enemy” is aimed at those “patriots” who used to say that all Russians had to do to repel foreign enemies was to throw their caps at them.--Translator.]