212 pmLOsopmCAL VIEWS AND POLITICAL THEORY
value if the ruler neglects his major duty which is that of spiritual
guidance and if he himself does not set an example by his own moral
behavior. It is worthwhile to quote the exact words of the sermon in
spite o.f their length:
Even if you be a most wise ruler, if you rest your throne on the
firmest pillars of policy, if you use your most conspicuous talents
for the preservation of power, if you let your intelligence radiate
to the far ends of the world, and force glory to proclaim with
untiring fanfares your knowledge and your high talents - the
entire world will marvel at you; but if on the throne you are nota human being, if your heart does not know the duties of
humanity, if you do not value kindness and peace, if you do not
descend from your throne to wipe the tear of the last ?f your
subjects, if your knowledge will only open the path to a will for
domination, if you use this knowledge only to gild artfully the
chains of slavery so that they be less conspicuous to the people,and if you show love of the people only from behind a curtain
of false generosity so as to deprive [your subject] of his possessions
for the benefit of your own passions and your favorites, if you
maintain universal ignorance so as to erase cOIIllPletely the idea of
liberty, if by most devious ways you sei.ze all the possessions of
your subjects, if you let them feel the weight of your hand and
convince them through fear that you are more than an [ordinary]
human being; then, with all your talents, all the luster, you will
be but a fortunate criminal; the flatterers will enter your name in
golden letters on the list of most outstanding intellects, but later
history will add with a black brush that you were the tyrant of
your country.^1
Speransky does certainly not disdain completely a successful reign, in
terms of worldly power and welfare - that is where laws have their
use - and it should be worked for whenever possible. But it is not the
end; it is only a means for attaining the real goal which is spiritual.
These words could be considered as a criticism of Catherine II, for her
rule, however glorious and successful in diplomatic, military, and
economic ways, was certainly not a model of spiritual purity. Whether
Speransky really intended this as a criticism, which would have been
a rather bold thing to do in the last years of Catherine's reign, we do
not know, and it is not of decisive importance, anyway. As a matter
of fact, the argument of the sermon is by far not original with
Speransky and should not surprise us, coming as it does, from the pen
of a young student in theology, doubtlessly well read in the religious
literature and polemics of previous ages, both of his own country and
of Western Europe.
1 "Propoved' 1791-go g.," loco cit., p. 287.