Is it about the glory
Of our dear motherland?–I ask in vain!
Not on his lofty brow, nor in his looks
May one peruse his secret thoughts; always
The same aspect; lowly at once, and lofty–
Like some state magistrate grown gray in office,
Calmly alike he contemplates the just
And guilty, with indifference he hears
Evil and good, and knows neither wrath nor pity.
—Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, ????? ???????, sc. 5 (1825)(S.H. transl.)
