Read Online The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mikhail Bulgakov
Tags: Fiction, Classics, Action & Adventure, History, Europe, Jerusalem, Mental Illness, Soviet Union, Devil, Moscow (Russia), Russia & the Former Soviet Union
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you here, Kaifa.” And, narrowing his eyes, Pilate smiled and added: “Watch out for yourself. High Priest.”
The high priest’s dark eyes glinted, and with his face – no less artfully than the procurator had done earlier — he expressed amazement.
“What do I hear. Procurator?” Kaifa replied proudly and calmly. "You threaten me after you yourself have confirmed the sentence passed? Can that be? We are accustomed to the Roman procurator choosing his words before he says something. What if we should be overheard, Hegemon?”
Pilate looked at the high priest with dead eyes and, baring his teeth, produced a smile.
“What’s your trouble. High Priest? Who can hear us where we are now? Do you think I’m like that young vagrant holy fool who is to be executed today?
Am I a boy, Kaifa? I know what I say and where I say it. There is a cordon around the garden, a cordon around the palace, so that a mouse couldn’t get through any crack! Not only a mouse, but even that one, what’s his name ... from the town of Kiriath, couldn’t get through. Incidentally, High Priest, do you know him? Yes ... if that one got in here, he’d feel bitterly sorry for himself, in this you will, of course, believe me? Know, then, that from now on. High Priest, you will have no peace! Neither you nor your people” and Pilate pointed far off to the right, where the temple blazed on high: “it is I who tell you so, Pontius Pilate, equestrian of the Golden Spear!”[57]
“I know, I know!” the black-bearded Kaifa fearlessly replied, and his eyes flashed. He raised his arm to heaven and went on: "The Jewish people know that you hate them with a cruel hatred, and will cause them much suffering, but you will not destroy them utterly! God will protect them! He will hear us, the almighty Caesar will hear, he will protect us from Pilate the destroyer!”
“Oh, no!” Pilate exclaimed, and he felt lighter and lighter with every word: there was no more need to pretend, no more need to choose his words, "you have complained about me too much to Caesar, and now my hour has come, Kaifa! Now the message will fly from me, and not to the governor in Antioch, and not to Rome, but directly to Capreae, to the emperor himself, the message of how you in Yershalaim are sheltering known criminals from death.
And then it will not be water from Solomon’s Pool that I give Yershalaim to drink, as I wanted to do for your own good! No, not water! Remember how on account of you I had to remove the shields with the emperor’s insignia from the walls, had to transfer troops, had, as you see, to come in person to look into what goes on with you here! Remember my words: it is not just one cohort that you will see here in Yershalaim, High Priest – no! The whole Fulminata legion will come under the city walls, the Arabian cavalry will arrive, and then you will hear bitter weeping and wailing! You will remember Bar-Rabban then, whom you saved, and you will regret having sent to his death a philosopher with his peaceful preaching!”
The high priest’s face became covered with blotches, his eyes burned.
Like the procurator, he smiled, baring his teeth, and replied: ‘do you yourself believe what you are saying now, Procurator? No, you do not! It is not peace, not peace, that the seducer of the people of Yershalaim brought us, and you, equestrian, understand that perfectly well.
You wanted to release him so that he could disturb the people, outrage the faith, and bring the people under Roman swords! But I, the high priest of the Jews, as long as I live, will not allow the faith to be outraged and will protect the people! Do you hear, Pilate?” And Kaifa raised his arm menacingly: “Listen, Procurator!”
Kaifa fell silent, and the procurator again heard a noise as if of the sea, rolling up to the very walls of the garden of Herod the Great. The noise rose from below to the feet and into the face of the procurator. And behind his back, there, beyond the
The high priest’s dark eyes glinted, and with his face – no less artfully than the procurator had done earlier — he expressed amazement.
“What do I hear. Procurator?” Kaifa replied proudly and calmly. "You threaten me after you yourself have confirmed the sentence passed? Can that be? We are accustomed to the Roman procurator choosing his words before he says something. What if we should be overheard, Hegemon?”
Pilate looked at the high priest with dead eyes and, baring his teeth, produced a smile.
“What’s your trouble. High Priest? Who can hear us where we are now? Do you think I’m like that young vagrant holy fool who is to be executed today?
Am I a boy, Kaifa? I know what I say and where I say it. There is a cordon around the garden, a cordon around the palace, so that a mouse couldn’t get through any crack! Not only a mouse, but even that one, what’s his name ... from the town of Kiriath, couldn’t get through. Incidentally, High Priest, do you know him? Yes ... if that one got in here, he’d feel bitterly sorry for himself, in this you will, of course, believe me? Know, then, that from now on. High Priest, you will have no peace! Neither you nor your people” and Pilate pointed far off to the right, where the temple blazed on high: “it is I who tell you so, Pontius Pilate, equestrian of the Golden Spear!”[57]
“I know, I know!” the black-bearded Kaifa fearlessly replied, and his eyes flashed. He raised his arm to heaven and went on: "The Jewish people know that you hate them with a cruel hatred, and will cause them much suffering, but you will not destroy them utterly! God will protect them! He will hear us, the almighty Caesar will hear, he will protect us from Pilate the destroyer!”
“Oh, no!” Pilate exclaimed, and he felt lighter and lighter with every word: there was no more need to pretend, no more need to choose his words, "you have complained about me too much to Caesar, and now my hour has come, Kaifa! Now the message will fly from me, and not to the governor in Antioch, and not to Rome, but directly to Capreae, to the emperor himself, the message of how you in Yershalaim are sheltering known criminals from death.
And then it will not be water from Solomon’s Pool that I give Yershalaim to drink, as I wanted to do for your own good! No, not water! Remember how on account of you I had to remove the shields with the emperor’s insignia from the walls, had to transfer troops, had, as you see, to come in person to look into what goes on with you here! Remember my words: it is not just one cohort that you will see here in Yershalaim, High Priest – no! The whole Fulminata legion will come under the city walls, the Arabian cavalry will arrive, and then you will hear bitter weeping and wailing! You will remember Bar-Rabban then, whom you saved, and you will regret having sent to his death a philosopher with his peaceful preaching!”
The high priest’s face became covered with blotches, his eyes burned.
Like the procurator, he smiled, baring his teeth, and replied: ‘do you yourself believe what you are saying now, Procurator? No, you do not! It is not peace, not peace, that the seducer of the people of Yershalaim brought us, and you, equestrian, understand that perfectly well.
You wanted to release him so that he could disturb the people, outrage the faith, and bring the people under Roman swords! But I, the high priest of the Jews, as long as I live, will not allow the faith to be outraged and will protect the people! Do you hear, Pilate?” And Kaifa raised his arm menacingly: “Listen, Procurator!”
Kaifa fell silent, and the procurator again heard a noise as if of the sea, rolling up to the very walls of the garden of Herod the Great. The noise rose from below to the feet and into the face of the procurator. And behind his back, there, beyond the
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