Alexander Rybalka. Secrets of Goliath

Goliath

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Old Testament

Goliath was an unusually strong warrior of enormous stature, a native of the city of Gath. Goliath was 6 cubits and a span tall, or 2.772 m (1 cubit = 42.5 cm, 1 span = 22.2 cm). The Philistine giant was dressed in scale armor weighing about 57 kg (5000 shekels of copper, 1 shekel = 11.4 g) and copper knee pads, on his head was a copper helmet, and in his hands was a copper shield. Goliath carried a heavy spear, the tip alone weighing 600 shekels of iron (6.84 kg), and a great sword [ ] .

David had no armor at all, and his only weapon was an ordinary sling. Saul ordered to dress him in copper armor and give him a sword, but David was unaccustomed to carrying weapons, and therefore took off his armor. The Philistine giant considered it an insult that a young man, just a boy, came out to fight him. Goliath and David were chosen by their fellow tribesmen for single combat, which was supposed to decide the outcome of the battle: the winner in the duel won victory for his side. It seemed to everyone who watched what was happening that the result of the fight was a foregone conclusion, but physical strength does not always determine the outcome of the battle. Details of the duel between Goliath and David, which took place in the oak valley between Succoth and Azekah in the southwest of Jerusalem, are described in the Bible, in the 17th chapter of the 1st book of Samuel:

...The Philistine also came forward, walking and approaching David, and the armor bearer walked ahead of him... And the Philistine said to David: “Why are you coming at me with sticks and stones? Am I a dog? And David said: “No, but worse than a dog.” And the Philistine cursed David with his gods. And the Philistine said to David: “Come to me, I will give your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.” And David answered the Philistine: “You come against me with sword and spear and shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have defied; Now the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will kill you, and take off your head, and I will give your corpse and the corpses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth, and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel. and this entire crowd will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for this is the Lord’s war, and He will deliver you into our hands.” When the Philistine stood up and began to approach David, David quickly ran towards the line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into his bag and took a stone from there, and threw it with a sling and struck the Philistine on the forehead, so that the stone pierced his forehead, and he fell face down to the ground, so David overpowered the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him; but the sword was not in David's hands. Then David ran up and, stepping on the Philistine, took his sword and took it out of its scabbard, struck him and cut off his head with it; The Philistines, seeing that their strongman had died, ran...

The sword of Goliath, kept by David, was first kept in Nob, and then was transferred by him to Jerusalem.

Goliath in the Koran

Battle between a giant Jalut(Arab. جَالُوتَ ‎‎) - a warrior of the army of unbelievers and the prophet David - a warrior of the army of the kingdom of Israel is also described in the Koran.

After defeating Goliath, David receives the kingdom over Israel. The parable of David's victory is given as an edification for those who doubt God's help and as an example of the result of the inner confidence of the prophet David:

When Talut (Saul) set out with the army, he said: “Allah will test you with the river. Whoever drinks from it will not be with me. And whoever does not taste it will be with me. But this does not apply to those who scoop up a handful of water.” Everyone drank from it, except for a few of them. When he and those who believed with him crossed the river, they said: “Today we cannot cope with Jalut (Goliath) and his army.” But those who were convinced that they would meet Allah said: “How many small troops defeated numerous troops by the will of Allah!” Indeed, Allah is with those who are patient. When they appeared before Jalut (Goliath) and his army, they said: “Our Lord! Show us patience, strengthen our feet and help us achieve victory over the unbelieving people.” They defeated them by the will of Allah. Dawud (David) killed Jalut (Goliath), and Allah gave him kingdom and wisdom and taught him what He wished. If Allah had not restrained some people through others, the earth would have fallen into disorder. However, Allah is merciful to the worlds.

Historical context

The name Goliath is of Asian Minor origin. A similar name is attested in Lydia

Boris Mikhailov Young David. 1999

Anastasia Khokhryakova David and Goliath 2002

Pietro da Cortona David takes a lamb from the mouth of a lion 17th century.

Pietro da Cortona David kills Goliath 17th century.

Michelangelo David

He refuses the full armor (because he is not used to it), which Saul gives him, and opposes Goliath only with a sling. With the words: “You come against me with a sword and a spear and a shield, and I come against you in the name of ... the god of the armies of Israel,” David hits the giant with a sling so that a stone pierces his forehead and he falls to the ground.
Then, stepping on Goliath, David cuts off his head. This ensures victory for the Israelis.

Benozzo Gozzoli. David and Goliath

Michelangelo David and Goliath 1509

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld David and Goliath

Edgar Degas David and Goliath 1863

James Tissot David and Goliath

The Philistines, seeing that their strongman had died, fled.
According to a briefer summary of the heroic motive of the duel with Goliath, a warrior named Elhanan defeated the giant. Many researchers believe that this is the hero’s true name, while David is his later nickname.

Unknown thin Scenes from the Legend of David and Goliath 1450
Pietro della Vecchia Saul and David with head of Goliath

Rembrandt David Presenting the Head of Goliath to King Saul 1627

Nicolas Poussin The Triumph of David

Nicolas Poussin The Triumph of David 1627-30

Ilya Glazunov Hymn to the heroes 1984

Ostritsky Arkady Gershevich David and Goliath 1994

David with a harp

Awarded the royal squire, who became famous in battles with the Philistines, who dared to fight with a lion and a bear, a skilled musician and poet, David soon became a favorite of the people.
He appears at the court of the Israeli-Jewish king Saul. According to one version, David was called to Saul as a guslar singer to calm the king by playing when he was disturbed by an evil spirit. According to another, David gained the favor of Saul by winning a duel with Goliath.

Jan de Bray David Playing the Harp

It is interesting that de Bray portrayed David as an old man, although according to legend he was a youth. Rembrandt's image looks more truthful.

Rembrandt David playing the harp before Saul 1629

Rembrandt David playing the harp before Saul 1655-60.

Nikolai Zagorsky David plays the harp in front of Saul. 1873

And the next two paintings depict David the harpist, who is fond of playing the instrument, already being a king.

Ivsha King David

Often David appears as a musician with an instrument (usually a harp) in his hands (a book miniature of the Psalter - the so-called Khludov Psalter of the 9th century, stored in the Historical Museum in Moscow, the Parisian Psalter of the 19th century - in the National Library in Paris, etc.; stone carving of the facades of the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl and Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir, 12th century, stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral, 13th century).
This also includes the paintings “David plays the harp before Saul” by Pinturicchio. Luke of Leiden, Rembrandt, M. Preti and others.

David won the devoted love of Jonathan, Saul's eldest son, and won the hand of Princess Michal (Mikhali), Saul's daughter. But the more unbearable David becomes for Saul (whenever they returned from another battle, people everywhere said: “Saul killed thousands, and David - tens of thousands”).
The king plots to kill David. David flees from Saul, hiding in the desert, in a cave, in the forest. Having rallied the freemen around himself, David keeps the population in fear. He goes into the service of the king of the city of Gath. In the fight with Saul, David manages to win over the priests from Nova, but Saul incurs the wrath of the worshipers of Yahweh by exterminating the priests of this shrine.
After the death of Saul, defeated by the Philistines, and his sons, Saul’s military commander Abner proclaims Ishbosheth (Ishbaal), Saul’s surviving son, king, while David is proclaimed king in Hebron (i.e., over Judah).
Ishbaal was soon killed by his guards (David publicly executes them for regicide, demonstrating his innocence in the death of the Saulid dynasty), then David is proclaimed king by both the Israelis and the Jews.
“David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years,” writes the Old Testament.

David and Bathsheba

David is portrayed as a patriarch, as the father of many children born to his many wives and concubines.

Pedro Berruguete King David 15th century.

The stories about David's love for the smart and beautiful Abigail and especially for Bathsheba (Bathsheba), whom he saw bathing and then took as his wife, and sent her husband, the faithful warrior Uriah the Hittite, to the war with the Ammonites, knowingly to his death, are famous.
Yahweh punishes David with the death of the baby born by Bathsheba, but Bathsheba’s second son, Solomon, turns out to be pleasing to God (the prophet Nathan gives him the name Jedidiah, “beloved of God”).

Lucas Cranach Sr. David and Bathsheba 1526

Ian Masseys David and Bathsheba 1562

Artemisia Gentileschi David and Bathsheba 1640s

Angelika Kaufman Nathan denounces David 1797

The feud with his son Absalom (which began with the murder of Amnon, the son of David, as revenge for the rape by Amnon, Absalom's half-brother, Tamar, Absalom's sister) develops into open rebellion, during which David is forced to flee Jerusalem. This dispute ends with the suppression of the rebellion and the death of the prince (he is killed by the military leader Joab).
David mourns his son (to the bewilderment of those who saved the king by victory). Another son of David, Prince Adonijah, strives to reign during the life of his elderly father, but the prophet Nathan skillfully persuades David to appoint Solomon as heir.

The Old Testament image of David is contradictory. This, on the one hand, indicates the presence of reliable information about the historical figure, and on the other, contributes to the development of the legend by strengthening some features and smoothing out others.
The chroniclers of David's contemporaries embodied in his biography the concept of God's impartial punishment of the vicious king through the prophets, therefore paying considerable attention in the books of Kings to the description of David's misdeeds.
In the book of the Israeli prophet Amos, David is mentioned as a skilled musician. According to later tradition, he is credited with composing the psalms (collected in the biblical book of Psalms).
The books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, prophets who lived during the period of the threat of loss of independence hanging over the kingdom of Judah, express hopes for the upcoming restoration of the “kingdom of David.”
The image of David, whose descendants continued to rule in the kingdom of Judah for about 400 years, until its conquest in 587/586 BC. e. Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, acquires from the time of the Babylonian captivity the features of an immortal king-savior.
David's appearance has already received attention in the Old Testament texts: he is blond, with beautiful eyes and a pleasant face. The Kabbalistic book “Zohar” says that David’s eyes were the color of the rainbow and sparkled, but after the “sin” with Bathsheba they began to dim.

And finally, a modern look at this legend in the works of an artist living in Kazakhstan - Vyacheslav Luiko.

Vyacheslav Luiko David and Goliath 2002

Vyacheslav Luiko David and Goliath 2008

Information from the site.

GOLIATH'S HEIGHT IS TWO METERS EXACTLY

There is such a science - biblical textual criticism. This science is concerned with comparing various texts of the Bible and identifying both accidental mistakes of copyists and conscious attempts to change the biblical text - the desire to introduce new ideas into it.

Thanks to the study of the most ancient biblical texts, the fact emerges that during the early Middle Ages, the growth of Goliath, and he (that is, his height) is mentioned only in one place in the Bible - in 1 Samuel 17:4; increased from “FOUR cubits and a span” to “SIX cubits and a span”, that is, from 2m 00cm to 2m 89cm! But first things first.

LENGTH MEASURES IN THE BIBLE

I do not set out to calculate the exact height of Goliath, especially since no one specifically measured him with a tape measure; I want to explain that Goliath's growth was very high, but not record high. Therefore, I will not conduct a meticulous study on the topic of what a cubit and a span were equal to in the time of David, but will simply quote data from the appendix to the Bible (New World Translation).

1 Palm = 4 fingers 7.4 cm.

1 span = 3 palms 22.2 cm.

1 Elbow = 2 spans 44.5 cm.

DESCRIPTION OF THE GROWTH OF GOLIATH

Which is completely missing! The absence of a description of the height of a person whose height is 2m 89cm would seem to sound unnatural. Firstly, such growth cannot but impress, and secondly, it gives rise to doubt - is there a mistake here? However, pay attention to this text:

“And he slew an Egyptian, a man five cubits high” (1 Chronicles 11:23). In the New World Translation there is a “huge Egyptian,” but this is the translators’ decision; the word “huge” is not in the Hebrew text. However, in the Septuagint, this Egyptian is described by the word "ορατον" (horatos - 'visible'). NETStranslates this with the expression “A highly visible man”, literally – ‘a high visible man’, translated into Russian: “a man who is impossible not to notice.”

Not so with Goliath. All the words with which he is described, both in the Hebrew and in the Greek text, indicate only his strength and courage, but no hint of his stature.

WHAT WAS THE GROWTH OF THE JEWS?

Residents of Palestine are generally short. The Arabian horse is a pony-sized horse. Moreover, over the past 100 years people have become 10 centimeters taller. I call the average height of the ancient Jews ≈ 1m 62 cm. I derived these figures from the length measures they used:

Elbow - the distance from the elbow joint to the tip of the middle finger is 44.5 cm. (For me - 48 cm).

Palm – four fingers – 7.4 cm (I have 9).

My nephew: Age – 13 years; height – 1m 55cm; Elbow – 40 cm; Palm – 6.5 cm.

However, average height is like the average temperature in a hospital. If living conditions were more difficult, people's height was shorter, and vice versa. South Koreans are, on average, eight centimeters taller than North Koreans.

SIX CUBITS OR FOUR CUBITS?

SEPTUAGINT

In II century BC e. The Bible was translated into Greek - the Septuagint ( LXX ). This translation is older than anyOretic text for many centuries. There is no translation of the Septuagint into Russian; there are translations into English and Ukrainian:

In the original text of the Septuagint “τέσσαρες” (tesares – ‘four’).

καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἀνὴρ δυνατὸς ἐκ τῆς παρατάξεως τῶν ἀλλοφύλων, Γολιαθ ὄνομα αὐτῷ ἐκ Γεθ, ὕψος αὐτοῦ τεσσάρων πήχεων καὶ σπιθαμῆς·

But we can say that God monitors the safety of his word, but not translations, even such ancient ones. Firstly, “four” and in Japanese – four, and secondly, Hebrew, in which Samuel wrote, and the Hebrew language of the Masorites are different languages. Language changes. Try to translate a Hebrew text using Google Translate as if it were modern Hebrew - you won't succeed (I tried). During their work, scribes replaced outdated words and expressions - accept this fact.

JOSEPH FLAVIUS. JUDIAN ANTIQUITS.

Josephus, Hebrew name - Yosef ben Matityahu (Joseph, son of Mattathias), c. 37 – approx. 100 AD e. Jerusalem Jew from a priestly family. He is famous for writing Antiquities of the Jews, which is essentially a retelling of the Bible for Greek speakers. This work is extremely valuable for textual scholars, since it is a retelling of the Bible that was read in Jerusalem, in I century, in Hebrew. Let's see how tall Goliath was in I century in Jerusalem:

“And then one day a man of gigantic stature came out of the Philistine camp, named Goliath, from the city of Gitta. He was tall four arshins and a half and his armament fully corresponded to his gigantic size; for example, he wore a shell weighing five thousand shekels; his helmet and copper greaves also corresponded to the size of such a huge man; his spear was not a light toy in his right hand, but due to its heaviness it always lay on his shoulder; one tip weighed six hundred shekels. A crowd of squires followed Goliath” (Antiquities of the Jews, book 6, chapter 9. Translation by G. Henkel 1900).

This message immediately alerted me. The fact is that at that time, in the Russian Empire, the official measure of length was indeed the arshin, which was equal to 0.7112 m, therefore, according to this translation, Goliath’s height is 3m 20cm! Naturally, I assumed that Henkel, without hesitation, translated the phrase “four cubits and a span” with the phrase “four and a half arshins.” So it turned out to be so. Let's look at the English translation:

“The camps were separated from each other by a valley in between the mountains on which they were situated. There came down then a certain man from the camp of the Palestinoi, named Goliath from the city of Gitta, a very tall man. For he was four cubits plus a span, and equipped with weapons whose size corresponds to the nature of his body".

“The camps were separated from each other by a valley between the mountains on which they were located. Then a certain man from the Palestinian camp came down, named Goliath from the city of Gitta, a very tall man. For he was four cubits plus a span[in height], and was armed with a weapon whose size corresponded to the nature of his body."

Here is the ancient Greek original:

διίστη δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων τὰ στρατόπεδα μέσος αὐλὼν τῶν ὀρῶν ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἦν. καταβὰς οὖν τις τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Παλαιστίνων στρατοπέδου Γολιάθης ὄνομα: πόλεως δὲ Γίττης ἀνὴρ παμμεγεθέστατος: ἦν γὰρ πηχῶν τεσσάρων καὶ σπιθαμῆς ὅπλα τῇ φύσει τοῦ σώματος ἀναλογοῦντα περικείμενος:

So, Flavius has FOUR cubits.

OTHER TEXTUAL WITNESSES

It’s as if they don’t exist. The biblical text of this chapter (Dead Sea Scrolls) was not found in the Judean desert. As for the Syriac Peshitta and the Latin Vulgate, what is published online is not an ancient text, but relatively recent editions adjusted to the Masoretic text. Old Latin translations I centuries and younger are in the hands of scientists, but they have not been published, although work is underway with them.

THREE WITNESSES

So we have three textual witnesses that call the rise of Goliath:

1) Septuagint. II century BC e. Alexandria. – FOUR cubits and a span.

2) Josephus Flavius. I century AD e. Jerusalem. – FOUR cubits and a span.

3) Masoretic text. IX century Europe and Asia. – SIX cubits and a span.

Biblical studies is an area where the clergy, not scientists, rule the roost. However, scientific research of the Bible is present in universities in the UK (Oxford), Israel, the USA... Here are the words of Emanuel Tov, professor of the Department of Jewish Textual Studies at the University of Jerusalem, editor-in-chief of publications of the Dead Sea Scrolls:

The text preserved in various versions (manuscripts, editions) of what is usually called the Masoretic text, in many details Not reflects the "original text" of the biblical books.[ … ]

Similar problems arise when comparing the Masoretic text with other textual evidence, such as the Qumran scrolls and the purported source of certain ancient translations. We do not know which of these texts more accurately reflects the biblical text. Therefore, it cannot be said a priori that the Masoretic text reproduces the original text of the biblical books better than other texts.

On the one hand, the Masoretic text is only one of the witnesses to the biblical text. The task of the textual critic is to compare it with evidence relating to other stages and forms of the manuscript tradition. On the other hand, it is the Masoretic text (and not the earlier forms of the text!) that are the focus of attention when deciding the question of the original form of the text.

In other words, Tov criticizes the orthodox tradition of considering the Masoretic text to be the most accurate, whose authority outweighs all other textual evidence. Tov argues that the Masoretic text contains inaccuracies that are revealed when it is compared with other textual evidence from a different manuscript tradition.

The tallest man in history was Robert Pershing Wadlow at 2m 72cm. The illustration above shows how he looked in comparison to the painted Goliath. He was a very sick man and died at 22 years old. Also, other people of record height are very sick and did not serve in the army like Goliath. By the way, Wadlow weighed 199 kg. How much should the thing on the right weigh?

In one TV show, where they invited the tallest man on earth and the tallest man in the USA, Leonid Stadnik 2m 57cm and Igor Vovkovinsky 2m 34.5cm (both Ukrainians), a common thought was voiced that it is not right to be proud that Ukraine is the homeland of giants, because it means being proud of very sick people. No illness can be a reason for pride.

If the Guinness Book of Records had a category for “The tallest person whose height is not due to illness,” perhaps the record holder would be approximately 2m 30cm tall. For example, Manute Bol, 2m 32cm, served in the army, played basketball professionally, and died at 47 from a severe skin disease.

The tallest man mentioned in the Bible was "an Egyptian five cubits high" (1 Chronicles 11:23). Of course, this growth is not exact, but rounded and approximate.

I knew one person whose height was 2m 4cm. He said that in his village, everyone is like this and higher. Like this village, the Bible mentions a tribe of the sons of Anakim, also known as Rephaim, who were tall and famous warriors. Naturally, a person of this height also has great physical strength.● Unless otherwise noted, the “Kingshot Version” of the Bible is used.

1) NETS – New English Translation of the Septuagint.

). The victory of David over Goliath began the offensive of the Israeli and Jewish troops, who expelled the Philistines from their land (1 Samuel). Koran (2.251)

According to another version, Goliath was killed by Elkhanan, the son of Jagare-Orgim of Bethlehem: “... There was another battle in Gob; Then Elchanan, the son of Jagare-Orgim of Bethlehem, killed Goliath the Gittite, whose spear-shaft was like a weaver’s beam” (2 Sam.). Goliath's brother, Lachmiah (also a giant, a descendant of Rephaim), was defeated by Elhanam, the son of Jairus (1 Chron.).

Old Testament

David had no armor at all, and his only weapon was a sling. Saul ordered to dress him in copper armor and give him a sword, but David was unaccustomed to carrying weapons, and therefore took off his armor. The Philistine giant considered it an insult that a young man, just a boy, came out to fight him. Goliath and David were chosen by their fellow tribesmen for single combat, which was supposed to decide the outcome of the battle: the winner in the duel won victory for his side. It seemed to everyone who watched what was happening that the result of the fight was a foregone conclusion, but physical strength does not always determine the outcome of the battle. Details of the duel between Goliath and David, which took place in the oak valley between Succoth and Azekah in the southwest of Jerusalem, are described in the Bible, in the 17th chapter of the 1st book of Samuel:

...The Philistine also came forward, walking and approaching David, and the armor bearer walked ahead of him... And the Philistine said to David: “Why are you coming at me with sticks and stones? Am I a dog? And David said: “No, but worse than a dog.” And the Philistine cursed David with his gods. And the Philistine said to David: “Come to me, I will give your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.” And David answered the Philistine: “You come against me with sword and spear and shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have defied; Now the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will kill you, and take off your head, and I will give your corpse and the corpses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth, and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel. and this entire crowd will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for this is the Lord’s war, and He will deliver you into our hands.” When the Philistine stood up and began to approach David, David quickly ran towards the line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into his bag and took a stone from there, and threw it with a sling and struck the Philistine on the forehead, so that the stone pierced his forehead, and he fell face down to the ground, so David overpowered the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him; but the sword was not in David's hands. Then David ran up and, stepping on the Philistine, took his sword and took it out of its scabbard, struck him and cut off his head with it; The Philistines, seeing that their strongman had died, ran...

The sword of Goliath, kept by David, was first kept in Nob, and then was transferred by him to Jerusalem.

Goliath in the Koran

Battle between a giant Goliath- a warrior of the army of unbelievers and the prophet David - a warrior of the army of the kingdom of Israel is also described in the Koran ([[| ]]).

Historical context

The name Goliath is of Asian Minor origin. In Lydia a similar name is attested Aliatt/Adiatte, and in Caria - Uliat. This information is in good agreement with the hypothesis about the Asia Minor origin of the “peoples of the sea”, one of which was the Philistines.

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Notes

Literature

Lopukhin A.P.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
Malcolm Gladwell.. - Alpina Publisher, 2014. - 266 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-4589-3.

Excerpt describing Goliath

“Nothing,” answered Prince Andrei.
At that moment he remembered his recent clash with the doctor’s wife and the Furshtat officer.
-What is the commander-in-chief doing here? - he asked.
“I don’t understand anything,” said Nesvitsky.
“All I understand is that everything is disgusting, disgusting and disgusting,” said Prince Andrei and went to the house where the commander-in-chief stood.
Passing by Kutuzov's carriage, the tortured horses of the retinue and the Cossacks speaking loudly among themselves, Prince Andrei entered the entryway. Kutuzov himself, as Prince Andrei was told, was in the hut with Prince Bagration and Weyrother. Weyrother was an Austrian general who replaced the murdered Schmit. In the entryway little Kozlovsky was squatting in front of the clerk. The clerk on an inverted tub, turning up the cuffs of his uniform, hastily wrote. Kozlovsky’s face was exhausted - he, apparently, had not slept at night either. He looked at Prince Andrei and did not even nod his head to him.
– Second line... Wrote it? - he continued, dictating to the clerk, - Kiev Grenadier, Podolsk...
“You won’t have time, your honor,” the clerk answered disrespectfully and angrily, looking back at Kozlovsky.
At that time, Kutuzov’s animatedly dissatisfied voice was heard from behind the door, interrupted by another, unfamiliar voice. By the sound of these voices, by the inattention with which Kozlovsky looked at him, by the irreverence of the exhausted clerk, by the fact that the clerk and Kozlovsky were sitting so close to the commander-in-chief on the floor near the tub, and by the fact that the Cossacks holding the horses laughed loudly under window of the house - from all this, Prince Andrei felt that something important and unfortunate was about to happen.
Prince Andrei urgently turned to Kozlovsky with questions.
“Now, prince,” said Kozlovsky. – Disposition to Bagration.
-What about capitulation?
- There is none; orders for battle have been made.
Prince Andrei headed towards the door from behind which voices were heard. But just as he wanted to open the door, the voices in the room fell silent, the door opened of its own accord, and Kutuzov, with his aquiline nose on his plump face, appeared on the threshold.
Prince Andrei stood directly opposite Kutuzov; but from the expression of the commander-in-chief’s only seeing eye it was clear that thought and concern occupied him so much that it seemed to obscure his vision. He looked directly at the face of his adjutant and did not recognize him.
- Well, have you finished? – he turned to Kozlovsky.
- Right this second, Your Excellency.
Bagration, a short man with an oriental type of firm and motionless face, a dry, not yet old man, followed the commander-in-chief.
“I have the honor to appear,” Prince Andrei repeated quite loudly, handing over the envelope.
- Oh, from Vienna? Fine. After, after!
Kutuzov went out with Bagration onto the porch.
“Well, prince, goodbye,” he said to Bagration. - Christ is with you. I bless you for this great feat.
Kutuzov's face suddenly softened, and tears appeared in his eyes. He pulled Bagration to him with his left hand, and with his right hand, on which there was a ring, apparently crossed him with a familiar gesture and offered him a plump cheek, instead of which Bagration kissed him on the neck.
- Christ is with you! – Kutuzov repeated and walked up to the carriage. “Sit down with me,” he said to Bolkonsky.
– Your Excellency, I would like to be useful here. Let me stay in the detachment of Prince Bagration.
“Sit down,” said Kutuzov and, noticing that Bolkonsky was hesitating, “I need good officers myself, I need them myself.”
They got into the carriage and drove in silence for several minutes.
“There is still a lot ahead, there will be a lot of things,” he said with an senile expression of insight, as if he understood everything that was happening in Bolkonsky’s soul. “If one tenth of his detachment comes tomorrow, I will thank God,” added Kutuzov, as if speaking to himself.
Prince Andrei looked at Kutuzov, and he involuntarily caught his eye, half an arshin away from him, the cleanly washed assemblies of the scar on Kutuzov’s temple, where the Izmail bullet pierced his head, and his leaking eye. “Yes, he has the right to talk so calmly about the death of these people!” thought Bolkonsky.
“That’s why I ask you to send me to this detachment,” he said.
Kutuzov did not answer. He seemed to have already forgotten what he had said and sat thoughtful. Five minutes later, smoothly rocking on the soft springs of the stroller, Kutuzov turned to Prince Andrei. There was no trace of excitement on his face. With subtle mockery, he asked Prince Andrei about the details of his meeting with the emperor, about the reviews he had heard at court about the Kremlin affair, and about some common women he knew.

Kutuzov, through his spy, received news on November 1 that put the army he commanded in an almost hopeless situation. The scout reported that the French in huge numbers, having crossed the Vienna bridge, headed towards Kutuzov’s route of communication with the troops coming from Russia. If Kutuzov had decided to stay in Krems, then Napoleon’s army of one and a half thousand would have cut him off from all communications, surrounded his exhausted army of forty thousand, and he would have been in Mack’s position near Ulm. If Kutuzov had decided to leave the road that led to communications with troops from Russia, then he would have had to enter without a road into the unknown lands of the Bohemian
mountains, defending themselves from superior enemy forces, and abandoning all hope of communication with Buxhoeveden. If Kutuzov had decided to retreat along the road from Krems to Olmutz to join forces with troops from Russia, then he risked being warned on this road by the French who had crossed the bridge in Vienna, and thus being forced to accept battle on the march, with all the burdens and convoys, and dealing with an enemy three times his size and surrounding him on both sides.