"Well, and what sort of person is Mr. Bazaroff himself? he asked,
with pauses between the words.
"What sort of person is Bazaroff ? " Arkady laughed. "Would
you like to have me tell you, my dear uncle, what sort of person he is?"
"Pray do, my dear nephew."
"He is a Nihilist."
"What? " asked Nikolai Petrovitch ; and Pavel Petrovitch elevated
his knife, with a bit of butter sticking to the blade, in the air, and remained
motionless.
"He is a Nihilist," repeated Arkady.
"A Nihilist," said Nikolai Petrovitch.
"That comes from the Latin nihil, 'nothing,' so far as I can judge;
consequently that word designates a man who who recognizes nothing."
"Say, 'who respects nothing,' " put in Pavel Petrovitch, and devoted
himself once more to his butter.
"Who treats everything from a critical point of view," remarked
Arkady.
"And isn't that exactly the same thing? " inquired Pavel Petrovitch.
"No, it is not exactly the same thing. A Nihilist is a man who does
not bow before any authority whatever, who does not accept a single principle
on faith, with whatever respect that principle may be environed."
"And dost thou think that is a good thing? " interrupted Pavel
Petrovitch.
"That depends on who it is, dear uncle. It is all right for one man
and very bad for another."
"You don't say so. Well, I see that that is not in our line. We people
of the old school assume that without principles it is impossible to take
a step or breathe. . . . We shall content ourselves, therefore, with admiring
these gentlemen -- what do you call them? "
" Nihilists," replied Arkady, with distinctness.