Cardinal Grishkin, an overtly
subtle yarn extolling the Roman faith (Ada,
3.7)
In Pushkin's "Boris Godunov" Grigoriy Otrep'yev (the
Pretender) is sometimes referred to as Grishka:
Первый пристав
А вот что: из
Москвы бежал некоторый злой еретик, Гришка Отрепьев, слыхал ли ты
это?
Григорий (читает): ...А по справкам
оказалось, отбежал он, окаянный Гришка, к границе литовской...
1ST OFFICER.
This is why; from Moscow there has fled a certain
wicked heretic—Grishka Otrepiev. Have you heard this?
GRIGORIY (Reads.) ...And, according to information,
it has been shown that he, the accursed Grishka, has fled to the Lithuanian
frontier. (Tavern on the Lithuanian Frontier)
Latinskie popy (the Catholic priests) are
also mentioned in Pushkin's drama:
Пушкин
Да слышно, он
умён, приветлив, ловок,
По нраву всем. Московских беглецов
Обворожил.
Латинские попы
С ним заодно. Король его ласкает
И, говорят, помогу
обещал.
PUSHKIN.
'Tis said that he is wise,
Affable, cunning,
popular with all men.
He has bewitched the fugitives from Moscow,
The
Catholic priests see eye to eye with him.
The King caresses him, and, it is
said,
Has promised help. (Moscow. Shuyski's House)
Aqua married Demon Veen (Van's and Ada's
father) on St. George's Day (1.3). Starinnyi Yuriev den' (the old St.
George's Day) is mentioned several times in Boris Godunov. Aqua's
twin sister Marina (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's mother) is a namesake of Marina
Mnishek, a character in Pushkin's drama, Grigoriy's lover.
In an amateur parody, at Van's
birthday party fifteen years ago, his father had made himself up as Boris
Godunov and shed strange, frightening, jet-black tears before rolling down the
steps of a burlesque throne in death's total surrender to gravity. (2.11)
From "Boris Godunov" (Moscow. Palace of the
Tsar):
Басманов
Что сделалось такое?
Пятый
Царь
занемог.
Шестой
Царь умирает.
Басманов
Боже!
Пятый
На троне он сидел и
вдруг упал —
Кровь хлынула из уст и из ушей.
BASMANOV. What has happened?
A FIFTH AND SIXTH.
The tsar is ill,
The tsar is dying.
BASMANOV. Good
God!
A FIFTH. Upon the throne
He sat, and suddenly he fell; blood gushed
From his mouth and
ears.
Before taking of monastic vows, Boris tells to his son
Feodor:
Ты муж и царь; люби свою сестру,
Ты ей
один хранитель остаешься.
thou art a man
And tsar to boot. Be loving to thy
sister—
Thou wilt be left of her the sole protector.
Speaking of cardinals: in Canto Three of "Poltava"
(1828-29) Pushkin compares Mazepa to "that sly cardinal" (Montalto)
who feigned decrepitude in the conclave but regained his vigour when
he was elected to the papacy:
Согбенный тяжко
жизнью старой,
Так оный хитрый
кардинал,
Венчавшись римскою
тиарой,
И прям, и здрав, и молод
стал.
Alexey
Sklyarenko