Survival Greek

It would be a Сизи́фов труд (Sisyphean Task) to catalog all the Greek idioms that have made their way into Russian. So I will share here only the survivalist minimum commonly used by Russians who still dare call themselves the ру́сский интеллиге́нт – at the risk of opening the Pandora’s Box (откры́ть я́щик Пандо́ры) that surrounds the definition of a ру́сский интеллиге́нт.

Let us agree that the интеллиге́нт ought at least to understand why we should “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” (Бо́йтесь дана́йцев, дары́ принося́щих – i.e. fear the Danaans, the mainland Greeks who gifted the Trojans the so-called Trojan Horse - троя́нский конь).

Yet is it enough for our интеллиге́нт to be versed in idioms with roots in Greek mythology? Or should he also strive to become a наро́дный трибу́н? (This word with Greek origins means more than just an orator; it refers to someone who voices the protest of the people from the трибу́на, the rostrum).

With age I have come to realize, at least as concerns modern Russia, that it is far easier to deliver non-committal fiery diatribes or philippics (произноси́ть гне́вные фили́ппики) from the rostrum than to take on the boring, low-profile job of cleansing the Aegean stables (чи́стить А́вгиевы коню́шни). This conclusion struck home this summer as I saw my favorite corners of Moscow turned into А́вгиевы коню́шни by our home-grown трибу́ны – those insistently calling for a кампа́ния гражда́нского неповинове́ния (campaign of civil disobedience). Or, as they call it here in their new Aesopian language (Эзо́пов язы́к), прогу́лка по Центра́льной Москве́ (a promenade through Central Moscow), a creative local form of political disobedience to sidestep a ban on public demonstrations.

But if you don’t feel you are up to the Herculean task of stable-cleansing, if the laurels of Demosthenes give you no rest (е́сли ла́вры Демосфе́на не даю́т вам поко́я), then you need to at least have Demosthenes’ integrity, courage and dedication. You can’t pretend, like Pushkin, to ignite people’s hearts with your words (глаго́лом жечь сердца́ люде́й), if all you have in common with Pushkin is a café located a stone’s throw from Moscow’s monument to the poet. Like that café owned by Kseniya Sobchak, daughter of the late St. Petersburg governor (and mentor to President Putin), Anatoly Sobchak. This new Russian “revolutionary” was not exactly raised в спарта́нских усло́виях (in Spartan conditions) and allegedly owes her vertiginous career in show business (and lately in politics) to her ties with Putin – in short, to the very “King Philip” whom she has been targeting with her philippics of late.

Cassandra-like, I never tire of reminding my peer-journalists that all these self-proclaimed Russian “Decembrists” are mostly bored, spoiled and well-fed, and perhaps too rich to wage serious political battles or be ready for serious privations and sacrifices. To wit, after a recent vacation in Greece (which birthed this column), I saw a TV report about an email exchange between Kirov Governor Nikita Belykh and his “non-staff adviser” – the notorious anti-corruption fighter and “prominent opposition leader” Alexei Navalny. In the exchange, leaked by hackers, Navalny employed copious quantities of мат (foul language) – hardly becoming of a true интеллиге́нтный blogger – and insisted that Belykh pay a $152 debt he owed (Belykh later explained on TV that $152 actually meant $152,000).

Navalny’s sympathizers were quick to opine that the hacker was probably on the FSB’s payroll,* installing some kind of malware (known in Russia as a троянская програ́мма or simply троя́н, троянец, троя́нский конь) to get unauthorized access to Navalny’s computer. But whoever was behind the hack knew where to look for this opposition leader’s Ахилле́сова пята́ (Achilles’ heel). Just like Yeltsin’s young демокра́ты (another Greek word), our modern трибу́ны have a weakness for money.

Of course, most all mortals share this weakness. Yet you can’t be involved in business with a regional governor if you want to pose as a Во́ин Добра́ (Warrior for Good) battling against the кремлёвский дуумвира́т (Kremlin diumvirate – sorry for the unavoidable switch from Greek to Latin). An opposition leader, “like Caesar’s wife, should be above suspicion” (жена́ Це́заря должна́ быть вне подозре́ний).

It is likely this email exchange will hang over the anti-corruption blogger как Дамо́клов меч – that is, like the Sword of Damocles.

*Actually Sergei Maximov, a 38-year-old resident of Germany, who has broken into a number of high-profile Russian blogs, mainly those of liberal opposition figures.