The Psychology Of The Romanian People

CHAPTER 8 –THE ORIENT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE ROMANIANS' SOULexcerpt With such borrowed habits, it is obvious that the people to whom the destinies of the Romanian countries were entrusted could only run these countries into ruin and destruction. Laziness and slothfulness had permeated their souls deeply, because of these Oriental habits borrowed and kept for more than a century. Undeniably, a life full of deeds cannot be imagined for people with such habits. That enormous hookah and all the complications it entailed hindered completely human activity. The ancestors' habit of working was bound to be abandoned. The contrast between that enormous and complicated hookah and the Occidentals' cigarette betrays alone the huge difference that exists between the Occidental and the Oriental morals. This way of life had indeed left deep imprints on our so-called aristocracy, imprints that even today are visible under different forms. For instance nowadays, with many Romanians, there can be noticed the habit of not sitting straight on a chair, on a bench or on the bed, but lying sideways, or stretched in an attitude of idleness and indifference. These are small and distant resonances that the Oriental habits of our ancestors send to the present generations as well.Under the impulse of the coffee, the cigarettes or the opium, the imagination awakens unwholesome and perverted. The surfeit with sweet beverages and with heavy food irritates the body, which doesn't spend its energy in any useful activity. Then, the Oriental from Bucharest or Iasi becomes involved in gambling, card games and all sorts of other games. "Men are subjected to quick decadence. Depraved since adolescence, they spend the rest of their strength in the abusive and irritating stir-up of the game. The fervour for game is a second important habit, which draws foreigners' attention." (Le Cler, La Moldo-Valachie, p.248) Depravity, the unleashing of brutal senses, excesses of all sorts were naturally the most customary means of spending the energy of these well-fed and excessively stirred up lives. They had at their disposal the gypsy-slaves, who were entirely submissive tools in their master's hands; and who distinguished themselves for an abject servility and a base complaisance for all boyars' parties. (Thomas Thornton, p. 369) What makes the Oriental luxury different, compared to the Occident, is the endless number of servants who respond to one master. Up to 12,000 people were counted as servants at the Sultan's court. The Romanian rulers' court, being a faithful copy of the sultan's court, also distinguished itself by the endless number of servants, who were, according to the ranks and the offices they held, boyars or gypsy-slaves. In their turn, the boyars and the rich people established their courts taking as an example the rulers and thus, the number of the servants was far larger than it should have been. The most trivial needs of the master had to be fulfilled by a certain servant, who only did that job. For instance, for merely washing his face, the master needed no less that 3 servants meant only for that duty. In the Western countries, the washstand, some simple furniture, apart from decorating the house, brings with it this service. From this strange way of Oriental life, which won over the Romanian people, came that deep change in their character and their mentality. The resonance that this way of life left in the Romanian soul is the idle indifference, the drowsiness and the spirit's slothfulness, the passivity and the resignation, the fatalism and the lack of self-confidence. Undoubtedly, for a man who lacks this multitude of servants for carrying out the most insignificant personal errands, self-confidence is an impossible thing. Leaving him to take care of himself is to sentence him to death. And, as inherently helpless people, who will always appreciate the support and services of others, know on the other hand from their experience that people's support and services are the most precarious and uncertain thing, they must, from the start and as a rule, resign themselves, endure with steady heart and without revolt, all the troubles that might happen to them. And from this passive resignation to the Oriental's indifference and sloth there is only a little distance and often there is no limit between them.
1907


by Dumitru Drăghicescu (1875-1945)