obey; and you will be a terror to the boyards.
Remember that he who is permitted to begin by advising is certain to end
by ruling his sovereign."

Here was advice of a sort suited to Ivan's taste and education, and for
reply he kissed the good bishop's hand, saying:

"My own father could not have spoken more wisely."

That the czar spoke sincerely, his faithfulness in following the
bishop's precepts abundantly attests.

His ministers and advisers being manifestly wiser than he, and therefore
not at all the proper kind of people to have about, he straightway
banished them. He then began a diligent search for their partisans, some
of whom he put to death, condemning others to imprisonment and torture.
He next turned his attention to his own household, which he was resolved
upon ruling absolutely, at least, if not well. One of the princes made
himself disagreeable by declining to participate freely in the pleasures
of the palace, and, for the sake of domestic harmony, Ivan had him
poniarded while he was at his prayers. Another so far overstepped the
bounds of courtesy and propriety as to remonstrate with one of the new
favorites upon his improper conduct, and Ivan, in order that there might
be no bickerings and hard feelings in his family, slew the discourteous
prince with his own hand.

He was in the habit of carrying an iron rod about with him, and he had a
playful way of striking his friends with it now and then, merely for his
amusement. His pleasantries of this and like sorts were endless. One day
Prince Boris, a boyard, came to pay his respects to the czar, and as he
bowed to the ground, according to custom, Ivan, seizing a knife, said,
"God bless thee, my dear Boris; thou deservest a proof of my favor," and
with that he kindly cut the nobleman's ear off.

When Prince Kurbsky, whom he had threatened with death, fled to Poland
and wrote him a letter thence, telling him pretty plainly what he
thought of him, the czar playfully struck the bearer of the missive with
his iron rod, as a preliminary to the reading of the letter, and the
blood flowed copiously from the man's wounds while Ivan pondered the
words of his rebellious subject. He then became convinced that the
boyards generally sympathized with Kurbsky, and to teach them better he
put a good many of them to death by torture, and deprived many others
of their estates. His alarm was very real, however, for he was a
phenomenon of abject cowardice. He therefore