144 Hic Rhodus, hie salta! – Here is Rhodes, jump here! – words addressed to the braggart from Aesop’s fable “The Braggart”, who claimed that on the island of Rhodes he performed enormous leaps.

145 This refers to the resolution of Nicholas II on Trepov’s report about the forthcoming congress of zemstvo and municipal figures on 25 May (7 June) 1905 in Moscow: “I hope the congress will not take place; they have jabbered enough.”

* Very brief. Ed.