Eugene Onegin ( without commentary )

VI

Time was, he bantered drolly, knew how to gull a fool and capitally fool a clever man, 4 for all to see or on the sly 5 though some tricks of his, too, did not remain unchastised; though sometimes he himself, too, got 8 trapped like a simpleton. He knew how to conduct a gay dispute, make a reply keen or obtuse, now craftily to hold his tongue, 12 now craftily to raise a rumpus, how to get two young friends to quarrel and place them on the marked-out ground,