On July 13, 1815, about three weeks after he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, in this house, located on the boomerang-shaped island of Aix, in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of France, west of Rochfort, southwest of La Rochelle, Napoleon sits at a table, a sheet of paper in front of him, he holds a pen in his hand and writes a letter to George IV, Crown Prince of England, who is the de facto king in view of the madness of his father, George III:
His Exalted Majesty
Because I am persecuted by the factions that are tearing my country apart
And since I am hated by the greatest powers of Europe,
I am ending my political career,
And I have come, like Themistocles in his time, to sit by the fire in the lap of the British people.
I place myself under the protection of his laws,
And I ask His Majesty to grant me this patronage,
Being the strongest, the most consistent, and the most generous
Among all my enemies.
This is a very difficult hour for Napoleon, if not the most difficult of all.
He is about to surrender himself to England – his greatest enemy.
And in this difficult hour he mentions a name: Themistocles. A Greek hero, the great victor of the Battle of Salamis, 2300 years earlier.
Who is Themistocles? Why does Napoleon mention him at this difficult time? What was going through Napoleon's mind that made him mention Themistocles?
Napoleon the Child
To get into Napoleon's head during those difficult moments, we need to go back thirty-five years, to the nine-year-old Napoleon. That was his age when he left Corsica, accompanied by his father and older brother, Joseph, on his way to France, to the military boarding school in Briançon where he was sent to study.
Even before that, as a child in Corsica, Napoleon used to spend long hours in solitude in a cave at the foot of the mountain overlooking his hometown of Ajaccio, reading books for hours on end. He avoided the beatings of his mother, who insisted on him going to church, and preferred to read books. In his memoirs, he would note that the most important person in his life was Father Rocco, his schoolmaster and first teacher, and all because he was taught to read.
Napoleon arrives in Brienne – an introverted and reclusive boy. At first he is ridiculed by the French boys because of his heavy Corsican accent and reserved nature. They call him Pai-au-nes “straw in the nose” on the scale of “Napoleon”. He is a good student in mathematics, history and geography, but bad in Latin and manners. And all those years he reads and reads.
Five years later, in 1785, Napoleon was sent to the military school in Paris. He completed his studies in one year instead of two, and in the little free time that his busy curriculum allowed him, he read and read.
Upon graduating in 1786, he was sent, as a second lieutenant, to report to the La Fere artillery unit in the town of Valence. The soldiers of the regiment were housed in the homes of the townspeople. Napoleon lived with the Columbia family, a completely platonic relationship, and read and read.
At the end of a year, he goes on his first home vacation in Corsica. He takes two boxes with him. One small and the other large. The smaller one contains his clothes and personal belongings, the larger one is full of books.
In 1787, Napoleon was stationed in the town of Auxonne in the Le Fe're artillery regiment. Here he lived in the barracks and between training sessions he sat in his room and read and read.
In his memoirs he writes:
In 1788 I did in Oxon,
I didn't set foot in the cafes, nor in the social gathering places.
I would eat dry bread and brush my own clothes,
So that they may live long, so that I may not be exceptional compared to my friends.
I lived the life of a bear in my little room,
With Spray – my only friends at that time.
How cruel I was to myself by skimping on my essential needs,
As long as I can acquire the pleasure of reading.
And when I managed, through this abstinence, to save myself two acre.
I would walk, happy as a child, towards the bookstore owned by Nahalat Hagamon.
I would often stand in front of the store's window.
My heart transgresses the commandment, "Do not covet,"
And an hour ago I would have coveted what my money couldn't yet buy.
Such were my joys and my acts of debauchery in the days of my youth.
I lived off my salary alone, I would go to bed at ten and get up at four.
He describes himself at that time:
"Always alone among people,
I come to my room to dream and surrender myself entirely to my melancholy.
Which direction will it lean today?
Is it towards death?
If I have to die, wouldn't it be better to kill myself?
Melancholy, thoughts of death, and an insatiable reading binge – this is the adolescent Napoleon, aged 18-19, and as we know, he does not lose himself in knowledge.
What does Napoleon read?
He reads everything: novels, plays, history books, geography, political literature, philosophical books and biographies.
He is very impressed with the new novel by Jacque Henry Bernadin de Saint Pierre – “Paul et Virginie”
He reads: “Les Liaisons Dangereses” by Laclo
"Contemporaines" by Restif de la Bretonne
“Comte de Cominges by Francois Arnult
And the book that influenced him the most at that time, as it influenced young people all over Europe: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Johan Wolfgang Goethe.
Like Goethe, he is also greatly influenced by the poetry of Ossian, an ancient Celtic poem that was actually compiled, if not forged, by a talented Scot named James Macpherson, who pretended to have compiled an ancient collection of poems while he himself was a talented writer. This poetry, which had many admirers, including Thomas Jefferson, later President of the United States, is one of the cornerstones of the Romantic movement that swept the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, especially in Germany. Before young Werther, the hero of the book, gives up his unrequited love for Lotte, he passionately reads some of Ossian's ballads, from which I will quote a short passage describing the lament of the old Armin for his children: Arindel and Daura and Daura's lover, Armar, who perish, one after another, before his eyes by cruel fate and the forces of nature, as Arindel tries to rescue his sister Daura from the rock in the middle of the sea on which she was left by the traitor Ereth:
Arindel sailed his boat across the waves, to bring Daora home.
Then came Armand in his wrath, shooting the grey-feathered arrow,
He whistled, thrusting himself into your heart, O son of Arendelle,
In place of the traitor's ashes, you fell.
The boat reached the cliff, where he fell on the ground and died.
Your brother's blood you have poured at your feet, how great is your blessing, O Daura.
The waves smashed the boat.
Armar leapt into the sea to save his Daura or die.
A gust of wind then rushed from the hill to the waves.
He dived and never came back.
On the sea-washed rock, I heard the voice of my home's lamentation,
How great was her cry, and how fierce it was, and her father was powerless to save her.
The wind roared, and the rain lashed like a whip against the mountainside.
Her voice was weak before dawn,
She died like an evening breeze among the rock herbs,
She swam, mourning her death, leaving Armin alone.
Later, on October 2.10.1808, XNUMX, Napoleon summoned Goethe from Weimar to Erfurt, where he was arriving for another meeting with Tsar Alexander. He introduced Goethe to his entourage at breakfast, saying: Oila c'est un homme (in Latin, Ecce Hommo, as Pontius Pilate said when pointing to Jesus as written in the New Testament).
Plays also fascinated the young Napoleon, especially those of Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) and Jean Racine (1639-1699), both from the seventeenth century.
Napoleon was particularly fascinated by two of Corneille's plays: Cinna and Le Cid, which are psychological tragedies in which the plot is secondary and the main drama takes place in the souls of the characters. In these plays there is a conflict between the emotion of love and the emotion of self-respect, with respect being the dominant one. Respect knows no compromises.
The drama in Le Cid (in Arabic “El Cid”) takes place in Spain. Rodrigo is called upon to avenge his father’s insult, but the insulter is the father of his beloved Chiming, and he is torn between his sense of duty and honor and his love. He chooses the sense of honor, and yet after the twists and turns of the soul, the play ends well.
Cinna is a drama of grace, set in the court of Augustus Caesar. The emperor executes one of his courtiers, and the daughter of the murdered man seeks revenge and entices Cinna, who is in love with her, to assassinate the emperor. The plot is discovered through a tip-off, and Cinna takes full responsibility for it. Augustus, furious, stops himself and forgives Cinna after it becomes clear to him that he was motivated by noble feelings. The performance of this play was banned by the censorship during the period of the Directory, a ban that was lifted by Napoleon.
Later, as Emperor, Napoleon would watch this play 12 times, more than any other play (it should be noted that Napoleon watched 177 tragedies during his lifetime). What particularly excites him is the forgiveness given from a position of power.
Napoleon said of Corneille that if he had been a man of his time, he would have elevated him to the rank of prince.
Napoleon reads Jean Racine's plays: Andromaque (the love of Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, for Hector's widow), Iphagenie (Agamemnon's daughter who is executed to allow the Greek fleet to sail the sea), Phedre, and more.
Napoleon reads Voltaire's Zaire. A tragic play from the Crusader period. This play was his favorite and he used to read it in the evenings when he was on St. Helena to his entourage, stopping only to say: Madam Bertrand vous ete dormee? Until Madame Bertrand and Gorgo, whose spirits were at their lowest during these reading evenings, disappeared the book.
He reads the book of the Abbe Reynal of the Encyclopedists, one of the men who had a great influence on him, Histoire Philosophique et Politique de Etablissement et de Commerce dans les Deux Indes (1770), an anti-colonial and anti-slavery document that was banned from publication before the Revolution. Napoleon corresponds with the Abbe Reynal, who tells him that every young man should have a spiritual “mentor.”
Indeed, Napoleon chooses a spiritual “mentor” in the person of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He reads his book “Du Contrat Social” (“The Social Contract”). Rousseau’s book accompanies him everywhere.
Napoleon is greatly influenced by Rousseau's "Confessions," to which he feels a special affinity, perhaps because Rousseau, too, had been cut off from his native city of Geneva and was living in France. In Valence, Napoleon eats cherries with Caroline Columbia, in whose house he lived, just as the young Rousseau eats cherries with Madame de Varennes, who took him in as a lover despite being many years older than him. Perhaps this is why Napoleon has a penchant for women older than him in his youth.
He also reads the “Persian Letters” and the “Spirit of the Laws” by Charles Louis de Second, Baron de Montesquieu.
He reads a geography book by Abbe Lacrois and, as is his custom of making notes in the margins of the text, he writes four words that amaze the world to this day, words written in a chilling spirit of prophecy: “Saint Helena is a small island…”, this in 1788, 27 years before he was exiled there.
But of all the books, it was historical literature that captured his heart and occupied a central place in his reading. The reading of history that began in his youth expanded and deepened throughout his years to come, and it was this that left the deepest mark on his soul.
The history books that Napoleon read
Homer (Iliad – he liked the Odyssey less), Virgil, Livy, Cicero, Julius Caesar (Gallic War).
History of knights Malta – A must-read book for Brian, The Life of Frederick II “the Great,” and many others, but the book that influenced him most of all is: “The Overlapping Lives” or “Lives of Personalities” by Plutarch, known to us in its Hebrew translation under the name: “People of Greece and Rome.”
Plutarch, who was born in the first half of the first century AD in Cyrene, Greece, and later became a Roman citizen, wrote in the introduction to his book:
“The purpose of the book is to awaken in the reader a desire for true greatness and every noble measure.
I started doing biographies for the benefit of others, but after a while,
I have pulled and stood with love in this pursuit also for my own sake,
Because history serves as a kind of mirror for me to improve my life in front of.
And compares them to the dimensions of those great ones.
This engagement is similar to the connections a person makes in everyday life,
For a lifetime partnership.
It's as if we hosted these greats in our home one after another.
"Do humans have a greater pleasure than a muse?"
Plutarch describes himself in the introduction to his book as follows:
“I am not writing history, but describing human life.
After all, the most wonderful of verbs don't always have something to reveal.
A good or bad trait, what is it?
But an act is less than a statement or a joke,
Times that show a person's character
With greater clarity than the battles of many slaughters,
"From mighty campaigns and the conquest of cities"
Plutarch, as evidence, deals a lot with anecdotes (a Greek word meaning
“Description of everyday actions
Of little value in themselves
But they have to shine with bright light
The laws of man and his personality,
To show them to the tribe or to the grace,
"As they are, without a hitch"
This book tells, among other things, the stories of those greats, including: Pericles, Alexander the Great, Sulla, Marius, Cicero, and, of course, Julius Caesar. But of all Plutarch's heroes, the young Napoleon found his likeness in Themistocles, about whom Plutarch tells:
“Themistocles came from a very lowly family,
And his homeland could not help him reach a high level,
Which bestows honor and glory upon a person.
From his childhood he aspired with a fiery spirit, a keen intellect, and an excessive inclination,
For big plots and state affairs.
his free time from his studies
He would not spend his time in games and idleness,
As is the custom of boys like him, but he was an editor and arranger,
Between himself and himself, speeches that contained a category or defense of one because of his age.
That's why his teacher often told him.
May your destiny, my boy, not be one of the world's least, but one of the best,
Or one of the worst.
In all those academic subjects, which have something to do with improving morals,
Or because of the pleasure and refinement of life,
He didn't bother except out of extreme annoyance.
In return, he indulged in talent and diligence, which is not appropriate for a boy of his age,
For those studies that sharpen the mind, and that are necessary for everyday life.
Therefore, some people believed that they were more knowledgeable and educated than him in the fine and refined arts,
And they would mock his lack of knowledge in these matters.
To this he replied: It is true that I do not know how to pluck the harp or pluck the strings of a violin,
But I know very well how to turn a small and insignificant country into a large and famous one.
It is no wonder that Napoleon particularly identifies with Themistocles. Napoleon also came from a family of lesser nobility, with whose sons he studied at Briançon and later at the military school in Paris.
Who is Themistocles?
Themistocles is the undisputed hero of the Battle of Salamis (480 BC). The Persian king, Xerxes, returns to Greece ten years later to avenge the defeat suffered by his father Darius I at Marathon. He arrives at the head of a huge army, in order to teach the Greeks a lesson once and for all. Three hundred Spartans, led by their king Leonidas, block the Thermopylae pass, delay the large Persian army and die with supreme heroism as befits Spartans, except for one who will tell their story. Themistocles, the Athenian general, commander of the Greek forces, orders the abandonment of Athens, which cannot withstand the Persian army, and loads the Greek army onto ships waiting for the Persians in Salamis, a bay that allows the Greeks to nullify the quantitative advantage of the Persians, and in a brilliant naval battle he defeats the Persian fleet. Xerxes retreats from Greece, which breathes a sigh of relief. He will not return.
“Plutarch tells about Themistocles:
“After the war, Themistocles looked at the dead,
That the waves of the sea threw onto the shore,
And when he saw that some of them were adorned with gold bracelets and necklaces,
He said to one of his companions:
Take these things for yourself,
"You are not Themistocles."
When Napoleon was appointed First Consul after the coup of the 18th century in Brimar, he entered the Luxembourg Palace with the other two consuls: Abbe Says and Roger Duroc. One of the two, who had previously been members of the board of directors, pointed to a chest of drawers placed on the side and told his friends that eight hundred thousand francs were hidden in it, a small coffer whose existence was kept secret, and suggested that the other two divide the loot between them, to which Napoleon replied: “Divide this money between the two of you alone.” I am sure that to himself he continued to mutter: “Because you are not Napoleon.”
Reading history ignited the imagination of the young Napoleon, as he later told his adjutant, Caulaincourt:
“Reading history gave me a quick sense of
That I can achieve what people have achieved,
Those in the highest ranks,
Even though I had no goal in front of me,
"And even though my ambitions were no further than promotion to the rank of general."
Napoleon saw history books not just historiography but an entire philosophy, as he wrote on St. Helena towards his death:
“I advised my son to read and meditate often on the books of Chronicles.
Only they constitute the only true philosophy,
He must read and reflect on the wars of the great generals.
This is the only way to learn and memorize the ways of war.
There is no other way."
And like Themistocles, he works on himself from a young age to resemble those great men he reads about in books. When he becomes emperor, he says to one named Mole:
“Don't think I don't have a sensitive heart like other people.
I had to develop the habit of self-control, so as not to let my emotions be exposed.
From my earliest childhood I worked to cut the cord,
Which now makes no sound to me.
Without this work on myself, do you think I would have been able to do what I did?”
Or elsewhere he said:
To reign over France A man must be born in the shadow of greatness,
To live since childhood in a palace surrounded by guards,
Or, to be a person who is destined by birth and appearance to excel,
And to rise above others on his own strength.”
Plutarch reinforces in Napoleon the feeling that history is determined by the single leader, by the individual who leads the people. It is not the people who lead historical processes (Tolstoy) but individual people, individuals of virtue. Only these are capable of uniting peoples, founding kingdoms, expanding the borders of countries, establishing institutions that will facilitate the flowering of culture, and thus he says:
“The presence of the commander is necessary on the spot.
The commander is the head, the commander is the sum,
It's all about the army.
It was not the legions of Rome that subdued the land of Gaul, but Julius Caesar who conquered it.
It was not the army of Carthage that brought strength and trembling to the hearts of the army of the Republic at the gates of Rome.
But Hannibal did it.
It was not the Macedonian legions that reached India - it was Alexander the Great who arrived.
It was not the French army that led the storm of the Battle of La Vazire – it was Touraine that led.
It was not the Prussian army that defended the homeland for seven long years.
"From the three great powers of Europe - but Frederick the Great"
Historical images accompany Napoleon throughout his life, wherever he goes. He sees the world around him in a broader spectrum, a historical spectrum. He is a Roman emperor and England is Carthage. When he sets out for Egypt, the image of Scipio Africanus, who sets out for North Africa to fight Carthage, accompanies him and he consults with her at two in the morning before a battle. In the order of the day for the departure at the head of the army to Egypt, on April 12.4.1798, XNUMX, he writes:
“Soldiers, Soldats”
You are one wing of the camp intended to attack England.
You have known war in mountains and valleys, you have laid siege to cities.
Now you will try your hand at naval warfare.
To the legions of Rome, which you have imitated without reaching their rank,
They fought at Carthage on this very sea, and in the plains of Zama. Victory never turned its back on them because at all times and in all circumstances they were brave, patient, able to withstand the blows of fatigue, disciplined and united.
Soldiers!
The eyes of Europe are watching all your actions,
Great events are prepared for you,
Operations, battles, dangers, and fatigue that you will have to overcome.
Your actions in the future will be worth tens of times more than everything you have done to date.
For the prosperity of the homeland, for the happiness of man, for the glory of each and every one of you!!!”
This is a Roman speech in spirit, adapted to the spirit of the revolutionary era. Glory that draws from the glorious past and the happiness of man – a modern concept, which you will not find in Rome.
Madame Claire de Remusat, one of Josephine's bridesmaids, tells of her conversation with Napoleon in Boulogne in 1803. Napoleon liked her, possibly because she was particularly beautiful and perhaps also intelligent, and confessed to her:
“When I entered military service, I got bored in the barracks.
I started reading novels and was fascinated by what I read.
I tried to write it myself.
This sparked my imagination and I began to mix it with facts I had learned throughout my life.
I entertained myself by comparing my dreams with reality.
I created an ideal world in my mind,
Then I looked at how this ideal world differs from the world in which I found myself.”
Indeed, Napoleon was not just an avid reader. Even before he imagined in his wildest dreams that he would come to rule half the world, he wanted to be a novelist. He had a rich imagination from birth, and perhaps this was one of the qualities that helped him plan the battles.
Napoleon writes about the powerful power of imagination, as the power of fate, in his memoirs:
“How powerful the power of imagination is.
Here are people I didn't really know.
People whose eyes have not seen me, but they have heard my voice.
And they are willing to do anything for me.
This strange phenomenon renews and recurs in all periods,
In all countries, in all generations.
Devotion, piety, and zeal are her calling.
Yes, imagination is the ruler of the world.
Negation is everywhere in our modern institutions,
Because there is no trace of a spark in them that would ignite the power of imagination in the human soul.
Only this power can rule a person,
For in the absence of imagination, what is man if not a brute beast?”
His first known composition is from May 3.5.1786, 17, during his stay in Valence (when he was XNUMX years old): “On Suicide.” Despite the name, it is not about the desire to commit suicide, but rather a patriotic composition about the willingness to sacrifice everything for Corsica.
Following this essay, Napoleon writes: “On the Exploitative and Usurpatory Government in Twelve European Countries” (probably under the influence of Reynal’s essay and following the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau).
On July 22.7.1787, XNUMX, he writes: “A meeting at the Palais Royal” about a meeting with a young prostitute in the colonnaded arcade of the Palais Royal.
Then he writes two rather bizarre stories:
“Le Masque de Prophete” is about a young and charismatic sheikh named Hakim who sweeps crowds after him and rebels against the Mahdi, but due to illness his face is disfigured and he wears a mask - something that increases his admiration. The story ends with the mass death of his followers who are poisoned by him and his own magnificent suicide. This book was written after Napoleon read Marigny’s book: “History of the Arabs during the Caliphate”.
And a story: “The Earl of Essex,” a bloody tale set during the reign of Charles II in England. The ascetic Earl of Essex, a Cato the Elder, plots to overthrow King Charles, but the Duke of York, the king’s brother, defeats him and beheads him in the Tower of London. The Earl’s wife, who foresees the murder, finds satisfaction in the Duke’s overthrow three years later. This story was inspired by John Barrow’s 1762 book on the history of England.
In 1791, in Auxonne, Napoleon wrote an essay on love, the work of a deeply wounded man.
“In Auxonne I composed: A Dialogue on Love.
I used to be in love, I wrote,
And the memories of my love free me from the need
In those metaphysical definitions whose function is nothing but to complicate things.
Love, I stand by mine,
It does not exist.
In my opinion, love sabotages society and the individual happiness of people.
In short, love, more than it benefits a person, is harmful to him.
And it would be a grace from heaven to uproot it and free the world from its chains.”
Shortly thereafter, in the same year, 1791, Napoleon, aged 22, begins working on an essay, as part of an essay competition initiated by the University of Lyon, on the topic: “What are the most important truths and feelings that humans need in order to be happy?
This competition recalls the essay competition held 41 years earlier at the initiative of the University of Dijon, on the topic: “Has the establishment of the sciences and the arts contributed to the refinement of morals?” An unknown young man who entered this competition and won first prize made his fortune with it. It was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Four years later he published his more famous article: “What are the sources of inequality among men”, an article in which he places the responsibility for changing the face of Europe and for breaking French Revolution.
Napoleon takes another vacation to Corsica to write the article. He invests a great deal of effort into it and presents his essay, which opens thus:
“After the carefree years of childhood, the time comes when aspirations arise.
His strong arms and human needs require work.
He looks around and sees that the land has been divided among a few, serving them for a life of luxury and abundance.
He begins to ask himself: What are the rights of these people?
Why do idlers have everything while manual laborers have almost nothing?
And finally, why is there nothing left for me, I, who have a wife and an old father to take care of?
He rushes to the priest, who is his spiritual authority, and raises his doubts with him.
People, the priest replies, do not need to think about social existence,
God is the one who watches over everything. Believe in His providence!!
This life is nothing but a journey to the next world.
Everything is decided according to justice, let us not try his sword.
Believe, obey! Never doubt, and work! This is your duty!
A proud soul, a sensitive heart, and natural intelligence cannot accept this answer.
He seeks to find an answer elsewhere.
He turns to the smartest person in the country – a lawyer.
A wise man, he turns to him: The fruits of the earth were distributed, and I received nothing?!
The wise man smiles comfortably and takes Oo to his study.
And there he presents to him: deal after deal, contract after contract, will after will,
And proves to him the legality of the division he complains about.
What is this?! Are these the rights of these people? he says angrily.
My own rights are more sacred, inviolable, more universal.
They were born with my sweat, they flow in my blood, they were written by my heart and by my muscles,
They are a necessity for my existence, and above all, for my happiness!!
And as he speaks, he snatches the documents and throws them into the fire.”
The judges rejected the essay, and their spokesperson described it as: “A work of little interest, disorganized, covering too many topics, confused, and too poorly written to attract the reader’s attention.
Later, as emperor, Talleyrand finds the composition and brings it to Napoleon, thinking that he will be pleased.
Napoleon looks at the pages, and without saying a word, throws them into the fire.
In July 1793, after his expulsion from Corsica, Napoleon was attached as brigadier general to the Army of the South under the command of Carteaux, and during the siege of Marseille held by the royalists, he authored a political pamphlet: Le Souper au Beaucaire. A conversation between four merchants and a soldier from Carteaux's army at an inn in the town of Beaucaire by Avignon. The soldier explains to the merchants the futility of resisting the army and the "mountain people" - "Les Montagnards". This pamphlet was published with the funding of the Legislative Assembly (the Convention), which described the document as concise, elegant and effective.
Then in 1795, around September, comes the composition that is the pinnacle of his literary work: Clisson et Eugeuny.
Young Callison, a brilliant soldier, dedicates himself completely to the war for his homeland.
Jealousy and evil tongues cause him to retire from public life to the countryside.
In the village, he sinks into melancholy and thoughts about nature.
One day, while walking in the Champvert Baths area, he meets two young ladies: Emily and Agnes.
Emily is the more beautiful of the two and he is captivated by her charms.
Ajni is shy and suspicious of him.
However, things change. Callison falls in love with Jenny and they get married.
They live a life of happiness and love, until Ajni dreams a terrible dream, about a cruel fate that will befall her family.
Indeed, the homeland is in danger and Callison comes to its aid to protect it.
He is wounded in battle and sends his friend Berville to guard Ajni.
Young Berville falls in love with Ajni and she with him.
Ajni stops writing to Callison.
A heartbroken Callison writes a farewell letter to Agni
And throws himself into the most dangerous place in the war, and dies a heroic death.
The story is full of analogies to Napoleon himself, to characters from his life, and to historical heroes.
The character of Clisson, who is a model for Napoleon himself, is borrowed from one of his friends, Sucy de Clisson, who is a descendant of Clisson de Josselin, who was close to Bertrand Guesclin, a famous general in the Hundred Years' War, and a hero in Barbara Tuchman's book: Distant Mirror. Clisson was known for his courage and pride. He symbolizes patriotism for Napoleon. When Napoleon is appointed commander of the English army in 100, he asks his secretary Bourienne for 1798 volumes, including two volumes about the "Life of Bertrand Gascoigne."
The name Berville is also connected to Guesclin. Guyard de Berville is the name of the historian who wrote the book “The Life of Bertrand Gascoigne” and it was a mandatory textbook in military schools at the time. The book is written simply, preaches hard work and educates to be “an officer and a gentleman”. It is assumed that Napoleon was familiar with the book in Briand. You can find a copy of the book in the Bibliothecque Nationale de France and it has a note in Latin from 1787 indicating that the book was given as an award of excellence to one of the students – 3 years after Napoleon graduated.
The two girls, Emily and Agnes, are the two Clary sisters. Emily is Julie, Joseph's wife, and Agnes is Desiree-Agnes, Napoleon's lover, and later Bernadotte's wife and Queen of Sweden.
This is Napoleon's last known fictional work, and indeed from now on he will write his most incredible story, a story not written on paper but on the pages of history. A story without equal.
Then we come to Napoleon, sitting on the island of Aix and about to surrender to the English. His entire life passes before his eyes. He realizes that this is indeed the end of his political career, but only the beginning of the Napoleonic legend. He remembers the boy aspiring to greatness in Brian and he returns again to Themistocles, but not to the young and victorious Themistocles but to Themistocles defeated by his own people, the Greeks. That Themistocles, the undisputed victor at Salamis but persecuted in his later years by his Athenian citizens who sought to kill him for being too great for them. And he remembers how Themistocles stands before the Persian king, the greatest enemy of Greece, and Plutarch's description of this encounter:
“When Themistocles was brought to the king, Artaxerxes,
He bowed before him with his face to the ground and stood still.
The king asked him, through an interpreter, who he was, and Themistocles returned this answer:
Great and exalted king. I am the Athenian Themistocles.
And I come to you as a fugitive pursued by the Greeks.
Although I caused the Persians much harm, the good I did for them is greater and more numerous than that.
After all, I am the man who prevented the Greeks from pursuing them.
And that he did this favor to them, when the land of Greece was saved from danger
And she was safe from fear of the enemy.
I have completely surrendered to my fate. And I come here thinking
To find favor and kindness from a generous king who will atone for my sins.
Let my haters be witnesses to you, how much good I have done with the Persians,
And use my situation to reveal through it to the eyes of mankind
The generosity of your spirit, and not in vain to satisfy your bread.
If you are a lifesaver, then you are reviving the soul of a person who seeks shelter and refuge.
And if you kill me, know that you are killing the enemy of the pigeons!
The king did not answer him, but was amazed at his courage,
And to the greatness of the spirit of the man standing before him.
Then he takes the pen and writes to George IV, King of England.
“Great and exalted king!
Because I am persecuted by the factions that are tearing my country apart,
And since I am hated by the greatest powers of Europe,
I am ending my political career.
And he came, like Themistocles in his time.
However, Perfidious Albion (Treacherous England) does not act like the Persian king who housed Themistocles in the palace, but sends Napoleon to the black rock in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, where he will find his death.
Then, standing on the rock, Napoleon looks at his life and says:
What a novel my life has been!
Pasquale Pauli, the Corsican leader whom Napoleon admired and who recognized the lust for glory hidden in the hasty young man, was right and told Napoleon on the day they visited the battlefield of Ponte-Novo in Corsica:
"You, Napoleon, there is nothing new in you, you are all Plutarch!!".