Part 126

‘one’, here = a man (S. 134, N. 9).

Say ‘he was not’, etc.

Say ‘to the man who’, etc.

Say ‘He must carry (+erobern+) the battery’.

‘to be sacrificed’, here +dahin´gerafft werden+.

+Was befehlen Ew.+ (abbreviation of +Eure+) +Majestät+?

Section 157.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

II.

In the plenitude of his resources every obstacle seemed to vanish. “There shall be no Alps,” he said; and he built his perfect roads, climbing by graded galleries their steepest precipices, until Italy was as open to Paris as any town in France. Having (S. 55, N. 1) decided what was to be done, he did that with might and main. He put out all his strength. He risked everything, and spared nothing; neither ammunition, nor money, nor troops, nor generals, nor himself. If fighting be the best mode of adjusting national differences (as large majorities of men seem to agree), certainly Bonaparte was right in making it thorough.

He fought sixty battles. He had never enough. Each victory was a new weapon. “My power would fall, were I not to support it by new achievements. Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me.”

Before he fought a battle, Bonaparte thought little about what he should do in case of success, but a great deal about what he should do in case of a reverse of fortune. The same prudence and good sense marked all his behaviour. His instructions to his secretary at the palace are worth remembering. He said: “During the night enter my chamber as seldom as possible. Do not awake me when you have any good news to communicate; with that there is no hurry; but when you have bad news, rouse me instantly, for then there is not a moment to be lost.” His achievement of business was immense, and enlarges the known power of man. There have been (S. 82, N. 7) many working kings, from Ulysses to William of Orange, but none who accomplished a tithe of this man’s performance.—EMERSON.

+Es soll keine Alpen mehr geben.+

perfect roads, +Kunststraßen+.

Say ‘through which he by means of winding, (+sich schlängeln+) and gradually rising passes climbed the steepest precipices (+Abhang+, m.) of the Alps’.

was = stood; to Paris = to the Parisians. =The suffix +er+ is used to form names of male persons and of the inhabitants of countries and places; as=—+der Italiener+, the Italian, from +Italien+; +der Hamburger+, the inhabitants of Hamburgh.

town in France = French (S. 101, N. 1) town.

with — main, +aus Leibeskräften+.

+Er setzte seine ganze Stärke daran.+

+schonen.+

nor = neither.

+und auch sich selbst nicht.+

= war; be = is; mode, +Art und Weise+.

Say ‘as the majority of men seem (S. 107, N. 13) to think (S. 64, N. 11)’.

to make (do) a thing thorough(ly), +etwas gründlich betreiben+.

to fight battles, +Schlachten liefern+.

= sink.

= Conquests have; he has made me what I am, +er hat mich zu dem gemacht, was ich bin+.