AFTER ALL NAPOLEON had said to him, after those outbursts of wrath, and after the last frigidly uttered words, “I will not detain you, general; you shall receive my letter,” Balashov felt certain that Napoleon would not care to see him again, would avoid indeed seeing again the envoy who had been treated by him with contumely, and had been the eyewitness of his undignified outburst of fury. But to his surprise Balashov received through Duroc an invitation to dine that day at the Emperor's table.
There were present at dinner, Bessières, Caulaincourt, and Berthier.
Napoleon met Balashov with a good-humoured and friendly air. He had not the slightest appearance of embarrassment or regret for his outbreak in the morning. On the contrary he seemed trying to encourage Balashov. It was evident that it had long been Napoleon's conviction that no possibility existed of his making mistakes. To his mind all he did was good, not because it was in harmony with any preconceived notion of good or bad, but simply because it was he who did it.
The Emperor was in excellent spirits after his ride about Vilna, greeted and followed with acclamations by crowds of the inhabitants. From every window in the streets through which he had passed draperies and flags with his monogram had been hanging, and Polish ladies had been waving handkerchiefs to welcome him.
At dinner he sat Balashov beside him, and addressed him affably. He addressed him indeed as though he regarded Balashov as one of his own courtiers, as one of the people, who would sympathise with his plans and be sure to rejoice at his successes. He talked, among other things, of Moscow, and began asking Balashov questions about the ancient Russian capital, not simply as a traveller of inquiring mind asks about a new place he intends to visit, but apparently with the conviction that Balashov as a Russian must be flattered at his interest in it.
“How many inhabitants are there in Moscow, how many horses? Is it true that Moscow is called the holy city? How many churches are there in Moscow?” he asked.
And when he was told there were over two hundred churches, he said: “Why is there such a great number of churches?”
“The Russians are very religious,” replied Balashov.
“A great number, however, of monasteries and churches is always a sign of the backwardness of a people,” said Napoleon, looking at Caulaincourt for appreciation of this remark.
Balashov ventured respectfully to differ from the opinion of the French Emperor.
“Every country has its customs,” he observed.
“But there's nothing like that anywhere else in Europe,” said Napoleon.
“I beg your majesty's pardon,” said Balashov; “besides Russia, there is Spain, where there is also a great number of churches and monasteries.”
This reply of Balashov's, which suggested a covert allusion to the recent discomfiture of the French in Spain, was highly appreciated when Balashov repeated it at the court of the Emperor Alexander, though at the time at Napoleon's dinner-table it was very little appreciated and passed indeed unnoticed.
From the indifferent and perplexed faces of the marshals present it was obvious that they were puzzled to discover wherein lay the point of the retort, suggested by Balashov's intonation. “If there were a point, we fail to catch it, or the remark was perhaps really pointless,” their expression seemed to say. So little effect had this retort that Napoleon indeed certainly saw nothing in it; and he na?vely asked Balashov through what towns the direct road from Vilna to Moscow passed. Balashov, who had been all dinner-time on his guard, replied that as, according to the proverb, every road leads to Rome, every road leads to Moscow; that there were very many roads, and among them was the road to Poltava, the one selected by Charles XII. Balashov could not help flushing with delight at the felicity of this reply. Balashov had hardly uttered the last word “Poltava” when Caulaincourt began talking of the badness of the road from Petersburg to Moscow and his own Petersburg reminiscences.
After dinner they went to drink coffee in Napoleon's study, which had four days before been the study of the Emperor Alexander. Napoleon sat down, stirring his coffee in a Sèvres cup, and motioned Balashov to a seat beside him.
There is a well-known after-dinner mood which is more potent than any rational consideration in making a man satisfied with himself and disposed to regard every one as a friend. Napoleon was under the influence of this mood. He fancied himself surrounded by persons who adored him. He felt no doubt that Balashov too after his dinner was his friend and his worshipper. Napoleon addressed him with an amicable and rather ironical smile.
“This is the very room, I am told, in which the Emperor Alexander used to sit. Strange, isn't it, general?” he said, obviously without the slightest misgiving that this remark could be other than agreeable to the Russian, since it afforded a proof of his, Napoleon's, superiority over Alexander.
Balashov could make no reply to this, and he bowed in silence.
“Yes, four days ago, Wintzengerode and Stein were deliberating in this very room,” Napoleon continued, with the same confident and ironical smile. “What I can't understand,” he said, “is the Emperor Alexander's gathering round him all my personal enemies. That I do not understand. Didn't he consider that I might do the same?” he asked Balashov; and obviously the question brought him back to a reminiscence of the morning's anger, which was still fresh in him. “And let him know that I will do so,” Napoleon said, getting up and pushing away his cup. “I'll drive all his kith and kin out of Germany—the Würtembergs and Badens and Weimars…Yes, I'll drive them out. Let him get a refuge ready for them in Russia.”
Balashov bowed his head, with an air that indicated that he would be glad to withdraw, and was simply listening because he had no alternative but to listen to what was said to him. Napoleon did not notice this expression. He was addressing Balashov now, not as the envoy of his enemy, but as a man now quite devoted to him and certain to rejoice at the humiliation of his former master.
“And why has the Emperor Alexander taken the command of his troops? What's that for? War is my profession, but his work is to reign and not to command armies. What has induced him to take such a responsibility on himself?”
Napoleon again took his snuff-box, walked several times in silence up and down the room, and all at once surprised Balashov by coming close up to him. And with a faint smile, as confidently, rapidly, and swiftly, as though he were doing something that Balashov could not but regard as an honour and a pleasure, he put his hand up to the face of the Russian general of forty, and gave him a little pinch on the ear with a smile on his lips.
To have the ear pulled by the Emperor was regarded as the greatest honour and mark of favour at the French court.
“Well, you say nothing, admirer and courtier of the Emperor Alexander,” he said, as though it were comic that there should be in his presence a courtier and worshipper of any man other than him, Napoleon. “Are the horses ready for the general?” he added, with a slight nod in acknowledgment of Balashov's bow. “Give him mine; he has a long way to go.…”
The letter taken back by Balashov was Napoleon's last letter to Alexander. Every detail of the conversation was transmitted to the Russian Emperor, and the war began.
在拿破仑对他说了那一切之后，在那一阵愤怒的发泄并在最后冷冷地说了如下几句话之后：“Je ne vous retiens plus，général，vous recevrez ma lettre”（我不多耽搁您了，将军，您会接到我给您们皇帝的回信——译者），巴拉瑟夫相信，拿破仑不仅不愿再看见他，而且还会尽力回避他——一个受侮辱的使者，更主要的是，他是拿破仑有失体面的冲动行为的见证人。但使他吃惊的却是，就在当天他就从久罗克那里收到皇帝的宴会邀请书。
出席宴会的还有贝歇尔、科兰库尔和贝尔蒂埃。
拿破仑带着愉快而温和的面容迎接了巴拉瑟夫。他不唯没有羞涩的表情，或者因为早晨的大发雷霆而内疚，反而尽力鼓励巴拉瑟夫。显然，拿破仑早就认为，他根本不会出错，在他的观念中，他所做的一切都是好的，其所以好，并不是因为它符合是非好坏的概念，而仅因为那是他做的。
皇帝骑马游览了维尔纳城，心里觉得挺愉快，这个城的人群异常高兴地迎送皇帝。他所走过的各条街道，家家户户的窗口都悬挂着毛毯、旗帜和皇帝姓名的花字，波兰妇女们都向他挥动手绢，表示尊敬。
筵席间，他让巴拉瑟夫坐在他身旁，对待他不仅亲热，而且把他看作赞许他的计划并为他的成就而欣喜的朝臣之一。他在谈话时提到莫斯科，于是向他询问俄都的情况，他不仅像个旅行家那样，在求知欲的驱使下打听一个他要前去的新地方，并且带有坚信不疑的口吻，认为巴拉瑟夫身为俄国人，必然会以他这种求知欲为荣。
“莫斯科的居民共有多少，住宅共有多少？莫斯科称为Moseou la sainte①，是真的么？莫斯科的教堂共有多少呢？”他问。
①法语：法语：圣莫斯科。
他听到那儿共有两百多所教堂的回答后，说道。
“干嘛要这么多教堂？”
“俄国人信仰上帝。”巴拉瑟夫答道。
“但是许多修道院和教堂向来就是俄国人民落后的特征。”拿破仑说，他转过脸来看看科兰库尔，希望他对这个观点表示赞赏。
巴拉瑟夫毕恭毕敬地表示，他不能赞同法国皇帝的意见。
“每个国家都有它自己的习俗。”他说。
“但是在欧洲倒没有这种情形。”拿破仑说。
“请陛下原宥。”巴拉瑟夫说，“除俄国而外，还有西班牙也有大量的教堂和修道院。”
巴拉瑟夫这句暗示法国军队不久前在西班牙遭到失败的回答，根据巴拉瑟夫以后的叙述，在亚历山大朝廷中获得颇高的评价，可是目前在拿破仑举办的宴会上却不太受赞扬，并未产生任何反应就过去了。
从各位元帅茫然不解的神态可以看出，他们都不明白，那句从巴拉瑟夫的语气得知有所讥讽的俏皮话究竟含有什么意义。“即使那是一种俏皮的说法，可是我们听了也不明白，或许它毫无俏皮二字可言。”各位元帅的面部表情这样说。这一回答竟这么不受称赞，甚至拿破仑索兴不理会它，但稚气地向巴拉瑟夫询问，从这里到莫斯科最近的路途须经过哪些城市。于席间一直保持警惕的巴拉瑟夫这样回答：Comme tout chemin mène à Rome，tout chemin mène à Moscou，①路有许多条，在条条不同的路中间，都有一条查理十二所选择的通往波尔塔瓦的大道，巴拉瑟夫说，这句俏皮的回答，使他不禁喜形于色，满面通红了。巴拉瑟夫还未把“波尔塔瓦”这最后几个字说出口，科兰库尔就谈到从彼得堡到莫斯科的那条道路怎样难走，并且想起了他在彼得堡经历的情景。
①法语：正如条条大道直通罗马，条条大道也直通莫斯科。
午餐完毕后，大家都到拿破仑的书斋里去饮咖啡茶，四天前这里是亚历山大皇帝的书斋。拿破仑坐下来，用手抚摸塞弗尔咖啡茶杯，让巴拉瑟夫坐在他身旁的椅子上。
人们有一种众所周知的饭后的心绪，这种心绪比任何合乎情理的缘由都更能使人怡然自处，并且把一切人都看成自己的朋友。拿破仑就是怀有此种心绪的。他似乎觉得他周围的人个个都是崇拜他的人。他坚信、午餐之后巴拉瑟夫也成为他的朋友和崇拜者了。拿破仑脸上流露着欢愉和有几分讥讽的微笑，向他转过头来。
“听说亚历山大皇帝在这个房间里住过。真奇怪，确有其事吗？将军？”他说道，看来他不怀疑他说的话不能取悦对方，因为他说的话能够证明他拿破仑比亚历山大更高明。
巴拉瑟夫默默地垂下头来，没有回答他。
“是的，四天前温岑格罗德和施泰因在这个房间里开过会，”拿破仑脸上仍然流露着讥讽的自信的微笑，继续说下去。
“使我无法明了的是，为什么亚历山大皇帝硬要把我个人的敌人都搜罗到他身边来，这一点……我不明白。他岂未料到我也会如法泡制？”他现出疑惑的神态把脸转向巴拉瑟夫，这种回忆显然又引起他那仍未消失的早上的愠怒。
“让他知道我怎么干吧。”拿破仑说道，他站立起来，用手推开那只咖啡茶杯，“我准要把他的亲属，符腾堡的亲属、巴顿的亲属，魏玛的亲属全部从德国驱逐出境……是的，我准要把他们驱逐出境。让他在俄国替他们准备一个避难所吧！”
巴拉瑟夫低下头，他那副模样在表示，他很想向拿破仑告辞，他听别人对他讲话，也只不过是非听不可罢了。他的表情拿破仑没有看出来，他对巴拉瑟夫讲话，并不像对敌国使臣那样，而像对一个完全忠于他的、并且为故主蒙受耻辱而深感喜悦的人说话那样。
“为什么亚历山大皇帝要统率军队？这究竟有啥用处？打仗是我的职业，而他的职责则是当皇帝，而不是统领军队。干嘛他要承担这个责任？”
拿破仑又拿出他的鼻烟壶，沉默不言地走来走去，走了好几次，然后忽然出乎意料地走到巴拉瑟夫跟前，露出一点笑容，他仍然是那样充满自信、敏捷而朴实，好像他在做一件不仅重要而且使巴拉瑟夫觉得愉快的事情，他把一只手伸到这个四十岁的俄国将领脸上，揪住他的耳朵，轻轻拉了一下，撇撇他的嘴唇，微微一笑。
法国朝廷中，anoir，l'oreille tirèe par l'emBpereur①，认为是无上光荣的宠爱。
“Eh bien，Vous ne dites rien，admirateur et courtisan de l'empeur Alexandre？”②他说，好像在他面前只能当他的courtisan和admirateur③，除此之外当任何其他人的崇拜者和廷臣都是荒唐可笑的。
①法语：被皇上揪耳朵。
②法语：喂，您怎么沉默不言，亚历山大皇帝的崇身者和廷臣。
③法语：崇拜者和廷臣。
“给这位将军备好了马么？”他又说，微微点头以酬答巴拉瑟夫的鞠躬。
“把我的那几匹马给他好了，他要跑很远的路哩……”
巴拉瑟夫捎回来的那封信是拿破仑写给亚历山大皇帝的最后一封信。他把所有谈话的详细情形转告了俄皇，于是乎战争开始了。
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