ON RETURNING from a second careful inspection of the lines, Napoleon said:
“The pieces are on the board, the game will begin to-morrow.”
He ordered some punch, and sending for Beausset began talking of Paris with him, discussing various changes he intended to make in the Empress's household, and surprising the prefect by his memory of the minutest details of court affairs.
He showed interest in trifles, jested at Beausset's love of travel, and chatted carelessly, as some renowned, skilful and confident surgeon will often chat playfully while he tucks up his sleeves and puts on his apron, and the patient is being bound down on the operating-table. “I have the whole business at my finger-tips, and it's all clear and definite in my head. When I have to set to work, I will do it as no one else could, but now I can jest, and the more serenely I jest the more calm and confidence and admiration for my genius you ought to feel.”
After emptying a second glass of punch, Napoleon went to seek repose before the grave business which, as he imagined, lay before him next day.
He was so preoccupied with what lay before him that he could not sleep, and in spite of his cold, which got worse with the damp of evening, he got up at three o'clock, and went out into the principal compartment of the tent, sneezing violently. He asked whether the Russians had not retreated. He was told that the enemy's fires were still in the same places. He nodded approval.
The adjutant on duty came into the tent.
“Well, Rapp, do you think we shall do good business to-day?” he said to him.
“Without doubt, sire!” answered Rapp.
Napoleon looked at him.
“Do you remember what you did me the honour to say at Smolensk?” said Rapp: “the wine is drawn, it must be drunk.”
Napoleon frowned, and sat for a long while in silence, his head in his hand.
“This poor army, it has greatly diminished since Smolensk. La fortune est une franche courtisane, Rapp. I have always said so, and I begin to feel it; but the Guard, Rapp, the Guard is intact?” he said inquiringly.
“Yes, sire,” replied Rapp.
Napoleon took a lozenge, put it in his mouth, and looked at his watch. He was not sleepy, and morning was still far off; and there were no instructions to be drawn up to get through the time, for all had been already given, and were even now being put into execution.
“Have the biscuits and the rice been distributed to the regiments of the Guard?” Napoleon asked severely.
“Yes, sire.”
“The rice, too?”
Rapp answered that he had given the Emperor's orders about the rice; but Napoleon shook his head with a dissatisfied air, as though he doubted whether his command had been carried out. A servant came in with punch. Napoleon ordered another glass for Rapp, and took a few sips from his own in silence. “I have neither taste nor smell,” he said, sniffing at the glass. “I am sick of this cold. They talk about medicine. What is medicine, when they can't cure a cold? Corvisart gave me these lozenges, but they do no good. What can they cure? They can't cure anything. Our body is a machine for living. It is organised for that, it is its nature; leave life to it unhindered, let life defend itself in it; it will do more than if you paralyse it, encumbering it with remedies. Our body is a perfect watch, meant to go for a certain time; the watchmaker has not the power of opening it, he can only handle it in fumbling fashion, blindfold. Our body is a machine for living, that's all.” And apparently because he had dropped into making definitions, which he had a weakness for doing, he suddenly hazarded one on a fresh subject. “Do you know, Rapp, what the military art consists in?” he asked. “It is the art of being stronger than the enemy at a given moment. That is all.”
Rapp made no reply.
“To-morrow we shall have to do with Kutuzov,” said Napoleon. “We shall see! Do you remember, he was in command at Braunau, and never once in three weeks mounted a horse to inspect his entrenchments. We shall see!”
He looked at his watch. It was still only four o'clock. He was not sleepy; the punch was finished, and there was still nothing to do. He got up, walked up and down, put on a warm coat and hat and went out of the tent. The night was dark and damp; a slight drizzle was falling almost inaudibly. Close by in the French Guard, the camp-fires burned dimly, and far away they were blazing brightly through the smoke along the Russian line. The air was still, and a faint stir and tramp could be distinctly heard from the French troops beginning to move to occupy the position.
Napoleon walked to and fro before the tent, looked at the fires, listened to the tramp, and passed by a tall guardsman in a fur cap, a sentinel at his tent, who drew himself up like a black post on seeing the Emperor. The latter stood still, facing him.
“Since what year have you served?” he asked, with that affectation of military bluntness and geniality with which he always addressed the soldiers. The soldier answered.
“Ah! one of the veterans! Have you all had rice in the regiment?”
“Yes, your majesty.”
Napoleon nodded and walked away.
At half-past five Napoleon rode to the village of Shevardino.
It began to get light; the sky cleared, only a single storm cloud lay on the eastern horizon. The deserted camp-fires burned down in the pale light of morning.
A solitary, deep cannon shot boomed out on the right, hovered in the air, and died away in the stillness. Several minutes passed. A second, and a third shot was heard, the air was full of vibration; a fourth and a fifth boomed out majestically, closely on the right.
The first shots had not died away, when others rang out, and more and more, their notes blending and overtaking one another.
Napoleon rode with his suite to the Shevardino redoubt, and dismounted there. The game had begun.
拿破仑在第二次细心地巡视了前线归来后，说：
“棋盘摆好了，比赛明天就开始。”
他吩咐给他拿潘趣酒①，叫来德波塞，开始和他谈巴黎，谈他打算就Maison de l'empératrice②作某些改革，他对宫廷琐事记得那么清楚，使这位宫廷长官感到惊奇。
他关心琐事，嘲笑德波塞爱旅行的癖好，他随时闲谈，那神气就像一个著名的、自信的、内行的外科医生，他卷起袖子，围上围裙，病人被绑在手术床上：“事情全抓在我的手里和头脑里，它是清楚的，明确的。一着手干起来，谁也比不了我，现在我可以开开玩笑，我愈是谈笑自若，你们就愈有信心，愈镇静，也就愈惊奇于我的天之。”
喝完第二杯潘趣酒，拿破仑觉得明天有一桩严重的事情在等待着他，就休息去了。
他对面临的事情太操心了，以致无法入睡，而夜里的潮湿更加重了他的感冒。凌晨三点钟，他大声擤着鼻子，走进帐篷的大房间。他问俄国人是否已经撤退，人们回答说，敌人的火光仍在原来的地方。他赞许地点了点头。
值日副官走进帐篷。
“Eh bien，Rapp，Croyezvous，que nous ferons de bonnes affaires aujourd'hui？”③他问副官。
“Sans aucun doute，Sire．”④拉普回答说。
①潘趣酒是一种果汁、香料、酒等混合的甜饮料。
②法语：皇后的内侍官编制。
③法语：喂，拉普，你看咱们今天能打胜吗？
④法语：毫无疑问，陛下。
拿破仑看了看他。
“Vous rappellez－vous，Sire，ce que vous m'avez fait l'honneur de dire à Smolensk？”拉普说，“le vin est tirè，il faut le boire．①”
拿破仑皱起眉头，手支撑着头默默地坐了很久。
“Cette pauvre armée！”他突然说，“elle a bien diminuéedepuis Smolensk．La fortune est une franche courtisane，Rapp，je le disais toujours，et je commence a l'eprouver．Mais la garde，Rapp，la garde est intacte？”②他疑惑地说。
“Oui，Sire。”③拉普回答。
拿破仑拿起一片药放进嘴里，看了看表。他不想睡了，离天亮还早；用发命令来消磨时间已经不行了，因为全部命令已经发出，现在正在执行中。
“A－t－on distribué les biscuits et le riz aux régiments de la garde？”④拿破仑严厉地问。
“Oui，Sire．”
①法语：您还记得您在斯摩棱斯克对我说过的话吗？瓶塞已经开，就要把酒喝掉。
②法语：可怜的军人！自从斯摩棱斯克战役以来，大大地减少了。命运真是个放荡的女人，拉普。我过去总是这么说，现在开始体验到了。但是近卫军，拉普，近卫军还完整吧？
③法语：是的，陛下。
④法语：面包和米都发给近卫军了吗？
“Mais le riz？”①
拉普回答说，他已经传达了皇帝关于发米的命令，但是拿破仑不满意地摇摇头，好像不相信他的命令已被执行。仆人拿着潘趣酒走进来。拿破仑吩咐给拉普一只杯子，然后默默地一口口饮他那一杯。
“我既没有味觉，也没有嗅觉，”他闻着杯子说。“这场伤风可把我害苦了。他们谈论医学。他们连伤风都治不了，还算什么医学？科维扎尔②给我这些药片，可是一点用也没有。他们能治什么病？什么也治不了。Notre corps est une machine à vivre．Il est organisé pour cela，c'est sa nature；laissez－y la vie à son aise，qu'elle s'y défende；elle même elle；fera plus que si vous la paralysiez en l'encombrant de remedes．Notre corps est comme une montre parfaite qui doit aller un certain temps；l'horloger n'a pas la faculté de l'ouvrir，il ne peut la manier qu'à taAtons et les yeux bandés．Notre corps est une machine à vivre，voil tout．”③这似乎触及了他喜爱的定义（définitions），他出乎意外地下了一个新定义。“拉普，您知道什么是军事艺术吗？”他问。“这是在一定的时间比敌人强的艺术。Voilà tout．”④
拉普什么也没有回答。
“Demain nous allons avoiraffaire à
Koutouzoff！”⑤拿破仑说。”等着瞧吧！您记得吧，他在布劳瑙指挥一支军队，一连三个礼拜他都没有骑马去视察工事。等着瞧吧！”
①法语：可是米呢？
②科维扎尔是拿破仑的御医。
③法语：我们的身体是一架活机器。身体是为了生命而构造的。让生命在④法语：如此而已。
⑤法语：明天我们要和库图佐夫打交道了！
身体里自由自在，别干预它，让它自己保护自己，它处理自身的事，比用药去妨害它要好得多。我们的身体就像钟表，它应当走一定的时间，钟表医不能打开它，只能蒙着眼睛瞎摸来修理它。我们的身体是一架活机器。如此而已。
他看看表。才四点钟。没有睡意，酒也喝完了，无事可做。他站起身，来回走了两趟，穿上暖和的外衣，戴上帽子，走出了帐篷。夜又黑又潮，刚刚能感觉到的湿露从天上降下来。近处法国近卫军的篝火不太亮，远处沿着俄国的降线篝火透过烟雾闪着亮光。万籁俱静，只清楚地听见法军已经开始进入阵地的沙沙声与脚步声。
拿破仑在收篷前走了走，看看火光，细听一下脚步声，他从一个高个子的卫兵面前走过，这个戴着毛皮帽的卫兵在他的帐篷前站岗，他一看见皇帝就把身子挺得像根黑柱子，拿破仑在他面前站住了。
“你是哪年入伍的？”他问。地对士兵说话时，总是装腔作势，爱用既粗鲁又和气的军人口吻，那个士兵回答了他。
“Ah！un des vieux①你们团里领到米了吗？”
①法语：啊！是一个老兵了！
“领到了，陛下。”
拿破仑点点头，就走开了。
五点半钟，拿破仑骑着马到舍瓦尔金诺村。
天渐渐亮了，万里晴空，只有一片乌云悬挂在东方。被遗弃的篝火在晨光熹微中快燃尽了。
右边响起一声沉重的炮击声，炮弹划破寂静，然后消失了。过了几分钟。响起第二、第三声炮击，震荡着空气；右边不远处庄严地响起第四、第五声炮击。
最初的炮击声还没完全消失，别的炮击声又响起来，接二连三，争先恐后，众炮齐发，响成一片。
拿破仑带着随从来到舍瓦尔金诺多面堡，下了马。棋赛开始了。
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