THE TEARFUL SPECTACLE of the battlefield, heaped with dead and wounded, in conjunction with the heaviness of his head, the news that some twenty generals he knew well were among the killed or wounded, and the sense of the impotence of his once mighty1 army, made an unexpected impression on Napoleon, who was usually fond of looking over the dead and wounded, proving thereby2, as he imagined, his dauntless spirit. On that day, the awful spectacle of the battlefield overcame this dauntless spirit, which he looked upon as a merit and a proof of greatness. He hastened away from the field of battle and returned to Shevardino. With a yellow, puffy, heavy face, dim eyes, a red nose, and a husky voice, he sat on a camp-stool, looking down and involuntarily listening to the sounds of the firing. With sickly uneasiness he awaited the end of this action, in which he considered himself the prime mover, though he could not have stopped it. The personal, human sentiment for one brief moment gained the ascendant over the artificial phantasm of life, that he had served so long. He imagined in his own case the agonies and death he had seen on the battlefield. The heaviness of his head and chest reminded him of the possibility for him too of agony and death. At that minute he felt no longing3 for Moscow, for victory or for glory. (What need had he for more glory?) The one thing he desired now was repose4, tranquillity6, and freedom. But when he was on the height above Semyonovskoye, the officer in command of the artillery7 proposed to him to bring several batteries up on to that height to increase the fire on the Russian troops before Knyazkovo. Napoleon assented8, and gave orders that word should be brought him of the effect produced by this battery.
An adjutant came to say that by the Emperor's orders two hundred guns had been directed upon the Russians, but that they were still holding their ground.
“Our fire is mowing9 them down in whole rows, but they stand firm,” said the adjutant.
“They want more of it!” said Napoleon in his husky voice.
“Sire?” repeated the adjutant, who had not caught the words.
“They want even more!” Napoleon croaked10 hoarsely11, frowning. “Well, let them have it then.”
Already, without orders from him, what he did not really want was being done, and he gave the order to do it simply because he thought the order was expected of him. And he passed back again into his old artificial world, peopled by the phantoms12 of some unreal greatness, and again (as a horse running in a rolling wheel may imagine it is acting13 on its own account) he fell back into submissively performing the cruel, gloomy, irksome, and inhuman14 part destined15 for him.
And not for that hour and day only were the mind and conscience darkened in that man, on whom the burden of all that was being done lay even more heavily than on all the others who took part in it. Never, down to the end of his life, had he the least comprehension of good, of beauty, of truth, of the significance of his own acts, which were too far opposed to truth and goodness, too remote from everything human for him to be able to grasp their significance. He could not disavow his own acts, that were lauded16 by half the world, and so he was forced to disavow truth and goodness and everything human.
Not on that day only, as he rode about the battlefield, piled with corpses17 and mutilated men (the work, as he supposed, of his will) he reckoned as he gazed at them how many Russians lay there for each Frenchman, and cheated himself into finding matter for rejoicing in the belief that there were five Russians for every Frenchman. Not on that day only he wrote to Paris that “le champ de bataille a été superbe,” because there were fifty thousand corpses on it. Even in St. Helena, in the peaceful solitude18 where he said he intended to devote his leisure to an account of the great deeds he had done, he wrote:
“The Russian war ought to have been the most popular of modern times: it was the war of good sense and real interests, of the repose and security of all: it was purely19 pacific and conservative.
“It was for the great cause, the end of uncertainties20 and the beginning of security. A new horizon, new labours were unfolding, all full of welfare and prosperity for all. The European system was established; all that remained was to organise21 it.
“Satisfied on these great points and tranquil5 everywhere, I too should have had my congress and my holy alliance. These are ideas stolen from me. In this assembly of great sovereigns, we could have treated of our interests like one family and have reckoned, as clerk with master, with the peoples.
“Europe would soon in that way have made in fact but one people, and every one, travelling all over it, would always have found himself in the common fatherland. I should have required all the rivers to be open for the navigation of all; the seas to be common to all; and the great standing23 armies to be reduced henceforth simply to the bodyguard24 of the sovereigns.
“Returning to France, to the bosom25 of the great, strong, magnificent, tranquil, and glorious fatherland, I should have proclaimed its frontiers immutable26, all future war purely defensive27, all fresh aggrandisement anti-national. I should have associated my son in the empire; my dictatorship would have been over, and his constitutional reign22 would have begun…
“Paris would have been the capital of the world, and the French the envy of the nations!…
“My leisure then and my old age would have been consecrated28, in company with the Empress, and during the royal apprenticeship29 of my son, to visiting in leisurely30 fashion with our own horses, like a genuine country couple, every corner of the empire, receiving complaints, redressing31 wrongs, scattering32 monuments and benefits on all sides.”
He, predestined by Providence33 to the gloomy, slavish part of executioner of the peoples, persuaded himself that the motive34 of his acts had been the welfare of the peoples, and that he could control the destinies of millions, and make their prosperity by the exercise of his power.
“Of the four hundred thousand men who crossed the Vistula,” he wrote later of the Russian war, “half were Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Poles, Bavarians, Würtembergers, Mecklenburgers, Spaniards, Italians, Neapolitans. The Imperial army, properly so-called, was one third composed of Dutch, Belgians, inhabitants of the Rhineland, Piedmontese, Swiss, Genevese, Tuscans, Romans, inhabitants of the thirty-second military division, of Bremen, Hamburg, etc. It reckoned barely a hundred and forty thousand men speaking French. The Russian expedition cost France itself less than fifty thousand men. The Russian army in the retreat from Vilna to Moscow in the different battles lost four times as many men as the French army. The fire in Moscow cost the lives of one hundred thousand Russians, dead of cold and want in the woods; lastly, in its march from Moscow to the Oder, the Russian army, too, suffered from the inclemency35 of the season: it only reckoned fifty thousand men on reaching Vilna, and less than eighteen thousand at Kalisch.”
He imagined that the war with Russia was entirely36 due to his will, and the horror of what was done made no impression on his soul. He boldly assumed the whole responsibility of it all; and his clouded intellect found justification37 in the fact that among the hundreds of thousands of men who perished, there were fewer Frenchmen than Hessians and Bavarians.
死者与伤者遍布疆场的可怕景象，再加上头脑昏胀以及二十个他所熟悉的将军或伤或亡的消息，往日有力的胳膊变得软弱无力的感觉，这一切在爱着死伤的人，并以此作为考验自己的精神力量的拿破仑的头脑中形成了一种意想不到的印象。这天战场上的可怕景象使他在精神上屈服了，而他本来认为他的功绩和伟大都来自这种精神力量。他连忙离开战场，回到了舍瓦尔金诺土岗。他坐在折椅上，脸姜黄而浮肿，心情沉重，眼睛混浊，鼻子发红，声音沙哑，他不由得耷拉下眼皮，无意地听着枪炮声。他怀着病态的忧悒企望结束那场由他挑起的战争，但他已无法阻止它。个人所具有的人类感情，暂时地战胜了他长期为之效劳的那种虚假的人生幻影。
他真自感受到了他在战场上所见到的那些苦难和死亡的恐惧。头和胸的沉重感觉，使他想到他自己也有遭受苦难和死亡的可能。在这顷刻间，他不想要莫斯科，不想要胜利，不想要荣誉。他还需要什么荣誉呢？他现在只希望一件事，那就是得到休息、安静和自由。但是，当他在谢苗诺夫斯科耶高地时，炮兵司令向他建议，调几个炮兵连到这些高地上，对聚集在克尼亚济科沃前的俄军加强火力攻击，拿破仑同意了，并且命令向他报告那些炮兵连的作战效果。
一名副官前来报告说，遵照皇帝的命令，调来二百门大炮轰击俄军，但俄军仍坚守着。
“他们被我们的炮火成排地撂倒，可他们动也不动。”那个副官说。
“lls en veulent encore！……”①拿破仑声音沙哑地说。
“Sire？”②那个副官没听清楚，问道。
①法语：他们还嫌不够！……
②法语：陛下？
“lls en veulent encore，donnez leur－en．”①拿破仑皱着眉头，嗓子嘶哑地说。
其实，不待他发命令，他要求做的事就已做了。他所以发布命令，只不过因为他以为人们在等待他的命令。于是他又回到他原来那个充满某种伟大幻影的虚幻世界（就像一匹推磨的马，自以为在替自己做事），又驯服地做起注定要由他扮演的那个残酷、可悲、沉重、不人道的角色。
不止在那一刻，也不止在那一天，这个比其他任何人都更沉重地负起眼前这副重担的人的智力和良心蒙上了一层阴影；但是，他永远、直到生命的终结，都不能理解真、善、美，不能理解他的行为的意义。因为他的行为太违反真与善，与一切合乎人性的东西离得太远，所以他无法理解它们的意义。他不能摒弃他那誉满半球的行为，所以他要摒弃真和善以及一切人性的东西。
不仅在这一天，他巡视那遍布着死者和伤者的战场（他认为那些伤亡是由他的意志造成的），看着这些人，计算着多少俄国人抵一个法国人，由此他自欺地找到了使他高兴的理由：五个俄国人抵一个法国人。也不只是在这一天，他给巴黎的信中这样写道：le champ de bataille a été suBperbe，②因为在战场上有五万具尸体，而且在圣赫勒拿岛上，在那幽禁、寂静的地方，他说，他要利用闲暇时光，记述他的丰功伟绩，他用法语写道：
①法语：还嫌不够，那就多给他们一些。
②法语：战场的景象是壮丽的。
“远征俄国的战争，本来是现代最闻名的战争，因为这是明智的、为了真正利益的战争，是为了全人类的绥靖和安全的战争；它纯粹是热爱和平的稳妥的战争。
那场战争是为了一个伟大的目的，为了意外事件的
终结，为了安定的开始。新的境界，新的事业正在出现，全人类的安宁幸福和繁荣昌盛正在出现。欧洲的制度已经奠定，剩下的问题只是进一步建立起来。
在这些大问题都得到满意解决，到处都安宁下来之
后，我也就有我的国会和神圣同盟了。这些观点是他们从我这里窃取的。在这次各国伟大的君主会议中，我们应当像一家人一样讨论我们的利益。并且像管帐先生对主人那样向各国人民提出汇报。
按这样去做，欧洲一定很快成为一个统一的民族，一个人不论去何地旅行，就如同进入共同的祖国。我呼吁所有的河流供所有人航行，海洋公有，庞大的常备军一律缩编成各国君主的近卫军。
回到法国，回到伟大、强盛、瑰丽、和平、光荣的
祖国，我要宣布，她的国界永远不变；未来一切战争，是防御性的；任何扩张都是与民族利益背道而驰的；我要会同我的儿子掌管帝国政治，我的独裁要结束了，他的宪政就要开始……
巴黎将要成为世界的首都，法国人要成为万国人民
仰慕的对象！……
到那时候，我将利用我闲暇与晚年，在皇后陪伴下，在我儿子受皇家教育期间，像一对真正的农村夫妇一样，驾着自己的马车，畅游帝国各个角落，接受诉状，平反冤狱，在各地传播知识，施舍恩惠。”
天意注定他充当一名屠杀人民的、可悲的、不由自主的刽子手，他自信他的行动动机是造福于人民，自信他能支配千百万人的命运，能凭借权利施舍恩惠。
“渡过维斯杜拉河的四十万人中，有一半是奥地利人、普鲁士人、撒克逊人、波兰人、巴伐利亚人、符腾堡人、梅克伦堡湾人、西班牙人、意大利人和那不勒斯人。实际上，在帝国军队里，有三分之一的荷兰人、比利时人、莱茵河两岸的居民、皮德蒙特人、瑞士人、日内瓦人、托斯卡纳人、罗马人、三十二师①以及不来梅和汉堡等地的人；其中说法语的几乎不满十四万人。对俄国的远征，其实法国的损失不到五万人；俄军从维尔纳撤退到莫斯科，以及在各次战斗中，损失比法军多三倍；莫斯科的大火使十万俄国人丧生，他们由于森林里寒冷和物资匮乏而死亡；最后，在由莫斯科至奥德河的进军中，俄军也受到严酷季节之苦；在抵达维尔纳时，它只剩下五万人了，到了长利什，就不到一万八千人了。”
想象，对俄战争是按照他的意志引起的，所以可怕的景象没有使他的灵魂震惊。他勇敢地承担了事件的全部责任，他神志不清地竟然从几十万牺牲者中法国人少于黑森人和巴代利亚人这样一事实中找到了辩解的证据。
①三十二师指达武元帅指挥的师，其中士兵多半从汉堡、不来梅等地招募来。
收听单词发音 |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mowing
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| n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 ) | |
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croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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lauded
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| v.称赞，赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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uncertainties
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| 无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物 | |
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organise
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| vt.组织，安排，筹办 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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bodyguard
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| n.护卫，保镖 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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redressing
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| v.改正( redress的现在分词 )；重加权衡；恢复平衡 | |
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scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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inclemency
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| n.险恶，严酷 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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