The Life of Napoleon I | Page 8

the oppressors of his
countrymen. Worst of all, he had to endure the taunt of belonging to a
subject race. What a position for a proud and exacting child! Little
wonder that the official report represented him as silent and obstinate;
but, strange to say, it added the word "imperious." It was a tough
character which could defy repression amidst such surroundings. As to
his studies, little need be said. In his French history he read of the
glories of the distant past (when "Germany was part of the French
Empire"), the splendours of the reign of Louis XIV., the disasters of
France in the Seven Years' War, and the "prodigious conquests of the
English in India." But his imagination was kindled from other sources.
Boys of pronounced character have always owed far more to their
private reading than to their set studies; and the young Buonaparte,
while grudgingly learning Latin and French grammar, was feeding his
mind on Plutarch's "Lives"--in a French translation. The artful
intermingling of the actual and the romantic, the historic and the
personal, in those vivid sketches of ancient worthies and heroes, has
endeared them to many minds. Rousseau derived unceasing profit from
their perusal; and Madame Roland found in them "the pasture of great
souls." It was so with the lonely Corsican youth. Holding aloof from his
comrades in gloomy isolation, he caught in the exploits of Greeks and
Romans a distant echo of the tragic romance of his beloved island
home. The librarian of the school asserted that even then the young
soldier had modelled his future career on that of the heroes of antiquity;
and we may well believe that, in reading of the exploits of Leonidas,

Curtius, and Cincinnatus, he saw the figure of his own antique
republican hero, Paoli. To fight side by side with Paoli against the
French was his constant dream. "Paoli will return," he once exclaimed,
"and as soon as I have strength, I will go to help him: and perhaps
together we shall be able to shake the odious yoke from off the neck of
Corsica."
But there was another work which exercised a great influence on his
young mind--the "Gallic War" of Cæsar. To the young Italian the
conquest of Gaul by a man of his own race must have been a congenial
topic, and in Cæsar himself the future conqueror may dimly have
recognized a kindred spirit. The masterful energy and all-conquering
will of the old Roman, his keen insight into the heart of a problem, the
wide sweep of his mental vision, ranging over the intrigues of the
Roman Senate, the shifting politics of a score of tribes, and the myriad
administrative details of a great army and a mighty province--these
were the qualities that furnished the chief mental training to the young
cadet. Indeed, the career of Cæsar was destined to exert a singular
fascination over the Napoleonic dynasty, not only on its founder, but
also on Napoleon III.; and the change in the character and career of
Napoleon the Great may be registered mentally in the effacement of the
portraits of Leonidas and Paoli by those of Cæsar and Alexander. Later
on, during his sojourn at Ajaccio in 1790, when the first shadows were
flitting across his hitherto unclouded love for Paoli, we hear that he
spent whole nights poring over Cæsar's history, committing many
passages to memory in his passionate admiration of those wondrous
exploits. Eagerly he took Cæsar's side as against Pompey, and no less
warmly defended him from the charge of plotting against the liberties
of the commonwealth[6]. It was a perilous study for a republican youth
in whom the military instincts were as ingrained as the genius for rule.
Concerning the young Buonaparte's life at Brienne there exist few
authentic records and many questionable anecdotes. Of these last, that
which is the most credible and suggestive relates his proposal to his
schoolfellows to construct ramparts of snow during the sharp winter of
1783-4. According to his schoolfellow, Bourrienne, these mimic
fortifications were planned by Buonaparte, who also directed the

methods of attack and defence: or, as others say, he reconstructed the
walls according to the needs of modern war. In either case, the incident
bespeaks for him great power of organization and control. But there
were in general few outlets for his originality and vigour. He seems to
have disliked all his comrades, except Bourrienne, as much as they
detested him for his moody humours and fierce outbreaks of temper.
He is even reported to have vowed that he would do as much harm as
possible to the French people; but the remark smacks of the story-book.
Equally doubtful are the two letters in which he prays to be removed
from the indignities to which he was subjected at