Page 535 - les-miserables

battle. Quid obscurum, quid divinum. Each historian trac-
es, to some extent, the particular feature which pleases him
amid this pell-mell. Whatever may be the combinations of
the generals, the shock of armed masses has an incalculable
ebb. During the action the plans of the two leaders enter
into each other and become mutually thrown out of shape.
Such a point of the field of battle devours more combatants
than such another, just as more or less spongy soils soak up
more or less quickly the water which is poured on them.
It becomes necessary to pour out more soldiers than one
would like; a series of expenditures which are the unfore-
seen. The line of battle waves and undulates like a thread,
the trails of blood gush illogically, the fronts of the armies
waver, the regiments form capes and gulfs as they enter and
withdraw; all these reefs are continually moving in front of
each other. Where the infantry stood the artillery arrives,
the cavalry rushes in where the artillery was, the battal-
ions are like smoke. There was something there; seek it. It
has disappeared; the open spots change place, the sombre
folds advance and retreat, a sort of wind from the sepulchre
pushes forward, hurls back, distends, and disperses these
tragic multitudes. What is a fray? an oscillation? The im-
mobility of a mathematical plan expresses a minute, not a
day. In order to depict a battle, there is required one of those
powerful painters who have chaos in their brushes. Rem-
brandt is better than Vandermeulen; Vandermeulen, exact
at noon, lies at three o’clock. Geometry is deceptive; the
hurricane alone is trustworthy. That is what confers on Fo-
lard the right to contradict Polybius. Let us add, that there

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