Page 1145 - les-miserables

great as the pyramids, at Tilsit he taught Emperors majes-
ty, at the Academy of Sciences he replied to Laplace, in the
Council of State be held his own against Merlin, he gave a
soul to the geometry of the first, and to the chicanery of the
last, he was a legist with the attorneys and sidereal with the
astronomers; like Cromwell blowing out one of two candles,
he went to the Temple to bargain for a curtain tassel; he saw
everything; he knew everything; which did not prevent him
from laughing good-naturedly beside the cradle of his little
child; and all at once, frightened Europe lent an ear, armies
put themselves in motion, parks of artillery rumbled, pon-
toons stretched over the rivers, clouds of cavalry galloped
in the storm, cries, trumpets, a trembling of thrones in ev-
ery direction, the frontiers of kingdoms oscillated on the
map, the sound of a superhuman sword was heard, as it was
drawn from its sheath; they beheld him, him, rise erect on
the horizon with a blazing brand in his hand, and a glow
in his eyes, unfolding amid the thunder, his two wings, the
grand army and the old guard, and he was the archangel of
war!’
All held their peace, and Enjolras bowed his head. Si-
lence always produces somewhat the effect of acquiescence,
of the enemy being driven to the wall. Marius continued
with increased enthusiasm, and almost without pausing for
breath:—
‘Let us be just, my friends! What a splendid destiny for
a nation to be the Empire of such an Emperor, when that
nation is France and when it adds its own genius to the ge-
nius of that man! To appear and to reign, to march and to

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