manifested in our books and dramas.

We admire the Marquis de Posa in Schiller's "Don Carlos"; but, in his
stead, we should not have anticipated the spirit of that age to the
point of placing a philosopher of the eighteenth century among the
heroes of the sixteenth, an encyclopedist at the court of Philippe II.
Therefore, just as we have been--in literary parlance--monarchical
under the Monarchy, republican under the Republic, we are to-day
reconstructionists under the Consulate.

That does not prevent our thought from hovering above men, above their
epoch, and giving to each the share of good and evil they do. Now that
share no one, except God, has the right to award from his individual
point of view. The kings of Egypt who, at the moment they passed into
the unknown, were judged upon the threshold of their tombs, were not
judged by a man, but by a people. That is why it is said: "The judgment
of a people is the judgment of God."

Historian, novelist, poet, dramatic author, we are nothing more than the
foreman of a jury who impartially sums up the arguments and leaves the
jury to give their verdict. The book is the summing up; the readers are
the jury.

That is why, having to paint one of the most gigantic figures, not only
of modern times but of all times; having to paint the period of his
transition, that is to say the moment when Bonaparte transformed himself
into Napoleon, the general into an emperor--that is why we say, in
the fear of becoming unjust, we abandon interpretations and substitute
facts.

We are not of those who say with Voltaire that, "no one is a hero to his
valet."

It may be that the valet is near-sighted or envious--two infirmities
that resemble each other more closely than people think. We maintain
that a hero may become a kind man, but a hero, for being kind, is none
the less a hero.

What is a hero in the eyes of the public? A man whose genius is
momentarily greater than his heart. What is a hero in private life? A
man whose heart is momentarily greater than his genius.

Historians, judge the genius!

People, judge the heart!

Who judged Charlemagne? The historians. Who judged Henri IV.? The
people. Which, in your opinion, was the most righteously judged?

Well, in order to render just judgment, and compel the court of
appeals, which is none other than posterity, to confirm contemporaneous
judgments, it is essential not to light up one side only of the figure
we depict, but to w