inspire, created discontent in the army.

The emperor was ignorant of these complaints; but another cause of
anxiety had occurred to torment him. He knew that at Witepsk alone,
there were 3000 of his soldiers attacked by the dysentery, which was
extending its ravages over his whole army. The rye which they were
eating in soup was its principal cause. Their stomachs, accustomed to
bread, rejected this cold and indigestible food, and the emperor was
urging his physicians to find a remedy for its effects. One day he
appeared less anxious. "Davoust," said he, "has found out what the
medical men could not discover; he has just sent to inform me of it; all
that is required is to roast the rye before preparing it;" and his eyes
sparkled with hope as he questioned his physician, who declined giving
any opinion until the experiment was tried. The emperor instantly called
two grenadiers of his guard; he seated them at table, close to him, and
made them begin the trial of this nourishment so prepared. It did not
succeed with them, although he added to it some of his own wine, which
he himself poured out for them.

Respect, however, for the conqueror of Europe, and the necessity of
circumstances, supported them in the midst of their numerous privations.
They saw that they were too deeply embarked; that a victory was
necessary for their speedy deliverance; and that he alone could give it
them. Misfortune, moreover, had purified the army; all that remained of
it could not fail to be its _elite_ both in mind and body. In order to
have got so far as they had done, what trials had they not withstood!
Suspense, and disgust with miserable cantonments, were sufficient to
agitate such men. To remain, appeared to them insupportable; to retreat,
impossible; it was, therefore, imperative to advance.

The great names of Smolensk and Moscow inspired no alarm. In ordinary
times, and with ordinary men, that unknown region, that unvisited
people, and the distance which magnifies all things, would have been
sufficient to discourage. But these were the very circumstances which,
in this case, were most attractive. The soldiers' chief pleasure was in
hazardous situations, which were rendered more interesting by the
greater proportion of danger they involved, and on which new dangers
conferred a more striking air of singularity; emotions full of charm for
active spirits, which had exhausted their taste for old things, and
which, therefore, required ne