ther on,
others again were seen plunging into the Moskwa to bring out some of the
corn which had been thrown into it by command of Rostopchin, and which
they devoured without preparation, sour and spoiled as it already was.

Meanwhile the sight of the booty, in such of the camps where every thing
was yet wanting, inflamed the soldiers whom their duty or stricter
officers had kept with their colours. They murmured. "Why were they to
be kept back? Why were they to perish by famine and want, when every
thing was within their reach! Was it right to leave the enemy's fires to
destroy what might be saved? Why was such respect to be paid them?" They
added, that "as the inhabitants of Moscow had not only abandoned, but
even endeavoured utterly to destroy it, all that they could save would
be legitimately acquired; that the remains of that city, like the relics
of the arms of the conquered, belonged by right to the victors, as the
Muscovites had turned their capital into a vast machine of war, for the
purpose of annihilating us."

The best principled and the best disciplined were those who argued thus,
and it was impossible to reply. Too rigid scruples at first prevented
the issuing of orders for pillage; it was now permitted, unrestrained by
regulations. Urged by the most imperious necessities, all hurried to
share in the spoil, the soldiers of the _elite_, and even officers
themselves. Their chiefs were obliged to shut their eyes: only such
guards as were absolutely indispensable were left with the eagles and
the fasces.

The Emperor saw his whole army dispersed over the city. His progress was
obstructed by a long file of marauders going in quest of booty, or
returning with it; by tumultuous assemblages of soldiers grouped around
the entrances of cellars, or the doors of palaces, shops, and churches,
which the fire had nearly reached, and into which they were endeavouring
to penetrate.

His steps were impeded by the fragments of furniture of every kind which
had been thrown out of the windows to save it from the flames, or by
rich pillage which had been abandoned from caprice for some other booty;
for such is the way with soldiers; they are incessantly beginning their
fortune afresh, taking every thing without discrimination, loading
themselves beyond measure, as if they could carry all they find; then,
after they have gone a few steps, compelled by fatigue to throw away the
greatest part of their burden.

The roads were