306 ANECDOTES OF NAPOLEON. 



would have been culpable ; for, at onr age, every inclination which 

 tends to injure the pith of our growth is a crime towards ourselves. 

 If, however, you had nothing to reproach yourself with, in respect to 

 this, is it the same as to the publicity you gave to your love ? Do 

 you know the inconveniences of it ? They are these : your supe- 

 riors will be informed of it — thence cabals, reprimands. However 

 pure be your passion, your reputation is hurt by it, your conduct is 

 equivocal, and you are watched. What advantages have not I over 

 you, though I am more reprehensible ! I offer to my superiors a 

 front that does not alter. I meet their glances which have no power 

 to depress mine. I am a being apart, of whom they say he is an 

 excellent character. What mattei-s it to me that I do not merit the 

 praises they bestow ? I receive, and do not the less profit by them, 

 in fit time and place. These praises, besides, are not what most 

 flatter me. There is in this affair a much greater pleasure to me. 

 Do you know this ineffable pleasure '? But no : you are yet too 

 common-place in your ideas ; it is not granted but to privileged beings 

 to enjoy it fully. Listen then. To deceive mankind, to make them 

 suppose you are virtuous when you are all the contrary, so to capti- 

 vate their confidence and establish oneself their superior, this, of all 

 luxuries, is the one I most enjoy, and I would not exchange the art of 

 procuring it for all the virtues of a saint. Dangeais, forty-nine 

 men out of fifty will tell you that my reasoning is sophistry ; 

 but beware of believing them, if you wish to make your way. 

 My head is already an encyclopedia of truths with regard to so- 

 ciety. If fortune smiles upon me, I shall not publish them to the 

 world; I will do better — I will profit by them. This system 

 v/ill conduct me on, if I am enough above the vulgar not to deviate 

 from it. He who knows other men by heart of necessity precedes 

 them ; and, thanks to constant observations, I am in that state. 



" It is already proved to me that of virtue men cherish nothing but 

 the appearance. This preference too is a consequence of selfishness, 

 and because it is natural to prefer a rose to a briar. This appear- 

 ance, so requisite, I possess. I shall possess it much better still, when 

 the occasion for developing myself shall arrive. 



"Do not believe, my friend, that it would not be more pleasing to 

 me to raise the edifice of my existence on a less rugged soil ; but in 

 short, such is the age, and such must man be : so well have I fell the 

 urgency of it! Dangeais, I secretly spurn the human race; and, what 

 is more, I do them justice. However narrow be the scene of the 

 world here, I can aupreciate its actors, and all have proved to me 

 the excellence and the necessity of my system of hypocrisy and dis- 

 simulation. I have found you, my friend, credulous and confiding ; 

 and you were in my eyes such as all other men, weak and limited. 

 A chance, a luckless meeting has torn away the veil. Well ! which 

 of us is the higher in this affair ? Not he, I think, that was the 

 other's dupe. I have given you a lesson which of itself is worth all 

 those of our teachers of morality, and henceforth you will be upon 

 your guard against othei-s that might resemble me.'' 



I do not think any man could feel greater surprise than mine. But 

 to my youth and inexperience the character of the deceiver appeared 



