HEROIC ELOQUENCE. 457 
Cxsar by preference attributed to himself in the events 
of the war, that of which he seems to have been most 
proud, was a moral influence. Cesar harangued his army, 
is constantly the first phrase with which he begins, when 
describing a battle gained. And Cesar did not arrive 
soon enough to talk to his soldiers, to exhort them to con- 
duct themselves well, is the general accompaniment of the 
recital of a surprise or of a momentary repulse. The 
general frequently undertakes to efface himself in the 
presence of the orator. And the judicious Montaigne 
remarks: “ His language, truly, in many places, does 
him notable service !” 
Meantime, without transition, without even insisting 
on the well-known exclamation of Frederic the Great: 
“I would rather have written the Century of Louis XIV. 
by Voltaire, than have gained a hundred battles.” 4 
come to Napoleon. As we must hasten on, I will not 
recall the celebrated proclamations, written under the 
shade of the Egyptian Pyramids by the Member of the 
Institute, Commander-in-Chief of the army of the East ; 
nor the treaties of peace, in which monuments of art or 
of science were the price of the vanquished people’s ran- 
som ; nor the profound esteem which the general, become 
emperor, never ceased to feel for the Lagranges, the La- 
places, the Monges, the Berthollets, nor the riches nor 
the honours which he showered down upon them. An 
anecdote, little known, will lead more directly to my 
aim. 
Everybody remembers the decennial prizes. The four 
classes of the Institute had sketched out rapid analyses 
of the progress made in the sciences, letters, and arts. 
The presidents and the secretaries were to be called in 
succession to read them to Napoleon, in the presence of 
SEC. SER. 20 
