Chapter 16
Volume 2: 2: Cosette · Book 1: 1: Waterloo
16: Quot Libras in Duce?
Chapter 16Visible text2 paragraphs
THE battle of Waterloo is an enigma. It is as obscure to those who won it as to him who lost it. To Napoleon it is a panic; 1 Bliicher sees in it only fire ; Wellington conprehends nothing of it. Look at the reports. The bulletins are confused, the commentaries are foggy. The former stammer, the latter falter. Jomini separates the battle of Waterloo into four periods; Muffling divides it into three tides of fortune ; Charras alone, though upon some points our appreciation differs from his, has
1 " A battle ended, a day finished, false measures repaired, greater successes assured for the morrow, all was lost by a moment of panic." (Napoleon, Dictations at St. Helena.)