1146 Les Miserables
triumph, to have for halting-places all capitals, to take his
grenadiers and to make kings of them, to decree the falls of
dynasties, and to transfigure Europe at the pace of a charge;
to make you feel that when you threaten you lay your hand
on the hilt of the sword of God; to follow in a single man,
Hannibal, Caesar, Charlemagne; to be the people of some
one who mingles with your dawns the startling announce-
ment of a battle won, to have the cannon of the Invalides
to rouse you in the morning, to hurl into abysses of light
prodigious words which flame forever, Marengo, Arcola,
Austerlitz, Jena, Wagram! To cause constellations of vic-
tories to flash forth at each instant from the zenith of the
centuries, to make the French Empire a pendant to the Ro-
man Empire, to be the great nation and to give birth to the
grand army, to make its legions fly forth over all the earth,
as a mountain sends out its eagles on all sides to conquer, to
dominate, to strike with lightning, to be in Europe a sort of
nation gilded through glory, to sound athwart the centuries
a trumpet-blast of Titans, to conquer the world twice, by
conquest and by dazzling, that is sublime; and what greater
thing is there?’
‘To be free,’ said Combeferre.
Marius lowered his head in his turn; that cold and simple
word had traversed his epic effusion like a blade of steel, and
he felt it vanishing within him. When he raised his eyes,
Combeferre was no longer there. Probably satisfied with his
reply to the apotheosis, he had just taken his departure, and
all, with the exception of Enjolras, had followed him. The
room had been emptied. Enjolras, left alone with Marius,