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66
Recollections of
[Ch. VI.

fatal to his future schemes of empire! How might the sternness of purpose by which he subjugated his daring compeers of the revolution have been shaken, and his giant ambition thwarted, by a trivial sickness! The mind of even a Napoleon might have been prostrated, and his mighty will enfeebled, by a few days' fever. The successful leader of a revolution ought, especially, to be exempt from the evils to which flesh is heir; his very absence from the arena for a few days is enough to ruin him; depreciating reports are spread, the prestige vanishes, and he is pushed from his stool by some more vigorous and more fortunate competitor.

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