Letter 158 — CLVIII
Original French
Le 17 janvier 1810.
Mon amie, d’Audenarde, que je t’ai envoyé ce matin, me dit que tu n’as plus de courage depuis que tu es à la Malmaison. Ce lieu est cependant tout plein de nos sentiments, qui ne peuvent et ne doivent jamais changer, du moins de mon côté. J’ai bien envie de te voir, mais il faut que je sois sûr que tu es forte, et non faible; je le suis aussi un peu, et cela me fait un mal affreux. Adieu, Joséphine; bonne nuit. Si tu doutais de moi, tu serais bien ingrate.
Musean translation
Machine-assisted Musean English translated from the French of the 172 Napoleon letters selected from Tancrède Martel, ed., Œuvres littéraires de Napoléon Bonaparte, tome 1 (Albert Savine, Paris, 1888). French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The transcription is CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/; this adapted text and translations are shared under the same license. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes; selected transcription repairs were checked against print images.
January 17, 1810.
My friend, d’Audenarde, whom I sent to you this morning, tells me that you have lost your courage since you have been at Malmaison. Yet that place is filled with our feelings, which cannot and must never change, at least on my side. I very much want to see you, but I must be sure that you are strong, not weak; I too am a little weak, and it causes me terrible pain. Farewell, Joséphine; good night. If you doubted me, you would be very ungrateful.
Plain English translation
Independent machine-assisted Plain English translation from the 1888 Martel French edition, not a historical English translation. French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The adapted transcription and translation are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes and makes documented transcription repairs. French-source model review is not human specialist certification or a complete scan collation.
January 17, 1810.
My dear, d'Audenarde, whom I sent to you this morning, says you have lost your courage since going to Malmaison. And yet the place is full of the feelings we share, feelings that can and must remain unchanged, on my side at least. I want very much to see you, but first I must know you are strong, not weak; I have some weakness myself, and it hurts me terribly. Goodbye, Joséphine; sleep well. It would be very ungrateful of you to doubt me.
About this section
Letter 158 — CLVIII is part of Letters to Josephine by Napoléon Bonaparte. This page sets the French original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is part 158 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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