Letter 062 — LXII
Original French
Berlin, le 6 novembre 1806, neuf heures du soir.
J’ai reçu la lettre où tu me parais fâchée du mal que je dis des femmes; il est vrai que je hais les femmes intrigantes, au delà de tout. Je suis accoutumé à des femmes bonnes, douces et conciliantes; ce sont celles que j’aime. Si elles m’ont gâté, ce n’est pas ma faute, mais la tienne. Au reste, tu verras que j’ai été fort bon pour une qui s’est montrée sensible et bonne, madame d’Hatzfeld. Lorsque je lui montrai la lettre de son mari, elle me dit en sanglotant, avec une profonde sensibilité et naïvement: « Ah! c’est bien là son écriture! » Lorsqu’elle lisait, son accent allait à l’âme; elle me fit peine. Je lui dis: « Eh bien! madame, jetez cette lettre au feu, je ne serai pas assez puissant pour faire punir votre mari. » Elle brûla la lettre, et me parut bien heureuse. Son mari est depuis fort tranquille; deux heures plus tard, il était perdu. Tu vois donc que j’aime les femmes bonnes, naïves et douces; mais c’est que celles-là seules te ressemblent. Adieu, mon amie, je me porte bien.
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.
Berlin, November 6, 1806, nine in the evening.
I have received your letter in which you seem angry at the ill I speak of women; it is true that I detest scheming women beyond everything. I am accustomed to women who are good, gentle, and accommodating; those are the ones I love. If they have spoiled me, it is not my fault, but yours. Besides, you will see that I have been very kind to one who showed herself sensitive and good, Madame d’Hatzfeld. When I showed her the letter from her husband, she said to me, sobbing, with deep feeling and innocence, “Ah! That is indeed his handwriting!” As she read, her voice went straight to the soul; she moved me to pity. I said to her, “Well, Madame, throw this letter into the fire; I shall not be powerful enough to have your husband punished.” She burned the letter and seemed very happy. Her husband has been quite undisturbed since then; two hours later he would have been lost. You see, then, that I love women who are good, innocent, and gentle; but that is because they alone resemble you. Goodbye, my friend, I am well.
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.
Berlin, November 6, 1806, nine in the evening.
I have received your letter, and you seem upset by the bad things I say about women. It is true that I detest scheming women more than anything. I am accustomed to women who are good, gentle and conciliatory; those are the women I love. If they have spoiled me, it is your fault, not mine. You will see, however, that I have been very kind to a woman who showed herself sensitive and good, Madame d’Hatzfeld. I showed her the letter from her husband, and she sobbed, saying with profound feeling and innocent candor, “Oh! That is indeed his handwriting!” Her voice as she read went straight to the heart, and I felt sorry for her. I said, “Well, madame, throw this letter into the fire; then I shall not have enough power to have your husband punished.” She put the letter in the flames and seemed delighted. Her husband has been quite untroubled ever since; had it been two hours later, he would have been lost. So you see that I love good, candid, gentle women, because only they resemble you. Goodbye, my friend; I am well.
About this section
Letter 062 — LXII 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 62 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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