Letter 084 — LXXXIV
Original French
Eylau, trois heures du matin, 9 février 1807.
Mon amie, il y a eu hier une grande bataille; la victoire m’est restée, mais j’ai perdu bien du monde; la perte de l’ennemi, qui est plus considérable encore, ne me console pas. Enfin je t’écris ces deux lignes moi-même, quoique je sois bien fatigué, pour te dire que je suis bien portant et que je t’aime. Tout à toi.
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.
Eylau, three in the morning, February 9, 1807.
My friend, there was a great battle yesterday; victory remained mine, but I lost a great many men; the enemy's loss, greater still, does not console me. At any rate, I am writing these two lines to you myself, though I am very tired, to tell you that I am well and that I love you. All yours.
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.
Eylau, three in the morning, February 9, 1807.
My friend, there was a great battle yesterday. Victory was mine, but I lost many men; the enemy's still heavier loss is no consolation to me. At any rate, though very tired, I am writing these two lines myself to tell you that I am well and love you. Entirely yours.
About this section
Letter 084 — LXXXIV 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 84 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
Open the work page for the full contents, every edition, and the download links, or go back to Explore to browse other complete works in the European tradition. The reader keeps your place when you are signed in and lets you compare the original with each translation, one edition at a time.