)
NAPOLEON (turning to the lieutenant with sardonic ceremony). I
hope _I_ have not been making you feel ambitious.
LIEUTENANT. Not at all: I don't fly so high. Besides: I'm better
as I am: men like me are wanted in the army just now. The fact
is, the Revolution was all very well for civilians; but it won't
work in the army. You know what soldiers are, General: they WILL
have men of family for their officers. A subaltern must be a
gentleman, because he's so much in contact with the men. But a
general, or even a colonel, may be any sort of riff-raff if he
understands the shop well enough. A lieutenant is a gentleman:
all the rest is chance. Why, who do you suppose won the battle of
Lodi? I'll tell you. My horse did.
NAPOLEON (rising) Your folly is carrying you too far, sir. Take
care.
LIEUTENANT. Not a bit of it. You remember all that red-hot
cannonade across the river: the Austrians blazing away at you to
keep you from crossing, and you blazing away at them to keep them
from setting the bridge on fire? Did you notice where I was then?
NAPOLEON (with menacing politeness).
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