Briggs: The French army melts away. Kutuzov wants to let them go, unharassed.
Translation:
XIX.
When a person is in movement, he always thinks up for himself the objective of these movements. So that to go a thousand versts, a person necessarily thinks that something good is behind these 1000 versts. Is needed a presentation about the promised land for having the forces move.
The promised land in the offensive of the French was Moscow, in retreat was the motherland. Yet the motherland was too long away, and for a human going 1000 versts, it is indispensably needed to say to yourself to forget about the ultimate the goal, "now I will come behind 40 versts to a place of recreation and overnight stay," and in the first transition of this place the recreation shields the final objective and concentrates in itself all desires and hopes. Those aspirations that are expressed in a separate man, always increase in a crowd.
For the French, going backwards by the old Smolensk road, the ultimate objective of the homeland was too distant, and the nearest objective, that which, in a great proportion was getting stronger in the crowd, strove all desires and hopes, — was Smolensk. Not because that people knew that in Smolensk were many provisions and fresh troops, not because for them this was said (the opposite, higher ranks of the army and Napoleon himself knew that there was little food), but because of how this alone could give them the force to move and carry across real deprivations. They, and those that knew, and those that did not know, equally deceived themselves, as to the promised land they strove to Smolensk.
Coming on the big road, the French with striking energy, with speed unheard of, ran to their invented goals. Besides these causes of common aspirations, the connection to another whole crowd of French and which gave them some energy, was still another cause connecting them. This cause consisted in their quantity. Themselves a huge mass, as in the physical law of attraction, attracted to themselves separate atoms of people. They moved a hundred thousand mass as a whole state.
Every person of them desired only — to give back in captivity, getting rid of all horrors and misfortunes. But with one party the power of common aspirations to the goal of Smolensk carried away each in the that same and this same direction; with different parties it could not be for the corps to give back in captivity a company, and despite that the French enjoyed all comfortable cases for getting off of each other, and at the slightest decent pretext to give back in captivity, this pretext did not always happen. Most of their numbers closely and quickly moved, depriving them of this opportunity and made it for the Russians not only hard, but impossible to stop this move, in which was directed all the energy of the masses of the French. Mechanical tearing bodies could not further limit the famous speeded up committed process of decomposition.
Snow is impossible to melt instantly. Exists a known limit of time, earlier than which no efforts of warmth may melt snow. The opposite, the more the warmth, by that the stronger stays the snow.
Of the Russian military leaders no one besides Kutuzov understood this. When the defined direction of the flight of the French army was by the Smolensk road, then that what foresaw Konovnitsyn on the night of the 11th of October, started to come true. All the higher ranks of the army would like to distinguish, cut off, intercept, fill, and knock over the French and all required an offensive.
Kutuzov alone in all his forces (these forces are not very great in each commander in chief) used that, so that to be opposite of the offensive.
He could not say to them that what we say now: for what battle and obstruct the roads and lose their people and inhumanely finish off miserables? For what is all this, when from Moscow to Vyazma without battle melted one third of these troops? Yet he spoke to them, taking out of his senile wisdom that what they could and would understand — he spoke to them about the golden bridge, and they laughed above him, slandered him, and tore, and threw, and were swaggering above the killed beast.
Below Vyazma Ermolov, Miloradovich, Platov and others, found out in the proximity of the French, could not abstain from the willingness to cut off and knock over two French corps. To Kutuzov, notifying him about their intentions, they sent in an envelope, instead of reports, a sheet of white paperwork.
And how much Kutuzov tried to hold the troops, our troops attacked, trying to obstruct the road. Infantry regiments, as told, with music and drum battle went on attack, and beat and lost thousands of people.
Yet to cut off — nobody was cut off or knocked over. And the French army, huddled up tighter from danger, continued, evenly melting, all that same disastrous way to Smolensk.
Time: the night of October 11th
Locations: Vyazma
Mentioned: French, Moscow, Smolensk, Russian
Pevear and Volokhonsky Notes: Just as a person making a long journey has to first set smaller goals so the distance doesn't seem too great, the French army's first goal is to make it back to Smolensk.
"Their enormous mass itself, as in the physical law of gravity, drew the separate atoms of men to it. Their mass of a hundred thousand men moved like a whole state."
The mass is compared to a snowball being melted. Kutuzov continues to try to hold the army back, but can't do so successfully and the Russians lose thousands of men and are unable to cutoff the French.
End of Part Two.
Characters (characters who do not appear, but are mentioned are placed in italics. First appearances are in Bold. First mentions are underlined. Final appearance denoted by *):
(also the theoretical man on a journey, which is compared to the French army. Also Russians and Russian generals. The dying Beast is mentioned again.)
Abridged Versions: End of Part Second in Dole.
End of Chapter 9 in Bell.
End of Part the Thirteenth in Wiener.
End of Book Thirteen in Maude.
End of Part Two in Edmonds, Briggs, Dunnigan and Mandelker.
End of Part Thirteen in Garnett.
Gibian: End of Book Thirteen
Fuller: Entire chapter is cut.
Komroff: Entire chapter is cut.
Kropotkin: We pick up, strangely starting it in the middle of the sentence, with "all the superior generals", removing the analogies and philosophy of the ideas that set up why Kutuzof held back. End of Part Thirteenth.
Simmons: The opening of the chapter that describes the theoretical man in motion is removed. End of Book Thirteen.
Additional Notes:
Locations: Vyazma
Mentioned: French, Moscow, Smolensk, Russian
Pevear and Volokhonsky Notes: Just as a person making a long journey has to first set smaller goals so the distance doesn't seem too great, the French army's first goal is to make it back to Smolensk.
"Their enormous mass itself, as in the physical law of gravity, drew the separate atoms of men to it. Their mass of a hundred thousand men moved like a whole state."
The mass is compared to a snowball being melted. Kutuzov continues to try to hold the army back, but can't do so successfully and the Russians lose thousands of men and are unable to cutoff the French.
End of Part Two.
Characters (characters who do not appear, but are mentioned are placed in italics. First appearances are in Bold. First mentions are underlined. Final appearance denoted by *):
Napoleon
Kutuzof
Konovnitsuin
Yermolof
Miloradovitch
Platof
Abridged Versions: End of Part Second in Dole.
End of Chapter 9 in Bell.
End of Part the Thirteenth in Wiener.
End of Book Thirteen in Maude.
End of Part Two in Edmonds, Briggs, Dunnigan and Mandelker.
End of Part Thirteen in Garnett.
Gibian: End of Book Thirteen
Fuller: Entire chapter is cut.
Komroff: Entire chapter is cut.
Kropotkin: We pick up, strangely starting it in the middle of the sentence, with "all the superior generals", removing the analogies and philosophy of the ideas that set up why Kutuzof held back. End of Part Thirteenth.
Simmons: The opening of the chapter that describes the theoretical man in motion is removed. End of Book Thirteen.
Additional Notes:
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