LES MISÉRABLES
VOLUME III: MARIUS






Book Fourth: The Friends of the A B C



V. Enlargement of Horizon

"Place Louis in front and Brumaire behind"
Louis XVIII, who succeeded Napoleon Bonaparte as the ruling power of France. 18th Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799) was the day Napoleon set up a military dictatorship and became First Consul.

Quia nomina leo
Or Quia nominor leo, meaning "because my name is Lion" (Lat.).
Corrected by Larry Porter (porter@msu.edu)

Justinian
Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus (482-565 B.C.), Emperor of Rome (527-565). During his reign, he carried out a compilation of the standard code of Roman law.

Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.), dictatorial ruler of Rome until his assassination.

Pascal

Tacitus
Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (b. 55 BA.D.), an orator and historian--author of the twelve-volume Historiae and the Annales.

"his bulletins are Iliads"
The Iliad is one of the two most famous poems by Homer (Ionian poet circa 8th century B.C.); it depicts the battles of the Trojan War.

Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), celebrated physicist and mathematician, known for his discoveries about the Law of Universal Gravitation (including the fact that it is what keeps the Moon in its orbit around the Earth), the three Newtonian Laws of Motion, the fact that white light is composed of all colors of light (and can be shown to be such by means of a prism), etc.

Mahomet
Also Muhammad, Mohammed. Founder of Islam.

"at Tilsit he taught Emperors majesty"
On July 7 and 9, 1807, the Treaties of Tilsit (in East Prussia) were negotiated between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander (Tsar of Russia).

"at the Academy of Sciences he replied to Laplace"

"in the Council of State be held his own against Merlin"

"Cromwell blowing out one of two candles"

"went to the Temple"

"Hannibal, Caesar, Charlemagne"
Hannibal, Carthagian general, known for his brilliant strategy, who waged a series of successful battles against Rome until his defeat at the Battle of Zama, committing suicide 13 years later. Caesar. Charlemagne (742-814), King of the Franks (771-814) and Emperor of the West (much of Christian Western Europe, 800-814).

"Marengo, Arcola, Austerlitz, Jena, Wagram"
All of these are battle victories of Napoleon. Marengo. Arcola was a November 15-17, 1796 victory for Napoleon against Austria. Austerlitz. Battle of Jena, October 14, 1806. Wagram was a July 6, 1809 victory for Napoleon against Austria. 



VI. Res Angusta

res angusta
"Constrained means" (Lat.).