napoleon's love letter to josephine -- 2/14/17

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Today's selection -- from Love Letters of Great Men. Napoleon's love letter to his beloved Josephine makes it clear that 1) great generals can be very emotional, and 2) the rest of us are going to have to step up our romantic game, especially as it relates to somehow working the phrase "burning as the equatorial sun" into our repertoire:

"To Josephine,

"I love you no longer; on the contrary, I detest you. You are a wretch, truly perverse, truly stupid, a real Cinderella.

"You never write to me at all, you do not love your husband; you know the pleasure that your letters give him yet you cannot even manage to write him half a dozen lines, dashed off in a moment! What then do you do all day, Ma­dame?

"What business is so vital that it robs you of the time to write to your faithful lover?

"What attachment can be stifling and pushing aside the love, the tender and constant love which you promised him?

"Who can this wonderful new lover be who takes up your every moment, rules your days and prevents you from de­voting your attention to your husband?

"Beware, Josephine; one fine night the doors will be broken down and there I shall be. In truth, I am worried, my love, to have no news from you; write me a four page letter in­stantly made up from those delightful words which fill my heart with emotion and joy.

"I hope to hold you in my arms before long, when I shall lavish upon you a million kisses, burning as the equatorial sun.

Napoleon Bonaparte
Paris 1797"