Note 526 — Chapter XVIII

These disorders gave rise to many general orders from Napoleon; in one of them he said—"The first quality of a soldier is patient endurance of fatigue and privation; valour is but a secondary virtue. Several corps have quitted their positions; they have been deaf to the voice of their officers. Are, then, the heroes of Castiglione, of Rivoli, of Neumark no more? They would rather have perished than have deserted their colours. Soldiers, do you complain that your rations have not been regularly distributed? What would you have done, if, like the fourth and twenty second light demi-brigades, you had found yourselves in the midst of the desert, without bread or water, subsisting on horses and camels? Victory will give us bread, said they; and you—you desert your colours! Soldiers of Italy, a new general commands you; he was always in the foremost ranks, in the moments of your brightest glory; place your confidence in him; he will bring back victory to your colours."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 160.