The World Will Not Quarrel

Day 282 of A Year of War and Peace

The fancies of the poet know no bounds whereas the warrior is constrained on all sides. Virgil, bard of a budding empire, prophesied an imperium without end. Augustus, martial master of Roman sovereignty, his imagination limited by natural bulwarks and recalcitrant barbarian enthusiasms, initiated an imperial policy of non-expansion where the objective of the Caesars was to preserve the Roman frontier rather than to extend it. This wise counsel, followed with few exceptions, fueled the growth of the Pax Romana and left a legacy for future leaders that sometimes less is more.

Kutuzov, our august and cautious Russian general, finds himself today, as he has throughout the campaign, among a volume of Virgils. Each of them urges attack. To the extent of his power Kutuzov refuses their proposals. He does not seek to direct the battle; he seeks to be directed by it. He understands that the multivariate forces at work in the war are beyond his control and he adopts a strategy of calm acceptance rather than brawly adventure. Tolstoy writes of his reward:

With a minimal effort and insignificant losses, despite the greatest confusion, the most important results of the whole campaign were attained: the transition from retreat to advance, an exposure of the weakness of the French, and the administration of that shock which Napoleon’s army had only awaited to begin its flight.

DAILY MEDITATION