#memoires

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Description of the Venice of Casanova:

Written by Willard R. Trask (Brooklyn, New York, February 1966).

“More than almost any other country in Europe, Venice—Republic though it was in name—was in fact the private preserve of a small aristocracy.”

Giacomo Casanova lived from 1725-1798. He died the year after Napoleon came crashing into Venice during the Coalition Wars. His life truly spanned the length of the 18th century and ended with the birth of a new era.

27 year old Napoleon ended over 3 centuries of independent Venetian rule in 1797. By bringing to an end the Republic of Venice, ironically, a more revolutionary government, led by France, was put in its place.

In response to Napoleon’s invasion of Venice, Casanova wrote:

“Today, under the Republican government, eloquent orators and learned writers have already convinced all Europe that they will raise French to a pitch of beauty and power which the world has not yet seen in any other language.”

“Is it possible, for example, to invent anything more beautiful in the realm of language than ambulance, Franciade, monarchien, sansculottisme? Long live the Republic! A body without a head cannot possibly commit follies.”

Un colonel d'état-major autrichien fut amené à l'Empereur, qui l'invita à s'asseoir auprès de lui et commença à le questionner sur la position et l'état des divers corps autrichiens. Le colonel commença par répondre , puis s'interrompit en disant qu' « il ne faut pas demander à un officier d'état-major d'informer son ennemi » , « N'ayez pas peur, dit l'Empereur, je sais tout déjà » , et il commença à lui énumérer rapidement et avec de grands détails la position des différents corps et les noms des régiments qui les composaient. Le colonel autrichien, frappé de voir un officier d'avant-garde aussi bien informé, s'écria : « Avec qui ai-je l'honneur de...? » L'Empereur se leva un peu, et soulevant son chapeau, répondit : « Monsieur Bonaparte ! »

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A colonel of the Austrian staff was brought to the Emperor, who invited him to sit down beside him and began to question him about the position and condition of the various Austrian corps. The colonel started answering, then interrupted himself, saying, "One should not ask a staff officer to inform his enemy." “Have no fear,” said the Emperor, “I know everything already,” and he began to enumerate rapidly and in great detail the position of the various corps and the names of the regiments which composed them. The Austrian colonel, struck to see such a well-informed vanguard officer, exclaimed, "With whom do I have the honor of...?" The Emperor rose a little, and, raising his hat, replied, "Monsieur Bonaparte!"

Mémoires sur les guerres de Napoléon, 1806-1813 by Chlapowski, Dezydery