In this chapter Tolstoy briefly describes Napoleon’s and Alexander’s final careers after the war of 1815. And he tells us the ultimate purpose of history is beyond human comprehension.
In this chapter Tolstoy briefly describes Napoleon’s and Alexander’s final careers after the war of 1815. And he tells us the ultimate purpose of history is beyond human comprehension.
First Epilogue Chapter 4
In this chapter Tolstoy briefly describes Napoleon’s and Alexander’s final careers after the war of 1815. And he tells us the ultimate purpose of history is beyond human comprehension.
Summary:
In this chapter, Tolstoy briefly updates us on what happened in the careers of Napoleon and Alexander after the military actions have ended. Napoleon, who long ago was chosen by history to star in the great drama, is asked to appear in several more scenes before he is discarded by history and exiled to the island of St. Helena. So, this man who had devastated France returns to France alone, without any conspiracy and without soldiers. Any guard might arrest him, but by strange chance no one does so and all rapturously greet the man they cursed the day before and will curse again a month later. History still needs Napoleon to appear on the stage to justify the final collective act. That act is performed. The last role is played. Napoleon the actor is bidden to disrobe and wash off his powder and paint: he will not be wanted any more. Tolstoy then turns to the end of Alexander’s career. He tells us that Alexander, having fulfilled his mission and feeling the hand of God upon him, suddenly recognizes the insignificance of that supposed power, turns away from it, and gives it into the hands of contemptible men. So what was the purpose of all of this, he asks. Tolstoy, using the analogy of understanding a bee hive, tells us that although we can observe manifestations of life in it’s historic characters and nations, understanding life’s ultimate purpose is beyond our human comprehension.
quote from the chapter:
A bee settling on a flower has stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and declares that bees exist to sting people. A poet admires the bee sucking from the chalice of a flower and says it exists to suck the fragrance of flowers. A beekeeper, seeing the bee collect pollen from flowers and carry it to the hive, says that it exists to gather honey. Another beekeeper who has studied the life of the hive more closely says that the bee gathers pollen dust to feed the young bees and rear a queen, and that it exists to perpetuate its race. A botanist notices that the bee flying with the pollen of a male flower to a pistil fertilizes the latter, and sees in this the purpose of the bee’s existence. Another, observing the migration of plants, notices that the bee helps in this work, and may say that in this lies the purpose of the bee. But the ultimate purpose of the bee is not exhausted by the first, the second, or any of the processes the human mind can discern. The higher the human intellect rises in the discovery of these purposes, the more obvious it becomes, that the ultimate purpose is beyond our comprehension.
All that is accessible to man is the relation of the life of the bee to other manifestations of life. And so it is with the purpose of historic characters and nations.
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