War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [806]
9. Code Napoléon…Justiniani: The French code of civil law, or Code Napoléon, was established by the revolutionary assemblies, Napoleon, and his jurists in 1804 and is still the basis for most European civil law. The Codex Justiniani was the most important code of Roman law in the late empire, compiled and first issued in 529 at the order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (ca. 483–565). It has formed the basis for the study of law in Europe since the twelfth century.
10. the figures on Solomon’s temple: King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem was ornamented with carved or molded cherubs, palm trees, open flowers, pomegranates, lilies, gourds, lions, oxen, wreaths, and so on (see the description in I Kings 6–7).
11. Illuminism: The sect of the Illuminati (in German Illuminaten), founded in 1776, at Ingolstadt in Bavaria, by Prof. Ada Weishaupt, was close to the Masons in ideology and structure, but in addition had republican political goals. It was suppressed by the Bavarian government in 1785.
12. And the life…comprehended it not: Pierre quotes John 1:4–5.
13. the Song of Songs: Also known as “The Song of Solomon,” a collection of mystical-erotic poems dating in its recorded form to the third century b.c. but containing much more ancient material.
14. the Finnish war: At the instigation of Napoleon, who wanted to punish Sweden for its alliance with England, Alexander I began a war with Sweden in February 1808, which ended with the Russian annexation of Finland.
15. the English Embankment: This section of the Neva embankment in Petersburg, just downstream from the imperial Winter Palace, was lined with wealthy palaces and mansions.
16. the Tavrichesky Garden: This mansion and garden, east of the city center, in the large bend of the Neva, was at that time the residence of the dowager empress Maria Feodorovna.
17. Marya Antonovna: Princess Marya Antonovna Naryshkin (1779–1854) was for a long time the mistress of the emperor Alexander.
18. the State Council: At Speransky’s suggestion, a State Council was instituted in Russia as an advisory body to the emperor, to examine legislative, administrative, and judicial matters. It met for the first time on 1 January 1810 and continued in existence until 1906.
19. Speransky’s modest private house: This scene is based on the memoirs of Speransky’s daughter, published in The Life of Count Speransky, by M. A. Korf (1861), which was in Tolstoy’s library at Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy adds an ironic tone that is not found in Korf’s book.
20. Napoleon’s Spanish campaign: To establish a total blockade of England from European trade, Napoleon crossed the Pyrenees in 1807 and invaded Spain. In 1808 he placed his brother Joseph, then king of Naples, on the throne of Ferdinand VII and made his brother-in-law, Marshal Murat, king of Naples. But by 1813 the English under Wellington and the Spanish partisan forces (whose tactics were the origin of the word guerrilla, or “little war”) had driven the French out of Spain.
21. Let the dead bury their dead: Prince Andrei quotes Christ’s words in Luke 9:59.
22. map of love: Mlle Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701) set the style for the “precious” salons in seventeenth-century Paris. The “map of love,” or “map of the land of tenderness” (la carte du tendre), first made its appearance in her novel Clélie (1654) and then in her salon, where it became a very popular game, as it did later in Russia.
23. killed in Turkey: At the negotiations in Tilsit and Erfurt, Napoleon had promised to give the east to Alexander I and take the west for himself. In the spring of 1809, the Russians resumed their military activity against the Turks on the lower Danube and in the Caucasus.
24. in chains: Ascetics would sometimes wear heavy lengths of chain wrapped about their bodies as a form of mortification of the flesh.
25. no sorrow…bliss: Words reminiscent of a prayer for the dead from the Orthodox burial and memorial services: “Give rest with the Saints, O Christ, to the soul of thy servant, where there is neither sickness,