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| The Battle of Villersexell |
by Brett Rutherford
Adapted from Victor Hugo, l’Annee Terrible, “January 1871”
I take the side of men, I really do.
It’s what one ought to do, and I want to do it.
But lately I noted down, and put to good use,
some very honest things a lion said to a bear,
on behalf of the beasts. It sort of goes like this,
as one was set to prevail upon the other:
“Bear! Its not quite right of you
to attack me, your clawed brother,
just in the hope of a small promotion.
Bear! Your home is among the snows,
my home extends from jungle to veldt.
And what is this Nero? A hideous name
blasted out in some trivial bugle-tune.
“If Caesar was a crocodile, this Nero
is nothing but a lizard, low to the ground.
He took a piece of Europe, preceded by
the conch-shell bleating of a hundred heralds.
At first, this killer only won by chance.
One is the big one, the other is the little.
Brother beast, let us despise these humans.
To fight among ourselves? For what!
Rather more fitting it seems that we
should make our way straight to Nero,
and thrusting aside his Ethiopian
and armed Sicamber guards,
with tooth and claw we should each seize
the trembling tyrant’s members.
“Stripping Nero of his fake lion skin
would please one of us greatly. One kick
from you would send his chariot flying.
Once in a while it might be proper
for a good claw to penetrate a majesty
right down to the heart of his carcass,
and perhaps we will see, while gutting him,
you, that he is without brains, and I,
as I always knew, that no heart is there.
Biting your master is sweet. I think,
if only this catches on, more faces will join,
tongue, tooth, and jaw in common feast.
“Oh, they will come! That heap of beaten animals,
remembering every wrong and murder, crawl,
creep, snarl, growl, howl, groan to join us,
for every whipping past, a tooth in play.
It would be beautiful to see. The good earth,
is it not enough? Is loving one another not enough?
Do as I do! If I am going to set an example for you,
let it be a good one and not a and one.
Here is the tyrant. I am hungry. You too?
I dreamt of this moment — did you not, too?
“Did we just eat Caesar? Did we just eat Nero?
What does it matter to us? Whatever stain he has
whatever crown or laurel upon his head,
brother, my now-awakened appetites does not
distinguish the greater from the lesser food.
Large or small, I shall devour it!”
The bear did not reply. He understood nothing
the other beast explained to him.
The merciful lion scratched his face
and blinded him, so that the bear,
in front of the witness and judge of history,
bore yet more shame with one less eye.
Notes:
Hugo poses Caesar against Nero, and the polar bear against the lion in this poem from January 1871. During that month, Wilhelm of Prussia was crowned as German Emperor. The bear was associated with Berlin in heraldic shields as early as 1280 CE. The polar bear “Eisbar” became a popular obsession in Germany in the 1900s, but it is otherwise not clear that anyone associated Germany with arctic bears. Hugo may have used the polar bear to create a North-South distinction.
The lion, on the other hand, can be associated with several Roman Emperors. Emperor Commodus, emulating Hercules, sometimes wore a lion skin and fought against wild animals in the arena. The degenerate Emperor Nero donned the skin of a lion or panther and leaped from a cage to sexually assault bound captives.
In the Battle of Bapaume (3 January 1871), the French sought to relieve the besieged city of Péronne. General Faidherbe’s forces held their own against the Prussians, but as they failed to pursue the defeated enemy, the city surrendered on 10 January 1871. Although this may have encouraged Hugo, it was more a skirmish than a battle.
On 9 January 1871,
The third Battle of Dijon (14 January 1871), led by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi, was part of the French attempted to liberate Paris by attacking the Prussians from the rear. The main effort led by General Bourbaki, was not successful, but Garibaldi and his troops defended Dijon and defeated 4,000 Prussian troops. Hugo would later make a spirited defense of Garibaldi’s voluntary service to assist France.
The Battle of Villersexel (9 January 1871) involved 20,000 French troops of l’Armée de l’Est against 15,000 German soldiers. A daylong fight over the local chateau extended into the night with intense street-fighting. It was a clear victory for General Bourbaki and the Prussians withdrew.
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