dust unto dust

DUST UNTO DUST No lesson is learnt from the passing of all great men divested of their glory. No one considers that his end will be the same, no matter how illustrious his life is and that no trace of former glory can pass with him into the life Hereafter. although napolean Bonaparte (1769-1821) started his career as a military officer, he so distinguished himself whenever opportunities came his way that he finally succeeded in ascending the French throne, having proclaimed himself the Emperor of France in 1804. he then set out to conquer the world. in a short time, he had dominated the whole of Europe except for England. in 1796, he married a charming French lady, Josephine, but divorced her in 1809 as she had failed to bear a successor to the Emperor of Europe. one year later, napolean married Marie-louise, daughter of the King of austria, who, to the satisfaction of napolean, bore him a son and heir, Francois Joseph Charles, who would continue the monarchy. Before long, however, his excessive greed for territorial power led him to clash with russia. although the latter’s army failed to repulse him, the russian climate came to their rescue. When the snow started falling, and temperatures went far below zero, napoleon’s army could not advance any further, unaccustomed to such a severe winter cold. as a result, napolean was compelled to retreat in such a state of disarray that a significant part of his army perished on the way. With his significantly reduced