🎺In 1788, in Auxonne, France—a place of rolling hills, forests, and open plains—stood a French artillery regiment. The young officers each lived in their own rooms.
A young lieutenant in the upstairs room played his horn every night, disturbing his fellow officers' studies.
Another officer from the floor below climbed the stairs and said: "Don't you get tired of playing that horn so much?"
The lieutenant replied: "No, not at all."
"Is that so? But many of your comrades are growing weary of the sound. Couldn't you go somewhere far away and play to your heart's content?"
"This is my room. I am its master."
"Even so, there are rules one must keep. Everyone has been wanting to say something to you."
At this, the upstairs lieutenant shouted: "No one dares give me such an order!"
The officer from below answered firmly: "I do!"
In the end, the upstairs lieutenant went elsewhere to play his horn.
📜 On this day, May 5, 1821, that young officer from the floor below—Napoleon Bonaparte—died at Longwood House on the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, after roughly six years of confinement.
His final words were: "France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine" — "France, the army, the head of the army, Joséphine."
Napoleon was first buried on Saint Helena, but in 1840, by decision of King Louis-Philippe, his remains were returned to France. Today he rests beneath the Dôme des Invalides in Paris, enclosed in a massive red porphyry sarcophagus surrounded by seven nested coffins.
Source: Napoléon by Max Gallo
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