Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 11, 1895 - Miscellanies, Volume III

THE ENGLISH ADMIRALS
the first sally of their arms ? Amongst so many and
so great dangers, I do not remember to have any-
where read that Caesar was ever wounded ; a thou-
sand have fallen in less dangers than the least of
those he went through. A great many brave actions
must be expected to be performed without witness,
for one that comes to some notice. A man is not
always at the top of a breach, or at the head of an
army in the sight of his general, as upon a platform.
He is often surprised between the hedge and the
ditch ; he must run the hazard of his life against
a henroost ; he must dislodge four rascally mus-
keteers out of a barn ; he must pick out single
from his party, as necessity arises, and meet adven-
tures alone.'
Thus far Montaigne, in a characteristic essay on
Glory. Where death is certain, as in the cases of
Douglas or Greenville, it seems all one from a
personal point of view. The man who lost his life
against a henroost is in the same pickle with him
who lost his hfe against a fortified place of the first
order. Whether he has missed a peerage or only
the corporal's stripes, it is all one if he has missed
them and is quietly in the grave. It was by a
hazard that we learned the conduct of the four
marines of the Wager. There was no room for
these brave fellows in the boat, and they were left
behind upon the island to a certain death. They
were soldiers, they said, and knew well enough it
was their business to die ; and as their comrades
pulled away, they stood upon the beach, gave three
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