A giant at war with pigmies, having nought but their weapons, having to fight them on his knees, to fight them with the right hand while smiting himself with the left, has too much upon him to keep his private dignity in order.

He was the same in his letters--a Cyclops hurling rocks and raising the seas to shipwreck.

Dignity was cast off; he came out naked.

Letters to Clotilde, and to the baroness, to the friend nearest him just then, Colonel von Tresten, calling them to him, were dashed to paper in this naked frenzy, and he could rave with all the truth of life, that to have acted the idiot, more than the loss of the woman, was the ground of his anguish.

Each antecedent of his career had been a step of strength and success departed.