The chapter opens with a description of the shape of the battlefield and the positions of the armies. Like a giant letter “A”, with Hougomont on the bottom of the left leg and the opposing forces positioned in the space between the Apex and the cross bar, Hugo talks us through the reality that the British had the better position, being uphill from the French.
With that description out of the way, Hugo slides into a (from my perspective) much more meaningful digression about the nature of these “great men” and the way they are viewed in the hindsight of history. Where the enemy can only see Napoleon as monstrous, and where the people allied with Napoleon saw him as heroic, history brings the strengths and flaws together under a shared light that reveals the complexity of the person and the truth ab out their lives, intentions and actions.
It’s worth quoting Hugo here at length:
The daylight of history is merciless; is has the strange and magical quality that, although it is composed of light, and precisely because of this, it casts shadows where once only brilliance was to be seen, making of one man two images, each opposed to the other, so that the darkens of the despot counteracts the majesty of the leader. Thus the world arrives at a more balanced judgment. Babylon ravished diminishes Alexander, Rome in chains diminishes Caesar, Jerusalem sacked diminishes Titus. Tyranny follows the tyrant. It is grievous for a man to leave behind him a shadow in his own shape.
For this reason I am incredibly skeptical of “great men” given “great power” in any way, shape or form. With great power comes far more than just “great responsibility” - it also comes with a great potential for irreparable damage. Power is intoxicating, and as it intoxicates it distorts and corrupt. It must be safeguarded, shared, and surrounded by limiting devices, constructs and controls. Looking down the long annals of history, my own conclusion is that we should make it incredibly difficult for anyone to obtain that kind of power, and if and when they do, we should act quickly to limit it and redistribute it. The “brilliant and great man” is not worth the cost of his shadow. Especially for those who find themselves exploited under it.