Now the historic meeting between Alexander and Napoleon takes place, with each monarch flanked by a colorful battalion of guards. Rostov is horrified at the little Corsican's audacious assumption of equality with the divine-right emperor. Napoleon now confers the Legion of Honor to the"bravest Russian Soldier," a man chosen at random among the ranks. The following day, Alexander confers the medal of St. George to an equally random choice of the bravest French soldier. Rostov has horrible questions to ask himself now. If this self-satisfied Napoleon and his beloved Alexander are allies, what of those mutilated arms and legs he saw in Denisov's infirmary? What of all the dead and dying on the battlefields? Why is this unknown Russian rewarded for bravery and the valiant Denisov punished? Nikolay forces his thoughts to conclusions during a celebration dinner that night. He decides the emperor and not soldiers like himself must know what is right. Soldiers must only take orders, die if necessary, accept punishment if they are punished."If we were once to begin criticizing and reasoning about everything, nothing would be left holy to us. In that way we shall be saying there is no God, nothing!" Rostov says."It's our business to do our duty, to hack them to pieces, and not to think."
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