Ten Years Later: The Vicomte of Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas Chapter 21 Page 6

as a disciple of Pythagoras, — this man would be sure to have in the troop some favorite soldier, whom he would make his sergeant; the sergeant would penetrate the secret of the lieutenant, in case the latter should be honest and unwilling to sell it. Then the sergeant, less honest and less ambitious, will give up the whole for fifty thousand livres. Come, come! that is impossible. The lieutenant is impossible. But then I must have no fractions; I cannot divide my troop in two, and act upon two points, at once, without another self, who — But what is the use of acting upon two points, as we have only one man to take? What can be the use of weakening a corps by placing the right here, and the left there? A single corps — Mordioux! a single one, and that commanded by D’Artagnan. Very well. But twenty men marching in one band are