Nile, namely, the uniform of the Guides, to which corps Bonaparte was
always sincerely attached.

The masquerade of official dresses was not the only one which Bonaparte
summoned to the aid of his policy. At that period of the year VIII.
which corresponded with the carnival of 1800, masques began to be resumed
at Paris. Disguises were all the fashion, and Bonaparte favoured the
revival of old amusements; first, because they were old, and next,
because they were, the means of diverting the attention of the people:
for, as he had established the principle that on the field of battle it
is necessary to divide the enemy in order to beat him, he conceived it no
less advisable to divert the people in order to enslave them. Bonaparte
did not say 'panem et circenses', for I believe his knowledge of Latin
did not extend even to that well-known phrase of Juvenal, but he put the
maxim in practice. He accordingly authorised the revival of balls at the
opera, which they who lived during that period of the Consulate know was
an important event in Paris. Some gladly viewed it as a little conquest
in favour of the old regime; and others, who for that very reason
disapproved it, were too shallow to understand the influence of little
over great things. The women and the young men did not bestow a thought
on the subject, but yielded willingly to the attractions of pleasure.
Bonaparte, who was delighted at having provided a diversion for the
gossiping of the Parisian salons, said to me one day, "While they are
chatting about all this, they do not babble upon politics, and that is
what I want. Let them dance and amuse themselves as long as they do not
thrust their noses into the Councils of the Government; besides,
Bourrienne," added he, "I have other reasons for encouraging this, I see
other advantages in it. Trade is languishing; Fouche tells me that there
are great complaints. This will set a little money in circulation;
besides, I am on my guard about the Jacobins. Everything is not bad,