That is a means of acting on the imagination of others without offending anyone's self-love." A strange admission this; what boundless self-confidence it implies that he should have admitted the trickery.

The mere acknowledgment of it is a proof that he felt himself so far above the plane of ordinary mortals that, despite the disclosure, he himself would continue to be his own star.

For the rest, is it credible that this analyzing genius could ever have seriously adopted the astrologer's creed?
Is there anything in his early note-books or later correspondence which warrants such a belief?
Do not all his references to his star occur in proclamations and addresses intended for popular consumption?
Certainly Bonaparte's good fortune was conspicuous all through these eastern adventures, and never more so than when he escaped the pursuit of Nelson.

The English admiral had divined his aim.

Setting all sail, he came almost within sight of the French force near Crete, and he reached Alexandria barely two days before his foes hove in sight.
Finding no hostile force there, he doubled back on his course and scoured the seas between Crete, Sicily, and the Morca, until news received from a Turkish official again sent him eastwards.