Into which we shall not enter for Yes or for No.
"You are like the rest of them!" writes Friedrich to him; "when the moment comes for showing firmness, you fail in it." ["Waldau, 10th September, 1759:" in Preuss, ii.URKUNDEN.p.

44.] Friedrich expects of others what all Soldiers profess,--and what is in fact the soul of all nobleness in their trade,--but what only Friedrich himself, and a select few, are in the habit of actually performing.

Tried by the standard of common practice, Schmettau is clearly absolvable; a broken veteran, deserving almost tears.

But that is not the standard which it will be safe for a King of men to go by.

Friedrich, I should say, would be ordered by his Office, if Nature herself did not order him, to pitch his ideal very high; and to be rather Rhadamanthine in judging about it.
Friedrich was never accused of over-generosity to the unfortunate among his Captains.
After the War, Schmettau, his conduct still a theme of argument, was reduced to the Invalid List: age now sixty-seven, but health and heart still very fresh, as he pleaded; complaining that he could not live on his retiring Pension of 300 pounds a year.