The Bonapartes are a very traditional Corsican family. It also meant that women were less in charge of their family. Letizia was a wonderful wife and great mother and always took even the toughest times in silence. But she's also a very traditional Corsican woman who doesn't speak up when she needs to make a decision.
So, after Carlo's death, almost all of the decisions in this household had to be made by Joseph. When the younger siblings had something to ask their mom, she always said, "Go ask your brother and see what he has to say." It's like when she used to say to her kids, "Ask your dad," when Carlo was still around.
So Joseph was instantly busy, first making arrangements for his father's funeral, then dealing with the estate and debts. It was good to have his uncle to help in these matters, and the presence of Bishop Myriel made it much more difficult for those who wished to take advantage of the absence of a grown man in the house to do so. So these things went down very well.
By the third day after the funeral, the various things left behind were largely taken care of. That evening, Joseph then called his mother, his uncle, and several of his younger siblings together.
"Mom, uncle, and siblings. Father's funeral, and everything related to it is basically over as of today." Joseph spoke up, "After the loss of my father, things changed drastically in our family. Our previous way of life will definitely change a lot as well. We must adapt to such changes and prepare for them in advance. Now, I will tell you all about the changes that may be taking place in our home."
Everyone then listened quietly to Joseph.
"When my father died, his salary naturally went away. As you know, our family's estate is small and produces very little, and without this salary of my father's at the Governor's Office, our family's income would have to shrink to one-third of what it had been before, just by the output of the little that remains of our estate. This also means that our income is just barely enough to make ends meet. Siblings, your pocket money and even education funding will be in trouble. Napoleon, you're in a military school, and naturally you'll be serving in the army when you graduate in the future. It costs nothing to go to military school. But I'm afraid the allowance for you will have to be removed."
"That's no problem." Napoleon said.
"I've learned a little bit about your accomplishments over the years." Joseph went on to say, "Your math, geography, and history are all very good. But your language scores disappoint me."
"Math, geography, and history are all useful in war. Language ..." Napoleon was a bit unconvinced.
"O my foolish brother, words are tools of battle too!" Joseph glanced at Napoleon and said, "Don't you know what Octavian relied on to defeat Brutus back then? The ability to use language has been essential to a good general since time immemorial."
Upon hearing Joseph use Emperor Octavian as an example, Napoleon stopped retorting.
But Joseph was not willing to let Napoleon off the hook, and he continued to stare at Napoleon: "Let's say, for example, that today our family is temporarily in trouble. In order to earn more money to support our other brothers' education, we had to have someone who could step up and take over for our father. As you know, I have one more year to graduate. But now, we are in trouble. I could find something to do if I dropped out of school now, but of course, the income would be much lower than our father's. If we can keep it up for another year until I graduate and get a job, that will probably double our income, but of course, it still won't be as good as when our father was still around. But it's a number that's barely enough to support the family. Obviously, dropping out of school now is not the best thing for either me or the family in the long run. But we can't ignore the life in front of us. So I have a different plan for a change of pace. I had a classmate named Armand who was Mr. Lavoisier's nephew. Napoleon, I mentioned this guy in my letter with you. He has quite a few translations of plays and poems on hand that he can pass on to me. This way I can have some income while continuing my studies, plus my classmate Lucien can lend me some money, so if my family is more frugal, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to support me for a year. Of course if you get a little better language score, Napoleon, maybe you can join in and do what you can, and kind of help out the family, and I'll be able to relax a little bit. Yet with the kind of accomplishments you have now, I wouldn't dare leave such a thing in your hands."
"I know, I'll work on that in the future." Napoleon lowered his head.
Then Joseph turned to his other brothers.
"Lucien, even though you're young now. But you also need to realize that you are also the man of the house and have to study hard. Our family has the title of nobility, but it is not one of those French aristocrats who can do nothing and eat. The men in our family must be competent. Lucien, do you know where all the outstanding people get their skills from? It all comes from learning, from beating the odds. You are now at an age where you should get some education. I will try to ensure that your education will not be affected by financial difficulties, but you must work hard yourself.
Louis, you're the same. Wait until next year, when I graduate and get a good job. If possible, I'll take both you and Lucien to Paris to be educated. Paris is, after all, much better than Corsica in terms of educational environment."
"Joseph, I'm graduating at the end of the year. Nowadays, however, I have an opportunity to be selected for the École Militaire in Paris, from where I can graduate to a higher position and a better career. I don't know ..." Napoleon spoke up.
"O my foolish brother. What is there to hesitate about in such matters? Are you doubting your brother's ability to provide for his family on the basis of your stupid wisdom? You just go to the Paris École Militaire and leave the current matters to me." Joseph replied.
"Joseph, where am I being stupid? I'm just ..." In a rare move, Napoleon protested against Joseph's characterization of himself as "stupid".
"Oh?" Joseph immediately said, "Napoleon, your geometry is the most outstanding of all subjects. Do you need me to give you a title you can use to put yourself in the right perspective?"
Napoleon was stunned and, after a moment, said resentfully, "Joseph, you are not a good man."
...
After spending a couple of days getting things basically in order at home, it was time to move back to Paris again. During these days, as well as along the way, whenever he had a spare moment, even if it was only for ten minutes or so, Joseph seized the time to translate those things in his hand, and when he arrived in Paris early the next morning, Joseph first went to the school to cancel his vacation, and then he found Armand, and handed him a volume of manuscripts.
"Here's the translation of The Timon of Athens, see if there's anything that needs to be changed and I'll change it." Joseph said to Armand.
"Joseph, I can't believe you got this out so quickly?" Armand was taken aback and said, "That's simply not possible with me without more than half a year."
"You're slow because you're doing fine. And I do it fast, but it's a lot cruder." Joseph said.
"Joseph, I love it when you say that. I know for myself, however, that I'm slow not because of finesse, but because I'm too lazy to do things, like the lazy kings of history (A series of seventh-century, Frankish monarchs who neglected the affairs of state). You, on the other hand, are a hard worker. And the translation of literature is actually best done in one single session. That way the emotion and momentum stays coherent. Well, I'll take a look at it sometime. As for the fee, I'll give it to you in a few days."
Armand had always delayed in doing things, and when he said the fee would be paid in a few days, Joseph was prepared to wait half a month. Unexpectedly, however, it was really only three days later that Amand handed over to Joseph the commission for translating the work - fifty francs in all.
"Joseph, the quality of the manuscript is good. You'd be earning six hundred francs a year if you could keep up this quality and speed. Plus your scholarship, by the way, how many brothers do you have?"
"Four, three of which are of age to be educated. But the oldest one is in military school, and it doesn't cost as much as it does for me." Joseph replied.
"Ah, so there's only two younger brothers who need you to spend money ..." Armand made a calculation in his mind and said, "Oops, this amount of money is completely insufficient. For that amount of money, Joseph you can't have any more ale in the future, and as for foie gras, you're even going to have to say goodbye to them. You can't even butter the bread you eat, you can only eat one lamb chop a month, which you eat for three days; on the first day you eat the meat from the lamb chop, on the second day you eat the fat from the lamb chop, and on the third day you gnaw on the bones. When you're at work, you can't smoke to refresh yourself, you can't refresh yourself with black tea, you can only use the lowest grade of coffee, and there has to be a limit to the portion size ... Geez, can't you have one less brother?"
Joseph replied: "In our Corsica, we have a proverb that says: 'When it comes time to deal with the fox, you don't realize that there are too few hounds; when it comes time to deal with the enemy, you don't realize that there are too few brothers.' That's why we Corsicans never complain about having too many brothers, never complain about having too many friends."
"That's an interesting statement." Armand said, "It's just that it's so wordy, in fact, it could be entirely more concise. Ah, maybe the flavor changed after you translated it from Corsican dialect to French. I think that's what your translation is like, it's accurate but a bit wordy in a lot of places. If it were me, this sentence, I would translate it like this. We have a saying in Corsica that goes, 'A dog is a dog when it's time to use it.'"