unspeakablevice:

“It may be surmised that much of the emperors’ three-hour interview was spent in a competition of mutual flattery, at which both were supremely adept. Alexander came away from the interview with the impression (perhaps mistaken) that susceptibility to flattery was Napoleon’s weak point; Napoleon (perhaps with equally little reason) thought the same of alexander. “I am satisfied with Alexander,” he later wrote to Josephine, “and he must be satisfied with me. If he were a woman, I think I would make him my mistress.” The thought is staggering. Yet, even if Alexander was not prepared to become Napoleon’s mistress, there can be no doubt that he had quite suddenly developed something close to hero worship for his conqueror and that he was determined to ally himself with France. The terms of the alliance, as will be seen shortly, were no less sensational than was the sudden passion that the two monarchs conceived for one another.“

– J. Christopher Herold on Napoleon Bonaparte and Alexander i in The Age of Napoleon (2002) **emphasis added