eight o’clock
It was one of those combinations which Bonaparte thoroughly understood -- a flash of lightning drawn from the contact of contrasting facts . He presented the great man of the New World , and a great victory of the old ; young America coupled with the palms of Thebes and Memphis . On the day fixed for the ceremony , six thousand cavalry were in line from the Luxembourg to the Invalides . At eight o'clock , Bonaparte mounted his horse in the main courtyard of the Consular palace ; issuing by the Rue de Tournon he took the line of the quays , accompanied by a staff of generals , none of whom were over thirty-five years of age . Lannes headed the procession ; behind him were sixty Guides bearing the sixty captured flags ; then came Bonaparte about two horse 's - lengths ahead of his staff . The minister of war , Berthier , awaited the procession under the dome of the temple . He leaned against a statue of Mars at rest , and the ministers and councillors of state were grouped around him .