He was one of fifty royal scholarship recipients. At school, he had a reputation as a loner who preferred studying and reading books to the company of better-off classmates. He most enjoyed studying the works of Polybius, Plutarch, Flavius Arrian, and Quintus Rufus. After five years at school, he continued his studies at the I'Ecole Militaire in Paris. He graduated from this school in 1786 with the rank of second lieutenant and was assigned to serve in the artillery.
