Early in 1852 he went to Paris, taking with him his wife and daughter Clotilde, then a child of four; his son Maxime he left at Plassans.  Through the influence of his brother Eugene, he got an appointment as assistant surveying clerk at the Hotel de Ville, with a salary of two thousand four hundred francs.  Before entering on his duties, however, he changed his name to Saccard on the suggestion of his brother, who feared that he might be compromised by him.  In 1853, Aristide was appointed a surveying commissioner of roads, with an increased salary.  At this period great schemes of city improvement were under discussion, and Aristide by spying and other shady means got early information as to the position of the proposed new streets.  Great chances of fortune were arising, but he had no capital.  The death of his wife enabled him to enter into a plan proposed by his sister Sidonie, who had heard of a family willing to make a considerable sacrifice to find a not too inquisitive husband for their daughter.  He accordingly married Renee Beraud du Chatel, and gained control of a considerable sum of ready money, in addition to the fortune settled on his wife.  By means of a cleverly contrived swindle, in which he was assisted by his friend Larsonneau, he got a fabulous price for some property acquired by him, and the foundation of his fortune was laid.  From this time, he lived a life of the wildest extravagance, and, though his gains were frequently enormous, his expenses were so great that it was only with difficulty that he was able to prevent a catastrophe.  La Curee.

He as appointed by Pauline Quenu’s family council to be her “surrogate guardian.”  La Joie de Vivre.

After a last and disastrous land speculation, Saccard was obliged to leave his great house in the Parc Monceau, which he abandoned to his creditors.  At first undecided as to his movements, he took a flat in the mansion in Rue Saint-Lazare, which belonged to Princess d’Orviedo.  There he met Hamelin, the engineer, and his sister Caroline, with whom he soon became on intimate terms.  Hamelin having spent much time in the East, had formed many schemes for great financial ventures, and Saccard was so impressed with these that he formed a syndicate for the purpose of carrying some of them out.  With this view the Universal Bank was formed, and was at first very successful.  By persistent advertising, and other means, the shares of the Bank were forced to an undue price, and then Saccard began to speculate in them on behalf of the Bank itself.  The great financier Gundermann, with whom Saccard had quarrelled, then began a persistent attack on the Bank, selling its shares steadily day after day.  Saccard continued to buy as long as he was able; but the end came, the price broke, and he, as well as the Bank, which was now one of its own largest shareholders, was ruined.  Since his previous failure, Saccard had not been on friendly terms with his brother Eugene Rougon, and, some time before the collapse of the Bank, had made violent attacks upon him in his newspaper.  Consequently Rougon did nothing to assist him in the criminal proceedings which followed the final catastrophe; he did not, however, wish to have a brother in jail, and arranged matters so that an appeal was allowed.  Next day Saccard escaped to Belgium.  L’Argent.