[ESS] Problem installation ESS

[Lenka STYFALOVA]

Hello,

I have some problems with the installation of ESS. I use Linux Mint as 
my operation system, I have installed GNU Emacs 23.3.1 and I downloaded 
the ESS version 5.13. I have unpacked the ESS to /usr 
/share/emacs/site-lisp but I have not found ~/.emacs to add (require 
'ess-site). I tryed to create a new file ~/.emacs which contains the 
line (require 'ess-site), but it does not work. I have the following 
message in the emacs :

Warning (initialization): An error occurred while loading 
`/home/styfalova/.emacs':

Symbol's value as variable is void: load

To ensure normal operation, you should investigate and remove the
cause of the error in your initialization file.  Start Emacs with
the `--debug-init' option to view a complete error backtrace.


Could you please help me with the installation?

Many thanks.

Lenka