"Evil-doers, by forcing Marat to hide in holes and corners, had turned him into a bird of night, the bird of Minerva, whose glance pierced the dark recesses2 where conspirators3 lurked5. Now it is a blue eye, cold and calm, that discovers the enemies of the State and denounces traitors7 with a subtlety8 unknown even to the Friend of the People, now asleep for ever in the garden of the Cordeliers. The new saviour9 of the country, as zealous11 and more keen-sighted than the first, sees what no man before had seen and with a lifted finger spreads terror broadcast. He discerns the fine, imperceptible shades of difference that divide evil from good, vice12 from virtue13, which but for him would have been confounded, to the hurt of the fatherland and freedom, he marks out before him the thin, inflexible14 line outside which lies, to the right hand and to the left, only error, crime, and wickedness. The Incorruptible teaches how men serve the foreigner equally by excess of zeal10 and by supineness, by persecuting15 the religious in the name of reason no less than by fighting in the name of religion against the laws of the Republic. Every whit16 as much as the villains17 who immolated18 Le Peltier and Marat, do they serve the foreigner who decree them divine honours, to compromise their memory. Agent of the foreigner whosoever repudiates19 the ideas of order, wisdom, opportunity; agent of the foreigner whosoever outrages20 morals, scandalizes virtue, and, in the foolishness of his heart, denies God. Yes, fanatic21 priests deserve to die; but there is an anti-revolutionary way of combating fanaticism22; abjurers, too, may be guilty of a crime. By moderation men destroy the Republic; by violence they do the same.
"August and terrible the functions of a judge,—functions defined by the wisest of mankind! It is not aristocrats23 alone, federalists, scoundrels of the Orleans faction24, open enemies of the fatherland, that we must strike down. The conspirator4, the agent of the foreigner is a Proteus, he assumes all shapes, he puts on the guise25 of a patriot26, a revolutionary, an enemy of Kings; he affects the boldness of a heart that beats only for freedom; his voice swells27, and the foes28 of the Republic tremble. His name is Danton; his violence is a poor cloak to his odious29 moderatism, and his base corruption30 is manifest at last. The conspirator, the agent of the foreigner is that fluent stammerer31, the man who clapped the first cockade of revolution in his hat, that pamphleteer who, in his ironical32 and cruel patriotism33, nicknamed himself, 'The procureur of the Lantern.' His name is Camille Desmoulins. He threw off the mask by defending the Generals, traitors to their country, and claiming measures of clemency34 criminal at such a time. There was Philippeaux, there was Hérault, there was the despicable Lacroix. There was the Père Duchesne, he, too, a conspirator and agent of the foreigner, the vile35 demagogue who degraded liberty, and whose filthy36 calumnies37 stirred sympathy for Antoinette herself. There was Chaumette, who yet was a mild man, popular, moderate, well-intentioned, and virtuous38 in the administration of the Commune; but he was an atheist39! Conspirators, agents of the foreigner,—such were all those sansculottes in red cap and carmagnole and sabots who recklessly outbid the Jacobins in patriotism. Conspirator and agent of the foreigner was Anacharsis Cloots, 'orator40 of the human race,' condemned41 to die by all the Monarchies42 of the world; but everything was to be feared of him,—he was a Prussian.
"Now violent or moderate, all these evil-doers, all these traitors,—Danton, Desmoulins, Hébert, Chaumette,—have perished under the axe43. The Republic is saved; a chorus of praises rises from all the Committees and the popular assemblies one and all to greet Maximilien and the Mountain. Good citizens cry aloud: 'Worthy44 representatives of a free people, in vain have the sons of the Titans lifted their proud heads; oh! mountain of blessing45, oh! protecting Sinai, from thy tumultuous bosom46 has issued the saving lightning....'
"In this chorus the Tribunal has its meed of praise. How sweet a thing it is to be virtuous, and how dear to public gratitude47, to the heart of the upright judge!
"Meanwhile, for a patriot heart, what food for amazement48, what motives49 for anxiety! What! to betray the people's cause, it was not enough to have a Mirabeau, a La Fayette, a Bailly, a Pétion, a Brissot? We must likewise have the men who denounced these traitors. Can it be that all the patriots50 who made the Revolution only wrought51 to ruin her? that these heroes of the great days were but contriving52 with Pitt and Coburg to give the kingdom to the Orleans and set up a Regency under Louis XVII? What! Danton was another Monk53. What! Chaumette and the Hébertists, falser than the Federalists who sent them to the guillotine, had conspired54 to destroy the State! But among those who hurried to their death the traitor6 Danton and the traitor Chaumette, will not the blue eye of Robespierre discover anon more perfidious55 traitors yet? What will be the end of this hideous56 concatenation of traitors betrayed and the revelations of the keen-sighted Incorruptible?..."
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1 stifling | |
a.令人窒息的 | |
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2 recesses | |
n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 );(工作或业务活动的)中止或暂停期间;学校的课间休息;某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 );将(墙)做成凹形,在(墙)上做壁龛;休息,休会,休庭 | |
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3 conspirators | |
n.共谋者,阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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4 conspirator | |
n.阴谋者,谋叛者 | |
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5 lurked | |
vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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6 traitor | |
n.叛徒,卖国贼 | |
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7 traitors | |
卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 ); 叛徒; 背叛者; 背信弃义的人 | |
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8 subtlety | |
n.微妙,敏锐,精巧;微妙之处,细微的区别 | |
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9 saviour | |
n.拯救者,救星 | |
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10 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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11 zealous | |
adj.狂热的,热心的 | |
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12 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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13 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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14 inflexible | |
adj.不可改变的,不受影响的,不屈服的 | |
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15 persecuting | |
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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16 whit | |
n.一点,丝毫 | |
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17 villains | |
n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 );罪犯;(小说、戏剧等中的)反面人物;淘气鬼 | |
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18 immolated | |
v.宰杀…作祭品( immolate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19 repudiates | |
v.(正式地)否认( repudiate的第三人称单数 );拒绝接受;拒绝与…往来;拒不履行(法律义务) | |
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20 outrages | |
引起…的义愤,激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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21 fanatic | |
n.狂热者,入迷者;adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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22 fanaticism | |
n.狂热,盲信 | |
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23 aristocrats | |
n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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24 faction | |
n.宗派,小集团;派别;派系斗争 | |
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25 guise | |
n.外表,伪装的姿态 | |
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26 patriot | |
n.爱国者,爱国主义者 | |
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27 swells | |
增强( swell的第三人称单数 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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28 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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29 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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30 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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31 stammerer | |
n.口吃的人;结巴 | |
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32 ironical | |
adj.讽刺的,冷嘲的 | |
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33 patriotism | |
n.爱国精神,爱国心,爱国主义 | |
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34 clemency | |
n.温和,仁慈,宽厚 | |
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35 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
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36 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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37 calumnies | |
n.诬蔑,诽谤,中伤(的话)( calumny的名词复数 ) | |
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38 virtuous | |
adj.有品德的,善良的,贞洁的,有效力的 | |
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39 atheist | |
n.无神论者 | |
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40 orator | |
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家 | |
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41 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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42 monarchies | |
n. 君主政体, 君主国, 君主政治 | |
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43 axe | |
n.斧子;v.用斧头砍,削减 | |
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44 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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45 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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46 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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47 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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48 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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49 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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50 patriots | |
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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51 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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52 contriving | |
(不顾困难地)促成某事( contrive的现在分词 ); 巧妙地策划,精巧地制造(如机器); 设法做到 | |
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53 monk | |
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士 | |
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54 conspired | |
密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 ); 搞阴谋; (事件等)巧合; 共同导致 | |
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55 perfidious | |
adj.不忠的,背信弃义的 | |
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56 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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