In vain Atheism6 still lifts its hideous7 face; Maximilien grasps a torch; flames devour8 the monster and Wisdom appears, with one hand pointing to the sky, in the other holding a crown of stars.
On the platform raised against the fa?ade of the Tuileries, évariste, standing9 amid a throng10 of deeply-stirred spectators, sheds tears of joy and renders thanks to God. An era of universal felicity opens before his eyes.
He sighs:
"At last we shall be happy, pure, innocent, if the scoundrels suffer it."
Alas11! the scoundrels have not suffered it. There must be more executions; more torrents12 of tainted13 blood must be shed. Three days after the festival celebrating the new alliance and the reconciliation14 of heaven and earth, the Convention promulgates15 the Law of Prairial which suppresses, with a sort of ferocious16 good-nature, all the traditional forms of Law, whatever has been devised since the time of the Roman jurisconsults for the safeguarding of innocence17 under suspicion. No more sifting18 of evidence, no more questioning of the accused, no more witnesses, no more counsel for the defence; love of the fatherland supplies everything that is needful. The prisoner, who bears locked up in his bosom19 his guilt20 or innocence, passes without a word allowed before the patriot21 jury, and it is in this brief moment they must unravel22 his case, often complicated and obscure. How is justice possible? How distinguish in an instant between the honest man and the villain23, the patriot and the enemy of the fatherland...?
Disconcerted for the moment, Gamelin quickly learned his new duties and accommodated himself to his new functions. He recognized that this curtailment24 of formalities was genuinely characteristic of the new justice, at once salutary and terrifying, the administrators25 of which were no longer ermined pedants26 leisurely27 weighing the pros28 and contras in their Gothic balances, but good sansculottes judging by inspiration and seeing the whole truth in a flash. When guarantees and precautions would have undone29 everything, the impulses of an upright heart saved the situation. We must follow the promptings of Nature, the good mother who never deceives; the heart must teach us to do judgment30, and Gamelin made invocation to the manes of Jean-Jacques:
His colleagues, for the most part, felt with him. They were, first and foremost, simple people; and when the forms of law were simplified, they felt more comfortable. Justice thus abbreviated34 satisfied them; the pace was quickened, and no obstacles were left to fret35 them. They limited themselves to an inquiry36 into the opinions of the accused, not conceiving it possible that anyone could think differently from themselves except in pure perversity37. Believing themselves the exclusive possessors of truth, wisdom, the quintessence of good, they attributed to their opponents nothing but error and evil. They felt themselves all-powerful; they envisaged38 God.
They saw God, these jurors of the Revolutionary Tribunal. The Supreme39 Being, acknowledged by Maximilien, flooded them with His flames of light. They loved, they believed.
The chair of the accused had been replaced by a vast platform able to accommodate fifty persons; the court only dealt with batches41 now. The Public Prosecutor42 would often confound under the same charge or implicate43 as accomplices44 individuals who met each other for the first time before the Tribunal. The latter, taking advantage of the terrible facilities accorded by the law of Prairial, sat in judgment on those supposed prison plots which, coming after the proscriptions of the Dantonists and the Commune, were made to seem their outcome by the insinuations of cunning adversaries45. In fact, to let the world appreciate the two essential characteristics of a conspiracy46 fomented47 by foreign gold against the Republic,—to wit inopportune moderation on the one hand and self-interested excess of zeal48 on the other, they had united in the same condemnation49 two very different women, the widow of Camille Desmoulins, poor lovable Lucille, and the widow of the Hébertist Momoro, goddess of a day and jolly companion all her life. Both, to make the analogy complete, had been shut up in the same prison, where they had mingled51 their tears on the same bench; both, to round off the resemblance, had climbed the scaffold. Too ingenious the symbol,—a masterpiece of equilibrium52, conceived doubtless by a lawyer's brain, and the honour of which was given to Maximilien. This representative of the people was accredited53 with every eventuality, happy or unhappy, that came about in the Republic, every change that was effected in the laws, in manners and morals, the very course of the seasons, the harvests, the incidence of epidemics54. Unjust of course, but not unmerited the injustice55, for indeed the man, the little, spruce, cat-faced dandy, was all powerful with the people....
That day the Tribunal was clearing off a batch40 of prisoners involved in the great plot, thirty or more conspirators56 from the Luxembourg, submissive enough in gaol57, but Royalists or Federalists of the most pronounced type. The prosecution58 relied almost entirely59 on the evidence of a single informer. The jurors did not know one word of the matter,—not so much as the conspirators' names. Gamelin, casting his eye over the prisoners' bench, recognized Fortuné Chassagne among the accused. Julie's lover, pale-faced and emaciated60 by long confinement61 and his features showing coarser in the glare of light that flooded the hall, still retained traces of his old grace and proud bearing. His eyes met Gamelin's and filled with scorn.
Gamelin, possessed62 by a calm fury, rose, asked leave to speak, and, fixing his eyes on the bust63 of Roman Brutus, which looked down on the Tribunal:
"Citoyen President," he said, "although there may exist between one of the accused and myself ties which, if they were made public, would be ties of married kinship, I hereby declare I do not decline to act. The two Bruti did not decline their duty, when for the salvation64 of the state and the cause of freedom, the one had to condemn50 a son, the other to strike down an adoptive father."
He resumed his seat.
"A fine scoundrel that," muttered Chassagne between his teeth.
The public remained cold, whether because it was tired of high-flown characters, or thinking that Gamelin had triumphed too easily over his feelings of family affection.
"Citoyen Gamelin," said the President, "by the terms of the law, every refusal must be formulated65 in writing within the twenty-four hours preceding the opening of the trial. In any case, you have no reason to refuse; a patriot jury is superior to human passions."
Each prisoner was questioned for three or four minutes, the examination resulting in a verdict of death in every instance. The jurors voted without a word said, by a nod of the head or by exclamation66. When Gamelin's turn came to pronounce his opinion:
As he was descending68 the stairway of the Palais de Justice, a young man dressed in a bottle-green box-coat, and who looked seventeen or eighteen years of age, stopped him abruptly69 as he went by. The lad wore a round hat, tilted70 on the back of his head, the brim framing his fine pale face in a dark aureole. Facing the juror, in a terrible voice vibrating with passion and despair:
"Villain, monster, murderer!" he screamed. "Strike me, coward! I am a woman! Have me arrested, have me guillotined, Cain! I am your sister,"—and Julie spat71 in his face.
The throng of tricoteuses and sansculottes was relaxing by this time in its Revolutionary vigilance; its civic72 zeal had largely cooled; Gamelin and his assailant found themselves the centre of nothing worse than uproar73 and confusion. Julie fought a way through the press and disappeared in the dark.
点击收听单词发音
1 bouquet | |
n.花束,酒香 | |
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2 ascends | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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4 fertilizing | |
v.施肥( fertilize的现在分词 ) | |
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5 clemency | |
n.温和,仁慈,宽厚 | |
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6 atheism | |
n.无神论,不信神 | |
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7 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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8 devour | |
v.吞没;贪婪地注视或谛听,贪读;使着迷 | |
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9 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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10 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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11 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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12 torrents | |
n.倾注;奔流( torrent的名词复数 );急流;爆发;连续不断 | |
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13 tainted | |
adj.腐坏的;污染的;沾污的;感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 );使污染;败坏;被污染,腐坏,败坏 | |
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14 reconciliation | |
n.和解,和谐,一致 | |
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15 promulgates | |
v.宣扬(某事物)( promulgate的第三人称单数 );传播;公布;颁布(法令、新法律等) | |
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16 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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17 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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18 sifting | |
n.筛,过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 );筛滤;细查;详审 | |
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19 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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20 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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21 patriot | |
n.爱国者,爱国主义者 | |
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22 unravel | |
v.弄清楚(秘密);拆开,解开,松开 | |
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23 villain | |
n.反派演员,反面人物;恶棍;问题的起因 | |
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24 curtailment | |
n.缩减,缩短 | |
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25 administrators | |
n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 );有管理(或行政)才能的人;(由遗嘱检验法庭指定的)遗产管理人;奉派暂管主教教区的牧师 | |
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26 pedants | |
n.卖弄学问的人,学究,书呆子( pedant的名词复数 ) | |
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27 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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28 pros | |
abbr.prosecuting 起诉;prosecutor 起诉人;professionals 自由职业者;proscenium (舞台)前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 );赞成的理由;抵偿物;交换物 | |
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29 undone | |
a.未做完的,未完成的 | |
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30 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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31 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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32 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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33 regenerate | |
vt.使恢复,使新生;vi.恢复,再生;adj.恢复的 | |
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34 abbreviated | |
adj. 简短的,省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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35 fret | |
v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损 | |
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36 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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37 perversity | |
n.任性;刚愎自用 | |
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38 envisaged | |
想像,设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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40 batch | |
n.一批(组,群);一批生产量 | |
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41 batches | |
一批( batch的名词复数 ); 一炉; (食物、药物等的)一批生产的量; 成批作业 | |
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42 prosecutor | |
n.起诉人;检察官,公诉人 | |
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43 implicate | |
vt.使牵连其中,涉嫌 | |
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44 accomplices | |
从犯,帮凶,同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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45 adversaries | |
n.对手,敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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46 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
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47 fomented | |
v.激起,煽动(麻烦等)( foment的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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49 condemnation | |
n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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50 condemn | |
vt.谴责,指责;宣判(罪犯),判刑 | |
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51 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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52 equilibrium | |
n.平衡,均衡,相称,均势,平静 | |
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53 accredited | |
adj.可接受的;可信任的;公认的;质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 );委托;委任;把…归结于 | |
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54 epidemics | |
n.流行病 | |
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55 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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56 conspirators | |
n.共谋者,阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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57 gaol | |
n.(jail)监狱;(不加冠词)监禁;vt.使…坐牢 | |
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58 prosecution | |
n.起诉,告发,检举,执行,经营 | |
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59 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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60 emaciated | |
adj.衰弱的,消瘦的 | |
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61 confinement | |
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
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62 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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63 bust | |
vt.打破;vi.爆裂;n.半身像;胸部 | |
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64 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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65 formulated | |
v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 );规划;确切地阐述;用公式表示 | |
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66 exclamation | |
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词 | |
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67 explicit | |
adj.详述的,明确的;坦率的;显然的 | |
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68 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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69 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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70 tilted | |
v. 倾斜的 | |
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71 spat | |
n.口角,掌击;v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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72 civic | |
adj.城市的,都市的,市民的,公民的 | |
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73 uproar | |
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸 | |
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