La loi, dont le regne vous epouvante, a son glaive leve sur vous: elle vous frappera tous: le genre1 humain a besoin de cet exemple.
Couthon.
(The law, whose reign2 terrifies you, has its sword raised against you; it will strike you all: humanity has need of this example.)
“Oh, joy, joy!— thou art come again! This is thy hand — these thy lips. Say that thou didst not desert me from the love of another; say it again,— say it ever!— and I will pardon thee all the rest!”
“So thou hast mourned for me?”
“Mourned!— and thou wert cruel enough to leave me gold; there it is,— there, untouched!”
“Poor child of Nature! how, then, in this strange town of Marseilles, hast thou found bread and shelter?”
“Honestly, soul of my soul! honestly, but yet by the face thou didst once think so fair; thinkest thou THAT now?”
“Yes, Fillide, more fair than ever. But what meanest thou?”
“There is a painter here — a great man, one of their great men at Paris, I know not what they call them; but he rules over all here,— life and death; and he has paid me largely but to sit for my portrait. It is for a picture to be given to the Nation, for he paints only for glory. Think of thy Fillide’s renown3!” And the girl’s wild eyes sparkled; her vanity was roused. “And he would have married me if I would!— divorced his wife to marry me! But I waited for thee, ungrateful!”
A knock at the door was heard,— a man entered.
“Nicot!”
“Ah, Glyndon!— hum!— welcome! What! thou art twice my rival! But Jean Nicot bears no malice4. Virtue5 is my dream,— my country, my mistress. Serve my country, citizen; and I forgive thee the preference of beauty. Ca ira! ca ira!”
But as the painter spoke6, it hymned, it rolled through the streets,— the fiery8 song of the Marseillaise! There was a crowd, a multitude, a people up, abroad, with colours and arms, enthusiasm and song,— with song, with enthusiasm, with colours and arms! And who could guess that that martial9 movement was one, not of war, but massacre,— Frenchmen against Frenchmen? For there are two parties in Marseilles,— and ample work for Jourdan Coupe-tete! But this, the Englishman, just arrived, a stranger to all factions10, did not as yet comprehend. He comprehended nothing but the song, the enthusiasm, the arms, and the colours that lifted to the sun the glorious lie, “Le peuple Francais, debout contre les tyrans!” (Up, Frenchmen, against tyrants11!)
The dark brow of the wretched wanderer grew animated12; he gazed from the window on the throng13 that marched below, beneath their waving Oriflamme. They shouted as they beheld14 the patriot15 Nicot, the friend of Liberty and relentless16 Hebert, by the stranger’s side, at the casement17.
“Ay, shout again!” cried the painter,—“shout for the brave Englishman who abjures18 his Pitts and his Coburgs to be a citizen of Liberty and France!”
A thousand voices rent the air, and the hymn7 of the Marseillaise rose in majesty19 again.
“Well, and if it be among these high hopes and this brave people that the phantom20 is to vanish, and the cure to come!” muttered Glyndon; and he thought he felt again the elixir21 sparkling through his veins22.
“Thou shalt be one of the Convention with Paine and Clootz,— I will manage it all for thee!” cried Nicot, slapping him on the shoulder: “and Paris —”
“Ah, if I could but see Paris!” cried Fillide, in her joyous23 voice. Joyous! the whole time, the town, the air — save where, unheard, rose the cry of agony and the yell of murder — were joy! Sleep unhaunting in thy grave, cold Adela. Joy, joy! In the Jubilee24 of Humanity all private griefs should cease! Behold25, wild mariner26, the vast whirlpool draws thee to its stormy bosom27! There the individual is not. All things are of the whole! Open thy gates, fair Paris, for the stranger-citizen! Receive in your ranks, O meek28 Republicans, the new champion of liberty, of reason, of mankind! “Mejnour is right; it was in virtue, in valour, in glorious struggle for the human race, that the spectre was to shrink to her kindred darkness.”
And Nicot’s shrill29 voice praised him; and lean Robespierre —“Flambeau, colonne, pierre angulaire de l’edifice de la Republique!” (“The light, column, and keystone of the Republic.”—“Lettre du Citoyen P—; Papiers inedits trouves chez Robespierre,” tom 11, page 127.)— smiled ominously30 on him from his bloodshot eyes; and Fillide clasped him with passionate31 arms to her tender breast. And at his up-rising and down-sitting, at board and in bed, though he saw it not, the Nameless One guided him with the demon32 eyes to the sea whose waves were gore33.
1 genre | |
n.(文学、艺术等的)类型,体裁,风格 | |
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2 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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3 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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4 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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5 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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6 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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7 hymn | |
n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌 | |
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8 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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9 martial | |
adj.战争的,军事的,尚武的,威武的 | |
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10 factions | |
组织中的小派别,派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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11 tyrants | |
专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 ); 暴君似的人; (古希腊的)僭主; 严酷的事物 | |
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12 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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13 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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14 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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15 patriot | |
n.爱国者,爱国主义者 | |
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16 relentless | |
adj.残酷的,不留情的,无怜悯心的 | |
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17 casement | |
n.竖铰链窗;窗扉 | |
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18 abjures | |
v.发誓放弃( abjure的第三人称单数 );郑重放弃(意见);宣布撤回(声明等);避免 | |
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19 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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20 phantom | |
n.幻影,虚位,幽灵;adj.错觉的,幻影的,幽灵的 | |
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21 elixir | |
n.长生不老药,万能药 | |
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22 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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23 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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24 jubilee | |
n.周年纪念;欢乐 | |
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25 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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26 mariner | |
n.水手号不载人航天探测器,海员,航海者 | |
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27 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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28 meek | |
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的 | |
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29 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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30 ominously | |
adv.恶兆地,不吉利地;预示地 | |
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31 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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32 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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33 gore | |
n.凝血,血污;v.(动物)用角撞伤,用牙刺破;缝以补裆;顶 | |
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