-
"Our purpose," says Robespierre,[22] "is to substitute morality for
egoism, honesty for honor, principles for custom, duties for
etiquette, the empire of reason for the tyranny of fashion, contempt
of vice for indifference to misfortune, pride for arrogance, a noble
mind for vanity, love of glory for the love of profit, good people for
high society, merit for intrigue, genius for intellectual brilliancy,
the charm of contentment for the boredom of voluptuous pleasure, the
majesty of Man for the high-breeding of the great, a magnanimous,
powerful and happy people for an amiable, frivolous and wretched
people, that is to say, every virtue and miracle of the Republic in
the place of the vices and absurdities of the monarchy."
We will do this, the whole of it, whatever the cost. Little do we
care for the present generation: we are working for generations to
come.
"Man, forced to isolate himself from society, anchors himself in the
future and presses to his heart a posterity innocent of existing
evils."[23]
He sacrifices to this work his own and the lives of others.
"On the day that I am persuaded," writes Saint-Just, "that it is
impossible to render the French people kind, energetic, tender and
relentless against tyranny and injustice, I will stab myself.
Pages:
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147