Never does he
swerve to the left toward exaggeration, nor to the right toward
toleration; without haste or delay he travels along the narrow, steep
and straight path which we have marked out for him; this is the
pathway of reason, for, as there is but one reason, there is but one
pathway. Let no one swerve from the line; there are abysses on each
side of it. Let us follow our guides, men of principles, the pure,
especially Couthon, Saint-Just and Robespierre; they are choice
specimens, all cast in the true mold, and it is this unique and rigid
mold in which all French men are to be recast.
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Notes:
[1] This and the following text are taken from the "Contrat-Social" by
Rousseau. Cf. "The ancient R?gime," book III., ch.. IV.
[2] This idea, so universally prevalent and precocious, is uttered by
Mirabeau in the session of the 10th of August, 1789. (Buchez et Roux,
II., 257.) "I know of but three ways of maintaining one's existence in
society, and these are to be either a beggar, a robber or a hireling.
The proprietor is himself only the first of hirelings. What we
commonly call his property is nothing more than the pay society awards
him for distributing amongst others that which is entrusted to him to
distribute through his expenses and through what he consumes;
proprietors are the agents, the stewards of the social body.
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