Büchner, Georg - Danton's Death (TSL, 1982)

DANTON'S DEATH
Georg BUchner
Translated by
Hedwig Rappolt
TSL
New York, Indiana, Georgia, Illinois

DANTON'S DEATH
By Georg Buchner
Translated by Hedwig Rappolt
Published by TS L PRESS (Time & Space Ltd. ) New York
Copyright © 1980 Hedwig Rappolt
Mussmann Bruce Publishers
First published in 1982

Second printing, /989
All Rights Reserved.

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International Standard Book Number 0-939858-02-9

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 82-051254
Typesetting: Positive Type Printing, Millerton. New York

Layout: TS L Press, New York City
Printed in the U. S. A.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
troduction v
\NTON'S DEATH
Act I 9
Act II 35
Act III 53
Act IV 74
1tes 89
Ltes in Georg Buchner's Life 105

INTRODUCTION
Georg Buchner is one of the giants of I 9th century European

literature even though his oeuvre consists of only three plays and a
novella. His influence is felt more strongly today than in the past
century; Brecht, Robert Musil, Wedekind, Rilke, Max Frisch and
many others were under his spell. The French avant-garde
dramatist Arthur Adamov wrote: "There is nothing between
Shakespeare and Moli�re's Don Juan up to Brecht, except
Buchner."
Danton s Death was written in five weeks during January and
February 1 835, when Buchner was 21 years old. He supposedly
wrote in feverish haste, spurred on in part by his need for money.
But beyond that, his choice of the French Revolution and its
protagonists for his first drama-one year after publication of his
pamphlet The Hessian Country Hera ld - was an expression of his
deep concern about the social injustices of his time. The pamphlet,
headed by the words "Peace to the Huts! War to the Palaces!"
was considered so revolutionary by the government that it could
have cost Buchner his freedom, if not his life, had he not fled the
country. Yet he had no illusions about the reaction and the
commitment of the peasant and working classes. He wrote to his
family in June 1 833: I have lately learned "that only the urgent
needs of the great masses can bring about changes, that all
gesturing and yelling of the i n d i v i d u a I is futile fool's
labor. They write, nobody reads them; they yell, nobody hears
them; they act, nobody helps them." In the drama, Danton spells
out his disillusionment: "The Revolution is like Saturn, it devours
its own children", and more cynically: "What difference does it
make? The people aren't doing so badly at that. ...Does it matter
if they die of the guillotine, of the fever, or of old age?"
Buchner wrote Danton s Death forty years after the Reign of
Terror of the French Revolution, about the same distance of time
as that between the present and the reign of terror of the Nazi
vi / Introduction
Holocaust. Buchner's emotional and intellectual ties to the French

Revolution and its protagonists must have been as immediate and
as disturbing as ours are to the history of the 1930's and 1940's.
The main actors in Buchner's drama were as recent to him as
Hitler and Goebbels, Roosevelt and Stalin are to us. They are
sharply outlined: Danton the epicurean and Robespierre the
fanatically virtuous are contrasts, yet opposite sides of the same
coin; Danton vibrant but debauched, Robespierre paper dry and
impotent-but even he comes through as a suffering human being.
St. Just is drawn as the demagogue, the almost satanic swayer of
public opinion in a speech that is worthy of any dictator. It is in
Buchner's own words, but parts of Danton's and Robespierre's
speeches are taken from actual history.
From the solid ground of historical fact and the framework of
the epic drama, Danton s Death takes off into a dimension where
other laws take over and another reality overlays factual events.
Words become prophetic, images visionary, and the actors
transcend their historic roles into a different consciousness:
Danton in his hallucinatory 'September' vision, Lucile in her flight
into madness, Robespierre in his 'I am alone' despair, St. Just in
his glitteringly cold defense of bloodshed, Marion-a creation of
Biichner-in her erotic monologue. It is BOchner's language that
lifts Danton s Death out of the context of history into the realms
of poetry, philosophy, satire; a few 'bawdy' scenes bring relief in
true Shakespearean tradition.
On July 28, 1835, Biich�er wrote to his family, explaining his
use of language in Danton s Death:
The dramatist is...nothing but a writer of history ...His

highest task is to get as close as possible to history as it
actually happened. His book must be neither more
m o r a 1 nor more i m m o r a I than history itself; but
history has not been created by the good Lord as reading
matter for young ladies.... I cannot possibly make para-
Introduction / vii
gons of virtue out of a Danton and the bandits of the

Revolution! If I wanted to portray their debauchery, I had
to make them debauched; if I wanted to show their
godlessness, I had to let them speak like atheists. If there are
a few foul words, one must consider the all-pervasive
obscene language of the time; my people's speech is only a
weak echo of it.
Buchner's language was too strong for Victorian, or Biedermeier,

sensibilities and his ideas too subversive. Consequently, Danton s
Death was not staged until 1902 when it was presented in Berlin.
Georg Buchner's life was short, but his accomplishments were
many. In addition to his literary works, he translated two dramas
by Victor Hugo and wrote numerous pamphlets, essays and theses
in either German, French, or Latin, one of which earned him a
Ph.D. from the University of Zurich and a place on the faculty of
the natural sciences. His lasting accomplishments, however, are
his four literary works: Danton s Death (a drama), Lenz (a
novella), Leonce and Lena (a comedy), and Woyzeck (a tragedy).
H.R.
1982
The translation is based on the "Hamburger Ausgabe" (Ham

burg Edition) by Werner R. Lehmann.
Words and passages in brackets are taken from various other
German editions. Words in double brackets are by the translator,
meant to help in a stage production.
DANTON'S DEATH
Characters
GEORGE DANTON
LEGENDR E
CAMI L L E DESMO ULINS
HERA U LT - SECH E L L ES
LACROIX Deputies
PHILIPPEAU
FABR E D'EG LANTINE
M ERCI ER
THOMAS P AINE
RO BESPIERRE
I
ST. JUST
BARRERE Members of the Committee
COLLOT D'HERBOIS of Public Safety
BIL L A UD-VARENNES
AMAR l Members of the Committee
VO ULAND r of General Security
HERMANN
D UMAS
} Presidents of the
Revolutionary Tribunal
CHA UMETTE, Procurator of the Commune
DIL LON, a General
FOUQ UIER-TINVIL LE, Public Prosecutor
PARIS, a friend of Danton s
SIMON, a theatrical prompter
SIMON'S WI F E
LAF LOTTE
JU LI E, Dantons wife
LUCI LE, Camille Desmoulins' wife
ROSA LIE
AD ELAIDE
MARION
..
}
Grisettes
LAdies at the game table, ladies and gentlemen as well as a young

gentleman and Eugenie on a promenade, citizens, citizens of the
militia, deputies from Lyons and other deputies, Jacobins,
presiden ts of the Jacobin Club and the National Convention,
turnkeys, executioners and carters, men and women of the people,
grisettes, street minstrels, beggars, etc.
ACT I
Scene 1
Herault-S�chel/es, several ladies (at the game table), Danton, his

wife Julie (a little farther off, Danton on a stool at Julie's feet)
DANTON See the pretty lady, how cleverly she flips the cards !
Indeed she knows what she's doing ; they say she always holds
the heart up to her husband and her diamond to others . [She
has clumsy legs and trips easily; her husband shows the proper
bumps on his forehead, takes them for a joke and laughs about
them . ] You could actually make a person fall in love with lying .
JULIE Do you believe in me?
DANTON How can I know? We know little about each other.
We are pachyderms, we reach for each other but it' s in vain, we
only rub our rough hides against one another-we are very
lonely.
JULIE You know me, Danton.
DANTON Yes , as far as that goes . You have dark eyes and curly
hair and a delicate skin and you always say to me: dear George.
But (he points to her forehead and eyes) there, there, what's
hidden behind there? Mind you, our senses are coarse. Know
each other? We'd have to break open our skulls and pull each
other' s thoughts out of the brain fibers .
A LADY (to H�rault) What on earth are you doing with your
fingers?
HERAULT Nothing .
LADY Don' t squeeze your thumb like that, I can 't stand it .
HERAULT Just look , the thing has a physiognomy all its own .
DANTON No Julie, I love you like the grave.
JULIE (turning her back) Oh !
DANTON No, listen ! It is said that in the grave there' s rest, and
the grave and rest are one. I f that is so, I lie buried when I 'm in
10 / A ct /, Scene 1
your lap. You my sweet grave, your lips are death knells, your
voice is my dirge, your breasts are my burial mound , and your
heart is my coffin.
LADY You lost !
HERAULT That was an amorous adventure, it costs money the
same as all the others .
LADY Meaning that you made your declarations of love with
your fingers , like a deafmute .
HERAULT And why not? Some people say that t h o s e are
especially easy to understand . I plotted a love affair with a card
queen , my fingers were princes changed into spiders . You ,
Madame, were the fairy, but things were going badly, the Lady
was always in confinement , every few moments she was
delivered of a Jack. I wouldn ' t allow my daughter to play
games of that kind , the Lords and the Ladies fall on each other
so indecently, and the Jacks are born immediately afterwards .
(Enter Camille Desmoulins and Philippeau)
HERAULT Philippeau , what gloomy eyes ! Did you tear a hole
in your red nightcap? Or did St . Jacob make a sour face? Was
the guillotining interrupted by rain? Or did you get a bad seat
and couldn't see?
CAM ILLE You ' re doing a parody on Socrates . Do you know
what the divine asked Alcibiades when he found him one day in
a morose, dej ected mood? " Did you lose your shield on the
battleground? Were you defeated in a foot race or at sword
play? Did others surpass you in a contest of singing or playing
the lyre?" What classical:"republicans ! Compare that with our
guillotine-romanticism !
PHILIPPEAU Twenty victims were felled again today . We were
wrong , the followers of Hebert were sent to the scaffold only
because they didn 't proceed systematically enough , or, per
haps , because the Decemvirs considered themselves defeated as
soon as others were feared more than they-if only for a week .
HERAULT They want to make us antediluvians . St . Just wouldn 't
A ct /, Scene 1 / 1 1
mind i f we crept around on all fours agai n , and i f [ [Robes
pierre] ] the lawyer from Arras reinvented playpens for
us, school benches , and an Almighty God , according to the
mechanics of [ [Rousseau] ] the watchmaker from Geneva.
PHILIPPEAU And to that end, they wouldn 't shrink from
adding a few more zeros to Marat ' s tally [[o f people ripe for the
guillotine] ] . How much longer must we be dirty and bloody like
new-born babes , have coffins for cradles , and make sport with
heads? We must progress. The committee of Clemency must be
installed , the expelled deputies reinstated .
HERAULT The revolution has arrived at the stage of reorgani
zation .
The Revolution must cease, the Republic must begin. In the
principles of our government , right must replace duty, well
being replace virtue, and sel f-protection replace punishment .
Everyone must be able to assert himself and act true to his
nature . Be he reasonable or foolish , educated or uneducated ,
good or bad , it is none of the state's business . We're all fools,
and none of us has the right to impose his own kind of foolish
ness on the next man . Everyone must be able to enjoy life in his
own way, but never at the expense of others , or by disrupting
their personal enj oyment . [The individuality of the majority
must be manifest in the make-up of the state.]
CAM ILLE The form of government must be a transparent
garment clinging closely to the body of the people. Every swel
ling of the veins , every flexing of the muscles , every twitching
of the sinews must be perceptible through it. The shape may be
beautiful or ugly, it simply has the right to be the way it is;
we're not entitled to tailor an arbitrarily fashioned coat for the
body of the people. We shall rap the knuckles of those who
want to hide the bare shoulders of France, the charmi ng sinner ,
under a nun ' s veil .
We want naked gods , bacchantes , Olympic games , [hair wrea
thed in roses , sparkling wi ne , heavi ng bosoms , ] and from mel-
12 / Act /, Scene 2
odious lips : oh love, thou wicked loosener of limbs !

We shall not forbid the dour Romans to sit in a corner and
cook their turnips, but they shall attempt no longer to entertain
us with their gladiator games.
Divine Epicurus and Venus with her beautiful buttocks must
take the place of the Saints Marat and Chalier as doorkeepers
of the Republic.
Danton , you shall take the offensive in the Convention .
DANTON I shall , you shall, he shall . If we live that long-as the
old wives are saying. In an hour, sixty minutes will have
passed. Right, my boy?
CAMI LLE What has that got to do with it? it goes without
saying.
DANTON Oh , everything goes without saying. But who shall
bring all these beautiful things about?
PHILIPPEAU We and the honest people.
DANTON The a n d in between is a long word, it keeps us quite
far apart, it's a long stretch , honesty's going to be out of breath
before we get together . And even if! -honest people: you can
lend them money, you can be godparent to them and marry
your daughter to them, but that's all !
CAMI LLE I f you know that, why did you begin the struggle?
DANTON I couldn't stand these people. I could never look at
those pompous asses without giving them a swift kick . Sorry,
but that's my nature. (He gets up)
JULIE You're leaving?
DANTON (to Julie) I have to leave, they're wearing me out with
their politics.
(While leaving) One final prophecy: The statue of freedom has
not yet been cast, the furnace is red hot, we may all still burn
our fingers on it. (He leaves)
CAMILLE Let him be, do you think he can keep his fingers out
of it once the action gets going?
A ct /, Scene 2 I 13
HERAULT Well no, but only to pass the time, like playing
chess .
Scene 2
A STREET
Simon. His wife

SIMON (beats his wife) You pimping hell-hag, you wrinkled
bitch, you moth-eaten satan's apple !
WIFE Hey help ! Help !
(People come running) Pull them apart ! pull them apart !
SIMON No, let me be, Romans , I will dash this skeleton ! You
vestal virgin !
WIFE Me, a vestal virgin? That's a joke, s o m e j oke.
SIMON And so I'll rip the garments off your shoulders,
Naked into the sun I'll fling your carcass.
Each wrinkle of your body crawls with lech'ry,
You whore-bed ! (They are pulled apart)
FIRST CITIZEN What's going on?
SIMON Where is the virgin? speak ! Nay, I cannot say that . The
maiden ! nay, not that either ; the woman , the wife ! not that, not
that either ! Only one name left ! oh, it chokes me ! I have no
breath left for it .
SECOND CITIZEN That's good , else the name would reek of
schnapps .
SIMON Old Virginius , veil thy hairless head , the raven of shame
is sitting on it, pecking at thine eyes . Hand me a knife,
Romans ! (He keels over)
WIFE Dear me, he's really a good man , except he can't hold his
schna pps , it puts him on his last leg.
SECOND CITIZEN Then he has three legs to walk on .
WIFE No , he falls.
14 I A ct /, Scene 2
SECOND CITIZEN Right , first he walks on three of them , and

then he falls on the third , until the third itself falls again .
SIMON You are the vampire' s tongue that drinks my heart ' s
warmest blood .
WIFE Just leave him alone, he's reaching the point now where
he always gets maudlin, it 'll blow over .
FIRST CITIZEN What ' s it all about?
WIFE Well you know , I was sitting on a rock in the sun , you
know, warming myself, because we have no wood , you know . . .
SECOND CITIZEN Then take your husband's nose .
WIFE . . . and my daughter had gone down there round the
corner , she's a good girl and supports her parents .
SIMON H a , she confesses !
WIFE You Judas , you wouldn ' t even own a pair of pants to pull
on if the young gentlemen didn ' t let theirs down for her ! You
brandy barrel , do you want to die of thirst when that little
spring stops running, eh? We work with all parts of our body,
then why not with that one? Her mother worked with it when
she gave birth to her, and it hurt ; so why can' t she in turn make
it work for her mother , eh? and does it hurt her while she's
doing it , eh? You dumb ox!
SIMON Ha, Lucretia ! a knife, give me a knife, Romans ! Ha,
Appius Claudius !
FIRST CITIZEN Yes , a knife but not for the poor whore . What
has she done? Nothing ! It ' s her hunger that whores and begs .
A knife for those who buy the flesh of our wives and
daughters ! Woe to them.who whore with the daughters of the
peopl e ! Your bellies are full of rage, and they have indigestion ;
you have holes in your shirts , and they have warm coats; you
have calloused fists, and they have velvet-soft hands . Ergo , you
work and they are idle, ergo , you earn it and they steal it ; ergo ,
if you want a few pennies back of what is right fully yours, you
must whore and beg ; ergo , they are thieves and must be killed .
TH IRD CITIZEN They have no blood in their veins but what
A ct /, Scene 2 / 15
they 've sucked out of ours . They told us: kill the aristocrats ,
they're wolves! We hanged the aristocrats from the lantern s.
They said the veto devours your bread , we killed the veto . They
said, the Girondists are starving you , we guillotined the
Girondists . But they took the clothes off the dead , and we' re
running around with bare legs as before and are freezing . We
want to strip the skin off their thighs and make it into pants , we
want to render their fat and lace our soups with it. Down with
them ! Kill all who have no holes in their clothes!
FIRST CITIZEN Kill all who can read and write!
SECOND CITIZEN Kill all who mince their steps!
ALL (screaming) Kill! Kill! Kill! (A young man is dragged in)
SEVERAL VOICES He has a handkerchief! an aristocrat! to the
lantern ! to the lantern!
SECOND CITIZEN What? he doesn' t snot his nose with his
fingers? To the lantern! (A lantern is lowered)
YOUNG MAN Oh gentlemen!
SECOND CITIZEN There are no gentlemen here! To the
lantern!
SEVERAL VOICES (singing)
Bodies buried under shrubs
Will be welcome food for grubs .
Better in the air be swaying
Than below the ground decayi ng!
YOUNG MAN Have pity !
THI RD CITIZEN Only a gam e with a flock of hemp round the
neck! It's only a moment , we're more charitable than you . Our
life is murder by work; we dangle by the rope for sixty years,
kicking , but we shall cut ourselves loose.
To the lantern!
YOUNG MAN Have it your way, then , you ' ll not see any better
for it !
BYSTAN DERS Bravo , bravo!
SEVERAL VOICES Let him go ! (He escapes)
(Enter Robespie"e, accompanied by women and Sansculottes)

ROBESPIERRE What is going on, citizens?
THIRD CITIZEN What can be going on? The few drops of
blood shed in August and September haven't colored the
people's cheeks red . The guillotine is too slow. We need a
downpour.
FIRST CITIZEN Our women and children are crying for bread,
we want to feed them with the flesh of aristocrats . Hey ! kill all
who have no holes in their clothes .
ALL Kill ! Kill ! Kill !
ROBESPIERRE In the name of the law !
FIRST CITIZEN What is the law?
ROBESPIERRE The will of the people .
FIRST CITIZEN W e are the people, and w e will that there be no
law; ergo: this will is the law, ergo : in the name of the law there
is no more law, ergo: kill!
SEVERAL VOICES Hear the voice of Aristides , hear the voice
of the Incorruptible!
A WOMAN Hear the voice of the Messiah who is sent to select
and to j udge; He will smite the wicked with the sharpness of the
sword . His eyes are the eyes that select, His hands are the hands
of judgment !
ROBESPIERRE Poor , virtuous people! You do your duty, you
sacrifice your enemies. You, the people, are great. You reveal
yourselves in lightning bolts and thunderclaps. But your blows ,
my people, must not wound your own bodies ; do not murder
yourselves in your fury :'Only your own strength can overcome
you. Your enemies know this. Your Jawgivers are watching,
they will guide your hands , their eyes are unerring, your hands
cannot escape. Come along to the Jacobin Club. Your brothers
will receive you with open anns , we shall hold criminal court
over our enemies .
MANY VOICES To the Jacobins! Long live Robespierre ! (All
leave)
SIMON Woe is me, I am forsak:en ! (He tries to sit up)

WIFE There ! (She supports him)
SIMON Oh my Baucis, you are heaping coals of fire upon my
head.
WIFE Get up now !
SIMON You are turning away from me? Ha, can you forgive me,
Portia? Did I strike you? It was not my hand, not my arm, it was
my madness that did it .
His madness is poor Hamlet ' s enemy .
Then Hamlet did it not , Hamlet denies it .
Where is our daughter , where' s my little Sanny?
WIFE Around the comer over there.
SIMON Off off to see her, come my worthy spouse. (Both leave)
Scene 3
THE J ACOB INS' CLUB
A MAN FROM LYONS Our brothers from Lyons send us to

unburden their bitter displeasure unto you . We do not know
whether the tumbril that took Ronsin to the guillotine was the
hearse of Liberty, but we do know that from that day on,
Chalier ' s murderers have been treading the ground as firmly
again as if there were no grave for them . Have you forgotten
that Lyons is a stain on France' s soil which must be covered
with the traitors ' corpses? Have you forgotten that this whore
of the kings can cleanse her scabs only in the waters of the
Rhone? Have you forgotten that this river of the Revolution
must cause Pitt ' s armadas to founder on the corpses of aristo
crats in the Mediterranean? Your compassion is murdering the
Revolution . The breath of an aristocrat is the deathrattle of
Liberty. Only a coward dies for the Republic, a Jacobin kills
for it . Be it known: if we no longer find the vigor in you that
animated the men of August lOth, of September , and of May
31st , all that is left for us-as it was for Gaillard , the
patriot-is Cato' s dagger [[of suicide]]. (Applause and con
fused shouting)
A JACOBIN We shall drink Socrates' cup with you !
LEGENDRE (heaving himself up on the rostrum) We need not
turn our eyes to Lyons . The persons who wear silk clothes, who
sit in the loges of the theatre, and who talk according to the
dictionary of the Academy, have for several days been carryin g
their heads firmly on their shoulders . They are clever and say
that Marat and Chalier should be helped to double martyrdom
by having them guillotined in effigy. (Violent commotion in
the assembly)
SEVERAL VOICES They're dead people guillotined by their
own tongues .
LEGENDRE May the blood of these saints be upon them . I ask
the members of the Committee of Public Safety who are
present , since when have their ears become so deaf . . .
COLLOT D'HERBOIS (interrupting him) And I ask you , Leg
endre , whose voice is it that gives breath to such thoughts
so they can take on life and dare speak up? The time has come
to pull off the masks . Listen ! The cause accuses its effect , the
call accuses its echo, the reason accuses its consequence. The
Committee of Public Safety knows logic better than that,
Legendre! Calm yourself. The busts of the saints shall remain
untouched; like heads of Medusa they will turn the traitors to
stone.
ROBESPIERRE I demand to be heard.
THE JACOBINS Hear , hear the Incorruptible!
ROBESPIERRE We only waited for the cry of indignation,
which is now coming from all sides , before we were ready to
speak. Our eyes were open , we saw the enemy mobilizing and
rising up, but we did not give the signal of alarm. We let the
people guard themselves , they have not slept, they have taken
up arms. We have let the enemy emerge from his ambush , we
Act /, Scene 3 / 19
have let him approach, now he stands in the light of day, open
and without cover, he is dead as soon as you have laid eyes on
him .
I have told you this before: the enemies within the Republic are
split into two groups, two armies , as it were. Under banners of
different colors, on widely different roads, they are all rushing
toward the selfsame goal . One of these factions is no more . In
its affected madness it sought to do away with the most
tried-and-true patriots, branding them effete weaklings in
order to rob the Republic of its strongest hands. It declared war
on the Deity and on property in order to create a diversion for
the kings' benefit. It parodied the exalted drama of the
Revolution to compromise it with deliberate excesses .
HEbert's triumph would have made chaos out of the Republic,
thereby satisfying despotism . The sword of the law has smitten
the traitor. But what do the foreigners care as long as they can
count on villains of a different kind for the attainment of the
same goal? We have accomplished nothing as long as we have
to annihilate yet another faction.
It is the opposite of the previous one. It drives us into enfeeble
ment , its war cry is: Mercy ! It wants to rob the people of its wea
pons and of the strength needed to wield them , so as to surrender
it to the kings , naked and unnerved .
The Republic ' s weapon is terror, the Republic' s strength is
virtue. Virtue because, without it, terror is destructive; terror
because, without it, virtue is impotent. Terror is an outgrowth
of virtue, it is nothing but. rapid, stern and unbending j ustice.
They say that terror is the weapon of a despotic government ,
hence ours equals despotism . True, but only insofar as the
sword in the hands of the hero of Liberty equals the dagger
with which the tyrant ' s satellite is armed. May the despot reign
through terror over his brutish subjects-as a despot he is
right. Destroy the enemies of Liberty by means of terror, and
you, as the founders of the Republic, are no less right. The
revolutionary government is the despotism of Liberty against

tyranny.
Mercy to royalists ! is the cry of some. Mercy to evildoers?
Never ! Mercy to innocence, mercy to feebleness , mercy to the
unlucky, mercy to mankind . Only the peaceful citizen deserves
the protection of society. In a republic, only republicans are
citizens, royalists and foreigners are enemies . To punish the
oppressors of mankind is mercy, to forgive them is barbarism .
I regard all utterances of a false sentimentality as sighs directed
at England and Austria.
But not content with disarming the people' s hands, the enemies
also try to poison the most sacred springs of their strength with
immorality and vice. This is the most subtle, the most danger
ous, the most despicable assault on Liberty. [Only a satanic
Machiavellism-but no ! I will not say that such a plan could
have been hatched in a human brain. It may arise without pre
meditation, but intention does not count here, the result is the
same, the danger equally great . ] Vice is aristocratism ' s mark of
Cain. In a republic, vice is not only a moral crime, it is also a
political crime; the wicked is the political enemy of Liberty, the
greater the services he seemingly renders her, the more danger
ous he is. The most dangerous citizen is the person who will
more readily use up a dozen red Jacobin caps than do a good
deed .
You will easily understand me when you think of those who
used to live in attic rooms and now ride in state coaches and
commit fornication wit h former countesses and baronesses .
We may well ask: have the people been robbed or was it the
king ' s golden handshake, when we see the country's lawgivers
parade about with all the vices and all the luxury of former
courtiers, when we see these barons and counts of the Revolu
tion marry rich wives , give opulent banquets, gamble, keep
servants, and wear luxurious clothes? We may well be amazed
when we hear them spout ideas, talk culture, and affect good
manners . Lately they have parodied Tacitus in the most

impertinent way, I could answer with Sallust and do a travesty
on Catiline; but I think I need no more strokes of the brush, the
portraits are complete.
No contract , no truce with those whose only concern was
looting the people, who hoped to carry out this looting with
impunity, for whom the Republic was a speculation and the
Revolution a business . Terrified by the torrent of examples,
they try to lie low and let justice cool off. One should think that
each would tell himself: "I' m not virtuous enough to continue
the terror. Philosophic lawgivers , have pity on my weakness , I
dare not tell you that I am wicked, I rather ask you , be not
cruel!"
Rest assured, you virtuous people, rest assured, you patriots,
tell your brothers in Lyons the sword of the law is not rusting in
the hands of those to whom it was entrusted. -We shall give
the Republic a great example . (General applause)
MANY VOICES Long live the Republic ! Long live Robespierre !
P RESIDENT The session is closed .
Scene 4
A STREET
Lacroix. Legendre
LACROIX What have you done, Legendre? Do you know

whose heads you are knocking down with your busts?
LEGENDRE Those of a few dandies and elegant dames , that ' s
all .
LACRO IX You are sel f-destructive, a shadow that murders his
original and thereby himself.
LEGENDRE I don't understand.
LACROIX I thought Collot had spoken clearly .
LEGENDRE What difference does it make? [It was as if a

champagne bottle was bursting . ] He was drunk again.
LACROIX Fools, children, and-well?-drunks tell the truth .
Whom do you think Robespierre meant when he talked about
Catiline?
LEGENDRE Well?
LACROIX It ' s quite simple. The atheists and the extremists have
been sent to the scaffold, but the people have not been helped,
they're still roaming the streets barefoot, clamoring for shoes
to be made out of the skins of aristocrats . The guillotine-ther
mometer must not fall; only a few degrees lower, and the
Committee of Public Safety can find its bed on Ia Place de Ia
Revolution .
LEGENDRE What do my busts have to do with it?
LACROIX You still can ' t see it? You have officially announced
the counter-revolution, you have forced the Decemvirs into
action, you' ve led them by the hand. The people are a
Minotaur who demands his weekly human sacrifices, else he' ll
devour the Decemvirs .
LEGENDRE Where is Danton?
LACROIX Who knows? Just now he' s looking for the Venus de
Medici piece by piece among all the grisettes at the Palais Royal,
he ' s doing mosaics, as he puts it; heaven knows with what part
of the anatomy he' s occupied at the moment . It ' s a pity that
Nature cuts up beauty-as Medea did with her brother-and
sinks it into the body by_ fragment s .
Let's go t o the Palais R oyal . (Both g o off)
A ct I. Scene 5 I 23
Scene 5
A ROOM
Danton. Marion
MARION No , let me be! This way, at your feet . I want to tell

you something .
DANTON You could put your lips to better use.
MARION No, let me go on . [I come from a good family . ) My
mother was an intelligent woman , [she gave me a careful edu
cation, ] she always told me that chastity is a fine virtue.
When people came to visit and began to talk about all sorts of
things, she told me to leave the room; when I asked her what
the people wanted, she said I should be ashamed of myself.
When she gave me a book to read, I was almost always told to
skip a few pages . But I could read the Bible as I pleased,
everything in it was holy, but there were things I didn't
understand. I didn' t want to ask anyone either , I brooded on
my own. Then spring came, all around me things were going on
in which I had no part . I found myself in a strange atmosphere,
it almost suffocated me. I observed my body , I sometimes felt
as if I were double and then melted into one again. At that time
a young man came to our house; he was handsome and often
said wild things , I wasn ' t sure what he wanted but I had to
laugh. My mother asked him to come often, that suited both of
us. Finally we didn ' t see why we should not lie next to each
other between two sheets, rather than sit next to each other on
two chairs . It gave me more pleasure than his conversation,
and I couldn't see why I was allowed the smaller pleasure and
not permitted the greater. We went about it in secret. That's
how it continued. But I became like an ocean that consumed
everything and churned deeper and deeper. For me, there was
only one contrast, all men merged into one body. That is my
nature , how can I help it? Finally he saw it. One morning he
came and kissed me as if he were going to choke me, his arms
were roping round my neck, I was in unspeakable fear . Then he
let go of me and laughed and said : he had almost done
something mad, I should just keep my dress and use it, it would
wear out by itself, he didn' t want to spoil my fun before my
time was up, it was the only thing I had, after all . Then he left;
again I was not sure what he wanted . That evening I was sitting
by the window, I'm very sensitive and connect with everything
around me only by feeling, I was abandoning myself to the
waves of the sunset . Then a crowd came down the street ,
children in front , the women were looking out the windows . I
looked down, they were carrying him past in a basket, the
moon shone on his pale brow, his locks were damp, he had
drowned himself. I had to weep . It was the only time when
there was a break in my nature. Other people have Sundays and
workdays, they work six days and pray on the seventh , they are
sentimental once a year on their birthday, and they do some
reflecting once each New Year ' s Day. I don' t understand any
of this. I know no interval , no change. I am always only one.
One uninterrupted yearning and grasping , one glow, one
stream. My mother died of grief, people point their fingers at
me. That ' s dumb . It doesn ' t matter what one enj oys , be it
bodies, pictures of Christ , [wine glasses,] flowers , children's
playthings, the feeling is the same, he who enj oys the most
prays the most.
DANTON Why can't I co�tain your beauty completely within
mysel f, enfold it completely?
MARION Danton, your lips have eyes .
DANTON I wish I were part of the ether so I could bathe you in
my flood, so I could break on each wave of your beautiful
body.
(Enter Lacroix, A delaide, Rosalie)
Acr /, Scene 5 I 25
LACROIX (stays at the do or) I have to laugh, I reall y have to

laugh.
DANTON (resentfuf) \Veil?
LACROIX I ' m thinking of the street.
DANTON So?
LACRO IX There were dogs in the street, a Great Dane and a
Pekinese lap dog, they were in distress.
DANTON \Vhat do you mean?
LACRO IX It just came to my mind , and I had to laugh. It was
edifying! The maidens were looking out the windows, one
should be careful and not even let them sit in the sun. The flies
m ight be ca.IT)ing on right on their hands, that'll give them
ideas. Legendre and I ran through nearly all the cells, the Little
Sisters of the Revelation through the Flesh hung on to our coat
tails and wanted benediction . Legendre is giving the discipline to
one of them, but he'll get a month ' s abstinence for it. Here I
bring two of the priestesses Y.ith the Body.
MARION How do you do, Demoiselle Adelaide, how do you
do, Demoiselle Rosa.
ROSALIE \Ve haven't had the pleasure in a long time.
MARION I am quite sorry about that .
ADELAIDE Oh, we' re busy day and night .
DA!\rfON (to Rosalie) Darling, you ' ve acquired limber hips.
ROSALIE Well yes, we improve ourselves daily.
LACRO IX \Vhat is the di fference between the classical Adonis
and a modem one?
DAA"TON And Adelaide has become primly interesting! a pi
quant change. Her face looks like a fig leaf that she is holding
in front of her whole body. Such a fig tree on such a
well-tra ..·eled road gives a refreshing shade.
ADELAIDE I ' d be a path in the pasture, if Monsieur . . .
DANTON I u n derstan d ; hope you don ' t mind, Mademoiselle .
LACROIX Now listen to me! a modem Adonis doesn 't get
mangled by a boar but by sows , he receives his wound not on

his thigh but in the groin, and from his blood no roses will
spring , but poxglove blossoms will shoot up.
DANTON [Oh stop it,] Miss Rosalie is a restored torso on which
only the hips and feet are antique. She ' s a magnetic needle: what
the north pole repels, the south pole attracts; the middle is an
equator where everyone needs an antiseptic baptism when he
passes the line for the first time.
LACROIX Two Sisters of Mercy; each serves at the hospital
which is her own body .
ROSALIE You should be ashamed of yourselves , making our
ears burn !
ADELAIDE Your manners leave much to be desired. (A. and R.
leave)
DANTON Good night , my pretties !
LACROIX Good night , you pits with clap doors !
DANTON I feel sorry for them , having to go without supper.
LACROIX Listen, Danton, I come from the Jacobins.
DANTON Is that all?
LACROIX The men from Lyons read a proclamation, they
thought they had no choice but to wrap themselves in their
togas. Each made a face as if he were going to say to his
neighbor: Paetus , it [[the knife]] doesn ' t hurt ! Legendre shout
ed that they wanted to smash Chalier ' s and Marat ' s busts. I
believe he' s trying to dye his face red again; he has completely
lost touch with la terreur,·' the children on the street pull him by
the coat.
DANTON And Robespierre?
LACROIX Fidgeted on the rostrum and said: virtue must reign
through terror. That phrase gives me a sore throat.
DANTON It planes the planks of the guillotine.
LACROIX And Collot screamed as if possessed that the masks
will have to be torn off.
DANTON Then the faces will go with them. (Enter Paris)
Act /, Scene 5 / 27
LACROIX What's new , Fabricius?

PARIS From the Jacobins I went to Robespierre . I demanded an
explanation . He tried to make a face like Brutus sacri ficing his
sons. He talked in generalities about duty and said he' d never
compromise when Liberty was at stake, he would sacrifice all,
himself, his brother, his friends.
DANTON That was to the point , one only has to turn the scale
around , and he stands below holding the ladder for his friends.
We owe thanks to Legendre, he forced things out into the
open .
LACROIX The followers of H �bert aren' t dead yet , the people
are miserable, that is a frightening lever. The vessel of blood
must not grow lighter unless it become a lantern for the
Committee of Public Safety to hang from, it needs ballast , it
has to have a weighty head .
DANTON I am quite aware of it , -the Revolution is like Saturn ,
i t devours its own children . (After some thought) Yet , they will
not dare.
LACROIX D anton , you ' re a dead saint , but the Revolution
knows no relics, it has tossed the bones of all the kings out into
the street , it has toppled all the statues in the churches. Do you
believe they'd keep you as a monument?
DANTON My nam e ! The people !
LACROIX Your name ! You are a moderate, so am I , and so are
Camille, Philippeau , Herault . To the people, weakness and
moderation are one . The people will kill stragglers . The tailors
of the red-nightcap section will feel all of Roman history in
their needles when the man of the September Massacre be
comes a moderate to them .
DANTON Very true, and besides-the people are like a child
who has to break everything in order to see what is insi de.
LAC ROIX And moreover, Danton, according to Robespi erre
we are wicked, that is we enj oy ourselves , and the people are
virtuous , that is they do not enj oy themselves , because work
dulls their organs of enjoyment; they don ' t get drunk because
they have no money, and they don't go to the brothel because
their breath stinks of cheese and herring which nauseates the
ladies.
DANTON They hate those who enjoy life, the way a eunuch hates
men .
LACROIX They call us rascals, and (bending do wn to Danton's
ear) between you and me, they're not so far off. Robespierre and
the people will be virtuous, St . Just will write a novel , and Bar
rere will tailor a Carmagnole and hang the bloody mantle
around the Convention , and-I can see it all.
DANTON You are dreaming . They never had courage without
me, they won 't have any against me; the Revolution isn't finish
ed yet, they might still need me, they'll store me in the arsenal.
LACROIX We must act .
DANTON We shall see.
LACROIX We shall see when we are lost .
MARION (to Danton) Your lips have grown cold, your words
have choked your kisses.
DANTON (to Marion) To lose so much time! But it was worth
it! ( To Lacroix) Tomorrow I'll go to see Robespierre, I shall
make him angry, then he cannot keep silent. Tomorrow, then!
Good night , my friends , good night , I thank you.
LACROIX Off with you , my good friends , off with you! Good
night Danton, the demoiselle's thighs will guillotine you , the
mons veneris will be y� ur Tarpeian Rock.
_
Scene 6
A ROOM
Robespierre. Dan ton. Paris
ROBESPIERRE Let me tell you , whoever stays my arm when I

pull the sword is my enemy, whatever his intention; whoever
keeps me from defending myself kills me as surely as if he were
attacking me.
DANTON Where self-defense leaves off, murder begins; I see no
reason that would force us to go on killing.
ROBESPIERRE The social revolution is not yet completed;
whoever leaves a revolution half finished is digging his own
grave. The elite is not dead yet, the people's healthy strength
must take over instead of this totally decadent class. Vice must
be punished, virtue must reign through terror.
DANTON I don't understand the word 'punishment ' .
With your virtue, Robespierre ! You ' ve taken no bribes, you
didn' t go into debt , you' ve slept with no woman, you ' ve always
worn a decent coat , and you ' ve never been drunk. Robespierre,
you are shockingly righteous. I ' d be ashamed to run around
between heaven and earth for thirty years with the same moral
countenance, j ust for the miserable pleasure of finding others
less worthy than me. Isn' t there anything inside you that tells
you at times very softly, secretly: you ' re lying , you ' re lying? !
ROBESPIERRE My conscience is clean.
DANTON Conscience is a mirror in front of which a monkey
torments itself; each of us primps himself as best he can and
tries to have fun doing it his own way. It 's worth getting into
each other 's hair over it. Each may defend himself when the
other spoils his fun. Have you the right to make the guillotine a
washtub for other people' s soiled linen , and to make spot re
movers for their dirty clothes out of their knocked-off heads ,
30 I A ct I, Scene 6
j ust because you yourself always wear a well-brushed coat?

Sure, you can defend yourself if they spit on it or tear holes in
it, but what do you care as long as they leave you in peace? If
they are not embarrassed walking about like that, does that
give you the right to shut them into a hole six feet deep? Are
you the military police of Heaven? And if you cannot look at it
the same way as your dear Lord , why don' t you cover your eyes
with your handkerchief?
ROBESPIERRE You are denying virtue?
DANTON And vice. There are only epicureans , either gross or
refined, Christ was the most refined; that ' s the only difference
I can make out among human beings . Each acts according to
his nature, that' s to say he does what is best for him.
Admit it , old Incorruptible, it ' s cruel of us to tread the heels
off your shoes , isn ' t it?
ROBESPIERRE Danton, there are times when vice becomes
high treason .
DANTON But you must not outlaw it, for heaven ' s sake don 't,
that would be ungrateful, you owe it too much , I mean it pro
vides you with the needed contrast .
By the way, according to your conceptions , our pranks must be
useful to the Republic, since one must not strike both the inno
cent and the guilty.
ROBESPIERRE But who says that an innocent has been struck?
DANTON Do you hear that , Fabricius? No innocent has died !
(He goes, on leaving to Paris) Let ' s not lose a moment , we
must show ourselves . (Danton and Paris go off)
ROBESPIERRE (alone) Just go ! He wants to let the steeds of
the Revolution make halt at the brothel , the way a coachman
stops his trained nags ; they will have enough strength to drag
him to Ia Place de Ia Revolution.
To tread the heels off my shoes ! According to my conceptions !
But wait ! wait ! Is that it, really? They will say his giant frame
A ct /, Scene 6 I 3 1
cast too large a shadow on me, that' s why I ordered him out of
the sun .
And could they be right?
Is it that necessary, then? Yes , yes ! the Republic ! He must go.
It's ridiculous, the way my thoughts control each other . He
must go . A man who stands still in a forward-surging crowd is
j ust as obstructive as though he were opposing it; he'll be
trampled down . We will not permit the Ship of the Revolution
to come to grief on the shallow calculations and mudbanks of
these people, we must hack off the hand that dares restrain it ,
and if he were to seize it with his teeth !
Down with all those who took the clothes off the dead aristo
cracy and inherited its leprosy.
No virtue ! Virtue a heel of my shoe ! According to my concep
tions ! How this keeps coming back .
Why can't I rid myself of the thought? It points its bloody fin
ger there, always there ! No matter how many rags I wrap
around it, the blood keeps oozing through . -(After a pause) I
don ' t know which part of me is telling lies to the other .
(He steps to the window) The night snores over the earth ,
thrashing in an ugly dream. Thoughts , wishes , barely perceiv
ed , chaotic and amorphous, which shyly shun the light of day,
are now taking on shape and cover and are stealing into the
quiet house of dreams . They open doors , they look out of
windows, they become part flesh , their limbs stretch in their
sleep , their lips murmur . -And isn ' t our waking state a dream
in lighter colors , aren ' t we sleepwalkers, aren 't our actions like
actions in a dream, only clearer , more precise, more realized?
Who will blame us for it? In one hour , the mind accomplishes
more deeds of thought than the sluggish organism of our body
is able to emulate in years . The sin is in the thought. Whether
the thought becomes deed , whether the body emulates it, that is
accident . (St. Just enters)
ROBESPIERRE Hey, who ' s there in the dark? Hey, light, light !
ST . JUST Don 't you recognize my voice?
ROBESPIERRE Oh it ' s you , St . Just ! (A maid servant brings a
light)
ST. JUST Were you alone?
ROBESPIERRE Danton j ust left .
ST . JUST I met him on the way, in the Palais Royal . He put on
his revolutionary face and spoke in epigrams , he was on famil
iar terms with the Sansculottes, the grisettes ran after his legs ,
and the people stopped and whispered in each other' s ears what
he had said.
We'll lose the advantage of the first strike. Are you going to
hesitate any longer? We shall act without you . Our minds are
made up.
ROBESPIERRE What are you going to do?
ST . JUST We shall convene the Committees of Legislation , Sec
urity, and Public Safety in special session .
ROBESPIERRE So much fuss.
ST . JUST We must bury the great body with decorum, like
priests , not like murderers . We must not dismember it, all its
limbs must go down with it.
ROBESPIERRE Speak more clearly.
ST . JUST We must bury him in full regalia and slaughter his
horses and slaves on his burial mound: Lacroix
ROBESP IERRE A consummate scoundrel , former law clerk , at
present Lieutenant General of France. Go on.
ST. JUST H erault-S echelles .
ROBESPIERRE A handsome head .
ST. JUST He was the beauti fully illuminated first letter in the
document of the Constitution, we no longer need such embel
lishments , he will be erased . Phillippeau ; Camille
ROBESPIERRE He too?
ST. JUST (hands him a paper) Just as I thought . Here, read this !
ROBESPIERRE Aha, 'The Old Franciscan' , is that all? He's a

child, he was making fun of you .
ST . JUST Read, here ! here ! (He sho ws him the place)
ROBESPIERRE (reads) " Robespierre, this bloody Messiah , bet
ween the two thieves Couthon and Collot on his Mount Cal
vary on which he sacrifices and is not being sacri ficed . The
pious worshippers of the guillotine stand below like Mary and
Magdalen . St. Just leans against his heart like St. John and ac
quaints the Convention with the Master ' s apocalyptic revel
ations ; he carries his head like a monstrance . "
ST . JUST I shall make him carry his own i n the manner o f St .
Denis.
ROBESPIERRE (reads on) ''Should one believe that the Mes
siah 's clean frock coat is France' s shroud, and that his thin fin
gers , twitching about on the rostrum , are the knives of the
guillotine? And you, Barr ere [[de Vieuzac] ] , who once said that
money is made on la Place de la R e volution . But-1 don 't want
to dig up an old sack , he's a widow who has already had half a
dozen husbands and has helped to bury them . Who is to
blame? It is a gift of his , he can tell the hippocratic mask on
people's faces half a year before their death . But then , who
likes to sit next to corpses and smell the stench'?"
You too , then , Camille?
Away with them ! Quick ! Only the dead will not return . Is the
indictment ready?
ST . JUST That ' s easily done. You gave enough hints at the Jaco
bin Club .
ROBESPIERRE I wanted to frighten them .
ST . JUST I only have to follow through , the forgers will fu rnish
the hors d ' oeuvre and the foreigners the dessert . The meal will be
fatal to them , take my word for it .
ROBESPIERRE Quick , then , tomorro w . No prolonged agony ! I
have become sensitive these past days . (St. Just goes off)
ROBESPIERRE (alone) Indeed, the bloody Messiah who sacri

fices and is not being sacrificed. -He has redeemed them with
His blood, and I redeem them with their own. He caused them
to sin, and I take the sin upon myself. He had the orgasm of
pain, and I have the torment of the hangman.
Whose sacrifice is greater, mine, or His?-
And yet there is something like folly in the thought. -
How is it we always look only upon the One? Verily, the Son of
Man is being crucified in all of us, we all suffer the bloody
sweat of agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but no one
redeems the other with his wounds. -My Camille ! -They are
all leaving me-everything is desolate and void-I am alone.
ACT II
Scene 1
A ROOM
Danton. Lacroix. Philippeau. Paris. Camille Desmou/ins

CAM ILLE Hurry, Danton, we have no time to lose.
DANTON (putting on his clothes) But time is losing us .
How boring , always putting the shirt on first and then pulling
the pants over it and crawling into bed at night and crawling
out of it in the morning and always putting one foot in front of
the other like this , there' s no telling how it can ever change. It ' s
very sad, and that millions have done t h e same thing before,
and that millions will continue doing it, and that , furthermore,
we consist of two halves which do the same thing so that every
thing is in duplicate-it is all very sad .
CAM ILLE You speak in quite a childlike tone.
DANTON The dying often become childish .
LACROIX Your hesitation will be your undoing , and you ' ll pull
all your friends with you . Send word to the cowards that it is
time to rally round you , summon them from the Plain as well as
from the Mountain. Shout about the Committee' s tyranny , talk
of daggers , and you will frighten the tribunes and gather even
those around you who are threatened as Hebert ' s accomplices .
You must give in to your rage . At least do not let us die dis
armed and humilated like the infamous H�bert .
DANTON You have a poor memory , you called me a dead saint .
You were right, more than you realized . I went to the sections :
they were respectful , but like undertakers . I am a relic, and
relics are tossed in the street , you were right .
LACRO IX Why did you let it come to t � at?
DANTON To that? Well, actually, I was getting rather bored
36 / A ct II, Scene I
with always running around in the same coat and making the
same face . It's pitiful to be such a miserable instrument on
which one string always gives forth only o n e note !
It ' s unbearable. I wanted to take it easy. I succeeded , the Rev
olution is retiring me but not the way I expected.
Besides , what is there to depend on? Our whores could still be a
match for the pious worshipers of the guillotine, that ' s all I
k now . You can count it on the fingers of one hand: the Jaco
bins have declared Virtue the order of the day, the Cordeliers
call me Hebert ' s hangman , the Council General of the Com
mune is doing penance, the Convention-now that might still
be a means ! but there would be another 3 1 st of May, they
wouldn 't yield willingly. Robespierre is the Revolution ' s dog
ma, it must not be crossed out . It wouldn ' t even wor k. We
didn ' t make the Revolution, the Revolution made us.
And-were this possible-! would rather be guillotined than
guillotine others . I ' ve had enough , why must we humans fight
one another? We should sit next to each other and have peace.
There' s a flaw in the way we were created, we lack something , I
have no name for it . But we won ' t be able to dig it out of each
other' s guts , so why break our bodies open? Admit it, we are
miserable alchemists .
CAM I LLE T o put i t i n more solemn terms: how long must hum
anity keep devouring its own limbs in eternal hunger? or, how
long must we shipwrecked castaways keep sucking the blood
out of each other ' s veins in unquenchable thirst? or, how long
must we algebraists of the flesh keep writing our computations
with mangled limbs in our search for the unknown , forever
elusive X?
DANTON You are a strong echo.
CA M I LLE A pistol shot does sound as loud as a thunderclap ,
doesn ' t it. So much the better for you , I should be with you all
the time .
P H I L I P PEAU And leave France to her executioners?
A ct II, Scene 1 / 37
DANTON What difference does it make? The people aren ' t doing
so badly at that . They have their misfortunes , what more can
one ask to make them noble, tender , virtuous or witty, or not
ever to suffer any boredom?
Does it matter if they die of the guillotine, of the fever, or of
old age? It seems even preferable to make one' s exit with the
body still nimble, and with nice gestures , and hearing the
audience clap. That' s quite pleasant and suits us well, we are
always on stage, although in the end we'll be stabbed to death
in earnest . It' s quite desirable to have one's lifetime shortened
a bit , the coat was too long, our bodies could not fill it out .
Life as an epigram , that makes sense: who , after all , has
enough breath and wit for an epic in fifty or sixty cantos? It's
time we no longer drink t h e little b i t of essence out of tubs but
from small liqueur glasses , the mouth will be j ust as full : it ' s
much easier than scraping up a few drops out o f the clumsy
vessel .
Finally-I could scream , it ' s too much of an effort , life is not
worth the trouble it takes to keep it .
PARIS Flee then , Danton!
DANTON Can I take my country along under the soles of my
shoes? Ultimately-and that ' s what counts : they won ' t dare .
( To Camille) Come my boy, I tell you , they will not dare.
Adieu , adieu ! (Danton and Camille go off)
P H I L I PPEAU There he goes .
LACROIX And doesn't believe a word o f what he said . Nothing
but indolence ! He'd rather have himself guillotined than give a
speech .
PARIS What are we to do?
LAC ROIX Go home and try , like Lucretia, to find an honorable
way out .
38 / A ct 1/, Scene 2
Scene 2
A P R O M EN A D E
People strolling
A CITIZEN My good Jacqueline, I mean to say Corn . . . , ! mean

Cor . . .
SIMON Cornelia, citizen , Cornelia.
CITIZEN My good Cornelia has blessed me with a little boy .
SIMON Has borne the Republic a son .
CITIZEN The Republic, that sounds too general , they might
say . . .
SIMON That ' s just it , the individual must be subservient io the
general . . .
CITIZEN Ah yes , that ' s what the wife says too .
STREET MINSTREL (sings)
What' s the height , what ' s the height
Of man 's pleasure and delight?
CITI ZEN It' s the name. I ' m all confused about the name.
SIMON Baptize him : Pike, Marat .
MINSTREL
Under anguish , under sorrow
To be toiling from the morrow
Until day has turned to night .
CITIZEN I ' d like to have three , there 's something about the
number three, and then a name that ' s useful and a name that ' s
righteous . Now I ' ve got i t : Plow and Robespierre.
And now the third?
SIMON Pike.
CITI ZEN Many thanks , neighbor . Pike, Plow, Robespierre,
those are nice names , they sound good .
SIMON I tell you , your Cornelia ' s breasts shall be like the udder
A ct II, Scene 2 / 39
of the Roman she-wolf, no , that won ' t do , Romulus was a

tyrant , it won 't do . ( They walk past)
A BEGGAR (sings)
A handful of dirt
And some moss for me . . .
Kind gentl emen , pretty ladies !
FI RST GENTLEMAN Why don ' t you work , man , you look
quite well fed .
SECOND GENTLEMAN There ! (He gives him money) His
hand is like velvet . He's got some nerve !
BEGGAR How did you get your coat , sir?
SECOND GENTLEMAN Work , work ! You could have the
same, I ' ll give you work , come to my place, I live . . .
BEGGAR Sir , why did you work?
SECOND GENTLEMAN Why , to get the coat , you fool .
BEGGAR You ' ve plagued yourself to gain a luxury, for a coat
like that is a luxury, a rag will give the same service .
SECOND GENTLEMAN Sure enough , there is no other way.
BEGGAR I ' d rather be a fool . I t ' s either the one or the other .
The sun shines warm on this corner , and that comes quite easy.
(Sings)
A handful of dirt
And some moss for me . . .
ROSAL IE (to A delaide) Hurry , there are some soldiers , we
haven 't had a warm meal in our bellies since yesterday.
BEGGAR
That '11 be on earth
My last destiny !
Kind gentlemen , kind ladies !
SO L DIE R Halt ! where to, my children? ( To Rosalie) How old
are you?
ROSA L I E As old as my little finger .
SOLDIER You are very sharp .
40 / A ct II, Scene 2
ROSALIE And you 're very dull .

SOLDIER Then I ' ll sharpen myself on you . (He sings)
Christina, dear Christina mine,
Are you hurt and sore , hurt and sore,
Hurt and sore, hurt and sore?
ROSALIE (sings)
Oh no, dear Mister Soldier ,
I 'll gladly have some more, have some more,
Have some more, have some more !
(Enter Danton and Camille)
DANTON Aren' t they having fun ?
I smell something in the air , it ' s a s i f the sun were breeding
lechery .
Don't you feel like j umping in, like tearing the pants off your
body and copulating from the rear like dogs in the street?
( They walk past)
YOUNG GENTLEMAN Ah Madame, the sound of a bell , the
evening iight on the trees , the twinkling of a star . . .
MADAME The fragrance of a blossom , these natural enj oy
ments , this pure delight in nature ! ( To her daughter) Behold,
Eug�nie, only virtue has eyes to see i t.
EUGEN IE (kisses her mother •s hand) Oh , Mama, I see only
you !
MADAME The dear child !
YOUNG GENTLEMAN (whispers in Eugenie •s ear) Do you see
the pretty lady over there with the old gentleman?
EUGENIE I know her .
YOUNG GENTLEMAN They say her hair stylist did her hair a
l ' en fant .
EUGENIE (laughs) Malicious gossip !
YOUNG GENTLEMAN The old gentleman walks b y her side,
he sees the little bud swell and takes it for a stroll in the sun ,
thinking he was the summer rain that made it grow .
EUGENIE How indecent , I feel I ought to blush .
A ct II, Scene 3 / 4 1
YOUNG GENTLEMAN That could make m e grow pale. ( They

go off)
DANTON (to Camille) Don't expect anything serious of me. I
can 't understand why people don' t stop in the streets and laugh
in each other's faces . It seems to me they should laugh out of
the windows and out of their graves, and the sky should burst ,
and the earth should be convulsed with laughter . ( They go off)
FIRST GENTLEMAN I assure you , an extraordinary discovery.
Thanks to it, the entire state of the art will take on a different
complexion . A giant step for mankind toward its higher
destiny.
SECOND GENTLEMAN Have you seen the new play? A Ba
bylonian Tower, a j umble of vaults, stairs, passages , and all of
this as if sprayed into the air with great facility and boldness.
Every step gives you vertigo . A bizarre mind . (He stops, em
barrassed)
FIRST GENTLEMAN What' s wrong with you?
SECOND GENTLEMAN Oh , nothing ! Your hand, sir ! the
puddle, there ! I thank you . I could barely walk past it, it could
have been dangerous !
FIRST GENTLEMAN Surely you were not afraid?
SECOND GENTLEMAN Yes I was , the earth is a thin crust , I
always fear I could fall through it when there' s such a hole.
One must step cautiously, one could break through . But do
take my advice, go to the theatre !
Scene 3
A ROOM
Danton. Camille. Lucile
CAM ILLE I tell you , unless they get everything in wooden

copies , scattered- all over theatres , concert halls and art galler-
ies , people have neither eyes nor ears for it . I f someone carves a
marionette on which you can see the string that tugs it, and
whose j oints creak in iambic pentameters with every step
what character, what significance ! I f someone takes a tiny
sentiment , a notion , an aphorism , and dresses it in coat and
pants, gives it hands and feet , paints its face and lets the thing
plague itself through three acts until it fmally gets married or
shoots itself-an ideal ! If someone fiddles an opera which
renders the rising and sinking moods in the human mind the
way a water-filled clay pipe reproduces the song of a nightin
gale-ah , it is art !
Turn the people out of the theatre onto the street : alas , the mis
erable reality ! They forget their Almighty God over His
wretched copyists . Of creation-gloriously, resoundingly,
luminously being reborn for them at every moment-they hear
and see nothing . They go to the theatre, read poems and novels
and ape the caricatures they find in them , and to God ' s own
creatures they say: how vulgar !
The Greeks knew what they were doing when they said that
Pygmalion ' s statue had come to life but could bear no children .
DANTON And artists treat nature the way David did when he
coldbloodedly sketched the corpses of victims during the Sept
ember Massacre as they were hurled out of La Force onto the
street , and when he said: I am snatching the last twitches of life
from these villains . (Danton is called away)
CAM I LLE What did you say, Lucile?
LUCILE Nothing , I j ust love to see you speak .
CAM I LLE And hear me, too?
LUCILE Of course.
CAM ILLE Do you think I'm right , do you know what I was
talking about?
LUCILE No, not really . (Danton returns)
CAM I LLE What is wrong?
A ct 1/, Scene 3 I 43
DANTON The Committee of Public Safety decided to have me

arrested . I ' ve been warned and offered a place of asylum.
They want my head, let them have it, for all I care. I ' m sick of
all the to-do . They can have my head, what does it matter? I ' ll
know how to die with courage; it' s easier than to live.
CAMILLE Danton , there' s still time.
DANTON Impossible, -but I wouldn ' t have thought . . .
CAMILLE Your indolence !
DANTON I ' m not indolent but tired . The soles of my feet are
burning .
CAMILLE Where are you going?
DANTON Well, who knows !
CAMILLE Seriously, where to?
DANTON For a walk, my boy, for a walk ! (He leaves)
LUCILE Oh Camille !
CAMILLE Be calm, dear love .
LUCILE When I think they might-your head ! My Camille! it's
nonsense, tell me I'm crazy!
CAMILLE Fear not , Danton and I are not the same person.
LUCILE The earth is wide, so many things are on it, why then
j ust this one? Who would take it away from me? It would be so
wicked . And what good would it do them?
CAM ILLE Let me tell you again, there' s no need to be upset .
Yesterday I talked to Robespierre, he was friendly. True, we' re
all a bit tense, different points of view, that' s all .
LUCILE Go to see him.
CAMILLE We sat on the same school bench . He was always
gloomy and withdrawn. I was the only one to seek his company
and to make him laugh on occasion . He has shown me great
loyalty at all times . I shall leave now .
LUCILE So abruptly, my love? Go ! Come ! Only this (she kisses
him) and thi s . Go ! Go ! (Camille leaves)
This is an evil time . I guess that' s the way it is. Who can over-
44 I A ct II, Scene 4
come it? I must pull myself together . (She sings)

Parting , oh parting , oh parting ,
Why must parting come into my life?
Why did this come to my mind j ust now? It ' s not good that it
found the way all by itself.
When he left , it was as though he could never return , as though
he had to go farther away from me, ever farther .
How empty the room is, the windows open as if a dead man
had lain in it. I can' t bear it up here any longer . (She leaves)
Scene 4
A N OPEN F I E L D
DANTON I don' t want to go on . I don 't want to pollute this

stillness with the chatter of my steps and the panting of my
breath. (He sits do wn; after a pause)
I have heard of a sickness that makes you lose your memory.
Death , they say, is not unlike it. This sometimes gives me hope
that it has perhaps an even stronger effect and makes you lose
a1 1 .
If it were true !
In that case I would run like a Christian trying to save my
enemy, my memory, that is.
The place [[of asylum] ] is said to be safe; for my memory, yes ,
but not for me. For me, the grave has more safety, at least it
makes me forget ! It kills my memory . But there, my memory
lives and kills me. I , or it? The answer is easy . (He rises and
turns back)
I am toying with death , it ' s quite pleasant to flirt with it from a
distance, with a lorgnon, as it were. I actually have to laugh
about the whole business. Deep down I have a feeling of per
manence which tells me, tomorrow will be like today, and the
A ct II, Scene 5 I 45
day after and on and on it will all be as before. It' s an empty

threat, they want to scare me, they won't dare. (He leaves)
Scene 5
A ROOM
It is night
DANTON (at the window) Will this never cease? Will the light
never grow dim and the sound never rot? Will it never get still
and dark so we don ' t have to hear and see each other ' s ugly sins
any longer?-September ! -
JULIE (calls from another room) Danton ! Danton !
DANTON What is it?
JULIE (enters) What were you shouting?
DANTON Was I shouting?
JULIE You called out something about ugly sins , and then you
groaned: September !
DANTON Me, me? No, I did not say that, I barely thought it ,
those were only innermost , very secret thoughts .
JULIE You are trembling, Danton .
DANTON And why should I not tremble when the walls are
babbling? When my body is so shattered that my thoughts,
unsteady, restless , talk with lips of stone? It is eerie.
JULIE George, my George !
DANTON Yes, Julie, it 's very eerie. I want to think no more if it
speaks out like that . There are thoughts, Julie, that should not
be caught by any ears . It's not good when thoughts cry at birth
like newborn children . It is not good .
JULIE May God keep you in your right mind, George. George,
do you know who I am?
DANTON Sure, why wouldn' t I? You are a human being and
also a woman and finally my wife, and the earth has five con-
tinents , Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia, and
two times two makes four. I am in my right mind, see? Didn ' t
something scream September? Isn ' t that what you said?
JUL I E Yes , Danton, I heard it all through the house.
DANTON When I went to the window-(he looks out) the town
is quiet , all lights out .
JULI E A child is crying nearby.
DANTON When I went to the window-something was scream
ing and screeching through all the streets: September !
JUL I E You were dreaming , Danton . Calm yoursel f.
DANTON Dreaming? yes I was dreaming, but this was differ
ent , it ' ll come to me in a moment , my poor head is spinning, in
a moment ! Now I ' ve got it ! Below me the earth was panting in
her soaring flight , I was clutching her as though she were a wild
steed , with enormous limbs I burrowed into her mane and dug
into her ribs, my head bent way down , my hair streaming over
the abyss ; thus I was being dragged. Then I screamed in fear ,
and woke up . I stepped to the window-that ' s when I heard it ,
Julie.
What does that word want? Why it of all words , what have I to
do with it? Why does it reach for me with its bloody hands? I
never struck it .
Oh help me, Julie, my mind is dull . Wasn 't it in September ,
Julie?
JULIE The kings were no more than forty hours outside of
Paris . . .
DANTON The fortresses fallen , the aristocrats in the city . . .
JULIE The Republic was lost .
DANTON Yes , lost . We could not leave the enemy at our rear,
we would have been fools , two enemies on one plank, we or
they, the stronger pushes the weaker off, it ' s only fair.
JULIE Yes , yes it is .
DANTON We destroyed them , that was not murder, it was war
against the inner enemy .
A ct II, Scene 6 I 4 7
JULIE You saved the country .

DANTON Yes, that I did . It was self-defense, there was no other
way. The Man on the Cross made things easy for Himself: For
it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by
whom the offense cometh !
It must , there was this 'must' . Who wants to curse the hand on
which the curse of the 'must ' has fallen? Who is it that spoke
the must , who? What is it within us that whores , lies , steals and
murders?
We are puppets, our strings pulled by unknown powers ; we
ourselves are nothing , nothing ! Swords in the hands of fighting
spirits , only we don't see the hands , as in a fairy tale.
I am calm now .
JULIE Quite calm, dear heart?
DANTON Yes , Julie, let ' s go to bed .
Scene 6
STR E ET I N F R O N T O F DA NTON 'S H O U S E
Simon. Citizens of the Militia

SIMON How far into the night are we?
FI RST CITIZEN What into the night?
SIMON How far is the night along?
FI RST CITIZEN As far as between sunset and sunrise.
SIMON Damn you, what ' s the time?
FIRST CITIZEN Look at the face of your watch ; it 's the time
when the pendulums strike out under the bed covers .
SIMON We must enter ! On with it, citizens ! Our heads are at
stake. Dead or alive ! He has enormous strength . I shall go first,
citizens . Make way for Liberty !
Take care of my wi fe ! I shall leave her a wreath o f laurels .
FI RST CITIZEN A wreath of laurels? They say her lap earns her
enough laurels any day.
SIMON Onward, citizens , do you duty for your country !

SECOND CITIZEN I wish our country did its duty by us . For all
the holes that we make in other people's bodies , not a single
hole has been mended in our pants.
FIRST CITIZEN You want to have your fly sewed up? Ha, ha,
ha.
THE OTHERS Ha, ha, ha.
SIMON Onward, onward ! ( They force their way into Danton's
house.)
Scene 7
TH E N ATION A L CON V ENTION
A Group of Deputies
LEGENDRE Isn ' t the butchering of deputies ever going to stop?

Who will still be safe if Danton falls?
A DEPUTY What ' s to be done?
ANOTHER He must be heard before the Convention . This will
be a sure means ; what could they bring up against his voice?
ANOTHER Impossible, a decree forbids such procedure.
LEGENDRE It has to be revoked , or we must make an exception .
I shall make the motion. I count on your support.
THE PRESIDENT The session is opened .
LEGENDRE (steps up on the rostrum) Four members of the
National Convention were arrested during the past night . I
know that Danton is one of them ; the names of the others are
unknown to me. Whoever they may be, I demand that they be
heard before the Convention . Citizens, I declare, I consider
Danton as pure as myself, and I don ' t believe that any blame
can be fastened on me. I shall not remark upon any member of
the Committees of Public Safety and Security, but I have
well-founded reasons to fear that personal spite and personal
A ct II, Scene 7 I 49
hate may rob Liberty o f men who rendered her the greatest ser
vices . The man whose energy saved France in the year 1 792 ,
this man deserves to be heard, he must be all o wed to account
for himself when he is accused of high treason . ( Violent
commotion)
SEVERAL VOICES We support Legendre ' s motion.
A DEPUTY We are here in the name of the people, nobody can
tear us from our places without the consent of our voters .
ANOTHER Your words reek of corpses , you took them out of
the mouths of the Girondists . Do you want privileges? The axe
of the law hangs over all heads .
ANOTHER \Ve cannot allow our committees to send our law
givers from the asylum of the law to the guillotine.
ANOTHER Crime has no asylum , only royal criminals find
asylum on the throne .
ANOTHER Only rogues appeal to the right of asylum .
ANOTHER Only murderers refuse to acknowledge it .
ROBESP IERRE The confusion in this assembly-unknown to it
for a long time-proves that great issues are at stake . Today it
will be decided whether certain men will win a victory over our
country . How can you repudiate your own principles so thor
oughly that you are willing to grant to certain individuals today
what you denied to Chabot, Delaunay, and Fabre the day be
fore? \Vhy this discrimination in favor of certain men? What
do I care about the praises people heap on themselves and their
friends? Experience has taught us only too well what these
praises are worth . We do not ask whether a man has performed
this or that patriotic deed , we ask about his entire political ca
reer .
Legendre does not seem to know the names of the others who
were arrested , yet the whole Convention knows them. His
friend Lacroix is among them . \Vhy does Legendre not seem to
know it? Because he knows per fectly well that nothing but
shamel essness can defend Lacroix. He named only Danton be-
cause he believes that a certain privilege is attached to this

name. No , we want no privileges , we want no idols ! (Applause)
In what respect is Danton better than Lafayette, than Du
mouriez, than Brissot , Fabre, Chabot , H ebert? What can be
said about them that cannot also be said about him? Yet have
you treated them with consideration? Why does he deserve to
be favored above his fellow citizens? Could it be that some
deceived in d ividuals, and some others who did not let them
selves be deceived, became his followers because through him
they hoped to run into the arms of fortune and power? The
more he deceived the patriots who placed their trust in him , the
more strongly must he experience the sternness of those who
love Liberty.
They want to make you fear the abuse of a power which you
yourself have wielded . They scream about the despotism of the
committees , as though the trust you received from the people,
which you passed on to these committees , were not a safe guar
antee of their patriotism . They pretend to be trembling . But I
say to you , whoever trembles at this moment is guilty, because
innocence never trembles in fear of public vigilance. (General
applause) They tried to frighten me, too , they gave me to
understand that the danger, by closing in on Danton, could
also engulf me.
They wrote to me that Danton ' s friends were besieging me in
the belief that the memory of old ties , that blind faith in feign
ed virtues , could induce me to relax my zeal and my passion for
Liberty.
Let me declare, then : nothing shall deter me, even if Danton's
danger were to become my own . We are all in need of some
courage, of some greatness of soul . Only villains and base souls
are in fear of seeing their own kind fall by their side, because
once they can no longer hide behind their accomplices in crime,
they will be exposed to the light of truth. But if such souls are
in this assembly, there are also those of a heroic cast. The
A ct II, Scene 7 I 5 1
number of scoundrels i s not great . W e only have t o eliminate a

few heads , and the country is saved . (Applause)
I demand that Legendre ' s motion be defeated. ( The delegates
rise in a body, indicating general approval)
ST. JUST In this assembly there seem to be some sensitive ears
that cannot bear to hear the word b I o o d . A few general obser
vations on the facts of nature and history may convince them
that we are no crueler than Nature and Time. Nature follows
her laws quietly and inexorably; wherever man is in conflict
with them, he is destroyed . A change in the components of the
air, a flare-up of tellurian fire, a fluctuation in the equilibrium
of a body of water , an epidemic, a volcanic eruption , a
flood-and thousands are annihilated . What is the result? An
insignificant , a barely perceptible change in physical nature,
which would have passed with hardly a trace , had there been no
corpses in its path .
Now I ask : should moral nature in its revolutions be more con
siderate than physical nature? If a law of physics is allowed to
destroy what opposes it , should an idea not have the same
right? After all , should an event which changes the entire
structure of moral nature, that is to say, of humanity-should
such an event not be allowed to leave a trail of blood? The
spirit of the world uses our arms and hands in the spiritual
sphere the same as it uses volcanos and floods in the physical
sphere. What di fference does it make whether men die of an
epidemic or of a revolution?-
The steps of mankind are slow, one can count them only by
centuries ; behind each step rise the graves of generations . To
arrive at the simplest inventions and principles has cost the lives
of millions who died along the way. Isn't it obvious, then , that
at a time when the course of history is accelerated, more than
the usual number of people will get out of breath?
Our conclusion is, quickly and simply: since all men are created
under the same conditions, all men are equal , except for the
differences caused by Nature herself. Therefore, everyone may

have advantages but no one may have privileges, either singly
or as a smaller or larger class of individuals. Every part of this
sentence , as applied to reality, has killed human beings. July
1 4th , August l Oth, May 3 1 st are its punctuation marks . It took
four years for its realization in the world of bodies , and under
ordinary circumstances it would have been punctuated with
generations. Is it any wonder , then , that the stream of the Rev
olution washes its bodies ashore at every ridge, at every new
bend?
We shall yet have to add a few more conclusions to our
sentence: should a few hundred corpses hinder us from doing
so?
Moses led his people through the Red Sea and into the desert
until the old corrupt generation had worn itself out ; only then
did he found the new state. Lawgivers ! We have neither the
Red Sea nor the desert , but we have the war and the guillotine .
Th e Revolution, like the daughters of Pelias , dismembers
mankind to give it new youth . Mankind will rise from the caul
dron of blood-as the earth rose from the waves of the
Deluge-i n primeval strength as though on the first day of
creation . (Long, sustained applause. Several members rise in
en thusiasm)
We summon all secret enemies of tyranny in Europe and the
entire world , all men and women who carry Brutus ' dagger in
the folds of their robes , to share this exalted moment with us.
(Spectators and deputies intone the Marseillaise)
ACT I I I
Scene I
T H E L U X E M BO U R G
A Room with Prisoners
Chaumette. Paine. Mercier. Herault-Sechel/es and other Prisoners

CHAUMETTE (tugs at Paine's sleeve) Listen , Paine, it could
still be so , a while ago it came over me like that ; I have a head
ache today, help me a little with your deductions , I have a very
eerie feeling .
PAINE All right , my dear philosopher Anaxagoras , I shall cate
chize you . T h e r e i s n o G o d , because: God either
created the world or He did not . If He did not create it, it has its
cause in itself and there is no God, since God becomes God only
because He contains the cause of all being . -But then, God
cannot have created the world, for creation is either eternal like
God, or it has a beginning . In the latter case, God must have
created the world at a certain point in time . Hence God must
once have become active after having rested an eternity . He must
once have undergone a change within Himsel f which makes the
concept of time applicable to Him . Both of these premises
contradict the essence of God . Therefore , God cannot have
created the world. But since we know perfectly well that the
world exists , or that at least our own persons exist , and that ac
cording to what I said before, the world must also have its
cause in itsel f or else in something that is not God, there ob
viously can be no God . Quod erat demonstrandum .
CHAUMETTE Ah , indeed , this lets me see things in a new light ,
thank you , thank you .
MERCIER Hold it , Paine, but what if creation is eternal?
PAINE Then it is no longer creation, then it is one with God , or
54 / A ct III, Scene 1
an attribute of His as Spinoza says, then God is in everything ,

in you my worthy friend , i n philosopher Anaxagoras , and in
me. That wouldn 't be at all bad, but you must admit that
Divine Maj esty does not exactly have much going for It if the
good Lord can suffer toothaches in each one of us, if He can
have the clap , if He can be buried alive or at least have the very
unpleasant notion of it .
MERCIER But certainly there must be a cause.
PAINE Who denies it, but who can claim that this cause is what
we imagine to be God, that is to say, Perfection? Do you think
the world is perfect?
MERCIER No .
PAINE Then how will you deduct a perfect cause from an
imperfect effect?
Voltaire did it because he dared to offend God as little as he
dared to offend the kings . A man who has nothing but reason
and does not even know how to use it logically, or doesn ' t dare
to, such a man is a dilettante .
MERCIER I ask , however , can a perfect cause have a perfect ef
fect , that is to say, can perfection create perfection? Isn ' t this
impossible because the created can never have its cause in itself,
and having its cause in itself, as you yoursel f said, is an integral
part of perfection?
CHAUMETTE Stop it ! Stop it !
PAINE Calm down , philosopher . You are right ; but if God must
create, and if He can create only the imperfect , He would be
wise to leave well enough alone . Isn't it very human to conceive
of God as doing nothing but creating? If we must always hustle
and bustle j ust to be able to tell ourselves : we exist ! do we have
to hang this wretched need unto God , too? When our spirit is
absorbed in a being harmoniously at rest in itself in eternal
bliss , must we immediately assume that it has to stretch its
fingers across the table and knead little men out of dough? be
cause of an overwhelming need for love , as we so mysteriously
A ct Ill, Scene I / 55
whisper into each other' s ears . Must we do all this j ust to make
us sons of the gods? I am satisfied with a lesser father , at least I
won 't be able to blame him for having raised me below his class
in pigsties or on galleys .
Remove what is imperfect , only then can you demonstrate
God; Spinoza tried it . It is possible to deny evil, but not pain;
only reason can prove God , feeling rebels against it . Keep this
in mind, Anaxagoras , why do I suffer? This is the bedrock of
atheism . The faintest twinge of pain, though it may be felt by
only one atom , rends creation from top to bottom .
MERCIER And mora lity?
PAINE First you argue that morality proves God , and then , that
God proves morality . [A beautiful circular argument that licks
its own ass . ] What actually do you want with your morality? I
don 't know whether evil or good exists per se, why should I
therefore change my way of life? I act according to my own
nature, whatever suits it is good for me, and I do it , and what
ever is contrary to my nature is bad for me, and I don 't do it
and defend myself against it if it gets in my way. You can
remain virtuous , as they say, and resist so-called vice without
having to feel contempt for your opponent , which is a very sad
feeling indeed .
CHAUMETTE How very true !
HERAULT Oh philosopher Anaxagoras , one could, however,
also say : God , in order to be all things, must also be His own
opposite, that' s to say He must be perfect and imperfect , bad
and good , blessed and suffering ; but then the result would be
plus minus zero, it would cancel itsel f out , we' d end up in
nothingness . Rej oice, you will pull yourself through , you can
relax by worshipping nature ' s masterpiece in Madame Mo
moro , at least she has left you the necessary rosary beads in your
groi n .
CHAUMETIE Gentlemen, I a m most obliged t o you . (He
leaves)
56 I A ct Ill, Scene I
PAINE He still isn ' t cert ain, he will end up giving himself Ex
treme Unction , aligning his feet toward Mecca , and having
himself circumcised, so he'll be sure of getting on the right
track .
(Danton, Lacroix, Camille, Philippeau are led in)
HERAULT (runs to ward Danton and embraces him) Good
morning, or rather , good night . I can ' t ask , how did you sleep .
How will you sleep?
DANTON All right, one must go to bed laughing .
MERCIER (to Paine) This bloodhound with wings of the dove !
He is the evil genius of the Revolution , he dared his mother but
she was stronger than he.
PAINE His life and his death are equally great misfortunes .
LACROIX (to Danton) I didn ' t expect to see you here so soon .
DANTON I knew it, I had been warned .
LACRO IX And you said nothing?
DANTON What for? A stroke is the best death , would you want
to su ffer sickness first? And-I didn ' t think they would dare.
( To Herault) It's better to lie in the earth than get corns run
ning on top of it; I ' ll rather have it for a pillow than a foot
stool.
HERAULT At least our fingers won ' t be calloused when we
caress the cheeks of pretty Lady Decay .
CAM ILLE (to Danton) Don ' t trouble yourself. No matter how
far you let your tongue h,ang out , you won 't be able to lick the
sweat of death off your fo rehead . Oh Lucile ! what a great pity.
(Prisoners cro wd round the new arrivals)
DANTON (to Paine) What you have done for the good of your
country, I have tried to do for mine. I was less fortunate, I ' ll be
sent to the scaffold; so be it , I shall not stumble.
MERCIER (to Danton) The blood of the twenty-two [ [Giron
dists] ] will drown you .
A PRISONER (to Herault) The power of the people and the
power of reason are one.
A ct Ill, Scene 2 / 57
AN OTH E R (to Camille) Well , General Procurator of the Lan

tern, your improvement of street lighting hasn't made France
any brighter.
ANOTHER Let him be ! His are the lips that pronounced the
word m e r c y . (He embraces Camille, several prisoners
follo w his example. )
PHILIPPEAU We are pries ts who have prayed with the dying,
we caught the infection and will die of the same disease.
SEVERAL VOICES The blow that hits you will kill us all .
CAM ILLE Gentlemen, I lament the fact that our efforts were so
futile, I will go to the scaffold because my eyes became moist at
the fate of some unfortunates .
Scene 2
A ROOM
Fouquier- Tin ville. Herrmann
FOUQUIER Everything ready?

HERRMANN It ' 11 be difficult ; i t would be easy if Danton were
not among them .
FOUQUIER H e will have t o lead the dance.
HERRMANN He' ll frighten the members of the jury ; he is the
scarecrow of the Revolution .
FOUQU IER The j urors must will it .
HERRMANN I know of a way, but it ' s against the letter of the
law .
FOUQUIER Let ' s have it .
HERRMANN We won ' t choose the j ury by drawing lots, but we
sh all pick the dependables .
FOUQUIER That should work . It will give a good brush fire to
consume all nineteen of them , an ingeniously mixed bunch . The
four forgers , then a few bankers and foreigners . It's a spicy
58 / A ct Ill, Scene 3
meal , j ust what the people need . Dependable persons, then .

Who , for inst ance?
HERRMANN Leroi, he' s deaf and can ' t hear a thing of what the
accused have to say, Danton can yell himself hoarse, for all the
good it'll do hi m.
FOUQUIER Very good. Go on !
HERRMANN Vilatte and Lumi � re, one of them sits in the
saloon all the time, and the other sleeps all the time. Each
opens his mouth only to pronounce the word : g u i l t y !
Girard is determined that nobody should go free once he has
been face to face with the tribunal . Renaudin . . .
FOUQUIER He, too? He once let a few priests off the hook .
HERRMANN Don 't worry , a few days ago he came to me and
demanded that all condemned persons should have a bloodlet
ting before their execution , it would weaken them a bit , he
said , he was provoked by their generally defiant attitude .
FOUQUIER Ah , very good . I know you will do your best .
HERRMANN Just let me take care of it.
Scene 3
T H E CONCI E R G E R I E
A Corridor
LACROIX (to a prisoner) What, so many poor fellows in such
mi serable shape?
PRISONER Have the tu.in brils to the guillotine never told you
that Paris is a slaughterhouse?
MERCIER Right, Lacroix? Equality swings her sickle over
everyone' s head, the lava of the Revolution flows , the guillo
tine republicanizes ! The galleri es applaud and the Romans rub
their hands, but they are not aware that each of those words is
the death rattle of another vi ctim. Try once to follow up your
phrases to the point where they become flesh and blood .
Look about you , you have spoken all of this, it is a graphic
translation of your words. These unfortunates , their hangmen
A ct Ill, Scene 4 / 59
and the guillotine are your speeches come to life. You have
built your systems with human heads , the way [[Sultan] ]
Bayezid built his pyramids .
DANTON You are righ t . Everything these days is built of
human flesh . That is the curse of our time. And now my body
will be used up too .
Just one year ago I created the Revolutionary Tribunal . I pray
that God and man may forgive me for it, I wanted to prevent
another September Massacre, I hoped to save the innocents,
but this slow murder with its formalities is ghastlier and j ust as
inescapable . Gentlemen , I had hoped to get all of you out of
·
this place .
MERCIER Oh, get out of it we will .
DANTON I am one of you now, Heaven knows how it will end .
S cene 4
T H E REVOLUTIONARY TRI BUNAL
HERRMANN (to Danton) Your name, citizen .

DANTON The Revolution names my name. My domicile will
soon be in nothingness and my name in the pantheon of his
tory .
HERRMANN Danton , the Convention accuses you of having
conspired with Mirabeau , with Dumouriez, with Orl eans , with
the Girondists , the foreigners , and the faction of Louis XV I I .
DANTON My voice, which has s o often pleaded the people's
cause, will have no di fficulty in refuting this calumny. May the
wretches who are accusing me come forth at this tribunal , and I
shall heap shame upon them . May the committees appear at
this place, to them only will I respond . I need them in their
roles as accusers and witnesses .
May they show themselves .
But then , what do I care about you and your verdict . I ' ve told
you before : nothingness will soon be my asylum-l i fe is a
burden to me, may it be wrenched from me, I long to free
myself of it .
60 I A ct Ill, Scene 4
HERRMANN Danton , audacity is the mark of the criminal ,

calmness the mark of the innocent .
DANTON Individual audacity, no doubt , is blameworthy, but
that national audacity which I have so often displayed , with
which I have so often fought for Liberty, is the most meritor
ious of all virtues . This is my audacity, I am making use of it
here for the good of the Republic against my miserable accus
ers . How can I be composed when I see myself slandered so
contemptibly? Do not expect a dispassionate defense from a
revolutionary like me. Men of my nature are invaluable to rev
olutions, the genius of Liberty is manifest in their countenance .
(Signs of approval among the spectators)
I of all men am accused of having conspired with Mirabeau ,
with Dumouriez, with Orl eans , of having groveled at the feet
of vile despots , I of all men am requested to reply to your ines
capable, unbending j ustice .
You , wretched St . Just , will be answerable to posterity for this
blasphemy !
HERRMANN I demand that you answer calmly; remember
Marat , he showed respect when he went before his judges .
DANTON You laid hands on my entire life, may it rise up then
and face the j udges , I shall bury them under the weight of every
one of my deeds .
I am not proud of them . It is fate that guides our arm , but only
powerful characters an� its instruments .
On the Champ de Ma r s I declared war on the monarchy, I
overthrew it on the tenth o f August , I killed it on the
twenty-first of January and flung a royal head as a gauntlet
before the kings of Europe.
(Repeated signs of applause. He picks up the act of indictment)
When I look at this shameful piece of writing , I feel my whole
being tremble with indignation . Pray tell , who are they that
had to urge Danton to show himself on that memorable day
(the tenth of A ugust)? Who , pray tell , are the privileged beings
A ct Ill, Scene 5 I 61
from whom he borrowed his energy? Let my accusers show

themselves ! I am in perfect control of my senses when I make
this demand. I shall unmask these base villains and hurl them
back into the nothingness whence they should never had crawl
ed .
HERRMANN (rings a bell) Don ' t you hear the bell?
DANTON The voice of a man defending his honor and his life
must drown out your bell .
In September I nourished the young brood o f the Revolution
with the dismembered bodies of the aristocrats . My voice
forged weapons for the people from the gold of the aristocrats
and the rich . My voice was the tempest that buried the lackeys
of despotism under waves of bayonets . (Loud applause)
HERRMANN Danton, your voice is spent , you are too violently
agitated . You shall conclude your defense next time . You are in
need of rest .
The session is closed .
DANTON Now you know Danton ; a few more hours and he
will pass on to slumber in the arms of glory .
Scene 5
TH E LUXEM BOU RG
A D u n geon
Dillon. Laflot te. A Jailer
DILLON Man , don 't shine your nose in my face like that . Ha ha
ha !
LAFLOITE Keep your mouth shut , the crescent of your moon
has an aura . Ha ha ha.
JAILER Ha ha ha. Do you think, sir, that you could read by its
light? (Points to a paper in his hand)
DI LLON Give it to me !
62 / A ct III, Scene 5
JAILER Sir, my crescent moon is at a low ebb .

LAFLOTTE Your pants look a s if you had high tide.
JAILER No , the moon is drawing water . ( To Dillon) It is hiding
from your sun, sir, you must give me somethi ng to make it
fiery again i f you want to read by its light .
DILLON Here, boy ! be off. (He gives him money. Jailer goes
off. Dillon reads) Danton alarmed the tribunal , the j ury was
shaken , the spectators grumbled . The crowd was extraordinar
ily large . People thronged round the Palace of Justice , standing
all the way down to the bridges . A handful of money, finally an
arm , hm ! hm ! (He paces up and do wn, now and then pouring
something out of a flask) If only I could set foot on the street .
I ' m not going to let myself be slaughtered like that . Yes , only to
set foot on the street !
LAFLOTTE And onto the tumbril , that' s the same thing .
DILLON You think so? There still are a few steps in between ,
long enough to be measured by the bodies of the Decem
virs . -The time has finally come for the righteous people to lift
up their heads .
LAFLOTTE (to himselj) So much the better , it 'll be that much
easier to hit them . Go ahead, old man , a few more glasses and
I ' ll be afloat .
DILLON The scoundrels, the fools, they ' ll end up guillotining
themselves . (He runs up and do wn)
LAFLOTTE (aside) You could almost love life again, like your
child, as though you gave life to yourself. It doesn't happen all
·
that often to be able to commit incest with chance and become
one 's own father . Father and child at the same time. A cozy
Oedipus !
DILLON The people cannot be fed with corpses , Danton ' s and
Camille' s wives should toss paper money to the populace ,
that's more effective than heads .
LAFLOTTE (aside) I would not tear my eyes out afterwards
A ct III, Scene 5 I 63
[ [like Oedipus] ] , I might need them to shed tears for the good
general .
DILLON To lay hands on Danton ! Is there anyone left who is
safe? Fear is going to unite them .
LAFLOTTE He's lost , anyway . So what if I step on a corpse to
climb out of the grave.
DILLON Only to set foot on the street ! I ' ll find enough people,
old soldiers , Girondists, ex-aristocrats , we shall break the
prisons open , we must have an understanding with the prison
ers .
LAFLOTTE (aside) Granted , it does smell of treachery. Who
cares? I wouldn 't mind having a go at that, too , I ' ve been too
one-sided up to now . So you do get pangs of conscience but at
least it is a change, it' s not all that bad to smell your own
stench.
I am bored by now with the prospect of the guillotine, having
to wait that long ! I have gone through it at least twenty times in
my mind . There' s nothing titillating left to it; it has become
quite common.
DILLON We have to get a note to Danton's wife .
LAFLOTTE (aside) And then-it ' s not death I ' m afraid o f , but
pain. It could hurt, there is no guarantee . Sure, they say it is
only a fraction of a second, but pain has a subtler measure of
time, it dissects a millisecond . No ! Pain is the only sin, and
su ffering the only vice ; I shall stay virtuous.
DI LLON Listen , Laflotte, where did that man go? I ' ve got
money, it must work , we must act as long as the going is good ,
my plans are made.
LAFLOTTE Right away ! I know the turnkey , I ' ll talk to him.
You can count on me, General , we' ll get out of the hole (to
himself while leaving) to go into another one; I, into the widest ,
the world, he, into the narrowest , the grave .
64 I A ct III, Scene 6
Scene 6
T H E C O M M I TT E E O F P U B L I C S A F ETY
St. Just. Barrere. Co/lot d 'Herbois. Billaud- Varennes
BARRERE What does Fouquier write?

ST . JUST The second hearing is over . The prisoners demand the
appearance of several members of the Convention and of the
Committee of Public Safety , they appeal to the public because
they were not allowed to have witnesses . The emotional impact
on the people is said to be beyond description . Danton
parodied Jupiter and shook his curls .
COLLOT It ' ll be that much easier for Samson [ [the execution
er] ] to grab them .
BARRERE We must not show ourselves , the fishwives and rag
pickers might find us less impressive .
BILLAUD The people have an instinct for letting themselves be
stepped on, and were it only with looks , they are impressed
with these insolent physiognomies . Such countenances are
worse than the nobility' s coats of arms , they are marked by a
subtle aristocratic contempt for humanity. Everyone who
rese nts being loo ked d o w n upon s h o u l d he l p to bash t h e m i n .
BARRERE He i s like horny-skinned Siegfried , the blood of the
September victims has made him invulnerable.
What does Robespierre. say?
ST . JUST He acts as if he had something to say .
The j urors must declare themselves sufficiently informed and
close the debate.
BARRERE Impossible, that can ' t be done.
ST . JUST They must be done away with at all cost , and if we
have to strangle them with our own hands . Dare ! Danton has
not taught us that word for naught . The Revolution will not
stumble over their corpses , but if Danton stays alive he will
A ct III, Scene 6 / 65
grab her by the folds of her robe, and there' s something in that
man ' s appearance that suggests he might even violate Liberty.
(St. Just is called out) (A turnkey enters)
TURNKEY There are prisoners dying in St . P e lagie, they ask for
a physician.
BILLAUD Never mind, it ' ll be that much less trouble for the ex
ecutioner.
TURNKEY Some pregnant women are among them .
BILLAUD So much the better , their children won ' t need a
co ffin.
BARRERE Every consumptive aristocrat saves the Revolution
ary Tribunal a session. Any medicine would be counter-revolu
tionary .
COLLOT (takes a paper) A petition , a woman' s name !
BARRERE Probably one of those who would like to be forced
to choose between the board of the guillotine and the bed o f
a Jacobin . Who, like Lucretia, will die after the loss of her hon
or-only a bit later than the Roman lady-either in childbirth
or of cancer or old age . It may not be unpleasant at all to drive
a Tarquinius out of a virgin ' s republic of virtue .
COLLOT She is too old . Madame asks for her death, she knows
how to turn a phrase, the prison weighs on her like a coffin lid .
She ' s been behind bars for only a month. The answer is simple.
(He writes and reads) " Citizeness, you have not yet spent time
enough wishing for death . " ( Turnkey leaves)
BARRERE Well put . But Collot , it ' s not good that the guillotine
begins to grin, the people might fear it no longer . Things
should not become too familiar . (St. Just returns)
ST . JUST .I j ust received a note of denunciation . There seems to
be a conspiracy in the prisons ; a young man by the name of
Laflotte has discovered everything . He was in the same room
with Dillon who got drunk and blurted it out .
BARRERE It's not the first time that someone cu ts his own
throat with the bottle .
66 I A ct Ill, Scene 6
ST. J UST Danton ' s and Camille's wives are to throw paper
money to the people, Dillon is to escape, the prisoners are to be
1
freed , the Convention blown up .
BARRERE Those are fairy tales .
ST . JUST But we shall put them to sleep with this fairy tale. I
have the information in my hands , add to that the brazenness
of the accused, the grumbling of the people, the consternation
of the j urors ; I shall make a report .
BARRERE Yes , go ahead St . J ust , spin your phrases in which
every comma is a slash of the saber, and every period a
chopped-off head .
ST . JUST The Convention must decree that the tribunal has to
continue proceedings without interruption and that it is per
mitted to bar from the debates any defendant who creates a
disturbance or violates the respect he owes the Court .
BARRERE You have a revolutionary instinct , what you said
sounds quite moderate, yet it ' ll be very effective . They cannot
keep their mouths shut , Danton simply must yell .
ST. JUST I am counting on your support . There are people in
the Convention who are j ust as sick as Danton, and who are in
fear of the same cure. They have gathered new courage, they
will scream about violations of legal formalities . . .
BARRERE (interrupting him) I shall tell them : In Rome, the
consul who discovered Catiline's conspiracy and had the
criminals executed on the spot , was accused of violating legal
formalities . Who were Jtis accusers?
COLLOT (solemnly) Go , St. J ust . The lava of the Revolution is
flowing . The weaklings who want to impregnate Liberty's
mighty womb will be strangled in her embrace , the maj esty of
the people will appear to them with thunder and lightning , as
Jupiter appeared to Semele, and reduce them to ashes . Go , St .
Just , we shall help you hurl the thunderbolt onto the heads of
the cowards . (St. Just leaves)
BARRERE Did you hear the word c u r e ? They will yet turn
A ct III, Scene 6 I 6 7
t h e guillotine into a cure-all for venereal disease. They aren 't

fighting the moderates , they ' re fighting vice.
BILLAUD Up to now we have been walki ng the same road.
BARRERE Robespierre wants to turn the Revolution into an
auditorium for morality and use the guillotine as a teacher' s
lectern .
BILLAUD Or as a prayer stool .
COLLOT On which , however, he shall not kneel but lie down .
BARRERE That'll be easy work. The world would have to be
upside down if the so-called scoundrels were to be hanged by
the so-called righteous people.
COLLOT (to Barrere) When are you coming to Clichy again?
BARRERE When the doctor does n ' t come to see me anymore.
COLLOT Isn ' t it true that there is a comet over the place under
whose searing rays your spinal cord will be scorched dry?
BILLAUD It won't be long and the charming Demahy ' s pretty
fingers will pull it out of its sheath and make it hang down his
back like a pigtail.
BARRERE (shrugs his shoulders) Shsh ! The virtuous one mustn 't
hear about it .
BILLAUD He is an impotent fanatic. (Billaud and Co/lot go off)
BARRERE (alone) The fiends ! " You have not yet spent time
enough wishing for death ! ' ' Those words should have made the
tongue that spoke them wither .
And I?
What happened when the Septembrists forced their way into
the prisons? A prisoner grabs his knife, pushes his way in
amidst the murderers , plunges it into the chest of a priest , he is
saved ! Who can blam\! him? Whether I push my way in amidst
the murderers or sit in the Committee of Public Safety,
whether I use the guillotine blade or a pocket knife? It makes
no difference , only the circumstances are a bit more tangled ;
the basic conditions are the same.
And if he could murder one, could he also murder two, also
68 I A ct III, Scene 7
three, also even more? where does it stop? Take kernels of

barley, will two make a pile, three, four, how many? Come, my
conscience , come my little chicken , come chick chick chick ,
here ' s your feed .
Y e t -was I a prisoner too? Under suspicion, yes , that I was, it
amounts to the same thing , my death was certain. (He leaves)
Scene 7
T H E CONCI E R G ER I E
Lacroix. Danton. Philippeau. Camille

LACROIX You shouted effectively, Danton , had you thus
fought for your life a bit earlier , things might be different now .
Isn ' t it so , now that death comes so impertinently close to you
with its stinking breath, and gets more and more brazen?
CAM I LLE If death would at least ravish us and rip its prey out
of our hot bodies , wrestling and struggling ! But this way, with
all the formalities as though at the wedding to an old hag-how
the marriage contract is drawn up, how the witnesses are
called , how the Amen is said, and how the bed covers are then
lifted , and it slowly creeps in with its cold limbs !
DANTON If only it were a fight with arms and teeth clutching
and tearing ! but I feel as if I had fallen into the gears of a mill ,
as if my limbs were slo w ly, systematically being twisted off by a
cold, physical force . To be killed by a mechanism !
CAMI LLE To lie there alone, cold, sti ff, in the dank miasma of
decay; perhaps death will slowly torture life out of our every
fiber while we are aware perhaps of rotting away !
PHILIPPEAU Calm yourselves , my friends. We are like the
autumn crocus which bears no seed until winter is past . The
A ct III, Scene 7 I 69
difference between us and transplanted flowers is only this: we

stink a little in the process. Is that so bad?
DANTON An edifying prospect ! From one dungheap to the
other . The divine theory of classes , right? From first to second
grade, from second to third , and so on? I am sick of school
benches , they have given me a calloused rear like that of a
monkey .
PHILIPPEAU What do you want , then?
DANTON Peace .
PHILIPPEAU Peace is in God .
DANTON In nothingness . Immerse yoursel f in something more
peaceful than nothingness , and if God is the highest level of
peace, is nothingness not God? But I am an atheist . The
damned sentence; something cannot become nothing ! and I am
something, that ' s the pity of it !
Creation is taking up so much space now, nothing is left void,
everything is swarming, crawling .
Nothingness has killed itself, creation is its wound, we are its
drops of blood , the world is the grave in which it is rotting .
It sounds mad, yet there is some truth in it .
CAM I LLE The world is the wandering Jew , nothingness is
death, but death is impossible. Oh not to be able to die, to die,
as the song goes .
DANTON We are all buried alive and entombed , like kings , in
three- or four-tiered coffins , under the sky, in our houses , in
our coats and shirt s .
For fifty years w e scratch o n o u r co ffin lids . Yes , if only we
could believe in annihilation ! we could be helped .
There is no hope in death, it is only a simpler form of decay
than the more involved , more organized decay of life , that ' s
the whole di fference !
But that is j ust the kind of decay I ' m used to, I do not know
how the hell I ' ll make out with another kind .
70 / A ct Ill, Scene 8
Oh Julie ! I f I went a I o n e ! I f she left me to my loneliness !

And if I disintegrated totally, dissolved totally-I would be a
handful of martyred dust , every one of my atoms could only
find peace with her .
I cannot die, no, I cannot die. [We are not defeated yet . ] We
must scream, they will have to tear every shred of life from my
body.
[LACROIX We must insist on our demand, our accusers and the
committees must appear before the tribunal . ]
Scene 8
A ROOM
Fauquier. A mar. Vou/and

FOUQUIER I don 't know anymore what to tell them , they
demand that a commission be appointed .
A.\1 AR We' ve got the scoundrels, here' s what you were asking
for . (He hands Fouquier a paper)
VOULAND That will satisfy them .
FOUQUIER It ' s exactly what we needed.
AMAR Now see to it that we and they get the thing over and
done with .
Scene 9
R E V O L U T I ON A R Y TR I B U N A L
DANTON The Republic i s i n danger and h e has n o instruction !

We appeal to the people, my voice is still strong enough to give
a funeral oration for the Decemvirs . I repeat , we demand that a
commission be appointed , we have important facts to reveal . I
shall retreat to the citadel of Reason, I shall break forth with
A ct Ill, Scene 9 I 71
the artillery of Truth and crush my enemies . (Signs of ap

plause) (Fouquier, Amar and Vouland enter)
FOUQUIER Silence in the name of the Republic, respect for the
law . The Convention decrees :
Whereas there are signs of mutiny in the prisons ,
Whereas the wives o f Danton and Camille are said to throw
money to the people, and General Dillon is said to plot his
escape and place himself at the head of the insurgents to free
the accused ,
Whereas , finally, the accused themselves attempted to create
disturbances and give offense to the Tribunal ,
the Tribunal is hereby empowered to continue the investigation
without interruption , and to bar from the debate any defend
ant who disregards due respect of the law .
DANTON I ask those present whether we have been disrespect-
ful of the Tribunal , the people, or the National Convention?
MANY VOICES No ! No !
CAMI LLE The fiends , they want to murder my Lucile!
DANTON One day the truth will be known . I see France being
overcome by great misfortune. It is dictatorship: it has rent its
veil , it carries its head high , it steps over our dead bodies .
(Pointing to A mar and Vouland) Behold the cowardly murder
ers , behold the vultures of the Committee of Public Safety!
I accuse Robespierre, St . Just , and their hangmen o f high
treason .
They want to drown the Republic in blood . The tracks of the
tumbrils to the guillotine are the highway on which the for
eigners are to penetrate into the heart of our country .
How much longer must the footprints of Liberty be graves?
You want bread , and they toss heads your way . You are
thirsty, and they make you lick the blood off the steps of the
guillotine. ( Violen t commotion among the spectators, shouts
of applause)
72 / A ct III, Scene 1 0
MANY VOICES Long live Danton , down with the Decemvirs !

( The prisoners are being dragged out by force)
Scene 1 0
S Q U A R E I N F R ONT O F T H E P A L A C E O F J U ST I C E
A Mob of People
SEVERAL VOICES Down with the Decemvirs ! long live Dan
ton !
FIRST CITIZEN Yes , i t ' s true, heads i nstead of bread , blood
instead of wine.
SEVERAL WOMEN The guillotine is a bad mill and Samson
[ [the executioner]] is a bad baker , we want bread ! bread !
SECOND CITIZEN Your bread , it was devoured by Danton, his
head will give bread back to all of you , he was right .
FI RST CITIZEN Danton was with us on the tenth of August ,
Danton was with us in September . Where were the people who
now accuse him?
SECOND CITIZEN And Lafayette was with you in Versailles ,
and he was a traitor j ust the same.
FI RST CITIZEN Who says Danton is a traitor?
SECOND CITIZEN Robespierre .
FI RST CITIZEN And Robespierre is a traitor.
SECOND CITIZEN Who .�ays that?
FI RST CITIZEN Danton :
SECOND CITIZEN Danton has beauti ful clothes , Danton has a
beauti ful house , Danton has a beautiful wife, he bathes in
Burgundy wine, eats veni son roast off silver plates , and sleeps
with your wives and daughters when he is drunk .
Danton was once as poor as you . Where did he get it all?
The veto bought it for him so he would save the Crown .
The Duke of Orl e ans gave it to him so he would steal the
A ct Ill, Scene 1 0 I 73
Crown for him .

The foreigner gave it to him so he would betray all of you .
What does Robespierre have? the virtuous Robespierre. You
know him, all of you .
:.. L Long live Robespierre! Down with Danton ! Down with the
traitor !
ACT IV
Scene 1
A ROOM
Julie. A Boy
JULIE It ' s all over. They trembled in fear of him . They will kill
him out of fear . Go ! I have seen him for the last time, tell him I
cannot see him the way he is now . (She gives him a lock of her
hair) Here, take this to him and tell him he will not go alone.
He'll know what I mean . And come back quickly, I want to
read his look in your eyes .
Scene 2
A S TR E ET
Dumas. A Citizen
CITIZEN How is it possible to condemn so many unfortunates
to death after such a trial?
DUMAS That is extraordinary indeed , but the men o f the
Revolution have a sense which others lack, and this sense never
deceives them . ··
C ITIZEN It is the sense o f the tiger . -You have a wife.

DUMAS Soon I will have had one.
C IT IZEN So it is true, then !
DUMAS The Revolutionary Tribunal will pronounce our di
vorce, the guillotine will effect our separation of bed and
board .
CITIZEN You are a monster !
DUMAS Numbskull ! you admire Brutus?
A ct I V, Scene 2 I 75
CITIZEN With all my heart .

DUMAS Do you have to be a Roman consul , and be able to
cover your head with the toga , in order to sacri fice a loved one
to your country? I shall wipe my eyes on the sleeve of my red
coat , that ' s the whole difference.
CITIZEN That is horrible.
DUMAS Go, you don't understand me. ( They go off)
Scene 3
T H E CONCI E R G E R I E
Lacroix, Herault on one bed, Danton, Camille on another

LACROIX The way one's hair grows and the fingernails, it' s
disgusting .
HERAULT Be a little more careful , you' re sneezing sand all
over my face.
LACROIX And don 't step on my feet , my dear , I ' ve got corns.
HERAULT Don't tell me you ' re plagued with vermin .
LACROIX Oh , i f I could only get rid of the worms once and
for all .
HERAULT Well, have a good sleep , we must see how we can get
along with each other , we have little room .
Keep your nails from scratching me in your sleep . Hey ! Don 't
pull the sheet like that , it 's cold down there .
DANTON Yes , Camille, tomorrow we shall be worn-out shoes
to be tossed into the lap of the beggar woman , earth.
CAM ILLE Cowhide from which the angels, according to Plato ,
cut sl ippers for themselves to patter about on earth . That ' s the
way things look . My Lucile !
DANTON Be calm, my boy !
CAM ILLE Can I? Do you believe it, Danton? Can I? They
cannot lay hands on her . The light of beauty radiating from her
76 I A ct I V, Scene 3
sweet body cannot be extinguished . Impossible ! Look, the

earth would not dare to cover her , it would form a vault
around her, the mist of the grave would glitter dew-like on her
eyelashes , crystals would grow like blossoms round her limbs ,
and bright springs would murmur her to sleep.
DANTON Sleep , my boy, sleep .
CAMILLE Listen , Danton, between the two of us , it ' s so
wretched to have to die. And so useless . I want to steal a last
glance from life's pretty eyes , I want to keep my eyes open .
DANTON You ' ll keep them open anyway, Samson doesn ' t close
your eyes . Sleep is more compassionate. Sleep, my boy, sleep.
CAMILLE Lucile, your kisses are images on my lips , each kiss
becomes a dream firmly enclosed by my sinking eyes .
DANTON Will the clock never rest? With each tick it pushes the
walls closer to me until they are as close as a coffin.
When I was a child I once read a story like that , it made my
hair stand on end .
Yes , when I was a child ! Was it worth the trouble to feed m e
and keep me warm? Nothing but work for the gravedigger !
I feel as though I were already smelling . My dear body, I shall
hold my nose and pretend that you ' re a woman sweating and
stinking after a dance , and I ' ll tell you sweet nothings . We have
often before passed the time with each other .
Tomorrow you ' ll be a broken fiddle whose melody is played
out . Tomorrow you ' ll be an empty bottle, the wine is drunk but
it didn ' t intoxicate me, l' m going to bed sober . How fortunate
are they who can still get roaring drunk . Tomorrow you 'll be a
worn-out pair of pants, you 'll be tossed into the wardrobe and
the moths will eat you , no matter how bad you stink .
Alas , that doesn't help . Yes indeed , it 's so wretched to have to
die. Our death apes our birth , when we die we're as helpless
and naked as new-born babes . Of course, we get the shroud for
a diaper . \Vhat ' s the good of it? We can whimper in the grave
the same as in the cradle.
A ct I V, Scene 3 / 77
Camill e ! he is sleeping , (bending over him) a dream is playing
between his lids . I don 't want to wipe the golden dew of sleep
off his eyes .
(He rises and steps to the windo w) I shall not go alone, I thank
you , Julie. Yet I would have liked to die differently, wholly
without effort , the way a star falls , the way a sound spends
itself, kisses itself to death with its own lips , the way a ray of
light buries itself in limpid waters . -
The stars are scattered through the night like glistening tear
drops , what immense grief must be in the eye that shed them .
CAM ILLE Oh ! (He sits up and gropes for the ceiling)
DANTON What is it, Camille?
CAMI LLE Oh, oh !
DANTON (shakes him) Do you want to scratch the ceiling
down?
CAM I LLE Oh it 's you , you , oh hold me, speak to me !
DANTON You are trembling all over and bathed in sweat .
CAM I LLE This is you , here am I , like that ! This is my hand ! yes
now I remember . Oh Danton, that was terri fying .
DANTON But what?
CAM I LLE I was suspended between dreaming and waking .
Then the ceiling disappeared , and the moon sank down , very
close, very near , my arm grasped her . The dome of heaven with
its lights had lowered itself, I touched the stars , I reeled like a
drowning man under the icy cover . It was terrifying , Danton .
DANTON The lamp is casting a round reflection on the ceiling ,
that 's what you saw .
CAM I L LE Maybe, it doesn ' t take much to make you lose what
little sense you have left . Madness was grabbing me by the hair,
(he gets up) I don 't want to sleep anymore, I don 't want to go
insane . (He reaches for a book)
DANTON What have you got there?
CAM IL LE Night Thoughts .
DANTON Do you want to anticipate your death? I ' ll take La
Pucelle. I don 't want to sneak out of life as though from a

church pew , but rather from the bed of a Sister of Mercy . Life
is a whore, it commits fornication with the whole world.
Scene 4
S Q U A R E I N F R O N T O F T H E CON C I E R G E R I E
A Turnkey, t wo Carters with Tumbrils, Women

TURNKEY Who called you to come here?
FIRST CARTER My name isn ' t To-Come-Here, that ' s a funny
name.
TURNKEY You ass , who gave you the direction?
FIRST CARTER Nobody gave me no erection, they only gave
me ten sous a head .
SECOND CARTER That dog wants to take away my bread.
FIRST CARTER What do you mean , your bread? (Pointing to
the prisoners ' windo ws) That' s worm-fodder .
SECOND CARTER My kids are worms, too , and they want
their share . Oh , things are bad in our trade , and yet we're the
best carters .
FIRST CARTER How ' s that?
SECOND CARTER Who is the best carter?
FI RST CARTER The one who drives the farthest and the
fastest .
SECOND CARTER All ·r ight , you ass , who drives farther than
the one who drives out of the world, and who drives faster than
the one who does it in fifteen minutes? It 's exactly fi fteen
minutes from here to La Place de Ia R e volution .
TURNKEY Hurry, you good-for-nothings ! Get closer to the
door; move , ladies .
FI RST CARTER Just stay where you are ! never go around a
lady, always right smack into her .
5ECOND CARTER Yes , that ' s right , you can get in with cart
and horse, the track is well worn , but you 'll have to go in quar
antine when you come out . ( They drive to the door)
5ECOND CARTER (to the women) Why are you gawking?
o\ WOMAN We' re waiting for old customers .
5ECOND CARTER You think my cart is a brothel? It is a
decent tumbril, it has taken the King and all the fine gentlemen
from Paris to the banquet .
LUCILE (enters. She sits do wn on a rock belo w the prisoners '
windo ws) Camille, Camille! (Camille appears at the windo w)
Listen , Camille, you make me laugh with your long stone coat
and the iron mask over your face, can ' t you bend down?
Where are your arms? I shall lure you , dear bird . (She sings)
Two little stars are in the sky,
Shining brighter than the moon ,
One s h i nes i n my sweethea rt 's window.
The other on the chamber door.
Come, come, my friend ! Softly up the stairs, everyone ' s asleep .
The moon has helped me wait for a long time. But you can ' t get
through the door , that ' s an ugly costume you ' re wearing . The
j oke has gone too far , please put an end to it. You aren 't
moving at all , why don ' t you speak ! You frighten m e.
Listen ! people say you must die, and they make such serious
faces when they say it . Die ! I have to laugh at their faces . Die !
What kind of a word is that? Tell me, Camille. Die ! I want to
think . There , there it is. I want to run after it, come, sweet
friend , help me catch , come ! come ! (She runs off)
CAM ILLE (calls) Lucile ! Lucile !
80 / A ct I V, Scene 5
Scene 5
TH E CONCI E R G E R I E
Danton at a window looking out o n the next room

Camille. Philippeau. Lacroix. Herault
DANTON You are at peace now, Fabre.
A VOICE (from inside) I am dying !
DANTON Do you know what we are going to produce now?
)
VOICE Well? 1
DANTON What you ' ve been producing all your life-des vers. 1
[[ From verse to wo rms.]] !
CAM ILLE (to himself) There was madness be� i n d her eyes . lt' si
not the first time a person has gone mad, such is life . What can]·
we do? We wash our hands . It ' s really better like that .

DANTON I am leaving everything in a terrible state of confus-,
ion . Nobody knows how to govern . It could perhaps still wor�
if I left my whores to Robespierre and my calves to Couthon ..
LACROIX We would have made a whore out of Libert y ! �
DANTON What about it ! Liberty and a whore are the most cos-.
mopolitan things under the sun . She is now going to prostitute�
herself respectably in the marital bed of the lawyer from Arras -,�
But I think she'll pull a Clytemnestra on him ; I ' ll give him no�
more than six months , and I ' ll drag him down with me.
i
CAM ILLE (to himself) May heaven provide her with a pleasant )
delusion . Ordinary delusions , the ones we call common sense, 1
are unbearably boring . The happiest man was the one who )
could delude himself into being God the Father , the Son, �d r
the Holy Ghost . •
LACROIX The asses are going to bray " Long live the Repub- ,:1,
lie' ' , as we pass them . ·
DANTON What does it matter? The Deluge of the Revolution :

may deposit our bodies wherever it pleases , our fossil bones
will yet serve to smash the skulls of all kings .
IERAUL T Yes , i f some Samson happens along to use our
jawbones .
>ANTON They are brothers of Cain .
. ACROIX Nothing proves better that Robespierre is a Nero
than the fact that he was never friendlier toward Camille than
two days before he had him arrested. I sn ' t that true, Camille?
AMILLE For all I care , what is it to me?
( To himselj) To think what a charming child she has born of
her madness. Why must I leave now? We would have laughed
with it, rocked it and kissed it .
•ANTON If at some future date history opens its vaults , despot
ism can still suffocate on the smell of our bodies .
lERAULT We stank sufficiently in our lifetime.
Those are phrases for posterity, they actually don 't concern
us-right , Danton?
:AM I LLE He is making a face as though it should turn to stone
and be excavated as an antique by future generations .
Is it worth the trouble to purse our lips and put on rouge and
speak with a cultured accent? We should take the masks off for
once, we would then see everywhere-as though in a mirrored
room-only the one ancient , numberless, indestructible sheep ' s
head , nothing more, nothing less. The di fferences are not that
great , we ' re all villains and angels, idiots and geniuses all in
one, those four find enough room in one and the same body ,
they're not as large as one imagines . To sleep � to move the
bowels, to make children , everybody does it, all else is nothing
but variations in di fferent keys on the same theme. Must we
stand on tiptoe and make faces , must we put on acts for one
another? We all ate ourselves sick at the same table and now we
have a stomachache, why do you hold napkins in front of your
faces , just yell and whimper as it comes naturally .
Don ' t cut such virtuous and such witty and such heroic and
such super-intelligent faces , we all know each other , save
yourselves the trouble .
HERAULT Yes , Camille, let us sit together and wail, there' s
nothing stupider than pressing your lips together when you
hurt . The Greeks and the gods wailed ; the Romans and the
Stoics made heroic grimaces .
DANTON The ones were Epicureans j ust as much as the others .
They created quite a comfortable state of self-confidence for
themselves . It' s not so bad to drape yoursel f in your toga and
to look around and see if you throw a long shadow . Why
should we worry? Whether we tie laurel leaves or rose garlands
or a fig leaf over our genitals, or expose the ugly thing and let it
1
be licked by dogs?
P H I LIPPEAU My friends , no need to stand high above the
earth in order to blot out its confused waverings and flickerings
and to have your eyes filled with a few great , divine lines . There
is an ear for which the cacophony and the din that stupefy m
will turn into a stream of harmonious sound.
DANTON But we are the poor musicians and our bodies the in
struments . The ugly sounds that are squeezed out of them , are
they only meant to go higher and higher , finally to fade awa}
and die like a voluptuous breeze in celestial ears?
HERAULT Are we like suckling pigs that are whipped to death
with switches to make. their meat tastier for royal tables?
DANTON Are we child r en who are roasted in the fiery arms of
the molochs of this world and tickled with rays of light , so the
gods can enj oy their laughter? .
CAM I LLE Is the ether with its golden eyes a bowl of golden dq
standing by the table of the blessed gods , and the blessed gods
laugh eternally, and the fish die eternally, and the gods eter
nally enj oy the opalescence of the death struggle?
DANTON The world is the chaos . The void is the World-God to
be born . (Enter the Turnkey)
TURNKEY Gentlemen , you may depart , the carriages are at the

door . ,
PHILIPPEAU Good night my friends , let us calmly go under
the great cover where all hearts will be extinguished and all eyes
will be closed . ( They embrace each other)
HERAULT (takes Camille 's arm) Rej oice, Camille, we shall
have a beautiful night . The clouds hang in the still evening sky
like a fading Olympus with paling , sinking shapes of the gods .
( They leave)
Scene 6
A ROOM
JULIE People were running in t h e streets, n o w everything i s

quiet . I must not keep h i m waiting , not for one moment .
(Pulls out a vial) Come dearest priest whose Amen sends us to
bed .
(She steps to the window) It is so nice to say good-bye, I only
have to pull the door shut after me. (She drinks)
One could stand like that forever . The sun is down . The earth' s
features were so sharp in its light , but now her face is as still
and solemn as that of a dying person. How beautiful, the way
the evening light is playing round her brow and cheek s .
S h e i s turning paler and paler, floating downstream l i k e a dead
body in the flood of ether . Will no arm seize her by her golden
curls , pull her out of the stream and bury her?
I go quietly. I will not kiss her, no whisper, no sigh must wake
her from her slumber .
Sleep , sleep . (She dies)
Scene 7
LA P LA C E D E LA R E V O L U T I O N
The carts come rumbling and stop at the guillotine. Men and
women are singing and dancing the Carmagno/e. The
prisoners intone the Marseillaise.
A WOMAN WITH CHILDREN Make way ! Make way ! The
children are crying , they are hungry . I must make them watch
so they'll be quiet . Make way !
A WOMAN Hey Danton , now you can fornicate with the
worms .
'
ANOTHER H erault, I shall use your pretty haj r to have a wig
made for myself.
HERAULT I haven ' t enough woodland for such a denuded
Mount of Venus.
CAM ILLE You damned bitches . One day you 'll cry : " Oh
mountains , fall on us ! "
A WOMAN The mountain has fallen on you , or rather, you
have fallen off it.
DANTON (to Camille) Quiet , my boy , you ' ve shouted yoursel f
hoarse.
CAMIL LE (hands money to the carter) Here, old Charon, your
tumbril makes a good serving platter .
Gentlemen, I shall serve mysel f first . This is a classical
banquet, we lie down on our couches and spill a little blood as a
libation. Adieu , Danton . (He climbs on the scaffold of blood.
The prisoners follo w him one by one. Danton is last)
LAC ROIX (to the people) You kill u s on the day you have lost
your sanity; you will kill t h e m on the day you have
regai ned it.
SEVERAL VOICES We have had that before, how boring !
LACROIX The tyrants are going to break their necks over our
graves .
HERAULT (to Danton) He thinks his corpse will be a hotbed of
Liberty.
PHILIPPEAU (on the scaffold) I forgive you , may your last
hour be as free of bitterness as mine .
HERAULT Just as I thought , he has to touch his bosom once
more to show the people down below that his shirt is clean.
FABRE Farewell ! Danton. I die twice.
DANTON Adieu my friend . The guillotine is the best physician.
HERAULT ( wants to embrace Dan ton) Alas , Danton, I can't
even bring off a j oke, and now it is time . (A n executioner
pushes him back)
DANTON (to the executioner) Do you want to be crueler than
death? Can you prevent our heads from kissing each other in
the bottom of the basket?
Scene 8
A STR E ET
LUCILE Something about it must be real . Let me think some

more. I ' m beginning to understand , I gues s .
To die-To die-
Everything may live, everything , the little fly over there, the
bird . Then why not he? The stream of life would have to stop if
only this one drop were spilled . The earth would receive a
wound from the blow .
Everything moves , clocks work, bells toll, people run , water
flows and so , so everything goes on up to there, there-no ! it
mustn ' t happen , no- I ' ll sit down on the ground and scream so
that everything stops in alarm , everything stops and nothing
moves anymore .
(She sits do wn, co vers her eyes, and screams. After a pause, she
rises)
There ' s no help , everything is as before, the houses , the street ,
the wind is blowing , the clouds are drifting . -We must suffer
it. (A few women walk do wn the street)
FIRST WOMAN A handsome man , that H�rault .
SECOND WOMAN On Constitution Day, when he stood under
the Arc de Triomphe like that , I thought to myself, that man
would look good on the guillotine is what I thought . Sort of a
sixth sense, I guess.
THIRD WOMAN Yes , you have to see people in all kinds of sit
uations . It 's a good thing that dying has become open to the
public. ( They walk past)
·'
LUCILE My Camille ! Where shall I look for yd u now?
Scene 9
LA P LA C E D E LA R E V O L U T I O N
Two hangmen working on t h e guillot ine
FIRST HANGMAN (stands on the guillotine and sings)

When I go home at night
The moon shines so bright . . .
SECOND HANGMAN Hey there ! Are you done soon?
FIRST HANGMAN In a minute ! (Sings)
Shines in my grandfather ' s window
Boy where the hell you been to?
Lemme have my shirt ! ( They go off singing)
When I go home at night
The moon shines so bright .
LUCI LE (enters and sits do wn on the steps of the guillotine)
I am going to sit in your lap , you quiet angel of death . (She
sings)
There is a reaper, his name is Death,

Has power from God to take our breath .
You dear cradle, you who lulled my Camille to sleep, who
smothered him with your roses .
You death bell, you whose sweet tongue has sung him to the
grave. (She sings)
Hundreds of thousands , souls without end ,
Felled by the sickle in his hand .
(Enter a patrol)
A CITIZEN Hey, who goes there?
LUCILE [(musing, then, as if making a decision, suddenly))
Long live the King !
CITIZEN In the name of the Republic . (She is surrounded by the
guards and led away)
NOTES
in alphabetical order
Adonis
-the beloved of A phrod i te
-was k i l led by a boar d uring a hunt
Al1ebraists
- men of d e l i be rate and carefu l act i o n
Anaxa1oras
-a G ree k p h i l osopher after whom Chaumette li ked to be called
Aristides
-Athenian statesma n, fa mous for i ncorrupt i b i l ity
-another name for R o bespierre
AU lUSt 1 Oth, 1 792

-storm ing of the Tuileries, the K ing a rrested , and power passed to the
Paris Commune
-begi n n i ng of the rad ica l phase of the Revolu t i o n
Bank en
-The Austria ns, J u n ius and I m manuel Frey, i n-laws of Chabot
Barr ere de Vieuzac, Bertrand

- Be r t rand Bar�re de V ieuzac ( 1 7 5 5- 1 84 1 )
-Changed from a moderate G i rond ist t o a rad ica l M ou nt a i n Party
m e m be r
-(;a iled a .. weather vane" because his o p i n i o n s cha nged l i k e a cha meleo n 's
color
- me m ber of C o m m ittee of Public Safety
-worked wit h Collot d 'H erbois a nd B i l laud- Varen nes
- t he name V ieuzac = vieux sac, "old sac k " in French
Baucis
-e x e m p la ry wife of P h i lemon in G reek legend
90 I Notes
Blood of the 22 ( G i rondists)

- refers to t h ose g u i l l o t ined October 30, 1 793
Brissot, Jacques Pierre

-( 1 754- 1 793)
- p o l i t ical leader o f the G i r o n d i s t s
-opponent of R obespier re
-gu i l l ot i ned i n 1 793
Billaud-Varennes, Jacques-Nicolas
-( 1 756- 1 8 1 9)
- s u p p o rter of R o bespierre
-later c o n t r i b u ted to R o bespierre's d o w n fa l l
-de p o rted t o Caye n ne i n 1 795
Carmagnole
-in this context, a da nce and song of the Revo l u t i o n
Catiline
- I 08-62 BC R o m a n p o l i t ic i a n c o n s p i red t o assass i n ate t he cons u ls ;
a t t acked a n d fo i led by Cicero; executed
Chabot
-along with Delaunay, Fabre, and Bazi re, forged the decree concern i n g
the l i q u idation of a t rad i n g c o m p a n y fo r u n ri g h t fu l ga i n
Chalier, Joseph
-( 1 747- 1 793)
- R ev o l u t ionary lead e r in Lyons
'
-execu ted o n J u ne 1 7 , 1 79 3 ,· by t he B o u rgeois-R oya l ist Party
-his b u st was p u t o n a c h u rc h altar i n Paris where it was h o n o red ,
wors h i p ped a n d a d o red l i k e t h a t o f a s a i n t a nd ma rtyr t ogether with
M a rat 's
- R o bespierre, D a n t o n , and ihe C o m m ittee of P u b l i c Safety w o rked
together i n s m a s h i n g the c u l t of M arat a nd Chalier
Champ d e Mars
-where, on J u ly 1 7, 1 79 1 , a s ig n a t u re a c t i o n co ncer n i ng t h e d e t h ro n in g of
the K i ng t o o k place, lead i n g to b l o od y a l t e rca t i o n s
Notes / 91
Chaumette, Pierre-G aspard

-( 1 763- 1 794)
-advocate of the peop l e 's social we l fa re
- i n 1 792, procurator of t h e town c o u n c i l
-avowed a t h e i s t ( p rovo k i ng R o bes p i erre's d i s p lea s u re)
-p referred t o be ca l led A naxagoras a fter t he G reek p h i losopher
- H ebert i s t , arrested befo re Danton
Clemency
-Ca m i l le had pleaded i n his paper fo r a c o m m i ttee of clemency ( m e rcy)
Clichy
-town nea r Paris where members of the C o m m i t tees of P u b l i c Safety a nd
Sec u ri t y celebrated o rgies i n s u m p t u o u s cou n t ry homes
Clytemnestra
- k i l led her h u s band Aga me m n o n a fter his return fro m Troy
Collot d 'H erbois

-( 1 750- 1 796)
-an a l c o h o l i c , o rigi n a l l y an actor, playwright
- i n 1 79 3 , P resident of t he N a t i o n a l Convent i o n
-member of t h e C o m m i t tee of P u b l i c S a fety
-as j udge of Lyo ns ordered mass execu t i o n s
- first o n t h e side of R o bespierre a nd l a t e r t o o k pa rt i n c o l l a b o ra t i n g w i t h
B i l la u d - V a re n nes and Ba rere i n R o bespie rre 's overt h ro w
- i n 1 795, exi led t o G uya na
Comm ittee of Public Safety

-co m posed of 9, later 1 2 mem bers who exercised d ic t a t o ri a l powers
-led by D a n t o n fro m t h e start in 1 79 3 , j o i ned in J u ly by R o bespierre, S t .
J ust, Cou t h o n , a n d t h e n b y o t h e rs
Cordeliers
- n a m e ca me from the Fra nciscan M o nastery w here t h is gro up met
- formed the S ociety o f the Friends o f H u m a n and C i v i c R ig h t s
- fo l l o wers o f H e bert
92 / Notes
Conciergerie
-prison i n the i m med iate vicinity o f t h e Palace of J ust ice
--called the "a n te-room " o f the gu i l l o t i ne
Consul Who D iscovered . . .

- M a rcus Tu llius Cicero ( 1 06-43 BC), c o n s u l w h o forced Cat i l i n e t o leave
Rome and had t h e lea ders o f t h e c o n s p i racy executed
Couthon, Georges-A u gust

-{ 1 7 5 5 - 1 794)
- fo l l ower of R o bespie rre
- had a para l yzed leg
D anton, G eorges Jacques

-{ 1 759- 1 794)
-one of the leaders of the French R e v o l u t i o n
-lawyer
- M i n ister of J us t i ce aft e r the overth row of t he mo narchy, J u ly 1 0, 1 79 2
--co-fo u n d e r of t he Revol u t i o n a ry T ri b u n a l a n d t h e C o m m i t tee o f P u b l i c
Safety
-talented o ra t o r a n d agitator, m o b i l ized public o p i n i o n aga i nst t he
counter-revol u t i o n
-disapp roved of t h e m od erate Girond ists, the rad ica l H e bert ists. a n d the
fanatic idea l i s m o f R obespierre a n d h i s fo l l owers
-lost power late in 1 793 to R o bes pierre and the e x t remist elements o f the
Revo l u t i o n
-gu i l l o t i ned o n April 5 , 1 794, a t t h e age o f 35
David, Jacques-Louis
-{ 1 748- 1 8 25 )
- Fre nch pai nter, a J a c o b i n
-later beca me a painter i n Napoleo n 's c o u rt
Decem virs
-based o n a council o r r u l i n g body o f ten who fra med R o man l a ws a nd
who had a bsolute power d u r i n g t h e i r term of office
D ecree
-an order revo k i n g t he i m m u n ity of deputies
No tes / 93
Desm oulins, Camille

-( 1 760- 1 794)
-sat o n the same school bench w i t h R o besp ierre in a Paris college
- i n i t iated t he s t o r m i n g of the Bastille
-lead i n g p ropaga nd i s t of the Revol u t i o n
-ed i t ed a n d w r o t e for t h e p u b l ications of the Dant o n ists, such a s L e
V i e u x Cord e l i e r
-gui l lotined w i t h D a n t o n on A pril 5 , 1 794, a t t he a g e o f 34
Dillon, Arthur
-( 1 7 50- 1 794)
- i n 1 792, Genera l of the Army o f the A rd e n nes
- gu i l l o t i ned as a G i rondist
Dumas, R ent-Fra�ois
-( 1 758- 1 794)
-one of the p residents of the Revo l u t i o n a ry Tri bu n a l
-had h i s wife jai led i n t h e L u x e m bo u rg t o have h e r k i l led o n t h e l Ot h of
The r m i d o r (J u ly) 1 974; s he was saved on the 9th of Therm i d o r when
R o bespie r re was overthrown
Dumouriez, Charles Fran�ois

-( 1 7 5 7- 1 8 23)
- Fre nch genera l , changed fro m Jaco b i n party to the G i r o n d i s t s
- i n 1 792, fo reign m i n ister, t h e n general
- fled to A ustria after a fa i led cou nter-revolution
Epicurus
-a G reek materialist p h i l osopher
-(342-270 BC)
-taught p ract ica l ma nageme nt o f l i fe lea d i ng t o happi ness thro ugh
rea son and to avoida nce of the ex perie nce of pa i n
Fabre d"Eglantine
-( 1 755- 1 794)
- o n e of the "fo rge rs"
-wrote c o med ies
-was sick and near dea t h when in pris o n , hence his w o rd s , " I d ie t w i ce , "
at t h e guillotine
94 / Notes
The Foreigner
- p ro ba b l y W i l l i a m Pitt the Y o u nge r, fro m 1 793 the act ual leader of t h e
Eu ropea n c oa l i t i o n a gai nst Revo l u t i o nary Fra n ce
Foreigners
- fo re i g n e n e m ies o f the R e p u b l i c who were i n con tact w i t h the R oya l ists
Foreigners and Forgers

- p rosecu ted w i t h D a n t o n and h is fe l l o w revol u t i onaries
- foreigners: the S p a n i a rd G u s m a n and the Dane Diederichs
- forgers: C ha b o t , Dela unay, Fa bre, a nd Bazire w h o fo rged a decree
c o ncern i ng the d isso l u t i o n of t h e great trad i n g c o m p a n y , Co mpa g n i e
des l ndes, i n o rd e r t o e n r i c h t hemselves
Fauquier-Tinville, Antoine-Quentin
- ( 1 746- 1 795)
- from 1 793, public p rosec u t o r a t the Revo l u t i o n a ry T r i b u n a l
- m o t i o ned t o have D a n t o n a n d R o bespierre g u i l l o t i ned
- a m o n g others, sente nced to d e a t h in 1 795
Gail lard The Patriot
- a n H e bert ist ( w h o l i ke Cato c o m m i t ted s u i c i d e )
G irondists
-- a m o d e rate R e p u b l i ca n party of Revo l u t i o na ry Fra nce. 1 7 9 1 - 1 793
H ebertists
-- fou nded by C h a u mette a nd H e be rt
- m e m bers of a rad ical party w h ich wa n ted to g i ve a l l p o wer to t he Paris
C o m m u ne a n d t o i n t rod uce. the c u l t of t h e goddess Reaso n
-- c r u s hed by R o bespierre
- C h a u mette a nd H e bert g u i l l o t ined i n M a rc h . 1 794
Hera ult d e Sechelles, Marie-Jean

-( 1 759- 1 794)
-j u rist
- p re s i d e n t of t h e National C o n ve n t i o n
- made i m porta n t co n t r i b u t i o n s to t h e fo r m u l a t i o n o f t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n of
1 793
Notes / 95
-c o n s i d e red one of t h e best-l o o k i ng men i n F ra n ce

-a rrested before D a n t o n
- g u i l l o t i ned w i t h D a n t o n i n 1 794 a t t he a g e of 3 5
H errmann, M a rt ial-J oseph -Armand

- M a rt i a l-J ose p h- A r m a n d H er m a n ( 1 749- 1 795)
- p res i d e n t o f t h e R e v o l u t i o na ry Tri b u n a l
-execu ted a fter t he d e a t h o f h i s p a t r o n . R o besp ierre
Hippocratic M ask
-a face bea r i n g t h e mark of d e a t h
Honest People
-a name g i ve n to t h e mem bers of t h e French n o b i l i t y . n a mely t h e d ie
h a rd fo l lowers of t he old o rder and o ld p rej u d ices
-( t h i s grou p was a nyt h i n g but " h o nest ")
H o r n y - S k i n ned Sie gfried

-myt h i ca l G e r m a n hero who beca me i n v u l nerable by ba t h i n g m the
bl ood of t he d ragon he h a d s l a i n
J acobin C l u b
-ex i sted si nce 1 7 8 9
- meet i ng p lace i n a m o nastery formerly occu p ied by D o m i n icans i n R ue
S t . J a cq ues
-under the leaders h i p o f R o besp i e rre and eve n t u a l ly beca me the grea tes t
power i n t he state
Jacobi n R e d � i ght C a p
- sy m bol of t h e R e vo l u t i o n . w o rn by the J a co b i n s as a d is t i ngu is h i n g
mark
- n amed a ft e r t h e J ac o b i n Co nve nt i n P a r i � . s i t e of t h e i r mee t i ngs
J a n uary 2 1 , 1 793
-exec u t i o n of L o u i s X V I
Julie
- rea l na me Lou ise G e l y ( 1 7 7 7- 1 8 5 6 )
- Da n t o n 's s e c o n d w i fe. m a r ried i n 1 79 3
9 6 I Notes
-co n t ra ry t o Buchner's vers 1 0 n , J ulie d id not k i ll herself but was
re ma rried i n 1 79 7 to a Baron D u p i n
J u l y 1 4th
-storm i n g of the Bast il le, t riggering the Revolution ( 1 789)
Lacro i x , Jean Fran�ois d e

- ( 1 7 54- 1 794)
-j u ri s t , s u p p o rter of Dan t o n
- G irond ists accused h i m o f d i s h o nesty a nd e m bezzlement
-gu i l l o t i ned w i t h Danton i n 1 794 a t t he age of 40
L afayette, Marie J oseph Motier M arquis de

-( 1 7 5 7 - 1 8 3 4 )
- Fre n c h politican and general: fro m 1 7 7 7 act ive part1c1pant in the
A merica n War of I nd epend ence: i n 1 789 m e m ber of t h e Estates
G e nera l : C o m m a nder o f t he Paris N a t i o n a l G uard: fled France i n 1 79 2 :
still a l i ve in Buchner's time
Laflotte
-co-prisoner o f D i l l o n wh ose plan to free the prisoners ( Da n t o n a mo n g
t h e m ) he bet rayed
L a Force
- p rison in Paris
Legendre, L o u i s
-( 1 7 5 2 - 1 7 9 7 )
-butcher by t rade
'
- me m ber of the J ac o b i n a n d Cord e l i e r C l u bs
- on t h e Da n t o n ist s i d e but m a naged t o s u rv i ve the overt h row
-later act ive in a n u p r i s i n g aga i n s t R o besp ierre
Leroi
- h a rd-of-hea ring j u ro r of t he Rev o l u t i o n a ry Tri b u n a l
Le Vieu x Cordelier
- Da n t o n ist newspaper w h ich Ca m i l le e d i t ed ad voca t i ng c l e mency ( mercy)
fo r prisoners
No tes / 9 7
Long Live The K i n g

- t h e re is h i s t o ric evid e n ce of this excla m a t i o n in the case of s o m e women
who i nvi ted d e a t h in this fas h i o n ; Lucile was proba bly not o n e of them
Louis- Phili ppe, D u k e of Orleans

-( 1 747- 1 79 3 )
- from a branch o f the R oyal H o use
-pa rt is a n of the Revolut i o n
-voted i n t he N a t i o n a l Assembly fo r the d e a t h of the k i ng
-gu i l l ot i n ed beca use he was sus pected of havi n g a m b i t ions t o w a rd t he
t hrone fo r h i m s e l f
Louis X V I I
-( 1 7 8 5 - 1 7 9 5 )
- p roclai med K i ng o n J a n u a ry 2 I . 1 79 3 , by t h e R oya l is t s
- d i ed i n p r i s o n o n J u ne 8 , 1 79 5 , a t t he a g e o f 1 0
Lucile
-nee Duplessis ( 1 7 7 1 - 1 794)
- Ca m i l le 's w i fe s i nce 1 790
-act u a l ly a r rested a fter a d e n u nci a t i o n by Laflotte
- B uchner's vers i o n i s t rad i t i o n a l
- gu i l l ot ined i n 1 794 a t t h e a g e of 2 3
Lucretia
- R o m a n w o m a n who was raped by a son o f Ta rq u i n ius S u pe r b u s a n d
t h e n took her own l i fe
The Lu xembourg
- fo rmerly t he Pa lais d 'O rlca ns
- used as state prison by t he Revol u t i o na ry Govern ment
Lyons
- t own where t h e J a c o b i n C h a l i e r w a s e x ecu ted by the o p p o s i n g party i n
1 79 3 ; and where . s o o n a fter. t h e J acobi n s s u cceeded i n cru � h i n g t h e
c o u n t e r-revo l u t i o n
l\1 arat, Jean-Paul

- ( 1 744- 1 79 3 )
98 / Notes
-most rad ical leader of t he "people"

- " M a ra t 's tally" refers to his words: "500 or 600 c u t-off heads would have
assu red your peace, l iberty, and happi ness . . . "
- m u rdered by Charlotte Corday
May 3 1 st
- 1 793
- revolt of the G i ro n d ists who eve n t ua l ly were rou ted by the rad ical
M on tagnard s
Medea
-accord i ng to G reek myt h o l ogy M edea k i l led her brot h e r Apsyrtos on
their fl ight from t h e i r fa ther A ietes, a nd t h rew the d is membered bod y
i n t o t he ocea n
Mercier, Louis Sebastian

- ( 1 740- 1 8 1 4)
- d ramat ist a nd writer
-took active part i n t h e Revo l u t i o n
-arrested as a G i rond ist i n 1 793
Mercy
-see C L E M E N C Y
Minotaur
-son of Pas i p hae, w i fe of M i nos. K i ng of Crete
-a m o nster, h a l f man and h a l f b u l l , t h at fed on h u m a n flesh
M irabea u, Count H o n ore- G abriel d e R iqueti
- ( 1 749- 1 79 1 )
-leader of t h e R e vo l u t i o n i n i t s fi rst phase
-in 1 79 1 , p resident of t h e N a t i o n a ! Asse m b l y
- co n s p i red secretly w i t h t h e R oya l H o use. a fa ct w h ich beca me k n O\\ n
o n l y a fter h is death of nat u ra l ca u ses
Moloch
- Babyl o n i a n god i nsa t i a b l y demand i n g h u m a n sacrifice�
M o u ntain Party
- La M o ntagne, M o n tagna rds
Notes / 99
-so ca l led beca use t h e i r seats were t he h i ghest o n the left s i d e of t he H a l l

of t he N a t i o n a l Convent i o n
-co m p osed of rad icals a n d d rew i t s s t rength fro m t he J a co b i n a n d
Cord e l i e r C l u bs
-led by R obes p ierre
My D o m i cile Will Soon Be . . . H istory

-act u a l words s p o k e n by Da n t o n
National Convention
-ex i sted fro m Septem ber 2 1 , 1 79 2 t o October 25, 1 79 5 a t the heigh t of t h e
Revo l u t i o n
- framed a new const i t u t i o n : a b o l i s hed the m o n a rchy; c o n d e m ned the
K i ng to d ea t h
-sup ported t h e R e ign of Te rror, a n d t he n ove r t h rew i t
N i ght Thou ghts

-poem in b l a n k verse by t he E n g l i s h m a n E d wa rd Y o u ng ( 1 68 3 - 1 7 6 5 )
a bo u t l i fe , deat h , a n d i m m o rt a l i t y
Paet u s I t D oe s n 't H u rt
-words by t h e wi fe of the R o m a n Paetus when she sta bbed hersel f to
dea t h a nd as ked her h usba nd , who had fa l le n out of grace w i t h t he
E mperor C la u d i us , t o d o l i kewise
Paine, T h o m as
-( 1 73 7- 1 809)
-an E ngl i s h ma n who agita ted fo r A me r i ca n I n depend e nce between 1 7 76
a nd 1 809
- me m be r of the N a t i o n a l Conve n t i o n a ft e r h i s O i g h t from E ng l a n d
- a rres ted b y R o bes p i e rre i n 1 79 3 a s a G i rond ist
- fi n i s h e d "The Age o f Reas o n " i n p ri s o n
Palais R oyal
-an a m u s e m e n t p lace i n Pa ris w h e re one ga m bled . d ra n k . a nd \\ h o red
Paris, cal l ed h i mself Fabricus

-a j u ror in t he Revol u t i o na ry T r i b u n a l
- t ried to effect a reco nc i l i a t i o n be twee n Da n t o n a n d R o bes p i e r re
100 I Notes
-gave Danton an early warning of his pend i ng a rrest and wanted to help
him flee
Paris Commune
-the m u n icipal revoluti onary government of Paris t hat .. d id penance"
after C haumette was a rrested
Pelias , Daughters of
-accord i ng to G reek mythology, Pe l ias was cut to p ieces by his da ughters
who fo l l owed M ed e a 's malicious ad vice on how t o rej uvenate him
Philippeau, Pierre
-( 1 7 54- 1 794)
-j urist
-membe r of t h e N at io n a l Conven t i o n
-member of t h e D a n t o n i s t P a rt y
-gui l l o t i ned i n 1 794 a t t h e a g e of 40
Pike & Plow

-symbols of the Revol u t i o n
Pitt 's Armadas

- E ngl i s h naval b l oc kade aga i n st France u nder Prime M i n ister W i l l ia m
P i t t , i n 1 793
Place de Ia Rholution
-w here the gu i l l o t i ne was placed
-now the Place de Ia Concord e
Plain Party
-an u n o rga n i zed grou p of moderate re p u b l ica ns swayed in t u rn by the
G i rond ists and t he M o unta i n Part y
- t h e i r seats i n the National Conve n t i o n were be l o w . " i n t he p la i n "
Portia
-daughter of Cato. w i fe o f Brutus. k n o w n fo r her fa it hfu l ness
-comm itted s u icide after Brutus' defeat
No tes / 1 01
Procurator of the Lantern

- refe rence to Ca m i l l e 's i m p ro\'ement of s t reet lighting in Paris
La Pucelle
-" La Puce l le d 'O rlea n s "
-a sa tire b y Voltaire ( 1 694- 1 77 8 ) demyt h o l ogizing J o a n o f Arc, contain-
ing m a ny s uggest ive remarks
R eign of Terror, 1 793- 1 794

-time d u ri ng which R o bespierre ca me to d om i nate t h e w h o le go\'ern
men t , helped by his col leagues i n the C o m m i t tee o f P u b l i c S a fety, t he
loca l J acobin C l u b , and t h e Revo l u t i o n a ry Com m i t tees
R o bespierre, Maximilien de
-( 1 7 5 8 - 1 794}
- lawyer fro m Arras
-j u ri s t , in 1 789, member o f the J a c o b i n C l u b
-i n 1 792, leader of t h e M ounta i n Party
-agitated t o O\'ert h ro w the G i r o n d i s t s
- i n s t r u m e n t a l i n b r i n g i n g a b o u t t he exec u t i o n of H e be rt a nd Danton
- b u i l t up t he Jacobin Reign o f Terror, "Ia Terreur"
- M ay 7 . 1 794, declared belief i n "supreme bei n g " a nd ele\'ated this belief
to a d ogma
-fo l l o wer of R o usseau
-consid ered a med iator between heaven and e a r t h . a new M essia h . a
l i berat i ng god , a s o n o f the "supreme bei ng"
-overt h rown. and gu i l l ot i ned o n J u ly 2 8 , 1 794. a t the age o f 3 6
R onsin
-( 1 7 5 1 - 1 794)
-top ge neral of the R e v o l u t i o n a ry A rm y
- re-co nquered Lyons
- gu i l l o t i ned by t h e H ebert ists
R o ussea u , J ea n J a cqu e s
-( 1 7 1 2- 1 7 7 8 )
- ph i l os o p h e r w h ose i d e a s about man a n d govern me n t i n fl u e nced t h e
leaders a n d people of t h e French R e v o l u t i o n
1 02 / Notes
-proposed a p h i losophy t h a t man is b o rn basically good by n a t u re and

d e s i res t o be t reated equal ly a n d t h a t t he gove r n m e n t be given t h e power
t o rule fo r t he people, to ca rry o u t the wi l l of the people
- h i s p h i l osophy a b o u t t he c o m m o n man h a v i n g p ower was revo l u t i o n
a ry, u nt i l t h is t i m e only t h e k i ng had t h e d ivine r i g h t t o rule
-wh ose "Social C o n t ract " was u sed by R o bespie rre i n fo r m u l a t i n g
p r i n c iples for t h e new rep u b l i c
S t . D enis
- s h o rtened vers i o n fo r Dionys i u s
- first B i s hop of Paris
-decapitated o n M o n t martre in 273 AD
Saint-Just, Louis Antoine d e

-( 1 767- 1 794)
-j o u rnalist and fict i o n writer
-member of t h e N a t i o n a l Conven t i o n , 1 792
- member of the Comm i t t ee of Public Safety, 1 793
-co n fi d a n t t o R obesp ierre
-disciple of t he M essiah ( R obespierre)
-ga ve a speech at t he N a t i o na l C o n ve n t i o n aga i ns t the D a n t o n i s t s
- gu i l l o t i ned w i t h R o bespie rre o n J u ly 28, 1 794, a t t h e a g e of 2 7
Samson
-rea l name H en ri S a n s o n ( 1 767- 1 840)
-execu t i oner of Paris
Samson
-sl ayed 1 000 enem ies w i t h tht; j a w b o n e of a n ass, J udges 1 5 : 1 5
- b o t h S a m s o n a n d H e n r i Sa nso n a re brot hers of Ca i n beca use t hey k i l l
t h e i r "brot hers "
Sansculottes
- French fo r " w i t h o u t k nee p a n t s "
- n a m e fo r t h e c o m m o n p e o p l e w h o wo re l o n g p a n t s : a rist ocra t s a n d t he
u p p e r classes w o re k nee p a n t s
Semele
-accord i ng t o G ree k myt h o logy, Zeus ( J u p i t e r, R o m a n vers i o n ) a p pear
ed t o Semele in t h u nd e r a n d l i g h t n i n g whose fi re c o n s u med her
Notn I 103
Sift 's M a
-Scplcmbcr 2-6. 1 792. in Paris. prisoners were taken and killed by the
mob
-insliptcd by Danton
-approximately 1 .600 were killed in Paris. among them 300 priests
Staia ... Et*w

-Stoics: descriptive of Robcspieue·s followers ( ideology of virtue)
-EpicuRans: dcscripli\-e of Danton·s followcn (sensualism)
TMbi/�
-(SS-120 A.D. and 1 08-62 B.C.)
-R oman bi.slorians wbo5c writinp on Tibcrius reign of tenor and
•
CatiliDe"s plot were used by Camille and R obcs piene as mutual

parodies
y_, . • Rod
-the cliff from wb.icb political criminals were pushed in Rome
v� • Me*i
- ID05t perfect Gree k statue. Sth ttntury BC
\"eto
-the ro)-al preroptn-e of '\'ClO power
Yaz" •
-a Roman wbo killed bis daughter Virginia to sa\·e her from the tyrant
.o\ppius Claudius. leading to the O\-enbrow of Appius Claudius·
gonmment
The notes are based on Bticluwr-KommmltiT :um dichtNischm WNk by

'A"alter HindcnT. M iiDchcn 1 977 .
DATES IN GEOR G BUCHNE R 'S LIFE:
1 8 1 3 O c t o b e r 1 7 , K a r l G e o r g Buchner born i n Goddelau, G rand Duchy of

Hesse-Da rmstad t . Father: Ernst Karl, physicia n : mother: Caro l i ne ,
n e e R euss. B rother s and s isters: M at h i lde, W i l helm, Louise ( writer
and fem i n ist), Ludwig, Alexander ( German revol u t i o n a ry in 1 848).
1 8 1 6 The fam i l y moves t o Da rmstad t .
1 8 25 M a rch 2 5 , e n ro l l me n t i n t h e gymna s i u m a t Darmsta d t .
1 8 3 1 M a rch 30, grad u a t i o n fro m the gymnas i u m : Buchner g i v e s speech i n
Lat i n .
November 9 , ma tricu lation a t t he sch ool o f med icine, U n iversi t y o f
S t rasbourg .
1 83 3 October 3 1 , m a t r i c u l a t i o n a s student of med icine a t t h e U n ivers i t y o f
G iessen .
1 834 M a rc h , fo u n d i ng of the Gesellschaft der Menschenrech te (Society
for Human Rights) i n G iesse n .
M ay, fi rst d raft o f t he p a m p h let Der Hessische LAndbote (The
Hessian Country Herald).
August I , a rrest of Buchner's fri e n d , M in n igerode, carryi n g 1 58
copies of the Herald.
August 4-5 , on the ret u rn t o G iesse n , Buchner fi nds h is desk sea led
and his papers sea rched . Between A ugust and September severa l
members of t he Society a re a rrested .
Oct ober, Buchner stud ies S p i n oza , R o u ssea u , a nd several works on
t he French Revol u t i o n .
1 8 35 J a n uary, heari ngs before the c o u rt s of i n q u i ry i n Offe n ba c h and
Fried berg.
End of J a nuary t o end of February, writing o f Dan ton s Dea th .
Fe b ruary 2 1 , Buchner send s t h e man uscript t o his p u b l i s her
Sauerltinder. One wee k later he rece i ves a s u m m o n s t o a p pea r a t the
Darmstad t c o u rt of i n q u i ry .
M a rc h 9 , Buchner flees across t h e Fre nch bord e r i n t o S t ra s b o u rg.
J u ne 1 3 , i ssue of a warra nt o f a rrest agai nst Buchner.
J u ly, B uc h ner fi n ishes h i s t ra n s la t i o n of V i c t o r H ugo 's Lucretia
Borgia a nd Maria Tudor.
October, stud ies of t h e h i s t oric figure of Lenz, wri t i ng of t h e nove l l a .
W i n t e r , Buchner s t ud ies n a t u ra l scie nces and p h i l osophy.
1 06 I Dates in Georg Buchner 's Life
1 8 36 J u ne, work o n Leonce and Lena.

S u m mer, work on a lect ure on German p h i l osophy for t he
U n ivers i t y of Zuric h .
Septem ber 3 , Buchner earns P h . D . fro m the U n ivers ity o f Zu rich fo r
h i s resea rch on the barbels ( fi s h ) .
October 1 8 , m oves t o Z u r i c h .
N ovember 5 , B u c h n e r gives h i s t rial lecture On the Nerves of the
Sk ull and is c o n fi rmed a s lect u re r, made a member of the fac u l t y .
H e sched ules lec t u res o n the c o m parative a n a t o m y of fishes a n d
a m p h i b ians fo r t he c o m i n g w i nter semester.
Fall, W i nter. BOchner works o n Woyzeck.
1 83 7 February 2, Buchner is taken i l l .
Feb ruary 1 4, typhoid feve r diagnosed .
Feb ruary 1 9, Buchner's dea t h .

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DANTON'S DEATH

New York, Indiana, Georgia, Illinois

First published in 1982

All Rights Reserved.

International Standard Book Number 0-939858-02-9

Typesetting: Positive Type Printing, Millerton. New York

Ltes in Georg Buchner's Life 105

Georg Buchner is one of the giants of I 9th century European

Holocaust. Buchner's emotional and intellectual ties to the French

The dramatist is...nothing but a writer of history ...His

gons of virtue out of a Danton and the bandits of the

Buchner's language was too strong for Victorian, or Biedermeier,

The translation is based on the "Hamburger Ausgabe" (Ham­

LAdies at the game table, ladies and gentlemen as well as a young

Herault-S�chel/es, several ladies (at the game table), Danton, his

odious lips : oh love, thou wicked loosener of limbs !

Simon. His wife

SECOND CITIZEN Right , first he walks on three of them , and

(Enter Robespie"e, accompanied by women and Sansculottes)

SIMON Woe is me, I am forsak:en ! (He tries to sit up)

THE J ACOB INS' CLUB

A MAN FROM LYONS Our brothers from Lyons send us to

revolutionary government is the despotism of Liberty against

manners . Lately they have parodied Tacitus in the most

LACROIX What have you done, Legendre? Do you know

LEGENDRE What difference does it make? [It was as if a

MARION No , let me be! This way, at your feet . I want to tell

LACROIX (stays at the do or) I have to laugh, I reall y have to

mangled by a boar but by sows , he receives his wound not on

LACROIX What's new , Fabricius?

Robespierre. Dan ton. Paris

ROBESPIERRE Let me tell you , whoever stays my arm when I

j ust because you yourself always wear a well-brushed coat?

ROBESPIERRE Aha, 'The Old Franciscan' , is that all? He's a

ROBESPIERRE (alone) Indeed, the bloody Messiah who sacri­

Danton. Lacroix. Philippeau. Paris. Camille Desmou/ins

A CITIZEN My good Jacqueline, I mean to say Corn . . . , ! mean

of the Roman she-wolf, no , that won ' t do , Romulus was a

ROSALIE And you 're very dull .

YOUNG GENTLEMAN That could make m e grow pale. ( They

Danton. Camille. Lucile

CAM ILLE I tell you , unless they get everything in wooden

DANTON The Committee of Public Safety decided to have me

come it? I must pull myself together . (She sings)

DANTON I don' t want to go on . I don 't want to pollute this

day after and on and on it will all be as before. It' s an empty

JULIE You saved the country .

STR E ET I N F R O N T O F DA NTON 'S H O U S E

Simon. Citizens of the Militia

SIMON Onward, citizens , do you duty for your country !

TH E N ATION A L CON V ENTION

LEGENDRE Isn ' t the butchering of deputies ever going to stop?

cause he believes that a certain privilege is attached to this

number of scoundrels i s not great . W e only have t o eliminate a

differences caused by Nature herself. Therefore, everyone may

A Room with Prisoners

Chaumette. Paine. Mercier. Herault-Sechel/es and other Prisoners

an attribute of His as Spinoza says, then God is in everything ,

AN OTH E R (to Camille) Well , General Procurator of the Lan­

Büchner, Georg - Danton's Death (TSL, 1982)

Büchner, Georg - Danton's Death (TSL, 1982)

Büchner, Georg - Danton's Death (TSL, 1982)

The translation is based on the "Hamburger Ausgabe" (Ham

ROBESPIERRE (alone) Indeed, the bloody Messiah who sacri

AN OTH E R (to Camille) Well , General Procurator of the Lan

the artillery of Truth and crush my enemies . (Signs of ap