by Victor Hugo
CHAPTER V.
THE HORIZON ONE SEES FROM BARRICADE'S SUMMIT.
The situation of the whole party in this fatal hour, and at thisinexorable spot, had as result and pinnacle the supreme melancholy ofEnjolras. Enjolras had within him the plenitude of the revolution;he was imperfect, however, so far as the absolute can be so,--he hadtoo much of St. Just and not enough of Anacharsis Clootz; still hismind in the society of the Friends of the A. B. C. had eventuallyreceived a certain magnetism of Combeferre's ideas. For some time pasthe had been gradually emerging from the narrow form of dogmatism andyielding to the expansion of progress, and in the end he had accepted,as the definitive and magnificent evolution, the transformation ofthe great French republic into the immense human republic. As for theimmediate means, a violent situation being given, he was willing to beviolent; in that he did not vary, and he still belonged to that epicand formidable school which is resumed in the words "'93." Enjolraswas standing on the paving-stone steps, with one of his elbows on themuzzle of his gun. He was thinking; he trembled, as men do when ablast passes, for spots where death lurks produce this tripod effect.A sort of stifled fire issued from beneath his eyelashes, which werefull of the internal glance. All at once he raised his head, his lighthair fell back like that of the angel on the dark quadriga composed ofstars, and he cried:--
"Citizens, do you represent the future to yourselves? The streets oftowns inundated with light, green branches on the thresholds, nationssisters, men just, old men blessing children, the past loving thepresent, men thinking at perfect liberty, believers enjoying perfectequality, for religion the heaven, God, the direct priest, the humanconscience converted into an altar, no more hatred, the fraternity ofthe workshop and the school, notoriety the sole punishment and reward,work for all, right for all, peace for all, no more bloodshed, no morewars, and happy mothers! To subdue the matter is the first step, torealize the ideal is the second. Reflect on what progress has alreadydone; formerly the first human races saw with terror the hydra thatbreathed upon the waters, the dragon that vomited fire, the griffinwhich was the monster of the air, and which flew with the wings of aneagle and the claws of a tiger, pass before their eyes,--frightfulbeasts which were below man. Man, however, set his snares, the sacredsnares of intellect, and ended by catching the monsters in them. Wehave subdued the hydra, and it is called the steamer; we have tamedthe dragon, and it is called the locomotive; we are on the point oftaming the griffin, we hold it already, and it is called the balloon.The day on which that Promethean task is terminated and man hasdefinitively attached to his will the triple antique chimera, thedragon, the hydra, and the griffin, he will be master of water, fire,and air, and he will be to the rest of animated creation what theancient gods were formerly to him. Courage, and forward! Citizens,whither are we going? To science made government, to the strength ofthings converted into the sole public strength, to the natural lawhaving its sanction and penalty in itself and promulgating itself byevidence, and to a dawn of truth corresponding with the dawn of day.We are proceeding to a union of the peoples; we are proceeding to aunity of man. No more fictions, no more parasites. The real governedby the true is our object. Civilization will hold its assize on thesummit of Europe, and eventually in the centre of the continent, ina great Parliament of intellect. Something like this has been seenalready; the Amphictyons held two sessions a year, one at Delphi, theplace of the gods, the other at Thermopylæ, the place of heroes. Europewill have her Amphictyons, the globe will have its Amphictyons, Francebears the sublime future within her, and this is the gestation of the19th century. What Greece sketched out is worthy of being finished byFrance. Hearken to me, Feuilly, valiant workman, man of the people, manof the people. I venerate thee; yes, thou seest clearly future times;yes, thou art right. Thou hast neither father nor mother, Feuilly, andthou hast adopted humanity as thy mother and right as thy father. Thouart about to die here, that is to say, to triumph. Citizens, whatevermay happen to-day, we are about to make a revolution, by our defeat aswell as by our victory. In the same way as fires light up a whole city,revolutions light up the whole human race. And what a revolution shallwe make? I have just told you, the revolution of the True. From thepolitical point of view, there is but one principle, the sovereignty ofman over himself. This sovereignty of me over me is called liberty, andwhere two or three of these liberties are associated the State begins.But in this association there is no abdication, and each sovereigntyconcedes a certain amount of itself to form the common right. Thisquality is the same for all, and this identity of concession which eachmakes to all is called Equality. The common right is nought but theprotection of all radiating over the right of each. This protectionof all over each is termed Fraternity. The point of intersection ofall aggregated societies is called Society, and this intersectionbeing a junction, the point is a knot. Hence comes what is called thesocial tie; some say the social contract, which is the same thing, asthe word contract is etymologically formed with the idea of a tie.Let us come to an understanding about equality; for if liberty be thesummit, equality is the base. Equality, citizens, is not all vegetationon a level, a society of tall blades of grass and small oaks, or aneighborhood of entangled jealousies; it is, civilly, every aptitudehaving the same opening, politically, all votes having the same weight,and religiously, all consciences having the same right. Equalityhas an organ in gratuitous and compulsory education, and it shouldbegin with the right to the alphabet. The primary school imposed onall, the secondary school offered to all, such is the law, and fromthe identical school issues equal instruction. Yes, instruction!Light, light! Everything comes from light and everything returns toit Citizens, the 19th century is great, but the 20th century will behappy. Then there will be nothing left resembling ancient history,there will be no cause to fear, as at the present day, a conquest, aninvasion, usurpation, an armed rivalry of nations, an interruption ofcivilization depending on a marriage of kings, a birth in hereditarytyrannies, a division of peoples by Congress, a dismemberment by thecollapse of dynasties, a combat of two religions, clashing, like twogoats of the darkness, on the bridge of infinity; there will be nocause longer to fear famine, exhaustion, prostitution through destiny,misery through stoppage of work, and the scaffold, and the sword, andbattles, and all the brigandage of accident in the forest of events;we might almost say there will be no more events, we shall be happy;the human race will accomplish its law as the terrestrial globe doesits law; harmony will be restored between the soul and the planet, andthe soul will gravitate round the truth as the planet does round light.Friends, the hour we are now standing in is a gloomy hour, but thereare such terrible purchases of the future. Oh, the human race will bedelivered, relieved, and consoled! We affirm it on this barricade,and where should the cry of love be raised if not on the summit ofthe sacrifice? Oh, my brothers, this is the point of junction betweenthose who think and those who suffer. This barricade is not made ofpaving-stones, beams, and iron bars; it is made of two masses,--amass of ideas and a mass of sorrows. Misery meets then the ideal; dayembraces the night there, and says to it, 'I am about to die with thee,and thou wilt be born again with me.' Faith springs from the embraceof all the desolations; sufferings bring hither their agony, and ideastheir immortality. This agony and this immortality are about to bemingled and compose one death. Brothers, the man who dies here dies inthe radiance of the future, and we shall enter a tomb all filled withdawn."
Enjolras interrupted himself rather than was silent; his lips movedsilently as if he were talking to himself, which attracted attention,and in order still to try to hear him they held their tongues. Therewas no applause, but they whispered together for a long time. Languagebeing breath, the rustling of intellects resembles the rustling ofleaves.
