Ooh, the Saint-Just's silence on 9th Thermidor question! Sometimes it reminds me of a description in 'Titus Groan ' - when Steerpike is locked, trapped, in a room, he doesn't bother to rattle the doorhandle because he's clearly heard the key turn in the lock. Maybe the attack is a scenario he's already gone through in his mind, he's been through the outcomes, knows it's hopeless, so chooses a statuesque neoclassical stoicism. I like the interpretation that their relative inaction that evening is because they know that if they fight they'll have to destroy the democratic institutions they've fought for, so they choose death - but it could be simply that they're all so damn tired they're like sleepwalkers by this point: Saint-Just can't have had much sleep on the 8th, either, and his silence could simply be shock and inexperience in the Convention. They seem to have lost their 'political antennae' by this point.
On your earlier point - it's a shame they didn't have the concept of 'gardening leave' - it's the British term for a cooling off period where colleagues at each others throats are made to stay at home without losing their official position while others sort things out (much in the news yesterday because there's a big spat in the police)!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-09-10 09:57 pm (UTC)On your earlier point - it's a shame they didn't have the concept of 'gardening leave' - it's the British term for a cooling off period where colleagues at each others throats are made to stay at home without losing their official position while others sort things out (much in the news yesterday because there's a big spat in the police)!