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revolution_frFinally!! I just found an extract online of the amazing La Terreur et la Vertu, near the ending of the second part "Robespierre".
This is the antidote needed after Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution.
This is Saint-Just -- with natural authority, dignity, and a grand, tragic, resolute and sublime aura:
My translation of the dialogue:
COUTHON – Yes, write. (reciting) “Citizen-soldiers, generals and officers, armies of the Republic. The National Convention has fallen in the hands of rascals...”
(Couthon's voice fades, as Robespierre slowly walks to Saint-Just, who's standing near the window of the Hôtel de Ville.)
ROBESPIERRE – Why don’t you say anything?
SAINT-JUST – You know it. “In the name of the French people…” What people? It is not here.
ROBESPIERRE – Why did you follow me?
SAINT-JUST – “You, who sustain the fragile patrie against the torrents of despotism and intrigue… I do not know you, but you are a great man. You are not only the deputy of a province; you are the one of humanity, and of the Republic.”
ROBESPIERRE – What is this?
SAINT-JUST – You don’t remember?
ROBESPIERRE – No.
SAINT-JUST – One day, back in 1790, a young man from Blérancourt wrote a letter to a deputy he admired through his speeches. This deputy; it was you, Robespierre. This young man; it was I.
ROBESPIERRE – So, you wrote to me?
SAINT-JUST – And I did not change.
ROBESPIERRE – I was the loneliest man of the Constituante. And now, I am alone again. Always.
SAINT-JUST – And I…
ROBESPIERRE – Everything is lost, isn’t it?
SAINT-JUST – Yes, it is lost. It could not be otherwise. Considering who we are, both of us. Considering what we think.
ROBESPIERRE – Why didn’t you help us? Give us any advice?
SAINT-JUST – We possessed seventeen companies of gunners and thirty-two cannons. The Convention only had one company. We had to, at 19:00, lead two companies in front of the main door of the Convention; at the East door, one company; at the West door, two companies. We had to, at 19:30, invade the committees and immediately arrest all the members. We had to, at 19:45, invade the Convention, proclaim the Constitution of 1793 and outlaw Tallien, Fréron, Barras and all the other rotten scoundrels. We had to send, at the School of Mars, two companies to rally the students, the officers and the troops. We had to, at 20:00, in Paris, proclaim the triumph of the Commune. And the Insurrection of the Apathetic would have been crowned the Insurrection of the Bold.
ROBESPIERRE – And you did nothing?
SAINT-JUST – If I had, would you have approved it?
ROBESPIERRE – No…
SAINT-JUST – The People of 10 August had the right to invade the Tuileries. The People of the 31 May and of the 5 September, had the right to invade the Convention. Not the armies.
ROBESPIERRE – Yes…
SAINT-JUST – Today, all that was left to us was the dictatorship of the armies. The military dictatorship. We would have been suspended in a void. Robespierre, consul of the Republic. Saint-Just, consul of the Republic.
ROBESPIERRE – Of which Republic?
Edit: And if someone feels adventurous enough to watch it all in French without subtitles, I think I just found the whole second film online: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xrrkt_star_vin_la-revolution-francaise
This is brilliant. And how apt.
This is the antidote needed after Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution.
This is Saint-Just -- with natural authority, dignity, and a grand, tragic, resolute and sublime aura:
My translation of the dialogue:
COUTHON – Yes, write. (reciting) “Citizen-soldiers, generals and officers, armies of the Republic. The National Convention has fallen in the hands of rascals...”
(Couthon's voice fades, as Robespierre slowly walks to Saint-Just, who's standing near the window of the Hôtel de Ville.)
ROBESPIERRE – Why don’t you say anything?
SAINT-JUST – You know it. “In the name of the French people…” What people? It is not here.
ROBESPIERRE – Why did you follow me?
SAINT-JUST – “You, who sustain the fragile patrie against the torrents of despotism and intrigue… I do not know you, but you are a great man. You are not only the deputy of a province; you are the one of humanity, and of the Republic.”
ROBESPIERRE – What is this?
SAINT-JUST – You don’t remember?
ROBESPIERRE – No.
SAINT-JUST – One day, back in 1790, a young man from Blérancourt wrote a letter to a deputy he admired through his speeches. This deputy; it was you, Robespierre. This young man; it was I.
ROBESPIERRE – So, you wrote to me?
SAINT-JUST – And I did not change.
ROBESPIERRE – I was the loneliest man of the Constituante. And now, I am alone again. Always.
SAINT-JUST – And I…
ROBESPIERRE – Everything is lost, isn’t it?
SAINT-JUST – Yes, it is lost. It could not be otherwise. Considering who we are, both of us. Considering what we think.
ROBESPIERRE – Why didn’t you help us? Give us any advice?
SAINT-JUST – We possessed seventeen companies of gunners and thirty-two cannons. The Convention only had one company. We had to, at 19:00, lead two companies in front of the main door of the Convention; at the East door, one company; at the West door, two companies. We had to, at 19:30, invade the committees and immediately arrest all the members. We had to, at 19:45, invade the Convention, proclaim the Constitution of 1793 and outlaw Tallien, Fréron, Barras and all the other rotten scoundrels. We had to send, at the School of Mars, two companies to rally the students, the officers and the troops. We had to, at 20:00, in Paris, proclaim the triumph of the Commune. And the Insurrection of the Apathetic would have been crowned the Insurrection of the Bold.
ROBESPIERRE – And you did nothing?
SAINT-JUST – If I had, would you have approved it?
ROBESPIERRE – No…
SAINT-JUST – The People of 10 August had the right to invade the Tuileries. The People of the 31 May and of the 5 September, had the right to invade the Convention. Not the armies.
ROBESPIERRE – Yes…
SAINT-JUST – Today, all that was left to us was the dictatorship of the armies. The military dictatorship. We would have been suspended in a void. Robespierre, consul of the Republic. Saint-Just, consul of the Republic.
ROBESPIERRE – Of which Republic?
Edit: And if someone feels adventurous enough to watch it all in French without subtitles, I think I just found the whole second film online: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xrrkt_star_vin_la-revolution-francaise
This is brilliant. And how apt.
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Date: 2009-07-19 12:44 pm (UTC)I'm interested in the revolution in general, but I actually don't know much about the Terror period so I don't know how true it is.. I mean, I didn't know that the Ventose laws were so important to Saint Just or that they in any way split the committee.. is that true? Because some things I've read tend to really dismiss them as unrealistic as though they never had any intention of putting them into action anyway.
I'm also not very good at French so I kept having to rewind it to hear what they were saying properly.
The only thing though, I suppose because they play the Robespierristes so sympathetically (it was really nice portrayal of Couthon as well, I really liked that aspect) was that I think the Thermidoreans come across as kind of evil mastermind types.
I kind of feel a bit sorry for them; my impression is that they have a worse press than robespierre and nobody ever cares about them because they didn't do anything interesting
What you have all been saying about saint just's motivation and sort of.. character is very interesting. From the little that I have read about him or by him, I found it very hard to understand him or have any sense of his personality at all. But I did get the sense that he seemed to have an idealised view of himself and what his role should be as a representative. And while I agree with you that the idea of him being a sort of teenager (because 26 is a perfectly sound age! when I reach 26 I hope I consider myself a responsible adult) I think that might have some connection with him being young.. when you haven't really had all of your experiences and you don't perhaps know yourself as well as you might do in the future, I think one often has to construct a sort of... ideal oneself to live up to, because you still don't know your real self. I don't know if I'm just projecting impressions that I have of my own experiences onto other people.. but do you know what I mean?
I've also just been re-reading Le Rouge et le Noir by Stendhal and that's what I liked so much about the character of Julien Sorel because he has this huge constructed ideal of himself, and he's so sure about his goals, but really it just shows how young and inexperienced and unsure he is about everything. - so that also might have something to do with it as well. x3