perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." And I say to you: if your friend is corrupt, and corrupts the Republic, cast him from the Republic; if your brother is corrupt and corrupts the Republic, cast him from the Republic. And if the blood of the Republic, if your own blood, flows from a gaping wound, let it flow. The Republic must be purified, or die! The Republic is virtue. If that virtue be stained, the Republic ceases to exist.
Vadier [aside]. They are all mad. They ought to be put into strait-jackets. They must be put in cells.—On, then! [He starts to go.]
Billaud-Varenne. Wait until I sign.
Vadier. You have already signed.
Billaud-Varenne. Where? I don't remember. What have I done? Was I right? Tristis est anima mea! Oh, if I could only stretch out in the fields, on the fresh earth; smell the scent of the woods; see a brook running between banks of willows! Rest! Rest—
Robespierre. The founders of the Republic have no rest this side the grave.
