Page:Rolland - Two Plays of the French Revolution.djvu/47

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THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY
41

Marat. I serve no master: I serve humanity. But you are the valet of a corrupt man, a miserable aristocrat.

Hulin. I don't serve him because he is corrupt. You don't ask of your patients whether they are good or bad; they are men, poor devils like you and me. When they need help, you must give it and not stop to consider. Like many another, my master is corrupted by wealth. He cannot help himself: he needs a score of people to serve him. Now, I have three times as much strength as I need, and I don't know what use to make of it. Occasionally, I feel I would like to break something just to ease my feelings. If that idiot needs my power, I am willing to sell it to him. We are then quits. I do him good, and myself, too.

Marat. You also sell him your free soul, your conscience.

Hulin. Who says anything about that? I defy any one to take that from me.

Marat. And yet you submit. You don't tell all you think.

Hulin. What need I say? I know what I think. It's all very well for those who don't know to cry it aloud from the house-tops! I don't think for others; I think for myself.

Marat. Nothing that is in you belongs to you. You do not belong to yourself; you are a part of every one. You owe your strength to others, your will-power, your intelligence—no matter how little you possess.