The Gods Are Athirst

Élodie praises his humanity and takes him to her bedroom; a red carnation ends the night.

Chapter XII

Caillou refuses Brotteaux’s toys after an official calls them counter-revolutionary.

Brotteaux finds the homeless Father Longuemare and takes him into his attic.

The priest explains how his request for a civic certificate led to an attempted arrest.

Atheist and priest debate the motives and spiritual value of charity.

Chapter XIII

Military crisis and self-preservation shape the jurors’ sense of public safety.

Trubert commissions Gamelin to extract saltpetre; Gamelin condemns a defeated general and a poor bread carrier.

At the Jacobins Gamelin adopts formulas of political certainty and hostility towards atheists.

Successive convictions, hatred disguised as virtue and pervasive conspiracy fears harden him.

Élodie fears and desires her bloodthirsty lover.

Chapter XIV

Brotteaux and Longuemare share chestnuts and the work of making toys.

The priest recalls the jumping-jack craze; the friends debate evil, religion and persecution.

Brotteaux shelters Athénaïs, a sixteen-year-old prostitute fleeing arrest; Longuemare yields his bed.

Athénaïs leaves for her aunt’s home with half Brotteaux’s remaining money and asks to be remembered as Marthe.

Chapter XV

The narrator describes the Tribunal’s exhausted, collective production of death.

Marie-Antoinette is tried and executed.

Trubert dies amid news of military recovery and is honoured with a civic funeral.

Gamelin joins the Commune and witnesses the Girondins’ trial; Joséphine is beaten for dirtying her funeral dress.

Chapter XVI

Gamelin decides Maubel is Élodie’s former lover, interpreting art-shop addresses and flower petals as proof.

Élodie makes quince preserves while Widow Gamelin and Combalot puzzle over revolutionary reforms.

Élodie denies knowing Maubel but eventually lets the suspicion stand without understanding the danger.

Gamelin forces the weak case to trial and secures conviction by one vote.

Maubel’s letter reveals the flower’s true identity and his love of art; Élodie condemns the killing while desiring Gamelin.

Chapter XVII

National delegates seek Brotteaux after intercepting Rochemaure’s letter.

Paternal conversation and an arrest interrupt the search.

Remacle and Dupont identify Brotteaux for a reward.

Brotteaux and Longuemare are arrested; Athénaïs protests.

Chapter XVIII

The widow mourns Brotteaux’s arrest and turns to prayer.

Julie returns disguised as a man and begs for help for Fortuné.

Mother and daughter recall hardship and weigh Évariste’s character.

Évariste refuses knowledge of their return and threatens denunciation.

Chapter XIX

Brotteaux suffers solitary misery, then obtains paid accommodation.

He rescues Longuemare from the common cells and makes keepsakes to pay their costs.

The prisoners mock religion and rehearse their own trials; Dubosc is executed.

Brotteaux’s materialist consolations persist amid increasing terror.

He urges the imprisoned Rose Thévenin to remain unnoticed.

Chapter XX

During a hearing Gamelin meditates on Robespierre’s detection of hidden enemies.

He reconciles the destruction of opposing factions with belief in political virtue.

The multiplying betrayals begin to trouble his certainty.

Chapter XXI

Julie communicates with Fortuné through the Luxembourg windows.

Her male disguise attracts attention and draws her into a café brawl.

Dressed in Élodie’s clothes, she petitions Renaudin and is exploited.

The authorities stop families communicating with prisoners.

Chapter XXII

Gamelin attends the Festival of the Supreme Being.

The law of prairial turns patriotic conviction into accelerated judgement.

Chassagne appears in a batch of prisoners and Gamelin refuses withdrawal.

Julie denounces her brother after the unanimous death sentence.

Chapter XXIII

Nightmares deprive Gamelin of sleep.

Élodie’s care revives the Orestes painting and the image of Electra.

Gamelin denies the analogy through a claim of patriotic filial duty.

Chapter XXIV

Brotteaux, Rochemaure, Longuemare and Athénaïs face a mass conspiracy trial.

The indictment recasts their lives and conversations as criminal evidence.

Two suspected informers are excepted from the unanimous conviction.

The condemned prepare for death; Longuemare absolves Athénaïs.

Brotteaux and Longuemare exchange last reflections in the cart.

Chapter XXV

Gamelin interprets military victory as proof that terror has saved France.

Public weariness leads him to imagine further purges and his own disgrace.

He attempts to renounce Élodie and asks her to erase his memory.

His address to a child reveals the violence within his promises of future happiness.

Élodie answers with an ecstatic wish to share his sacrificial death.

Chapter XXVI

Gamelin sees Robespierre give money to a Savoyard child.

He imagines further executions as the path to Robespierre’s future clemency.

Two hostile passers-by threaten the leader, then retreat from his dog.

Chapter XXVII

Robespierre speaks on 8 thermidor without naming all his enemies.

The Convention arrests him and his allies on 9 thermidor.

Élodie unsuccessfully tries to dissuade Gamelin from joining the Commune.

The Council declares for the arrested men, then fragments under outlawry and public indifference.