Diotimos Library · Literary Fiction Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Gods Are Athirst
Les Dieux ont soif · Complete French–English bilingual edition
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
French Page · Branch 42 of 120
Chapter VIII · Paragraphs 35–39
Edition pages
Printed pages in the supplied Diotimos 2026 bilingual edition.
- French
- Diotimos 2026 pp. 160, 162
- English
- Diotimos 2026 pp. 161, 163
French
"Il vaudrait mieux, répliqua la citoyenne, qu’ils portassent la robe et la perruque: ils en paraîtraient plus respectables. Bien que vêtu le plus souvent avec négligence, tu es beau et tu pares tes habits; mais la plupart des hommes ont besoin de quelque ornement pour paraître considérables: il vaudrait mieux que les jurés eussent la robe et la perruque."
La citoyenne avait ouï dire que les fonctions de juré au Tribunal rapportaient quelque chose; elle ne se tint pas de demander si l’on y gagnait de quoi vivre honnêtement, car un juré, disait-elle, doit faire bonne figure dans le monde.
Elle apprit avec satisfaction que les jurés recevaient une indemnité de dix-huit livres par séance et que la multitude des crimes contre la sûreté de l’État les obligerait à siéger très souvent.
Le vieux Brotteaux ramassa les cartes, se leva et dit à Gamelin:
"Citoyen, vous êtes investi d’une magistrature auguste et redoutable. Je vous félicite de prêter les lumières de votre conscience à un tribunal plus sûr et moins faillible peut-être que tout autre, parce qu’il recherche le bien et le mal, non point en eux-mêmes et dans leur essence, mais seulement par rapport à des intérêts tangibles et à des sentiments manifestes. Vous aurez à vous prononcer entre la haine et l’amour, ce qui se fait spontanément, non entre la vérité et l’erreur, dont le discernement est impossible au faible esprit des hommes. Jugeant d’après les mouvements de vos cœurs, vous ne risquerez pas de vous tromper, puisque le verdict sera bon pourvu qu’il contente les passions qui sont votre loi sacrée. Mais, c’est égal, si j’étais de votre président, je ferais comme Bridoie, je m’en rapporterais au sort des dés. En matière de justice, c’est encore le plus sûr."
English
“It would be better,” the citizen replied, “if they wore gowns and wigs. They’d look more respectable. Though you usually dress carelessly, you’re handsome and adorn your clothes; but most men need some ornament to seem important. It would be better if jurors wore gowns and wigs.”
The citizen had heard that service as a juror at the Tribunal brought in something. She could not resist asking whether one earned enough for a decent living there, since a juror, she said, ought to make a good appearance in the world.
She learnt with satisfaction that jurors received an allowance of eighteen livres per sitting, and that the multitude of crimes against state security would oblige them to sit very often.
Old Brotteaux gathered up the cards, rose and said to Gamelin:
“Citizen, you have been invested with an august and formidable office. I congratulate you on lending the light of your conscience to a tribunal surer and perhaps less fallible than any other, because it seeks good and evil not in themselves and in their essence, but only in relation to tangible interests and manifest feelings. You will have to decide between hatred and love, which happens spontaneously, rather than truth and error, which weak human minds cannot distinguish. Judging by the movements of your hearts, you will run no risk of being mistaken, since a verdict will be good provided it satisfies the passions that are your sacred law. Even so, if I were your president I would do as Bridoie did and rely on a throw of the dice. In matters of justice, that is still the safest course.”
Socrates
Reading The Gods Are Athirst · Chapter VIII · Chapter VIII · Paragraphs 35–39
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Anatole France’s The Gods Are Athirst follows the painter Évariste Gamelin as revolutionary conviction draws him into the work of the Revolutionary Tribunal. This complete French–English edition preserves the novel’s twenty-nine chapters, paired by source paragraph, with an introduction, historical orientation, glossary, and chapter notes.
Historical Text and Translation
The novel appeared in volume in 1912. The complete French reading text follows Project Gutenberg eBook 36477, whose underlying impression is undated and carries a later Brodard & Taupin colophon. Chapter I was also checked against a separate 1912 printing; that limited collation is distinguished from the source used for the whole novel.
About Diotimos Editions
The new English translation and editorial matter were generated and revised with AI for Diotimos Editions. The reader preserves the supplied paragraph pairing, songs, quoted letters, and 431 chapter notes, together with the source register and the edition’s statement of editorial responsibility.
Rights
Anatole France’s French source work is in the public domain. The new 2026 English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are credited as supplied in this bilingual edition.