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.
English Page · Branch 65 of 120
Chapter XIII · Paragraphs 21–22
Edition pages
Printed pages in the supplied Diotimos 2026 bilingual edition.
- French
- Diotimos 2026 pp. 276, 278
- English
- Diotimos 2026 pp. 277, 279
French
L’esprit d’Évariste, naturellement inquiet et scrupuleux, s’emplissait, aux leçons des Jacobins et au spectacle de la vie, de soupçons et d’alarmes. A la nuit, en suivant, pour se rendre chez Élodie, les rues mal éclairées, il croyait, par chaque soupirail, apercevoir dans la cave la planche aux faux assignats; au fond de la boutique vide du boulanger ou de l’épicier il devinait des magasins regorgeant de vivres accaparés; à travers les vitres étincelantes des traiteurs, il lui semblait entendre les propos des agioteurs qui préparaient la ruine du pays en vidant des bouteilles de vin de Beaune ou de Chablis; dans les ruelles infectes, il apercevait les filles de joie prêtes à fouler aux pieds la cocarde nationale aux applaudissements de la jeunesse élégante; il voyait partout des conspirateurs et des traîtres. Et il songeait: "République! contre tant d’ennemis secrets ou déclarés, tu n’as qu’un secours. Sainte guillotine, sauve la patrie!..."
Élodie l’attendait dans sa petite chambre bleue, au-dessus de l'Amour peintre. Pour l’avertir qu’il pouvait entrer, elle mettait sur le rebord de la fenêtre son petit arrosoir vert, près du pot d’œillets. Maintenant il lui faisait horreur, il lui apparaissait comme un monstre: elle avait peur de lui et elle l’adorait. Toute la nuit, pressés éperdument l’un contre l’autre, l’amant sanguinaire et la voluptueuse fille se donnaient en silence des baisers furieux.
English
Évariste’s mind, naturally anxious and scrupulous, was filling with suspicions and alarms under the teachings of the Jacobins and the spectacle of life. At night, following the poorly lit streets on his way to Élodie’s, he thought he glimpsed through every cellar grating a plate for printing counterfeit assignats; at the back of the baker’s or grocer’s empty shop he divined warehouses overflowing with hoarded food; through the glittering windows of eating houses he seemed to hear the talk of speculators preparing the country’s ruin as they emptied bottles of Beaune or Chablis. In the foul lanes he saw prostitutes ready to trample the national cockade to the applause of fashionable young men. Everywhere he saw conspirators and traitors. And he thought: ‘Republic! Against so many enemies, secret or declared, you have only one recourse. Holy guillotine, save the country!…’
Élodie waited for him in her little blue room above L’Amour peintre. To let him know he could come in, she put her little green watering can on the windowsill beside the pot of carnations. Now he horrified her; he seemed a monster to her: she was afraid of him and adored him. All night, frantically clasping one another, the bloodthirsty lover and the voluptuous girl exchanged furious kisses in silence.
Socrates
Reading The Gods Are Athirst · Chapter XIII · Chapter XIII · Paragraphs 21–22
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.