Diotimos Library · Literary Fiction Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Gods Are Athirst
Les Dieux ont soif · Complete French–English bilingual edition
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English Page · Branch 92 of 120
Chapter XXII · Paragraphs 12–24
Edition pages
Printed pages in the supplied Diotimos 2026 bilingual edition.
- French
- Diotimos 2026 pp. 410, 412, 414
- English
- Diotimos 2026 pp. 411, 413, 415
French
Le Tribunal expédiait, ce jour-là, une partie de la grande conspiration des prisons, une trentaine de conspirateurs du Luxembourg, captifs très soumis, mais royalistes ou fédéralistes très prononcés. L’accusation reposait tout entière sur le témoignage d’un seul délateur. Les jurés ne savaient pas un mot de l’affaire; ils ignoraient jusqu’aux noms des conspirateurs. Gamelin, en jetant les yeux sur le banc des accusés, reconnut parmi eux Fortuné Chassagne. L’amant de Julie, amaigri par une longue captivité, pâle, les traits durcis par la lumière crue qui baignait la salle, gardait encore quelque grâce et quelque fierté. Ses regards rencontrèrent ceux de Gamelin et se chargèrent de mépris.
Gamelin, possédé d’une fureur tranquille, se leva, demanda la parole, et, les yeux fixés sur le buste de Brutus l’ancien, qui dominait le Tribunal:
"Citoyen président, dit-il, bien qu’il puisse exister entre un des accusés et moi des liens qui, s’ils étaient déclarés, seraient des liens d’alliance, je déclare ne me point récuser. Les deux Brutus ne se récusèrent pas quand, pour le salut de la république ou la cause de la liberté, il leur fallut condamner un fils, frapper un père adoptif."
Il se rassit.
"Voilà un beau scélérat", murmura Chassagne entre ses dents.
Le public restait froid, soit qu’il fût enfin las des caractères sublimes, soit que Gamelin eût triomphé trop facilement des sentiments naturels.
"Citoyen Gamelin, dit le président, aux termes de la loi, toute récusation doit être formulée par écrit, dans les vingt-quatre heures avant l’ouverture des débats. Au reste, tu n’as pas lieu de te récuser: un juré patriote est au-dessus des passions."
Chaque accusé fut interrogé pendant trois ou quatre minutes. Le réquisitoire conclut à la peine de mort pour tous. Les jurés la votèrent d’une parole, d’un signe de tête et par acclamation. Quand ce fut le tour de Gamelin d’opiner:
"Tous les accusés sont convaincus, dit-il, et la loi est formelle."
Tandis qu’il descendait l’escalier du Palais, un jeune homme vêtu d’un carrick vert bouteille et qui semblait âgé de dix-sept ou dix-huit ans, l’arrêta brusquement au passage. Il portait un chapeau rond, rejeté en arrière, et dont les bords faisaient à sa belle tête pâle une auréole noire. Dressé devant le juré, il lui cria, terrible de colère et de désespoir:
"Scélérat! monstre! assassin! Frappe-moi, lâche! Je suis une femme! Fais-moi arrêter, fais-moi guillotiner, Caïn! Je suis ta sœur."
Et Julie lui cracha au visage.
La foule des tricoteuses et des sans-culottes se relâchait alors de sa vigilance révolutionnaire; son ardeur civique était bien attiédie: il n’y eut autour de Gamelin et de son agresseur que des mouvements incertains et confus. Julie fendit l’attroupement et disparut dans le crépuscule.
English
That day the Tribunal was dispatching part of the great prison conspiracy, some thirty conspirators from the Luxembourg, very submissive captives but pronounced royalists or federalists. The accusation rested entirely on the testimony of a single informer. The jurors knew not a word of the case; they did not even know the conspirators’ names. Glancing at the dock, Gamelin recognised Fortuné Chassagne among them. Julie’s lover, thin from long captivity, pale, his features hardened by the harsh light flooding the room, still retained some grace and pride. His eyes met Gamelin’s and filled with contempt.
Possessed by a tranquil fury, Gamelin rose and asked to speak. His eyes fixed on the bust of the elder Brutus that dominated the Tribunal, he said:
“Citizen president, although there may exist between one of the accused and myself ties which, were they declared, would be ties of kinship by marriage, I declare that I shall not withdraw. Neither of the two Brutuses withdrew when, for the salvation of the republic or the cause of liberty, he had to condemn a son or strike down an adoptive father.”
He sat down again.
“A fine scoundrel,” Chassagne muttered between his teeth.
The public remained cold, either because it was at last weary of sublime characters, or because Gamelin had triumphed too easily over natural feelings.
“Citizen Gamelin,” said the president, “under the law, any withdrawal must be declared in writing twenty-four hours before the opening of the hearing. Besides, you have no reason to withdraw: a patriotic juror is above the passions.”
Each accused was questioned for three or four minutes. The prosecutor called for death for them all. The jurors voted it with a word, a nod, by acclamation. When Gamelin’s turn came to give his opinion:
“All the accused are convicted,” he said, “and the law is explicit.”
As he went down the Palais staircase, a young man in a bottle-green carrick, seemingly seventeen or eighteen, abruptly barred his way. He wore a round hat pushed back, its brim making a black halo round his beautiful pale head. Drawing himself up before the juror, terrible in anger and despair, he cried:
“Scoundrel! Monster! Murderer! Strike me, coward! I am a woman! Have me arrested, have me guillotined, Cain! I am your sister.”
And Julie spat in his face.
The crowd of knitting women and sans-culottes was then relaxing its revolutionary vigilance; its civic ardour had greatly cooled. Around Gamelin and his assailant there were only uncertain, confused movements. Julie forced her way through the gathering and disappeared into the dusk.
Socrates
Reading The Gods Are Athirst · Chapter XXII · Chapter XXII · Paragraphs 12–24
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.