From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordConspiration names a secret concerted plot; conspirer alleges participation in one.
- In the novelGamelin’s chapter XX monologue names the conspirator a Proteus, capable of every form.
- In this editionThe English retains “supposed” for prétendues and “traitors betrayed” for traîtres trahis.
- A place to readLe conspirateur, l’agent de l’étranger est un Protée: the conspirator as shape-changer.
Meaning
Related words and phrases.
Conspiration names a secret concerted plot; conspirer alleges participation in one. Traître names the betrayer, while trahir identifies the act. In the final chapters these words also operate as verdicts reached before particulars have been examined. Their force depends less on a stable political position than on an assumed hidden intention.
Use in the book
Gamelin’s chapter XX monologue names the conspirator a Proteus, capable of every form. Danton’s forcefulness conceals moderation, Desmoulins’s demand for mercy conceals criminality, and the extreme patriotism of other opponents becomes another route to betrayal. Opposite conduct can therefore confirm the same accusation. The apparent precision of the Incorruptible’s political distinctions is combined with a category that can absorb incompatibles.
The prison trials give that mental pattern administrative shape. Chapter XXII explicitly calls the conspiracies supposed and describes defendants who first encounter one another at their trial. The accusation supplies the association that the narrated lives do not establish. In chapter XXIV the prosecution turns Brotteaux’s friendship, Athénaïs’s gratitude and Longuemare’s religious writing into parts of one plot. When Brotteaux denies conspiring, the president calls the denial a conspiracy against the Tribunal. The accusation becomes resistant to contradiction because contradiction itself is recoded as guilt.
The last question of chapter XX asks where the chain of betrayed traitors will end. It is a genuine disturbance within Gamelin’s confidence, but not yet a release from the framework. The later outlawing of the Commune makes the instability visible in his own fate. A lexicon must therefore preserve who names the traitor at each moment, rather than adopting the label as a neutral description of a character.
Places to read
- Chapter XX, paragraph 3FrenchLe conspirateur, l’agent de l’étranger est un Protée: the conspirator as shape-changer. Gamelin’s inward discourse explains incompatible political appearances through one supposed hidden enemy.
- Chapter XX, paragraph 6Frenchl’exécrable enchaînement des traîtres trahis: the chain of betrayed traitors. The doubled root opens an anxious question about successive purges.
- Chapter XXII, paragraph 11Frenchces prétendues conspirations des prisons: these supposed prison conspiracies. Narratorial qualification must accompany the institutional accusation.
- Chapter XXIV, paragraph 15FrenchNon, je n’ai pas conspiré: I did not conspire. Brotteaux explicitly rejects the indictment.
- Chapter XXIV, paragraph 16Frenchtu conspires encore en ce moment contre le Tribunal: you are conspiring against the Tribunal even now. The president treats denial as a new instance of the alleged offence.
Translation in this edition
The English retains “supposed” for prétendues and “traitors betrayed” for traîtres trahis. The latter is not merely a list of traitors and victims: the repeated root makes betrayal circulate through successive accusers. The claims embedded in the indictment, including sexual and financial allegations, remain the prosecution’s statements; the paired narrative and replies repeatedly contest them.