From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordFraternité extends the relation between siblings into a claim of civic solidarity.
- In the novelThe proclamation of human fraternity at the festival of the Supreme Being precedes renewed mass trials.
- In this editionThe edition translates fraternité as “brotherhood” in these passages but retains the literal “brothers” of the song.
- A place to readô fraternité humaine: O human brotherhood.
Meaning
Related words and phrases.
Fraternité extends the relation between siblings into a claim of civic solidarity. Frère can be an actual brother, a tender form of address, or a member of the imagined political family. Fratricide names violence within that family. The novel does not let the public ideal erase the literal relations from which its force is borrowed.
Use in the book
The proclamation of human fraternity at the festival of the Supreme Being precedes renewed mass trials. Gamelin later imagines Robespierre wishing to extinguish fratricidal hatred, but proposes to make that wish possible by killing all conspirators and traitors. The contradiction is located in his projected programme, not in an instruction Robespierre actually gives during the garden encounter.
Actual sibling relations resist the public metaphor. Gamelin refuses to withdraw from the case of Julie’s lover, invokes the two Brutuses, and is answered by his sister’s accusation of being Cain. Élodie, by contrast, calls herself his sister when she tries to soothe and protect him. Her language resumes the Electra scene and uses kinship as care rather than a warrant for exemplary punishment.
The last chapter gives the strongest verbal reprise. The anti-Jacobin audience repeatedly sings “French people, people of brothers” while calling for deaths, suppressing a rival patriotic song, and smashing Marat’s bust. The refrain is not a new proof that genuine fraternity has arrived after Thermidor. Its exact recurrence links the audience’s professions with its conduct and prevents the change of political enemies from becoming an uncomplicated moral ending.
Places to read
- Chapter XXII, paragraph 1Frenchô fraternité humaine: O human brotherhood. Festival rhetoric places fraternity among the promised blessings.
- Chapter XXII, paragraph 22FrenchCaïn! Je suis ta sœur: Cain! I am your sister. Julie opposes literal kinship to her brother’s public justification.
- Chapter XXVI, paragraph 6Frenchéteindre les haines fratricides: quench fratricidal hatreds. Part of the political intention Gamelin attributes to Robespierre.
- Chapter XXVII, paragraph 17Frenchécoute ta sœur: listen to your sister. Élodie offers protective, soothing kinship.
- Chapter XXIX, paragraph 29aFrenchPeuple français, peuple de frères: French people, people of brothers. First quoted opening of the anti-Jacobin anthem.
- Chapter XXIX, paragraph 45aFrenchPeuple français, peuple de frères: French people, people of brothers. The refrain returns after the destruction of the bust.
- Chapter XXIX, paragraph 60aFrenchPeuple français, peuple de frères: French people, people of brothers. The song is heard again amid accounts of public humiliation.
Translation in this edition
The edition translates fraternité as “brotherhood” in these passages but retains the literal “brothers” of the song. The suffix locators identify embedded song lines, not missing narrative paragraphs. Fratricides in XXVI.6 modifies hatreds, not a list of legally established killings. The recurrent phrase should remain visible across the three fully quoted final-chapter locations and its intervening reprise at XXIX.33a.