the situation of all in that fatal hour and that pitiless place, had as result and culminating point enjolras' supreme melancholy.
enjolras bore within him the plenitude of the revolution; he was incomplete, however, so far as the absolute can be so; he had too much of saint-just about him, and not enough of anacharsis cloots; still, his mind, in the society of the friends of the a b c, had ended by undergoing a certain polarization from combeferre's ideas; for some time past, he had been gradually emerging from the narrow form of dogma, and had allowed himself to incline to the broadening influence of progress, and he had come to accept, as a definitive and magnificent evolution, the transformation of the great french republic, into the immense human republic. as far as the immediate means were concerned, a violent situation being given, he wished to be violent; on that point, he never varied;and he remained of that epic and redoubtable school which is summed up in the words: "eighty-three." enjolras was standing erect on the staircase of paving-stones, one elbow resting on the stock of his gun. he was engaged in thought; he quivered, as at the passage of prophetic breaths; places where death is have these effects of tripods. a sort of stifled fire darted from his eyes, which were filled with an inward look. all at once he threw back his head, his blond locks fell back like those of an angel on the sombre quadriga made of stars, they were like the mane of a startled lion in the flaming of an halo, and enjolras cried:
"citizens, do you picture the future to yourselves? the streets of cities inundated with light, green branches on the thresholds, nations sisters, men just, old men blessing children, the past loving the present, thinkers entirely at liberty, believers on terms of full equality, for religion heaven, god the direct priest, human conscience become an altar, no more hatreds, the fraternity of the workshop and the school, for sole penalty and recompense fame, work for all, right for all, peace over all, no more bloodshed, no more wars, happy mothers! to conquer matter is the first step; to realize the ideal is the second. reflect on what progress has already accomplished. formerly, the first human races beheld with terror the hydra pass before their eyes, breathing on the waters, the dragon which vomited flame, the griffin who was the monster of the air, and who flew with the wings of an eagle and the talons of a tiger; fearful beasts which were above man. man, nevertheless, spread his snares, consecrated by intelligence, and finally conquered these monsters. we have vanquished the hydra, and it is called the locomotive; we are on the point of vanquishing the griffin, we already grasp it, and it is called the balloon. on the day when this promethean task shall be accomplished, and when man shall have definitely harnessed to his will the triple chimaera of antiquity, the hydra, the dragon and the griffin, he will be the master of water, fire, and of air, and he will be for the rest of animated creation that which the ancient gods formerly were to him. courage, and onward! citizens, whither are we going? to science made government, to the force of things become the sole public force, to the natural law, having in itself its sanction and its penalty and promulgating itself by evidence, to a dawn of truth corresponding to a dawn of day. we are advancing to the union of peoples; we are advancing to the unity of man. no more fictions; no more parasites. the real governed by the true, that is the goal. civilization will hold its assizes at the summit of europe, and, later on, at the centre of continents, in a grand parliament of the intelligence. something similar has already been seen. the amphictyons had two sittings a year, one at delphos the seat of the gods, the other at thermopylae, the place of heroes. europe will have her amphictyons; the globe will have its amphictyons. france bears this sublime future in her breast. this is the gestation of the nineteenth century. that which greece sketched out is worthy of being finished by france. listen to me, you, feuilly, valiant artisan, man of the people. i revere you. yes, you clearly behold the future, yes, you are right. you had neither father nor mother, feuilly; you adopted humanity for your mother and right for your father. you are about to die, that is to say to triumph, here. citizens, whatever happens to-day, through our defeat as well as through our victory, it is a revolution that we are about to create. as conflagrations light up a whole city, so revolutions illuminate the whole human race. and what is the revolution that we shall cause? i have just told you, the revolution of the true. from a political point of view, there is but a single principle; the sovereignty of man over himself. this sovereignty of myself over myself is called liberty. where two or three of these sovereignties are combined, the state begins. but in that association there is no abdication. each sovereignty concedes a certain quantity of itself, for the purpose of forming the common right. this quantity is the same for all of us. this identity of concession which each makes to all, is called equality. common right is nothing else than the protection of all beaming on the right of each. this protection of all over each is called fraternity.the point of intersection of all these assembled sovereignties is called society.this intersection being a junction, this point is a knot. hence what is called the social bond. some say social contract; which is the same thing, the word contract being etymologically formed with the idea of a bond. let us come to an understanding about equality; for, if liberty is the summit, equality is the base. equality, citizens, is not wholly a surface vegetation, a society of great blades of grass and tiny oaks; a proximity of jealousies which render each other null and void; legally speaking, it is all aptitudes possessed of the same opportunity; politically, it is all votes possessed of the same weight; religiously, it is all consciences possessed of the same right. equality has an organ: gratuitous and obligatory instruction. the right to the alphabet, that is where the beginning must be made. the primary school imposed on all, the secondary school offered to all, that is the law. from an identical school, an identical society will spring. yes, instruction! light! light! everything comes from light, and to it everything returns. citizens, the nineteenth century is great, but the twentieth century will be happy. then, there will be nothing more like the history of old, we shall no longer, as to-day, have to fear a conquest, an invasion, a usurpation, a rivalry of nations, arms in hand, an interruption of civilization depending on a marriage of kings, on a birth in hereditary tyrannies, a partition of peoples by a congress, a dismemberment because of the failure of a dynasty, a combat of two religions meeting face to face, like two bucks in the dark, on the bridge of the infinite; we shall no longer have to fear famine, farming out, prostitution arising from distress, misery from the failure of work and the scaffold and the sword, and battles and the ruffianism of chance in the forest of events. one might almost say: there will be no more events. we shall be happy. the human race will accomplish its law, as the terrestrial globe accomplishes its law; harmony will be re-established between the soul and the star; the soul will gravitate around the truth, as the planet around the light. friends, the present hour in which i am addressing you, is a gloomy hour; but these are terrible purchases of the future. a revolution is a toll. oh! the human race will be delivered, raised up, consoled! we affirm it on this barrier. whence should proceed that cry of love, if not from the heights of sacrifice? oh my brothers, this is the point of junction, of those who think and of those who suffer; this barricade is not made of paving-stones, nor of joists, nor of bits of iron; it is made of two heaps, a heap of ideas, and a heap of woes. here misery meets the ideal. the day embraces the night,and says to it: `i am about to die, and thou shalt be born again with me.' from the embrace of all desolations faith leaps forth. sufferings bring hither their agony and ideas their immortality. this agony and this immortality are about to join and constitute our death. brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn."
enjolras paused rather than became silent; his lips continued to move silently, as though he were talking to himself, which caused them all to gaze attentively at him, in the endeavor to hear more. there was no applause; but they whispered together for a long time. speech being a breath, the rustling of intelligences resembles the rustling of leaves.
众人的处境，在这致命的时刻和这严正无私的地方，是使安灼拉无比忧郁的最大缘由。
安灼拉是一个不折不扣的革命者，但从绝对完善的角度来看，还是有缺点的，他太象圣鞠斯特，不太象阿那卡雪斯·克罗茨1；但他的思想在“abc的朋友们”中受到公白飞思想的吸引；不久以来，他逐渐摆脱了他那狭隘的信条，走向扩大了的进步；他开始承认，最终的宏伟演进是把伟大的法兰西共和国转变为浩浩荡荡的全人类的共和国。
1阿那卡雪斯·克罗茨（anacharsis clootz，1755-1794），法国大革命时革命者，推崇理性，后和雅各宾左派一起被处死。此处指安灼拉缺乏克罗茨的理智。
至于目前的办法，一种凶暴的环境已经形成，他坚持用暴力；在这点上，他不改变；他对那可怕的史诗般的学派信守不渝，这学派用三个字概括：
“九三年”1。
安灼拉站在铺路石堆成的台阶上，一只臂肘靠着他的枪筒。陷入沉思；好象有一阵过堂风吹过，使他战栗；在面临死亡的场合，使人感到象坐上了三脚凳2一样。他那洞察内心的瞳孔闪射出受到压抑的光芒。突然他抬起头来，把金黄的头发朝后一甩，就象披发天神驾着一辆由星星组成的黑色四马战车，又象是一只受惊的狮子把它的鬃毛散成光环。安灼拉于是大声说：
1即一七九三年，当时法国大革命，路易十六上断头台。
2指古希腊祭台上的三脚凳，女祭司坐在上面宣述神谕。
“公民们，你们展望过未来的世界没有？城市的街道上光明普照，门前树木苍翠，各族人民亲如兄弟，人们大公无私，老人祝福儿童，以往赞美今朝，思想家自由自在，信仰绝对平等，上天就是宗教，上帝是直接的牧师，人们的良心是祭台，没有怨恨，工厂和学校友爱和睦，以名誉好坏代替赏罚，人人有工作，个个有权利，人人享受和平，不再流血，没有战争，母亲们欢天喜地。要掌握物质，这是第一步；实现理想，这是第二步。大家想想，现在的进步到了什么程度。在原始时代，人类惊恐地看到七头蛇兴风作浪，火龙喷火，天上飞着鹰翼虎爪的怪物，人们处在猛兽威胁之下；可是人们设下陷阱，神圣的智慧陷阱，终于俘获了这些怪物。
“我们驯服了七头蛇，它就是轮船；我们驯服了火龙，这就是火车头；我们即将驯服怪鸟，我们已抓住了它，这就是气球。有朝一日，人类最终完成了普罗米修斯开创的事业，任意驾驭这三种古老的怪物，七头蛇、火龙和怪鸟，人将成为水、火、空气的主人，他在其他生物中的地位就如同过去古代的天神在他的心中地位。鼓起勇气吧，前进！公民们，我们向何处前进？向科学，它将成为政府；向物质的力量，它将成为社会唯一的力量；向自然法则，它本身就具有赏与罚，它的颁布是事实的必然性决定的；向真理，它的显现犹如旭日东升。我们走向各民族的大团结，我们要达到人的统一。没有空想，不再有寄生虫。由真理统治事实，这就是我们的目的。文化在欧洲的高峰上举行会议，然后在各大陆的中心，举行一个智慧的大议会。如同事情已经存在过一样。古希腊的近邻同盟会每年开两次会，一次在德尔法，那是众神之地，另一次在塞莫皮莱，那是英雄之地。欧洲将有它的近邻同盟会议，全球将有它的同盟会议。法国孕育着这个崇高的未来，这就是十九世纪的怀胎期。古希腊粗具雏型的组织理应由法国来完成。弗以伊，听我说，你是英勇的工人，平民的儿子，人民的儿子。我崇敬你，你确实清楚地见到了未来世界，不错，你有道理。你已没有父母亲，弗以伊；但你把人类当作母亲，把公理当作父亲。你将在这儿死去，就是说在这儿胜利。公民们，不论今天将发生什么事，通过我们的失败或胜利，我们进行的将是一场革命。正好比火灾照亮全城，革命照亮全人类一样。我们进行的是什么样的革命？正如我刚才所说，是正义的革命。在政治上，只有一个原则：人对自己的主权。这种我对自己的主权就叫做自由。具有这种主权的两个或两个以上的人组织起来就出现了政府。但在这种组织中并不放弃任何东西。每人让出一部分主权来组成公法。所有人让出的部分都是等量的。每个人对全体的这种相等的让步称为平等。这种公法并不是别的，就是大家对各人权利的保护。这种集体对个人的保护称为博爱。各种主权的集合点称为社会。这个集合是一种结合，这个点就是一个枢纽，就是所谓社会联系，有人称之为社会公约，这都是一回事，因为公约这个词本来就有着联系的意思。我们要搞清楚平等的意义，因为如果自由是顶峰，那平等就是基础。公民们，所谓平等并不是说所有的植物长得一般高，一些高大的青草和矮小的橡树结为社会，邻居之间的忌妒要相互制止；而在公民方面，各种技能都有同样的出路；在政治方面，所投的票都有同样的分量；在宗教方面，所有信仰都有同样的权利；平等有一个工具：免费的义务教育。要从识字的权利这方面开始。要强迫接受初等教育，中学要向大家开放，这就是法律。同等的学历产生社会的平等。是的，教育！这是光明！光明！一切由光明产生，又回到光明。公民们，十九世纪是伟大的，但二十世纪将是幸福的。那时就没有与旧历史相似的东西了，人们就不会象今天这样害怕征服、侵略、篡夺，害怕国与国之间的武装对抗，害怕由于国王之间的通婚而使文化中断，害怕世袭暴君的诞生，害怕由一次会议而分裂民族，害怕因一个王朝的崩溃而造成国土被瓜分，害怕两种宗教正面冲突发生了象两只黑暗中的公山羊在太空独木桥上相遇的绝境；人们不用再害怕灾荒、剥削，或因穷困而卖身，或因失业而遭难，不再有断头台、杀戮和战争，以及无其数的事变中所遭到的意外情况1。人们几乎可以说：‘不会再有事变了。’人民将很幸福。人类将同地球一样完成自己的法则；心灵和天体之间又恢复了融洽。我们的精神围绕着真理运转，好象群星围绕着太阳。朋友们，我和你们谈话时所处的时刻是暗淡的，但这是为获得未来所付的惊人代价。革命是付一次通行税。啊！人类会被拯救，会站起来并得到安慰的！我们在这街垒中向人类作出保证。不在牺牲的高峰上我们还能在什么地方发出博爱的呼声呢？啊，弟兄们，这个地方是有思想的人和受苦难的人的集合点；这个街垒不是由石块、梁柱和破铜烂铁堆起来的，它是两堆东西的结合，一堆思想和一堆痛苦。苦难在这儿遇到了理想，白昼在这儿拥抱了黑夜并向它说：‘我和你一同死去，而你将和我一起复活。’在一切失望的拥抱里迸发出信念；痛苦在此垂死挣扎，理想将会永生。这种挣扎和永生的融合使我们为之而死。弟兄们，谁在这儿死去就是死在未来的光明中。我们将进入一个充满曙光的坟墓。”
1原文是“在事变的森林里遭到偶然的抢劫”。这是以在森林中遭到抢劫作比，意思是“碰到意外事故”。
安灼拉不是结束而好象是暂时停止了他的发言。他的嘴唇默默地颤动着，仿佛继续在自言自语，因而使得那些人聚精会神地望着他，还想听他讲下去。没有掌声，但大家低声议论了很久。这番话好比一阵微风，其中智慧在闪烁发光，一如树叶在簌簌作响一样。