HÉRAULT [_to_ DESMOULINS]. Come, my friends, let us show them we know how to die. DANTON. We have lived long enough to lay our heads on the breast of glory. Let them take us to the scaffold! CAMILLE. Oh, my wife! My son! Shall I never see you again? No, I cannot. My friends, help me! JUDGE. Take out the prisoners. DANTON. Don't, don't; this miserable life is not worth struggling for. HÉRAULT [_as if in a hurry to have done with everything, goes_ to FABRE D'EGLANTINE, _without waiting for the gendarmes, who take charge of the other prisoners_]. Give me your arm, my friend; here at last is an end to your troubles. FABRE D'EGLANTINE. We shall at least have enjoyed a splendid performance. DANTON. Well, Fabre, here is a play that is more impressive than any you ever wrote--no offense, I hope? FABRE D'EGLANTINE. You have not read my latest; there are some good things in it. I tremble for fear Collot d'Herbois may destroy the manuscript. He is jealous of me. DANTON. Console yourself, we shall all do there what you did here on earth. FABRE D'EGLANTINE. What? DANTON. Write poetry. HÉRAULT. The Convention will be empty tomorrow. I yawn when I think that our survivors will be condemned, on pain of death, not to sleep through the speeches of Robespierre and Saint-Just, of Saint-Just and of Robespierre. DANTON. They will not listen very long. I have dug the grave, and Robespierre will follow me. FABRE D'EGLANTINE. I should like to have followed the development of the character of some of these little rascals: Barras, Talien, and Fouché. But I must not ask too much. Come, Hérault. [_They go out._] CAMILLE [_clinging to his bench, from which the gendarmes pull him_]. I won't go! You will kill me in prison. Oh, People, listen to me: it was I who made the Republic. Defend me! I defended you! You won't take me from here, you monsters! Cowards, murderers! Oh, Lucile! Horace! My dear ones! [_They take him out._] DANTON [_deeply stirred_]. I, too, have a wife and children. [_Recovering his self-command._] Come, Danton, no weakness. WESTERMANN [_to_ DANTON]. Why don't you take advantage of the people's feelings? They are on the point of fighting. DANTON. The pigs! Nonsense! Pigs! They enjoy our little performance; they are there to applaud the victors. I've taught them only too well to act for themselves. WESTERMANN. Stir them up now! DANTON. Too late. And what the devil do I care? The Republic will fall, and I want to go before I see the end. WESTERMANN. See what happened because you hesitated! Why didn't you forestall Robespierre? DANTON. The Revolution cannot exist with both of us. I could never have defended myself without killing him. I prefer the Revolution to myself. [WESTERMANN _goes out._] PHILIPPEAUX. Come, Danton, it is some consolation to die as one has lived.