THE PEOPLE. To the Bastille! [_The Crowd is at the highest pitch of excitement. They gather into little groups--workingmen, bourgeois, students, and women._] The Bastille! The Bastille! Break the yoke! At last! Down with that stupid mass! Monument of our defeat and degradation! The tomb, of those who dare speak the truth!--Voltaire's prison!--Mirabeau's prison!--The prison of Liberty! Let's breathe!--Monster, you will fall! We'll pull down every stone of you! Down with the murderer! Coward --Cut-throat! [_They shake their fists at the Bastille, and shout until they are hoarse._ HULIN, ROBESPIERRE, _and_ MARAT _wildly wave their arms, and try to make themselves heard above the clamor. It is seen that they disapprove of what the People are doing, but their voices are drowned out._] HULIN [_at last making himself heard_]. You're mad, mad, I tell you! We'll only break ourselves against that mountain! MARAT [his _arms crossed_]. I really marvel at you! Giving yourselves all this trouble to free a handful of aristocrats! Don't you know that there are only a few rich men in there? It's a luxurious prison, made especially for them. Let them mind their own affairs. That doesn't concern you. HOCHE. Every sort of injustice concerns us. Our Revolution is not a family matter. If we are not rich enough to have relations in the Bastille, we can at least adopt the rich people who are as unfortunate as we. Every man who suffers unjustly is a brother. MARAT. You are right. THE PEOPLE. We want the Bastille! HULIN. But, you fools, how are you going to take it? We have no weapons, and they have! HOCHE. Of course. Let us take the weapons, then. [_Confusion at the back of the stage._] A WORKINGMAN [_running in_]. I've just come from the Left Bank. They're all on the move: in the Place Maubert, La Basoche, La Montagne Sainte-Geneviève. They're marching against the Invalides to seize the weapons there--thousands of muskets! The French Guards, monks, women, students, a whole army. The King's Attorney and the Curé de Saint-Etienne-du-Mont are marching at their head. HOCHE. You were asking for weapons, Hulin. There they are. HULIN. You can't take the Bastille with a few hundred old arquebuses, or even a few good cannon from the Invalides. You might as well try to split a rock open with a knife. HOCHE. No, the Bastille can't be taken with cannon, but it will be taken. HULIN. How? HOCHE. The Bastille must fall, and fall it will. The gods are with us. HULIN [_with a shrug_]. What gods? HOCHE. Justice, Reason. Bastille, you will fall! THE PEOPLE. You will fall! HULIN. I'd rather see a few real allies. I don't believe in it. Never mind, it shall never be said that any one got ahead of me. I'll even be the first to march against it. Perhaps you know better than I what must be done, but I'll do it. So, you want to attack the Bastille, you fools? Forward! HOCHE. By God, you can do anything simply by saying it's possible! [GONCHON _returns with his patrol._]