Page 2323 - les-miserables

CHAPTER IV

THE IMMORTAL LIVER

The old and formidable struggle, of which we have already
witnessed so many phases, began once more.
Jacob struggled with the angel but one night. Alas! how
many times have we beheld Jean Valjean seized bodily by
his conscience, in the darkness, and struggling desperately
against it!
Unheard-of conflict! At certain moments the foot slips; at
other moments the ground crumbles away underfoot. How
many times had that conscience, mad for the good, clasped
and overthrown him! How many times had the truth set her
knee inexorably upon his breast! How many times, hurled
to earth by the light, had he begged for mercy! How many
times had that implacable spark, lighted within him, and
upon him by the Bishop, dazzled him by force when he had
wished to be blind! How many times had he risen to his feet
in the combat, held fast to the rock, leaning against soph-
ism, dragged in the dust, now getting the upper hand of his
conscience, again overthrown by it! How many times, after
an equivoque, after the specious and treacherous reasoning
of egotism, had he heard his irritated conscience cry in his

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