Page 2328 - les-miserables

above human strength? Who would blame Sisyphus and
Jean Valjean for saying: ‘It is enough!’
The obedience of matter is limited by friction; is there
no limit to the obedience of the soul? If perpetual motion is
impossible, can perpetual self-sacrifice be exacted?
The first step is nothing, it is the last which is difficult.
What was the Champmathieu affair in comparison with
Cosette’s marriage and of that which it entailed? What is
a re-entrance into the galleys, compared to entrance into
the void?
Oh, first step that must be descended, how sombre art
thou! Oh, second step, how black art thou!
How could he refrain from turning aside his head this
time?
Martyrdom is sublimation, corrosive sublimation. It is
a torture which consecrates. One can consent to it for the
first hour; one seats oneself on the throne of glowing iron,
one places on one’s head the crown of hot iron, one accepts
the globe of red hot iron, one takes the sceptre of red hot
iron, but the mantle of flame still remains to be donned, and
comes there not a moment when the miserable flesh revolts
and when one abdicates from suffering?
At length, Jean Valjean entered into the peace of exhaus-
tion.
He weighed, he reflected, he considered the alternatives,
the mysterious balance of light and darkness.
Should he impose his galleys on those two dazzling chil-
dren, or should he consummate his irremediable engulfment
by himself? On one side lay the sacrifice of Cosette, on the

2328 Les Miserables