Page 494 - les-miserables

are things which may become hideous when wrongly di-
rected; but which, even when hideous, remain grand: their
majesty, the majesty peculiar to the human conscience,
clings to them in the midst of horror; they are virtues which
have one vice,—error. The honest, pitiless joy of a fanatic
in the full flood of his atrocity preserves a certain lugubri-
ously venerable radiance. Without himself suspecting the
fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as
is every ignorant man who triumphs. Nothing could be so
poignant and so terrible as this face, wherein was displayed
all that may be designated as the evil of the good.

494 Les Miserables