Page 2086 - les-miserables

her, and again abandons her. And therein lies the great peril
for those who run when she desires only to walk, or who
walk on when she desires to halt. France has her relapses
into materialism, and, at certain instants, the ideas which
obstruct that sublime brain have no longer anything which
recalls French greatness and are of the dimensions of a Mis-
souri or a South Carolina. What is to be done in such a case?
The giantess plays at being a dwarf; immense France has her
freaks of pettiness. That is all.
To this there is nothing to say. Peoples, like planets, pos-
sess the right to an eclipse. And all is well, provided that the
light returns and that the eclipse does not degenerate into
night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reap-
pearance of the light is identical with the persistence of the
I.
Let us state these facts calmly. Death on the barricade
or the tomb in exile, is an acceptable occasion for devo-
tion. The real name of devotion is disinterestedness. Let the
abandoned allow themselves to be abandoned, let the exiled
allow themselves to be exiled, and let us confine ourselves to
entreating great nations not to retreat too far, when they do
retreat. One must not push too far in descent under pretext
of a return to reason.
Matter exists, the minute exists, interest exists, the stom-
ach exists; but the stomach must not be the sole wisdom.
The life of the moment has its rights, we admit, but per-
manent life has its rights also. Alas! the fact that one is
mounted does not preclude a fall. This can be seen in his-
tory more frequently than is desirable: A nation is great, it

2086 Les Miserables