3157 ([return])
[ Expressions used by Garat and Roederer.—Larévilliere-Lepaux calls him "the Cyclop.">[
3158 ([return])
[ Fauchet describes him as "the Pluto of Eloquence.">[
3159 ([return])
[ Riouffe, "Mémoires sur les prisons." "In prison every utterance was mingled with oaths and gross expressions.">[
3160 ([return])
[ Terms used by Fabre d'Eglantine and Garat.—Beugnot, a very good observer, had an accurate impression of Danton ("Mémoires", I, 249-252).—M. Dufort de Cheverney, (manuscript memoirs published by M. Robert de Crèveceur), after the execution of Babeuf, in 1797, had an opportunity to hear Samson, the executioner, talk with a war commissary, in an inn between Vendôme and Blois. Samson recounted the last moments of Danton and Fabre d'Églantine. Danton, on the way to the scaffold, asked if he might sing. "There is nothing to hinder," said Samson. "All right. Try to remember the verses I have just composed," and he sang the following to a tune in vogue:
Nous sommes menés au trépas We are led to our death
Par quantité de scélérats, by a gang of scoundrels
c'est ce qui nous désole. that makes us sad.
Mais bientot le moment viendra But soon the time shall come
Où chacun d'eux y passera, when all of them shall follow
c'est ce qui nous console." that's our consolation.]
3161 ([return])
[ Buchez et Roux, XXI., 108. Speech (printed) by Pétion: "Marat embraced Danton and Danton embraced him. I certify that this took place in my presence.">[