The cells in which they were imprisoned still remain as they were left on the morning in which these illustrious men were led to their execution. On the dingy walls of stone are still recorded those sentiments which they had inscribed there, and which indicate the nature of those emotions which animated and sustained them. These proverbial maxims and heroic expressions, gleaned from French tragedies or the classic page, were written with the blood which they had drawn from their own veins. In one place is carefully written,
"Quand il n'a pu sauver la liberté de Rome,
Caton est libre encore et suit mourir en homme."
"When he no longer had power to preserve the liberty of Rome
Cato still was free, and knew how to die for man."
Again,
"Cui virtus non deest
Ille nunquam omnino miser."
"He who retains his integrity
Can never be wholly miserable."
In another place,
"La vraie liberté est celle de l'ame."
"True liberty is that of the soul."