DANTON [goes toward ROBESPIERRE—with true sincerity]. Robespierre, we are all three of us in the wrong. Let us be men, submitting only to reason, and let us sacrifice our petty quarrels for the good of the nation. See, I come to you, I offer you my hand. Forgive my impatience.
ROBESPIERRE. Danton believes a word can make up for his insults. It is easy for the offender to forget.
DANTON. Perhaps I do wrong in offering to be generous to my enemies, but the Republic demands it. She needs my energy and your virtue. If you dislike my energy, remember that I dislike your virtue. We are quits. Do as I do, hold your nose and save the nation.
ROBESPIERRE. I believe no man indispensable to the nation.
DANTON. Every envious man says that. According to that fine way of reasoning the nation would soon be emasculated.
ROBESPIERRE. There is no power where confidence is lacking!
DANTON. So, you mistrust me? Do you really believe those absurd stories about me? Those wild ravings invented by Billaud-Varenne? Look at me. Have I the face of a hypocrite? Hate me, if you will, but don't suspect me!
ROBESPIERRE. I judge men by their actions.
DANTON. Do you complain of my actions?
ROBESPIERRE. You boast that you feel no hatred—you don't hate the enemies of the Republic, but yet that is what is destroying the Republic. Pity for those hangdogs means cruelty toward the victims. You see, this weakness has forced us to raze whole cities; some day it may mean thirty years of civil war.