HÉRAULT. Why bother? [He shrugs his shoulders and lapses into silence. Meanwhile, FOUQUIER-TINVILLE has finished his letter, which is taken out by a guard.]
JUDGE. While we await the Convention's answer, let us continue. [The gendarmes make the prisoners sit down again. He says to PHILIPPEAUX.] Your name and occupation?
PHILIPPEAUX. Pierre-Nicolas Philippeaux, former judge at Le Mans, representative in the Convention.
JUDGE. Your age?
PHILIPPEAUX. Thirty-five.
JUDGE. You are charged with having paralyzed the national defense, during your mission in La Vendée; you attempted to throw the Committee of Public Safety into disrepute, by means of insulting pamphlets; you were a conspirator with Danton and Fabre in their attempt to restore the royalty.
PHILIPPEAUX. I exposed the indignation of the public against the brigandage of certain generals. It was my duty, and I accomplished it.
JUDGE. In this implacable struggle for France, your duty was to do everything in your power to aid the nation. You tried to hinder it.
PHILIPPEAUX. Ronsin and Rossignol are a dishonor to humanity.
FOUQUIER-TINVILLE. You were not a representative of humanity, but of the nation.