Then these heme men, stirred up by Combeferre's speech, shaken by Enjolras's order, and moved by Marius's entreaty, began denouncing one another. "It is true," a young man said to a grown-up man, "you are a father of a family: begone!" "No! you ought to do so rather," the man replied, "for you have two sisters to support;" and an extraordinary contest broke out, in which each struggled not to be thrust out of the tomb.
"Make haste," said Combeferre; "in a quarter of an hour there will no longer be time."
"Citizens," Enjolras added, "we have a republic here, and universal suffrage reigns. Point out yourselves the men who are to leave us."
They obeyed, and at the end of a few minutes five were unanimously pointed out and left the ranks.
"There are five of them!" Marius exclaimed.
There were only four uniforms.
"Well," the five replied, "one will have to remain behind."
And then came who should remain, and who should find reasons for others not to remain. The generous quarrel began again.
"You have a wife who loves you.—You have your old mother.—You have neither father nor mother; what will become of your three little brothers?—You are the father of five children.—You have a right to live, for you are only seventeen, and it is too early to die."
These great revolutionary barricades were meeting-places of heroisms. The improbable was simple there, and these men did not astonish one another.