Danton interposed, but it was like pouring oil upon the flames.
"Robespierre, Marat, calm yourselves," he said. Marat did not like to be mentioned in the second place. He turned round.
"What affair is this of Danton?"
"What affair of mine? I will tell you. There must be no fratricides; we must have no strife between two men, both of whom serve the people. It is enough to have to deal with foreign and civil wars, and it would be too much if we were to have a family conflict. It is I who made the Revolution, and I do not choose to have it destroyed. This is why I feel called upon to interfere."
Marat replied, without raising his voice,—
"You had better be attending to the settlement of your own accounts."
"My accounts!" cried Danton. "Go ask for them in the passes of Argonne, in Champagne delivered, in Belgium conquered, in the armies where I have exposed my breast four times already to the grape-shot! Inquire in the Place de la Révolution, on the scaffold of the 21st of January, of the throne lying on the ground, of the guillotine, that widow—"
Here Marat broke forth, interrupting Danton,—
"The guillotine is a virgin who gives death unto men, but not life."
"What do you know about it? I will make her fruitful."