Your ears are deaf and your hearts are sealed!
Behind the lofty walls of Versailles, which a most vicious king
erected for his menus plaisirs, there you indulge in your lusts, and
shut out the voice of truth, which would speak to you here in Paris
from the hallowed lips of the people."
"Long live Marat!" cried the cobbler Simon, who, drawn by the
shouting, had left the Franciscan, and joined the throng in whose
midst stood Santerre, with Marat on his shoulders. "Long live the
great friend of the people! Long live Marat!"
"Long live Marat!" cried and muttered the people. "Marat heals the
people when the gentry have made them sick, and taken the very
marrow from their bones. Marat is no 'gentleman.' Marat does not
look down upon the people!"
"My friends, I repeat to you what I said before," shrieked Marat.
"Did you ever hear of a wise man looking down upon the crown prince,
and thinking more of the king, who is old, unnerved by his vices,
and blase! You, the people, you are the crown prince of France, and
if you, at last, in your righteous and noble indignation, tread the
tyrant under your feet, then the young prince, the people, will rule
over France, and the beautiful words of the Bible will be fulfilled:
'There shall be one fold and one shepherd.' I have taken this
improvised throne on the shoulders of a noble citizen only to tell
you of an impropriety which the Queen of France has committed, and
of the new usurpation with which she treads our laws under her feet,
not tired out with opera-house balls and promenades by night.
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