forehead was good, but small and
extremely projecting above the temples, as if the mass and embarrassed
movement of his thoughts had enlarged it by their efforts; his eyes,
much covered by their lids and very sharp at the extremities, were
deeply buried in the cavities of their orbits; they gave out a soft blue
hue, but it was vague and unfixed, like a steel reflector on which a
light glances; his nose straight and small was very wide at the
nostrils, which were high and too expanded; his mouth was large, his
lips thin and disagreeably contracted at each corner; his chin small and
pointed, his complexion yellow and livid, like that of an invalid or a
man worn out by vigils and meditations. The habitual expression of this
visage was that of superficial serenity on a serious mind, and a smile
wavering betwixt sarcasm and condescension. There was softness, but of a
sinister character. The prevailing characteristic of this countenance
was the prodigious and continual tension of brow, eyes, mouth, and all
the facial muscles; in regarding him it was perceptible that the whole
of his features, like the labour of his mind, converged incessantly on a
single point with such power that there was no waste of will in his
temperament, and he appeared to foresee all he desired to accomplish, as
though he had already the reality before his eyes. Such then was the man
destined to absorb in himself all those men, and make them his victims
after he had used them as his instruments. He was of no party, but of
all parties which in their turn served his ideal of the Revolution. In
this his power consisted, for parties paused but he never did. He placed
this ideal as an end to reach in every revolutionary movement, and
advanced towards it with those who sought to attain it; then, this goal
reached, he placed it still further off, and again marched forward with
other men, continually advancing without ever deviating, ever pausing,
ever retreating. The Revolution, decimated in its progress, must one day
or other inevitably arrive at a last stage, and he desired it
should end in himself. He was the entire incorporation of the
Revolution,--principles, thoughts, passions, impulses. Thus
incorporating himself wholly with it, he compelled it one day to
incorporate itself in him--that day was a distant one.
XVIII.
Robespierre, who had often struggled against Mirabeau with Duport, the
Lameths, and Barnave, began to separate himself from them as s
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