llowing passage (as
quoted by Lacassagne): "If there are beings in the world whose
acts shock all accepted prejudices, we must not preach at them or
punish them ... because their bizarre tastes no more depend upon
themselves than it depends on you whether you are witty or
stupid, well made or hump-backed.... What would become of your
laws, your morality, your religion, your gallows, your Paradise,
your gods, your hell, if it were shown that such and such
fluids, such fibers, or a certain acridity in the blood, or in
the animal spirits, alone suffice to make a man the object of
your punishments or your rewards?" He was enormously well read,
Bloch points out, and his interest extended to every field of
literature: _belles lettres_, philosophy, theology, politics,
sociology, ethnology, mythology, and history. Perhaps his
favorite reading was travels. He was minutely familiar with the
bible, though his attitude was extremely critical. His favorite
philosopher was Lamettrie, whom he very frequently quotes, and he
had carefully studied Machiavelli.

De Sade had foreseen the Revolution; he was an ardent admirer of
Marat, and at this period he entered into public life as a mild,
gentle, rather bald and gray-haired person. Many scenes of the
Revolution were the embodiment in real life of De Sade's
imagination; such, for instance, were the barbaric tortures
inflicted, at the instigation of Theroigne de Mericourt, on La
Belle Bouquetiere. Yet De Sade played a very peaceful part in the
events of that time, chiefly as a philanthropist, spending much
of his time in the hospitals. He saved his parents-in-law from
the scaffold, although they had always been hostile to him, and
by his moderation aroused the suspicions of the revolutionary
party, and was again imprisoned. Later he wrote a pamphlet
against Napoleon, who never forgave him and had him shut up in
Charenton as a lunatic; it was a not unusual method at that time
of disposing of persons whom it was wished to put out of the way,
and, notwithstanding De Sade's organically abnormal temperament,
there is no reason to regard him as actually insane.
Royer-Collard, an eminent alienist of that period, then at the
head of Charenton, declared De Sade to be sane, and his detailed
report is still extant. Other specialists were of the same