An English Translation Excerpt of the Text Transcript of
Maximilien Robespierre's Virtue of Terror Speech
(delivered before the National Convention in Paris, France on February 5, 1794).
It is time to mark clearly the aim of the Revolution and the end toward which we wish to move.
It is time to take stock of ourselves, of the obstacles which we still face, and of the means which
we ought to adopt to attain our objectives…
What is the goal for which we strive? A peaceful enjoyment of liberty and equality, the rule of
that eternal justice whose laws are engraved, not upon marble or stone, but in the hearts of all
men.
We wish an order of things where all low and cruel passions are enchained by the laws, all
beneficent and generous feelings aroused; where ambition is the desire to merit glory and to
serve one’s fatherland; where distinctions are born only of equality itself; where the citizen is
subject to the magistrate, the magistrate to the people, the people to justice; where the nation
safeguards the welfare of each individual, and each individual proudly enjoys the prosperity and
glory of his fatherland; where all spirits are enlarged by the constant exchange of republican
sentiments and by the need of earning the respect of a great people; where the arts are the
adornment of liberty, which ennobles them; and where commerce is the source of public wealth,
not simply of monstrous opulence for a few families.
In our country we wish to substitute morality for egotism, probity (honesty) for honor, principles
for conventions, duties for etiquette, the empire of reason for the tyranny of customs, contempt
for vice for contempt for misfortune, pride for insolence, the love of honor for the love of money . .
. that is to say, all the virtues and miracles of the Republic for all the vices and snobbishness of
the monarchy.
We wish in a word to fulfill the requirements of nature, to accomplish the destiny of mankind, to
make good the promises of philosophy . . . that France, hitherto illustrious among slave states,
may eclipse the glory of all free peoples that have existed, become the model of all nations…
That is our ambition; that is our aim. What kind of government can realize these marvels? Only
a democratic government…
But to found and to consolidate among us this democracy, to realize the peaceable rule of
constitutional laws, it is necessary to conclude the war of liberty against tyranny and to pass
successfully through the storms of revolution. Such is the aim of the revolutionary system which
you have set up…
Now what is the fundamental principle of democratic, or popular government, that is to say, the
essential mainspring upon which it depends and which makes it function? It is virtue. I mean
public virtue…
That virtue is nothing else but love of fatherland and its laws…
The splendor of the goal of the French Revolution is simultaneously the source of our strength
and of our weakness: our strength, because it gives us an ascendancy of truth over falsehood, and
of public rights over private interests; our weakness, because it rallies against us all vicious men,
all those who in their hearts seek to despoil the people…
It is necessary to stifle the domestic and foreign enemies of the Republic or perish with them.
Now in these circumstances, the first maxim of our politics ought to be to lead the people by
means of reason and the enemies of the people by terror.
If the basis of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the basis of popular government in
time of revolution is both virtue and terror. Virtue without which terror is murderous, terror
without which virtue is powerless.
Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue.
Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of the Equals 1797
BaBeuf’s last letter to his family before his execution
To my wife and my children:
Good evening, my friends. I am ready to wrap myself in the eternal night. I express
myself better to the friend to whom I addressed the two letters you saw; I better
express to him my situation as far as it concerns you than I do to you yourselves. It
seems that feeling too much, I feel nothing. I put your fate in his hands. Alas, I don’t
know if you’ll find him in a position to do what I ask of him: I don’t know how you
can reach him. Your love for me has led you here through all of poverty’s obstacles.
Your faithful feelings have led you to follow every instant of this long and cruel
proceeding which you, like me, have drunk to the dregs; but I don’t know how you
will return to the place from which you started; I don’t know how my memory will
be appreciated, though I believe I carried myself in an irreproachable manner;
finally, I don’t know what will become of the republicans, their families, and even
the babies still at their mothers’ breasts, in the midst of the royalist fury that the
counter-revolution will bring. O my friends! How heart-rending these thoughts are
in my final moments!... To die for the fatherland, to leave a family, children, a
beloved wife, all would be bearable if at the end of this I didn’t see liberty lost and
all that belongs to sincere republicans wrapped in a horrible proscription. Ah, my
tender children! What will become of you? I can’t defend myself against the
strongest of feelings.... Don’t think that I feel any regret for having sacrificed myself
for the most beautiful of causes; even if all I did for it was useless, I fulfilled my
task...
If contrary to my expectations you are able to survive the terrible storm that
breaks over the republic and everything connected to it, if you are able once again
to find yourselves in a peaceful situation, and find a few friends who can assist you
in triumphing over your ill fortune, I suggest that you all live together. I
recommend to my wife that she attempt to guide the children with much kindness,
and I recommend to my children that they merit the kindnesses of their mother by
respecting her and always obeying her wishes. The family of a martyr for freedom
must set an example of all the virtues in order to attract the esteem and
attachment of all good people. I would like my wife to do everything possible to give
her children an education, by having all her friends assist her in doing everything
that is possible for them with this aim in view. I invite Emile to accept this wish on
the part of a father who believes he was loved, and who loved in his turn; I invite
him to do so without wasting any time, and as soon as possible.
My friends, I hope you’ll remember me, and that you’ll speak of me often. I hope
that you’ll believe that I always loved you. I couldn’t conceive of any other way to
make you happy than through the happiness of all. I failed; I sacrificed myself; it is
also for you that I die.
Speak of me often with Camille; tell him thousands and thousands of times that I
had him with tenderness in my heart.
Say the same to Caius, when he’ll be able to understand it.
Lebois has said that he’ll publish our defense separately: you must give mine the
widest possible publicity. I recommend to my wife, my good friend, that she never
give Baudoin, Lebois, or anyone else a copy of my defense without having another
correct one in her possession, in order to be sure that this defense is never lost. You
will know, my dear friend, that this defense is precious, and that it will always be
dear to the virtuous hearts of the friends of their country. The only property that
will be left to you will be my reputation. And I am sure that you and the children
will be consoled in having possession of it. You will love hearing all feeling and
upright hearts say, in speaking of your spouse: he was perfectly virtuous.
Farewell. I hold on to the earth by a thread, which tomorrow shall break. This is
certain, I see it clearly. The sacrifice must be made. The evil are the stronger, and I
surrender to them. At least it is sweet to die with a conscience as clean as mine; the
only thing that is cruel, that is heart-rending, is to tear myself from your arms, O
my tender friends! O all that is dear to me!!! I tear myself away; the violence is
done...Farewell, farewell, ten million times farewell...
...One more word. Write to my mother and my sisters. Send them, by coach or
otherwise, my defense as soon as it’s published. Tell them how I died, and try to
make these good people understand that such a death is glorious and far from being
dishonorable...
So farewell again , my beloved, my tender friends. Farewell forever. I wrap myself
in a breast of a virtuous sleep...
-G. Babeuf