Let us remember! Then another orator excites himself and shouts that the war has been such a magnificent harvest of heroism that it must not be regretted.
It has been a good thing for France; it has made lofty virtues and noble instincts gush forth from a nation which seemed to be decadent.
Our people had need of an awakening and to recover themselves, and acquire new vigor.

With metaphors which hover and vibrate he proclaims the glory of killing and being killed, he exalts the ancient passion for plumes and scarlet in which the heart of France is molded.
Alone on the edge of the crowd I feel myself go icy by the touch of these words and commands, which link future and past together and misery to misery.

I have already heard them resounding forever.

A world of thoughts growls confusedly within me.

Once I cried noiselessly, "No!"-- a deformed cry, a strangled protest of all my faith against all the fallacy which comes down upon us.