Arizona silver belt., 1894-06-30
CLASSICAL RgvoLuTioNsrs.
Tho LcrS of Elegant Precedent In tn.
 Frefch Revolutionary Leas,ers

Tho LcvS of Elegant Precedent In the
 Frehch Revolutionary Leaders.
 Mir John 6. Alger says in his
 "Glimpses of the French Revolution"
 that very noticeable feature ot the rev
 oiutionary leaders was their admiration
 tor the classical writers and their imita-
 ton of the Roman people The speeches
 and writings of the times were full of
 allusions to and similes drawn from the
 poets and philosophers ot antiquity.
 Says Mir Algcr on this point:
 Some of the revolutionists not merely
 quoted the Romans, but initiated them
 Claviere killed himself on the eve of his trial, Valaze stabbed himself in the dock, Condorcet, Buzot, Barbaroux and Roland also committed suicide. Yerg. niaud had intended to do likewise, but at the last moment changed his purpose. Chabot attempted suicide. Mime. Ro- land, who at l2 years of age regretted not being Spartan or Roman, had to be dissuaded from poisoning herself be. fore trial, one reason, it is but fair to add, being that her property would thus have been saved for her daughter from eonflscati0n Charlotte Corday in stab ping Marat was manifestly acting under classical recollections She took her ia. Yorite Plutarch with her on her journey to Paris, and she hoped to stab Marat in the convention and be torn to pieces, but possibly to be apviauded, by his fel- lbw deputieS She counted on meeting Brutus and other ancients in the Ely sian fields.
 One regrets the theatrical tone which some may attribute to her collateral de. scent from Coneille. When arrested, she applied to tho committee of public safety for leave to have her portrait taken as q bequest to her native depart ment At her trial, noticing that all art, ist Hauer was sketching her, she turn. cd her hesd toward him that he mighs have 6 better view, and she obtained permission to give him Q two hours sit. ting in her cell while waiting for the tumbril She suggested corrections in his sketch and begged him to send a rep hca to her father. She presented him also with lock of her hair. The revo- lutionists, indeed. were too self yon. scious.
 Another way in which tho Friends Uf t.iherty'' showed their admiration for the writers of antiquity Tas by chang. ing their names for those Of their favor. ite Roman heroes or heroines. This copying of the names and even the GUS. toms of ancient Greece and Rome must have often led to some very strange in- 
 Even the rooms in the Paris prisons were inscribed Cincinnatus Brutus. | Socrates etc, sometimes also Marat, | which was peculiarly appropriate, until ! in June lI94, Payan urged on the mn hcipality that the shades of these great men would be indignant at seeing the cells of conspirators called by their names Thereupon the inscriptions were effaced. Civic dinners in imitation of Sparta also became common in Paris a few weeks before Robespierre's fall People had tables spread outside their houses in the street and had their sery- mts sit down to partake with them A man would oe heard haughtily ordering his servant on the staircase and coming )ut to dinner would have that servant it beside him and would drink his IeaftfI 4 fashionable lady would say: Look how I love equahtyi idine pub icly with my servants. This innoya- ion, denounced by some as an intrigue f the Hebertists by others as an aris- ocratic device for lulling patriotic sus- 'icions, was, however, very short lived ,