الفصل الفصل 159 · THE FUTURE LATENT IN THE PEOPLE

As for the Parisian populace, even when a man grown, it is always the

street Arab; to paint the child is to paint the city; and it is for

that reason that we have studied this eagle in this arrant sparrow. It

is in the faubourgs, above all, we maintain, that the Parisian race

appears; there is the pure blood; there is the true physiognomy; there

this people toils and suffers, and suffering and toil are the two faces

of man. There exist there immense numbers of unknown beings, among whom

swarm types of the strangest, from the porter of la Râpée to the

knacker of Montfaucon. _Fex urbis_, exclaims Cicero; _mob_, adds Burke,

indignantly; rabble, multitude, populace. These are words and quickly

uttered. But so be it. What does it matter? What is it to me if they do

go barefoot! They do not know how to read; so much the worse. Would you

abandon them for that? Would you turn their distress into a

malediction? Cannot the light penetrate these masses? Let us return to

that cry: Light! and let us obstinately persist therein! Light! Light!

Who knows whether these opacities will not become transparent? Are not

revolutions transfigurations? Come, philosophers, teach, enlighten,

light up, think aloud, speak aloud, hasten joyously to the great sun,

fraternize with the public place, announce the good news, spend your

alphabets lavishly, proclaim rights, sing the Marseillaises, sow

enthusiasms, tear green boughs from the oaks. Make a whirlwind of the

idea. This crowd may be rendered sublime. Let us learn how to make use

of that vast conflagration of principles and virtues, which sparkles,

bursts forth and quivers at certain hours. These bare feet, these bare

arms, these rags, these ignorances, these abjectnesses, these

darknesses, may be employed in the conquest of the ideal. Gaze past the

people, and you will perceive truth. Let that vile sand which you

trample under foot be cast into the furnace, let it melt and seethe

there, it will become a splendid crystal, and it is thanks to it that

Galileo and Newton will discover stars.