Feudalism is but a system of Slaves and Tyrants; my country, desiring to be free, can no longer preserve anything in this system. - François-Noël Babeuf

Babeuf was made a public example by being taken to Vendôme in a cage—an indignity which not long before had filled the Parisians with fury when the Austrians had inflicted it on a Frenchman. His defense, which lasted for six sittings at the court and fills more than three hundred pages, is an impressive and moving document. Babeuf knew well that he was facing death and the Revolution was doomed. .. His defense is like a summary of the unrealized ideas of the Enlightenment and a vindication of their ultimate necessity. And it has moments of grandeur which it is not absurd to compare to Socrates' Apology.

I confess today in good faith that I am angry with myself for having formerly seen in a bad light, and the revolutionary government, and Robespierre and Saint-Just. I believe that these men were worth more on their own than all the revolutionaries together.

Réapprendre et plus difficile qu'apprendre.