First Hoe Republic

When Fabre’s turn came, he advanced with difficulty, and some witnesses were able to attribute to cowardice what was in him only the result of his illness. He tried to react, not to give his enemies the joy his enemies the joy of seeing him tremble: “Let’s know how to die”, he murmured, and indeed, whatever the obstinate calumnies may have been said, he knew how to die.

On a sad winter day, rainy and gloomy, early in the morning on 24 nivôse (13 January), Fabre d'Eglantine was arrested. Policemen and national guards invaded his house in rue Vilie-l'Evêque, tore him from the arms of the citoyenne Rémy who, that day, forgetting that she was an actress to remember only that she was a woman, did not have the courage of acting and shed real tears. While the unfortunate was led to prison of Luxembourg, the seals were put on his papers, in which no part could be discovered compromising.