eccecorinna:Apologies, havingbeenbreathedout, but tumblr wasn’t letting me reblog your post. Why? I

eccecorinna:Apologies, havingbeenbreathedout, but tumblr wasn’t letting me reblog your post. Why? I am not sure. Because aristocratic conspiracies maybe. But here is my reply:Oh gosh. So I can’t PROVE it was a lunch date. I just like to envision it as one. Like I imagine Marat showed up at lunch time, pulled out a sandwich Simonne Evrard had packed for him, and was like, alright, let’s talk about the political situation. What we know is, back when France Declared War On Everyone, Marat and Robespierre opposed the war and spoke out about it. They were known for that, and also for other things like supporting the poor and calling out aristocrats, so people began to see them as in league with one another, or as allies/friends. Some people even thought Marat wanted Robespierre installed as a dictator. Only, they hadn’t ever really met or interacted face to face. So they decided to make this happen. Or one of them did. Marat may have just shown up at Robespierre’s house. Or actual planning was involved. The point is, I imagine it happening over lunch or coffee. The whole thing went about as well as expected, which is to say, not at all.Our three sources for this are Marat, Robespierre, and Robespierre’s sister Charlotte, and all three accounts need to be taken with huge grains of salt. (Especially Charlotte’s, since it’s being written down years after the fact.)-Marat on Robespierre:The first words that Robespierre addressed to me were a reproach for having partially destroyed my journal’s immense revolutionary influence by dipping my pen in the blood of the enemies of freedom, by speaking of hangmen’s nooses and daggers.“Listen,” I told him straight off. “My journal’s influence didn’t come from methodical analyses of the despicable decrees of the National Assembly. It came from the horrific scandal it spread through the public by unmasking the conspiracies against the public liberty that are continuously hatched by the nation’s enemies–including the monarch, the legislators, and the other authorities–and not by beating around the bush about it! It came from audacity… from the outpouring of my soul, from the enthusiasm of my heart, from my violent denunciations of oppression, from my impetuous outbursts against the oppressors … You can be sure that after the Massacre at the Champ de Mars, if I could have found 2000 followers I would have led them to execute the general Lafayette in the midst of his battalions of brigands, burn the despot in his palace, and impale our atrocious representatives in their seats, just as I said I would at the time.”Robespierre listened to me, frightened; his face turned pale and he kept silent for a while. The conversation confirmed in me the opinion I had always had of him; that in him were combined the intelligence of a wise senator, the integrity of a genuinely good man, and the zeal of a true patriot, but that he lacked the outlook and the audacity to become a real national leader.-Robespierre on Marat:I told him … That he himself had placed an obstacle to the good that the useful truths developed in his writings could accomplish. By insisting on dwelling upon certain absurd and violent proposals, he had disgusted the friends of liberty as much as the partisans of the aristocracy. But he defended his opinions and I persisted in mine.-Charlotte Robespierre on their meeting:One day Marat came to see my brother. This visit surprised us, for, usually, Marat and Robespierre had no rapport. They spoke first of affairs in general, then of the turn the revolution was taking; finally, Marat opened the chapter on revolutionary rigors, and complained of the mildness and the excessive indulgence of the government. “You are the man whom I esteem perhaps the most in the world,” Marat said to my brother, “but I would esteem you more if you were less moderate in regard to the aristocrats.” – “I will reproach you with the contrary,” my brother replied; “you are compromising the revolution, you make it hated in ceaselessly calling for heads. The scaffold is a terrible means, and always a grievous one; it must be used soberly and only in the grave cases where the patrie is leaning toward its ruin.” – “I pity you,” said Marat then, “you are not at my level.” – “I would be quite grieved to be at your level,” replied Robespierre. “You misunderstand me,” returned Marat, “we will never be able to work together.” – “That’s possible,” said Robespierre, “and things will only go the better for it.” – “I regret that we could not come to an understanding,” added Marat, “for you are the purest man in the Convention.”-Mark Steel talks about how great a Danton-Robespierre buddy cop comedy would be but I think an even better one would be Marat-Robespierre.For more fun with Marat making dinner parties awkward, see the time he crashed the actor Talma’s party in his street clothes to investigate Dumouriez. -- source link

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