L'EXPIATION EXPIATION
Victor Hugotrans. Timothy Adès



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

The twentieth-century French critic, Andre Bellesort, said: 'If Hugo had written no more
than the eighty lines of Waterloo, he would still be our 

greatest, our only epic poet.' 'L'Expiation' is a classic of French literature. The 1848 revolution
had given France universal male suffrage. Hugo

with great courage reimposed order at the barricades.
He strongly advocated the election of Louis-Napoleon as President. No one was more

infuriated when the coup of 1851 established the Second Empire. Exile in Jersey and Guernsey
followed. The three historic disasters are presented

as the great Napoleon's punishments for
his own seizure of power; but for the final punishment, not included here, Hugo has him
awakening years

later in his gilded tomb, sweating to see the horrible courtiers
and villainous henchmen.








Le plus haut attentat que puisse faire un homme,

C'est de lier la France ou de garrotter Rome;

C'est, quel que soit le lieu, le pays, la cité,

D'ôter l'âme â chacun, à tous la liberté.

Dans la curie auguste entrer avec l'épée,

Assassiner la loi dans son temple frappée,

Mettre aux fers tout un peuple, est un crime odieux

Que Dieu, calme et rêveur, ne quitte pas des yeux.

Dès que ce grand forfait est commis, point de grâce;

La Peine au fond des cieux, lente, mais jamais lasse,

Se met en marche, et vient; son regard est serein.

Elle tient sous son bras son fouet aux clous d'airain.




The highest crime this mortal world affords

Is to bind France, or strangle Rome with cords,

In any city, any land, to steal

From each his soul, their liberty from all.

To press into the court august, to draw

Sword in the temple, and strike dead the law:

A people fettered. from a crime so base

God of the tranquil dream turns not his face.

The deed once done, no mercy! From azure

Fastnesses, Retribution, slow but sure,

Moves on her course. She comes, her visage calm,

Her lash of brazen spikes beneath her arm.








Winner of first prize in the John Dryden Translation Competition 2003




Trans. copyright © Timothy Adès 2003








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