1970 Les Miserables
CHAPTER I
THE CHARYBDIS
OF THE FAUBOURG
SAINT ANTOINE AND
THE SCYLLA OF THE
FAUBOURG DU TEMPLE
The two most memorable barricades which the observer
of social maladies can name do not belong to the period in
which the action of this work is laid. These two barricades,
both of them symbols, under two different aspects, of a re-
doubtable situation, sprang from the earth at the time of
the fatal insurrection of June, 1848, the greatest war of the
streets that history has ever beheld.
It sometimes happens that, even contrary to principles,
even contrary to liberty, equality, and fraternity, even con-
trary to the universal vote, even contrary to the government,
by all for all, from the depths of its anguish, of its discour-
agements and its destitutions, of its fevers, of its distresses,