Jules Vallès: I hate war and its sinister glory
Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Jules Vallès
Translated by Mitchell Abidor
From Rome (1867)
I hate war, war that attaches nations by the knot of a flag, whether victorious or vanquished; that attaches nations to the tail of a horse spurred on by a passing general or a captain of the engineering corps. I hate that sinister glory that lives above battlefields like a vulture on the flesh of men and gulps down the blood of men.
From Peace (1871)
All war does is dress in carnival costumes warriors of twenty or thirty who wear a blue or a white jacket. For six months or a year they exercise the profession of heroes. At the end of this time peace is signed to the benefit of the one or the other. A laurel wreath or funeral crepe is hung from the end of the rifle.
