Amidst so many ranters and scribblers whose logic is mere words and whose rage is blind, who grind out phrases like a hand-organ, or are wound up for murder, his intellect, always capacious and supple, went right to facts, not to disfigure and pervert them, but to accept them, to adapt himself to them, and to comprehend them.

With a mind of this quality one goes far no matter in what direction; nothing remains but to choose one's path.

Mandrin, under the ancient regime, was also, in a similar way, a superior man;[3153] only he chose the highway.
Between the demagogue and the highwayman the resemblance is close: both are leaders of bands and each requires an opportunity to organize his band.

Danton, to organize his band, needed the Revolution.--"Of low birth, without patronage," penniless, every office being filled, and "the Paris bar exorbitantly priced," admitted a lawyer after "a struggle," he for a long time wandered jobless frequenting the coffee-houses, the same as similar men nowadays frequent the bars.

At the Cafe de l'Ecole, the proprietor, a good natured old fellow "in a small round wig, gray coat and a napkin on his arm," circulated among his tables smiling blandly, while his daughter sat in the rear as cashier.[3154] Danton chatted with her and demanded her hand in marriage.