# Chapter XXI explained — The Revolt of the Angels

> Chapter companion for The Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France.

## What happens

Nectaire recounts the history of religious conflict, the Reformation's destruction of beauty, the rise of science and reason, the intellectual salons of the Enlightenment, the disappointments of Napoleon, and his eventual retreat to a pastoral life awaiting the return of Dionysus.

## Themes in this chapter

### Religion and Blind Faith

Nectaire criticizes both Catholic and Protestant reformers for their destructive zeal and intolerance.

### Knowledge and Enlightenment

The chapter celebrates the rise of science, reason, and freethinking during the Enlightenment.

### Art and Beauty

Nectaire laments the destruction of medieval art and anticipates Dionysus's return to restore beauty.

### Human Nature and Folly

The narrative highlights human folly in war, religious persecution, and Romanticism.

## Character check-ins

### Nectaire

Narrates his personal history as a demon witnessing the Reformation, Enlightenment, and Napoleonic era.

### Iahveh

Referenced as the jealous God and old Jew whose spirit of violence is compared to Napoleon's.

### Satan

Implied as the speaker's master or fellow demon in the struggle against heretics.

### Dionysus

Mentioned as the future restorer of beauty and gladness, bringing back the Golden Age.

## Key lines

> These mad apostles and their mad disciples made even demons like myself, even the horned devils, look back longingly on the time when the Son with his Virgin Mother reigned over the nations dazzled with splendours

The iconoclastic reformers were so destructive that even demons missed the beauty of medieval Catholic art and worship.

_Nectaire expresses nostalgia for the aesthetic richness of pre-Reformation Christianity._

> Without publicly denying the god of their ancestors, men of intellect submitted to his mortal enemies, Science and Reason

Intellectuals quietly turned away from traditional religion and embraced science and reason.

_Describes the shift during the Enlightenment toward secular thought._

> It is a great sin to deprive oneself of a pleasure.

Denying oneself pleasure is a serious wrongdoing.

_Quotes the Epicurean philosopher Bernier to illustrate the spirit of the age._

> He loved the game of chance, and it pleased him to tempt fortune by urging pygmies in their hundreds and thousands against each other. It was the game of a child as big as the world.

Napoleon treated war like a colossal game, sending countless men to their deaths.

_Nectaire criticizes Napoleon's reckless ambition and disregard for human life._

> I await, while cultivating this enclosure, that still distant day when the great Dionysus shall come, followed by his Fauns and his Bacchantes, to restore beauty and gladness to the world

I tend my garden and wait for Dionysus to return and bring back joy and beauty.

_Nectaire's hopeful vision of a pagan revival and the end of human folly._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolt_of_the_angels_se/chapters/xxi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolt_of_the_angels_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolt_of_the_angels_se/chapters