Anthem | Page 3

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This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers.

ANTHEM
by Ayn Rand

PART ONE
It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to
put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It
is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know
well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We
have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the
Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven!
But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime,
and for this crime there is no name. What punishment awaits us if it be
discovered we know not, for no such crime has come in the memory of
men and there are no laws to provide for it.
It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing
moves in this tunnel save our hand on the paper. We are alone here
under the earth. It is a fearful word, alone. The laws say that none
among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for this is the great
transgression and the root of all evil. But we have broken many laws.
And now there is nothing here save our one body, and it is strange to
see only two legs stretched on the ground, and on the wall before us the
shadow of our one head.
The walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads without
sound, black and glistening as blood. We stole the candle from the
larder of the Home of the Street Sweepers. We shall be sentenced to ten
years in the Palace of Corrective Detention if it be discovered. But this
matters not. It matters only that the light is precious and we should not
waste it to write when we need it for that work which is our crime.
Nothing matters save the work, our secret, our evil, our precious work.
Still, we must also write, for--may the Council have mercy upon
us!--we wish to speak for once to no ears but our own.

Our name is Equality 7-2521, as it is written on the iron bracelet which
all men wear on their left wrists with their names upon it. We are
twenty-one years old. We are six feet tall, and this is a burden, for there
are not many men who are six feet tall. Ever have the Teachers and the
Leaders pointed to us and frowned and said:
"There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, for your body has grown