The Magnificent Lovers
M >>
Moliere (Poquelin) >> The Magnificent Lovers
SCENE V.--ERIPHYLE (_alone_).
Alas! how hard is my destiny! What have I done to the gods that they
should interest themselves in what happens to me?
SCENE VI.--ERIPHYLE, CLEONICE.
CLEON. Here he is, Madam; he followed me the moment he heard your
commands.
ERI. Let him come hither, Cleonice, and leave us alone for one moment.
SCENE VII.--ERIPHYLE, SOSTRATUS.
ERI. Sostratus, you love me.
SOS. I, Madam?
ERI. Yes, Sostratus, I know it, I approve of it, and allow you to tell
me so. Your love appeared to me accompanied by all the merit which
could render it valuable to me. Were it not for the rank in which
heaven has placed me, I might tell you that your love would not have
been an unhappy one, and I have often wished for a position in which I
might fully show the secret feelings of my heart. It is not,
Sostratus, that merit fails to have for me all the value which it
should have, and because, in my inmost soul, I do not prefer the
virtues which you possess to all the magnificent titles which adorn
others. The princess my mother has also, it is true, left me free in
my choice, and I have no doubt that I could have obtained her consent
according to my wish. But, Sostratus, there are stations in life where
it is not right to wish that what pleases us should come to pass. It
is painful to be above all others, and the burning light of fame often
makes us pay too severely for having yielded to our inclination. I
never could, therefore, expose myself to it, and I thought I would
simply put off the bonds I was solicited to enter. But, at last, the
gods themselves will give me a husband, and all these long delays with
which I have postponed my marriage, and which the kindness of the
princess my mother made possible, are no longer permitted to me. I
must resign myself to the will of heaven. You may rest assured,
Sostratus, that it is with the greatest repugnance that I consent to
this marriage, and that, were I mistress of myself, either I should
have been yours or should have belonged to no one. This is, Sostratus,
what I had to tell you; what I felt I owed to your merit, and the only
consolation which my tenderness can show to your love.
SOS. Ah! Madam, it is too much for one so undeserving as I am! I was
not prepared to die with such glory, and from this moment I shall
cease to complain of my destiny. If it caused me to be born in a rank
below what I could have desired, it has made me to be born happy
enough to attract some pity from the heart of a great princess, and
this glorious pity is worth sceptres and crowns; is worth the power of
the greatest princes of the earth. Yes, Madam, from the moment I dared
to love you--it is you, Madam, who allow me to use this bold
word--from the moment I dared to love you, I condemned the pride of my
aspirations, and determined upon the fate I ought to expect. Death
will not surprise me, for I am prepared for it, but your kindness has
thrown upon it an honour which my love never dared to hope; I shall
now die the happiest and most fortunate of men. If I may yet hope for
anything, I on my knees will ask two favours of you: to be willing to
endure my presence till that happy marriage which is to put an end to
my life takes place; and amidst the glory and long prosperities which
heaven promises to your union, to remember sometimes Sostratus, who
loved you. May I hope for those favours, O divine princess?
ERI. Go, Sostratus; leave me. You little care for my peace of mind if
you ask me to remember you.
SOS. Ah, Madam, if your peace of mind....
ERI. Leave me, Sostratus; spare my weakness; do not expose me to do
more than I have resolved upon.
SCENE VIII.--ERIPHYLE, CLEONICE.
CLE. Madam, I see you quite melancholy; will you allow your dancers,
who express so well all the passions of the soul, to come and give you
a sample of their skill?
ERI. Yes, Cleonice; let them do what they like, provided they leave me
to my thoughts.
FIFTH INTERLUDE.
_Four pantomimists, as a sample of their skill, adapt their
movements and steps to the signs of uneasiness of the young_
PRINCESS ERIPHYLE.
BALLET.
ACT V.
SCENE I.--ERIPHYLE, CLITIDAS.
CLI. Where shall I go? which way shall I turn? Where am I likely to
find the Princess Eriphyle? It is no small pleasure to be the first to
bring news. Ah! here she is! Madam, I come to tell you that heaven has
just now given you the husband it reserved for you.
ERI. Alas! leave me, Clitidas, to my gloomy sorrow.
CLI. Madam, I beg your pardon, I thought I did well to come and tell
you that heaven has given you Sostratus for a husband; but, since it
is unpleasant to you, I will pocket my news, and go back just as I
came.
ERI. Clitidas! I say, Clitidas!
CLI. I leave you, Madam, to your gloomy melancholy.
ERI. Stay, I tell you; come here. What is it you say?
CLI. Nothing, Madam. One is sometimes too hasty in coming to tell
great people things they don't care about, and I pray you to excuse
me.
ERI. How cruel you are!
CLI. Another time I will take care not to come and interrupt you.
ERI. Keep me no longer in suspense; say what it is you came to tell
me.
CLI. An insignificant thing about Sostratus, Madam, which I will tell
you another time when you are less engaged.
ERI. Keep me no longer in suspense, and tell me the news.
CLI. You wish to know it, Madam?
ERI. Yes, be quick. What is it about Sostratus?
CLI. A wonderful adventure which nobody expected.
ERI. Tell it me at once.
CLI. Will it not trouble you, Madam, in your gloomy melancholy?
ERI. Ah! Speak, I say.
CLI. I must tell you, then, Madam, that the princess your mother was
going almost alone through the forest by those little paths which are
so pleasant, when a frightful boar--those ugly boars are always doing
mischief, and should be banished from civilised forests--when a
hideous boar, I say, driven to bay, I believe, by some huntsmen, came
right across the path where we were. I ought, perhaps, to adorn my
account with an elaborate description of this said boar; but you must
try and do without it, if you please, and be satisfied to know that it
was a terribly ugly brute. It was going on its way, and it would have
been as well not to disturb it; but the princess wished to show her
skill, and with her dart, which, if I may say so, she launched
somewhat unseasonably, inflicted a slight wound just above the ear.
The ill-bred boar turned impertinently upon us. We were then two or
three wretches who became pale with fright; each gained his tree, and
the princess was left alone, exposed to the fury of the beast, when
Sostratus appeared, just in time, as if the very gods had sent him.
ERI. And so, Clitidas?
CLI. If this account wearies you, Madam, I can put off the remainder
for another occasion.
ERI. End it quickly.
CLI. It is, indeed, quickly that I shall end, for a grain of cowardice
prevented me from seeing the details of the struggle, and all that I
can tell you is that, when we came back to the spot, we found the boar
dead and bleeding, and the princess full of joy, and proclaiming
Sostratus her deliverer and your husband, according to the words
spoken by the gods. When I heard this, I did not stop to hear any
more, and I ran in search of you to bring you this piece of news.
ERI. Ah! Clitidas, you could never have given me a more welcome one.
CLI. Oh! here they are coming to find you.
SCENE II.--ARISTIONE, SOSTRATUS, ERIPHYLE, CLITIDAS.
ARI. I perceive, my daughter, that you already know everything which
we are coming to tell you. You see that the gods have explained
themselves sooner than we expected. The danger I have just run has
told us what their will is, and it is easy to see that the choice
comes from them, since merit alone shines in the selection they have
made. Will it be repugnant to you to recompense with the gift of your
heart the one to whom I owe my life, and will you refuse to accept
Sostratus for your husband?
ERI. Both from the hands of the gods and from yours, Madam, I could
receive no gift that would be disagreeable to me.
SOS. Is not this a glorious dream with which the gods wish to flatter
me? Am I not to expect some dreadful awakenings which will plunge me
back into all the baseness of my former fortune?
SCENE III.--ARISTIONE, ERIPHYLE, SOSTRATUS, CLEONICE, CLITIDAS.
CLEON. Madam, I am come to tell you that Anaxarchus had till now
deceived both the princes, with the hope of favouring the choice upon
which their souls were bent; and that, hearing what has taken place,
they have both given way to their resentment against him, and things
growing worse, he has received several wounds, from which it is
impossible to say what may happen. But here they are both coming.
SCENE IV.--ARISTIONE, ERIPHYLE, IPHICRATES, TIMOCLES,
SOSTRATUS, CLEONICE, CLITIDAS.
ARI. Princes, you are very quick in avenging yourselves; if Anaxarchus
offended you, I was here to do you justice.
IPH. And what justice can you have done us, Madam, when you do so
little to our rank in the choice you have made?
ARI. Had you not both agreed to submit to what the order of the gods
or my daughter's inclination might decide in this matter? and of what
consequence can the interests of a rival be to you?
TIM. Yes, Madam; we were ready to submit to a choice between the
Prince Iphicrates and myself, but not to find ourselves both repulsed.
It were some consolation to see the choice fall on an equal, but your
blindness is something terrible.
ARI. Prince, I have no wish to fall out with one who has had the
kindness to praise me so much; and I beg of you, in all sincerity, to
base your sorrow upon better foundation. Try and remember, I pray,
that Sostratus' merit is known throughout Greece, and that by the rank
to which the gods raise him to-day the distance between you and him
disappears.
IPH. Yes, we shall remember it, Madam. But, perhaps, you will be
pleased also to remember that two insulted princes may be enemies to
be feared.
TIM. You may not have long to enjoy the contempt in which you hold us.
ARI. I forgive all these threats for the sake of the sorrow of a love
which thinks itself insulted; and we will none the less go and see the
Pythian Games in all peace. Let us go at once, and let us crown by the
glorious spectacle this wonderful day.
SIXTH INTERLUDE.
_The scene represents a great hall in the form of an amphitheatre,
with a grand open arcade at the farther end, above which is a tribune,
closed by a curtain, and in the distance is seen an altar prepared for
the sacrifice. Six men, dressed as if they were almost naked, each
carrying an axe on his shoulder, like executioners of the sacrifice,
enter by the portico, to the sound of violins, and are followed by two
sacrificers who play, by a priestess, also playing, and by their
suite_.
BALLET AND DIVERTISSEMENT.