Louis- The priests
absolved
me.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v08 - Dah to Dra
He wandered like a ghost among the houses which were not
yet burned down, and found the corpse of Adinda's father with
a bayonet wound in the breast. Near him Saïdjah saw the three
murdered brothers of Adinda, still only children, and a little fur-
ther lay the corpse of Adinda, naked and horribly mutilated.
Then Saïdjah went to meet some soldiers who were driving,
at the point of the bayonet, the surviving insurgents into the fire
of the burning houses; he embraced the broad bayonets, pressed
forward with all his might, and still repulsed the soldiers with a
last exertion, until their weapons were buried to the sockets in
his breast.
## p. 4521 (#299) ###########################################
4521
THOMAS DEKKER
(1570 ? -1637? )
HOMAS DEKKER, the genial realist, the Dickens of Jacobean
London, has left in his works the impress of a most lovable
personality, but the facts with which to surround that per-
sonality are of the scantiest. He was born about 1570 in London; at
least in 1637 he speaks of himself as over threescore years of age.
This is the only clue we have to the date of his birth.
He came
probably of a tradesman's family, for he describes better than any of
his fellows in art the life of the lower middle class, and enters into
the thoughts and feelings of that class with a heartiness which is
possible only after long and familiar association. He was not a
university man, but absorbed his classical knowledge as Shakespeare
did, through association with the wits of his time.
He is first mentioned in Henslowe's diary in 1597, and after that
his name appears frequently. He was evidently a dramatic hack,
working for that manager, adapting and making over old plays and
writing new ones. He must have been popular too, for his name
appears oftener than that of any of his associates. Yet his industry
and popularity could not always keep him above water. Henslowe
was not a generous paymaster, and the unlucky dramatist knew the
inside of the debtor's prison cell; more than once the manager ad-
vanced sums to bail him out. Oldys says he was in prison from 1613
to 1616. After 1637 we find his name no more.
As a dramatist, Dekker was most active between the years 1598
and 1602. In one of those years alone he was engaged on twelve
plays. Many of these have been lost; of the few that remain, two
of the most characteristic belong to this period. The Shoemaker's
Holiday,' published in 1599, shows Dekker on his genial, realistic
side, with his sense of fun and his hearty sympathy with the life of
the people. It bubbles over with the delight in mere living, and is
full of kindly feeling toward all the world. It was sure to appeal to
its audience, especially to the pit, where the tradesmen and artisans
with their wives applauded, and noisiest of all, the 'prentices shouted
their satisfaction: here they saw themselves and their masters brought
on the stage, somewhat idealized, but still full of frolic and good-
nature. It is one of the brightest and pleasantest of Elizabethan
comedies. Close on its heels followed 'The Pleasant Comedy of Old
Fortunatus. ' Here Dekker the idealist, the poet of luxurious fancy
## p. 4522 (#300) ###########################################
4522
THOMAS DEKKER
and rich yet delicate imagination, is seen at his best. Fortunatus with
his wishing-hat and wonderful purse appealed to the romantic spirit
of the time, when men still sailed in search of the Hesperides, com-
pounded the elixir of youth, and sought for the philosopher's stone.
Dekker worked over an old play of the same name; the subject of
both was taken from the old German volksbuch Fortunatus' of 1519.
Among the collaborators of Dekker at this time was Ben Jonson.
Both these men were realists, but Jonson slashed into life with
bitter satire, whereas Dekker cloaked over its frailties with a tender
humor. Again, Jonson was a conscientious artist, aiming at per-
fection; Dekker, while capable of much higher poetry, was often
careless and slipshod. No wonder that the dictator scorned his some-
what irresponsible co-worker. The precise nature of their quarrel,
one of the most famous among authors, is not known; it culminated
in 1601, when Jonson produced 'The Poetaster,' a play in which
Dekker and Marston were mercilessly ridiculed. Dekker replied
shortly in 'Satiromastix, or the Untrussing of the Humorous Poet,' a
burlesque full of good-natured mockery of his antagonist.
Dekker wrote, in conjunction with Webster, (Westward Ho,'
Northward Ho,' and 'Sir Thomas Wyatt'; with Middleton, The
Roaring Girl'; with Massinger, The Virgin Martyr'; and with Ford,
'The Sun's Darling' and 'The Witch of Edmonton. ' Among the
products of Dekker's old age, 'Match Me in London' is ranked among
his half-dozen best plays, and The Wonder of a Kingdom' is fair
journeyman's work.
One of the most versatile of the later Elizabethans,- prolonging
their style and ideas into the new world of the Stuarts,- Dekker was
also prominent as pamphleteer. He first appeared as such in 1603,
with The Wonderfull Yeare 1603, wherein is showed the picture of
London lying sicke of the Plague,' a vivid description of the pest,
which undoubtedly served Defoe as model in his famous book on the
same subject. The best known of his many pamphlets, however, is
'The Gul's Horne Booke,' a graphic description of the ways and man-
ners of the gallants of the time. These various tracts are invaluable
for the light they throw on the social life of Jacobean London.
Lastly, Dekker as song-writer must not be forgotten. He had the
genuine lyric gift, and poured forth his bird-notes, sweet, fresh, and
spontaneous, full of the singer's joy in his song. He also wrote some
very beautiful prayers.
Varied and unequal as Dekker's work is, he is one of the hardest
among the Elizabethans to classify. He at times rises to the very
heights of poetic inspiration, soaring above most of his contempo-
raries, to drop all of a sudden down to a dead level of prose. But
he makes up for his shortcomings by his whole-hearted, manly view
## p. 4523 (#301) ###########################################
THOMAS DEKKER
4523
of life, his compassion for the weak, his sympathy with the lowly,
his determination to make the best of everything, and to show the
good hidden away under the evil.
"Toil, envy, want, the patron and the jail,»-
these he knew from bitter experience, yet never allowed them to
overcloud his buoyant spirits, but made them serve his artistic pur-
poses. Joyousness is the prevailing note of his work, mingled with a
pathetic undertone of patience.
FROM THE GUL'S HORNE BOOKE'
HOW A GALLANT SHOULD BEHAVE HIMSELF IN POWLES WALK*
NOW
ow for your venturing into the Walke: be circumspect and
wary what piller you come in at, and take heed in any
case (as you love the reputation of your honour) that you
avoide the serving-man's dogg; but bend your course directly in
the middle line, that the whole body of the Church may appear
to be yours; where, in view of all, you may publish your suit
in what manner you affect most, either with the slide of your
cloake from the one shoulder, and then you must (as twere in
anger) suddenly snatch at the middle of the inside (if it be taf-
fata at the least) and so by the meanes your costly lining is
betrayed, or else by the pretty advantage of complement. But
one note by the way do I especially wooe you to, the neglect of
which makes many of our gallants cheape and ordinary; that you
by no means be seen above fowre turnes, but in the fifth make
your selfe away, either in some of the Sempsters' shops, the new
Tobacco-office, or amongst the Bookesellers, where, if you cannot
reade, exercise your smoke, and inquire who has writ against this
divine weede, &c. For this withdrawing yourselfe a little will
much benefite your suit, which else by too long walking would
be stale to the whole spectators: but howsoever, if Powles Jacks
be up with their elbowes, and quarrelling to strike eleven, as soone
as ever the clock has parted them and ended the fray with his
hammer, let not the Duke's gallery conteyne you any longer, but
passe away apace in open view. In which departure, if by chance
you either encounter, or aloofe off throw your inquisitive eye
upon any knight or squire, being your familiar, salute him not
*The middle aisle of St. Paul's in London was the fashionable walk.
## p. 4524 (#302) ###########################################
4524
THOMAS DEKKER
by his name of Sir such a one, or so, but call him Ned or Jack,
&c. This will set off your estimation with great men: and if
(tho there bee a dozen companies betweene you, tis the better)
hee call aloud to you (for thats most gentile), to know where he
shall find you at two a clock, tell him at such an Ordinary, or
such; and bee sure to name those that are deerest; and whither
none but your gallants resort. After dinner you may appeare
againe, having translated yourselfe out of your English cloth
cloak, into a light Turky-grogram (if you have that happiness of
shifting) and then be seene (for a turn or two) to correct your
teeth with some quill or silver instrument, and to cleanse your
gummes with a wrought handkercher: It skilles not whether you
dinde or no (thats best knowne to your stomach) or in what place
you dinde, though it were with cheese (of your owne mother's
making, in your chamber or study).
Suck this humour
up especially. Put off to none, unlesse his hatband be of a
newer fashion than yours, and three degrees quainter; but for
him that wears a trebled cipres about his hatte (though he were
an Alderman's sonne), never move to him; for hees suspected to
be worse than a gull and not worth the putting off to, that can-
not observe the time of his hatband, nor know what fashioned
block is most kin to his head: for in my opinion, ye braine
that cannot choose his felt well (being the head ornament) must
needes powre folly into all the rest of the members, and be an
absolute confirmed foule in Summa Totali.
The great
dyal is your last monument; these bestow some half of the
threescore minutes, to observe the sawciness of the Jaikes that
are above the man in the moone there; the strangenesse of the
motion will quit your labour. Besides you may heere have fit
occasion to discover your watch, by taking it forth and setting
the wheeles to the time of Powles, which, I assure you, goes truer
by five notes then S. Sepulchers chimes. The benefit that will
arise from hence is this, that you publish your charge in main-
taining a gilded clocke; and withall the world shall know that
you are a time-server. By this I imagine you have walkt your
bellyful, and thereupon being weary, or (which rather I believe)
being most gentlemanlike hungry, it is fit that I brought you
in to the Duke; so (because he follows the fashion of great men,
in keeping no house, and that therefore you must go seeke your
dinner) suffer me to take you by the hand, and lead you into an
Ordinary.
## p. 4525 (#303) ###########################################
THOMAS DEKKER
4525
SLEEP
D
O BUT consider what an excellent thing sleep is; it is so in-
estimable a jewel that if a tyrant would give his crown
for an hour's slumber, it cannot be bought; yea, so greatly
are we indebted to this kinsman of death, that we owe the
better tributary half of our life to him; and there is good cause
why we should do so; for sleep is that golden chain that ties
health and our bodies together. Who complains of want, of
wounds, of cares, of great men's oppressions, of captivity, whilst
he sleepeth? Beggars in their beds take as much pleasure as
kings. Can we therefore surfeit on this delicate ambrosia? Can
we drink too much of that, whereof to taste too little tumbles us
into a churchyard; and to use it but indifferently throws us into
Bedlam? No, no. Look upon Endymion, the moon's minion,
who slept threescore and fifteen years, and was not a hair the
worse for it. Can lying abed till noon then, being not the
threescore and fifteenth thousand part of his nap, be hurtful?
THE PRAISE OF FORTUNE
From Old Fortunatus >
F
ORTUNE smiles, cry holiday!
Dimples on her cheek do dwell.
Fortune frowns, cry well-a-day!
Her love is heaven, her hate is hell.
Since heaven and hell obey her power,—
Tremble when her eyes do lower.
Since heaven and hell her power obey,
When she smiles, cry holiday!
Holiday with joy we cry,
And bend and bend, and merrily
Sing hymns to Fortune's deity,
Sing hymns to Fortune's deity.
Chorus
Let us sing merrily, merrily, merrily,
With our songs let heaven resound.
Fortune's hands our heads have crowned.
Let us sing merrily, merrily, merrily.
## p. 4526 (#304) ###########################################
4526
THOMAS DEKKER
CONTENT
From Patient Grissil'
A
RT thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers?
O sweet Content!
Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed?
O punishment!
Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vexed
To add to golden numbers golden numbers?
O sweet Content, O sweet, O sweet Content!
Work apace, apace, apace, apace,
Honest labor bears a lovely face.
Then hey nonny, nonny; hey nonny, nonny.
Canst drink the waters of the crispèd spring?
O sweet Content!
Swim'st thou in wealth, yet sink'st in thine own tears?
O Punishment!
Then he that patiently Want's burden bears
No burden bears, but is a king, a king.
O sweet Content, O sweet, O sweet Content!
RUSTIC SONG
From The Sun's Darling'
H
AYMAKERS, rakers, reapers, and mowers,
Wait on your Summer Queen!
Dress up with musk-rose her eglantine bowers,
Daffodils strew the green!
Sing, dance, and play,
'Tis holiday!
The sun does bravely shine
On our ears of corn.
Rich as a pearl
Comes every girl.
This is mine, this is mine, this is mine.
Let us die ere away they be borne.
Bow to our Sun, to our Queen, and that fair one
Come to behold our sports:
Each bonny lass here is counted a rare one,
As those in princes' courts.
## p. 4527 (#305) ###########################################
THOMAS DEKKER
4527
These and we
With country glee,
Will teach the woods to resound,
And the hills with echoes hollow.
Skipping lambs
Their bleating dams
'Mongst kids shall trip it round;
For joy thus our wenches we follow.
Wind, jolly huntsmen, your neat bugles shrilly,
Hounds, make a lusty cry;
Spring up, you falconers, partridges freely,
Then let your brave hawks fly!
Horses amain,
Over ridge, over plain,
The dogs have the stag in chase:
'Tis a sport to content a king.
So ho! ho! through the skies
How the proud birds flies,
And sousing, kills with a grace!
Now the deer falls; hark! how they ring.
LULLABY
From Patient Grissil›
G
OLDEN slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you.
You are care, and care must keep you.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
## p. 4528 (#306) ###########################################
4528
JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
(1793-1843)
BY FREDERIC LOLIÉE
HIS French lyrical poet and dramatist, born in Havre in 1793,
and brought up at Paris, was awarded a prize by the
Académie Française in 1811, elected a member of that
illustrious body July 7th, 1825, and died December 11th, 1843. When
hardly twenty years of age he had already made his name famous by
dithyrambs, the form of which, imitated from the ancients, enabled
him to express in sufficiently poetic manner quite modern sentiments.
Possessed of brilliant and easy imagination, moderately enthusiastic,
and more sober than powerful, he hit upon
a lucky vein which promptly led him to
fame. He described the recent disasters of
his country in fine odes entitled 'Messéni-
ennes,' in allusion to the chants in which
the defeated Messenians deplored the hard-
ships inflicted on them by the Spartans.
Those political elegies were named-'La
Bataille de Waterloo' (The Battle of Water-
100); 'La Dévastation du Musée' (The Spolia-
tion of the Museum); Sur le Besoin de
S'unir après le Départ des Étrangers' (On
the Necessity of Union after the Departure
of the Foreigners). They expressed emo-
tions agitating the mind of the country.
At the same time they appealed to the heart of the "liberals» of the
period by uttering their regrets for vanished power, their rancor
against the victorious party, their fears for threatened liberty. The
circumstances, the passions of the day, as also the awakening of
young and new talent, all concurred to favor Casimir Delavigne, who
almost from the very first attained high reputation. In 1819 the
publication of two more Messéniennes, on the life and death of
Joan of Arc,-inspired like the first with deep patriotic fervor,- was
received with enthusiasm.
CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
Earlier even than the day of Lamartine and Victor Hugo, Casimir
Delavigne had the glory of stirring the heart of France. He had the
added merit of maintaining, after Beaumarchais and before Émile
## p. 4529 (#307) ###########################################
JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
4529
Augier, the dignity of high comedy. Ingenious scenes of life, lively
and spirited details, grace and delicacy of style, save from oblivion
such pieces as 'L'École des Vieillards' (The School of Age), first per-
formed by the great artists Mademoiselle Mars and Talma; and 'Don
Juan d'Autriche' (Don John of Austria), a prose comedy. Other
dramas of his 'Marino Faliero,' 'Les Vêpres Siciliennes' (The Sicil-
ian Vespers), 'Louis XI. ,' 'Les Enfants d'Edouard' (The Children of
Edward), and 'La Fille du Cid' (The Daughter of the Cid) — are still
read with admiration, or acted to applauding spectators.
A pure
disciple of Racine at first, Delavigne deftly managed to adopt some
innovations of the romanticist school. 'Marino Faliero' was the first
of his productions in which, relinquishing the so-called classic rules,
he endeavored, as a French critic fitly remarks, to introduce a kind of
eclecticism in stage literature; a bold attempt, tempered with prudent
reserve, in which he wisely combined the processes favored by the
new school with current tradition. That play is indeed a happy
mixture of drama and comedy. It contains familiar dialogues and
noble outbursts, which however do not violate the proprieties of
academic style.
Though he never displayed the genius of Lamartine or of Victor
Hugo, and though some of his pictures have faded since the appear-
ance of the dazzling productions of the great masters of romanticism,
Casimir Delavigne still ranks high in the literature of his country
and century, thanks to the lofty and steady qualities, to the tender
and generous feeling, to the noble independence, which were the
honorable characteristics of his talent and his individuality. His
works, first published in Paris in 1843 in six octavo volumes, went
through many subsequent editions.
Prederic Police
THE CONFESSION OF LOUIS XI.
[On the point of dying, Louis XI. clings desperately to life, and sum-
mons before him a holy monk, Francis de Paula, whom he implores to work
a miracle in his favor and prolong his life. ]
―――――
Dramatis personæ : — King Louis XI. , and Saint Francis de Paula,
founder of the order of the Franciscan friars.
L
OUIS We are alone now.
-
Francis What do you wish of me?
Louis [who has knelt down]—At your knees see me trem-
bling with hope and fear.
VIII-284
## p. 4530 (#308) ###########################################
4530
JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
Francis - What can I do for you?
Louis Everything, Father; you can do everything: you can
call the dead to life again.
Francis-I!
Louis-To the dead you say, "Leave your graves! " and they
leave them.
―――
Francis-Who?
I?
Louis - You bid our ailments to be cured.
-
Francis-I, my son?
Louis-And they are cured. When you command the skies
clear, the wind suddenly blows or likewise abates; the falling
thunderbolt at your command moves back to the clouds. Oh, I
implore you, who in the air can keep up the beneficent dew or
let it pour its welcome freshness on the withering plant, impart
fresh vigor to my old limbs. See me; I am dying; revive my
drooping energy; stretch ye out your arms to me, touch ye those
livid features of mine, and the spell of your hands will cause my
wrinkles to vanish.
Francis - What do you ask of me? You surprise me, my son.
Am I equal to God? From your lips I first learn that I go
abroad rendering oracles, and with my hands working miracles.
Louis-At least ten years, father! grant me ten more years
to live, and upon you I shall lavish honors and presents.
I shall found shrines to your name, in gold and jasper shall have
your relics set; but! -twenty years more life are too little a
reward for so much wealth and incense. I beseech you, work
a whole miracle! Do not cut so short the thread of my life.
A whole miracle! give me new life and prolong my days!
Francis-To do God's work is not in his creature's power.
What! when everything dies, you alone should last! King, such
is not God's will. I his feeble creature cannot alter for you
the course of nature. All that which grows must vanish, all
that which is born must perish, man himself and his works, the
tree and its fruit alike. All that produces does so only for a
time; 'tis the law here below, for eternity death alone shall fruc-
tify.
·
Louis-You wear out my patience. Do your duty, monk!
Work in my favor your marvelous power; for if you refuse, I
shall compel you. Do you forget that I am a king? The holy
oil anointed my forehead. Oh, pardon me! but it is your duty
to do more for kings, for crowned heads, than for those obscure
## p. 4531 (#309) ###########################################
JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
4531
and unfortunate wretches whom, but for your prayers, God in
heaven would never have remembered.
Francis Kings and their subjects are equal in the eyes of
the Lord; he owes you his aid as to the rest of his children; be
more just to yourself, and claim for your soul that help for
which you beg.
Louis [eagerly]-No, not so much at a time: let us now mind
the body; I shall think of the soul by-and-by.
Francis-It is your remorse, O King, 'tis that smarting wound
inflicted by your crimes, which slowly drags your body to final
ruin.
Louis- The priests absolved me.
Francis-Vain hope! The weight of your present alarms is
made up of thirty years of iniquitous life. Confess your shame,
disclose your sins, and let sincere repentance wash away your
defiled soul.
Louis-Should I get cured?
all.
―
Francis- Perhaps.
Louis-Say yes, promise that I shall. I am going to confess
Francis-To me?
Louis-Such is my will. Listen.
Francis [seating himself whilst the King stands up with clasped
hands] - Speak then, sinner, who summon me to perform this
holy ministry.
Louis [after having recited mentally the Confiteor]-I cannot
and dare not refuse.
Francis-What are your sins?
Louis-Through fear of the Dauphin, the late King died of
starvation.
Francis-A son shortened his own father's old age!
Louis I was that Dauphin.
Francis-You were!
-
Louis-My father's weakness was ruining France. A favorite
ruled. France must have perished had not the King done so.
State interests are higher than-
Francis Confess thy sins, thou wicked son; do not excuse
thy wrong-doings.
Louis-I had a brother.
Francis-What of him?
Louis-Who died
____
-
poisoned.
## p. 4532 (#310) ###########################################
4532
JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
Francis-Were you instrumental in his death?
Louis-They suspected me.
Francis-God Almighty!
Louis-If those who said so fell in my power!
Francis-Is it true?
Louis-His ghost rising from the grave can alone with impu-
nity accuse me of his death.
Francis-So you were guilty of it?
Louis-The traitor deserved it!
Francis [rising]-You would escape your just punishment!
Tremble! I was your brother, I am now your judge. Crushed
under your sin, bend low your head. Return to nothingness,
empty Majesty! I no longer see the King, I hear the criminal:
to your knees, fratricide!
Louis [falling on his knees]-I shudder.
Francis-Repent!
Louis [crawling to the monk and catching hold of his gar-
ments]-I own my fault, have pity on me! I beat my breast
and repent another crime. I do not excuse it.
Francis [resuming his seat]-Is this not all?
Louis-Nemours!
He was a conspirator. But his
death . . His crime was proved. But under his scaffold
his children's tears
Thrice against his lord he had
His life-blood spattered them. Yet his death
taken up arms.
was but just.
•
.
Francis-Cruel, cruel King!
Louis-Just, but severe; I confess it: I punished
but
no, I have committed crimes. In mid-air the fatal knot has
strangled my victims; in murderous pits they have been stabbed
with steel; the waters have put an end to them, the earth has
acted as their jailer. Prisoners buried beneath these towers groan
forgotten in their depths.
Francis-Oh! since there are wrongs which you
repair, come!
Louis-Where to?
Francis-Let us set free those prisoners.
Louis-Statecraft forbids.
·
can still
Francis [kneeling before the King]-Charity orders: come, and
save your soul.
Louis-And risk my crown! As a king, I cannot.
Francis-As a Christian, you must.
## p. 4533 (#311) ###########################################
JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
4533
for.
Louis I have repented. Let that suffice.
Francis [rising]-That avails nothing.
Louis Have I not confessed my sins?
Francis- They are not condoned while you persist in them.
Louis-The Church has indulgences which a king can pay
—
you.
Francis-God's pardon is not to be bought: we must de-
serve it.
Louis [in despair]-I claim it by right of my anguish!
O Father, if you knew my sufferings, you would shed tears of
pity! The intolerable bodily pain I endure constitutes but half
my troubles and my least suffering. I desire the places where I
cannot be. Everywhere remorse pursues me; I avoid the living;
I live among the dead. I spend dreadful days and nights more
terrible. The darkness assumes visible shapes; silence disturbs
me, and when I pray to my Savior I hear his voice say: "What
would you with me, accursed? " When asleep, a demon sits on
my chest: I drive him away, and a naked sword stabs me furi-
ously; I rise aghast; human blood inundates my couch, and my
hand, seized by a hand cold as death, is plunged in that blood
and feels hideous moving débris.
Francis-Ah, wretched man!
Louis-You shudder. Such are my days and nights; my
sleep, my life. Yet, dying, I agonize to live, and fear to drink
the last drop of that bitter cup.
Francis Come then. Forgive the wrongs others have done
you, and thus abate your own tortures. A deed of mercy will
buy you rest, and when you awake, some voice at least will
bless your name. Come. Do not tarry.
Wait!
-
Louis-Wait!
Francis-Will the Lord wait?
Louis-To-morrow!
Francis-But, to-morrow, to-night, now, perhaps, death awaits
crimes.
-
Louis I am well protected.
Francis-The unloved are ill protected. [Tries to drag the
King along. ] Come! Come!
Louis [pushing him aside]-Give me time, time to make up
my mind.
Francis-I leave you, murderer. I cannot forgive your
## p. 4534 (#312) ###########################################
4534
JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
Louis [terrified]-What! do you condemn me?
Francis-God may forgive all! When he still hesitates, how
could I condemn? Take advantage of the delay he grants you;
weep, pray, obtain from his mercy the softening of your heart
towards those unfortunates. Forgive, and let the light of day
shine for them once more. When you seized the attribute of
Divine vengeance they denounced your name from the depth of
their jails in their bitter anguish, and their shrieks and moans
drowned your prayers. Now end those sufferings, and God
shall hear your prayers.
Translated for 'A Library of the World's Best Literature. '
## p. 4534 (#313) ###########################################
## p. 4534 (#314) ###########################################
DEMOSTHENES
45
## p. 4534 (#315) ###########################################
A
7!
***
## p. 4534 (#316) ###########################################
3
## p. 4535 (#317) ###########################################
4535
DEMOSTHENES
(384-322 B. C. )
BY ROBERT SHARP
HE lot of Demosthenes, the great Athenian orator, was cast
in evil times. The glorious days of his country's brilliant
political pre-eminence among Grecian States, and of her
still more brilliant pre-eminence as a leader and torch-bearer to the
world in its progress towards enlightenment and freedom, were well-
nigh over. In arms she had been crushed by the brute force of
Sparta. But this was not her deepest humiliation; she had indeed
risen again to great power, under the leadership of generals and
statesmen in whom something of the old-time Athenian spirit still
persisted; but the duration of that power had been brief. The deep-
est humiliation of a State is not in the loss of military prestige or
of material resources, but in the degeneracy of its citizens, in the
overthrow and scorn of high ideals; and so it was in Athens at the
time of Demosthenes's political activity.
The Athenians had become a pampered, ease-loving people. They
still cherished a cheap admiration for the great achievements of their
fathers. Stirring appeals to the glories of Marathon and Salamis
would arouse them to-pass patriotic resolutions. Any suggestion of
self-sacrifice, of service on the fleet or in the field, was dangerous.
A law made it a capital offense to propose to use, even in meeting
any great emergency, the fund set aside to supply the folk with
amusements. They preferred to hire mercenaries to undergo their
hardships and to fight their battles; but they were not willing to pay
their hirelings. The commander had to find pay for his soldiers in
the booty taken from their enemies; or failing that, by plundering
their friends. It must be admitted, however, that the patriots at
home were always ready and most willing to try, to convict, and to
punish the commanders upon any charge of misdemeanor in office.
There were not wanting men of integrity and true patriotism, and
of great ability, as Isocrates and Phocion, who accepted as inevitable
the decline of the power of Athens, and advocated a policy of passive
non-interference in foreign affairs, unless it were to take part in a
united effort against Persia. But the mass of the people, instead of
offering their own means and their bodies to the service of their
country, deemed it rather the part of the State to supply their needs
## p. 4536 (#318) ###########################################
4536
DEMOSTHENES
and their amusements. They considered that they had performed, to
the full, their duty as citizens when they had taken part in the noisy
debates of the Assembly, or had sat as paid jurymen in the never-
ending succession of court procedures of this most litigious of peo-
ples. Among men even in their better days not callous to the
allurements of bribes judiciously administered, it was a logical
sequence that corruption should now pervade all classes and condi-
tions.
Literature and art, too, shared the general decadence, as it ever
must be, since they always respond to the dominant ideals of a time
and a people. To this general statement the exception must be
noted that philosophy, as represented by Plato and Aristotle, and
oratory, as represented by a long succession of Attic orators, had
developed into higher and better forms. The history of human
experience has shown that philosophy often becomes more subtle and
more profound in times when men fall away from their ancient high
standards, and become shaken in their old beliefs. So oratory attains
its perfect flower in periods of the greatest stress and danger, whether
from foreign foes or from internal discord. Both these forms of
utterance of the active human intellect show, in their highest attain-
ment, the realization of imminent emergency and the effort to point
out a way of betterment and safety.
Not only the condition of affairs at home was full of portent of
coming disaster. The course of events in other parts of Greece and
in the barbarian kingdom of Macedon seemed all to be converging to
one inevitable result, the extinction of Hellenic freedom. When a
nation or a race becomes unfit to possess longer the most precious of
heritages, a free and honorable place among nations, then the time
and the occasion and the man will not be long wanting to co-operate
with the internal subversive force in consummating the final catas-
trophe. "If Philip should die," said Demosthenes, "the Athenians
would quickly make themselves another Philip. "
Throughout Greece, mutual jealousy and hatred among the States,
each too weak to cope with a strong foreign foe, prevented such
united action as might have made the country secure from any bar-
barian power; and that at a time when it was threatened by an
enemy far more formidable than had been Xerxes with all his mill-
ions.
ans.
The Greeks at first entirely underrated the danger from Philip and
the Macedonians. They had, up to this time, despised these barbari-
Demosthenes, in the third Philippic, reproaches his countrymen
with enduring insult and outrage from a vile barbarian out of Mace-
don, whence formerly not even a respectable slave could be obtained.
It is indeed doubtful whether the world has ever seen a man, placed
## p. 4537 (#319) ###########################################
DEMOSTHENES
4537
in a position of great power, more capable of seizing every oppor-
tunity and of using every agency, fair or foul, for accomplishing his
ambitious purposes, than was Philip of Macedon. The Greeks were
most unfortunate in their enemy.
Philip understood the Greek people thoroughly. He had received
his early training among them while a hostage at Thebes. He found
in their petty feuds, in their indolence and corruptibility, his oppor-
tunity to carry into effect his matured plans of conquest. His energy
never slept; his influence was ever present. When he was far away,
extending his boundaries among the barbarians, his money was still
active in Athens and elsewhere. His agents, often among the ablest
men in a community, were busy using every cunning means at the
command of the wonderful Greek ingenuity to conceal the danger or
to reconcile the fickle people to a change that promised fine rewards
for the sale of their liberty. Then he began to trim off one by one
the outlying colonies and dependencies of the Greek States. His next
step was to be the obtaining of a foothold in Greece proper.
The chief obstacle to Philip's progress was Athens, degenerate as
she was, and his chief opponent in Athens was Demosthenes. This
Philip understood very well; but he treated both the city and the
great statesman always with a remarkable leniency. More than once
Athens, inflamed by Demosthenes, flashed into her old-time energy
and activity, and stayed the Macedonian's course; as when, in his
first bold march towards the heart of Greece, he found himself con-
fronted at Thermopyla by Athenian troops; and again when prompt
succor from Athens saved Byzantium for the time. But the emer-
gency once past, the ardor of the Athenians died down as quickly as
it had flamed up.
The Social War (357-355 B. C. ) left Athens stripped almost bare
of allies, and was practically a victory for Philip. The Sacred War
(357-346 B. C. ) between Thebes and Phocis, turning upon an affront
offered to the Delphian god, gave Philip the eagerly sought-for
opportunity of interfering in the internal affairs of Greece. He
became the successful champion of the god, and received as his
reward a place in the great Amphictyonic Council. He thus secured
recognition of his claims to being a Greek, since none but Greeks
might sit in this council. He had, moreover, in crushing the Phocians,
destroyed a formidable power of resistance to his plans.
Such were the times and such the conditions in which Demos-
thenes entered upon his strenuous public life. He was born most
probably in 384 B. C. , though some authorities give preference to 382
B. C. as the year of his birth. He was the son of Demosthenes and
Cleobule. His father was a respectable and wealthy Athenian citizen,
a manufacturer of cutlery and upholstering. His mother was the
## p. 4538 (#320) ###########################################
4538
DEMOSTHENES
daughter of Gylon, an Athenian citizen resident in the region of the
Crimea.
Misfortune fell early upon him. At the age of seven he was left
fatherless. His large patrimony fell into the hands of unprincipled
guardians. Nature seems almost maliciously to have concentrated in
him a number of blemishes, any one of which might have checked
effectually the ambition of any ordinary man to excel in the pro-
fession Demosthenes chose for himself. He was not strong of body,
his features were sinister, and his manner was ungraceful,- a griev-
ous drawback among a people with whom physical beauty might
cover a multitude of sins, and physical imperfections were a reproach.
He seems to have enjoyed the best facilities in his youth for
training his mind, though he complains that his teachers were not
paid by his guardians; and he is reported to have developed a fond-
ness for oratory at an early age. In his maturing years, he was
taught by the great lawyer, Isæus; and must often have listened to
the orator and rhetorician Isocrates, if he was not indeed actually
instructed by him. When once he had determined to make himself
an orator, he set himself to work with immense energy to overcome
the natural disadvantages that stood in the way of his success. By
hard training he strengthened his weak voice and lungs; it is related
that he cured himself of a painful habit of stammering; and he sub-
jected himself to the most vigorous course of study preparatory to his
profession, cutting himself off from all social enjoyments.
His success as an orator, however, was not immediate. He tasted
all the bitterness of failure on more than one occasion; but after
temporary discouragement he redoubled his efforts to correct the
faults that were made so distressingly plain to him by the unsparing
but salutary criticism of his audience. Without doubt, these conflicts
and rebuffs of his earlier years served to strengthen and deepen the
moral character of Demosthenes, as well as to improve his art.
