While the opinion of this body was not indeed
unfavorable, yet the dispute had so irritated Corneille that he retired
to Rouen and for a time renounced his art.
unfavorable, yet the dispute had so irritated Corneille that he retired
to Rouen and for a time renounced his art.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v06 to v10 - Cal to Fro
One can burrow somewhere in the great ant-
hill, and work can be found. Whoever is not worked to death
in the hell of the galleys comes out agile and robust, and I
learned there to climb ropes with loads upon my back. Building
is going on everywhere here, and the masons need helpers.
Three francs a day! I never earned so much. Let me be for-
gotten, and that is all I ask. "
He followed his courageous resolution; he was faithful to it,
and after three months he was another man. The master for
whom he worked called him his best workman. After a long
day upon the scaffolding in the hot sun and the dust, constantly
bending and raising his back to take the hod from the man at
his feet and pass it to the man over his head, he went for his
soup to the cook-shop, tired out, his legs aching, his hands burn-
ing, his eyelids stuck with plaster, but content with himself and
carrying his well-earned money in a knot in his handkerchief.
He went out now without fear, since he could not be recognized
in his white mask, and since he had noticed that the suspicious
glances of the policeman were seldom turned on the tired work-
man. He was quiet and sober. He slept the sound sleep of
fatigue. He was free.
At last-oh supreme recompense! - he had a friend!
He was a fellow-workman like himself, named Savinien, a
little peasant with red lips who had come to Paris with his stick
over his shoulder and a bundle on the end of it, fleeing from
the wine-shops and going to mass every Sunday. Jean Fran-
çois loved him for his piety, for his candor, for his honesty, for
all that he himself had lost, and so long ago.
It was a pas-
sion, profound and unrestrained, which transformed him by
fatherly cares and attentions. Savinien, himself of a weak and
egotistical nature, let things take their course, satisfied only in
finding a companion who shared his horror of the wine-shop.
The two friends lived together in a fairly comfortable lodging,
but their resources were very limited. They were obliged to
take into their room a third companion, an old Auvergnat,
gloomy and rapacious, who found it possible out of his meagre
salary to save something with which to buy a place in his own
country. Jean François and Savinien were always together. On
## p. 4061 (#431) ###########################################
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
4061
holidays they together took long walks in the environs of Paris,
and dined under an arbor in one of those small country inns
where there are a great many mushrooms in the sauces and
innocent rebuses on the napkins. There Jean François learned
from his friend all that lore of which they who are born in the
city are ignorant: learned the names of the trees, the flowers
and the plants; the various seasons for harvesting; he heard
eagerly the thousand details of a laborious country life,— the
autumn sowing, the winter chores, the splendid celebrations of
harvest and vintage days, the sound of the mills at the water-
side and the flails striking the ground, the tired horses led to
water and the hunting in the morning mist, and above all the
long evenings, shortened by marvelous stories, around the fire of
vine-shoots. He discovered in himself a source of imagination
before unknown, and found a singular delight in the recital of
events so placid, so calm, so monotonous.
One thing troubled him, however: it was the fear lest Savinien
might learn something of his past. Sometimes there escaped
from him some low word of thieves' slang, a vulgar gesture,-
vestiges of his former horrible existence, and he felt the pain
one feels when old wounds reopen; the more because he fancied
that he sometimes saw in Savinien the awakening of an un-
healthy curiosity. When the young man, aiready tempted by
the pleasures which Paris offers to the poorest, asked him about
the mysteries of the great city, Jean François feigned ignorance
and turned the subject; but he felt a vague inquietude for the
future of his friend.
――――
His uneasiness was not without foundation. Savinien could
not long remain the simple rustic that he was on his arrival in
Paris. If the gross and noisy pleasures of the wine-shop always
repelled him, he was profoundly troubled by other temptations,
full of danger for the inexperience of his twenty years. When
spring came he began to go off alone, and at first he wandered
about the brilliant entrance of some dancing-hall, watching the
young girls who went in with their arms around each others'
waists, talking in low tones. Then one evening, when lilacs
perfumed the air and the call to quadrilles was most captivating,
he crossed the threshold, and from that time Jean François
observed a change, little by little, in his manners and his vis-
age. He became more frivolous, more extravagant. He often
borrowed from his friend his scanty savings, and he forgot to
## p. 4062 (#432) ###########################################
4062
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
repay. Jean François, feeling that he was abandoned, jealous
and forgiving at the same time, suffered and was silent. He felt
that he had no right to reproach him, but with the foresight of
affection he indulged in cruel and inevitable presentiments.
One evening, as he was mounting the stairs to his room,
absorbed in his thoughts, he heard, as he was about to enter,
the sound of angry voices, and he recognized that of the old
Auvergnat who lodged with Savinien and himself. An old habit
of suspicion made him stop at the landing-place and listen to
learn the cause of the trouble.
"Yes," said the Auvergnat angrily, "I am sure that some
one has opened my trunk and stolen from it the three louis that
I had hidden in a little box; and he who has done this thing.
must be one of the two companions who sleep here, if it were
not the servant Maria. It concerns you as much as it does me,
since you are the master of the house, and I will drag you to
the courts if you do not let me at once break open the valises of
the two masons. My poor gold! It was here yesterday in its
place, and I will tell you just what it was, so that if we find it
again nobody can accuse me of having lied. Ah, I know them,
my three beautiful gold pieces, and I can see them as plainly as
I see you! One piece was more worn than the others; it was
of greenish gold, with a portrait of the great emperor. The
other was a great old fellow with a queue and epaulettes; and
the third, which had on it a Philippe with whiskers, I had
marked with my teeth. They don't trick me. Do you know
that I only wanted two more like that to pay for my vineyard?
Come, search these fellows' things with me, or I will call the
police! Hurry up! "
"All right," said the voice of the landlord; "we will go and
search with Maria. So much the worse for you if we find noth-
ing, and the masons get angry. You have forced me to it. "
Jean François's soul was full of fright. He remembered the
embarrassed circumstances and the small loans of Savinien, and
how sober he had seemed for some days. And yet he could not
believe that he was a thief. He heard the Auvergnat panting in
his eager search, and he pressed his closed fists against his breast
as if to still the furious beating of his heart.
"Here they are! " suddenly shouted the victorious miser.
"Here they are, my louis, my dear treasure; and in the Sunday
vest of that little hypocrite of Limousin! Look, landlord, they
## p. 4063 (#433) ###########################################
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
4063
are just as I told you. Here is the Napoleon, the man with a
queue, and the Philippe that I have bitten. See the dents? Ah,
the little beggar with the sanctified air! I should have much
sooner suspected the other. Ah, the wretch! Well, he must go
to the convict prison. "
At this moment Jean François heard the well-known step of
Savinien coming slowly up the stairs.
"He is going to his destruction," thought he.
I have time! "
"Three stories.
And pushing open the door he entered the room, pale as
death, where he saw the landlord and the servant stupefied in
a corner, while the Auvergnat, on his knees in the disordered
heap of clothes, was kissing the pieces of gold.
"Enough of this," he said, in a thick voice; "I took the
money and put it in my comrade's trunk. But that is too bad.
I am a thief, but not a Judas. Call the police; I will not try to
escape, only I must say a word to Savinien in private. Here
he is. "
In fact, the little Limousin had just arrived; and seeing his
crime discovered, believing himself lost, he stood there, his eyes
fixed, his arms hanging.
Jean François seized him forcibly by the neck, as if to
embrace him; he put his mouth close to Savinien's ear, and said
to him in a low supplicating voice:-
"Keep quiet. "
Then turning towards the others:
"Leave me alone with him. I tell you I won't go away.
Lock us in if you wish, but leave us alone. "
With a commanding gesture he showed them the door. They
-
went out.
Savinien, broken by grief, was sitting on the bed, and low-
ered his eyes without understanding anything.
"Listen," said Jean François, who came and took him by the
hands, "I understand! You have stolen three gold pieces to
buy some trifle for a girl. That costs six months in prison.
But one only comes out from there to go back again, and you
will become a pillar of police courts and tribunals. I understand
it. I have been seven years at the Reform School, a year at
Sainte Pélagie, three years at Poissy, five years at Toulon.
Now, don't be afraid. Everything is arranged. I have taken it
on my shoulders. "
## p. 4064 (#434) ###########################################
4064
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
"It is dreadful," said Savinien; but hope was springing up
again in his cowardly heart.
"When the elder brother is under the flag, the younger one
does not go," replied Jean François. "I am your substitute,
that's all. You care for me a little, do you not? I am paid.
Don't be childish-don't refuse. They would have taken me
again one of these days, for I am a runaway from exile. And
then, do you see, that life will be less hard for me than for you.
I know it all, and I shall not complain if I have not done you
this service for nothing, and if you swear to me that you will
never do it again. Savinien, I have loved you well, and your
friendship has made me happy. It is through it that since I
have known you I have been honest and pure, as I might always
have been, perhaps if I had had, like you, a father to put a
tool in my hands, a mother to teach me my prayers.
It was my
sole regret that I was useless to you, and that I deceived you
concerning myself. To-day I have unmasked in saving you.
It is all right. Do not cry, and embrace me, for already I hear
heavy boots on the stairs. They are coming with the posse, and
we must not seem to know each other so well before those
chaps. "
―
He pressed Savinien quickly to his breast, then pushed him
from him, when the door was thrown wide open.
It was the landlord and the Auvergnat, who brought the
police. Jean François sprang forward to the landing-place, held
out his hands for the handcuffs, and said, laughing, "Forward,
bad lot! "
To-day he is at Cayenne, condemned for life as an incor-
rigible.
## p. 4064 (#435) ###########################################
## p. 4064 (#436) ###########################################
m
P. CORNEILLE.
## p. 4064 (#437) ###########################################
## p. 4064 (#438) ###########################################
Overa
And
P. CORNEILLE.
## p. 4065 (#439) ###########################################
4065
PIERRE CORNEILLE
(1606-1684)
BY FREDERICK MORRIS WARREN
ORNEILLE'S life, apart from the performance and publication
of his works, is but imperfectly known, owing to the lack
of contemporaneous records and allusions. He was born
at Rouen, capital of the old province of Normandy, on June 6th,
1606. At his christening on June 9th he received the name of
Pierre, after his father and godfather. He was educated in the
Jesuit college (academy) at Rouen, and obtained in 1620 a prize for
excellence. Choosing his father's profession, he studied law, and
was admitted to the bar on June 18th, 1624. The office of attorney-
general in the department of waters and forests was purchased by
him on December 16th, 1628. The year following, Mondory, who
with a company of actors was probably playing at Rouen, persuaded
him to give his (Mondory's) troupe a comedy he had already written;
and the season of 1629-30 saw the play produced in Paris, at the
newly established Marais Theatre.
The success of this comedy, 'Mélite,' confirmed Corneille in his
purpose of writing for the stage and led him to study the principles
of dramatic art. While he continued to discharge his legal duties at
Rouen, he would frequently visit Paris in order to offer some new
play to Mondory, or mingle in the literary society of the capital. So
'Mélite,' made up entirely of conversations where nothing happened,
was followed by 'Clitandre,' a tragi-comedy of the popular type, full
of bloody episodes. Like 'Mélite,' it was in twelve-syllable verse
(Alexandrine) and contained five acts. It also showed Corneille's first
attempt to observe unity of time. When it was published in March
1632, a selection of Corneille's poetry, a part of which antedated
'Mélite,' was put with it.
The next two years saw the publication of occasional poems by
him in French, and some Latin verse in honor of the King and
Richelieu. Before March 1634 he also composed four more comedies:
'The Widow,' a character study, noticeable for the attempt to com-
promise on unity of time by allowing a day to each act; 'The
Gallery of the Palace,' where the action takes place in the fashion-
able shops of the day, and in which the modern character of the
soubrette displaces the traditional nurse of Renaissance comedy,
taken by a man in disguise; The Lady's Maid,' a study of this
VII-255
## p. 4066 (#440) ###########################################
4066
PIERRE CORNEILLE
successful substitute, where finally Corneille observes both the unities
of time and place, and makes his five acts equal, line for line; and
'The Palais Royal,' another topical comedy for Parisians. These four
plays are much like their predecessors in lack of action and super-
fluity of complimentary talk. The same may be said of Corneille's
collaboration on Richelieu's 'Comedy of The Tuileries' (1635). His
superiority to his colleagues at this time consisted mainly in his
poetic talent and common-sense.
In the season of 1634-35 he tried a tragedy, 'Medea,' patterned
after Seneca's Latin drama of that name. It shows an advance on
his previous efforts, yet did not come up to his high standard; and
he sought a diversion for his disappointment by eulogizing the theat-
rical profession in a play within a play, The Dramatic Illusion,›
which he gave to the actors of the Hôtel of Burgundy, probably
in 1635.
About this time Corneille's attention was drawn to the Spanish
drama, then at its highest point. The storied deeds of Spain's na-
tional hero especially appealed to his temperament, and he selected
Guillen de Castro's 'First Exploits of the Cid' as a model for his
imitation. A year or more he may have been busy in adapting its
complexity of scene and character to the orderly, simple require-
ments of the French stage. For it was not till the last days of 1636,
after unusual preparations in rehearsals and costuming, that Mon-
dory's company brought out The Cid. ' Its success was instantane-
ous. The theatre was crowded for many nights. The stage even
was filled in with seats for the nobility, to the great annoyance of
the actors and the detriment of the scenery. And sixteen years
later, Pellisson, the historian of the Academy, could still write:-
:- "It
is difficult to conceive the approbation with which this play was re-
ceived by the Court and public. People never tired of going to it;
you could hear nothing else talked about; everybody knew some part
of it by heart; children were made to learn it, and in several places
in France it gave rise to the proverb, That is as beautiful as The
Cid. '»
The history of modern French drama dates from the first perform-
ance of The Cid. ' The theme here selected became the typical one.
It shows the struggle between love and honor on the part of the
hero, love and duty on the part of the heroine. Jimena's father has
insulted Rodrigo's, enfeebled by his advanced years. He calls upon
his son to avenge his honor. In spite of his love for Jimena, Rodrigo
shows no hesitation. He challenges the Count and kills him. In the
lovers' interview which follows, Jimena is more distracted from her
duty by her love than Rodrigo was, but yet resolves on vengeance.
She demands a champion of the king, who objects that Rodrigo
## p. 4067 (#441) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4067
should be pardoned, having just saved the city from the invading
Moors. Jimena insists: a champion appears, is overthrown, and is
spared by Rodrigo, whereupon the king intervenes and orders the
betrothal of the lovers.
Since The Cid' ends happily, so far as the hero and heroine are
concerned, Corneille first called it a tragi-comedy, but later substi-
tuted the title of tragedy. Its general structure is the same as that
of his other plays,-five fairly equal acts, subdivided into scenes,
with rhymed Alexandrine couplets, excepting in a few lyric strophes.
The time of the action is limited to twenty-four hours, but the scene
of the action is restricted only by the boundaries of the town
(Seville), the different places being marked by a fixed scenery, which
presented several localities to the audience at the same time.
His dramatic form and stage properties Corneille had obtained
from his French predecessors of the classical school. The mediæval
Miracle Plays had practically fallen out of favor nearly a century
before 'Mélite,' and had been prohibited in Paris in 1548. But the
Fraternity of the Passion still occupied the only theatre in the city,
and had a monopoly of all the performances in the city and suburbs.
Into its theatre of the Hôtel of Burgundy it had put as much of its
old multiplex scenery as it could fit into the new and narrow stage.
And while it could no longer act the old Mysteries, still it clung to
dramatic stories which knew neither unity of time, place, nor even
action.
Outside of these playwrights, however, the Renaissance had created
a set of men who looked towards classical antiquity for their literary
standards. In 1552 Jodelle and his friends of the Pléiade had ap-
pealed to this class by acting in Boncourt College a tragedy modeled
on Seneca's Latin dramas. This example was subsequently followed
by many writers, who however rarely got their pieces acted, and
therefore fell into the way of writing without having the necessities
of stage effects in view. Consequently for nearly half a century the
best dramatists of France were strangers to the public of the Hôtel
of Burgundy, and were drifting more and more from a dramatic con-
ception of the theatre into a lyric one. Long declamatory mono-
logues, acts varying greatly in length and separated by elaborate
choruses, were the chief features of this school. Nothing happened
on the stage; all was told by messengers.
Yet these dramas, by their very lack of action and scenery, were
suited to the limited means of strolling companies of actors; and
modifications of them were being played more and more to provin-
cial audiences. Finally in 1599 one of these companies came to
Paris, leased the Hôtel of Burgundy from the Fraternity, now tired
of its avocation, and laid there the foundations of modern French
## p. 4068 (#442) ###########################################
4068
PIERRE CORNEILLE
drama. The purveyor to this troupe was Alexandre Hardy, a man of
some education, of considerable theatrical endowments, but lacking
in literary taste. True to his classical models so far as the unlettered
public of the Hôtel and its scenery would allow, he managed by
cutting down the monologues, equalizing the acts, restricting or
suppressing the choruses, and leading the dialogue to some climax
visible to his audience, to effect a compromise between the partisans
of the two schools and educate a new body of theatre-goers. His
scenery he could not change, and it still remained a constant temp-
tation to diversity of place and multiplication of episodes. Hardy
labored for more than thirty years. It is to his dramatic form,
audience, and stage that Corneille succeeded, continuing his work
while avoiding his excesses. And aided by the growing taste and
intelligence of his public, Corneille could further simplify and refine
the style of play in vogue.
Now De Castro's 'Cid' had enjoyed the freedom of the Miracle
Plays. It numbered three acts, divided into fifty-three scenes. Its
episodes, many of them purely digressive, occupied nearly two years
of time and were bounded in place only by the frontiers of Spain.
In order to reduce this epic exuberance to the severity of the classi-
cal mold, Corneille had to eliminate the digressive episodes, cut down
and combine the essential ones, connect the places where the action
took place, and lessen the time of its duration. In the French Cid,'
Rodrigo kills Jimena's father and is betrothed to her in less than
twenty-four hours.
This instance alone illustrates the effort Corneille made on him-
self. It caught also the eye of his rivals and critics. The Cid' was
fiercely assailed for its "inhumanity" and "improbability," and with
the connivance of Richelieu the newly organized Academy was called
upon to condemn it.
While the opinion of this body was not indeed
unfavorable, yet the dispute had so irritated Corneille that he retired
to Rouen and for a time renounced his art. When he reappeared, it
was as a dramatizer of classical subjects, that dealt with but one
episode to a play. But the romantic side still survived in the love
affair invariably interwoven with his nobler, sterner theme.
So 'Horace (1640) treated of the fight of the Horatii and the
Curatii, and the immolation of a woman's love to the Roman father-
land. 'Cinna (1640-41) narrated a conspiracy against Augustus,
which was undertaken through love for the heroine, but was par-
doned by the Emperor's magnanimity. Polyeuctus (1643) showed
how a steadfast Christian husband could preserve his wife's fidelity
against the memory of a first love, and how his martyrdom could
result in her conversion. Pompey (1643-44) recited the death of
that leader and the devotion of Cornelia, his wife, to his memory.
## p. 4069 (#443) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4069
These four plays, tragedies all, represent in their eloquence, their
diction, nobility of thought, and lofty aspiration, the highest develop-
ment of Corneille's dramatic genius.
After this period of serious composition Corneille sought relaxa-
tion in comedy, and produced from Spanish models The Liar'
(1644) and The Sequel to the Liar' (1645). Both are superior in
dialogue, action, and verse to his earlier plays, and the first re-
mained the best comedy of the new school up to the appearance of
Molière. Towards the end of 1645 'Rodogune' was acted, a tragedy
to which Corneille was ever partial on account of its highly wrought,
exciting solution. Théodore' (1646), the fate of another Christian
martyr, and 'Heraclius' (1646-47), preceded their author's election to
the Academy (January 22d, 1647). The Fronde then intervened, and
it was not till 1649 that Corneille's best tragi-comedy, 'Don San-
cho,' was performed.
(
A spectacular play or opera, Andromeda'
(1650), closely followed it. 'Nicomedes' (1651) was a successful
tragedy, 'Pertharite' (1652) a failure. Consequently for the next few
years Corneille devoted himself to religious poetry and a verse
translation of the 'Imitation of Christ. '
་
But the visit of Molière's company to Rouen in 1658 incited him
to write again for the stage. Edipus' (1659), Sertorius' (1662),
'Sophonisba (1663), 'Otho' (1664), 'Agesilas' (1666), and 'Attila '
(1667), all tragedies, were the result. Some were successful, but
others were not. Molière was now in full career, and Racine was
beginning. Corneille's defects were growing. His plays were too
much alike, and gallant talk supplied in them the place of deeds.
In 1660 a second spectacular drama, 'The Golden Fleece,' had been
performed; and the same year he had edited a general edition of his
plays, with a critical preface to each play and three essays on the
laws and theories of the drama. All this time he had not neglected
society and religious verse, and probably in 1662 he had moved from
Rouen to Paris.
>
A retirement of three years followed 'Attila. ' Then in 1670 Cor-
neille reappeared with the tragedy Titus and Berenice,' neglected.
by the public for Racine's 'Berenice. ' In 1671 he collaborated with
Molière and Quinault on a comedy-ballet, Psyche. ' In 1672 he wrote
'Pulcheria, a tragi-comedy, and in 1674 gave his last play, the
tragedy of Surena,' to the stage. Henceforth only supplicatory
poems addressed to the King reminded the Parisians of Corneille's
existence. In 1682 he published the final revision of his dramas, and
in 1684. on the night of September 30th, he passed away. He had
married in 1641. Four children survived him.
Corneille's contemporaries complain of his slovenliness, his timidity,
quick temper, and wearying conversation. He could never read his
## p. 4070 (#444) ###########################################
4070
PIERRE CORNEILLE.
own plays successfully, and is even said to have spoken French
incorrectly. He was reputed avaricious, but was continually lament-
ing his poverty, and seems to have died in want. He was quite
tall, well set, with large eyes and strongly marked features.
Besides his services to French comedy, Corneille may be said to
have established the higher comedy in verse, with its decent man-
ners and self-respecting characters. In this departure he undoubtedly
owed much to Plautus and Terence, but probably more to Hardy's
tragi-comedies and lighter plays. The chief merit of his style was
fine diction, eloquence, and harmony of phrase. His thought was
high and noble. As a dramatist he excelled in the invention and
variety of his situations. His defects were the reverse of these
qualities: rhetoric, subtle sentiment, stiff characters.
The best complete edition of Corneille is Marty-Laveaux's in the
Hachette series of 'Les Grands Écrivains de la France' (Great
Writers of France), 12 volumes, 1862-68. This edition contains a bio-
graphical notice. The most complete bibliography is E. Picot's
'Bibliographie Cornélienne' (Paris, 1865). J. Taschereau's 'Histoire
de la Vie et des Euvres de Corneille' (History of the Life and
Works of Corneille) is the best biography (published Paris, 1829: 3d
edition, 1869). F. Guizot's Corneille and His Times' is the only life
that has been translated into English (London, 1857). Of the separate
plays, The Cid,' 'Horace,' and 'Polyeuctus' have been rendered
into English blank verse by W. F. Nokes (Hachette and Company),
and these three, together with 'Cinna,' have been literally translated
by R. Mongan and D. McRae (London: 1878-86. )
L. M Warren.
THE LOVERS
From The Cid'
The scene is an apartment in the house of Chimène's father in Seville.
Chimène and Elvire are conversing, after Chimène has learned
that her father, the Count de Gormas, has lost his life in a
duel with Don Rodrigue, the son of an aged nobleman insulted by
De Gormas.
CH
HIMÈNE At stake is my honor; revenge must be mine;
Whate'er the desire love may flattering stir,
To the soul nobly born all excuse is disgrace.
## p. 4071 (#445) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4071
Elvire-
Thou lov'st Don Rodrigue; he can never offend.
Chimène-
I admit it.
Elvire-
Chimène-
Admitting it, how canst thou act?
-
By sustaining my honor, by casting my care-
Pursue him, destroy him, and after him — die.
Don Rodrigue [entering as she speaks the last words] —
'Tis well! Without taking the pains of pursuit,
Be secure in the pleasure of ending my days.
Chimène
―
Elvire, oh where are we? What, what do I see?
Rodrigue in this house! Before me, Rodrigue!
Don Rodrigue-
Oh, spare not my blood; unresisted, pray taste
Of my ruin the sweetness, of vengeance the joy.
Chimène-
Alas!
--
Chimène
Don Rodrigue-Hear me, lady!
Chimène
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène
-
Go, I say; let me die!
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène
--
Ah, vouchsafe me a word!
And once I have spoke, make reply with—this sword.
――――――
―――――
Chimène-
What! The sword e'en now red with the blood of my sire!
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène, my Chimène!
―
Hide that hideous steel,
That rebuketh my eyes for thy crime and thy life.
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène-
I die!
-
But one word
Nay, rather behold it, thy hate to excite,
Thy wrath to increase — and my doom so to speed.
-
It is tinged with my blood.
Don Rodrigue-
Plunge it then into mine,
That so it may lose the dread tint of thy veins.
Ah, fate all too cruel! that slays in one day
The father by steel, and the daughter by sight!
Take away, as I bid, what I cannot endure;
Thou will'st that I hearken -and kill'st me meantime!
## p. 4072 (#446) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4072
Don Rodrigue-
What thou wishest I do; but with no less desire
That my life, now deplorable, ends by your hand;
For expect not, I beg, from my passion itself
A coward's repentance of deed so deserved.
From thy father's rash hand came a blow-past recall;
It dishonored my sire in his honored old age.
What are blows to a man of due honor thou knowest.
In the shame I had part, and its author must seek;
Him I saw-both my father and honor I 'venged;
I would do it again, if I had it to do.
Yet think not 'gainst duty to father and self
My love for thee, lady, no contest has made;
Of thy power in this moment do thou be the judge.
Too well might I doubt if such vengeance I dared.
Bound to please thee, Chimène, or to suffer affront,
Too rash seemed my arm - I would fain hold it back;
With a deed all too violent blamed I myself:
Thy beauty had weighed down the balance at last,
Had I not, to thy charms, countervailing, opposed
That a man lost to honor could not thee deserve;
That once having loved me when blameless I lived,
She who cared for me stainless must hate me disgraced;
That to hearken to love, to obey its soft voice,
Was to find myself shameful- thy favor to stain.
Again do I tell thee-and while I shall breathe
Unchanged shall I think and unchanging will say -
I have done thee offense, but I could not halt back,
A disgrace to remove and thyself to deserve.
But now, quits with honor, and quits toward my sire,
'Tis thee, thee alone, I would fain satisfy;
'Tis to proffer my blood that thou seest me here.
I have done what I should what is left I would do.
Well I know that thy father's death arms thee toward mine;
Not thee have I wished of thy victim to cheat.
Boldly immolate, now, the blood he has spilled –
The being who glories that such was his deed.
――――
Chimène-
Ah, Rodrigue! True it is that though hostile I am,
No blame can I speak that disgrace thou hast fled;
Howe'er from my lips this my dolor break forth,
I dare not accuse thee-I weep for my woes.
I know that thy honor, on insult so deep,
Demanded of ardor a valorous proof.
## p. 4073 (#447) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
Thou hast done but the duty enjoined on the brave:
Yet more, in its doing 'tis mine thou hast taught.
By thy courage funest, and thy conquest, I'm schooled;
Thy father avenged and thine honor upheld,
Like care, see, is mine; for to load me with grief,
I must father avenge, I must honor uphold!
Alas, 'tis thy part here that brings me despair.
Had aught other misfortune bereft me of sire,
My heart in the joy of beholding thyself
The sole solace that heart could receive would have found
Against my affliction a charm would be strong,
My tears would be dried by the dearest of hands.
But lo! I must lose thee, my father a loss;
And the more that my soul may in torment be thrown,
My star has decreed that I compass thy end.
Expect not, in turn, from the passion I own,
That my hand I shall stay from thy punishment meet;
Thy direful offense makes thee worthy of me;
By thy death I shall show myself worthy of thee.
Unrhymed literal version in the metre of the original, by E. Irenæus
Stevenson.
4073
DON RODRIGUE DESCRIBES TO KING FERNANDO HIS VICTORY
OVER THE MOORS
From The Cid>
NDER me, then, the troop made advance,
With soldierly confidence marked on each brow.
Five hundred we started, but soon reinforced,
Three thousand we were when the port we had reached;
So much did mere sight of our numbers, our mien,
New courage revive in all timorous hearts.
Two-thirds did I ambush, as soon as arrived,
U
In the vessels in harbor, that ready were found;
But the others, whose numbers each hour did increase,
With impatience on fire, all about me encamped,
Stretched out on the earth passed the beauteous night.
In the harbor, I order the guards to like watch;
Their concealment my stratagem further assists;—
I dared to declare, Sire, as thine the command
That I so followed out, and enjoined upon all.
In the radiance pallid that fell from the stars,
At last, with the flood-tide we spy thirty sails;
## p. 4074 (#448) ###########################################
4074
PIERRE CORNEILLE
Beneath swells the wave, and in movement therewith,
The sea and the Moors into harbor advance.
We permit them a passage-to them all seemed calm,
Our soldiers unseen, and the walls without ward.
Our silence profound well deluded their wit;
No longer they doubt our surprise is achieved;
Without fear they draw nearer - they anchor-they land—
They run to the hands that are waiting to strike.
Then rise we together, and all in a breath
Utter clamorous shoutings that heavenward rise.
From the ships to such signal our troops make response;
They stand forth in arms, and the Moors are dismayed;
By dread they are seized when but half-disembarked;
Ere the battle's begun they have deemed themselves lost.
They have come but to pillage - 'tis fight that they meet.
We assail them on sea, we assail them on land;
On the ground runs the blood we set flowing in streams
Ere a soul can resistor fly back to his post.
But soon in our spite the chiefs rallied their host,
Their courage awoke, and their fear was o'ercome:
The shame of their dying without having fought,
Their disorder arrests, and their valor restores.
A firm stand they take, and their swords are unsheathed;
The land and the stream, ay, the fleet and the port,
Are a field where, triumphant o'er carnage, is death.
Oh, many the deeds, the exploits worthy fame,
In that horror of darkness are buried for aye,
When each, the sole witness of blows that he struck,
Could not guess whither Fortune the conflict would steer!
I flew to all sides to encourage our force,
Here to push into action, and there to restrain,
To enrank the newcoming, to spur them in turn,
Yet naught could I know till the breaking of day.
But with dawn and the light, our advantage was plain;
The Moors saw their ruin; their courage declined;
And beholding new succor approach to our side,
Changed their ardor for battle to sheer dread of death.
Their vessels they seek,-every cable is cut;
For farewells to our ears are sent up their wild cries;
Their retreat is a tumult-no man ever heeds
If their princes and kings have made good their escape.
Even duty itself yields to fear so extreme.
On the flood-tide they came, the ebb bears them away;
Meantime their two Kings with our host still engaged,
## p. 4075 (#449) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
'Mid a handful of followers, slashed by our blows,
In valiance contending, are selling life dear.
In vain to surrender I beg them- entreat,
With the cimeter gripped, not a word will they hear:
But at sight of their troops falling dead at their feet,
The brave who alone make so vain a defense,
Our chief they demand; and to me they submit.
To you, O my Sire, have I sent them, each one—
And the combatants lacking, the combat was done.
THE WRATH OF CAMILLA
From the 'Horace'
Horatius, the only survivor of the combat, advances to meet his sister
Camilla with Proculus at his side, bearing the swords of the three
one of whom was Camilla's betrothed. Camilla sur-
veys him with horror and disdain as he advances.
slain Curatii
Camilla-
ORATIUS -Lo, sister, the arm that hath brothers avenged! -
H
The arm that our fate so contrary has checked,
The arm that makes Alba our own; and to-day
By one deed the lot of two nations hath fixed.
See these tokens of honor-my glory's attest.
Do thou pay the tribute now due to my fame.
Receive then my tears: for my tears are thy due.
after action so bold.
the combat's dark fate,
Nay, Rome likes them not,
Our brothers, both slain by
Are avenged by this blood no more weeping demand.
If a loss be so paid, then the loss is no more.
Horatius-
Camilla
Horatius-
Camilla
-
―
Horatius
Since thou deemest my brothers by blood so appeased,
I will cease to show sign of my grief for their death;
But who shall avenge me my lover's death, say?
And make me forget in one moment such loss?
What sayest thou, unhappy?
――――――
O beloved Curiace!
4075
O boldness disgraceful, from sister disgraced!
The name on thy lips and the love in thy heart
Of the foe of our people, whose conquest is mine!
## p. 4076 (#450) ###########################################
4076
PIERRE CORNEILLE
Thy criminal flame to such vengeance aspires!
Thou darest to utter such thought of thy heart!
Follow passion the less, better rule thy desire:
Make me not so to blush that thy sighs are not hid;
From this moment thou owest to smother thy flame,
Free thy heart from them- dwell on these trophies instead,
And make them from this hour thy sole pleasure in life.
Camilla
―――
Nay, first give me, cruel, a heart hard as thine,
And if thou wilt seek all my spirit to read,
Give me back Curiace, or my passion let glow.
My joy and my grief of his lot are a part;
Him living I loved him in death I deplore.
No more find me sister-deserted by thee!
Behold in me only a woman outraged,
Who like to some Fury pursuing thy steps-
Unceasing shall charge thee with trespass so great!
O tiger, blood-gorged, who forbiddest my tears,
Who would see me find joy in this death thou hast wrought,
Who vauntest to Heaven itself such a deed,
Shall I by approval bring death to him—twice?
Misfortunes so dire, may they follow thy life
That thou fallest to envying even my own!
Oh, soon by some cowardice mayest thou blot
This glory thy brutal soul reckons so dear!
Horatius-
O heavens! hath any an equal rage seen?
Dost thou think I could brook, all unmoved, such offense ?
That race could endure a dishonor so deep?
Love, love thou the death which means good to thy State,
Prefer to thy passion and thoughts of this man
The sentiment due to a daughter of Rome!
Camilla-
Rome! Object supreme of the wrath that I feel!
This Rome, to whose aid came thy arm-and my loss;
Rome, city that bore thee-by thee so adored!
Rome, hated the more for its honoring thee!
O may each of her neighbors together in league
Sap every foundation, as yet so unsure!
Nay, if Italy be not enough to the fall,
Let the East and the West for her ruin unite;
Let peoples conjoined from the four winds of heaven,
Be met to her downfall; let hills aid, and seas;
O'erthrown on her walls may she prostrate be cast,
## p. 4077 (#451) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4077
Torn out by her own hands, her entrails be strewn!
May the anger of Heaven, here kindled by me,
Rain down on her dwellings a deluge of fire!
O grant that mine own eyes such thunderbolt see! -
See her mansions in ashes, her laurels in dust,
See the latest of Romans yielding his last breath,
I cause of it all- I dying of joy!
[With the last words Camilla rushes from the apartment. Horace snatches
his sword and pursues her, exclaiming:—]
Oh too much! Even reason to passion gives place.
Go, weep thou thy lost Curiace in the shades!
[After an instant is heard behind the scenes the shriek of the wounded
Camilla:-]
Ah, traitor!
Horace [returning to the stage]-
S
――――
Receive thou quick chastisement, due
Whomsoever shall dare Roman foe to lament.
EVERUS
Unrhymed literal version in the metre of the original, by E. Irenæus
Stevenson.
Paulina
.
PAULINA'S APPEAL TO SEVERUS
From Polyeucte
I stand agaze,
Rooted, confounded, in sheer wonderment.
Such blind resolve is so unparalleled,
I scarce may trust the witness of mine ears.
A heart that loves you-and what heart so poor
That knowing, loves you not? —one loved of you,
To leave regretless so much bliss just won!
Nay, more - as though it were a fatal prize —
To his corrival straight to yield it up!
Truly, or wondrous manias Christians have,
Or their self-happiness must be sans bourn,
Since to attain it they will cast away
What others at an empire's cost would win.
For me, had fate, a little sooner kind,
--
Blessed my true service with your hand's reward,
The glory of your eyes had been my worship;
My twin kings had they reigned-kings? nay, my gods!
hill, and work can be found. Whoever is not worked to death
in the hell of the galleys comes out agile and robust, and I
learned there to climb ropes with loads upon my back. Building
is going on everywhere here, and the masons need helpers.
Three francs a day! I never earned so much. Let me be for-
gotten, and that is all I ask. "
He followed his courageous resolution; he was faithful to it,
and after three months he was another man. The master for
whom he worked called him his best workman. After a long
day upon the scaffolding in the hot sun and the dust, constantly
bending and raising his back to take the hod from the man at
his feet and pass it to the man over his head, he went for his
soup to the cook-shop, tired out, his legs aching, his hands burn-
ing, his eyelids stuck with plaster, but content with himself and
carrying his well-earned money in a knot in his handkerchief.
He went out now without fear, since he could not be recognized
in his white mask, and since he had noticed that the suspicious
glances of the policeman were seldom turned on the tired work-
man. He was quiet and sober. He slept the sound sleep of
fatigue. He was free.
At last-oh supreme recompense! - he had a friend!
He was a fellow-workman like himself, named Savinien, a
little peasant with red lips who had come to Paris with his stick
over his shoulder and a bundle on the end of it, fleeing from
the wine-shops and going to mass every Sunday. Jean Fran-
çois loved him for his piety, for his candor, for his honesty, for
all that he himself had lost, and so long ago.
It was a pas-
sion, profound and unrestrained, which transformed him by
fatherly cares and attentions. Savinien, himself of a weak and
egotistical nature, let things take their course, satisfied only in
finding a companion who shared his horror of the wine-shop.
The two friends lived together in a fairly comfortable lodging,
but their resources were very limited. They were obliged to
take into their room a third companion, an old Auvergnat,
gloomy and rapacious, who found it possible out of his meagre
salary to save something with which to buy a place in his own
country. Jean François and Savinien were always together. On
## p. 4061 (#431) ###########################################
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
4061
holidays they together took long walks in the environs of Paris,
and dined under an arbor in one of those small country inns
where there are a great many mushrooms in the sauces and
innocent rebuses on the napkins. There Jean François learned
from his friend all that lore of which they who are born in the
city are ignorant: learned the names of the trees, the flowers
and the plants; the various seasons for harvesting; he heard
eagerly the thousand details of a laborious country life,— the
autumn sowing, the winter chores, the splendid celebrations of
harvest and vintage days, the sound of the mills at the water-
side and the flails striking the ground, the tired horses led to
water and the hunting in the morning mist, and above all the
long evenings, shortened by marvelous stories, around the fire of
vine-shoots. He discovered in himself a source of imagination
before unknown, and found a singular delight in the recital of
events so placid, so calm, so monotonous.
One thing troubled him, however: it was the fear lest Savinien
might learn something of his past. Sometimes there escaped
from him some low word of thieves' slang, a vulgar gesture,-
vestiges of his former horrible existence, and he felt the pain
one feels when old wounds reopen; the more because he fancied
that he sometimes saw in Savinien the awakening of an un-
healthy curiosity. When the young man, aiready tempted by
the pleasures which Paris offers to the poorest, asked him about
the mysteries of the great city, Jean François feigned ignorance
and turned the subject; but he felt a vague inquietude for the
future of his friend.
――――
His uneasiness was not without foundation. Savinien could
not long remain the simple rustic that he was on his arrival in
Paris. If the gross and noisy pleasures of the wine-shop always
repelled him, he was profoundly troubled by other temptations,
full of danger for the inexperience of his twenty years. When
spring came he began to go off alone, and at first he wandered
about the brilliant entrance of some dancing-hall, watching the
young girls who went in with their arms around each others'
waists, talking in low tones. Then one evening, when lilacs
perfumed the air and the call to quadrilles was most captivating,
he crossed the threshold, and from that time Jean François
observed a change, little by little, in his manners and his vis-
age. He became more frivolous, more extravagant. He often
borrowed from his friend his scanty savings, and he forgot to
## p. 4062 (#432) ###########################################
4062
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
repay. Jean François, feeling that he was abandoned, jealous
and forgiving at the same time, suffered and was silent. He felt
that he had no right to reproach him, but with the foresight of
affection he indulged in cruel and inevitable presentiments.
One evening, as he was mounting the stairs to his room,
absorbed in his thoughts, he heard, as he was about to enter,
the sound of angry voices, and he recognized that of the old
Auvergnat who lodged with Savinien and himself. An old habit
of suspicion made him stop at the landing-place and listen to
learn the cause of the trouble.
"Yes," said the Auvergnat angrily, "I am sure that some
one has opened my trunk and stolen from it the three louis that
I had hidden in a little box; and he who has done this thing.
must be one of the two companions who sleep here, if it were
not the servant Maria. It concerns you as much as it does me,
since you are the master of the house, and I will drag you to
the courts if you do not let me at once break open the valises of
the two masons. My poor gold! It was here yesterday in its
place, and I will tell you just what it was, so that if we find it
again nobody can accuse me of having lied. Ah, I know them,
my three beautiful gold pieces, and I can see them as plainly as
I see you! One piece was more worn than the others; it was
of greenish gold, with a portrait of the great emperor. The
other was a great old fellow with a queue and epaulettes; and
the third, which had on it a Philippe with whiskers, I had
marked with my teeth. They don't trick me. Do you know
that I only wanted two more like that to pay for my vineyard?
Come, search these fellows' things with me, or I will call the
police! Hurry up! "
"All right," said the voice of the landlord; "we will go and
search with Maria. So much the worse for you if we find noth-
ing, and the masons get angry. You have forced me to it. "
Jean François's soul was full of fright. He remembered the
embarrassed circumstances and the small loans of Savinien, and
how sober he had seemed for some days. And yet he could not
believe that he was a thief. He heard the Auvergnat panting in
his eager search, and he pressed his closed fists against his breast
as if to still the furious beating of his heart.
"Here they are! " suddenly shouted the victorious miser.
"Here they are, my louis, my dear treasure; and in the Sunday
vest of that little hypocrite of Limousin! Look, landlord, they
## p. 4063 (#433) ###########################################
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
4063
are just as I told you. Here is the Napoleon, the man with a
queue, and the Philippe that I have bitten. See the dents? Ah,
the little beggar with the sanctified air! I should have much
sooner suspected the other. Ah, the wretch! Well, he must go
to the convict prison. "
At this moment Jean François heard the well-known step of
Savinien coming slowly up the stairs.
"He is going to his destruction," thought he.
I have time! "
"Three stories.
And pushing open the door he entered the room, pale as
death, where he saw the landlord and the servant stupefied in
a corner, while the Auvergnat, on his knees in the disordered
heap of clothes, was kissing the pieces of gold.
"Enough of this," he said, in a thick voice; "I took the
money and put it in my comrade's trunk. But that is too bad.
I am a thief, but not a Judas. Call the police; I will not try to
escape, only I must say a word to Savinien in private. Here
he is. "
In fact, the little Limousin had just arrived; and seeing his
crime discovered, believing himself lost, he stood there, his eyes
fixed, his arms hanging.
Jean François seized him forcibly by the neck, as if to
embrace him; he put his mouth close to Savinien's ear, and said
to him in a low supplicating voice:-
"Keep quiet. "
Then turning towards the others:
"Leave me alone with him. I tell you I won't go away.
Lock us in if you wish, but leave us alone. "
With a commanding gesture he showed them the door. They
-
went out.
Savinien, broken by grief, was sitting on the bed, and low-
ered his eyes without understanding anything.
"Listen," said Jean François, who came and took him by the
hands, "I understand! You have stolen three gold pieces to
buy some trifle for a girl. That costs six months in prison.
But one only comes out from there to go back again, and you
will become a pillar of police courts and tribunals. I understand
it. I have been seven years at the Reform School, a year at
Sainte Pélagie, three years at Poissy, five years at Toulon.
Now, don't be afraid. Everything is arranged. I have taken it
on my shoulders. "
## p. 4064 (#434) ###########################################
4064
FRANÇOIS COPPÉE
"It is dreadful," said Savinien; but hope was springing up
again in his cowardly heart.
"When the elder brother is under the flag, the younger one
does not go," replied Jean François. "I am your substitute,
that's all. You care for me a little, do you not? I am paid.
Don't be childish-don't refuse. They would have taken me
again one of these days, for I am a runaway from exile. And
then, do you see, that life will be less hard for me than for you.
I know it all, and I shall not complain if I have not done you
this service for nothing, and if you swear to me that you will
never do it again. Savinien, I have loved you well, and your
friendship has made me happy. It is through it that since I
have known you I have been honest and pure, as I might always
have been, perhaps if I had had, like you, a father to put a
tool in my hands, a mother to teach me my prayers.
It was my
sole regret that I was useless to you, and that I deceived you
concerning myself. To-day I have unmasked in saving you.
It is all right. Do not cry, and embrace me, for already I hear
heavy boots on the stairs. They are coming with the posse, and
we must not seem to know each other so well before those
chaps. "
―
He pressed Savinien quickly to his breast, then pushed him
from him, when the door was thrown wide open.
It was the landlord and the Auvergnat, who brought the
police. Jean François sprang forward to the landing-place, held
out his hands for the handcuffs, and said, laughing, "Forward,
bad lot! "
To-day he is at Cayenne, condemned for life as an incor-
rigible.
## p. 4064 (#435) ###########################################
## p. 4064 (#436) ###########################################
m
P. CORNEILLE.
## p. 4064 (#437) ###########################################
## p. 4064 (#438) ###########################################
Overa
And
P. CORNEILLE.
## p. 4065 (#439) ###########################################
4065
PIERRE CORNEILLE
(1606-1684)
BY FREDERICK MORRIS WARREN
ORNEILLE'S life, apart from the performance and publication
of his works, is but imperfectly known, owing to the lack
of contemporaneous records and allusions. He was born
at Rouen, capital of the old province of Normandy, on June 6th,
1606. At his christening on June 9th he received the name of
Pierre, after his father and godfather. He was educated in the
Jesuit college (academy) at Rouen, and obtained in 1620 a prize for
excellence. Choosing his father's profession, he studied law, and
was admitted to the bar on June 18th, 1624. The office of attorney-
general in the department of waters and forests was purchased by
him on December 16th, 1628. The year following, Mondory, who
with a company of actors was probably playing at Rouen, persuaded
him to give his (Mondory's) troupe a comedy he had already written;
and the season of 1629-30 saw the play produced in Paris, at the
newly established Marais Theatre.
The success of this comedy, 'Mélite,' confirmed Corneille in his
purpose of writing for the stage and led him to study the principles
of dramatic art. While he continued to discharge his legal duties at
Rouen, he would frequently visit Paris in order to offer some new
play to Mondory, or mingle in the literary society of the capital. So
'Mélite,' made up entirely of conversations where nothing happened,
was followed by 'Clitandre,' a tragi-comedy of the popular type, full
of bloody episodes. Like 'Mélite,' it was in twelve-syllable verse
(Alexandrine) and contained five acts. It also showed Corneille's first
attempt to observe unity of time. When it was published in March
1632, a selection of Corneille's poetry, a part of which antedated
'Mélite,' was put with it.
The next two years saw the publication of occasional poems by
him in French, and some Latin verse in honor of the King and
Richelieu. Before March 1634 he also composed four more comedies:
'The Widow,' a character study, noticeable for the attempt to com-
promise on unity of time by allowing a day to each act; 'The
Gallery of the Palace,' where the action takes place in the fashion-
able shops of the day, and in which the modern character of the
soubrette displaces the traditional nurse of Renaissance comedy,
taken by a man in disguise; The Lady's Maid,' a study of this
VII-255
## p. 4066 (#440) ###########################################
4066
PIERRE CORNEILLE
successful substitute, where finally Corneille observes both the unities
of time and place, and makes his five acts equal, line for line; and
'The Palais Royal,' another topical comedy for Parisians. These four
plays are much like their predecessors in lack of action and super-
fluity of complimentary talk. The same may be said of Corneille's
collaboration on Richelieu's 'Comedy of The Tuileries' (1635). His
superiority to his colleagues at this time consisted mainly in his
poetic talent and common-sense.
In the season of 1634-35 he tried a tragedy, 'Medea,' patterned
after Seneca's Latin drama of that name. It shows an advance on
his previous efforts, yet did not come up to his high standard; and
he sought a diversion for his disappointment by eulogizing the theat-
rical profession in a play within a play, The Dramatic Illusion,›
which he gave to the actors of the Hôtel of Burgundy, probably
in 1635.
About this time Corneille's attention was drawn to the Spanish
drama, then at its highest point. The storied deeds of Spain's na-
tional hero especially appealed to his temperament, and he selected
Guillen de Castro's 'First Exploits of the Cid' as a model for his
imitation. A year or more he may have been busy in adapting its
complexity of scene and character to the orderly, simple require-
ments of the French stage. For it was not till the last days of 1636,
after unusual preparations in rehearsals and costuming, that Mon-
dory's company brought out The Cid. ' Its success was instantane-
ous. The theatre was crowded for many nights. The stage even
was filled in with seats for the nobility, to the great annoyance of
the actors and the detriment of the scenery. And sixteen years
later, Pellisson, the historian of the Academy, could still write:-
:- "It
is difficult to conceive the approbation with which this play was re-
ceived by the Court and public. People never tired of going to it;
you could hear nothing else talked about; everybody knew some part
of it by heart; children were made to learn it, and in several places
in France it gave rise to the proverb, That is as beautiful as The
Cid. '»
The history of modern French drama dates from the first perform-
ance of The Cid. ' The theme here selected became the typical one.
It shows the struggle between love and honor on the part of the
hero, love and duty on the part of the heroine. Jimena's father has
insulted Rodrigo's, enfeebled by his advanced years. He calls upon
his son to avenge his honor. In spite of his love for Jimena, Rodrigo
shows no hesitation. He challenges the Count and kills him. In the
lovers' interview which follows, Jimena is more distracted from her
duty by her love than Rodrigo was, but yet resolves on vengeance.
She demands a champion of the king, who objects that Rodrigo
## p. 4067 (#441) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4067
should be pardoned, having just saved the city from the invading
Moors. Jimena insists: a champion appears, is overthrown, and is
spared by Rodrigo, whereupon the king intervenes and orders the
betrothal of the lovers.
Since The Cid' ends happily, so far as the hero and heroine are
concerned, Corneille first called it a tragi-comedy, but later substi-
tuted the title of tragedy. Its general structure is the same as that
of his other plays,-five fairly equal acts, subdivided into scenes,
with rhymed Alexandrine couplets, excepting in a few lyric strophes.
The time of the action is limited to twenty-four hours, but the scene
of the action is restricted only by the boundaries of the town
(Seville), the different places being marked by a fixed scenery, which
presented several localities to the audience at the same time.
His dramatic form and stage properties Corneille had obtained
from his French predecessors of the classical school. The mediæval
Miracle Plays had practically fallen out of favor nearly a century
before 'Mélite,' and had been prohibited in Paris in 1548. But the
Fraternity of the Passion still occupied the only theatre in the city,
and had a monopoly of all the performances in the city and suburbs.
Into its theatre of the Hôtel of Burgundy it had put as much of its
old multiplex scenery as it could fit into the new and narrow stage.
And while it could no longer act the old Mysteries, still it clung to
dramatic stories which knew neither unity of time, place, nor even
action.
Outside of these playwrights, however, the Renaissance had created
a set of men who looked towards classical antiquity for their literary
standards. In 1552 Jodelle and his friends of the Pléiade had ap-
pealed to this class by acting in Boncourt College a tragedy modeled
on Seneca's Latin dramas. This example was subsequently followed
by many writers, who however rarely got their pieces acted, and
therefore fell into the way of writing without having the necessities
of stage effects in view. Consequently for nearly half a century the
best dramatists of France were strangers to the public of the Hôtel
of Burgundy, and were drifting more and more from a dramatic con-
ception of the theatre into a lyric one. Long declamatory mono-
logues, acts varying greatly in length and separated by elaborate
choruses, were the chief features of this school. Nothing happened
on the stage; all was told by messengers.
Yet these dramas, by their very lack of action and scenery, were
suited to the limited means of strolling companies of actors; and
modifications of them were being played more and more to provin-
cial audiences. Finally in 1599 one of these companies came to
Paris, leased the Hôtel of Burgundy from the Fraternity, now tired
of its avocation, and laid there the foundations of modern French
## p. 4068 (#442) ###########################################
4068
PIERRE CORNEILLE
drama. The purveyor to this troupe was Alexandre Hardy, a man of
some education, of considerable theatrical endowments, but lacking
in literary taste. True to his classical models so far as the unlettered
public of the Hôtel and its scenery would allow, he managed by
cutting down the monologues, equalizing the acts, restricting or
suppressing the choruses, and leading the dialogue to some climax
visible to his audience, to effect a compromise between the partisans
of the two schools and educate a new body of theatre-goers. His
scenery he could not change, and it still remained a constant temp-
tation to diversity of place and multiplication of episodes. Hardy
labored for more than thirty years. It is to his dramatic form,
audience, and stage that Corneille succeeded, continuing his work
while avoiding his excesses. And aided by the growing taste and
intelligence of his public, Corneille could further simplify and refine
the style of play in vogue.
Now De Castro's 'Cid' had enjoyed the freedom of the Miracle
Plays. It numbered three acts, divided into fifty-three scenes. Its
episodes, many of them purely digressive, occupied nearly two years
of time and were bounded in place only by the frontiers of Spain.
In order to reduce this epic exuberance to the severity of the classi-
cal mold, Corneille had to eliminate the digressive episodes, cut down
and combine the essential ones, connect the places where the action
took place, and lessen the time of its duration. In the French Cid,'
Rodrigo kills Jimena's father and is betrothed to her in less than
twenty-four hours.
This instance alone illustrates the effort Corneille made on him-
self. It caught also the eye of his rivals and critics. The Cid' was
fiercely assailed for its "inhumanity" and "improbability," and with
the connivance of Richelieu the newly organized Academy was called
upon to condemn it.
While the opinion of this body was not indeed
unfavorable, yet the dispute had so irritated Corneille that he retired
to Rouen and for a time renounced his art. When he reappeared, it
was as a dramatizer of classical subjects, that dealt with but one
episode to a play. But the romantic side still survived in the love
affair invariably interwoven with his nobler, sterner theme.
So 'Horace (1640) treated of the fight of the Horatii and the
Curatii, and the immolation of a woman's love to the Roman father-
land. 'Cinna (1640-41) narrated a conspiracy against Augustus,
which was undertaken through love for the heroine, but was par-
doned by the Emperor's magnanimity. Polyeuctus (1643) showed
how a steadfast Christian husband could preserve his wife's fidelity
against the memory of a first love, and how his martyrdom could
result in her conversion. Pompey (1643-44) recited the death of
that leader and the devotion of Cornelia, his wife, to his memory.
## p. 4069 (#443) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4069
These four plays, tragedies all, represent in their eloquence, their
diction, nobility of thought, and lofty aspiration, the highest develop-
ment of Corneille's dramatic genius.
After this period of serious composition Corneille sought relaxa-
tion in comedy, and produced from Spanish models The Liar'
(1644) and The Sequel to the Liar' (1645). Both are superior in
dialogue, action, and verse to his earlier plays, and the first re-
mained the best comedy of the new school up to the appearance of
Molière. Towards the end of 1645 'Rodogune' was acted, a tragedy
to which Corneille was ever partial on account of its highly wrought,
exciting solution. Théodore' (1646), the fate of another Christian
martyr, and 'Heraclius' (1646-47), preceded their author's election to
the Academy (January 22d, 1647). The Fronde then intervened, and
it was not till 1649 that Corneille's best tragi-comedy, 'Don San-
cho,' was performed.
(
A spectacular play or opera, Andromeda'
(1650), closely followed it. 'Nicomedes' (1651) was a successful
tragedy, 'Pertharite' (1652) a failure. Consequently for the next few
years Corneille devoted himself to religious poetry and a verse
translation of the 'Imitation of Christ. '
་
But the visit of Molière's company to Rouen in 1658 incited him
to write again for the stage. Edipus' (1659), Sertorius' (1662),
'Sophonisba (1663), 'Otho' (1664), 'Agesilas' (1666), and 'Attila '
(1667), all tragedies, were the result. Some were successful, but
others were not. Molière was now in full career, and Racine was
beginning. Corneille's defects were growing. His plays were too
much alike, and gallant talk supplied in them the place of deeds.
In 1660 a second spectacular drama, 'The Golden Fleece,' had been
performed; and the same year he had edited a general edition of his
plays, with a critical preface to each play and three essays on the
laws and theories of the drama. All this time he had not neglected
society and religious verse, and probably in 1662 he had moved from
Rouen to Paris.
>
A retirement of three years followed 'Attila. ' Then in 1670 Cor-
neille reappeared with the tragedy Titus and Berenice,' neglected.
by the public for Racine's 'Berenice. ' In 1671 he collaborated with
Molière and Quinault on a comedy-ballet, Psyche. ' In 1672 he wrote
'Pulcheria, a tragi-comedy, and in 1674 gave his last play, the
tragedy of Surena,' to the stage. Henceforth only supplicatory
poems addressed to the King reminded the Parisians of Corneille's
existence. In 1682 he published the final revision of his dramas, and
in 1684. on the night of September 30th, he passed away. He had
married in 1641. Four children survived him.
Corneille's contemporaries complain of his slovenliness, his timidity,
quick temper, and wearying conversation. He could never read his
## p. 4070 (#444) ###########################################
4070
PIERRE CORNEILLE.
own plays successfully, and is even said to have spoken French
incorrectly. He was reputed avaricious, but was continually lament-
ing his poverty, and seems to have died in want. He was quite
tall, well set, with large eyes and strongly marked features.
Besides his services to French comedy, Corneille may be said to
have established the higher comedy in verse, with its decent man-
ners and self-respecting characters. In this departure he undoubtedly
owed much to Plautus and Terence, but probably more to Hardy's
tragi-comedies and lighter plays. The chief merit of his style was
fine diction, eloquence, and harmony of phrase. His thought was
high and noble. As a dramatist he excelled in the invention and
variety of his situations. His defects were the reverse of these
qualities: rhetoric, subtle sentiment, stiff characters.
The best complete edition of Corneille is Marty-Laveaux's in the
Hachette series of 'Les Grands Écrivains de la France' (Great
Writers of France), 12 volumes, 1862-68. This edition contains a bio-
graphical notice. The most complete bibliography is E. Picot's
'Bibliographie Cornélienne' (Paris, 1865). J. Taschereau's 'Histoire
de la Vie et des Euvres de Corneille' (History of the Life and
Works of Corneille) is the best biography (published Paris, 1829: 3d
edition, 1869). F. Guizot's Corneille and His Times' is the only life
that has been translated into English (London, 1857). Of the separate
plays, The Cid,' 'Horace,' and 'Polyeuctus' have been rendered
into English blank verse by W. F. Nokes (Hachette and Company),
and these three, together with 'Cinna,' have been literally translated
by R. Mongan and D. McRae (London: 1878-86. )
L. M Warren.
THE LOVERS
From The Cid'
The scene is an apartment in the house of Chimène's father in Seville.
Chimène and Elvire are conversing, after Chimène has learned
that her father, the Count de Gormas, has lost his life in a
duel with Don Rodrigue, the son of an aged nobleman insulted by
De Gormas.
CH
HIMÈNE At stake is my honor; revenge must be mine;
Whate'er the desire love may flattering stir,
To the soul nobly born all excuse is disgrace.
## p. 4071 (#445) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4071
Elvire-
Thou lov'st Don Rodrigue; he can never offend.
Chimène-
I admit it.
Elvire-
Chimène-
Admitting it, how canst thou act?
-
By sustaining my honor, by casting my care-
Pursue him, destroy him, and after him — die.
Don Rodrigue [entering as she speaks the last words] —
'Tis well! Without taking the pains of pursuit,
Be secure in the pleasure of ending my days.
Chimène
―
Elvire, oh where are we? What, what do I see?
Rodrigue in this house! Before me, Rodrigue!
Don Rodrigue-
Oh, spare not my blood; unresisted, pray taste
Of my ruin the sweetness, of vengeance the joy.
Chimène-
Alas!
--
Chimène
Don Rodrigue-Hear me, lady!
Chimène
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène
-
Go, I say; let me die!
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène
--
Ah, vouchsafe me a word!
And once I have spoke, make reply with—this sword.
――――――
―――――
Chimène-
What! The sword e'en now red with the blood of my sire!
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène, my Chimène!
―
Hide that hideous steel,
That rebuketh my eyes for thy crime and thy life.
Don Rodrigue-
Chimène-
I die!
-
But one word
Nay, rather behold it, thy hate to excite,
Thy wrath to increase — and my doom so to speed.
-
It is tinged with my blood.
Don Rodrigue-
Plunge it then into mine,
That so it may lose the dread tint of thy veins.
Ah, fate all too cruel! that slays in one day
The father by steel, and the daughter by sight!
Take away, as I bid, what I cannot endure;
Thou will'st that I hearken -and kill'st me meantime!
## p. 4072 (#446) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4072
Don Rodrigue-
What thou wishest I do; but with no less desire
That my life, now deplorable, ends by your hand;
For expect not, I beg, from my passion itself
A coward's repentance of deed so deserved.
From thy father's rash hand came a blow-past recall;
It dishonored my sire in his honored old age.
What are blows to a man of due honor thou knowest.
In the shame I had part, and its author must seek;
Him I saw-both my father and honor I 'venged;
I would do it again, if I had it to do.
Yet think not 'gainst duty to father and self
My love for thee, lady, no contest has made;
Of thy power in this moment do thou be the judge.
Too well might I doubt if such vengeance I dared.
Bound to please thee, Chimène, or to suffer affront,
Too rash seemed my arm - I would fain hold it back;
With a deed all too violent blamed I myself:
Thy beauty had weighed down the balance at last,
Had I not, to thy charms, countervailing, opposed
That a man lost to honor could not thee deserve;
That once having loved me when blameless I lived,
She who cared for me stainless must hate me disgraced;
That to hearken to love, to obey its soft voice,
Was to find myself shameful- thy favor to stain.
Again do I tell thee-and while I shall breathe
Unchanged shall I think and unchanging will say -
I have done thee offense, but I could not halt back,
A disgrace to remove and thyself to deserve.
But now, quits with honor, and quits toward my sire,
'Tis thee, thee alone, I would fain satisfy;
'Tis to proffer my blood that thou seest me here.
I have done what I should what is left I would do.
Well I know that thy father's death arms thee toward mine;
Not thee have I wished of thy victim to cheat.
Boldly immolate, now, the blood he has spilled –
The being who glories that such was his deed.
――――
Chimène-
Ah, Rodrigue! True it is that though hostile I am,
No blame can I speak that disgrace thou hast fled;
Howe'er from my lips this my dolor break forth,
I dare not accuse thee-I weep for my woes.
I know that thy honor, on insult so deep,
Demanded of ardor a valorous proof.
## p. 4073 (#447) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
Thou hast done but the duty enjoined on the brave:
Yet more, in its doing 'tis mine thou hast taught.
By thy courage funest, and thy conquest, I'm schooled;
Thy father avenged and thine honor upheld,
Like care, see, is mine; for to load me with grief,
I must father avenge, I must honor uphold!
Alas, 'tis thy part here that brings me despair.
Had aught other misfortune bereft me of sire,
My heart in the joy of beholding thyself
The sole solace that heart could receive would have found
Against my affliction a charm would be strong,
My tears would be dried by the dearest of hands.
But lo! I must lose thee, my father a loss;
And the more that my soul may in torment be thrown,
My star has decreed that I compass thy end.
Expect not, in turn, from the passion I own,
That my hand I shall stay from thy punishment meet;
Thy direful offense makes thee worthy of me;
By thy death I shall show myself worthy of thee.
Unrhymed literal version in the metre of the original, by E. Irenæus
Stevenson.
4073
DON RODRIGUE DESCRIBES TO KING FERNANDO HIS VICTORY
OVER THE MOORS
From The Cid>
NDER me, then, the troop made advance,
With soldierly confidence marked on each brow.
Five hundred we started, but soon reinforced,
Three thousand we were when the port we had reached;
So much did mere sight of our numbers, our mien,
New courage revive in all timorous hearts.
Two-thirds did I ambush, as soon as arrived,
U
In the vessels in harbor, that ready were found;
But the others, whose numbers each hour did increase,
With impatience on fire, all about me encamped,
Stretched out on the earth passed the beauteous night.
In the harbor, I order the guards to like watch;
Their concealment my stratagem further assists;—
I dared to declare, Sire, as thine the command
That I so followed out, and enjoined upon all.
In the radiance pallid that fell from the stars,
At last, with the flood-tide we spy thirty sails;
## p. 4074 (#448) ###########################################
4074
PIERRE CORNEILLE
Beneath swells the wave, and in movement therewith,
The sea and the Moors into harbor advance.
We permit them a passage-to them all seemed calm,
Our soldiers unseen, and the walls without ward.
Our silence profound well deluded their wit;
No longer they doubt our surprise is achieved;
Without fear they draw nearer - they anchor-they land—
They run to the hands that are waiting to strike.
Then rise we together, and all in a breath
Utter clamorous shoutings that heavenward rise.
From the ships to such signal our troops make response;
They stand forth in arms, and the Moors are dismayed;
By dread they are seized when but half-disembarked;
Ere the battle's begun they have deemed themselves lost.
They have come but to pillage - 'tis fight that they meet.
We assail them on sea, we assail them on land;
On the ground runs the blood we set flowing in streams
Ere a soul can resistor fly back to his post.
But soon in our spite the chiefs rallied their host,
Their courage awoke, and their fear was o'ercome:
The shame of their dying without having fought,
Their disorder arrests, and their valor restores.
A firm stand they take, and their swords are unsheathed;
The land and the stream, ay, the fleet and the port,
Are a field where, triumphant o'er carnage, is death.
Oh, many the deeds, the exploits worthy fame,
In that horror of darkness are buried for aye,
When each, the sole witness of blows that he struck,
Could not guess whither Fortune the conflict would steer!
I flew to all sides to encourage our force,
Here to push into action, and there to restrain,
To enrank the newcoming, to spur them in turn,
Yet naught could I know till the breaking of day.
But with dawn and the light, our advantage was plain;
The Moors saw their ruin; their courage declined;
And beholding new succor approach to our side,
Changed their ardor for battle to sheer dread of death.
Their vessels they seek,-every cable is cut;
For farewells to our ears are sent up their wild cries;
Their retreat is a tumult-no man ever heeds
If their princes and kings have made good their escape.
Even duty itself yields to fear so extreme.
On the flood-tide they came, the ebb bears them away;
Meantime their two Kings with our host still engaged,
## p. 4075 (#449) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
'Mid a handful of followers, slashed by our blows,
In valiance contending, are selling life dear.
In vain to surrender I beg them- entreat,
With the cimeter gripped, not a word will they hear:
But at sight of their troops falling dead at their feet,
The brave who alone make so vain a defense,
Our chief they demand; and to me they submit.
To you, O my Sire, have I sent them, each one—
And the combatants lacking, the combat was done.
THE WRATH OF CAMILLA
From the 'Horace'
Horatius, the only survivor of the combat, advances to meet his sister
Camilla with Proculus at his side, bearing the swords of the three
one of whom was Camilla's betrothed. Camilla sur-
veys him with horror and disdain as he advances.
slain Curatii
Camilla-
ORATIUS -Lo, sister, the arm that hath brothers avenged! -
H
The arm that our fate so contrary has checked,
The arm that makes Alba our own; and to-day
By one deed the lot of two nations hath fixed.
See these tokens of honor-my glory's attest.
Do thou pay the tribute now due to my fame.
Receive then my tears: for my tears are thy due.
after action so bold.
the combat's dark fate,
Nay, Rome likes them not,
Our brothers, both slain by
Are avenged by this blood no more weeping demand.
If a loss be so paid, then the loss is no more.
Horatius-
Camilla
Horatius-
Camilla
-
―
Horatius
Since thou deemest my brothers by blood so appeased,
I will cease to show sign of my grief for their death;
But who shall avenge me my lover's death, say?
And make me forget in one moment such loss?
What sayest thou, unhappy?
――――――
O beloved Curiace!
4075
O boldness disgraceful, from sister disgraced!
The name on thy lips and the love in thy heart
Of the foe of our people, whose conquest is mine!
## p. 4076 (#450) ###########################################
4076
PIERRE CORNEILLE
Thy criminal flame to such vengeance aspires!
Thou darest to utter such thought of thy heart!
Follow passion the less, better rule thy desire:
Make me not so to blush that thy sighs are not hid;
From this moment thou owest to smother thy flame,
Free thy heart from them- dwell on these trophies instead,
And make them from this hour thy sole pleasure in life.
Camilla
―――
Nay, first give me, cruel, a heart hard as thine,
And if thou wilt seek all my spirit to read,
Give me back Curiace, or my passion let glow.
My joy and my grief of his lot are a part;
Him living I loved him in death I deplore.
No more find me sister-deserted by thee!
Behold in me only a woman outraged,
Who like to some Fury pursuing thy steps-
Unceasing shall charge thee with trespass so great!
O tiger, blood-gorged, who forbiddest my tears,
Who would see me find joy in this death thou hast wrought,
Who vauntest to Heaven itself such a deed,
Shall I by approval bring death to him—twice?
Misfortunes so dire, may they follow thy life
That thou fallest to envying even my own!
Oh, soon by some cowardice mayest thou blot
This glory thy brutal soul reckons so dear!
Horatius-
O heavens! hath any an equal rage seen?
Dost thou think I could brook, all unmoved, such offense ?
That race could endure a dishonor so deep?
Love, love thou the death which means good to thy State,
Prefer to thy passion and thoughts of this man
The sentiment due to a daughter of Rome!
Camilla-
Rome! Object supreme of the wrath that I feel!
This Rome, to whose aid came thy arm-and my loss;
Rome, city that bore thee-by thee so adored!
Rome, hated the more for its honoring thee!
O may each of her neighbors together in league
Sap every foundation, as yet so unsure!
Nay, if Italy be not enough to the fall,
Let the East and the West for her ruin unite;
Let peoples conjoined from the four winds of heaven,
Be met to her downfall; let hills aid, and seas;
O'erthrown on her walls may she prostrate be cast,
## p. 4077 (#451) ###########################################
PIERRE CORNEILLE
4077
Torn out by her own hands, her entrails be strewn!
May the anger of Heaven, here kindled by me,
Rain down on her dwellings a deluge of fire!
O grant that mine own eyes such thunderbolt see! -
See her mansions in ashes, her laurels in dust,
See the latest of Romans yielding his last breath,
I cause of it all- I dying of joy!
[With the last words Camilla rushes from the apartment. Horace snatches
his sword and pursues her, exclaiming:—]
Oh too much! Even reason to passion gives place.
Go, weep thou thy lost Curiace in the shades!
[After an instant is heard behind the scenes the shriek of the wounded
Camilla:-]
Ah, traitor!
Horace [returning to the stage]-
S
――――
Receive thou quick chastisement, due
Whomsoever shall dare Roman foe to lament.
EVERUS
Unrhymed literal version in the metre of the original, by E. Irenæus
Stevenson.
Paulina
.
PAULINA'S APPEAL TO SEVERUS
From Polyeucte
I stand agaze,
Rooted, confounded, in sheer wonderment.
Such blind resolve is so unparalleled,
I scarce may trust the witness of mine ears.
A heart that loves you-and what heart so poor
That knowing, loves you not? —one loved of you,
To leave regretless so much bliss just won!
Nay, more - as though it were a fatal prize —
To his corrival straight to yield it up!
Truly, or wondrous manias Christians have,
Or their self-happiness must be sans bourn,
Since to attain it they will cast away
What others at an empire's cost would win.
For me, had fate, a little sooner kind,
--
Blessed my true service with your hand's reward,
The glory of your eyes had been my worship;
My twin kings had they reigned-kings? nay, my gods!
