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Read Ebook: The Magnificent Lovers (Les Amants magnifiques) by Moli Re Wall Charles Heron Translator
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Ebook has 170 lines and 13968 words, and 4 pages
THE MAGNIFICENT LOVERS
MOLI?RE
Translated into English Prose.
With Short Introductions and Explanatory Notes.
CHARLES HERON WALL
Moli?re acted the part of Clitidas.
The King, who will have nothing but what is magnificent in all he undertakes, wished to give his court an entertainment which should comprise all that the stage can furnish. To facilitate the execution of so vast an idea, and to link together so many different things, his Majesty chose for the subject two rival princes, who, in the lovely vale of Tempe, where the Pythian Games were to be celebrated, vie with each other in f?ting a young princess and her mother with all imaginable gallantries.
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
THE MAGNIFICENT LOVERS.
FIRST INTERLUDE.
AEOLUS. Ye winds that cloud the fairest skies, Retire within your darkest caves, And leave the realm of waves To Zephyr, Love, and sighs.
A TRITON. What lovely eyes these moist abodes have pierced? Ye mighty Tritons, come; ye Nereids, hide.
ALL THE TRITONS. Then rise we all these deities fair to meet; With softest strains and homage let us greet Their beauty rare.
A CUPID. How dazzling are these ladies' charms!
ANOTHER CUPID. What heart but seeing them must yield?
ANOTHER CUPID. The fairest of th' Immortals--arms So keen hath none to wield.
CHORUS. Then rise we all these deities fair to meet; With softest strains and homage let us greet Their beauty rare.
A TRITON. What would this noble train that meets our view? 'Tis Neptune! He and all his mighty crew! He comes to honour, with his presence fair, These lovely scenes, and charm the silent air.
CHORUS. Then strike again, And raise your strain, And let your homes around With joyous songs resound!
NEPTUNE. I rank among the gods of greatest might; 'Tis Jove himself hath placed me on this height! Alone, as king, I sway the azure wave; In all this world there's none my power to brave.
There are no lands on earth my might that know But trembling dread that o'er their meads I flow; No states, o'er which the boisterous waves I tread In one short moment's space I cannot spread.
There's nought the raging billows' force can stay, No triple dike, but e'en it easily My waves can crush, When rolls along their mass with wildest rush.
And yet these billows fierce I force to yield, Beneath the wisdom of the power I wield; And everywhere I let the sailors bold Where'er they list their trading courses hold.
Yet rocks sometimes are found within my states, Where ships do perish, so doomed by fates; Yet 'gainst my power none murmurs aye, For Virtue knows no wreck where'er I sway.
A SEA GOD. Within this realm are many treasures bright; All mortals crowd its pleasant shores to view. And would you climb of fame the dazzling height, Then seek nought else, but Neptune's countenance sue.
SECOND SEA GOD. Then trust the god of this vast billowy realm, And shielded from all storms, you'll guide the helm; The waves would fain inconstant often be, But ever constant Neptune you will see.
THIRD SEA GOD. Launch then with dauntless zeal, and plough the deep; Thus shall you Neptune's kindly favour reap.
SOS. . No, Sostratus, I do not see where you can look for help, and your troubles are of a kind to leave you no hope.
SOS. . Alas!
SOS. . Upon what fancies can you build any hope? And what else can you expect but the protracted length of a miserable existence, and sorrow to end only with life itself.
SOS. . My heart! my heart! to what have you brought me?
SOS. Where are you going, Clitidas?
SOS. I can fancy all this magnificence, and as there are generally so many people to cause confusion at these festivals, I did not care to increase the number of unwelcome guests.
SOS. I acknowledge that I have no inclination for such things.
SOS. Why? What do you think could disturb my mind?
SOS. How absurd you are, Clitidas!
SOS. What can possibly make you think so?
SOS. I?
SOS. Ah! Clitidas, I cannot conceal my trouble from you, and you crush me with this blow.
SOS. Alas! if anything has revealed to you the secret of my heart, I beseech you to tell it to no one; and, above all things, to keep it secret from the fair princess whose name you have just mentioned.
SOS. Leave her, Clitidas, leave her to read, if she can, in my sighs and looks the love with which her beauty has inspired me; but let us be careful not to let her find it out in any other way.
SOS. Ah! Clitidas, I do not tremble without a cause; and all the Gauls in the world would seem to me less to be feared than those two beautiful eyes full of charms.
SOS. To die without telling my love.
SOS. Alas! too many things condemn my love to an eternal silence.
SOS. The lowness of my birth, by which it pleased heaven to humble the ambition of my love; the princess's rank, which puts between her and my desires such an impassable barrier. The rivalry of two princes who can back the offer of their heart by the highest titles; two princes who offer the most magnificent entertainments by turn to her whose heart they strive to win, and between whom it is expected every moment that she will make a choice. Besides all this, Clitidas, there is the inviolable respect to which she subjugates the violence of my love.
SOS. Ah! pray do not, out of pity, flatter the heart of a miserable lover.
SOS. Oh! for heaven's sake, however much you may pity my misfortune, Clitidas, be careful not to tell her anything of my love. I had rather die than to be accused by her of the least temerity, and this deep respect in which her divine charms....
TIM. This is a display that cannot be expected in all entertainments, and I greatly fear, Madam, for the simplicity of the little festival which I am preparing to give you in the wood of Diana.
SOS. A slight indisposition, Madam, prevented me from going there.
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