Corneillep Illusioncomique

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THE ILLUSION
COMICAL
COMEDY
Corneille, Pierre
1639
Published by Gwénola, Ernest and Paul Fièvre, October 2015
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THE ILLUSION
COMICAL
COMEDY
Pierre Corneille
In PARIS, at Francois TARGA, on the first pillar of the
great hall of the Palace in front of the Chapel, in the golden sun.
Mr DC. XXXVI. WITH PRIVILEGE OF THE KING.
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To Miss MFDR
Miss,
Here is a strange monster that I dedicate to you. The first act is

only a prologue; the next three make an imperfect comedy, the
last a tragedy: and all this, stitched together, makes a comedy.
Name the bizarre and extravagant invention as much as you like,
it is new; and often the grace of novelty among our Frenchmen is
not a small degree of kindness. Its success did me no shame on
the stage, and I dare say that the performance of this capricious
play did not displease you, since you ordered me to send you the
epistle of it when it went under the hurry. I am in despair to
present it to you in such bad condition that it is unrecognizable:
the number of errors that the printer has added to mine disguises
it, or to put it better, changes it entirely. This is the effect of my
absence from Paris, whence my business recalled me to the point
that he printed it, and obliged me to leave the proofs to his
discretion. I conjure you not to read it until you have taken the
trouble to correct what you will find marked next with this epistle.
It's not that I used all the faults that flowed into it; the number is
so great that it would have terrified the reader: I have only chosen
those which can bring some notable corruption to the meaning,
and which one cannot easily guess. For the others, which are
only against rhyme, or spelling, or punctuation, I believed that the
judicious reader would supply them without much difficulty, and
that thus there was no need to charge this first sheet. That will
teach me not to hazard any more pieces for printing during my
absence. Be kind enough not to disdain this one, torn as it is; and
you will oblige me all the more to remain all my life, Mademoiselle,
The most faithful and the most passionate of your servants,
CROW.
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Exam
I will say little about this piece: it is an extravagant gallantry which
has so many irregularities that it is not worth considering, although
the novelty of this caprice has made its success favorable enough not
to don't regret having wasted some time there. The first act seems
only a prologue; the next three form a piece, which I don't know how
to name: the success is tragic; Adrastus is killed there, and Clindor in
peril of death; but the style and characters are all comedy. There is
even one who exists only in the imagination, invented on purpose to
make people laugh, and of whom there is no original among men: he
is a captain who maintains his character of braggadocio, to allow me
to believe that one will find few, in any language whatsoever, who
acquit themselves of it better. The action is not complete there, since
it is not known, at the end of the fourth act which ends it, what
becomes of the principal actors, and that they rather evade the danger
than they triumph over it. The place is quite regular there, but the unit
of day is not observed there. The fifth is a tragedy short enough not
to have the just grandeur demanded by Aristotle and which I have
tried to explain. Clindor and Isabelle, having become actors without
anyone knowing it, represent a story that has a relationship with
theirs, and seems to be the result. Some have attributed this
conformity to a lack of invention, but it is a stroke of art the better to
deceive by a false death the father of Clindor who watches them, and
to render his return from pain to joy more surprising. and more
enjoyable.
All this stitched together makes a comedy whose action lasts only
that of its representation, but on which it would not be sure to take an
example. Caprices of this nature are only ventured once; and when
the original would have passed for marvelous, the copy can never be
worth anything. The style seems fairly proportioned to the material,
except that Lyse, in the sixth scene of the third act, seems to rise a
little too much above the character of a servant. These two verses of
Horace will serve as an excuse for him, as well as for the Liar's father,
when he gets angry with his son in the fifth:
Interdum tamen et vocem comaedia tollit,

Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore.
I will not dwell any further on this poem: irregular as it is, it must have
some merit, since it has overcome the injury of the times, and it still
appears in our theaters, although he has been in the world for more
than thirty years, and such a long revolution has buried many under
the dust, who seemed to have more right than he to lay claim to such
a happy duration.
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ACTORS
ALCANDRE, magician.
PRIDAMANT, father of Clindor.
DORANTE, friend of Pridamant.
MATAMORE, Gascon captain, in love with Isabelle.
CLINDOR, servant of Capitan, and lover of Isabelle.
ADRASTE, gentleman, in love with Isabelle.
GERONTE, father of Isabelle.
ISABELLE, daughter of Geronte.
LYSIS.
THE GEOLIER, of Bordeaux.
CAPTAIN'S PAGE.
CLINDOR, representing Theagenes, English lord.
ISABELLE, representing Hyppolyte, wife of Théagène.
LYSE, representing Clarine, servant of Hippolyte.
ERASTE, squire of Florilame.
Servants of Adreste.
Florilame Servants Troops.
The scene is in Touraine, in a company close to the

magician's cave.
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ACT I
FIRST SCENE.
Pridamant, Dorante.
DORANT.
This magus, who with a word overthrows nature,
Chose only this dark grotto for his palace.
The night he maintains over this dreadful stay,
Opening his thick veil only to the rays of a false day,
5 Of their dubious brilliance admits in these dark places Only what can suffer
the commerce of shadows.
Do not advance: his art at the foot of this rock Has
placed enough to punish whoever dares to
approach it; And this wide mouth is an invisible
wall, 10 Where the air in his favor becomes inaccessible,
And makes him a rampart, whose fatal edges On a
little dust spread out a thousand dead.
Jealous of his repose more than of his defence,
He loses who bothers him, as well as who offends him;
15 Despite the eagerness of a curious desire, To talk to him, we
must wait for his leisure: Every day he shows up, and we
are nearing the hour When he leaves his house to amuse himself.
PRIDAMANT.
I expect little from it, and burn to see it.
20 I am impatient, and I lack hope.
This son, this dear object of my worries, Whom
too harsh treatments have taken away from me, And
whom for ten years I have been looking for in so many
places, Has hidden his presence from my eyes forever.
25 Under the shade that he took a little too much license, Against his
liberties I stiffened my power; I thought I was taming him by dint
of punishing, And my severity only banished him.
My soul saw the error by which it was seduced: I

30 outraged it present, and I wept for its flight; And
paternal love soon made me feel Just repentance
of unjust severity.
I had to look for it: I saw in my trip the Po, the Rhine,
the Meuse, and the Seine, and the Tagus:
35 Always the same care works my spirits; And these long mistakes
haven't taught me anything.
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Finally, in despair at losing so much trouble,

And expecting nothing more from human prudence,
To find some limit to so many sufferings, I have already
40 consulted the underworld on this point.
I have seen the most famous in high science Of
which you say that Alcandre has so much experience: I
was told the state of them that you make of him, And
not one of them could relieve my boredom. .
45 Hell goes dumb when I have to answer, Or doesn't
answer me just to confuse me.
DORANT.
Do not treat Alcandre as a common man; What he
knows in his art is not known to anyone.
I will not tell you that he commands thunder, that he
50 makes the seas swell, that he makes the earth
tremble; Only air, which he mutinies in a thousand
whirlwinds, Against his enemies he makes battalions;
That with his learned words the unknown forces
Transport the rocks, bring down the clouds,
55 And shine in the night the brightness of two
suns; You don't need such miracles: It will
suffice for you that he reads minds, that
he knows the future and things past;
Nothing is secret for him in this whole
60 universe, And for him our destinies are open books.
I myself, as well as you, could not believe it: But as
soon as he saw me, he told me my story; And I was
astonished to hear the discourse Of the most hidden
traits of all my loves.
PRIDAMANT.
65 You tell me a lot.
DORANT.
I have seen more.
PRIDAMANT.
You try in vain to give me courage; My cares
and my works will see, without any fruit, Closing my
sad days of an eternal night.
DORANT.
Since I left Brittany's stay
70 To come and act here as a country noble,
And that two years of love, by a happy ending, Have
acquired Me Sylvérie and this neighboring castle, Of not
one, that I know, has disappointed the expectation:
Anyone who consults it comes out of it with a happy soul.
75 Believe me, his help is not to be neglected:
Besides, he is delighted when he can oblige
me, And I dare to boast that a little of my
prayers will obtain singular favors from him.
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PRIDAMANT.
Fate is too cruel to me to become so gentle.
DORANT.
80 Hope for better: he leaves, and advances towards us.
Watch him walk; this face so serious, Of which
the rare knowledge holds nature a slave, Has
saved however from the ravages of time Only a
few bones and nerves that have been emaciated by a hundred years;
85 His body, despite his age, has robust strength, Easy
movement, and just steps: Unknown springs agitate
the old man, And make all his steps miracles of art.
SCENE II.
Alcandre, Pridamant, Dorante.
DORANT.
Great demon of knowledge, whose learned watches
90 Produce new wonders every day, To whom nothing is
secret in our intentions,
And who sees, without seeing us, all our actions:
If of your divine art the admirable power
Never in my favor made himself helpful,
95 From this afflicted father relieves the pains;
An old friendship takes part in his misfortunes.
Rennes as well as me gave birth to him, And
almost in his arms I spent my childhood; There his
son, equal in age and condition, 100 Uniting himself
with me in close affection...
ALCANDER.
Dorante, that's enough, I know what brings
him: This son is today the subject of his pain.
Old man, is it not true that his estrangement By
just remorse bothers you incessantly?
105 That a stubbornness to show you severe
Banished Him from your sight, and caused your misery?
That in vain, in repentance of your
severity, You seek in all places this son so ill-treated?
PRIDAMANT.
Oracle of our days, who knows all things, 110 In
vain of my pain I would hide the causes; You know too
well what was my unjust harshness, And see too
clearly the secrets of my heart.
It is true, I failed; but for my injustices So many
labors in vain are great enough torments:
115 Finally, give some limit to my stinging regrets, Give me
back the sole support of my feeble years.
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I will keep it returned if I have any news; The

love to find it will give me wings.
Where does he retire? What places should I go?
120 Even at the end of the world, I will be seen flying there.
ALCANDER.
Begin to hope: you will know by my charms What the
avenging sky refused your tears.
You will see this son full of life and honour: From
his banishment he derives his happiness.
It is little to tell you: in favor of Dorante I want you to see
his dazzling fortune.
The novices of the art, with all their incense,
And their unknown words, which they pretend to be all-
powerful, Their herbs, their perfumes and their ceremonies,
130 Bring infinite lengths to the profession, Which are,
Piper: trickster who cheats in the
game, who plays in bad faith. [F]
after all, only a piper mystery To show off and to
scare you: My wand in hand, I'll do more.
He waved his wand, and a curtain was drawn behind which

were paraded the most beautiful clothes of the actors.
Judge of your son by such a crew: 135
Well! Does that of a prince have more splendour?
And can you still doubt its greatness?
PRIDAMANT.
With paternal love you flatter tenderness; My son is
not of rank to bear these riches, And his condition
would not allow 140 That he dares to put on such pomp.
ALCANDER.
Under a better destiny his fortune arranged,
And his condition changed with time, No one
now has reason to murmur That in public he
likes to adorn himself in this way.
PRIDAMANT.
145 To this sweet hope I abandon my soul;
But among these clothes I see those of a woman:
Could he be married?
ALCANDER.
I go from his loves
And of all its hazards make the speech to you.
However, if your soul were bold enough, 150
Under an illusion you could see his life, And all his
accidents before you expressed By specters
like animated bodies: They will lack neither
gesture nor word.
PRIDAMANT.
Do not suspect me of a frivolous fear: 155 The
portrait of the one I seek everywhere
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Could he by his sight frighten my eyes?
ALCANDER.
My cavalier, please, we must retreat, And allow
the story to remain secret between us.
PRIDAMANT.
For such a good friend I have no secrets.
DORANT.
160. We must accept his rulings without reply; I'll be
waiting for you at my house.
ALCANDER.
Tonight, if it suits him.
He will teach you everything when you are together.
SCENE III.
Alcandre, Pridamant.
ALCANDER.
Suddenly your son was not a great lord; All his actions do
you no credit,
165 And I would be sorry to expose his misery
As a spectacle to eyes other than those of a father.
He took some money from you, but this little booty
Hardly lasted him from evening till morning; And to
reach Paris, he sold by the plain 170 Patents to
drive away fever and migraine, Tells fortunes, and went
there thus.
There, as one lives by spirit, he also lived by it.
In Saint-Innocent he made himself secretary;
Afterwards, rising in status, he was a clerk to a notary.
175 Bored with the pen, he suddenly left it,
And made a monkey dance in the Faubourg Saint-Germain.
He began to rhyme, and the test of his vein
Enriches the singers of La Samaritaine.
His style later took on finer ornaments;
He even ventured to write novels, Des
chansons pour Gautier, des pointes pour Guillaume .
Since then, he trafficked in rosaries of balsam,
Sold Mithridates as a master operator, Returned Mithridate: antidote or composition
that serves as a remedy or
to the Palace, and was a solicitor. preservative against poisons, in
185 Finally, never Buscon, Lazarille de Tormes, which several drugs enter, such as
Sayavèdre and Gusman did not take so many forms: opium, vipers, squill, agaric, stincs, etc. [F]
For Dorante that was an honest conversation!
PRIDAMANT.
How I owe you that he knows nothing about it!
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ALCANDER.
Without making you see anything, I'll tell you a story,
190 Whose shortness spares your shame.
Tired of so many professions without honor and without
fruit, Some better destiny in Bordeaux led him; And there,
as he was thinking about the choice of an exercise, A
brave man from the country took him into his service.
195 This amorous warrior has made him his agent: This
commission has refurnished him with money; He
knows with skill, by carrying the words, Of the
valiant dupe to catch the pistoles; Even his agent
he made his rival, 200 And the beauty he serves
means him no harm.
When you have seen the history of his loves, I want to
show it to you full of brilliance and glory, And the same
action that he practices today.
PRIDAMANT.
How already this hope relieves my boredom!
ALCANDER.
205 He hid his name while scouring the countryside,
And made himself the Sieur de la Montagne of Clindor:
This is how you will hear him called later.
See everything without saying anything and without being alarmed.
I am a little late for your impatience;
210 However, do not conceive any mistrust of it:
It's that an ordinary charm has too little power Over the
speaking specters that you must be shown.
Let's go inside my cave, so that I can prepare some
new charms for such a rare effect.
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ACT II
FIRST SCENE.
ALCANDER.
215 Whatever presents itself to our eyes, do not be afraid;
Above all, do not come out of my cave until after me:
Otherwise, you are dead. See already appear Under
two vain phantoms your son and his master.
PRIDAMANT.
O gods! I feel my soul after him fly away.
ALCANDER.
220 Silence him, and listen to him speak.
SCENE II.
Matamore, Clindor.
CLINDOR.
What ! Sir, you are dreaming! And this haughty soul,
After so many beautiful deeds, seems to be still in trouble!
Aren't you weary of slaying warriors, And do
you still need a few new laurels?
MATAMORE.
225 It is true that I dream, and cannot solve
Which of the two I must powder first, Of the great
Sophi of Persia, or else of the great Mogor.
CLINDOR.
Hey! Please, sir, let them live again: What would
their loss add to your fame?
230 By the way, when would you have assembled your army?
MATAMORE.
My army? Ah, coward! Ah, traitor! For their death So
you don't think this arm is strong enough?
- 13 -
The sound of my name pulls down walls, defeats

squads, and wins battles.
235 My undefeated courage against emperors
Arms only half of his lesser fury;
Fates: characters from With one command I make to the three parks,
Roman mythology; old women who
spun the life of men and who I depopulate the state of the happiest monarchs;
interrupted it when the time came. Lightning is my cannon, fates my soldiers:
240 I lay down a thousand enemies with one hand.
With one breath I reduce their projects to smoke;
And yet you dare speak to me of an army!
You will no longer have the honor of seeing a second
Mars: I will assassinate you with just one look, 245
Veillaque. However, I think of my mistress: This thought
softens me: go, my anger ceases, And this little archer
who tames all the gods Has just chased away the death
that lodged in my eyes.
Look, I left this terrible mine 250 Which
massacres, destroys, breaks, burns, exterminates; And,
thinking of the beautiful eye that holds my freedom,
I am only love, only grace, only beauty.
CLINDOR.
O gods! In a moment that everything is possible for you!
I see you as beautiful as you were terrible, 255 And
do not believe in an object so firm in its rigor,
May he constantly deny you his heart.
MATAMORE.
I tell you again, do not be alarmed any longer:
When I want, I am terrified; and when I want, I charm; And, as I
please, I alternately fill 260 Men with terror, and women with love.
From the time that my beauty was inseparable

from me, Their persecutions made me miserable:
I could not go out without making them swoon.
A thousand died a day from loving me: 265 I had
appointments with all the princesses; Queens endlessly
begged for my caresses; That of Ethiopia, and that of
Japan, In their sighs of love mixed only my name.
Two sultanas troubled me with passion; 270 Two

others escaped from the seraglio to see me: I was badly off for
some time with the great lord.
CLINDOR.
His displeasure was only to your credit.
MATAMORE.
These practices harmed my war designs, And could
prevent me from conquering the land.
275 Besides, I grew tired of it; and to stop them,
I sent Fate to tell its Jupiter
That he found a way to put out the flames
And the importunity with which the ladies overwhelmed me:
Otherwise my anger would go to the skies
280 Suddenly degrade him from the empire of the gods,
- 14 -
And would give Mars to rule his lightning.

The fright he felt at it soon made him resolve: What
I asked for was ready in a moment; And since then,
I'm beautiful only when I want to.
CLINDOR.
285 How many chickens I would have to give you back! Chicken: also means a little love
note that is sent to the gallant
ladies, so named, because by
MATAMORE. folding it one made two points
which represented the wings of a chicken.
Whatever it is, be careful not to take it, Otherwise... Do [F]
you hear me? What does she say about me?
CLINDOR.
That you are hearts and charm and awe;
And that if any effect may follow your promises,
290 Her fate is happier than that of the goddesses.
MATAMORE.
listen. At that time, of which I was speaking earlier,
The goddesses also lined up under my laws; And I
want to tell you about a strange adventure Which
threw disorder into all nature, 295 But disorder as
great as we can see.
The Sun was one day without being able to rise,
And this visible god, whom so many people
adore, To walk in front of him, found no Dawn: They were
looking for her everywhere, in the bed of old Tithonus, In
the woods of Cephalus, at the palace of Memnon;
And failing to find this beautiful pound, The
day passed until noon without light.
CLINDOR.
Where could the queen of light be then?
MATAMORE.
In the middle of my room, offering me her beauties.
305 She wasted her time, she wasted her tears;
My heart was insensitive to its most powerful charms; And all
she got for her frivolous love Was a specific order to go and
give birth.
CLINDOR.
This strange accident comes back to me; I was
310 then in Mexico, where I learned the story, And I heard
that Persia in anger Of the affront of her god
murmured against you.
MATAMORE.
I heard something of it, and I would have
punished her; But I was engaged in Transylvania,
315 Where his ambassadors, who came to excuse him,
By dint of presents knew how to appease me.
- 15 -
CLINDOR.
How beautiful is clemency in such great courage!
MATAMORE.
Contemplate, my friend, contemplate this face: You
see a summary of all the virtues.
320 Of a world of enemies under my downcast feet, Whose
race is perished, and the land deserted, Not one whose
loss has never been due to his pride.
All those who pay homage to my perfections Maintain
their states by their submissions.
325 In Europe, where the kings are in a civil mood, I do not raze
their castle or city: I allow them to reign, but among the
Africans, Wherever I have found kings a little too vain, I I
have destroyed countries to punish their monarchs, 330
And their vast deserts are good signs of it: These great
sands which one hardly crosses without horror Are quite beautiful
effects of my righteous fury.
CLINDOR.
Back to love: here is your mistress.
MATAMORE.
This devil of a rival constantly accompanies him.
CLINDOR.
335 Where do you retreat to?
MATAMORE.
This fop is not valiant; But he
has some temper that makes him insolent.
Perhaps proud to be with this beauty, He would be vain
enough to quarrel with me.
CLINDOR.
It would be well to run itself to its misfortune.
MATAMORE.
340 When I have my beauty, I have no value.
CLINDOR.
Stop being charming, and make yourself terrible.
MATAMORE.
But you do not foresee its infallible accident; I couldn't
make myself half terrible: I would kill my mistress with
my enemy.
345 Let us await in this corner the hour which separates them.
- 16 -
CLINDOR.
Like your value, your caution is rare.
SCENE III.
Adraste, Isabella.
ADRASTE.
Alas! If so, what misfortune is mine!
I sigh, I endure, and I advance nothing;
And despite the transports of my extreme love,
350 You still don't want to believe that I love you.
ISABEL.
I don't know, sir, what you blame me for.
I know myself to be amiable, and believe that you
love me: In your ardent sighs I see too much
appearance of them; And even though from them I
would have less assurance, 355 If an honest man has little
credit towards me, I do him the favor of believing what he says.
Repay me the favor; and since to your flame I
disguise nothing of what I have in my soul, Do me
the favor of believing on this point
360 That although you love me, I do not love you.
ADRASTE.
Cruel one, is this then what your injustices
Have reserved for such long service?
And is my faithful love so criminal That
he must be punished with eternal contempt?
ISABEL.
365 We very often give various names to things: Thorns for me,
you call them roses; What you call service, affection, I call
torment and persecution.
Each in his belief also persists.

370 You think of obliging me with a fire that kills me; And
what you deem worthy of the highest price
Deserves, in my opinion, only hatred and contempt.
ADRASTE.
To have nothing but contempt for such holy flames
Whose first attacks I received from heaven!
375 Yes, the sky, at the moment it made me
breathe, Only gave me heart to adore you.
My soul came to light full of your idea; Before
seeing you you possessed it; And when I
surrendered to such gentle looks, 380 I gave
you nothing that was not all yours,
Nothing but the order of heaven would have already made everything yours.
- 17 -
ISABEL.
Heaven would have pleased me to enrich
another; He made you to love me, and I to hate
you: Let us both beware of disobeying him.
385 You have, after all, a good share in his hatred, Or of
a secret crime he delivers you to the penalty; For I
don't think there is torment equal To the torture of
loving who treats you so badly.
ADRASTE.
The magnitude of my ills being so well known to you,
390 Will you refuse me the pity that is due to me?
ISABEL.
Certainly I have many, and pity you all the more
That I see these quite superfluous torments, And
have for only fruit of a long suffering Than the
inconvenient honor of a sad constancy.
ADRASTE.
395 A father authorizes it, and my mistreated fire
Finally will have recourse to his authority.
ISABEL.
This is not the way to find your tale; And of
such a beautiful design you will only be ashamed.
ADRASTE.
I hope to see, however, before the end of
the day, 400 What his will can be in the absence of love.
ISABEL.
And I, I hope to see, before the day passes,
A lover overwhelmed with new disgrace.
ADRASTE.
Oh what! This rigor will never cease?
ISABEL.
Go find my father, and leave me alone.
ADRASTE.
405 Your soul, in repentance of its past coldness,
Don't want to leave her without being a little
forced: I'm going straight away, but with oaths
That it's to obey your commands.
ISABEL.
Go and continue a vain pursuit.
- 18 -
SCENE IV.
Matamore, Isabelle, Clindor.
MATAMORE.
410 Well! As soon as he saw me, how did he flee?
Did he really know how to leave the place at the same time?
ISABEL.
It's no shame on him, kings do the same, At
least if this great noise that runs from your marvels
Hasn't deceived my mind by hitting my ears.
MATAMORE.
415 You can well believe it, and to testify it, Choose
in which places you like to reign: This arm
immediately conquers you an empire; I swear
by himself, and that says it all.
ISABEL.
Don't lavish that ever victorious arm so much;
420 I do not want to reign except over your heart:
All the ambition that my flame gives me Is to
have for subjects the desires of your soul.
MATAMORE.
They are all yours, and to make you see That
you have absolute power over them, 425 I will
no longer listen to this mood of conquest; And leaving
all the kings with their crowns on their heads, I
will only take two or three for valets, Who will
come on their knees to give you back my chickens.
ISABEL.
The brilliance of such followers would
attract envy 430 On the rare happiness in which I
spend my life; The discreet commerce of
our affections Needs only him for these commissions.
MATAMORE.
You have, God save me! A spirit in my fashion;
You find, like me, greatness inconvenient.
435 The most beautiful scepters have nothing exquisite for me: I
return them as soon as I have conquered them, And have
seen myself charmed by a number of princesses, Without my
heart ever wanting them for mistresses.
ISABEL.
Certainly on this point alone I lack a little faith.
440 That you left princesses for me!
That you deny them a heart that I have!
- 19 -
MATAMORE.
I believe the Mountain will know something about it.
Come here. When in China, in this famous tournament,
I gave in sight to the two daughters of the king,
445 What do they tell you in court about this jealousy
Which for me both had the soul seized?
CLINDOR.
By your contempt finally one and the other died.
I was then in Egypt, where the rumor ran; And
it was at this time that the fear of your arms 450
Made greater Cairo swim in a river of tears.
You had just knocked out ten giants in one day;
You had desolated the surrounding countries,
Razed fifteen castles, flattened two mountains,
Burned towns, villages and countryside,
455 And defeated, towards Damascus, a hundred thousand combatants.
MATAMORE.
How well you notice both places and times!
I have forgotten about him.
ISABEL.
Facts so full of glory Can
they thus escape your memory?
MATAMORE.
Too full of laurels won over kings,
460 I do not burden her with these petty exploits.
SCENE V.
Matamore, Isabelle, Clindor, a Page.
THE PAGE.
Sir.
MATAMORE.
What do you want, page?
THE PAGE.
A courier asks for you.
MATAMORE.
Where is he from ?
THE PAGE.
From the Queen of Iceland.
- 20 -
MATAMORE.
Sky ! Who knows how I am persecuted, A little more
rest with less beauty!
465 Make such a long contempt finally disillusion her.
CLINDOR.
See what this great warrior refuses for you.
ISABEL.
I can no longer doubt it.
CLINDOR.
He told you so.
MATAMORE.
No matter how much she begs me: no, I won't.
And whatever a mad hope still dares to promise him,
470 I will send him his death in a letter.
Find it good, my queen, and nevertheless suffer
An hour's conversation with this dear confidant,
Who, as he knows the whole story of my life, Will
show you over whom you have the victory.
ISABEL.
475 Delay even less, and by this prompt return I will
judge what your love for me is.
SCENE VI.
Clindor, Isabelle.
CLINDOR.
Judge rather by this the mood of the character: This
page is at home only for this banter, And come from
hour to hour to inform his greatness 480 Of a courier,
an agent, or an ambassador.
ISABEL.
This message pleases me much more than it seems to
him: He defeats me of a madman to leave us together.
CLINDOR.
This favorable speech will embolden my fires
To make good use of a time so propitious to my wishes.
ISABEL.
485 What are you going to tell me?
- 21 -
CLINDOR.
That I adore Isabelle,
That I no longer have a heart or soul except for her,
That my life...
ISABEL.
Spare these superfluous remarks;
I know them, I believe them: what more do you want?
I neglect in your eyes the offer of a diadem;
490 I disdain a rival: in a word, I love you.
It is at the beginning of weak passions To still
amuse oneself with protests: It is enough to see
ourselves at the point where ours are; A glance is
worth for you all the speeches of the others.
CLINDOR.
495 Gods! Who would have ever believed that my harsh fate
Made himself so easy to my loving heart!
Banished from my country by the rigor of a father,
Without support, without friends, overwhelmed with
misery, And reduced to flatter the arrogant caprice
500 And the vain humors of an extravagant master:
This pitiful state of my sad fortune Has
nothing which displeases you or which bothers you;
And of a mighty rival wealth and greatness Obtain less
on you than my sincere ardour.
ISABEL.
505 It's like you have to choose. True love Clings only
to what it sees as lovable.
Who looks at goods or condition Has
only a miserly love, or one full of ambition, And
cowardly defiles by this infamous mixture 510
The noblest desires begotten by a beautiful soul.
I know well that my father has other feelings, And
will put obstacles in the way of our contentments;
But the love on my heart has taken too much power To
still listen to the laws of birth.
515 My father can do a lot, but much less than my faith:
He chose for himself, I want to choose for me.
CLINDOR.
Confused to see giving my little credit...
ISABEL.
Here is my intruder, allow me to avoid him.
- 22 -
SCENE VII.
Adrastus, Clindor.
ADRASTE.
How happy you are, and what misfortune follows me!
520 My mistress suffers you, and the ungrateful flees me.
Whatever taste she takes in your company, As soon as I
appeared, my approach banished her.
CLINDOR.
Without having seen your steps address this
place, Tired of my speeches, she bade me farewell.
ADRASTE.
525 Tired of your speeches! Your mood is too good, And your
spirit too beautiful to bore anyone.
But what were you telling him that could importune him?
CLINDOR.
Things that you can easily guess: My master's loves,
or rather his foolishness,
530 His conquests in the air, his high undertakings.
ADRASTE.
Will you oblige me? Neither your master nor you are
people to make me jealous; But if you cannot stop his
sallies, Divert the course of his follies elsewhere.
CLINDOR.
535 What are you afraid of him, whose compliments only speak
of death and destruction, whom he beats, knocks down,
breaks, strangles, burns, stuns?
ADRASTE.
To be his valet, I find you an honest man: You are not fit to
serve without design 540 A braggart crazier than his speech
is vain.
Be that as it may, since I have seen you at her house, I
have always felt her cruel more and more: Either you serve
someone else, or your quality Leaves too much temerity in
your projects.
545 I hold you very suspicious of some high skill.
Let your master finally make another mistress; Or if he
can't leave such a sweet talk, Let him at least use
someone other than you.
It's not that after all a father's wishes,
550 Who knows what I am, won't end the deal;
But purge my mind of this little worry,
And if you love each other, banish yourself from here;
'Cause if I don't see you staring at that door anymore,
- 23 -
I know how to treat people of your kind.
CLINDOR.
555 Do you take me for a man to harm your fire?
ADRASTE.
Without reply, please, or we will see a fine game.
Come on: that's enough said.
CLINDOR.
For a light umbrage, It is
too unworthily to treat good courage.
If heaven at birth did not make me a great lord,
560 It made me a heart firm and sensitive to honour;
And I might one day give back what they lend me.
ADRASTE.
What ! You threaten me!
CLINDOR.
No, no, I'm retiring.
From such a cruel affront you will have little
fruit; But this is not the place to make noise.
SCENE VIII.
Adraste, Lyse.
ADRASTE.
565 This insolent bastard still makes me bravado.
LYSIS.
On this account, sir, is your mind sick?
ADRASTE.
Sick, my mind!
LYSIS.
Yes, since he is jealous
Of the unfortunate agent of this prince of fools.
ADRASTE.
I know what I am and what Isabelle is, 570
And fear little that a valet will supplant me near her.
However, I cannot suffer without some boredom
The pleasure she takes in chatting with him.
LYSIS.
It is denying together and confessing the debt.
- 24 -
ADRASTE.
Name, if you will, my indiscreet quip, 575 And
find my suspicions right or wrong; I kicked him out of
here to rest.
Indeed, what is it?
LYSIS.
If I dare tell you,
Isabelle sighs only for him.
ADRASTE.
Lyse, what are you telling me?
LYSIS.
That he owns his heart,
580 That never nascent fires had so much vigour,
Let them die for each other, and have only one thought.
ADRASTE.
Too ungrateful beauty, disloyal, insane,
So you dare me to prefer a maraud?
LYSIS.
This proud rival carries it much higher, 585
And I want to tell you completely: He calls himself
a gentleman, and rich.
ADRASTE.
Ah! Impudence!
LYSIS.
Of a rigorous father fleeing authority,
He ran for a long time from one side to the other;
Finally, lack of money perhaps, or on a whim,
590 Of our Fierabras he put himself at the service,
And under the shadow of acting for his mad
loves, He knew how to practice such cunning
detours, And charm this poor deceived girl
so much, That you saw your ardor despised;
595 But speak to his father, and soon his power Will
set his mind on duty.
ADRASTE.
I have just now taken the assurance of
receiving the fruits of my perseverance, and
before it is little we will see the effect;
600 But, look, I just have to oblige.
LYSIS.
Where I can serve you I dare to undertake everything.
- 25 -
ADRASTE.
Can you surprise me in their loves?
LYSIS.
Nothing could be easier: perhaps this evening.
ADRASTE.
Farewell then. Remember to show them to me.
605 However take this only in advance.
LYSIS.
Let the gallant then be rubbed with importance!
ADRASTE.
Believe me that he will see himself, to better satisfy you,
Loaded with as much wood as he can carry.
SCENE IX.
LYSIS.
The arrogant already thinks he has won a city;
610 But he will be punished for having disdained me.
Because he's friendly, he plays the little god, And
only wants to talk to girls in good places.
I don't deserve the honor of his caresses: Really
it's for his nose, he needs mistresses;
615 I am only a servant: and what is a valet?
If his face is beautiful, mine is not too ugly: He calls himself
rich and noble, and that makes me laugh; So far from his
country, who can't say the same?
Let it be: we'll see tonight, if I hold it,
To dance under the cotret: to take 620 Dancing under the cotret his nobility and his goods.
blows of sticks.
- 26 -
SCENE X.
ALCANDER.
Your heart beats a little.
PRIDAMING.
I fear this threat.
ALCANDER.
Lyse loves Clindor too much to cause his disgrace.
PRIDAMING.
She is despised, and seeks revenge.
ALCANDER.
Don't be afraid: love will make her change.
- 27 -
ACT III
FIRST SCENE.
Geronte, Isabelle.
GERONTE.
625 Soothe your sighs and dry up your tears;
Against my will they are weak weapons: My
heart, although sensitive to all your pains, listens
to reason, and neglects your tears.
I know what you need much better than you do.
630 You disdain Adraste because I love him; And
because I like to make him your husband,
Your pride sees nothing in it that is worthy of you.
What ! Does he lack goodness, heart or nobility?
Is it the face or the spirit that hurts you?
635 He does you too much honor.
ISABEL.
I know that he is perfect,
And that I respond badly to the honor he does me; But if
your goodness allows me in my cause, To justify myself,
to say something, By a secret instinct, which I cannot
name, 640 I make a lot of state of it, and cannot love it.
Often I don't know what Heaven inspires in us

Raises our whole heart against what we desire, And
does not leave us in a condition to obey, When we
choose for us what it makes us hate.
645 He attaches here below with sympathy
The souls that his order has matched up there:
One cannot unite without his secret advice; And
this chain is missing where its decrees are missing.
To go against the laws of this providence,
650 It is to take him to task, and to blame his prudence, To
attack him as a rebel, and to expose himself to the
blows Of the bitterest misfortunes which follow his wrath.
GERONTE.
Insolent, is this how one justifies oneself?
What teacher taught you this philosophy?
655 You know a lot; but all your knowledge Will not
prevent me from using my power.
- 28 -
If the sky for my choice gives you so much hatred,

Has it set you on fire for this great captain?
Does this brave warrior keep you in chains?
660 And has he tamed you with all the universe?
Should this braggart raise up my family?
ISABEL.
Hey! Please, sir, treat your daughter better!
GERONTE.
What cause, then, leads you to disobey me?
ISABEL.
My happiness and my rest, which I cannot betray.
665 What you call a happy marriage
Is only hell for me if I'm condemned to it.
GERONTE.
Ah! How many are better made than you Who
would like to see themselves in such a sweet hell!
After all, I want it; yield to my power.
ISABEL.
670 Give my obedience another try.
GERONTE.
"
Don't talk back to me when I said, "I do.
Go inside: it's now too disputed for both of us.
SCENE II.
GERONTE.
That now youth have strange manias!
The rules of duty are tyrannies to him, 675
And the holiest rights become powerless Against this pride
which attaches him to his senses.
Such is the mood of sex: it likes to contradict,
Rejects stubbornly the yoke of our empire, Follows
only its whim in its affections, 680 And never
agrees with our elections.
Do not hope however, blind and without brain, That
my prudence gives way to your rebellious spirit.
But will this madman always come and embarrass me?
By force or by skill I must drive him away.
- 29 -
SCENE III.
Geronte, Matamore, Cindor.
MATAMORE, to Clindor.
685 Shouldn't you have pity on my fortune?
Again the Grand Vizier bothers me; Tartarus,
moreover, calls me to his aid; Narsingue and
Calicut urge me every day: If I don't refuse them, I
must go out of my way.
CLINDOR.
690 For my part, I am of the opinion that you let them beat:
You would use your invincible blows too badly, If to
serve one of them you made three jealous.
MATAMORE.
You say well: enough of such courtesies; I only
want in love to give jealousies.
695 Oh! Sir, excuse me if, for lack of seeing you,
Although so close to you, I failed in duty.
But what emotion appears on this face?
Where are your enemies, let me carnage them?
GERONTE.
Sir, thank the gods, I have no enemies.
MATAMORE.
700 But thanks to this arm that submitted them to you.
GERONTE.
This is another grace that I had ignored.
MATAMORE.
Since my favor for you was declared, They've all
died of fear, or haven't dared to jerk off.
GERONTE.
It is elsewhere now that you must point out: It is fine
705 to see this arm, more feared than thunder, Remaining
so peaceful in a time full of war; And that's to earn a
name, To be in a city pounding the pavement.
Everyone believes that your glory has been

falsely usurped, 710 And you now pass only as a swordsman.
MATAMORE.
Oh, belly! It is true that you are right.
But the way to go, if I'm in jail?
Isabelle stops me, and her eyes full of charms
Captivated my heart and suspended my weapons.
- 30 -
GERONTE.
715 If nothing but her subject keeps you
arrested, Make your crew freely: She is
not for you; don't worry about it.
MATAMORE.
Stomach ! What do you say ? I want to make her queen.
GERONTE.
I'm not in the mood to laugh so many times 720
At the grotesque tale of your rare exploits.
Stupidity only pleases when it is new: In a word, make
another queen than Isabelle.
If you don't come here anymore to maintain it...
MATAMORE.
He's lost his senses talking to me like that.
725 Poor man, do you know that my dreadful name Puts
the Grand Turk to flight, and makes the devil tremble;
That to annihilate you I only want a moment?
GERONTE.
I have at home valets at my command, Who not having
the spirit to make bravado, 730 Would respond with
their hands to your boasting.
MATAMORE.
Tell him what I've done in a thousand and a thousand places.
GERONTE.
Farewell: moderate yourself; it will take you better; Although
I'm not one to hate you, I'm a little hot-blooded, and my
people obey me.
- 31 -
SCENE IV.
Matamore, Clindor.
MATAMORE.
735 Respect for my mistress, inconvenient virtue,
Tyrant of my bravery, to what do you reduce me?
Why have I not had a hundred rivals in the place of a
father, On whom, without offending you, let my anger fall!
Ah! Visible demon, old emaciated specter,
740 True Henchman of Satan, Medal of the Damned,
So you dare to banish Me, and even with threats,
Me whose good graces all kings seek?
CLINDOR.
While he is outside, go, today, Talk about your
loves, and make fun of him.
MATAMORE.
745 Cadédiou! His valets would be somewhat insolent.
CLINDOR.
This iron has too much to tame their violence.
MATAMORE.
Yes, but the fires he sets on leaving prison Would
have set the house ablaze in a moment, Devoured
From slate to stairs, building and
slates and gutters just now , joists, purlins, floors, construction term set.
sills, jambs, traveteaux, doors, grilles, bolts, locks, tiles,
stone, lead, iron, plaster, cement, paint, marble,
glass, 755 Cellars, wells, courtyards, steps, halls,
bedrooms , attics, Offices, cabinets, terraces, stairs.
Imagine what disorder in the eyes of my charmer; These

fires would stifle his amorous ardor.
Go speak to him for me, you who are not valiant:
760 You will punish an insolent valet at least.
CLINDOR.
It's exposing myself...
MATAMORE.
Farewell: I see the door open, And
fear that this scoundrel will come out without respect.
- 32 -
SCENE V.
Clindor, Lyse.
CLINDOR, alone.
The cowardly sovereign, who to frighten All
that is needed is a leaf, a shadow, a vapor!
765 An old man mistreats him, he flees for a girl,
And trembles at all times for fear of being groomed.
Lyse, how dangerous your approach must be!
He gives terror to this generous heart, This
unique valiant, the flower of captains, 770 Who
tames as many kings as he captivates queens!
LYSIS.
My face is thus unhappy in attractions: Others
charm from afar, mine is frightening up close.
CLINDOR.
If it frightens fools, it charms the wisest: There are not
many similar faces.
775 If one burns for you, it is not without cause; I never
knew such a nice object; The handsome, quick,
well-bred spirit, the somewhat mocking humor, The ravishing
plumpness, the advantageous figure, The gentle eyes, the
lively complexion, and the delicate features:
780 Who would be the brutal who wouldn't love you?
LYSIS.
Please, and since when do you find me so beautiful?
See, I'm Lyse, not Isabelle.
CLINDOR.
Inclination: It is also said of the love, the
You two share my inclinations: I adore his
inclination, the attachment that one has
for someone. [F] fortune, and your perfections.
LYSIS.
785 You embrace too many, that's enough for you of one, And
my perfections give way to his fortune.
CLINDOR.
Whatever effort I make to give him my faith, Do you
think that I really love him more than you?
Love and marriage have various methods: 790
One runs to the most lovable, and the other to the most convenient.
I am in misery, and you have no property: A nothing
fits badly with another nothing; And despite the
sweetness that love deploys there, Two unhappy
together always have short joy.
795 Thus I aspire elsewhere, to overcome my misfortune;
But I can't see you without a little pain,
Without a sigh escaping this heart, which murmurs
- 33 -
From what my reason insults my desires. At your

slightest glance I let myself be charmed.
800 Ah! How I would love you, if it were only necessary to love, And
that you would please me, if it was only necessary to please!
LYSIS.
What wit you would have if you knew how to be silent, Or
at least put off in some other season To show so much
love with so much reason!
805 The great treasure for me that such a wise lover, Who out of
compassion dares not pay homage to me, And carries his
desires to better parties, For fear of overwhelming me
under our common misfortunes!
I will never forget such rare merits:
810 Go, however, continue your visits.
CLINDOR.
That I would have a much happier spirit with you!
LYSIS.
My mistress up there is alone, and awaits you.
CLINDOR.
You drive me away like this!
LYSIS.
No, but I am sending you To
places where you will have longer joy.
CLINDOR.
815 How gracious even your disdain seems to me!
LYSIS.
Ah! You spend so much precious time!
Go on.
CLINDOR.
So remember that if I love another...
LYSIS.
It's for fear of adding my misery to yours: I've
already told you, I won't forget it.
CLINDOR.
820 Farewell: your raillery has so much attraction for me,
May my heart become more and more involved in your eyes,
And I would love you too much to delay any longer.
- 34 -
SCENE VI.
LYSIS.
The ingrate! He finally finds my face charming, And to
amuse himself he pretends to be a lover!
825 Whoever neglects my fire loves me out of mockery,
Takes me for the plaything of his gallantry, And by
a free admission of stealing his faith from me,
Swears to me that he adores me, and does not want me.
Love everywhere, treacherous, and share your soul; 830
Choose whoever you want for mistress or for wife; Give to your interests
to spare your wishes; But don't think you're fooling either of us
anymore.
Isabelle is better than a political love, And I'm better
than a heart where this love applies.
835 I scoffed like you, but it was only To not warn you of
my resentment.
What would his brilliance have produced, but mistrust?
He who conceals his anger secures his revenge;
And my feigned sweetness prepares much better 840
This trap into which you are going to fall, and soon, in my eyes.
But what have you done that makes you guilty?
To seek his fortune is one so punishable?
You love me, but the good makes you inconstant: In the
century in which we live, who would not do the same?
845 Let's forget the contempt in which he is forced to excite,
And let him enjoy the happiness he deserves.
If he loves me, he punishes himself by daring to
disdain me, And if I still love him, I must spare him.
Gods ! to what does my mad anxiety reduce me,
850 Wanting to forgive so much ingratitude?
Worthy thirst for revenge, to what do you expose me, To
allow such just wrath to weaken?
He loves me, and in my eyes I see myself despised!
I love him, and only serve him as a laughing stock!
855 Silence, love, silence: it is time to punish; I gave my faith in
it: let me hold it.
Since your false hope only sours my pain, Make your
sweetness yield to those of hatred: It is time that in my heart
it reigns in its turn,
860 And outraged love must no longer be love.
- 35 -
SCENE VII.
MATAMORE.
Here they are, save us. No, I don't see anyone.
Let's move forward boldly. My whole body shivers.
I hear them, let's run away. The wind was making that noise.
Let us walk under the favor of the shadows of the night.
865 Old dreamer, in spite of you I am waiting here for my queen.
These devils of valets really trouble me.
From two thousand years and more, I never trembled so hard.
It's too much to risk me: if they go out, I'm dead; For I
would rather die than give them battle,
870 And profane my arm against that scoundrel.
What courage exposes to strange dangers!
However, in any case, I am the lightest; If it is
only necessary to run, their expectation is
deceived: My foot is at least as good as the sword.
875 Really, I see them: it's done, you must die; My
body is so frozen that I cannot run.
Fate, may you show yourself contrary to my valour! ...
She's my queen herself, with my secretary!
My whole body is deglazing: let's listen to their speeches,
880 And let's see his skill in treating my loves.
SCENE VIII.
Clindor, Isabelle, Matamore.
ISABEL.
Everything is preparing badly on my father's
side; I never saw him in such a severe mood:
He will no longer suffer your master or you.
Your rival, moreover, has become jealous:
885 It is for this reason that I am bringing you down;
In my study they might surprise us; Here we will also
talk about safety: You can slip from one side to the other;
And if someone happens, my retreat is open.
CLINDOR.
890 Too much care to prevent my downfall.
ISABEL.
I cannot take too much to ensure a good Without
which all other goods are nothing in my eyes: A good
which is worth the whole earth to me, And for which
alone, finally, I like to see the light.
895 A rival by my father attacks my faith in vain;
Your love alone has the right to triumph over
me: From the speeches of both I am
persecuted; But for you I like to see myself mistreated,
- 36 -
And of the greatest misfortunes I would bless the blows,

900 If my fidelity endured them for you.
CLINDOR.
You make me confused, and my delighted soul
Can, on the other hand, offer you nothing but my life: My
blood is the only good that remains to me in these places,
Too happy to lose it by serving your beautiful eyes!
905 But if my star one day, changing its influence, Gives me free
access to the places of my birth, You will see that this choice
is not very unequal, And that, all things considered, I am well
worth my rival.
But, with these sweetnesses, allow me to fear 910 That a
father and this rival will want to constrain you.
ISABEL.
Have no alarm, and believe that in this case One will
have less effect than the other has appeal.
I will not tell you where I am resolved: It is
enough that I make myself absolute.
915 So all projects are empty projects.
Thereby...
MATAMORE.
I can't take it anymore: it's time to talk.
ISABEL.
Gods ! We were listened to.
CLINDOR.
He's our captain: I'm
going to calm him down; don't worry about it.
SCENE IX.
Matamore, Clindor.
MATAMORE.
Ah! Traitor!
CLINDOR.
Speak low; those servants...
MATAMORE.
Well ! What ?
CLINDOR.
920 Presently they will swoop down on you and on me.
MATAMORE, pulls him to a corner of the theatre..

Come here. You know your crime, and that to the object I
love, Far from speaking for me, you were speaking for yourself?
- 37 -
CLINDOR.
Yes, to make myself happy I made some efforts.
MATAMORE.
I give you the choice of three or four deaths: 925 I will,
with a blow of my fist, break you like glass, Or sink you alive in the
center of the earth, Or split you into ten parts at a single blow
from the back, Or throw you so high above the lightning,
That you are devoured by the elemental fires.
930 So choose quickly, and think about your business.
CLINDOR.
You choose yourself.
MATAMORE.
What choice do you offer?
CLINDOR.
To flee in haste, or to be well beaten.
MATAMORE.
Threaten me again! Oh, belly! What audacity !
Instead of kneeling and imploring my mercy! ...
935 He gave the word, these valets are going out...
I am going to command the seas to swallow you up.
CLINDOR.
Without looking for you so far away for such a large
cemetery, I am going to throw you into the river right now.
MATAMORE.
They are intelligent. Oh, head!
CLINDOR.
Quiet point: I
940 have already slaughtered ten men this night; And if you make
me angry, you will increase their number.
MATAMORE.
Caddieou! This rascal has walked in my shadow; He made
himself all valiant to have followed my steps: If he had any
respect, I would like to pay attention to it. 945 listen: I'm
good, and that would be a shame
To rob the universe of a man of courage.
Ask me forgiveness, and cease by your fires To
profane the only worthy object of my wishes; You
know my worth, experience my mercy.
CLINDOR.
950 Rather, if your love is so vehement,
Let's make two sword strokes in the name of her beauty.
- 38 -
MATAMORE.
Parbieu, you delight me with your generosity.
Go, to conquer it no longer use artifices; I
want to give it to you as the price of your services:
955 Complain from now on of having an ungrateful master!
CLINDOR.
At this rare present, my heart beats with ease.
Protector of great kings, too magnanimous warrior, May
the whole universe resound with your esteem!
SCENE X.
Isabelle, Matamore, Clindor.
ISABEL.
I give thanks to heaven for what it has allowed
960 That in the end, without a fight, I see you good friends.
MATAMORE.
Don't think any more, my queen, of the honor that my
love was to do You one day to take you as a wife; For some
occasion I changed my plan: But I want to give you a man
from my hand;
965 Make it state; he is valiant himself; He
commanded under me.
ISABEL.
To please you, I love it.
CLINDOR.
But our affection needs silence.
MATAMORE.
I promise you silence, and my protection.
Acknowledge me from all corners of the world:
970 I am feared equally on earth and on the air.
Come on, live happily under one law.
ISABEL.
To obey you better, I give him my faith.
CLINDOR.
Order that his faith of some effect followed...
- 39 -
SCENE XI.
Géronte, Adraste, Matamore, Clindor,
Isabelle, Lyse, a troop of servants.
ADRASTE.
This insolent speech will cost you your life,
975 Suborner.
MATAMORE.
They caught my courage at fault: This
door is open; let's win the top.
He enters Isabelle's house after she and Lyse have entered.
CLINDOR.
Traitor! Who makes you strong with a brigand troop,
I will choose you well in the middle of the band.
GERONTE.
Gods ! Adraste is wounded, run to the doctor.
980 You people, however, arrest the assassin.
CLINDOR.
Oh, sky! I give in to numbers. Farewell, dear Isabelle: I am
falling on the precipice where my destiny calls me.
GERONTE.
It's over, take this body home; And you, lead this
traitor to prison early.
- 40 -
SCENE XII.
PRIDAMANT.
985 Alas! My son is dead.
ALCANDER.
How many alarms you have!
PRIDAMANT.
Do not refuse him the help of your charms.
ALCANDER.
A little patience, and without such help You will
soon see him happy in his love affairs.
- 41 -
ACT IV
FIRST SCENE.
ISABEL.
At last the term is approaching: an iniquitous judgment
990 Must tomorrow abuse a tyrannical power, To its own
assassin immolate my lover, And take revenge instead
of punishment.
By an unjust decree as much as severe, Tomorrow
must triumph the hatred of my father,
995 The favor of the country, the quality of the dead,
Isabelle's misfortune, and the harshness of fate.
Alas! How many enemies, and how powerful, Against
the feeble support that innocence gives, Against a poor
stranger, whose whole crime
1000 Is to have loved me, and to be too perfect!
Yes, Clindor, your virtues and your legitimate fire,
Having won my heart from you, have also caused your crime.
But in vain after you they leave me the day; I want to
lose my life by losing my love: 1005 Pronouncing your
sentence, it's me they dispose of; I want to follow your death,
since I am the cause of it, And the same moment will see
through two deaths Our loving spirits meet over there.
Thus, inhuman father, your cruelty disappointed

1010 Our holy ardor will see the happy outcome; And if my
loss then gives rise to your pain, Next to my lover I will
laugh at your tears.
What a stinging remorse will cost you in tears Of such
sweet maintenance will increase the charms;
1015 Or if he doesn't have enough to torment you,
My shadow each day will come to terrify you, To cling
to your steps in the horror of the darkness, To present
a thousand funereal images to your eyes, To cast
eternal dread into your mind, 1020 To reproach you for
my death, to call you after me, Overwhelm your languid life
with misfortunes, And reduce you to the point of envying
me.
At last...
- 42 -
SCENE II.
Isabelle, Lyse.
LYSIS.
What ! Everyone is sleeping, and you are here?
I swear to you, sir is in great concern.
ISABEL.
1025 When one no longer has hope, Lyse, one no longer has fear.
I find sweetness in making my complaint here:
Here I saw Clindor for the last time;
This place tells me better the accents of his voice,
And pushes further into my distraught soul
1030 The pleasant memory of such a dear sight.
LYSIS.
How much trouble you take to magnify your troubles!
ISABEL.
What do you want me to do in the state where I am?
LYSIS.
Of two perfect lovers of whom you were served,
One must die tomorrow, the other is already lifeless:
1035 Without wasting any more time sighing for them, We
must find one that is worthy of them both.
ISABEL.
From what front do you dare hold these words to me?
LYSIS.
What fruit do you hope for from your frivolous sorrows?
Do you think, to weep and tarnish your charms,
1040 Call your lover back from the gates of death?
Think rather of making an illustrious conquest; I
know for your bonds a ready soul, An
incomparable man.
ISABEL.
Get out of my eyes.
LYSIS.
Better judgment would not choose better.
ISABEL.
1045 To increase my pain do I have to see you?
- 43 -
LYSIS.
And must I disguise my joy in your eyes?
ISABEL.
Where does this out of season joy come from?
LYSIS.
When I tell you, judge if I'm right.
ISABEL.
Ah! Don't tell me anything.
LYSIS.
But the case affects you.
ISABEL.
1050 Tell me about Clindor, or don't open your mouth.
LYSIS.
My good humor, which laughs in the midst of
misfortunes, Does more in a moment than a century
of your tears: It saved Clindor.
ISABEL.
Saved Clindor?
LYSIS.
Himself:
Judge after that that I love you.
ISABEL.
1055 Hey! Please, where do I go to find it?
LYSIS.
I have only begun: it is up to you to finish.
ISABEL.
Ah! Lyse!
LYSIS.
All right, would you follow him?
ISABEL.
If I would follow the one without whom I cannot live?
Lyse, if your spirit does not pull him out of
irons, 1060 I will accompany him to hell.
Go, don't ask if I'll follow her flight.
- 44 -
LYSIS.
Since love has reduced you to this fine design,
listen to where I am, and second my blows: If your
lover does not escape, he will depend only on you.
1065 The prison is very close.
ISABEL.
Well ?
LYSIS.
This
neighborhood To the janitor's brother showed my face;
And since seeing me and loving me are one and the
same, The poor wretch let himself be charmed by it.
ISABEL.
I didn't know!
LYSIS.
I was so ashamed
1070 That I was dying for fear that someone would tell you about it;
But for four days your lover arrested Has made going to see
him that I listened to him better.
Eyes and speech flattering his hope, Of mutual
love I formed the appearance.
1075 When one loves once, and one believes oneself loved, One
does everything for the object with which one is inflamed.
By this I have assured my empire over his soul,
And put him in a position not to dare to deny me.
When he no longer doubted my affection,
1080 I based my refusals on his condition;
And he, to oblige me, swore to dislike it, But
that he could hardly get rid of it; That the keys
to the prisons he kept today Were the greater
good of his brother and himself.
1085 Me suddenly say its good fortune
Couldn't offer him a better hour;
That, to make himself rich and to possess me,
He just had to put up with it;
That he held in irons a lord of Brittany
1090 Disguised under the name of the sieur de la Montagne;
That it was necessary to save him and follow him home;
That he would do us good and be our support.
He remains astonished; I urge him, he excuses
himself; He speaks to me of love, and I refuse
him; 1095 I leave him angry, he follows me confused,
Make me a new excuse, and I make a new refusal.
ISABEL.
But finally ?
- 45 -
LYSIS.
I return to it, and find it very sad;
I consider him shaken; I attack him: he resists.
This morning: “In a word, the danger is pressing,
1100 I said; you can do anything, and your brother is away.
- But you need money for such a long journey,
he told me; it is necessary to make the crew:
This rider lacks it. »
ISABEL.
Ah! Lyse, you were
to immediately offer Him everything I had: 1105
Pearls, rings, clothes.
LYSIS.
I did more:
I said that this captive pays homage to your
beauties, That you love him alike and will flee
with us, This word made him so tractable and
sweet to me, That I well recognized that a little
jealousy 1110 Touching your Clindor confused his
imagination, And that all these detours came only
From a vain fear that he was not my lover.
He left suddenly after your love sue, Found
everything easy, promised me the outcome,
1115 And sends you word through me that around
midnight You are quite ready to dislodge noiselessly.
ISABEL.
You make me happy!
LYSIS.
Add to it, please,
That to accept a husband for whom I am icy, Is to
sacrifice myself to your contentments.
ISABEL.
1120 Also...
LYSIS.
I don't want your thanks.
Go pack your bags, and to increase the sum,
Add to your jewels the man's crowns.
I sell you his treasures, but very cheaply; I have
stolen his keys since he went to bed: 1125 I deliver
them to you.
ISABEL.
Let's work on it together.
- 46 -
LYSIS.
Do without my help.
ISABEL.
Oh what! Does your heart tremble?
LYSIS.
No, but it's a secret that would awaken him: We would
never refrain from babbling.
ISABEL.
Crazy, you're still laughing.
LYSIS.
For fear of a surprise, 1130
I must wait here for the head of the company; If he was late in the
street, he would be recognized; We'll find you as soon as he
comes.
It is there without mockery.
ISABEL.
Farewell then: I leave you,
And consent that you be the mistress today.
LYSIS.
1135 At least it is.
ISABEL.
Keep a good watch.
LYSIS.
You, make good loot.
- 47 -
SCENE III.
LYSIS.
So, Clindor, I alone make your destiny; From
the irons in which I have put you, it is I who deliver
you, And you can, at my choice, make you die or live.
They avenged me on you beyond my desires:
1140 I had no intention except against your pleasures.
Your overly harsh fate made me change my mind; I
want to ensure your pleasures and your life; And my
extinguished love, seeing you in danger, Is reborn to
warn me that it's too much to avenge me.
1145 I also hope, Clindor, that for recognition, Of your
ungrateful love stifling license...
SCENE IV.
Matamore, Isabelle, Lyse.
ISABEL.
What ! At home, and at night!
MATAMORE.
The other day...
ISABEL.
What is this:
"The other day?" Is it time I found you here?
LYSIS.
It's that great captain. Where did he get caught?
ISABEL.
1150 Going up the stairs I saw him coming down.
MATAMORE.
The other day, in the absence of my affection,
I assured your charms of my protection.
ISABEL.
After ?
MATAMORE.
They came here to make a
quarrel; You returned seeing this bravado; 1155
And to protect you, I suddenly followed you.
- 48 -
ISABEL.
Your value then took on a generous design.
Since ?
MATAMORE.
To preserve such a beautiful lady,
At the top of the house I made the sentinel.
ISABEL.
Without going out?
MATAMORE.
Without going out.
LYSIS.
That is to say, in two words,
1160 That fear locked him up in the firewood room.
MATAMORE.
The fear ?
LYSIS.
Yes, you tremble: yours is unequaled.
MATAMORE.
Because she has a good step, I make her my
Bucephalus; When I tamed her, I made her this law;
And since then, when I walk, she trembles under me.
LYSIS.
1165 Your whim is rare to choose mounts.
MATAMORE.
It's to go faster to great adventures.
ISABEL.
You use it well. But let's change our tune: You stayed in
there for four days?
MATAMORE.
Four days.
ISABEL.
And lived?
MATAMORE.
Ambrosia: exquisite meat, which
Of nectar, of ambrosia. the ancients pretended that their
gods ate. [F]
- 49 -
LYSIS.
To satiate: to drive away hunger, to appease it.
1170 I believe this easily satiated meat?
[F]
MATAMORE.
Not at all.
ISABEL.
Finally you got off...
MATAMORE.
To make a lover in your arms surrendered, To break
his prison, smash down its doors, And shatter to pieces
his strongest chains.
LYSIS.
1175 Admit frankly that, pressed by hunger,
You came rather to wage war on bread.
MATAMORE.
One and the other, of course! This ambrosia is insipid: after
a day, my stomach was sick from it.
It is a delicacy, and of little support:
1180 Unless one is a god one would not live well; It causes a
thousand evils, and as soon as it enters, It lengthens the
teeth, and shrinks the belly.
LYSIS.
Finally, is it a stew that you didn't like?
MATAMORE.
Leave for each night to take two turns downstairs,
1185 And there, accommodating myself to the reliefs of
the kitchen, To mix human meat with divine.
ISABEL.
You were, after all, planning to rob us.
MATAMORE.
You yourselves, after all, dare you to quarrel with me?
If I let out my anger once...
ISABEL.
1190 Lyse, bring out my father's servants.
MATAMORE.
A fool would be waiting for them.
- 50 -
SCENE V.
Isabelle, Lyse.
LYSIS.
You don't hold it.
ISABEL.
He told us that fear is good.
LYSIS.
However, you have done little or nothing.
ISABEL.
Nothing at all. What do you want ? His meeting is the reason.
LYSIS.
1195 But then you just had to let it go.
ISABEL.
But he recognized me, and came to talk to me.
I who, alone and at night, feared his insolence,
And much more still to disturb the silence, I
believed, to get rid of it and take my worries away,
1200 That the best thing was to bring her here.
See, when I have your help, that I stand valiant, Since
I dare to face this violent mood.
LYSIS.
I laughed about it like you, but not without
murmuring: It's a waste of time.
ISABEL.
I will fix it.
LYSIS.
1205 Here is the conductor of our intelligence;
Know beforehand all his diligence.
- 51 -
SCENE VI.
Isabelle, Lyse, the Jailer.
ISABEL.
Well ! My great friend, will we brave fate?
And do you come to bring me or life or death?
It is only in you alone that my hope is based.
THE JAILER.
1210 Banish your fears: all is well; You just have to go, I
have horses all ready, And you can soon laugh at
stops.
ISABEL.
I must regard you as a tutelary god, And do
not know for you a sufficiently worthy salary.
THE JAILER.
1215 Here is the single price where all my heart aspires.
ISABEL.
Lyse, you must resolve to make him happy.
LYSIS.
Yes, but all its preparation is very useless to
us: How shall we open the gates of the city?
THE JAILER.
We have horses in safe hands in the suburbs;
1220 And I know of an old wall that falls every day:
We can easily get out through its ruins.
ISABEL.
Ah! That I was on strange thorns!
THE JAILER.
But we must hurry.
ISABEL.
We will leave suddenly.
Come help us up there to make our hand.
- 52 -
SCENE VII.
CLINDOR, in prison.
1225 Loving memories of my dear delights,
That we are soon going to change into infamous tortures,
That despite the horrors of this mortal dread, Your charming
conversations have sweetness for me!
Do not abandon me, be more faithful to me 1230 Than
the rigors of fate prove cruel; And when from death the blackest
colors Will come to my mind to picture my misfortunes,
Immediately picture to my bewildered soul How happy I was
beyond my merit.
1235 When I complain about their severity,

Tell me again the excess of my temerity:
That of such a lofty design my fortune incapable
Made my flame unjust, and my hope guilty;
That I was criminal when I became a lover,
1240 And that my death is the just punishment.
What happiness accompanies me at the end of my life!
Isabelle, I am dying for having served you; And
however sharp I suffer the blows, I die too glorious, since I
die for you.
1245 Alas! How I flatter myself, and how clever I am To hide
from myself the shame of a torture!
Is there anything greater than to leave those eyes Whose
fatal love makes me so glorious?
The shadow of a murderer digs here my ruin: 1250
He succumbed alive, and dead he assassinates me;
His name does against me what his arm could not;
A thousand new assassins are born from his death;
And I see of his blood, fertile in perfidy,
To rise up against me bolder souls,
1255 Whose passions, arming themselves with
authority, Make a public murder with impunity.
Tomorrow of my courage we must commit a great crime, Give the
dishonest my head as a victim; And all for the country take so
much interest, 1260 That I am not allowed to doubt the judgment.
Thus on all sides my loss was certain: I repelled

death, I receive it for pain.
From a peril avoided I fall into a new one, And
from the hands of a rival into those of an executioner.
1265 I shudder to think of my sad adventure;
In the bosom of rest I am tormented:
In the middle of the night, and the time of sleep,
I see the shameful apparatus of my death;
I have before my eyes the fatal ministers;
1270 The senate's sinister letters are read to me;
I take out the irons on my feet; I can already hear the noise
Of the insolent mass of a people who follow me;
I see the fatal place where my death is preparing:
There my mind is disturbed, and my reason is lost;
1275 I find nothing that dares to help me,
- 53 -
And the fear of death is already killing me.

Isabelle, you alone, by awakening my flame,
Dispel these terrors and reassure my soul; And
as soon as I think of your divine attractions,
1280 I see these infamous portraits vanish.
Some harsh assaults that misfortune delivers to me,
Keep my memory, and I will believe to live again.
But where does it come from that at night my prison is opened?
Friend, what are you doing here out of season?
SCENE VIII.
Clindor, the Jailer.
THE JAILOR, while Isabelle and Lyse seem to be

quartered.
1285 The judges assembled to punish your
audacity, Mus of compassion, finally pardoned you.
CLINDOR.
Have done me grace, good gods!
THE JAILER.
Yes, you will die at night.
CLINDOR.
Is this all the fruit of their compassion?
THE JAILER.
How little story you have learned from this favor!
1290 From public torture is to save you from shame.
CLINDOR.
What incense can I offer to the masters of my fate, Whose
judgment pardons me, and sends me to death?
THE JAILER.
It must be received with a better face.
CLINDOR.
Do your duty, friend, without talking any further.
THE JAILER.
1295 A troop of archers out there awaits you;
Perhaps seeing them will make you happier.
- 54 -
SCENE IX.
Clindor, Isabelle, Lyse, the Jailer.
ISABELLE says these words Lyse, while the
jailer opens the prison to Clindor.
Lyse, we'll see.
LYSIS.
How delighted you are!
ISABEL.
Wouldn't I be so to receive life?
His destiny and mine take the same course,
1300 And I would die of the blow that would cut his days.
THE JAILER.
Sir, do you know many similar archers?
CLINDOR.
Ah! Madam, is that you? Adorable surprises!
Too obliging deceiver, you really said that I
would die of night, but of contentment.
ISABEL.
1305 Clindor!
THE JAILER.
Let's not waste time on these caresses:
We will have every opportunity to flatter our mistresses.
CLINDOR.
What ! Lyse is therefore his?
ISABEL.
listen to the
discourse Of your freedom produced by their loves.
THE JAILER.
In a place of safety, chatter is in order;
1310 But here we are only thinking of getting out of our grip;
ISABEL.
Save us: but before, promise us both Until the day of
a marriage to moderate your fires: Otherwise, we
return.
CLINDOR.
Never mind:
I give you my faith.
- 55 -
THE JAILER.
Lyse, receive mine.
ISABEL.
1315 On such a beautiful pledge I dare risk everything.
THE JAILER.
We're having too much fun, it's time to get away.
SCENE X.
ALCANDER.
No longer fear for them either perils or disgraces.
Many will pursue them, but without finding their traces.
PRIDAMANT.
At the end I breathe.
ALCANDER.
After such happiness,
1320 Two years ascended them to a high degree of honor.
I will not tell you the course of their travels,
Whether they found calm, or conquered the
storms, Nor by what art either they rose: It is
enough to have seen how they saved themselves,
And that , without making you an importunate story, I will
show them to you in their high fortune.
But since we have to move on to more beautiful
effects, let's go back to evoke new ghosts.
Those whom you have seen represented
immediately 1330 To your astonished eyes their love
and their flight, Not being destined for high
office, Have not enough brilliance for their conditions.
- 56 -
ACT V
FIRST SCENE.
PRIDAMANT.
How changed Isabelle is and how dazzling she is!
ALCANDER.
Lyse walks after her, and serves as her servant;
1335 But once again, above all, don't be afraid, And
don't leave this fatal place until after me: I tell
you again, life is at stake.
PRIDAMING.
This condition takes away my desire enough.
SCENE II.
Isabelle representing Hippolyte,
Lyse representing Clarine.
LYSIS.
Will this entertainment have no end?
1340 And do you want to spend the night in this garden?
ISABEL.
I can no longer hide the subject that brings me
here: It is to magnify my pains to silence my pain.
Prince Florilame...
LYSIS.
Well ! Is absent.
ISABEL.
It is the source of the evils that my soul feels; 1345
We are his neighbours, and the love he has for us Inside his
large garden allows us this door.
Princess Rosine, and my treacherous husband,
- 57 -
While he is away, they make their rendezvous: I am

waiting for him on the way, and will let him know 1350
That I am not a woman to suffer from a traitor.
LYSIS.
Madam, believe me, far from quarreling with
him, You will do much better to dissimulate everything:
Little fruit comes to us from such jealousies; A man
sooner runs after his fantasies;
1355 He is always the master, and all our discourse, By
a contrary effect, obstinates him in his loves.
ISABEL.
I will conceal his flame adultery!
Another will have her heart, and I the woman's name!
Without crime, can a hymen break the law?
1360 And isn't he blushing at having so little faith?
LYSIS.
It was good once; but at the time where we are,
Neither marriage nor faith no longer obliges men:
Their glory has its brilliance and its own rules;
Where ours is lost, theirs is without chance;
1365 It grows at the expense of our cowardly weaknesses;
The honor of a gallant man is to have mistresses.
ISABEL. Take
from me this honor and this vanity, To
gain credit through infidelity.
If to hate change and live without a friend
1370 A man like him falls into infamy, I hold him glorious
for being infamous at this price; If it is despised, I
esteem this contempt.
The blame one receives for loving a woman too
much To virtuous husbands is an illustrious blame.
LYSIS.
1375 Madam, he has just entered; the door made a noise.
ISABEL.
Let's retire, let him pass.
LYSIS.
He sees you and follows you.
- 58 -
SCENE III.
Clindor representing Théagene,
Isabelle representing Hippolyte, Lyse
representing Clarine.
CLINDOR.
You flee, my princess, and seek discounts: Are these the
sweetnesses you promised me?
Is this how love maintains a conversation?
1380 Don't run away, madame, and don't fear anything:
Florilame is absent, my jealous sleeper.
ISABEL.
Are you sure?
CLINDOR.
Ah! Enemy Fortune!
ISABEL.
I watch, disloyal: no longer think I'm blinding; In the
middle of the night I see only too clearly: 1385 I see
all my suspicions turn into certainties, And can no longer doubt
your ingratitude: You yourself, by your mouth, have
betrayed your secret. O wise mind for a discreet lover!
And what great prudence it is in love 1390 To

confide in one's wife in complete confidence!
Where are so many oaths to love nothing but me?
What have you done with your heart? What have you done with your faith?
When I received it, ingrate, let you remember How
much your fortune and mine differed, 1395 How many
rivals I disdained the wishes of;
What a simple soldier could be with them: What tender
friendship I received from a father!
I left him, however, to follow your misery; And I
stretched out my arms to my rapture, 1400 To
remove my hand from his command.
To what extremity since have the chances whose
fate has crossed your flight reduced me!
And why did I not suffer before happiness raised
your baseness to this high rank of honour!
1405 If to see you happy your faith has slackened,
Put me back in the womb from which you tore me.
The love I have for you made me risk everything, Not
for greatness, but to possess you.
CLINDOR.
Don't blame me anymore for your flight or your flame:
1410 What does love not do when it possesses a soul?
His power at my sight attached your pleasures,
And you followed me less than your own desires.
I was little then: yes, but let it be remembered
- 59 -
That your flight equaled your fortune to mine,

1415 And that to kidnap you was a weak attraction
Than the brilliance of your possessions that did not follow you.
I had, on my side, only the sword in share, And your
flame, of yours, was my only advantage: That one made
me great in these foreign edges; 1420 The other exposed
my head to a hundred and a hundred dangers.
Now regret your father and his riches; Get angry to walk
beside the princesses; Return to your country to seek
with your goods The honor of a rank similar to that which
you hold.
1425 Of what lack, after all, have you reason to complain?
On what occasion have you seen me constrain you?
Have you received neither coldness nor contempt from me?
Women, to tell the truth, have strange minds!
That a husband adores them, and that an extreme love
1430 To their bizarre temper submits him himself,
May he shower them with honors and good treatment,
Let him refuse nothing to their contentments:
If he makes the slightest breach of the marital faith,
There is no crime to their liking which equals it;
1435 It's theft, it's perfidy, assassination, poison,
It is to massacre his father and burn his house: And
once upon a time the terrible torment of the titans fell
on Enceladus with less justice.
ISABEL.
I have already told you, that all your greatness
1440 Was never the object of my sincere ardor.
I was only following you when I left my father; But since
these greatnesses have lightened your soul, Forget my
interest: think to whom you owe them.
Florilame alone put you where you see yourself:
1445 As soon as he knew you he got you out of trouble;
From a wandering soldier he made you a captain;
And the rare happiness which followed this
employment Added to its favors the favors of its king.
What strong friendship has he not made seem 1450
To be cultivated since what he had given birth to?
By his redoubled care are you not today A little less in
rank, but more powerful than he?
He would have won the fiercest spirit by it, And in
return you want to soil his bed!
1455 In your brutality find some reasons, And
against his favors defend your betrayals.
He has showered you with blessings, you are stealing his soul!
He made you a great lord, and you make him infamous!
Ungrateful, is this how you return benefits?
1460 And your gratitude has produced these effects?
CLINDOR.
My soul (for still this beautiful name remains with you,
And will remain with you until I die), Do you believe that
no respect or fear of death Can obtain for me what you
do not obtain?
1465 Say I'm ungrateful, call me perjury;
But do not insult our sacred fires so much:
- 60 -
They still retain their first vigour; And if the mad love
that surprised my heart Could have been suffocated at
the point of its birth, 1470 The one I carry for you
would have had this power; But in vain my duty tries to resist
him: You yourself have experienced that it cannot be
tamed.
This god who forced you to abandon your father,
Your country and your possessions, to follow my
misery, 1475 This god even today forces all my desires To steal
from you two or three sighs. To my distraction suffers this
breakaway, Without fearing that your place will remain
usurped.
Love whose foundation is not virtue 1480 Destroys itself,
and passes away in a moment; But the one that joins us is a solid
love, Where honor has its luster, where virtue presides: Its
duration always has some new attraction, And its firm
bonds last until death.
1485 My soul once again forgives surprise

What this tyrant of hearts has done to my frankness;
Suffer a mad ardor which will last only one day, And which
does not weaken conjugal love.
ISABEL.
Alas! How much help I deceive myself!
1490 I see that I'm being betrayed, and want to believe that I'm loved;
I allow myself to be charmed by this flattering
speech, And I excuse a crime whose author I adore.
Forgive, dear spouse, the lack of restraint Where
from a first transport the warmth came:
1495 It's in these accidents to lack affection
Than to see them without trouble and without emotion.
Since my complexion is fading and my beauty is fading, It
is only right that your love should be weary; And even I will
believe that this fleeting fire 1500 In conjugal love will be
able to change nothing: Think a little however to whom this fire is
addressed, In what danger such a mistress throws you.
Conceal, disguise, and be a discreet lover.

The great in their love never have a secret; 1505 This great
train that their own greatness attaches to their steps Is only a great body all
eyes from which nothing is hidden, And of which there is not one who
does not make an effort To put himself in favor by a bad report.
Sooner or later Florilame will learn your practices,

1510 Or from his mistrust, or from his servants; And then
(at this thought I shudder with horror) To what end
will his fury not go!
Since your mood invites you to these hobbies, Run after
your pleasures, but ensure your life.
1515 Without any feeling I will see you change,
When you change without putting yourself in danger.
CLINDOR.
So once again do you want me to tell you that next
to my love I despise my life?
My soul is too wounded, and my heart too wounded,
- 61 -
1520 To fear the perils with which I am threatened.

My passion blinds me, and for this conquest Believes
it's risking too little to risk my head: It's a fire that only
time can moderate: It's a torrent that passes and cannot
last.
ISABEL.
1525 Well! Run to death, since he has so many charms,
And neglect your life as well as my tears.
Do you think that this prince, after such a crime, By
your punishment is satisfied?
Who will be my support when your infamous death
1530 Your wife will be exposed to his just revenge,
And that on the half of a perfidious foreigner A
second time he will believe he is revenged?
No, I won't wait until your certain doom May bring
the remnants of your sorrow upon me, 1535 And
until my honor, guarded so dearly, He makes a sacrifice
to his resentment.
I will prevent the shame to which your misfortune delivers
me, And I will know how to die, if you do not want to live.
This body, of which my love has made you the
possessor, 1540 Will soon no longer fear the effort of a kidnapper.
I lived to love you, but not for the infamy Of serving
the husband of your illustrious friend.
Farewell: I am going at least, by dying before you, To
diminish your crime, and free your faith.
CLINDOR.
1545 Don't die, dear wife, and in a second change See the
marvelous effect to which your virtue places me.
To love me in spite of my crime, and to want by your death
to avoid the chance of some unworthy effort!
I don't know who I should admire more, 1550
Or this great love, or this great courage;
Both have defeated me: I return under your laws, And my
brutal ardor is going to make people desperate; It is done, it
expires, and my healthier soul Has just broken the knots of
its shameful chain.
1555 My heart, when it was taken, defended itself badly: Lose
the memory of it.
ISABEL.
I already lost it.
CLINDOR.
May the most beautiful objects on earth Conspire henceforth
to make war on me; This heart, impregnable to the assaults
of their eyes, 1560 Will only have yours for masters and for
gods.
LYSIS.
Madam, someone is coming.
- 62 -
SCENE IV.
Clindor representing Théagène,
Isabelle representing Hippolyte, Lyse
representing Clarine, Éraste, a troupe
of servants from Florilame.
Here a canvas is lowered which covers the garden and the bodies of Clindor
and Isabelle, and the magician and the father come out of the cave.
ERASTE (stabbing Clindor).

Receive, traitor, with joy
The favors that your mistress sends you through us.
PRIDAMANT, to Alcandre.
They are murdering him, oh gods! Deign to help him.
ERATES.
May the bribers thus always perish!
ISABEL.
1565 What have you done, executioners?
ERATES.
A just and great example, That
all the future must contemplate with dread, To teach the
ungrateful, at the expense of his blood, Never to attack the
honor of such a high rank.
Our hand has avenged Prince Florilame,
1570 The outraged princess, and yourself, Madame,
Immolating to all three a disloyal husband, Who did
not deserve the glory of being yours.
From such a cowardly attempt suffer prompt punishment,
And do not complain when justice is done to you.
1575 Farewell.
ISABEL.
You have only half massacred him: He
still lives in me; make his enemy drunk; Complete,
assassins, to snatch my life.
Dear husband, in my arms you have been snatched away!
And of my jealous heart the secret movements 1580
Could not break this blow by their presentiments! O clarity too
faithful, alas! And too late, Which shows evil only when it
arrives!
Was it necessary... But I suffocate, and, in such
misfortune, My strength and my voice give way to my
pain; 1585 His lively excess kills me together and consoles
me, And since he joins us...
- 63 -
LYSIS.
She loses her speech.
Madam... She is dying; let's spare the speeches, And
run home to call for help.
SCENE V.
ALCANDER.
Thus our hope is played by fortune: 1590
Everything rises or falls with the movement of its wheel;
And its uneven order, which rules the universe,
Amid Happiness has its greatest setbacks.
PRIDAMANT.
This reflection, unfit for a father, Would
perhaps comfort a slight pain;
1595 But after seeing my son murdered,
My pleasures shattered, my hope ruined, My
soul would be hurt very little by such a blow, If such
speeches entered my mind.
Alas! In his misery he could not perish; 1600
And his fatal happiness alone caused him to die.
Do not expect more complaints from me: The pain
that complains seeks relief; Mine runs after its
deplorable fate.
Farewell ; I am going to die, since my son is dead.
ALCANDER.
1605 In just desperation the effort is legitimate,
And to divert it I would believe to make a crime.
Yes, follow this dear son without waiting until
tomorrow; But at least spare your hand this blow;
Let go of the pains that gnaw at your entrails,
1610 And to redouble them see his funeral.
Here the curtain is raised, and all the actors appear with
their doorman, with their doorman, counting money on a table,
and each taking their share.
PRIDAMING.
What do I see ? Do the dead count money?
ALCANDER.
See if not one of them is negligent.
PRIDAMING.
I see Clindor! Oh gods! What a strange surprise!
I see his killers, I see his wife and Lyse!
- 64 -
1615 What charm in a moment stifles their discords, To Discord: disunity, dispute, quarrel.
bring the living and the dead together in this way? [F]
ALCANDER.
Thus all the actors of a comic troupe, Their recited
poem, share their practice: One kills, and the other
dies, the other makes you pity; 1620 But the scene
presides over their enmity.
Their verses make their fights, their death follows their words, And,
without taking any interest in any of their roles, The traitor and the
betrayed, the dead and the living, Find themselves at the end
friends as before.
1625 Your son and his train knew well, by their flight,
From a father and a provost to avoid pursuit; But
falling into the hands of necessity, They took the
theater in this extremity.
PRIDAMANT.
My actor son!
ALCANDER.
Of such a difficult art
1630 All four, if need be, have made a sweet asylum;
And from his prison, what you saw,
His adulterous love, his unforeseen death,
Is only the sad end of a tragic play
Which he exhibits today on the public scene,
1635 By which his companions in this noble
profession Ravish an entire people in Paris.
Their gain is in default, and this great crew, Whose
superb display I showed you, Is your son's, but not to
adorn himself with it.
1640 That while on the stage he is admired.
PRIDAMING.
I took his death for real, and it was only feigned; But
everywhere I find the same subjects of complaint.
Is this that glory, and that high rank of honor To which
the excess of his happiness was to rise?
ALCANDER.
1645 Stop complaining about it. now the theater Is at
such a high point that everyone idolizes it, And
what your time saw with contempt Is today the
love of all good minds, The talk of Paris, the wish
of the provinces, 1650 The the sweetest diversion
of our princes, The delights of the people, and the
pleasure of the great: It holds the first rank among
their pastimes; And those whose profound wisdom
we see By his illustrious care preserve everyone,
1655 Find in the sweetness of such a beautiful
spectacle Something to relax from such a heavy burden.
Even our great king, this thunderbolt of war, Whose

name is feared at the two ends of the earth, His brow crowned
with laurels, sometimes deigns
- 65 -
1660 Lending an eye and ear to French theatre:

It is there that Parnassus displays its wonders;
The rarest spirits devote their vigils to him; And all
those Apollo sees with a better look From their learned
labors give him somewhere.
1665 Besides, if people are taken by property, The
theater is a fief whose revenues are good; And
your son finds in such a gentle profession More
accommodation than he would have found in you.
Get rid of this common mistake at last, 1670 And
complain no more of his good fortune.
PRIDAMING.
I no longer dare to complain about it, and see too well
how much better the job he has taken on than mine.
It is true that at first my soul was moved: I
believed the comedy at the point where I saw it;
1675 I was unaware of its luster, its usefulness, its appeal,
And blamed her thus, not knowing her; But
since your speeches my heart full of joy Has banished this
error with its sadness.
Clindor has done too well.
ALCANDER.
Believe only your eyes.
PRIDAMING.
1680 Tomorrow, for this subject, I leave these
places; I fly to Paris. However, great Alcandre,
What graces do I owe you here?
ALCANDER.
To serve people of honor is my greatest desire: I have
taken my reward by pleasing you.
1685 Farewell: I am happy, since I see you being so.
PRIDAMING.
Such a rare benefit cannot be recognized:
But, great magician, at least believe that in the future
My soul will keep the eternal memory of it.
END
- 66 -
Excerpt from the privilege of the King
By grace and privilege of the King, François Targa, bookseller in Paris,

is permitted to print or cause to be printed, L'illusion Comique Comédie
by Mr CORNEILLE, and all printers, booksellers and others are
prohibited from printing , nor cause the said book to be printed without
his permission, or of those entitled thereto, and yet the time of seven
years from the day when the said book shall be printed for the first
time, scarcely to the offenders of a fine of three thousand pounds,
confiscation of the copies which will be counterfeited, and at all costs,
damages and interests, as it is contained more at length in the said
letters of privilege. Given in Paris on the eleventh day of February six
hundred and thirty nine.
By the King in his Council, signed CONRART.
Completed printing this March 16, 1639. The copies were furnished
as is carried by the privilege.
- 67 -
PRESENTATION of the CLASSIC THEATER editions
The editions are based on the original editions available

and the link to the electronic source is indicated. The
variants are mentioned in rare
case.
To make it easier to read and find word occurrences,

the spelling has been modernized. Thus, among other
things, the 'y' at the end of words are replaced by 'i',
the spellings of conjugated verbs or the infinitive in
'oître' is transformed into 'aître' when the modern
spelling imposes it. As a result, some rhymes in verse
texts may not seem to rhyme. The words 'encor' and
'avecque' are kept with their old spelling when the
number of syllables in the verses may be altered.
Accented uppercase characters are marked.
Punctuation is mostly retained except at the end of
cues ending in a comma or semicolon, and when
comprehension is seriously questioned. A note indicates
this in the most significant cases.
Notes explain the outdated or lost meanings of words

or expressions, the names of people and places with
definitions and notes from dictionaries such as - mainly
- the Universal Dictionary Antoine Furetière (1701) [F],
the Richelet Dictionary [R ], but also Historical Dictionary
of the Old French Language of La Curne de Saint
Palaye (1875) [SP], the Universal French and Latin
dictionary of Trévoux (1707-1771) [T], the Treasury
dictionary of the ancient French language que moderne
by Jean Nicot (1606) [N], the Etymological Dictionary
of the French language by M. Ménage; ed. by AF Jault
(1750), The Dictionary of Arts and Sciences of MDC of
the Académie françoise (Thomas Corneille) [TC], the
Critical Dictionary of the French language by M. l'abbé
Feraud [FC], the dictionary of the French Academy [AC]
followed by the year of its edition, the dictionary of
Emile Littré [L], for places and people the Universal
Dictionary of History and Geography by MN Bouillet
(1878) [B] or the Biographical Dictionary of all men
dead or alive by Michaud (1807) [M].
- 68 -

Corneillep Illusioncomique

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Published by Gwénola, Ernest and Paul Fièvre, October 2015

Mr DC. XXXVI. WITH PRIVILEGE OF THE KING.

Here is a strange monster that I dedicate to you. The first act is

Interdum tamen et vocem comaedia tollit,

The scene is in Touraine, in a company close to the

My soul saw the error by which it was seduced: I

Finally, in despair at losing so much trouble,

I will keep it returned if I have any news; The

He waved his wand, and a curtain was drawn behind which

Could he by his sight frighten my eyes?

For Dorante that was an honest conversation!

The sound of my name pulls down walls, defeats

From the time that my beauty was inseparable

Two sultanas troubled me with passion; 270 Two

And would give Mars to rule his lightning.

Each in his belief also persists.

I know how to treat people of your kind.

Often I don't know what Heaven inspires in us

If the sky for my choice gives you so much hatred,

Everyone believes that your glory has been

Imagine what disorder in the eyes of my charmer; These

From what my reason insults my desires. At your

And of the greatest misfortunes I would bless the blows,

MATAMORE, pulls him to a corner of the theatre..

930 So choose quickly, and think about your business.

He enters Isabelle's house after she and Lyse have entered.

Thus, inhuman father, your cruelty disappointed

1235 When I complain about their severity,

Thus on all sides my loss was certain: I repelled

And the fear of death is already killing me.

THE JAILOR, while Isabelle and Lyse seem to be

While he is away, they make their rendezvous: I am

And what great prudence it is in love 1390 To

That your flight equaled your fortune to mine,

1485 My soul once again forgives surprise

Conceal, disguise, and be a discreet lover.

Sooner or later Florilame will learn your practices,

1520 To fear the perils with which I am threatened.

ERASTE (stabbing Clindor).

Even our great king, this thunderbolt of war, Whose

1660 Lending an eye and ear to French theatre:

Excerpt from the privilege of the King

By grace and privilege of the King, François Targa, bookseller in Paris,

By the King in his Council, signed CONRART.

PRESENTATION of the CLASSIC THEATER editions

The editions are based on the original editions available

To make it easier to read and find word occurrences,

Notes explain the outdated or lost meanings of words

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