 Act I of the Magnificent Lovers by Molière, translated by Charles Herron Wall, 1836-1905. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. PERSONS REPRESENTED Efficerities Prince in Love with Arifile, read by Aaron White Timocles, Prince in Love with Arifile, read by Josh Kibbe Sostratus, a General, also in Love with Arifile, read by Thomas Peter Annex Sarkus, an Astrologer, read by Sonia Cleon, his son, read by Campbell Shelp Corribus in the suit of Aristione, read by Sandra Schmidt Clotidis, a Court Jester, one of the attendants of Arifile, read by Todd Aristione, a Princess, mother to Arifile, read by Cornel Nemish Arifile, a Princess, daughter to Aristione, read by The Story Girl Cleoniché, confidante to Arifile, read by Leanne Yao Esham Venus, acting in concert with Annex Arifile, read by Phon Aolis, read by Elsie Sauen A Triton, read by Jim Locke Other Triton, read by Morgan Z. Sowell A Cupid, read by Iki Tavi Another Cupid, read by Lex Hankins Yet another Cupid, read by Sonia Neptune, read by Neymar A Sea-God, read by Frédéric Surgein Second Sea-God, read by April 6090 Third Sea-God, read by Gail Wamba Clymine, read by Nicalia Filente, read by son of the Exiles Stage Directions, read by Larry Wilson First Interlude The scene opens with the pleasant sound of a great many instruments and represents a vast sea bordered on each side by four large rocks On the summit of each is a river-god, leaning on the insignia usual to those deities At the foot of these rocks are twelve tritons on each side and in the middle of the sea, four cupids on dolphins Behind them the god Eolus, floating on a small cloud above the waves Eolus commands the winds to withdraw and whilst four cupids, twelve tritons and eight river-gods answer him the sea becomes calm and an island rises from the waves Eight fishermen come out of the sea with mother of pearl and branches of coral in their hands and after a charming dance, seat themselves each on a rock above one of the river-gods The music announces the advent of Neptune and while this god is dancing with his sweet, the fishermen, tritons and river-gods accompany his steps with various movements and the clattering of the pearl shells The spectacle is a magnificent compliment paid by one of the princes to the princesses during their maritime excursion Ye winds that cloud the fairest skies retire within your darkest caves and leave the realm of waves to zephyr, love and sighs What lovely eyes these moist abodes have pierced E mighty tritons come, in ariads hide Then ride we all these deities fair to meet with softest strength and heart let us greet their beauty rare How dazzling are these ladies' charms What heart but seeing them must yield The fairest of the immortals arms so keen hath none to wield Then ride we all these deities fair to meet with softest strength and heart let us greet their beauty rare What would this noble train that meets our view to his Neptune, he and all his mighty crew He comes to honor with his presence fair these lovely scenes and charm those silent air Then strike again and raise your strain and let your home surround with joyous songs resound I rank among the gods of greatest might Tizjov himself hath placed me on this height Alone as king I sway the azure wave and all this world there's none my power to brave There are no lands on earth my might that know A trembling dread that o'er their meads I flow No states o'er which the boisterous waves I tread In one short moment's space I cannot spread There's not the raging billows force can stay No triple dyke, but e'en it easily my waves can crush When rolls along their mass with wildest rush And yet these billows fierce I force to yield Beneath the wisdom of the power I wield And everywhere I let the sailors bold Whereer they list their trading courses hold Yet rocks sometimes are found within my states Where ships do perish so doomed to buy fates Yet against my power none murmurs A For virtue knows no wreck whereer I sway Within this realm are many treasures bright All mortals crowd its pleasant shores to view And would you climb of fame the dazzling heights Then seek not else, but Neptune's canton's sue Then trust the god of this vast billowy realm And shield it from all storms, you'll guide the helm The waves would feign in constant often Be but ever constant Neptune you will see Launch then with dawnless zeal and plow the deep Thus shall you Neptune's kindly favour reap Act one, scene one, Sostratus Clititus Clititus aside, he is buried in thought Sostratus, believe in himself alone No, Sostratus, I do not see where you can look for help And your troubles are of a kind to leave you no hope He is talking to himself, alas These sighs must mean something And my surmise will prove correct Sostratus, believe in himself alone Upon what fancies can you build any hope And what else can you expect but the protracted length Of a miserable existence And sorrow to end only with the life itself His head is more perplexed than mine My heart, my heart, to what have you brought me You're servant, my Lord Sostratus Where are you going, Clititus? Rather, tell me what you are doing here And what secret melancholy, what gloomy sorrow, Can keep you in these woods when all are gone in crowds To the magnificent festival which the prince Ippocrates Has just given upon the sea to the princesses There they are treated to wonderful music and dancing And even to rocks and the waves deck themselves With divinities to do homage to their beauty I can fancy all this magnificence And as there are generally so many people To cause confusion at these festivals I do not care to increase the number of unwelcome guests You know that your presence never spoils anything And that you are never in the way wherever you go Your face is welcome everywhere And is not one of those ill-favored countenances Which are never well received by sovereigns You are equally in favour with both princesses And the mother and the daughter show plainly enough The regard they have for you So that you need not fear to be accounted troublesome In short, it was not this fear that kept you away I acknowledge that I have no inclination for such things Oh, indeed, yet although we may not care to see things We like to go where we find everybody else And whatever you may say, people do not during a festival Stop all alone among the trees to dream mootily as you do Unless they have something to disturb their minds Why, what do you think could disturb my mind? Well, I can't say But there is a strong scent of love about here And I am sure it does not come from me And it must come from you Ha, how absurd you are, Clitidus Not so absurd as you would make out You are in love I have a delicate nose and I smelled it directly What can possibly make you think so? What? I daresay you would be very much surprised If I were to tell you, besides, with whom you are in love I? Yes, I wager that I will guess presently whom you love I have some secrets As well as our astrologer with whom the Princess Aristione is so infatuated And if his science makes him read in the stars the fate of men I have the science of reading in the eyes of people the names of those they love Hold up your head a little and open your eyes wide E E by itself E R I REE ERI P H Y FI ERIFI L E LAY ERIFI LAY You are in love with the Princess ERIFI LAY Ha ha, Clitidus I cannot conceal my trouble from you and you crush me with this blow You see how clever I am Alas, if anything has revealed to you the secret of my heart I beseech you to tell it to no one And above all things to keep it secret from the fair Princess Whose name you have just mentioned But to speak seriously If for a while I have read in your actions the love you wish to keep secret Do you think that the Princess ERIFI LAY has been blind enough not to see it? Believe me, ladies are always very quick to discover the love they inspire And the language of the eyes and of size is understood by those to whom it is addressed Sooner than by anybody else Leave her, Clitidus Leave her to read if she can in my size and looks The love with which her beauty has inspired me But let us be careful not to let her find it out in any other way And what is it you dread? Is it possible that the same Sostratus, who feared neither Brenus nor all the Gauls, and whose arm has been so gloriously successful in ridding us of that swarm of barbarians which ravaged Greece Is it possible, I say, that a man so dauntless in war should be so fearful as to tremble at the very mention of his being in love? Ah, Clitidus, I do not tremble without a cause And all the Gauls in the world would seem to me less to be fair than those two beautiful eyes full of charms I am not of the same opinion And I know, as far as I am concerned, that one single Gaul, sort in hand, would frighten me much more than fifty of the most beautiful eyes in the world put together But tell me, what do you intend to do? To die without telling my love Ah, fine prospect, nonsense, you are joking You know that a little boldness always succeeds with lovers It is only the bashful and timid who are losers And were I to fall in love with the goddess, I would tell her of my passion at once Alas, too many things condemn my love to an eternal silence But what? The loneness of my birth, by which it pleased heaven to humble the ambition of my love The princess's rank, which puts between her and my desire such an impassable barrier The rivalry of two princes who can back the offer of their heart by the highest titles Two princes who offer the most magnificent entertainment by turn to her whose heart they strive to win And between whom it is expected every moment that she will make a choice Besides all this clitatis, there is the inviolable respect to which she subjugates the violence of my love Respect is not always as welcome as love And if I am not greatly mistaken, the young princess knows of your affection and is not insensible to it Pray do not out of pity flatter the heart of a miserable lover I do not say it without good reasons She is a long time postponing the choice of a husband And I must try to discover a little more about all this You know that I enjoy a kind of favor with her, that I have free access to her And that, by dint of trying all kinds of ways, I have gained the privilege of saying a word to now and then And of speaking at random on any subject Sometimes I do not succeed as I should like, but at others I succeed very well Leave it to me, then I am your friend I love men of merit And I will choose my time to speak to the princess of Oh, for heaven's sake! However much you may pity my misfortune, clitatis, be careful not to tell her anything of my love I had rather die than to be accused by her of the least temerity And this deep respect in which her divine charms Hush, they are all coming Scene 2 Aristione, Iphicritus, Timoclese, Sostratus, Anastarcus, Cleon, Cletus Aristione to Iphicritus Prince, I cannot say too much There is no spectacle in the world which can vie in magnificence With this one you have just given us This entertainment had wonderful attractions Which will make it surpass all that can ever be seen We have witnessed something so noble So grand and glorious that heaven itself could do no more And I feel sure there is nothing in the world that could be compared to it This is a display that cannot be expected in all entertainment And I greatly fear, madame, for the simplicity of the little festival Which I am preparing to give you in the wood of Diana I feel sure that we shall see nothing but what is delightful And we must acknowledge that the country ought to appear very beautiful to us And that we have no time left for a dullness in this charming place Which all poets have celebrated under the name of Tempe For not to mention the pleasure of hunting Which we can enjoy at any hour And the solemnity of the PTN games Which are about to be celebrated You both take care to supply us with pleasures That we charm away the sorrows of the most melancholy How is it such to us that we did not meet you in our walks? A slight indisposition, madame, prevented me from going there Sustratus is one of those men who think it unbecoming To be curious like others And to esteem it better to affect not to go Where everybody is anxious to be My lord, affectation has little share in anything I do And without paying you a compliment There were things to be seen in this festival Which would have attracted me if some other motive had not ended me And has it pleaded us seen at all? Yes, madame, but from the shore And why from the shore? Well, madame, I feared one of those accidents Which generally happen in such large crowds Last night I dreamt of dead fish and broken eggs And I have learned from Anna Exkaris That broken eggs and dead fish forebode ill luck I observe one thing That pleaded us would have nothing to say If he did not speak of me It is because there are so many things that can be said of you That one can never say too much You might choose some other subject of conversation Particularly since I have asked you to do so How can I? Did you not say that destiny is stronger than everything? And if it is written in the stars that I speak of you How can I resist my fate? With all the respect due to you, madame Allow me to say that there is one thing in your court Which it is sad to find there It is that everybody takes the liberty of talking And that the most honorable man is exposed to the scoffing of the first buffoon he meets I thank you for the honor you do me Aristionel to Anna Sarkis Why be put out by what he says? With all due respect to you madame There is one thing which amazes me in astrology It is that people who know the secrets of the gods And who have such knowledge as to place themselves above all other men Should have need of paying court and of asking for anything This is a poultry joke And you should earn your money by giving your mistress wittier and better ones Upon my word I give what I have You speak most comfortably about it The trade of above food is not like that of an astrologer To tell lies well and to joke well are things all together different And it is far easier to deceive people than to make them laugh What is it the meaning of that? Litigious speaking to himself Peace fool that you are Do you not know that astrology is an affair of state and that you must not play upon that string? I have often told you that you are getting a great deal too bold And that you take certain liberties which will bring trouble upon you You will see that someday you will be kicked out like a nave Hold your peace if you be wise Where is my daughter? She has gone away madame I offered her my arm which she refused to accept Princess since in your love for every family you have consented to submit to the laws I had imposed upon you Since it has been possible for me to obtain that you should be a reverse Without being enemies and that with the full submission to my daughter's feeling You are waiting for her choice Speak to me openly and tell me what progress you each think you have made on her heart Madame I do not mean to flatter myself But I have done all that I possibly could to touch the heart of the princess air file I have neglected none of the tender means that a lover should adopt I have offered her the humble homage of my great love I have been assiduous near her I have attended on her daily I have had my love sung by the most touching voices and expressed in verse by the most skillful pins I have complained in passionate terms of my sufferings my eyes as well as my words Have told her of my despair and my love I have laid my love at her feet I have even had recourse to tears but all in vain And I have failed to see that in her soul she was in any way touched by my love And your prince For my part madam knowing her indifference and the little value she sets upon the homage that is paid to her I did not mean to waste either sighs or tears upon her I know that she is entirely submissive to your wishes and that it is from you alone that she will accept a husband therefore it is to you alone that I can address my wishes for her hand to you rather than to her that I offer my homage and my attentions would to heaven madam that you could bring yourself to take her place enjoy the conquest which you make for her and receive for yourself the affections which you refer to her Prince the compliment comes from a cunning lover you have heard that other matters must be fluttered in order to obtain the daughters from them but here however this will be useless for I have determined to leave my daughter entirely free in her choice and in no way to toward her inclination however free you leave her in her choice what I tell you is no flattery madam I court the princess Arifile only because she is your daughter and I think her charming in that which she inherits from you and it is you whom I adore in her that is very pretty yes madam all the earth beholds in you charms and attractions oh prince pray let us leave those charms mean the attractions you know that these are words I banish from the compliments that are paid to me I can endure to be praised for my sincerity to be called the good princess for it is true that I have a kind of order for everybody love for my friends and esteem for a merit in virtue yes I can enjoy all that but as for your charms and attractions I had a rather have nothing to do with them and whatever uh truth there may be in them one should make a scruple of wishing to be praised when one is a mother to a daughter like mine ah madam it is you only who will remind everyone that you are a mother everybody's feelings are against it and it depends entirely on yourself to pass for the sister of princess Arifile believe me prance I have no relish for all of this idle nonsense so welcome to many women I wish to be a mother because I am one and it would be in vain to wish to be otherwise this title has nothing that wounds me since I received it by my own consent it is a weakness in our sex from which thank heaven I am free and I do not trouble myself about those grand discussions concerning ages about which there is so much fully let us resume what we were saying is it possible that until now you have been unable to discover my daughter's feelings they are a secret to me and to me an impenetrable mystery she may be prevented by modesty from explaining herself either to you or to me let us make use of another to try and discover what she feels Sostratus take this message upon yourself for me and oblige these princes by skillfully trying to discover towards which of the two my daughter's feelings are inclined madam you have a great many people in your court who are better qualified than I for such a delicate mission and I feel a little fit to do what you ask of me your merit Sostratus is not confined to the business of war only you have brain tact and skill and my daughter greatly esteems you another better than I madam no no in vain you excuse yourself since it is your wish madam I must obey but I assure you that there is not one person in the whole of your court who would be less qualified for such a commission than myself you are too modest and you will always acquit yourself well in whatever is entrusted to you sound my daughter gently on her feelings and remind her that she must be early at the wood of Diana scene three the fictitious Timiclay's Sostratus Lyditus the fictitious Sostratus I assure you that I rejoice to see you held in such esteem by the princess Timiclay's Sostratus I assure you that I am delighted that the choice should have fallen on you you have it now in your power to serve your friends you will be able to do good service to those you esteem I do not commend my interest to you I do not ask you to speak for me my lords all this is useless I should be wrong to exceed my orders and you will excuse me if I speak for neither I leave it to you to do as you please do exactly as you think best scene four the fictitious Timiclay's Lyditus the fictitious assigned to Lyditus well clitidus remember that he is one of my friends I hope he will still forward my interest with the princess against those of my rival Lyditus assigned to Lyditus you may trust me there is a great difference between you and him he is a fine prince indeed to dispute it with you I will not forget such a service scene five Timiclay's Lyditus my rival pays his court to clitidus but clitidus knows that he has promised to help me in my love against him certainly how very absurd to think of carrying the day against you a fine gentleman indeed to be compared with you there is nothing that I could not do for clitidus Lyditus alone plenty of fine words on all sides but here is the princess we will take our opportunity to speak to her scene six earthy oakley lease it will be thought strange madam that you should keep away from everybody to persons like us always surrounded by so many indifferent people how pleasant is solitude how sweet to be left alone to commune with one's thoughts when one has had to bear with so much trifling conversation leave me alone to walk a few moments by myself would you not like for a moment to see what those wonderful people who are desires of serving you can do it seems by their steps and gestures they can express everything to the eye they are called pantomimists I fear to pronounce that word before you and there are some in your court who would not forgive me for using it you seem to me to propose some strange entertainment for you never fail to introduce indifferently all that presents itself to you and you have a kind welcome for everything therefore to you alone do we see all necessitous muses have recourse you are the great patroness of all merit and distress and all virtuous indigents knock at your door if you do not care to see them madam you have only to say so no no let us see them bring them here but madam their dancing may be bad bad or not let us see it it would only be putting off the thing with you it is just as well to have it over today it will only be an ordinary dance another time no more about acleanies let them dance second iteration the confidant of the young princess calls for three dancers under the name of pantomimists that is men who express all sorts of things by their movements the princess sees them dance and receives them into her service end of act what act two of the magnificent lovers by mulia translated by charles hare and wall 1836 195 this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org scene one or feel cleanies this is admirable i do not think any dancing could ever be better and i'm glad to have them belonging to me and i'm very glad madam for you to see that my taste is not so bad as you thought do not be so triumphant you won't belong before giving me my revenge leave me alone here scene two airfield cleanies clitatis cleanies going to be clitatis i warn you clitatis that the princess wishes to be alone leave that to me i understand court etiquette scene three airfield clitatis clitatis singing affecting surprise unseen airfield ah airfield to clitatis who affects to go away clotitis i did not see you madam come near where have you been with the princess your mother who was just going toward the temple of apollo accompanied by a great many people do you not think this one of the most charming places in the world certainly the two princes your lovers were there the river panias has here the most charming windings very charming so stradas was there also how is it that he was not with us today he has something on his mind which prevents him from taking any pleasure in all these beautiful entertainments he wanted to tell me something but you have so expressly forbidden me to intercede for anyone to you that i would not hear him and i told him flatly that i had no leisure you were wrong to say such a thing to him and you want to have heard him i told him at first that i was not at leisure to hear him but afterwards i listened to what he had to say you did well in fact he is a man after my own heart a man with all the manners and qualities i should like to see in all men he never assumes boisterous manners and provoking tones of voice but is prudent and careful and everything he never speaks but to the point is never hasty in his decisions is never annoying by his exaggerations however fine maybe the verses our poets repeat to him i have never heard him say that is more beautiful than anything that homer ever wrote in short he is a man to my taste and if i were a princess i would not see him unhappy he is evidently a man of great merit but what had he to say to you he asked me if you were very pleased with the royal entertainments that are offered to you he spoke of your person with the greatest transports of delight extolled you to the sky and gave you all the praises that could be given to the most accomplished princess in the world and with all this uttering many sighs which told me more than he thought at last my dint of questioning him in all kinds of ways and pressing him to tell me the cause of his melancholy which is noticed by everyone at court he was forced to acknowledge that he is in love how in love what boldness is this i will never see him again what are you offended at madam to be adacious enough to love me and moreover to dare to say it it is not with you he is in love madam not with me no he has too much respect for you and he is too wise to do such a thing with whom then clotidus with one of your maids of honor the youngest in a way is she so very beautiful that he can think none but her worthy of his love he loves her to distraction and entreats you to honor his love with your protection me no no madam i see that this offends you your anger forced me to make use of this subterfuge and to tell you the truth it is you he loves to distraction you are an insolent naive to come thus to sound my feelings out of my sight this moment do you pretend to read people's thoughts and penetrate into the secrets of a princess's heart away with you let me never see your face again clotidus madam come here i forgive you this affair you are too kind madam but on condition mind what i say that you will never mention it to anybody at the peril of your life enough then sastratus told you that he loved me no madam i must now tell you the whole truth i got from him by surprise a secret he intended to conceal from all the world and which he said he would wish to die with him he was in despair when i wrenched it with subtlety from him and far from asking me to tell you of it he entreated me with the most earnest prayers never to reveal anything to you and i have committed a piece of treachery against him by telling you what i have said i am glad of it it is by his respect only that he can please me and if he were bold enough to tell me of his love he would forfeit forever both my presence and my esteem do not fear madam here he is remember if you are wise what i have forbidden you certainly madam i have no wish to be an indiscreet courtier scene four airfield sastratus i have an excuse madam for daring to disturb you solitude i have received from the princess your mother a mission which authorizes the bold step i now take what mission is it sastratus to try to learn from you madam towards which of the two princes your heart inclines the princess my mother shows a judicious spirit in choosing you for such a message this mission is very pleasant to you no doubt sastratus and you must have accepted it with great joy i have accepted it madam because my duty obliges me to obey and if the princess had kindly listened to my excuses she would have appointed another for the task what reason could you have had sastratus for refusing it the fear of not acquitting myself wow do you think that i have not enough esteem for you to open my heart to you and say all you wish to know from me about the two princes as far as i am concerned madam i have no desire to know anything i only ask you what you think you can say an answer to the commands which bring me here until now i have had no wish to explain myself and the princess my mother has kindly allowed me to put off the choice which is to bind me but i should be glad to show to everyone that i'm willing to do something for your sake and if you insist i may give you this long expected verdict i will not importune you madam and urge a princess who knows well what she has to do yet it is what the princess my mother expects from you i told her that i was sure to acquit myself but badly of my message well tell me sastratus you have far-seeing eyes and i believe that there are few things that escape you have you not been able to discover what everybody is anxious to know know have you no idea of the inclination of my heart you see all the attentions that are bestowed on me all the homage that is paid to me which of these two princes do you think i look upon with the most favorable eye the conjectures we make upon such matters generally arise from the greater or less interest we take which would you prefer of the two sastratus tell me which one you would have me marry madam your inclination not my wishes must decide the matter but if i wish to consult you in this choice if you were to consult me i should feel very much perplexed you could not tell me which of the two you think most worthy of preference if i were to be judge i should find no one worthy of that honor all the princes of the world would be too mean to aspire to you the gods alone can pretend to you and you would have for men but incense and sacrifice this is very kind and i esteem you my friend but i must have you tell me for which of the two you feel the greatest inclination and which is the one you reckon your friend scene five era feel sastratus caribus madam the princess is coming to fetch you to go to the wood of diana sastratus aside alas how seasonably you came in scene six iris dione era feel efficacious timacleys sastratus anisarchus plittitus you are asked for my daughter and there are some who are much pained by your absence i should think madam that they only asked after me out of compliment and that no one is as pained as you say there are so many entities when it's made for your sake that all our time is taken up and we have not a moment to lose if we wish to see them all let us enter the wood at once and see what awaits us there this is the most beautiful place in the world let us take our seats quickly third interlude the stage represents a forest where the princess has been invited to go a nymph does the honor singing and to amuse the princess a small musical comedy is played the subject of which is as follows a shepherd complains to two other shepherds his friends of the coldness of her whom he loves the two friends comfort him at that moment the beloved shepherds appears and all three retired to observe her after a plenty of love song she reclines on the turf and gives way to sweet slumber the lover makes his two friends approach to contemplate the beauty of his shepherds and invokes everything to contribute to her rest the shepherds on waking up sees her swaying at her feet complains of his persecution but taking his constancy into consideration she grants him his wish and consists to be loved by him in the presence of his two friends the satyrs arrive upgrade her with her change and distressed by the disgrace into which they have fallen look for comfort and wine flamini felinte there was a time i pleased you well content i lived and loved the spell i had not changed for god all throne the sway or you i held alone so when by gentle passion swayed you held me dear above all made the regal crown i would have spurned if for me still your heart had burned another's faith hath cured the wound i nursed for you within my breast another's love for me have found revenge i sought and kindly rest chlorus the fair true passion sways for me she pours her soul in size and i would gladly close my days if so should bid her beauty's eyes myrtle of youthful hearts the flower he loves me true ian more than light and i to prove loves mighty power content would pass to endless night but if our passions gentle ray a lingering spark would kindle anew and from my heart expelled today chlorus the fair thy love to sue though myrtle loves me true though constant air to sigh still i confess with you i'd gladly live and die it's love then more than ever let us fleet the lingering hours and own a bond so sweet ballet divertissement etc end of act two act three of the magnificent lovers by mollier translated by charles hare and wall 1836 19 five this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org ristioni affigurities tim mccleese airfield anisarchus sastratus clitatis we must always repeat the same words we have always to exclaim this is admirable wonderful it is beyond all that has ever been seen you bestowed too much praise on these trifles madame such trifles may gravely engage the thoughts of the most serious people indeed my daughter you have cursed to be thankful to these princes and you can never repay all the trouble they take for you i am deeply grateful for it madame and yet you make them a language a long time for what they expect from you i have promised not to constrain you but they love claims from you a declaration that you should not put off any longer their reward of their attention i had asked such ratus to sound your heart but i do not know if he has begun to acquit himself of his commission yes madame he has but it seems to me that i cannot put off too long the decision which is asked of me and that i could not give it without incurring some blame i feel equally thankful for the love attentions and homage of these two princes and i think at a great injustice to show myself ungrateful either to the one or to the other by the refusal i must make of one in preference to his rival we should call this madame a very pretty way of refusing us both this scruple daughter should you not stop you in the those two princes have both longs in the gray to submit to the preference usual our inclinations easily deceive us madame and disinterested hearts are more able to make a right choice you know did i have engaged my word to give no opinion upon this matter and you cannot make a bad choice when you have to choose between these two princes in order not to do violence either to your promise or to my scruples madame pray agree to what i shall propose and what is it that my daughter i should like substratus to decide for me you chose him to try to discover the secret of my heart suffer me to choose him to end the perplexity i am in i have such a high regard for substratus that whether you mean to employ him to explain your feelings or to leave him entirely to decide for you i consent heartly to this proposition which means madame that we must pay our court to substratus no my lord you will have no court to pay to me and with all the respect due to the princesses i refuse the glory to which they would raise me how is that substratus i have reasons madame which do not allow me to accept the honor you would do me are you afraid substratus of making yourself an enemy i should have but little fear for the enemies i might make in obeying the will of my sovereigns why then do you refuse to accept the power which is entrusted to you and to acquire to yourself the friendship of a prince who would owe all his happiness to you because it is not in my power to grant to that prince what he would wish for me what reason can you have why should you so insist upon this perhaps i may have my lord some secret interest opposed to the pretensions of your love perhaps i may have a friend who burns with a respectful flame for the divine charms with which you are in love perhaps that friend makes me the daily confidant of his sufferings that he complains to me of the rigor of his fate and is looking upon the marriage of the princess as the dreadful sentence which is to send him to his grave supposing it was so my lord would it be right that he should receive his death wound from my hands you seem to me substratus very likely to be that friend whose interest you have so much at heart i beg of you my lord not to render me odious to the persons who hear you i know what i am and unfortunate people like me are not ignorant of the limits which fortune assigned to their desires let us drop this subject we will find the means for overcoming my daughter's e-resolution are there better means of arriving at a conclusion that would satisfy everybody than to consult the light which heaven can give us on that marriage i have already begun as i told you to cast the mysterious figures which our art teaches us and i hope soon to be able to show you what the future has in reserve regarding this longed for union after that who can still hesitate will not the glory or the prosperity which will be promised to one or the other be choice sufficient to decide it and can he who is rejected be offended when heaven itself decides who is to be preferred for my part i submit to it all together and i declare this way seems the most reasonable i am entirely of the same opinion and whatever heaven may decide i yield to it without reluctance but my lord anaxahous do you really read so clearly destiny that you can never be deceived and pray who will give us security for this prosperity this glory which you say heaven promises us my daughter you have a little incredulity which never leaves you the proofs madam which everybody has seen of the infallibility of my predictions are sufficient security for the promises i make but in short when i have shown you what heaven has in reserve for you you may act as you please and choose one or the other destiny heaven you say anaxahouse will show me the good or bad destiny that isn't reserved for me yes madam the felicity with which you will be blessed if you married one and a misery that will accompany you if you marry the other but since it is impossible for me to marry them both at once it seems that we find written in the heavens not only what is to happen but also what is not to happen here is a puzzler for our astrologer i should have to give you madame a long dissertation on the principles of astrology to make you understand this well answered i have no harm madame to say of astrology astrology is a fine thing my lord anaxarous is a great man the truth of astrology is an incontestable fact and no one can dispute the certainty of its predictions certainly not i am incredulous enough in many things but as regards astrology there is nothing more sure or constant than the certainty of the horoscopes it draws the things are as clear as daylight a hundred accidents happen every day which convince the greatest unbelievers quite true who could contradict the many famous incidents which are related to us in books only people devoid of common sense can do so how can anything in print be doubted so stratus has not said a word yet what is your opinion about it madame all minds are not gifted with the necessary qualities which the delicacy of those fine sciences called obstruce require there are some still material that they cannot conceive what others understand most easily there is nothing more agreeable madame than all the great promises of these sublime sciences to transform everything into gold to cause people to live forever to cure with words to make ourselves loved by whomsoever we please to know all the secrets of futurity to bring down from heaven according to one's will on metals impressions of happiness to command demons to raise invisible armies and invulnerable soldiers all this is delightful no doubt and there are people who experience no difficulty whatever and believing all this to be possible it is the easiest thing for them to conceive but for me i acknowledge that my course gross mind can hardly understand and refuses to believe it that in fact it thinks it all too good ever to be true all those beautiful arguments of sympathy magnetic power and occult virtue are so subtle and delicate that they escape my material understanding and without speaking of anything else it has never been in my power to conceive how there is to be found in the heavens even the smallest particulars of the fortune in the least of men what relation what connection what reciprocity can there be between us in globes so immeasurably distant from our earth and how besides can the sublime science have come to man what god revealed it or what experience can have been formed from the observation of that immense number of stars which have never has yet been seen twice in the same order it would not be hard to make you conceive it you would be more clever than all the others where it is disastrous he will deliver you a long discussion about all this whenever you please if you do not understand such things you can at least believe what is seen every day as my understanding is so gross that i never could understand anything my eyes also are unfortunate enough never to have witnessed anything relating to it for my part i have seen things all together convincing so have i since you have seen you do well to believe and your eyes must be differently made from mine but in short the princess believes in astrology and i think we may well after her example believe it also would you say that madame has not intelligence and sense so stratus my lord your question is rather unfair the mind of the princess is no rule for mine and her understanding may raise her to light which i in my meaner sense cannot reach no so stratus i shall say nothing to you about many things to which i give no more credence than you do but as for astrology i have been told and been shown a thing so positive that i cannot doubt them madame i have nothing to answer to that we will say no more about this leave us a moment we will my daughter in myself go towards that final grotto where i have promised to go something talented every step fourth interlude the stage represents a grotto where the princesses go to take a walk as they enter it eight statues each bearing two torches come down from their recesses and execute a very dance of different figures and several fine attitudes in which they place themselves at intervals ballet end of act three act four of the magnificent lovers by molier translated by charles hare and wall 1836 195 this is a liberal box recording all liberal box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liberal box.org scene one iris dione era field nothing can be more gallant or a better contrived my daughter i wish to come alone here with you so that we may have a little quiet talk together and i hope that you will in nothing hide the truth from me have you in your heart no secret inclination which you are unwilling to reveal to me i madame speak openly daughter what i have done for you well deserves that you should be frank and open with me to make you the sole object of all my thoughts to prefer you above all the things to shut my ears in the position i am in to all the propositions that the hundred princesses might recently listen to in my place all that ought to tell you that i am a kind matter and that i am not likely to receive with the severity the confidences your heart may have to make if i had so badly followed your example as to have allowed an inclination i had reason to conceal to enter my soul i should have power enough over myself to impose silence on such a love and to do nothing unworthy of your name no daughter i had the rudder you laid bare your feelings to me i have no limited your choice to the two princesses you may extend it to whomsoever you please merit stands so high in my estimation that i think it equal to any rank and if you tell me frankly how things are you will see me subscribe without repugnance to the choice you have made you are so kind and indulgent towards me that i can never be thankful enough for it but i will not put your kindness to the test on such a subject and all i ask of you is to allow me not to hurry a marriage about which i'm not decided as yet till now i have left everything to your decision in the impatience of the princess your lovers but what means this noise ah daughter what spectacle is this some deity descends it is the goddess venus who seems about to speak to us scene two venus in the air accompanied by four coupons ristione airfield venus to airstione princess in you shines a glorious example which the immortals mean to recompense and that you may have a son-in-law both great and happy they will guide you in the choice you should make they announced by my voice the great and glorious fame which will come to your house by this choice therefore put an end to your perplexities and give your daughter to him who shall save your life scene three airstione airfield do tear the gods have imposed the silence in all our arguments after this all we have to do is to wait for what they wish to give us and we have distinctly heard what their will is let us go to the nearest temple to assure them of our obedience and to render thanks to them for dear goodness scene four anastarcus clale the princess is going away do you not want to speak to her no let us wait until her daughter has left her i am afraid of her she will never suffer herself to be led like a mother in short my son as we have just been able to judge through this opening our strategy has succeeded our venus has done wonders and the admirable engineer who has contrived this piece of machinery has so well disposed everything so cunningly cut the floor of his grotto so well hid his wires and springs so well adjusted his lights and dressed his personages that but few people could have escaped being deceived and as the princess airstione is extremely superstitious there is no doubt that she fully believes in this piece of deception i have been a long time preparing this machine on my son and now i have almost reached the goal of my ambition but for which of the two princes have you invented this trick both have courted my assistance and i have promised to both the influence of my art but the presence of prince if he craities and the promises which he has made by far exceed all that the other could do therefore it is if he craities who will profit by all i can invent and as his ambition will owe everything to me our future is sure i will go and take my time to confirm the princess in her error and the better to prepossess her mind skillfully show her the agreement of the words of venus with the predictions of the celestial signs which i told her i have cast be it your part to go and get our six men to hide themselves carefully in their boat behind the rock and make them wait quietly for the time when the princess comes alone in the evening for a usual walk then they must suddenly attack her like pirates in order to give the opportunity to prince if he craities to rush to a rescue and lend her the help which is to put a refill in his hands according to the words of venus i have forewarned the prince and acting on the belief in my prediction he is to hold himself in readiness in that little wood that skirts the shore but let us leave this grotto i will tell you as we go along all that is necessary for you carefully to observe here is the princess refill let us avoid her scene five eryphio alone i will last how hard is my destiny what have i done to the gods that they should interest themselves and what happens to me scene six eryphio clialis here he is madame he followed me the moment he heard your commands let him come hither clialis and leave us alone for one moment scene seven eryphio sastratus sastratus you love me i madame yes sastratus i know it i approve of it and allow you to tell me so your love appeared to me accompanied by all the merit which could render it valuable to me word not for the rank in which heaven has placed me i might tell you that your love would not have been an unhappy one and i have often wished for a position in which i might fully show the secret feelings of my heart it is not sastratus that merit fails to have for me all the value which it should have and because in my inmost soul i do not prefer the virtues which you possess to all the magnificent titles which adorn others the princess my mother has also it is true left me free in my choice and i have no doubt that i could have obtained her consent according to my wish but sastratus there are stations in life where it is not right to wish that what pleases us should come to pass it is painful to be above all others and the burning light of fame often makes us pay too severely for having yielded to our inclination i never could therefore expose myself to it and i thought i would simply put off the bonds i was solicited to enter but at last the gods themselves will give me a husband and all these long delays with which i have postponed my marriage and which the kindness of the princess my mother made possible are no longer permitted to me i must resign myself to the will of heaven you may rest assured sastratus that it is with the greatest repugnance that i consent to this marriage and that where i mistress of myself either i should have been yours or should have belonged to no one this is sastratus what i had to tell you what i felt i owed to your merit and the only consolation which my tenderness can show to your love madam it is too much for one so undeserving as i am i was not prepared to die with such glory and from this moment i shall cease to complain of my destiny if it caused me to be born in a rank below what i could have desired it has made me to be born happy enough to attract some pity from the heart of a great princess and this glorious pity is worth sceptres and crowns is worth the power of the greatest princes of the earth yes madam from the moment i dared to love you it is you madam who allow me to use this bold word from the moment i dared to love you i condemn the pride of my aspirations and determined upon the fate i ought to expect death will not surprise me for i am prepared for it but your kindness has thrown upon it an honor which my love never dared to hope i shall now die the happiest and most fortunate of men if i may yet hope for anything i on my knees will ask two favors of you to be willing to endure my presence till that happy marriage which is to put an end to my life takes place and amidst the glory and long prosperity which heaven promises to your union to remember sometimes sastratus who loved you may i hope for those favors o divine princess go sastratus leave me you little care for my peace of mind if you ask me to remember you madam if your peace of mind leave me sastratus spare my weakness do not expose me to do more than i have resolved upon scene eight erivio cleonies madam i see you quite melancholy will you allow your dancers who express so well all the passions of the soul to come and give you a sample of that skill yes cleonies let them do what they like provided they leave me to my thoughts fifth interlude four pantomimus as a sample of their skill adapt their movements and steps to the signs of uneasiness of the young princess erivio ballet end of act four act five of the magnificent lovers by moliere translated by charles herron wall 1836 19 five this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org scene one erivio clitatis where shall i go which way shall i turn where am i likely to find the princess era filet it is no small pleasure to be the first to bring news ah here she is madam i come to tell you that heaven has just now given you the husband it reserved for you alas leave me clitatis to my gloomy sorrow madam i beg your pardon i thought i did well to come and tell you that heaven has given you sostratus for a husband but since it is unpleasant to you i will pocket my news and go back just as i came clitatis i said clitatis i leave you madam to your gloomy melancholy stay i tell you come here what is it you say nothing madam one is sometimes too hasty in coming to tell great people things they don't care about and i pray you to excuse me how cruel you are another time i will take care not to come and interrupt you keep me no longer in suspense say what it is you came to tell me an insignificant thing about sostratus madam which i will tell you another time when you are less engaged keep me no longer in suspense and tell me the news you wish to know it madam yes be quick what is it about sostratus a wonderful adventure which nobody expected tell me it at once will it not trouble you madam in your gloomy melancholy oh speaker is safe i must tell you then madam that the princess your mother was going almost alone through the forest by those little paths which are so pleasant when a frightful bore those ugly bores that are always doing mischief and should be banished from civilized forests when a hideous bore i say driven to bay i believe by some huntsman came right across the path where we were i ought perhaps to adorn my account with an elaborate description of this said bore but you must try and do without it if you please and be satisfied to know that it was a terribly ugly brute it was going on its way and it would have been as well not to disturb it but the princess wished to show her skill and with her dart which if i may say so she launched somewhat unseasonably afflicted a slight wound just above the ear the ill-bred bore turned impertently upon us we were then two or three wretches who became pale with fright each gained his tree and the princess was left alone exposed to the fury of the beast when sostratus appeared just in time as if the very gods had sent him and so clotitis if this account where is you madam i can put off a remainder for another occasion and it quickly it is indeed quickly that i shall end for a grain of cowardice prevented me from seeing the details of the struggle and all that i can tell you is that when we came back to the spot we found the bore dead and bleeding and the princess full of joy and proclaiming sostratus her deliverer and your husband according to the words spoken by the gods when i heard this i did not stop to hear any more and i ran in search of you to bring you this piece of news clotitis you could never have given me a more welcome one oh here they are coming to find you scene two iris dione sastratus arafio clitatis i perceive my daughter that you already know everything which we are coming to tell you you see that the gods they have explained themselves sooner than we expected the danger i have just to run has told us what the will is and it is easy to see that the choice comes from them since meri the moon shines in the selection they have made will it be repugnant to you to recompense with the gift of your heart the one to whom i owe my life and will you refuse to accept sostratus for your husband both from the hands of the gods and from yours madam i could receive no gift that would be disagreeable to me it's not this a glorious dream with which the gods wish to flatter me am i not to expect some dreadful awakenings which will plunge me back into all the basis of my former fortune scene three iris dione irafio sastratus cliatis clitatis madam i am come to tell you that an exarchus had till now deceived both the princes with the hope of favouring the choice upon which their souls were bent and that hearing what has taken place they have both given way to their resentment against him and things growing worse he has received several wounds from which it is impossible to say what may happen but here are they both coming scene four iris dione irafio the ficritus timiglis sastratus cliatis clitatis princess you are very quick in avenging yourself if an exarchus offended you i was here to do your justice and what justice can you have done us madam when you do so little to our rank in the choice you have made had you not a body going to submit to what the order of the gods or my daughter is inclination might decide in this matter and do we what the consequence can the interest of the revolve be to you yes madam we were ready to submit to a choice between the prince of acretes and myself but not to find ourselves both repulsed it were some consolation to see the choice fall on an equal but your blindness is something terrible prince i have no wish to fall out with one who has had the kindness to praise me so much and i beg of you in all sincerity to base your sorrow upon a better foundation try and remember i pray that sastra to smear it is known throughout grace and that by the rank to which the gods are raising today the distance between you and him disappears yes we shall remember it madam but perhaps you will be pleased also to remember that two insulted princes may be enemies to be feared you may not have long to enjoy the contempt in which you hold us i forgive all the threats for the sake of the sorrow of a love which thinks itself insulted and we will nonetheless go and see the pth games in all peace let us go at once and let us crown by the glorious spectacle this wonderful day sixth interlude the scene represents a great hall in the form of an amphitheater with a grand open arcade at the farther end above which is a tribute closed by a curtain and in the distance is seen an altar prepared for the sacrifice six men dressed as if they were almost naked each carrying an axe on his shoulder like executioners of the sacrifice entered by the portico to the sound of violins and are followed by two sacrifices who play by a priestess also playing and by their suite ballet and divertissement end of act five end of the magnificent lovers by molier translated by charles heron wall 1836 19