ACT III

721-764 The first of the two monologues in Polyeucte\ cf. 1105- 1160. Notice the analysis and the interplay of conflicting émotions. Lanson, comparing C. with earlier dramatists, says : " Tout ce qui ne servait qu'à l'émotion va disparaître ou se transformer pour servir à la production des effets, à la notation des causes. ... Le monologue prendra un autre caractère ; de couplet lyriquç ... il va devenir instrument d'analyse, mesure de la force intérieure ; . . . examen de conscience, balance de motifs, délibération." — Corneille, ^^.\20-\z\. Monologues were much more numerous in C.'s earlier plays ; he says, in the Examen [1660] of Clitandre [1632] : " Les monologues sont trop longs et trop fréquents en cette pièce ; c'était une beauté en ce tempslà; les comédiens les souhaitaient, et croyaient y paraître avec plus d'avantage. La mode a si bien changé, que la plupart de mes derniers ouvrages n'en ont aucun." It should be noticed that the conversations with the " confidents " are often practically monologues.

725 agitations: agitated thoughts. — troubles: anxiety.

729 embrassant: adopting. — s*ima.g^ne : />tclures.

731 vaine idée : vague image.

733 brouille ma fantaisie : disturbs my imagination.

735 bien égal : indiffèrent. Cf. Nicomède, 445, and modem " Ça m'est bien égal."

740 trop attenter : make some audacious attempt. Attenter is always used in a bad sensé.

741 On seventeenth-century use of indefinite relatives cf. M.-L., T. II, pp. 250-251, and H., §§ 36, C, and 45, Rem. 4.

744 prête à recevoir : for modem prh d'être reçue. In the seventeenth century, /r,?j- de zxvàprêt à were used indiscriminately. For the passive force of the infinitive cf. such idioms as "bon à manger," "c'est à craindre."

745 dès l'abord : immediately.

756 las: = hélas.

758 aigle: regularly féminine when signifying a mjlitary standard, though C. elsewhere makes it masculine.

761 Si peu: for modem le peu \ cf. Milite., 415, and Clitandre, 1608. So used by earlier writers. — avec contrainte : by compulsion ; avec = par. — The metaphor in 761-763, — luit, naissant, dissiper, — is decidedly mixed.

764 " Cette dissertation paraît bien froide. Le grand défaut de Corneille est de faire des raisonnements quand il faut du sentiment." (V.) Pauline's monologue helps fill up the interval between Polyeucte's going to the temple and Stratonice's retum thence.

772 étranges ennuis: terrible grief. Cf. note on 23. For étrange cf. Cid^ 308, Cinna, 1510, R.'s Esther, 635.

776 superflus : idle.

780 State and religion, originally one in Rome, were still closely connected. The Christians, beginning with Christ's " Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's ; and unto God the things that are God's," kept the two apart. Refusing to join in the worship of the gods and the emperors, they were regarded as enemies of the state. Cf. 921 and note on 1426. Cf. Fustel de Coulanges, la Cité antique, L. V, ch. iii, and K. J. Neumann, £)er romische Staat und die allgetneine Kirche.

782 parricide : atrocious criminal\ used, in a broader sensé than no\< of any unnatural murder or murderer.

786 aux : for envers les. — impostures : slanders, or misrepresentations. Cf. Mélite, 976, Nicomède, 1079, Boileau, Satires, IX, 299, Pascal, Lettres, XIII passim, M.'s Dépit amoureux, 918.

788 tu parles à moi: C, following earlier usage, frequently uses the disjunctive pronoun with à after parler, even where there is no emphasis. Hère, however, there is emphasis: =" C'est à moi que tu parles."

794 ébahie : amazed. Now familiar style.

797 dispensée: authorized. Cf. iioi var. This meaning of <//j/<?«j^r, with either de or à (always à in C.) common in the seventeenth century, scarcely occurs now except in church use. For the modem meaning cf. 837.

801 ressentiment: feeling; used in a much broader sensé than now. Cf. 324 ( = " resentment ") and Mélite, \â,i<^ ( = "grief"). Similarly, English " resentment " formerly meant " feeling," and even " gratitude."

807 en: i.e. the plot.

809 lui-même : refers to le, 810.

812 en: en was used referring to definite persons more freely in the seventeenth century than now, sometimes even in the first person, as in Cinna, 1349. Cf. 1076, 1080, 1483, 1527. — amour curieux: affectionati solicitude.

815 Avant qu' : for modem avant de. Cf. 1300 var., 1373, 1654.

822 qui . . . exemple : unprecedented.

827 devers: for vers\ used frequently by C. — assuré son aspect:

titrned his eyes.

829 occasion : favorable opportunity.

830 manie : madness^ in the most energetic sensé. Cf. 1573. In 1323 it is not quite so strong.

832 de : = avec.

834 var. s'emportants : not until 1678 did the French Academy décide that the présent participle must be invariable. C. generally followed the modem usage in his later éditions, as hère. Cf. M.-L., T. I, p. Iv. More than a century later, André Chénier violated the rule : " La lune . . . dansantes vous admire." iÇ/^^/^j-, XIV.

838 mêmes : adverb ; a common seventeenth-century form. Cf. variants on 562, 670, 1247, 1681.

853 mis par terre: thrown to the ground.

855 D' : = avec. — pareille : equal (on the part of both).

858 The curions frontispiece of the original édition (1643) ^^ reproduced opposite 858. Polyeucte, dressed in the stage-costume of Corneille's time, — Spanish doublet, slashed trunk-hose, and plumed hat, — is engaged in breaking the idols. Néarque, in the background, is similarly engaged. The figure in the right foreground is apparently Félix. The tragedian Talma (i 763-1826), who played Sévère, was the first to insist upon strict accuracy of costume in plays representing antiquity.

866 à ma vue : before my very eyes.

879 conseil : resolution. Cf. Cid, 384, Cinna, 873, Rodogune, 167, etc.

889 change de courage ? will hâve a change of heart ? Cf. note on

891 où . . . vous: ivhat faint hopes you leave me. renvoyez implies both " ref er " and " postpone."

895 en: i.e. bonté. — à consentir : = en consentant.

897 The article was formerly often omitted before même.

898 différence : for modem une différence. In seventeenth-century and older usage, the indefinite article was often omitted where now used, or used where now omitted, or used where the definite article would now be required. Cf. H., § 57.

899 trahi: sacrificed.

909 Do not let the mad enthusiasm of his sect décide his fate. For abandonnez cf. M.'s École des maris, 232.

912 soi: cf. note on 247. — comme for qtie is common in C. and contemporary and earlier writers, though condemned by Vaugelas.

NOfES

914 connaître: recognize.

919 en main : at my disposition. — commis : entrusted\ as often in C.

921 1': refers to an implied singular of ennemis, 920. Cf. Pompée, 1576, for a somewhat similar case. Cf. H,, § 7. — Tous chrétiens: the article was often omitted after tous in Old French. Cf. mpdém la Toussaint. Cf. H., § 28, C, and Darmesteter, Historical French Grammar, § 387, II. ^

923 votre sang : blood of your blood. Cf. Cid^ z(i(i.

924 vois: cf. note on 521.

933 rien de triste : no disaster.

939 dureté: obduracy. Soin 1690.

945 reste : refers to the Christians.

950 assassinés: put to death. Assassiner^ in C, means (i) "assassinate," with préméditation, as in Cinna, 1476; (2) "put to death," as hère; (3) "kill, crush," etc., figuratively, as in 1580 and 1585, and Cid,

966 H : may refer to Polyeucte or to aiiiour. The Une, which is V obscure, seems to mean " He {or It) is the flattering opinion of your choice," i.e. " If I love my husband, it is because you chose him." / 975 dons: i.e. Polyeucte.

978 au prix: = dans la mesure. — en: = pitié (so in 980, 981). "Je n'aime la pitié qu'autant qu'il me plaît de m'apitoyer." (P. de J.)

980 temps, pleurs : for modem du temps, des pleurs. Cf. gagner temps, 1575. The partitive article, unknown in Old French, began to come into use about the fifteenth century ; it was the rule by the end of the sixteenth. Exceptions were still numerous in the seventeenth, though less and less so. Hère C. changes from the new usage to the old. (Cf. variant, beginning 977.) The partitive may still be suppressed in a séries of several nouns. Cf. H., §117.

984 faites votre effort: strive to {soften his heart).

993 comme: = comment. Comme was commonly so used in direct questions till the latter part of the seventeenth century, and in indirect questions even later. Cf. 15 19; also H., §43, B.

995 étonnement : cf. note on 85.

1000 pour quitter : = pour lui faire quitter, pour qu'il quittât.

1004-1020 Cf. Introduction, p. xxiii.

1009 entre en : coftceive.

1010 pitoyables : merciful; cf. Nicomède, 940. Now generally = "pitiable, contemptible."

^^1028 chez soi: in one's own household. This, the literal meauing, seems to make the best sensé. M.-L. thinks chez = dans, dans r esprit de.

1040 remis: calm. Cf. Cid, 383.

1045 implacable: modifies colère.

1046 Would hold me innocent if I saved a guilty man. de sauver = en sauvant =. si je sauvais. Cf. 1097, Cinna, 1012 and 1159. Cf. H., § 112,30.

1050 fâche: grieves. Fâcher is now weaker in meaning and more colloquial.

1057 par force: involuntarily. — maligne: malevolent, with implication of "secret." Stronger than is usual now.

1060 Than that my fride should venture to stoop so low. Que, in 1059 and 1060, has, in each instance, a double function : = than after plutôt and that before the subjunctive. On the construction, common in both Old and Modem French, cf. Tobler, Vermischte Beitràge, I, pp. 223-227. Cf. also Joinville, 1 21 : "je ameroie miex que uns Escoz venist d'Escosse . . . que que tu le gouvernasses." (About 1300.)

1061 trop haute : i.e. to stoop to such a thought.

1068 Je ne puis que résoudre: I can corne to no décision, résoudre — décider, arrêter, as in "Je n'ose résoudre rien," Héraclius, 1540. que = quelque chose (or, with ne, = rien), as in "je n'en puis qu'espérer," Suivante, 1372; cf. also Mélite, 149, Clitandre, 564, Médée, 515; "Beaucoup d'honnêtes gens en pourraient bien que dire," M., École des femmes, 832; "Je n'y puis que faire," M.., Femmes savantes, i486. Vaugelas, quoting "on n'a que faire," "je ne puis que deviner," etc., says the construction is " très François et très-élégant : Mais il ne le faut pas affecter." — Remarques, T. II, p. 266. M. Lanson says : " C'est logiquement clair, mais grammaticalement inexplicable, sauf par l'analogie." Prof essor Tobler calls the construction " im Grunde unrichtig," but compares to such expressions as "Je ne sais que faire," and concludes : " Fine verstandige Àusserung dariiber habe ich nirgends gefunden." An analogous construction occurs in Rotrou's Saint Genest, A. II, se. vi: "Mais surtout de César la croyance incertaine Ne peut où s'arrêter, ni s'asseoir qu'avec peine," — where apparently oie = nulle part.

1070 " Comment cette ville païenne peut-elle se révolter en faveur d'un chrétien, après que l'on a dit que ce même peuple a été indigné de son sacrilège ? " (V.) Cf. 1491-1498 ; 1504-1505.

1076 l'amener ici : required by the unity of place.