ACT IV

1089 tout sortant : = "sorti tout récemment." (M.-L.)

1090 travaux: trials.

1099 avais pu: it is not clear why the pluperfect should be used hère, instead of the imperfect, for the condition seems clearly future. 1102 à mon défaut: since I cannot.

1105 Cf. "Medio de fonte leporum, Surgit amari aliquid." Lucretius, De natura rerum, IV, 1129-1130. On thèse stanzas F. Sarcey says : " Il s'agite dans l'âme de Polyeucte un combat terrible dont le bruit sourd retentit dans cette prière. Sa femme va venir ! C'est la seule ennemie qu'il craigne à cette heure. Il ne peut pas refuser de la voir, et cependant elle représente pour lui le démon, acharné à ressaisir sa proie, les plaisirs de la terre opposés à la gloire du ciel." In this monologue the Christian triumphs definitely over the husband, the martyr over the man.

1106 £f. Thèse stanzas, which Sully-Prudhomme calls *' un chant magnifique et suave" {Stances à Corneille), hâve been set to music by Saint-Saëns (score in le Figaro, Supplément littéraire, 9 juin, 1906) and — slightly changed — by Gounod (score in les Annales politiques et littéraires, 27 mai, 1906).

1106 flatteuses voluptés : alluring charms.

1111 That has no firm base.

1112 en moins de rien : now familiar style.

1113-1114 Thèse two verses occur in Godeau's Au Roy (1628). C. had probably unconsciously remembered them. Cf. " Fortuna vitrea est; tum quum splendet, frangitur." (Publius Syrus.)

1118 pompeux: haughty. Cf. note on 180.

1119 étale : sets before our eyes (as a waming). For examples of this use cf. G., T. I, pp. 274-276. In 830 and 11 16 étaler has the more usual meaning of "display" (ostentatiously).

1121 ^tVi'^Vi% '. — suspendus .

1125 Tigre: C. appears fond of this word, which sometimes, as in 1585, seems rather bombastic. Cf. Horace, 694 and 1287, and Rotrou's Saifit Genest, A. II, se. ii : " Ce lion altéré du sacré sang des tiens."

1127 suite: sequel. Cf. 1334.

1128 Decius was killed in battle in 251 by the Goths, not the Scythians. The imminent and ever-growing danger to the tottering Empire from the invasions of the barbarians favored the Christians by diverting the attention of the government from them.

1129 Encore un peu plus outre : Yet a Utile longer. Hémon compares the prophétie tone of thèse lines with Joad's prophecy in R.'s Athalie, 1139-1174.

1139 j'aspire à ma ruine: for this striking use of aspirer cf. "il aspire à descendre," Cinna, 370, and "j'aspire au supplice," Théodore^

1143-1144 Thèse almost brutal lines show how far religions enthusiasm has prevailed over earthly love in the heart of Polyeucte. Yet cf. 1279-1280.

1145 idées: images. "Ici, le ton change, s'apaise et devient tout mystique. On sent que le combat qui se livrait dans l'âme de Polyeucte a pris fin et que le ' Ciel' a vaincu le ' monde.' " (Hémon.)

1153 partage: inheritance.

1164 à ma défaite: to defeat me. "Cela n'est pas français." (V.) M.-L. points out that this unusual expression is prepared for by the common one, à mon secours.

1167 que : biit, or except. This use of que with ne . . .pas {point), for the more usual modem sinon or si ce n'est, is very common in C. Cf. H., § 138, Rem. II.

1171 However heinotcs be your crime. ^diS^e = s'étend Jusqu^ à. Cf. Toison d'or, 1962- 1963.

1174 Vos grandes actions : cf. 3.

1175 chez: 071 the part of.

1180 voyez notre espérance : the expression has been considerably discussed. P. de J.'s explanation seems clearly right, as proved by 1182-1184: "considérez ce que nous pouvons espérer de tant d'avantages." On voyez cf. 521 and 924.

1182 justes : reasonable. — vœux hère seems to mean " expectations " or "hopes " (cf. espérafice, 11 80, and espoir, 1184) rather than the more usual " wishes." Cf. " Et si le ciel en lui répond mal à nos voeux," Pulchérie, 551, and ib., 597-598.

1188 dans le trône : for modem sur le trône. The trône was a seat within an enclosure ; hence either dans or sur was used.

1190 Of the eighteen emperors from Marcus Aurelius to Decius, seventeen died a violent death.

1195 Is a wretched life too dear a price to pay for it ? The best authorities, including M.-L. and Tobler {Vermischte Beitràge, I, p. 13), take de hère as par, construing the Une, " Est-ce trop l'acheter que (l'acheter) par une triste vie ? "

1200 vous charment : bring you tinder their spell. Cf. note on 254.

1208 Decius claimed descent from the two famous Romans, Decius Mus, father and son, who sacrificed themselves to save the army in 340 B.c. and 295 B.c. respectively.

1215 Tout beau: Gently. Common in C. ; used also by Jodelle and Malherbe ; now familiar style only.

1224 lieu: opportunity.

1226 II m'ôte des périls : he préserves me from the périls ; lit. " removes me." Cf. Cid, 397, Boileau, Satires, IV, 108, and Pascal, Pensées, éd. Havet, Art. X, i : " cela les ôte de blâme."

1228 entrant dans la carrière: when I hâve but just enter ed the lists, i.e. hâve just become a Christian. Cf. 1230 and note on 664.

1235 Cruel: " Il me sembla que ce couplet est tendre, animé, douloureux, naturel et très à sa place." (V.) " C'est ici que se termine la première partie de la scène. ... Ce Cruel est le mot important, le mot caractéristique," (Sarcey.)

1237-1291 Pauline generally uses vous to both Polyeucte and Félix, but she uses tu under the stress of strong émotion. Cf. 1 592-1 607 and 1719-1746.

1238 sentiments: tenderness-, so in 1242.

1248 la : i.e. joie ; the rule of modem syntax, already formulated by Vaugelas, — that a definite pronoun may not refer to an unmodified noun, — is frequently disregarded in the seventeenth century. Cf. M.-L., T. I, p. xlii, and H., § 5.

1254 Encor : Even so.

1265 conjugal amour: so in P Illusion, 1488. conjugal would follow amour now. Cf. H., § 155, B.

1274 de : = avec ox par.

1280 Cf. 113-114.

1285 Imaginations! Idle dreams ! On 1 285-1 286, and on lyricism in gênerai in C, cf. Lanson, Corneille, pp. 152-157.

1291 Commenting on this scène, Chateaubriand says: "Voilà ces admirables dialogues, à la manière de Corneille, où la franchise de la repartie, la rapidité du tour et la hauteur des sentiments ne manquent jamais de ravir le spectateur. Que Polyeucte est sublime ! Quelle grandeur d'âme, quel divin enthousiasme, quelle dignité ! " — Génie du christianisme. Ile Partie, L. III, ch. viii.

1296 A ma seule prière: solely at my entreaty. Seul is often best rendered by an adverb.

129'i incivilité: in summoning Sévère instead of going to him, The unity of place would of course require this. Cf. note on 1076.

1304 adoré : venerated. Cf. Nicomède, 1387.

1306 With this much-discussed action of Polyeucte's giving up Pauline, compare the closely analogous situation in Théodore^ 1 595-1600. Didyme, the speaker, about to suffer martyrdom, has rescued Théodore, the heroine, whom he loves and whom Placide also loves : Si pourtant elle croit me devoir quelque chose, Et peut avant ma mort souffrir que j'en dispose, Qu'elle paye à Placide, et tâche à conserver Des jours que par les miens je lui viens de sauver, Qu'elle fuie avec lui, c'est tout ce que veut d'elle Le souvenir mourant d'une flamme si belle.

1314 confus : ashamed. — aveuglement : delusion.

1318 Aurait pu : for logical pour pouvoir or pour avoir pu, corrélative to assez.

1328 services: suit\ more literally "attentions." So used by Malherbe and M.

1333 sent: literally, " smacks of " ; translate r^^raZ/j-. Cf. 1516.

1334 Ne pousse quelque suite: may hâve some resuit.

1336 Mon Polyeucte : the use of the affectionate possessive indicates Pauline's growing love for Polyeucte.

1345-1346 son, sa: i.e. Polyeucte's.

1351 j' . . . parole: translate, / will even affirm. parole seems to hâve hère the unusual meaning of "affirmation." Notice that the rhyme-word is not infrequently somewhat vague : cf. 94, 448, 469, 701.

1353 employez- vous : exert yourself.

1354 Faites- vous un effort : ybrr^ ^f?ï/rj^^ Modem "Faites un effort sur vous-même." Cf. 1596, 1600, 1689.

1361-1362 toucher, cher: the so-called "Norman rhyme," between a Word with a final r now silent, and one with a final r now sounded. The name is a misnomer, for such rhymes occur not only in Norman poets like Malherbe and C, but in Old French, in Mairet, M., La Fontaine, R., V., and even, by poetic license, in Hugo and Baudelaire. The validity of such rhymes was questioned as early as the fifteenth century. It is very difficult to say how the words were pronounced in C.'s time. The testimony of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century grammarians is confusing and contradictory. Usage doubtless varied at différent times in the century, and in différent provinces. In C.'s native Normandy, -r seems to hâve been generally silent. At Paris, in conversation, -r was silent not only in -er infinitives, but in -ir infinitives and some other words. But in verse and any sort of "discours soutenu"

the -r was pronounced, especially before a vowel and at the end of the verse, according to Vaugelas, Ménage, Chapelain, Richelet, Hindret, and Mourgues. In Le Boulanger de Chalussay's Élomire Hypocondre (1670), A. III, se. ii, the précieuse Alphée, who always substitutes / for r, says tlouvel, admilel^ etc. This would indicate that -r was sounded in -er infinitives. — The quality of the e is even harder to détermine. It would naturally be close before silent -r and open before sounded -r. But e seems to hâve been sometimes close in the latter case, at least down to 1625. On the other hand, several grammarians, including Vaugelas, State explicitly that -er in infinitives was pronounced -air. Note that enfer rhymes both with triompher (1653-1654) and with sert (La Fontaine, Contes, L. II, i). It is to be noted that in seven of the eight such rhymes appearing in C. the vowel is preceded by identical consonants. On the stage of the Comédie Française to-day, Mounet-Sully (Polyeucte) and M^^e Segond-Weber (Pauline) pronounce both words in modem fashion, sacrificing the rhyme. Perhaps the safest gênerai conclusion is Professor Tobler's : " Wir sehen hier immer nicht vollig klar." The fullest discussion is in Ch. Thurot, De la Prononciation française depuis le commencement du XVI' siècle, T. I, pp. 55-62. Cf. also Tobler's Versbau, p. 138 (4th éd.), and Quicherat, Traité de versification, p. 338. 1367 Qu'est-ce-ci : " C'est la vraie orthographe de cette locution, non qu'est-ceci? comme on écrit souvent. Le sens est qu'est-ce ici? Qu'estce qui se passe ici ? Au lieu que : Qu'est-ceci ? signifie : Qu'est-ce que c'est que ceci ? " (P. de J.) Cf. Mélite, 18 17, Galerie du Palais, 15 13, etc. Cf. the corresponding form •' Qu'est-ce-là ? " which has survived.

1371 à . . . obstinée: bent upon my harm.

1372 Tranche: lit. "puts an end to"; translate blights. 1378 vœux: cf. note on 132.

1394 injurieux : unjust; so used in Malherbe and R., and commonly in C. ; rarely so now.

1401 vers lui: in his eyes. Vers is used very commonly by C, R., and M. for envers and auprès de.

1405-1406 Je suis encore Sévère, etc. : with this emphatic assertion of individuality and self-reliance compare note on 166 and Médée, 320- 321 : " Dans un si grand revers que vous reste-t-il .-* — Moi : Moi, dis-je, et c'est assez."

1411 avec : = en.

1419 Cérès or Demeter (" Mother Earth") was worshiped especially at Eleusis, on the bay of Salamis, where the " Eleusinian mysteries " were celebrated. — la Bonne Déesse : Bona Dea, a Roman

divinity, worshiped by women. From her festival rites ail men were rigorously excluded.

1423 The worship of Egyptian deities in Rome datefe from the Second Punie War. It was frequently forbidden by edict, but without avail.

1425 sang: translate descendants. Cf. 1072 and Cinna, 60.

1426-1428 The worship of the emperors, before and after their death, probably rose from a merging of the idea of the impérial genius, tutelary god of the empire, with the person of the emperor himself. From Julius Caesar to Constantine, some sixty persons were apotheosized. In some cases, e.g. with Caesar and Marcus Aurelius, the apotheosis was taken seriously ; of ten it became a mère matter of form. Cf. L. Friedlànder, Sittengeschichte Roms, W\^^ Theil, IV, i.

1434 pour être : = pour qu'ils soient. Cf. 1458 and 1593 ; M.-L., T. I, p. liv ; and H., §85, D, The reflections in 1432-1434 had occurred to many heathen philosophers. Cf. " Quare igitur plures adjungimus deos ? quanta autem est eorum multitudo ? mihi quidem sane multi videntur." (Cicero, De natura deortim, L. III, xvi.) The first four Unes of the variant, suppressed by C. for fear that unbelievers might tum them against Christianity, were restored in the sceptical eighteenth century and rapturously applauded at the theater.