The Magnificent Lovers | Page 3

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_, by itself, _E; r, i, ri, Eri; p, h, y, phy, Eriphy; l, e, le,
Eriphyle_. You are in love with the Princess Eriphyle.
SOS. Ah! Clitidas, I cannot conceal my trouble from you, and you
crush me with this blow.
CLI. You see how clever I am!
SOS. Alas! if anything has revealed to you the secret of my heart, I
beseech you to tell it to no one; and, above all things, to keep it secret
from the fair princess whose name you have just mentioned.
CLI. But, to speak seriously, if for awhile I have read in your actions
the love you wish to keep secret, do you think that the Princess
Eriphyle 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 sighs is understood by those to whom it is addressed
sooner than by anybody else.

SOS. Leave her, Clitidas, leave her to read, if she can, in my sighs and
looks the love with which her beauty has inspired me; but let us be
careful not to let her find it out in any other way.
CLI. And what is it you dread? Is it possible that this same Sostratus,
who feared neither Brennus 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?
SOS. Ah! Clitidas, I do not tremble without a cause; and all the Gauls
in the world would seem to me less to be feared than those two
beautiful eyes full of charms.
CLI. I am not of the same opinion, and I know, as far as I am concerned,
that one single Gaul, sword 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?
SOS. To die without telling my love.
CLI. A 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 a goddess, I would tell
her of my passion at once.
SOS. Alas! too many things condemn my love to an eternal silence.
CLI. But what?
SOS. The lowness of my birth, by which it pleased heaven to humble
the ambition of my love; the princess's rank, which puts between her
and my desires such an impassable barrier. The rivalry of two princes
who can back the offer of their heart by the highest titles; two princes
who offer the most magnificent entertainments by turn to her whose
heart they strive to win, and between whom it is expected every
moment that she will make a choice. Besides all this, Clitidas, there is
the inviolable respect to which she subjugates the violence of my love.
CLI. 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.
SOS. Ah! pray do not, out of pity, flatter the heart of a miserable lover.
CLI. I do not say it without good reasons. She is a long time postponing
the choice of a husband, and I must try and discover a little more about

all this. You know that I enjoy a kind of favour 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 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....
SOS. Oh! for heaven's sake, however much you may pity my
misfortune, Clitidas, he 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....
CLI. Hush! they are all Coming.

SCENE II.--ARISTIONE, IPHICRATES, TIMOCLES, SOSTRATUS
ANAXARCHUS, CLEON,