The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (classic books for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

thousand ills endured. Daria too, the same, But in a house my tongue declines to name. It pleased the God they both adore Both to their freedom strangely to restore, And from their many pains To free them, and to break their galling chains, Giving Daria, as attendant squire, A roaring lion, rolling eyes of fire:- In fine the two have fled, But each apart by separate instinct led To this wild mountain near. Numerianus coming then to hear Of the event, assuming in his wrath, That 't was Polemius who had oped the path Of freedom for his son and for the maid, Has not an hour delayed, But follows them with such a numerous band, That, see, his squadrons cover all the land.

VOICES (within). Scour the whole plain.

OTHERS (within).
Descend into the vale.

OTHERS (within). Pierce the thick wood.

OTHERS (within).
The rugged mountain scale.

ESCARPIN. This noise, these cries, confirm what I have said: And since by curiosity I 'm led To sift the matter to the bottom, I Will follow with the rest.

CYNTHIA.
I almost die With fear at the alarm, and yet so great Is my desire to know Daria's fate, And that of young Chrysanthus, that I too Will follow, if a woman so may do.

ESCARPIN. What strange results such strange events produce! The very wonder serves as an excuse.

NISIDA. Well, we must only hope that it is so. Come, Cynthia, let us follow her.

CYNTHIA.
Let us go.

ESCARPIN. And I with love most fervent, Ladies, will be your very humble servant. [Exeunt.


SCENE IV.-A wilder part of the wood near the cave.


(Enter DARIA guided by the lion.)

DARIA. O mighty lion, whither am I led? Where wouldst thou guide me with thy stately tread, That seems to walk not on the earth, but air? But lo! he has entered there Where yonder cave its yawning mouth lays bare,

[The lion enters a cave.]

Leaving me here alone. But now fate clears, and all will soon be known; For if I read aright The signs this desert gives unto my sight, It is the very place whence echo gave Responsive music from this mystic cave. Terror and wonder both my senses scare, Ah! whither shall I go?

CHRYSANTHUS (within).
Daria fair!

DARIA. Who calls my hapless name? Each leaf that moves doth thrill this wretched frame With boding and with dread. But why say wretched? I had better said Thrice bless`ed: O great God whom I adore, Baptize me in those tears that I outpour, In no more fitting form can I declare My faith and hope in thee.

CHRYSANTHUS (within).
Daria fair.

DARIA. Who calls my name? who wakes those wild alarms?

(Enter Chrysanthus.)

CHRYSANTHUS. Belov`ed bride, 't is one to whom thy charms Are even less dear than is thy soul, ah! me, One who would live and who will die with thee.

DARIA. Belov`ed spouse, my heart could not demand Than thus to see thee near, to clasp thy hand, A sweeter solace for my long dismay, And all the awful wonders of this day. Hear the surprising tale, And thou wilt know . . .

VOICES (within).
Search hill.

OTHERS.
And plain.

OTHERS.
And vale.

CHRYSANTHUS. Hush! the troops our fight pursuing Have the forest precincts entered.[17]

DARIA. What then shall I do, Chrysanthus?

CHRYSANTHUS. Keep thy faith, thy life surrender:-

DARIA. I a thousand lives would offer: Since to God I 'm so indebted That I 'll think myself too happy If 't is given for Him.

POLEMIUS (within).
This centre Of the mountain, whence the sun Scarcely ever is reflected- This dark cavern sure must hold them. Let us penetrate its entrails, So that here the twain may die.

DARIA. One thing only is regretted By me, in my life thus losing, I am not baptized.

CHRYSANTHUS.
Reject then That mistrust; in blood and fire[18] Martyrdom the rite effecteth:-

(Enter Polemius and Soldiers.)

POLEMIUS. Here, my soldiers, here they are, And the hand that death presents them Must be mine, that none may think I a greater love could cherish For my son than for my gods. And as I desire, when wendeth Hither great Numerianus, That he find them dead, arrest them On the spot, and fling them headlong Into yonder cave whose centre Is a fathomless abyss:- And since one sole love cemented Their two hearts in life, in death In one sepulchre preserve them.

CHRYSANTHUS. Oh! how joyfully I die!

DARIA. And I also, since the sentence Gives to me the full assurance Of a happiness most certain On the day this darksome cave Doth entomb me in its centre. (They are cast into the abyss.)

POLEMIUS. Cover the pit's mouth with stones. (A sudden storm of thunder and lightning: Enter Numerianus, Claudius, Aurelius, and others.

NUMERIANUS. What can have produced this tempest?

POLEMIUS. When within the cave they threw them, Dark eclipse o'erspread the heavens.

CLAUDIUS. Shadowy shapes, phantasmal shadows Are upon the wind projected.

CYNTHIA. Lightnings like swift birds of fire Dart along with burning tresses.

CLAUDIUS. Lo! an earthquake's awful shudder Makes the very mountains tremble.

POLEMIUS. Yes, the solid ground upheaveth, And the mighty rock descendeth O'er our heads.

NISIDA.
While on the instant Dulcet voices soft and tender Issue from the cave's abysses.

NUMERIANUS. Rome to-day strange sights presenteth, When a grave exhibits gladness, And the sun displays resentment.

(A choir of angels is heard singing from within the cave.) "Happy day, and happy doom, May the gladsome world exclaim, When the darksome cave became Saint Daria's sacred tomb". (A great rock falls from the mountain, and covers the tomb, over it is seen an angel.)

ANGEL. This great cave which holds to-day In its breast so great a treasure, Never shall by foot be trodden;- Thus it is I 've sealed and settled This great mass of rock upon it, Which doth shut it up for ever. And in order that their ashes On the wind be ne'er dispers`ed, But while time itself endureth Shall be honoured and respected, This brief epitaph, this simple Line shall tell this simple legend To the ages that come after: "Here the bodies are preserv`ed Of Chrysanthus and Daria, The two lover-saints of Heaven".

CLAUDIUS. Wherefore humbly we entreat Pardon for our many errors.


3. The whole of the first scene is in 'asonante' verse, the vowels being i, e, as in "restrIctEd", "drIftlEss", "hIddEn", etc. These vowels, or their equivalents in sound, will be found pretty accurately represented in the last two syllables of every alternate line throughout the scene, which ends at p. 25, and where the verse changes into the full consonant rhyme.

4. The resemblance between certain parts of Goethe's Faust and The Wonder-Working Magician of Calderon has been frequently alluded to, and has given rise to a good deal of discussion. In the controversy as to how much the German poet was indebted to the Spanish, I do not recollect any reference to The Two Lovers of Heaven. The following passage, however, both in its spirit and language, presents a singular likeness to the more elaborate discussion of the same difficulty in the text. The scene is in Faustus's study. Faustus, as in the present play, takes up a volume of the New Testament, and thus proceeds:

"IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD". Alas! The first line stops me: how shall I proceed? "The word" cannot express the meaning here. I must translate the passage differently, If by the spirit I am rightly guided. Once more,-"IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE THOUGHT".- Consider the first line attentively, Lest hurrying on too fast, you lose the meaning. Was it then Thought that has created all things? Can thought make matter? Let us try the line Once more,-"IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE POWER"- This will not do-even while I write the phrase, I feel its faults-oh! help me, holy Spirit, I 'll weigh the passage once again, and write Boldly,-"IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE ACT".
Anster's "Faustus", Francfort ed., 1841, p. 63.

5. The same line of argument is worked out with wonderful subtlety of thought and beauty of poetical expression by Calderon, in one of the finest of his Autos Sacramentales, "The Sacred Parnassus". Autos Sacramentales, tom. vi. p. 10.

6. The metre reverts here again to the asonante form, which is kept up for the remainder of this act. The vowels here used are e, e, or their equivalents.

7. "This Clytie knew, and knew she was undone,
Whose soul was fix'd, and doted on the sun".
OVID, Metamorphoses, b. iv.

8. In the whole of this scene the asonante vowels are a-e, or their equivalents.

9. The asonante in e-e, recommences here, and continues until the entry of Chrysanthus.

10. The metre changes to the asonante in a-e for the remainder of this Act.

11. The asonante in this scene is generally in o-e, o-o, o-a, which are nearly all alike in sound. In the second scene the asonante is in a-e, as in "scAttEr", etc.

12. See note referring to the auto, "The Sacred Parnassus", Act 1, p. 21.

13. The asonante changes here into five-lined stanzas in ordinary rhyme. Three lines rhyme one way and two the other. Poems in this metre are called