Synopsis
Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1824. Excerpt: ... presents us with a very great idea: it cannot fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth. But it must be observed, that if this line had but the smallest ray of verisimilitude--had it really its birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness. Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hymenee Pour le bonlieur de Rome h Cesar m'eut donnee, Et si j'eusse avec moi porte dans ta maison D'un aslre envenime l'invincible poison ! Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine : Je te I'ai deja dit, Cesar, je suis Romaine; Et, quoique ta captive, un ccour tel que le mien, De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien.--Id. Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials Given me to Cspsar for the good of Rome-- Had 1 but carried with me to thy house The mortal venom of a noxious star ! For think not, after all, my hate is less : Already have I told thee 1 am Roman ; And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine, Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing. This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the Pharsalia, that she had married Caesar : Atque utinam in thalamos invisi Csesaris essem Infelix conjux, et nullo la?ta 'marito ! Lib. viii. v. 88,89. Ah ! wherefore was I not much rather led A fatal bride to Coesar's hated bed, &c. Rowe. This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic and puerile: but at least it is not to Caesar that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan. Corneille, on the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Caesar himself: he makes her say that she wishes to be his wife, in order that she may carry into his house ' the mortal poison of a noxious star;' for (adds she) my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee already that I am Roman, and I sue for nothing. Here is odd reasoning:--I would fain have married thee, to cause thy de...
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About the Author
Voltaire (1694 - 1778) became known in Paris for his satires and odes, and his frist tragedy Oedipe was performed with great success. He was imprisoned in the Bastille twice in his life and after the second time spent time in England (1726 - 29). He returned to France, but his political opinions meant he was never really safe there and he eventually settled in Geneva, where he remained until near the end of his life and wrote his most famous works, including Candide.
Theodore Beterman is the founder and director of the Institut et Musee Voltaire, and author of the standard biography on Voltaire.
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