The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria: A Drama of Early Christian RomeCalderón de la Barca, Pedro
Religion
The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria: A Drama of Early Christian Rome
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro
Christian martyrs -- Italy -- Rome -- Drama
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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