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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow ACT I. - The Works of Voltaire, Vol. IX The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Alzire, Orestes, Sémiramis, Catiline, Pandora) and Part II (The Scotch Woman, Nanine, The Prude, The Tatler).

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Subject Area: Literature

ACT I. - Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. IX The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Alzire, Orestes, Sémiramis, Catiline, Pandora) and Part II (The Scotch Woman, Nanine, The Prude, The Tatler). [1901]

Edition used:

From The Works of Voltaire, A Contemporary Version, (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901), A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming. Vol. IX The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Alzire, Orestes, Sémiramis, Catiline, Pandora) and Part II (The Scotch Woman, Nanine, The Prude, The Tatler).

Part of: The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.

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Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


ACT I.

The scene represents a fine country, with mountains at a distance.

SCENE I.

prometheus, chorus of nymphs, pandora.

[At the farther end of the stage, lying down in an alcove.

prometheus.

  • In vain, Pandora, do I call on thee,
  • My lovely work; alas! thou hearest me not,
  • All stranger as thou art to thy own charms,
  • And to Prometheus’ love: the heart I formed
  • Is still insensible; thy eyes are void
  • Of motion; still the ruthless power of Jove
  • Denies thee life, and drives me to despair:
  • Whilst nature breathes around thee, and the birds
  • In tender notes express their passion, thou
  • Art still inanimate; death holds thee still
  • Beneath his cruel empire.

SCENE II.

prometheus, the titans, enceladus, typhon, etc.

enceladus and typhon.

  • Child of Earth
  • And Heaven, thy cries have raised the forest; speak;
  • Who amongst the gods hath wronged Prometheus?

prometheus.

  • [Pointing to Pandora.
  • Jove
  • Is jealous of my work divine; he fears
  • That altars will be raised to my Pandora;
  • He cannot bear to see the earth adorned
  • With such a peerless object; he denies
  • To grant her life, and makes my woes eternal.

typhon.

  • That proud usurper Jove did ne’er create
  • Our nobler souls; life, and its sacred flame,
  • Come not from him.

enceladus.

  • [Pointing to his brother Typhon.
  • We are the sons of Night
  • And Tartarus:
  • To thee, eternal night, we pray,
  • Thou wert long before the day;
  • Let then to Janarus Olympus yield.

typhon.

  • Let the unrelenting Jove
  • Join the jealous gods above;
  • Life and all its blessings flow
  • From hell, and from the gods below.

prometheus and the two titans.

  • Come from the centre, gods of night profound,
  • And animate her beauty; let your power
  • Assist our bold emprize!

prometheus.

  • Your voice is heard,
  • The day looks pale, and the astonished earth
  • Shakes from its deep foundations: Erebus
  • Appears before us.
  • [The scene changing represents chaos; all the gods of hell come upon the stage.]

chorus of infernal deities.

  • Light is hateful to our eyes,
  • Jove and heaven we despise;
  • The guilty race, as yet unborn, must go
  • With us to hell’s profoundest depths below.

nemesis.

  • The waves of Lethe, and the flames of hell,
  • Shall ravage all: speak, whom must Janarus
  • In its dark womb embrace?

prometheus.

  • I love the earth,
  • And would not hurt it: to that beauteous object
  • [Pointing to Pandora
  • Have I given birth; but Jove denies it power
  • To breathe, to think, to love, and to be happy.

the three parcæ.

  • All our glory, and our joy,
  • Is to hurt, and to destroy;
  • Heaven alone can give it breath,
  • We can nought bestow but death.

prometheus.

  • Away then, ye destroyers, ye are not
  • The deities Prometheus shall adore;
  • Hence to your gloomy seats, ye hateful powers,
  • And leave the world in peace.

nemesis.

  • Tremble thou, for thou shalt prove
  • Soon the fatal power of love:
  • We will unchain the fiends of war,
  • And death’s destructive gates unbar.
  • [The infernal deities disappear, and the country resumes its verdure: the nymphs of the woods range themselves on each side of the stage.]

prometheus.

  • [To the Titans.
  • Why would ye call forth from their dark abyss
  • The foes of nature, to obscure the light
  • Of these fair regions?
  • From hell Pandora never shall receive
  • That flame divine which only heaven should give.

enceladus.

  • Since, good Prometheus, ’tis thy dear delight
  • To scatter blessings o’er this new abode,
  • Thou best deservest to be its master: haste
  • To yon blest regions, and snatch thence the flame
  • Celestial, form a soul, and be thyself
  • The great Creator.

prometheus.

  • Love’s in heaven; he reigns
  • O’er all the gods: I’ll throw his darts around,
  • And light up his fierce fires: he is my god,
  • And will assist Prometheus.

chorus of nymphs.

  • Fly to the immortal realms above,
  • And penetrate the throne of Jove;
  • The world to thee shall altars raise,
  • And millions celebrate thy praise.

End of the First Act.