"The Romance of Astrea and Celadon" "In 1610, Honore d'Urfe wrote of a band of shepherds living in 5th-century Gaul, far from Roman civilization." "B82" "We portray these Gauls as 17th-century readers imagined them." "Sadly, we have had to move their story from the Forez plain, now disfigured by urban blight and conifer plantations, to another part of France whose scenery has retained its wild poetry and bucolic charm." "Fair Astrea, what keeps you away from the feast?" "The fear of vexing my beloved Celadon's parents, who hate my own." "Celadon isn't afraid to be there." "He's there to honour his parents." "To please Amyntha, even more!" "He's only pretending to like her." "I ordered him to." "In that case, he's obeying you well." "Come." "If his parents see you with me, they'll think you no longer love him." "It's what he wants." "Celadon is making merry!" "For his parents." "Let's be seen dancing." "I've seen enough." "I'm off." "Wait." "Let's follow them." "Enough." "Let's go back." "If we were really lovers, we would daily longer." "Let's go." "Come, my love." "What are they up to?" "God, no!" "You've seen enough." "The next day" "Astrea!" "Astrea!" "Astrea!" "Astrea!" "Astrea!" "Can't you hear me?" "Can't you hear?" "Look at me." "Answer me." "It's bold of you to face me after wronging me." "Go cheat some other girl." "Find one who does not know about your trickery." "My trickery?" "Are you trying to test me?" "Or drive me to despair?" "Neither." "It's the truth!" "It's common knowledge." "It is false." "Be quiet." "I can prove it." "I saw you myself!" "At the feast?" "With Amyntha?" "You know it was a sham." "A sham?" "You two, behind a tree?" "You told me to..." "Be quiet!" "It was Amyntha's idea." "Don't lie." "I saw you." "Listen." "Be gone, deceiver." "Stay out of my sight forever." "Do you hear?" "Forever." "Unless I bid you otherwise." "Shepherdess!" "Listen!" "Let me speak." "Do as I say." "You want me dead." "Listen!" "Look at me!" "Let me go!" "I'll drown myself at once." "Celadon!" "Celadon!" "Celadon!" "Celadon!" "Celadon!" "Where's Celadon?" "I saw him jump in." "He was swept away towards the gorge." "Should I tell his brother?" "Go get him." "Downstream, below the gorge..." "Did you see anything?" "No." "Let us move on." "This is the spot." "See how the river bends, exactly as the druid showed us in his mirror." "There he is!" "Is he asleep?" "Is he dead?" "He's still warm." "How handsome he is!" "He's the one the druid told me of." "Take him to the castle." "We'll slip in by a back door, unseen." "No sign of him." "We searched both banks, down to the plain." "He must have drowned." "Fair shepherdess, what misery!" "For both of us, for I have lost a brother and you have lost a selfless lover." "Do you not speak?" "Have you not wept?" "Can it be that his death has not moved you to even one tear?" "It hurts, believe me, to see you unmoved by the loss of a devoted lover, as if he were a stranger." "Yes, Lycidas." "I grieve for your brother but not his love." "It was shared by so many other girls, they must be as sad as I." "You astound me." "Did he offend you?" "Everyone knows but you." "Ask any shepherdess." "Celadon loved far and wide." "Suffice it to say that I myself saw him yesterday, fondling Amyntha at the feast." "I know." "I was there." "It was a pretence!" "He was forcing himself." "He said he would rather die!" "False words." "Be quiet!" "Now I know what killed my brother." "Yourjealousy." "You doubted his word so he killed himself." "Am I wrong?" "Say something!" "Yes, I doubted him." "Can I help it?" "Believe what you like but I'm in no doubt." "Yesterday, after the dance, he carved a poem on a tree beyond the great meadow." "If you condescend to look, you will recognize his writing." "You know it well." "See for yourself." "Shall I come too?" "I'll go alone." "Well, Phyllis." "How does she strike you?" "My brother loved her faithfully but she, on a whim of groundless hate and jealousy, drove him away in such despair that he wanted to die." "Good God!" "What are you saying, Lycidas?" "Can she have done such a terrible wrong?" "Definitely." "She admitted only part, but the rest is easily deduced." "You should know that from now on, as my brother loved her, so I shall abhor her." "'I could against myself conspire, deny my heart's desire, and score a victory by claiming to love nobody..." "But to pretend that I adore another woman's conquering eye" "as I truly do love yours, would be too great a lie." "If I must, then let me die" "and let my death be nigh.'" "Celadon!" "Forgive me." "Forgive me for doubting you." "How your words stab into my soul!" "How great the cost of doubting your fidelity!" "Gods in heaven, give me the courage to join him in death!" "Who is this?" "Astrea, Madame." "And he is Celadon, a shepherd, but of high birth." "His parents are Alcippus and Amaryllis." "The same Alcippus who smote the mighty Visigoths?" "He is a shepherd, not by force of need, but to earn his rest by honest work." "God, he is handsome!" "Let him recover his strength." "Sylvia, look after him." "What say you, Leonida?" "By showing me the shepherd in his mirror, was the druid not extremely wise?" "True, he showed you the very spot where you found the shepherd but not the shepherd himself." "He said only that you would find a priceless object there." "What else could it be but him?" "The druid also said, remember," "'The first to see the other will be the first to love.'" "I saw him first and I seem to feel a twinkle of love for him." "Madame, would you love a shepherd?" "Have you forgotten who you are?" "I remember, Leonida." "But shepherds are men, just as much as druids and knights, and every inch as noble since they all share the same lineage." "So, if this shepherd is well-born, why shouldn't he be as worthy of me as any man?" "But he is still a shepherd, clothe him as you will." "He is honourable, call him what you will!" "But Madame, you are such a great nymph." "Lady of all these lands." "Have you the courage to love a shepherd?" "A commoner?" "A rustic?" "A pauper?" "Enough insults, my dear." "Celadon is awake!" "I heard him sigh behind the curtain." "Let us go." "#The sun shone so full upon his bed# #that he was bedazzled# #and knew not where he was. #" "Where am I?" "Am I dead?" "#Remembering his fall# #and believing he was dead, # #he could only guess# #that Cupid had lifted him to heaven# #to reward his fidelity. #" "#His misperception grew# #when his eyesight recovered# #and he saw two paintings on the walls. #" "#One showed Saturn half-lying# #on a wall with a scythein his right hand. #" "#Hope, robed in green, and Cupid# #tried to pull off his wings# #while a garlanded Venus tugged at his hair. #" "#The other showed Psyche# #dripping hot oil# #onto a sleeping Cupid. #" "I'm with the gods!" "Are you the three graces?" "We brought you here to nurse you back to health." "We found you in the river and carried you here." "Do you remember we met in your village at the feast of Venus?" "Fair nymph, I may be too weak to recall it." "Has your ordeal made you forget that after you won the footrace," "I, Sylvia, awarded you the garland, which you placed on Astrea's head?" "Everyone was amazed, knowing your kin have been at odds ever since your mother was courted by both your father and Astrea's." "That's very true." "But how can I be with such great nymphs?" "I, a humble shepherd, and you, divine offspring." "The Romans say that when this plain was underwater," "Diana lived here with her naiads." "When the waters withdrew, the naiads retired to the ocean." "Diana replaced them with the daughters of druids and knights." "She named them 'nymphs' and left them in charge of these lands." "They may even marry, as long as no man ever succeeds them." "Do not be surprised that I tend you." "Wherever virtue is found, it deserves to be loved and honoured, be it clothed in rustic drab or royal purple." "You are doing justice to your food." "I feel better." "I hope to take my leave within two days." "How so?" "Do I nurse you so poorly that you would leave before you have recovered?" "I'm afraid to incommode you." "I must go home to reassure my family and frends." "I am not incommoded, as long as you are accommodated." "As for your family and friends, without me, you would be lost forever." "Forget your village and sheep and raise your eyes to me in future." "Did you hear me?" "Yes, Madame." "But my wits are still confused." "In that case," "I shall wait." "What's the matter?" "No more appetite?" "This place spoils it." "But we care only for your welfare." "Fair nymph..." "I am as wretched as can be." "People in pain have the comfort of pity." "I cannot expect pity since my misery hides behind its opposite." "If you and Galatea knew how bitter is the cup that feeds me," "though any other man would find it sweet," "I warrant you would pity me." "What would comfort you?" "To be allowed to leave." "Shall I speak to Galatea?" "I wish you would." "Has he finished his meal?" "I left him eating hungrily." "You spoiled his appetite." "I told him he was better off here than anywhere." "He has not the wit to know it." "What can you expect from a rustic?" "Our difference in rank awes him, I suppose." "It is idiocy, not awe." "Your perfection uplifts him but his lowliness drags him down." "It's no surprise." "Apple trees bear apples, oaks bear acorns." "Nature reproduces itself." "He seems pledged to this Astrea." "He loves her." "But if he had any wits, would he not prefer you?" "You deserve it so much more." "Whenever I mention you, he says how much he misses Astrea." "Earlier, I heard him sigh and asked him why." "His answer would have moved a rock to pity." "In short, he asked me to beg you to release him." "Admit it, Leonida." "He moved you." "Yes, he moved me to pity." "It seems to me, since he craves to leave, you should not hold him back." "You can't whip love into a heart." "He made you feel more than pity." "Enough of this." "He will leave when I want him to!" "But Madame..." "Enough, Leonida!" "My mind is made up!" "You were right." "This house seems free and open but it is a prison." "She said you will not leave until she says so." "I'd rather die." "I wish I had drowned!" "I shall try again." "Sylvia!" "Go tell Galatea." "Think of your grief if he dies in your care!" "He won't." "He is young." "We'll take good care of him." "All is well!" "He was too weak to stand up." "But once he is up, how can we stop him drowning himself?" "We're three." "He's weak." "Not for much longer." "If you would care to leave it to me," "I'll smuggle him to my Uncle Adamas, the chief druid." "I told you." "He stays!" "Meanwhile..." "#I could against myself conspire, # #deny my heart's desire, #" "#and score a victory# #by claiming to love nobody... #" "#But to pretend that I adore# #another woman's conquering eye#" "#as I truly do love yours, # #would be too great a lie. #" "#If I must, then let me die# #and let my death be nigh. #" "Cruel shepherdess!" "Still weeping?" "How long must you shun us young shepherds" "for one who is gone?" "Learn to love the living, not the dead." "Let them rest." "Don't mix their ashes with tears." "Be quiet!" "Would you have Celadon die twice?" "Since his death, he lives on in my affections." "I will carry his memory to my grave." "I swear it by the gods!" "Go, if that's all you can say!" "I'm glad you no longer blame Celadon." "Before, I said you wept too little but now I fear you weep too much." "Too much?" "I'll never cry enough to wash away my deadly error." "Semyrus is to blame for making Celadon jealou." "Was he bothering you just now?" "I want to weep alone." "Who is that singing?" "Is it Hylas?" "It's him." "Let's go see." "Come with us." "No, let me weep." "#..." "Stifling all manly qualms#" "#Weeping like a babe in arms#" "#Over some lost apple?" "#" "#Surely we should call this sad man#" "#Not a perfect lover, but a madman#" "#If I am scorned, I simply leave#" "#The heartless one to her devices#" "#And before a new sun rises#" "#I find myself another Eve#" "#Only a fool ever strove#" "#To force the hand of love#" "#Look at faithful paramours!" "#" "#They are always groaning#" "#Tears, regrets and moaning#" "#Are the best their love procures#" "#It seems that, to be a lover, #" "#All you need to do is blubber!" "#" "#If I had to weep#" "#For every mistress I have lost#" "#I would have to weep for longer#" "#Than my whole lifetime!" "#" "If you did as I do, you'd weep for only one." "If you did as I do, you'd never weep at all!" "There speaks a heart incapable of love." "How so?" "Love desires nothing but itself." "It is its own centre." "Therefore, it seeks contentment in itself, inside its own circle that begins and ends everywhere, starting where it stops." "A fine speech!" "But as for me, I think your words are like the fables that women use to lull the unwary." "Love desires only itself, you say." "Not true!" "The opposite is obvious." "We desire what we do not have." "If you understood how the infinite power of love makes two people one, and one two... you'd know that a lover desires what is part of him." "If you understood how lover and beloved, reciprocally, become one person, while still being lover and beloved and therefore two, then you would grasp what is beyond you." "You would admit that loving his beloved and being loved, the lover loves himself." "You have just proved that two wrongs don't make a right!" "In trying to convince me, you propose even wilder ideas." "A lover becomes his beloved?" "Are you then Phyllis?" "By loving her, yes, I become her." "You're Phyllis!" "Why aren't you wearing her dress?" "A well-behaved shepherdess shouldn't dress up as a man." "Let me enlighten you." "When we are in love, what loves is the soul, not the body." "The soul changes into the beloved." "But I love the body!" "As well as the soul!" "The soul is the part I care least about." "The body is only an instrument." "If Phyllis's body is only an instrument, take Phyllis and leave me the rest." "We'll see who is happier, you or I." "#Far from me the idiocy#" "#That leads only to sorrow#" "#Learning much from others' woe#" "#I am always fancy-free#" "#And I could not care less#" "#If they call me faithless. #" "Days went by..." "Tell me, shepherd." "Of all grave offences, is not ingratitude the worst?" "It is." "Certainly." "And yet you repay all my affection with coldness and disdain." "Madame, what you call ingratitude, my heart calls duty." "If you wish, I will tell you why." "No doubt you love another and feel bound by loyalty." "But nature's law has primacy." "It commands you to seek your own good." "What is better for you than my affection?" "Only fools are swayed by notions of fidelity." "Nature's laws would never have us gain by shameful means." "Is any act more shameful, more fickle, than to flit like a bee from flower to flower?" "Madame..." "If fidelity is no more, what can I expect from your affection?" "Won't my flat chest show?" "You'll be wearing a shawl." "Have you dressed as a girl before?" "No." "Well, Celadon." "I've kept my promise to get you out." "Don't you feel obliged to do what you promised me?" "What was that?" "Didn't you promise that anything you could do for me, you would do?" "I did." "Go on." "Love the lucky Astrea as sincerely as you ever did before she wronged you." "I intend to, as you know." "But also..." "My help to you deserves some sort of thanks." "And given the fact that love can only be repaid with love, you will have to repay me in kind." "What do you mean?" "Don't worry." "A heart loves truly only once." "I'll settle for what's left." "Since your amorous love is all taken, give me your brotherly friendship." "Dear Leonida," "I swear I'll always be your brother." "It will sustain me through my misery." "I must get back, and you to your village." "I won't go there." "Where, then?" "I don't know." "Don't you want to see Astrea?" "She forbade me to." "Forever?" "Forever... or until she tells me." "How can she?" "She's not here and thinks you're dead." "I don't know." "Go to her." "In herjoy, she'll forgive you." "No, I'll wait." "For what?" "I don't know." " You're mad." " Love is mad." " Where will you sleep?" " Anywhere." " Under trees." " Eating what?" "Herbs." "Roots." "I can take you to a hut and bring you food tomorrow but I hope you'll soon see sense." "See?" "It's sturdy." "Make a bed of ferns." "See you tomorrow." "Fair nymph!" "What is this?" "The food I promised you." "Enough for several days." "For longer." "I'm not hungry." "You must eat to live." "Live for what?" "Astrea will take you back." "That hope keeps me alive." "Hope nourishes." "It's spring." "I'll find herbs, soft roots and berries." "I saw a spring full of watercress nearby." "As a gift, I would rather... you brought me a flute to play my song of sorrow." "If you eat my food." "Uncle..." "I beg your help for Celadon, a shepherd we saved from drowning." "I let him out to join his loved ones but he hid in the forest and everyone thinks he is dead." "What made him do that?" "I think his mind is sick." "He is loath to speak and would eat grass." "Did he tell you the cause of his malady?" "He speaks only in snatches." "However," "I think it is his love of a shepherdess, Astrea, who falsely accused him of being untrue and refuses to see him." "So he jumped in the river." "I know Celadon." "He met Astrea at the feast of Venus when he was 14 or 15 and she, 12 or 13." "Come." "At this feast, they often act out this scene, here." "The Judgment of Paris." "Priam's son judges three goddesses, Pallas, Venus and Juno, for their beauty." "That year, Astrea played Venus." "The girls were to pose naked, away from the men." "Paris was played by a girl." "But he is naked too!" "In the picture, but not at the feast." "The girl played him dressed as a boy." "However, the village girls told my daughter that Celadon, the little scamp, decided, when the roles were cast, to mix with the girls, wearing a frock,"