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    Catiline
    Catiline
    Catiline
    Ebook104 pages41 minutes

    Catiline

    By Voltaire

    ()

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    About this ebook

    François-Marie Arouet wrote under the nom de plume of Voltaire, and produced works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. In his preface to this play Voltaire says: "The learned will not here meet with a faithful narrative of Catiline's conspiracy: a tragedy, they very well know, is not a history, but they will see a true picture of the manners of those times: all that Cicero, Catiline, Cato and Cæsar do in this piece is not true, but their genius and character are faithfully represented: if we do not there discover the eloquence of Cicero, we shall at least find displayed all that courage and virtue which he showed in the hour of danger. In Catiline is described that contrast of fierceness and dissimulation which formed his real character; Cæsar is represented as growing into power, factious, and brave; that Cæsar who was born at once to be the glory and the scourge of Rome."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilder Publications, Inc.
    Release dateJun 10, 2015
    ISBN9781627557511
    Catiline

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      Book preview

      Catiline - Voltaire

      Catiline

      Dramatis Personæ

      The Scene represents, on one side, the palace of Aurelia; on the other the temple of Tellus, where the senate assembled: At a distance, a gallery communicating to some private passages that lead from the palace of Aurelia to the vestibule of the temple. 

      In his preface to this play Voltaire says: 

      The learned will not here meet with a faithful narrative of Catiline’s conspiracy: a tragedy, they very well know, is not a history, but they will see a true picture of the manners of those times: all that Cicero, Catiline, Cato and Cæsar do in this piece is not true, but their genius and character are faithfully represented: if we do not there discover the eloquence of Cicero, we shall at least find displayed all that courage and virtue which he showed in the hour of danger. In Catiline is described that contrast of fierceness and dissimulation which formed his real character; Cæsar is represented as growing into power, factious, and brave; that Cæsar who was born at once to be the glory and the scourge of Rome.

      ACT I.

      SCENE I.

      CATILINE

      [Soldiers at the bottom of the stage.]       

      Yes, thou proud talker, thou vile instrument 

      Of a deluded people, soon thy power

      Shall be no more; and thou whose savage virtue,

      Inflexibly severe, destroys the nation

      It means to save, imperious Cato, know

      Thy doom is passed, thou and the tyrant senate

      Must fall together; they who keep the world

      In bondage shall themselves be slaves; their chains

      Are forged already, and usurping Pompey

      Shall pay for dear bought honors with his blood.

      Cæsar, his haughty rival, shall oppose him,

      His equal Cæsar: he who, like myself,

      Was ever factious, shall assist my cause;

      The snare is laid, and Cæsar shall prepare

      The throne for Catiline; I’ll make them all

      Subservient to my purpose: Cicero’s self,

      The man whom most I hate, shall be my friend:

      My wife too may be useful, and may prove

      A step to greatness: fathers, husbands, all

      Those empty names mistaken mortals call

      Most sacred, hence, I give you to the winds:

      Ambition, I am thine.

      SCENE II.

      CATILINE, CETHEGUS.

      Catiline: 

      Well, my Cethegus,

      Whilst Rome and our designs are hid in night,

      Say, hast thou called together our brave chiefs?

      Cethegus: 

      Even here, my lord, beneath this portico,

      Safe from the consul’s prying eyes, and near

      That impious scene where our proud tyrants sit,

      Thy friends shall meet—already they have signed

      The solemn compact, and are sworn to serve thee.

      But how stands Cæsar, will he second us?

      Catiline: 

      He is a turbulent unruly spirit,

      And acts but for himself.

      Cethegus: 

      And yet without him

      We never shall succeed.

      Catiline: 

      I’ve laid a snare

      He cannot escape: my soldiers, in his name,

      Shall seize Præneste—he’s been long suspected.

      This will confirm his guilt—the furious consul

      Shall soon accuse him to the senate—Cæsar

      Will hazard all to satiate his revenge.

      I’ll rouse this sleeping lion from his den,

      And make him roar for me.

      Cethegus: 

      But Nonnius still

      Rules in Præneste; he’s a friend to Rome.

      In vain already thou hast tried to tempt

      His stubborn virtue—what must be his fate?

      Catiline: 

      Thou knowest I love his daughter, though I hate

      Her surly father: long he strove in vain

      To thwart our mutual passion, and prevent

      Our private marriage, which at last the churl

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