Olympias; and, The Temple of Glory: Two Plays

BORGO PRESS BOOKS BY

VOLTAIRE

Candide: A Play in Five Acts

The Death of Caesar: A Play in Three Acts

Oedipus: A Play in Five Acts

Olympias and The Temple of Glory: Two Plays

Saul and David: A Play in Five Acts

Socrates: A Play in Three Acts

Two Voltairean Plays: The Triumvirate and Comedy at Ferney

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 2003, 2013 by Frank J. Morlock

Published by Wildside Press LLC

www.wildsidebooks.com

DEDICATION

To Mike Lidsky, my friend of many years

OLYMPIAS

A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS

CAST OF CHARACTERS

CASSANDER, son of Antipater, King of Macedonia

ANTIGONUS, king of part of a region in Asia

STATIRA, Widow of King Alexander the Great

OLYMPIAS, daughter of Statira and Alexander the Great

HIGH PRIEST, who presides over the celebration of great mysteries

SOSTERNES, officer of Cassander

HERMAS, officer of Antigonus

PRIESTS

GUESTS

PRIESTESSES

SOLDIERS and POPULACE

ACT I

The action takes place in the Temple of Ephesus, where the great mysteries are being celebrated. The stage represents the temple, the peristyle and the square leading to the temple.

The back of the stage represents a temple whose three closed doors are decorated with large pilasters; the two wings form a vast peristyle. Sosternes is in the peristyle, the large door opens. Cassander, worried and agitated, comes to him; the large door closes.

CASSANDER:

Sosternes, they are going to finish these terrible mysteries.

Cassander hopes at last the gods will be less inflexible.

My life will be more pure, and my feelings less troubled;

I breathe.

SOSTERNES:

Lord, near Ephesus are assembled

The warriors who served under the king, your father.

From my hands they’ve taken the customary oath.

Already your laws are recognized in Macedonia.

Ephesus has chosen between its two protectors.

This honor that Antigonus shares with you

Is an august omen of your great plans.

This reign which begins in the shadow of these altars

Will be blessed by the gods, and cherished by mortals.

This name of initiate, that is revered and loved,

Adds a new luster to the supreme grandeur.

Appear.

CASSANDER:

I cannot: your eyes will be the witnesses

Of my first devotions and my first efforts.

Stay in this sanctuary. Our august priestesses

Are presenting Olympias to erected altars.

She is expiating in secret, placed between their arms,

My unfortunate crimes that she is unaware of.

From today, I am beginning a new life.

Dear and tender Olympias, may you be forever

In ignorance of this great, painfully effaced crime

And of the blood of your birth and the blood I shed.

SOSTERNES:

What! lord, a child taken from the Euphrates

By your father already dedicated to service

On whom you extend so many generous cares

Could hurl Cassander into these terrible troubles!

CASSANDER:

Respect this slave to whom all owe homage:

I am repairing the outrage of fate that degrades her.

My father had his reasons for hiding her rank from her.

That must give to her the splendor of her blood—

What am I saying? O memory! O times! O day of crimes!

Sosternes, he counted her in the number of his victims.

He would have sacrificed her to our safety—

Nourished in carnage and cruelty.

Alone, I took pity on her, and I softened my father.

Alone, I knew the daughter having struck the mother.

She’s still unaware of my crime and my furor.

Forever keep your error, Olympias!

In Cassander you cherish a benefactor and a master.

If you knew who you were you would detest me.

SOSTERNES:

I will penetrate no further these astonishing secrets,

And I am coming to you only to speak of your interests.

Lord, of all these kings that we see pretend

With so much furor to the throne of Alexander,

Your only ally is the inflexible Antigonus.

CASSANDER:

I’ve always respected friendship with him,

I will be faithful to him.

SOSTERNES:

He must also do so to you;

But since we’ve seen him appear within these walls,

It seems that in secret a jealous emotion

Has altered his heart and distances him from you.

CASSANDER:

(aside)

And who cares about Antigonus! O manes of Alexander!

Manes of Statira! Great shade! August ashes!

Remains of a demi-god, justly incensed,

Does my remorse and my passion avenge you enough?

Olympias, obtain from their appeased shade

That peace so long refused to my heart.

And let your virtue, dissipating my terror,

Be my protection here, and speak to the gods for me.

Eh, what! Towards this sanctuary, just hardly opened

Antigonus is approaching, and preceding the dawn!

(Enter Antigonus and Hermas.)

ANTIGONUS:

(to Hermas at the back of the stage)

This secret pesters me, it must be torn out.

I will read in his heart what he thinks to hide from me.

Go, don’t go too far away.

CASSANDER:

(to Antigonus) When day’s hardly lit,

What subject is so pressing that it brings you to me?

ANTIGONUS:

Our interests, Cassander. After your expiations

Hereabouts have satisfied the gods,

It is time to think of sharing the earth.

From Ephesus in these grand days they spare war.

Your secret mysteries, respected by nations,

Suspend discord and calamities.

It’s a time of rest for the furors of princes

But this repose is short, and soon our provinces

Return to the prey of flames and battles

That the gods stop and that they don’t extinguish.

Antipater is no more; your efforts, your courage,

No doubt, will finish his important work.

He would never have permitted that ingrate Seleucus,

The insolent Lagidus, the traitorous Antiochus,

Devouring the conquests of entombed Alexander,

Dare to brave us and march on our heads.

CASSANDER:

Would to the gods that Alexander on these ambitious

Were from the height of his throne to lower his eyes.

Would to the gods that he lived!

ANTIGONUS:

I cannot comprehend you.

Is it for the son of Antipater to weep for Alexander?

What can inspire you with such an urgent remorse?

After all, you are innocent of his death.

CASSANDER:

Ah! I caused his death.

ANTIGONUS:

It was legitimate.

All the Greeks were demanding this great victim.

The universe was weary of his ambition.

Athena, Athena even sent the poison.

Perdiccas received it; they charged Craterus with it.

It was placed in your hands,