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Foreign literature of the XVII-XVIII centuries in brief. Cheat sheet: briefly, the most important

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Table of contents

1. English literature
2. Spanish literature
3. Italian literature
4. Chinese literature
5. German literature
6. French literature
7. Japanese literature

(Paradise Lost)

Poem (1658-1665, published 1667)

The poet reflects on the reason for the disobedience of the first couple of people who violated the only prohibition of the Creator of all things and were expelled from Eden. Instructed by the Holy Spirit, the poet names the culprit of the fall of Adam and Eve: this is Satan, who appeared to them in the guise of a Serpent.

Long before the creation of the earth and people by God, Satan, in his exorbitant pride, rebelled against the King of Kings, involved a part of the Angels in the rebellion, but was thrown down with them from Heaven into the Underworld, into the region of pitch darkness and Chaos. Defeated but immortal, Satan does not resign himself to defeat and does not repent. He prefers to be the lord of Hell rather than a servant of Heaven. Calling on Beelzebub, his closest comrade-in-arms, he convinces him to continue the fight against the Eternal King and do only Evil contrary to His sovereign will. Satan tells his minions that soon the Almighty will create a new world and populate it with creatures that he will love along with the Angels. If you act with cunning, you can capture this newly created world. In Pandemonium, the leaders of the army of Satan gather for a general Council.

The opinions of the leaders are divided: some are in favor of the war, others are against it. Finally, they agree with Satan's proposal to verify the truth of the ancient tradition, which speaks of the creation of a new world by God and the creation of Man. According to legend, the time for the creation of this new world has already come. Since the way to Heaven is closed to Satan and his angels, one should try to seize the newly created world, expel or lure its inhabitants to their side, and thus take revenge on the Creator. Satan embarks on a perilous journey. He overcomes the abyss between Hell and Heaven, and Chaos, its ancient lord, shows him the way to the new world.

God, seated on his highest throne, from where He sees the past, present and future, sees Satan flying towards the new world. Turning to His Only Begotten Son, the Lord predetermines the fall of Man, endowed with free will and the right to choose between good and evil. The Almighty Creator is ready to pardon Man, but first he must be punished for the fact that, having violated His prohibition, he dared to be compared with God. From now on, man and his descendants will be doomed to death, from which only he who sacrifices himself for their redemption can save them. To save the world. The Son of God expresses his willingness to sacrifice himself, and God the Father accepts it. He commands the Son to be incarnated in mortal flesh. The angels of heaven bow their heads before the Son and glorify Him and the Father.

Meanwhile, Satan reaches the surface of the extreme sphere of the universe and wanders through the gloomy desert. It passes Limbo, the Gate of Heaven, and descends into the Sun. Taking the form of a young Cherubim, he finds out from the Ruler of the Sun, Archangel Uriel, the location of Man. Uriel points him to one of the countless balls that move in their orbits, and Satan descends to Earth, to Mount Nifat.

Bypassing the heavenly fence, Satan in the form of a sea raven descends to the top of the Tree of Knowledge. He sees a couple of the first people and ponders how to destroy them. Having overheard the conversation of Adam and Eve, he learns that under pain of death they are forbidden to eat from the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge. Satan is developing an insidious plan: to kindle a thirst for knowledge in people, which will force them to transgress the Creator's prohibition.

Uriel, descending on a sunbeam to Gabriel, guarding Paradise, warns him that at noon the evil Spirit from the Underworld was heading in the form of a good Angel to Paradise. Gabriel performs in the night watch around Paradise. In the bush, exhausted by the labors of the day and the pure joys of sacred marital love, Adam and Eve sleep. The angels Ithuriel and Zephon, sent by Gabriel, discover Satan, who, under the guise of a toad, lurks over Eve's ear in order to influence her imagination in a dream and poison her soul with unbridled passions, vague thoughts and pride. Angels bring Satan to Gabriel. The rebellious Spirit is ready to fight with them, but the Lord shows a heavenly sign to Satan, and he, seeing that his retreat is inevitable, leaves, but does not back down from his intentions.

In the morning, Eve tells Adam her dream: someone like the celestials is more tempting to taste the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, and she ascended above the Earth and experienced incomparable bliss.

God sends the Archangel Raphael to Adam to tell him about the free will of man, as well as about the proximity of the evil Enemy and his insidious plans. Raphael tells Adam about the First rebellion in heaven: Satan, inflamed with envy that God the Father exalted the Son and called Him the anointed Messiah and King, dragged the legions of Angels to the North and persuaded them to rebel against the Almighty. Only Seraphim Abdiel left the camp of the rebels.

Raphael continues his story.

God sent the Archangels Michael and Gabriel to oppose Satan. Satan convened the Council and, together with his accomplices, invented devilish machines, with the help of which he pushed back the army of Angels devoted to God. Then the Almighty sent his Son, the Messiah, to the battlefield. The Son drove the Enemy to the fence of Heaven, and when their Crystal Wall opened up, the rebels fell into the abyss prepared for them.

Adam asks Raphael to tell him about the creation of this world. The archangel tells Adam that God desired to create a new world and creatures to inhabit it after He cast Satan and his minions into Hell. The Almighty sent his Son, the Almighty Word, accompanied by Angels, to carry out the work of creation.

Answering Adam's question about the movement of celestial bodies, Raphael carefully advises him to deal only with such subjects that are accessible to human understanding. Adam tells Raphael about everything he remembers from the moment of his creation. He confesses to the Archangel that Eve has an inexplicable power over him. Adam understands that, surpassing him in external beauty, she is inferior to him in spiritual perfection, however, despite this, all her words and deeds seem beautiful to him and the voice of reason falls silent before her feminine charm. The archangel, without condemning the love pleasures of the married couple, nevertheless warns Adam against blind passion and promises him the delights of heavenly love, which is immeasurably higher than earthly. But to the direct question of Adam - what is the expression of love among the heavenly Spirits, Raphael answers vaguely and again warns him against thinking about what is inaccessible to the human mind.

Satan, under the guise of fog, again penetrates Paradise and inhabits the sleeping Serpent, the most cunning of all creatures. In the morning, the Serpent finds Eve and with flattering speeches persuades her to eat the fruits from the Tree of Knowledge. He convinces her that she will not die, and tells how, thanks to these fruits, he himself gained speech and understanding.

Eve succumbs to the persuasion of the Enemy, eats the forbidden fruit and comes to Adam. The shocked husband, out of love for Eve, decides to die with her and also violates the prohibition of the Creator. Having tasted the fruits, the Ancestors feel intoxicated: their consciousness loses clarity, and an unbridled voluptuousness, alien to nature, awakens in the soul, which is replaced by disappointment and shame. Adam and Eve understand that the Serpent, who promised them inescapable delights and unearthly bliss, deceived, and reproach each other.

God sends his Son to Earth to judge the disobedient. Sin and Death, who previously sat at the Gates of Hell, leave their refuge, seeking to penetrate the Earth. Following the tracks laid by Satan, Sin and Death build a bridge across Chaos between Hell and the new world.

Meanwhile, Satan in Pandemonium announces his victory over man. However, God the Father predicts that the Son will conquer Sin and Death and revive His creation.

Eve, in desperation that a curse should fall on their offspring, suggests that Adam immediately find Death and become its first and last victims. But Adam reminds his wife of the promise that the Seed of the Woman will wipe out the head of the Serpent. Adam hopes to appease God through prayer and repentance.

The Son of God, seeing the sincere repentance of the Ancestors, intercedes for them before the Father, hoping that the Almighty will soften his harsh sentence. The Lord Almighty sends the Cherubim, led by the Archangel Michael, to expel Adam and Eve from Paradise. Before fulfilling the order of God the Father, the Archangel raises Adam to a high mountain and shows him in a vision everything that will happen on Earth before the flood.

Archangel Michael tells Adam about the future fate of the human race and explains the promise given to the Ancestors about the Seed of the Wife. He speaks of the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of the Son of God and how the Church will live and struggle until His second Coming. The comforted Adam wakes the sleeping Eve, and the Archangel Michael brings the couple out of Paradise. From now on, the entrance to it will be guarded by the flaming and constantly turning sword of the Lord. Guided by the providence of the Creator, cherishing in their hearts the hope of the coming deliverance of the human race, Adam and Eve leave Paradise.

V. V. Rynkevich

(Samson Agonists)

Tragedy (1671)

Samson, blinded, humiliated and reviled, languishes in captivity among the Philistines, in the prison of the city of Gaza. Slave labor exhausts the body, and mental suffering torments the soul.

Neither day nor night Samson can forget what a glorious hero he was before, and these memories cause him bitter torment. He recalls that the Lord foretold the deliverance of Israel from the yoke of the Philistines: he, a blind and helpless prisoner, was destined to free his people. Samson repents that he revealed the secret of his power to Delilah, who betrayed him into the hands of enemies. However, he does not dare to doubt the word of God and cherishes hope in his heart.

On the day of the holiday dedicated to Dagon, the sea deity of the Philistines, when none of the pagans is working, Samson is allowed to leave the walls of his prison and rest. Dragging heavy chains, he goes to a secluded place and indulges in painful thoughts.

Here he is found by those who came from Yestaol and Zorah - Samson's native places - his friends and fellow tribesmen and try to comfort the unfortunate brother as best they can. They convince the sufferer not to grumble at the providence of the Most High and not to reproach himself, but they are surprised that Samson always preferred the Philistines to the women of Israel. The defeated hero explains to them that the secret voice of God prompted him to do this, commanding him to fight enemies and use every opportunity to lull their vigilance.

Samson blames the rulers of Israel for not supporting him and opposing the Philistines when he won glorious victories. They even decided to extradite him to the enemies in order to save their homeland from the invaders. Samson allowed the Philistines to bind him, and then easily broke the bonds and killed all the pagans with the jawbone of an ass. If then the leaders of Israel had decided to march against them, a final victory would have been won.

Elder Manoah, Samson's father, arrives. He is depressed by the miserable state of his son, in which everyone is accustomed to seeing an invincible warrior. But Samson does not allow him to complain about God and blames only himself for his troubles. Manoah informs his son that he is going to petition the Philistine rulers for his ransom.

Manoah is going to go to them today, when all the Philistines celebrate a thanksgiving day to Dagon, who, they believe, delivered them from the hand of Samson. But the defeated hero does not want to live, forever remembering his shame, and prefers death. The father persuades him to agree to a ransom and leave everything to God's will and leaves.

Samson's wife, the beautiful Delilah, appears and begs him to listen to her: she cruelly repents that she succumbed to the persuasion of her fellow tribesmen and gave them the secret of his strength. But she was moved only by love: she was afraid that Samson would leave her, as he had abandoned his first wife, a Gentile from Thimnath. The tribesmen promised Delilah only to capture Samson and then give him to her. Samson could live in her house, and she would enjoy his love without fear of rivals.

She promises Samson to persuade the Philistine leaders to let her take him home: she will look after him and please him in everything. But Samson does not believe Delilah's remorse and angrily rejects her offer. Delilah, stung by Samson's refusal and his contempt, disowns her husband and leaves.

Garatha appears, a giant from the Philistine city of Gath. He regrets that he did not have a chance to measure his strength with Samson, when he was still sighted and free. Garafa taunts the defeated hero and tells him that God has left Samson, Samson, who has only his legs chained, challenges the boastful Garafa to a duel, but he does not dare to approach the angry prisoner and leaves.

A servant of the temple of Dagon appears and demands that Samson appear at the festival before the Philistine nobility and show everyone his strength. Samson scornfully refuses and sends the minister away.

However, when he comes again, Samson, feeling a secret impulse in his soul, agrees to come to a pagan holiday and show his strength in the temple of Dagon. He believes that this is what the God of Israel wants, and he anticipates that this day will cover his name with either indelible shame or unfading glory.

The chains are removed from Samson and they promise him freedom if he shows humility and humility. Entrusting himself to God, Samson says goodbye to his friends and fellow tribesmen. He promises them not to shame either his people or his God, and goes after the minister.

Manoah arrives and tells the Israelites that there is hope that he will be able to redeem his son. His speech is interrupted by a terrible noise and someone's cries. Deciding that the Philistines are rejoicing at the humiliation of his son, Manoah continues his story. But he is interrupted by the appearance of a messenger. He is a Jew, just like them. Arriving in Gaza on business, he witnessed the last feat of Samson. The messenger is so shocked by what has happened that at first he cannot find words. But having recovered, he tells the assembled brethren about how Samson, who was brought to a theater full of Philistine nobles, brought down the roof of the building and, along with his enemies, died under the rubble.

V. V. Rynkevich

(The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, To That Which Is to Come)

Novel. (1678-1684)

A certain pious man was thrown into prison by the wicked, and there he had a vision:

In the middle of the field, with his back to his dwelling in the city of Doom, stands a man, bent under a heavy burden of sins. He has a book in his hands. From the Book of this man. The Christian learned that the city would be burned by heavenly fire and all its inhabitants would perish irretrievably if they did not immediately set out on the path leading from death to Eternal Life. But where is this desired path?

The household considered Christian insane, and the neighbors mocked him angrily when he left the house in the city of Doom, not knowing where he was going. But in an open field he met a man named the Evangelist, who pointed out to the Christian the Narrow Gates that rose in the distance and ordered him to go straight to them, without turning anywhere.

Two neighbors set off after Christian from the city: Stubborn and Compliant, but the first one soon turned back, not having received from his companions an answer that he could understand to the question of what kind of "incorruptible, immaculate heritage" awaits them behind the Close Gates.

The accommodating one also left the Christian when he saw how he entered the impassable swamp of despondency - a place on the way to the Narrow Gates, where the impurities of the sin of doubt and fear flow, seizing the sinner awakened from the eclipse. It is impossible to bypass this swamp, nor to drain or pave it.

Behind the swamp, the Christian was waiting for the Worldly Sage. He tempted the traveler with speeches that he knew a simpler and more effective way to get rid of the burden of sins than a journey full of formidable dangers on the other side of the Narrow Gates. It is enough just to turn to the village with the beautiful name of Goodwill and find there a man named Lawfulness, who has already helped so many.

The Christian listened to bad advice, but the Evangelist stopped him on a roundabout disastrous path and directed him to the true path, stepping on which he soon reached the Narrow Gates.

“Knock, and it will be opened to you,” the Christian read the inscription above the gate and knocked with a sinking heart. The gatekeeper let Christian in and even lightly pushed him in the back, for nearby stood the strong castle of Beelzebub, from which he and his associates fired deadly arrows at those who hesitated to pass through the Close Gates.

The gatekeeper pointed out to the Christian many paths that lie beyond the gates, but only one of all - paved by the patriarchs, prophets, Christ and His apostles - is narrow and straight. Along it, along the path of truth, the Christian must go further.

A few hours later, the Christian came to a certain house, where everything - both the rooms and the objects in them - symbolized the most important truths, without the knowledge of which the pilgrim could not overcome the obstacles prepared for his path. The meaning of the symbols was explained to the Christian by the owner of this house. Interpreter.

Thanking the Interpreter and continuing on his way. The Christian soon saw ahead of him a hill topped with a Cross. As soon as he ascended to the Cross, the burden of sins rolled off his shoulders and perished in the grave, gaping at the foot of the hill.

Here, at the Cross, three angels of the Lord surrounded the Christian, took off his road rags and dressed him in holiday clothes. Pointing to the further path, the angels handed him the key of the Promise and a scroll with a seal, which served as a pass to the Heavenly City.

Along the way, Christian came across other pilgrims, for the most part unworthy of their chosen path. So, he met the Formalist and the Hypocrite from the land of Vanity, who were on their way to Zion for glory. They passed the Narrow Gate by the side, for in their country it is customary to walk by the shortest route - as if it were not said about them: "He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, that is a thief and a robber."

When it was necessary to cross Mount Difficulty, the Formalist and the Hypocrite chose comfortable-looking, even bypass roads - one was called Danger, and the other was Doom - and disappeared on them.

At the very top of the mountain Christian met Timid and Distrustful; these pilgrims were afraid of the dangers with which the road to the Heavenly City was fraught, and out of cowardice decided to turn back.

The Christian faced the first danger at the entrance to the palace of Splendor: two formidable lions were chained here on the sides of the path. The Christian was timid, but then the gatekeeper reproached him with his lack of faith, and he, gathering his courage, passed unscathed exactly in the middle between the roaring creatures.

The courage of the Christian was rewarded with a cordial welcome in the hall and a long, drawn-out after midnight, heartfelt conversation with the virgins of Wisdom, Piety and Mercy who lived in it about the greatness and goodness of the Owner who created this palace. The next morning, the hosts saw Christian on his way, equipping him with armor and weapons that do not age and do not wear out forever.

Without these weapons and armor, it would not have been good for a Christian in the Valley of Humiliation, where the terrifying appearance of the angel of the abyss Apollyon, an ardent enemy of the King whom the Christian served, blocked his path. The pilgrim bravely entered into a duel with the adversary and, with the name of the Lord on his lips, gained the upper hand.

Further, the path of the Christian lay through the valley of the Shadow of Death, where in total darkness he had to walk along a narrow path between a terrible quagmire and a bottomless abyss, bypassing the entrance to hell. He also safely passed the den of the giants Paganism and the Papacy, in the old days, while they were still strong, who completely littered the surroundings with the bones of travelers who fell into their clutches.

Beyond the valley of the Shadow of Death, the Christian overtook a pilgrim named Faithful, who, like the Christian, passed through the Narrow Gates and had already managed to endure more than one test. Finding worthy companions in each other, Christian and Faithful decided to continue the journey together. So they walked until they saw a city in the distance.

Then the Evangelist, familiar to both of them, came out to meet them and said that in this city one of them would die a martyr's death - he would accept it for his own good: he would enter the Heavenly City earlier, and in addition, he would escape the sorrows prepared for the survivor.

That city of Vanity was called, and the fair went on here all year round. The choice of goods was huge: houses, estates, positions, titles, kingdoms, passions, pleasures, carnal pleasures, rich wives and husbands, life of body and soul; around the clock free spectacles: theft, murder, adultery, perjury ... Even the fair was lit up with an ominous crimson light.

To the calls of the sellers, the pilgrims answered that they did not need anything but the truth. These words caused an explosion of indignation among the merchants. As troublemakers, Christians with the Faithful were brought to trial, at which Envy, Superstition and Pleasing testified against them.

According to an unjust verdict, Faithful was cruelly executed, while Christian managed to escape. But he did not have to go alone for long - he was overtaken by the Hopeful from the city of Vanity, who was forced to set off on a journey by the spectacle of the death of the Faithful; so always the death of a witness to the truth raises up new followers of Christ.

Seeing a convenient path that seemed to run exactly along their road, Christian persuaded Hopeful to go to it, which almost killed both of them: walking along a convenient path, the pilgrims found themselves at the castle of Doubt. The castle belonged to the giant Despair, who captured them and began to torment them, inciting them to lay hands on themselves and thereby end the terrible torment.

The Christian was already ready to heed Despair, but the Hopeful One reminded him of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” Then the Christian remembered the Promise key handed by the angels and unlocked the locks of the prison.

Soon the pilgrims were already in the Pleasant Mountains, from the tops of which the gates of the Heavenly City were dimly visible. The shepherds of Knowledge, Experienced, Vigilance and Sincere gave the Christian with Trusting a detailed description of the path to them.

Having received a description from faithful hands, the travelers nevertheless followed the black man in shining clothes, who promised to lead them to the Heavenly City, but led them into cunningly placed nets. The Angel of God freed the pilgrims from the nets and explained that they had fallen into the trap of the Seducer, in other words, the False Apostle.

Further, the Christian and the Hopeful went through the wonderful country of the Combination, about which the prophet Isaiah spoke and which the Lord calls His own. The air here was filled with marvelous aromas and rang from the bewitching singing of birds. The longed-for Heavenly City opened up more and more clearly to the eyes of the travelers.

And so they went to the river, which they certainly had to cross - only two, Enoch and Elijah, got into Heavenly Jerusalem, passing it.

As soon as the pilgrims stepped into the waters of the river, the Christian began to drown and cried out with the words of the Psalmist: "I am drowning in the deep waters, and the waves cover me with my head! The horror of death has taken possession of me!"

But Jesus Christ did not leave His faithful, and they safely reached the opposite shore. At the gates of the Heavenly City, the pilgrims were met by an army of Angels; the celestial choir burst out a song:

"Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb."

The pilgrims entered the gate and behind them suddenly changed and put on robes that sparkled like gold. The angels, who were here in great numbers, sang: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!"

And the pious man had another vision in which the fate of Christiana was revealed to him, who did not want to follow her husband.

As soon as her husband crossed the river of Death, this woman began to think about her past and future; she was weighed down by the burden of guilt - after all, she prevented not only herself, but also her children from entering Eternal Life.

Once in a dream she saw a Christian standing among the immortals and playing the lyre before the Lord. And in the morning, a guest named Mystery knocked on her door and conveyed the invitation of the Host of the Heavenly City to come to His meal.

Neighbors ridiculed Christiana when they learned that she was setting off on a dangerous journey, and only one, called Love, volunteered to go with her.

Behind the Narrow Gates, the Lord Himself greeted Christian with children and with Love. He pointed out the path that He had walked and that they had to overcome.

On this path, such formidable dangers awaited women with children that the Interpreter considered it necessary to give them his servant named the Spirit of Courage as guides. He more than once rescued travelers, protecting them from terrible giants and monsters, without a number of ruined pilgrims, who set foot on the path leading to the Heavenly City not through the Close Gates,

Everywhere Christiana and her companions passed, she heard admiring stories about the glorious deeds of her husband and his comrade Faithful. During the journey, her sons married the daughters of pious people and their children were born.

The pilgrims handed over the babies, the grandchildren of Christiana and Christian, to the upbringing of the Shepherd, who pastured his flocks on the Pleasant Mountains, and they themselves descended into the country of the Combination. Here, among the marvelous gardens that overshadowed the banks of the River of Death, they remained until an angel appeared to Christians with the news that the King was waiting for her appearance to Himself in ten days.

In due time, Christiana stepped into the river with joy and reverence; a chariot was already waiting on the other side to receive her and take her to the Heavenly City.

D. A. Karelsky

(The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner, Written by Himself)

Roman (1719)

Everyone knows this novel. Even those who have not read it (which is hard to imagine) remember: a young sailor sets off on a long voyage and, after a shipwreck, ends up on a desert island. He spends there about twenty-eight years. Here, actually, and all "content". For more than two hundred years, mankind has been reading the novel; the list of his arrangements, continuations and imitations is endless; economists build on it models of human existence ("Robinsonades"); J. J. Rousseau enthusiastically took him into his pedagogical system. What is the attraction of this book? "History", or life, Robinson will help answer this question.

Robinson was the third son in the family, a darling, he was not prepared for any trade, and from childhood his head was full of "all sorts of nonsense" - mainly dreams of sea voyages. His older brother died in Flanders fighting the Spaniards, the middle one went missing, and therefore they don’t want to hear at home about letting the last son go to sea. The father, "a sedate and intelligent man", tearfully implores him to strive for a modest existence, in every way extolling the "average state", which protects a sane person from evil vicissitudes of fate. The exhortations of the father only temporarily reason with the 18-year-old undergrowth. The attempt of the intractable son to enlist the support of his mother is also not crowned with success, and for almost a year he breaks his parents' hearts, until September 1, 1651, he sails from Hull to London, tempted by a free passage (the captain is his friend's father).

Already the first day at sea herds are a harbinger of future trials. The storm that breaks out awakens repentance in the soul of the disobedient, however, subsided with bad weather and finally dispelled by drinking ("as usual with sailors"). A week later, on the Yarmouth roadstead, a new, much more ferocious storm flies. The experience of the team selflessly rescuing the ship does not help: the ship is sinking, the sailors are picked up by a boat from a neighboring ship. On the shore, Robinson again experiences a fleeting temptation to heed the harsh lesson and return to his parental home, but "evil fate" keeps him on his chosen disastrous path. In London, he meets the captain of a ship preparing to go to Guinea, and decides to sail with them - fortunately, this will not cost him anything, he will be the "companion and friend" of the captain. How will the late Robinson, wise by trials, reproach himself for this prudent carelessness of his! If he were hired as a simple sailor, he would learn the duties and work of a sailor, otherwise he is just a merchant making a lucky turn on his forty pounds. But he acquires some nautical knowledge: the captain willingly works with him, while away the time. Upon returning to England, the captain soon dies, and Robinson sets off on his own to Guinea.

It was an unsuccessful expedition: their ship is captured by a Turkish corsair, and young Robinson, as if in fulfillment of his father's gloomy prophecies, goes through a difficult period of trials, turning from a merchant into a "miserable slave" of the captain of a robber ship. He uses it at home, does not take it to the sea, and for two years Robinson has no hope of breaking free. The owner, meanwhile, weakens his supervision, sends a prisoner with a Moor and a boy Xuri to fish at the table, and one day, sailing far from the coast, Robinson throws the Moor overboard and persuades Xuri to escape. He is well prepared: the boat has a supply of crackers and fresh water, tools, guns and gunpowder. On the way, the fugitives shoot living creatures on the shore, even kill a lion and a leopard, peace-loving natives supply them with water and food. Finally they are picked up by an oncoming Portuguese ship. Condescending to the plight of the rescued, the captain undertakes to take Robinson to Brazil for free (they are sailing there); moreover, he buys his longboat and "faithful Xuri", promising in ten years ("if he accepts Christianity") to return the boy's freedom. "It made a difference," Robinson concludes complacently, having done away with remorse.

In Brazil, he settles down thoroughly and, it seems, for a long time: he receives Brazilian citizenship, buys land for plantations of tobacco and sugar cane, works on it in the sweat of his brow, belatedly regretting that Xuri is not around (how an extra pair of hands would help!). Paradoxically, he comes precisely to that "golden mean" with which his father seduced him - so why, he laments now, should he leave his parents' house and climb to the ends of the world? Neighbors-planters are located to him, willingly help, he manages to get from England, where he left money with the widow of his first captain, the necessary goods, agricultural implements and household utensils. Here it would be nice to calm down and continue his profitable business, but "passion for wandering" and, most importantly, "the desire to get rich sooner than circumstances allowed" prompt Robinson to drastically break the established way of life.

It all started with the fact that the plantations required workers, and slave labor was expensive, since the delivery of blacks from Africa was fraught with the dangers of a sea passage and was still hampered by legal obstacles (for example, the English Parliament would allow the trade in slaves to private individuals only in 1698) . After listening to Robinson's stories about his trips to the shores of Guinea, the neighboring planters decide to equip a ship and secretly bring slaves to Brazil, dividing them here among themselves. Robinson is invited to participate as a ship's clerk responsible for the purchase of Negroes in Guinea, and he himself will not invest any money in the expedition, and he will receive slaves on an equal basis with everyone else, and even in his absence, companions will oversee his plantations and watch over his interests. Of course, he is tempted by favorable conditions, habitually (and not very convincingly) cursing "vagrant inclinations." What "inclinations" if he thoroughly and sensibly, observing all the melancholy formalities, disposes of the property left behind!

Never before had fate warned him so clearly: he sailed on the first of September 1659, that is, eight years after his escape from his parental home, to the day. In the second week of the voyage, a fierce squall came up, and for twelve days they were battered by the "fury of the elements." The ship leaked, needed to be repaired, the crew lost three sailors (there were seventeen people on the ship), and it was no longer to Africa - it would be more likely to get to land. A second storm is played out, they are carried far from the trade routes, and then in sight of the earth the ship runs aground, and on the only remaining boat the team is "given to the will of the raging waves." Even if they do not drown, rowing to the shore, the surf will blow their boat to pieces near the land, and the approaching land seems to them "more terrible than the sea itself." A huge shaft "the size of a mountain" overturns the boat, and exhausted, miraculously not finished off by the overtaking waves, Robinson gets out on land.

Alas, he alone escaped, as evidenced by three hats thrown ashore, a cap and two unpaired shoes. Frenzied joy is replaced by grief for the dead comrades, the pangs of hunger and cold and fear of wild animals. He spends the first night in a tree. By morning the tide had driven their ship close to the shore, and Robinson swam to it. From spare masts, he builds a raft and loads on it "everything necessary for life": food, clothing, carpentry tools, guns and pistols, shot and gunpowder, sabers, saws, an ax and a hammer. With incredible difficulty, at the risk of tipping over every minute, he brings the raft to a calm bay and sets off to find a place to live. From the top of the hill, Robinson understands his "bitter fate": this is an island, and, by all indications, - uninhabited. Fenced on all sides by chests and boxes, he spends the second night on the island, and in the morning he again swims to the ship, hurrying to take what he can, until the first storm breaks him into pieces. On this trip, Robinson took a lot of useful things from the ship - again guns and gunpowder, clothes, a sail, mattresses and pillows, iron crowbars, nails, a screwdriver and a sharpener. On the shore, he builds a tent, transfers food and gunpowder to it from the sun and rain, arranges a bed for himself. In total, he visited the ship twelve times, always getting hold of something valuable - canvas, gear, crackers, rum, flour, "iron parts" (he, to his great chagrin, almost completely drowned them). On his last run, he came across a chiffonier with money (this is one of the famous episodes of the novel) and philosophically reasoned that in his position all this "heap of gold" was not worth any of the knives that lay in the next box, however, on reflection, "decided to take them with you." That same night a storm broke out, and next morning nothing was left of the ship.

Robinson's first concern is the arrangement of reliable, safe housing - and most importantly, in view of the sea, from where only one can expect salvation. On the slope of the hill, he finds a flat clearing and on it, against a small depression in the rock, he decides to pitch a tent, protecting it with a palisade of strong trunks driven into the ground. The only way to enter the "fortress" was by a ladder. He expanded the recess in the rock - a cave turned out, he uses it as a cellar. This work took many days. He quickly gains experience. In the midst of construction work, rain poured down, lightning flashed, and Robinson's first thought: gunpowder! It was not the fear of death that frightened him, but the possibility of losing gunpowder at once, and for two weeks he pours it into bags and boxes and hides it in different places (at least a hundred). At the same time, he now knows how much gunpowder he has: two hundred and forty pounds. Without numbers (money, goods, cargo) Robinson is no longer Robinson.

It is very important that "at the same time": getting used to a new life, Robinson, doing something "one", will always notice the beneficial "other" and "third". Defoe's famous heroes, Roxanne and Moll Flanders, had the same task: to survive! But for this they needed to master, albeit difficult, but one "profession" - courtesans and, accordingly, thieves. They lived with people, skillfully used their sympathy, parasitized on their weaknesses, they were helped by intelligent "mentors". And Robinson is alone, he is opposed by the world, deeply indifferent to him, simply unaware of his existence - the sea, winds, rains, this island with its wild flora and fauna. And in order to survive, he will have to master not even a "profession" (or many of them, which, however, he will do), but the laws, "mores" of the world around him and interact, taking them into account. In his case, "to live" means to notice everything - and to learn. So, he does not immediately realize that goats do not know how to look up, but then it will be easy to get meat by shooting from a cliff or hill. He is rescued by more than one natural ingenuity: from the civilized world, he brought ideas and skills that allowed him "in the complete silence of the saddest life" to quickly go through the main stages of the formation of a social person - in other words, to remain in this capacity, not to run wild, like many prototypes. He will learn to domesticate the same goats, add milk to the meat table (he will feast on cheese). And the saved gunpowder is still useful! In addition to cattle breeding, Robinson will establish agriculture when barley and rice grains, shaken out of a sack with dust, germinate. At first, he will see in this a “miracle” created by gracious Providence, but soon he will remember the bag and, relying on himself alone, in due time will already sow a considerable field, successfully fighting feathered and four-legged robbers.

Involved in historical memory, growing from the experience of generations and relying on the future, Robinson, although lonely, is not lost in time, which is why the construction of a calendar becomes the first concern of this life-builder - this is a large pillar on which he makes a notch every day. The first date there is September 1659, 1688. From now on, each of his days is named and taken into account, and for the reader, especially those of that time, the reflection of a great story falls on the works and days of Robinson. During his absence, the monarchy was restored in England, and the return of Robinson "guesses" the "Glorious Revolution" of 1666, which brought to the throne William of Orange, Defoe's benevolent patron; in the same years in London there will be a "Great Fire" (XNUMX), and the revived urban planning will unrecognizably change the face of the capital; during this time Milton and Spinoza will die; Charles II will issue "habeas corpus act" - a law on the inviolability of the person. And in Russia, which, as it turns out, will also be indifferent to the fate of Robinson, at this time they burn Avvakum, execute Razin, Sophia becomes regent under Ivan V and Peter I. These distant lightnings flicker over a man who is burning an earthen pot.

Among the "not very valuable" things taken from the ship (remember the "heap of gold") were ink, pens, paper, "three very good Bibles", astronomical instruments, spyglasses. Now, when his life is getting better (by the way, three cats and a dog, also on board, live with him, then a moderately talkative parrot will be added), it's time to comprehend what is happening, and until the ink and paper run out, Robinson keeps a diary so that "at least lighten your soul a little." This is a kind of ledger of "evil" and "good": in the left column - he is thrown onto a desert island with no hope of deliverance; in the right - he is alive, and all his comrades drowned. In the diary, he describes in detail his activities, makes observations - both remarkable (regarding the sprouts of barley and rice), and everyday ("It was raining." "It's been raining all day again").

The earthquake that happened forces Robinson to think about a new place for housing - it is not safe under the mountain. Meanwhile, a wrecked ship is nailed to the island, and Robinson takes building material and tools from it. On the same days, he is overcome by a fever, and in a feverish dream a man "in flames" appears to him, threatening him with death because he "does not repent." Lamenting about his fatal delusions, Robinson for the first time "in many years" makes a prayer of repentance, reads the Bible - and is treated to the best of his ability. Rum, infused with tobacco, after which he slept for two nights, will raise him to his feet. Accordingly, one day fell out of his calendar. Having recovered, Robinson finally examines the island, where he has lived for more than ten months. In its flat part, among unknown plants, he meets acquaintances - melon and grapes; the latter pleases him especially, he will dry it in the sun, and in the off-season raisins will strengthen his strength. And the island is rich in living creatures - hares (very tasteless), foxes, turtles (these, on the contrary, will pleasantly diversify his table) and even penguins, puzzling in these latitudes. He looks at these heavenly beauties with a master's eye - he has no one to share them with. He decides to set up a hut here, fortify it well and live for several days in the "dacha" (this is his word), spending most of the time "on the old ashes" near the sea, from where liberation can come.

Continuously working, Robinson, for the second and third year, does not allow himself any indulgence. Here is his day: "In the forefront are religious duties and the reading of the Holy Scriptures (...) The second of the daily activities was hunting (...) The third was sorting, drying and preparing the killed or caught game." Add to this the care of the crops, and then the harvest; add livestock care; add housework (make a shovel, hang a shelf in the cellar), which takes a lot of time and effort due to lack of tools and inexperience. Robinson has the right to be proud of himself: "With patience and work, I brought to the end all the work to which I was forced by circumstances." It's a joke to say, he will bake bread, doing without salt, yeast and a suitable oven!

His cherished dream is to build a boat and get to the mainland. He does not even think about who and what he will meet there, the main thing is to escape from captivity. Driven by impatience, without thinking about how to deliver the boat from the forest to the water, Robinson cuts down a huge tree and for several months carves a pirogue out of it. When she is finally ready, he will never be able to launch her into the water. He stoically endures failure: Robinson has become wiser and more self-possessed, he has learned to balance "evil" and "good". He prudently uses the resulting leisure time to update a worn-out wardrobe: he “builds” a fur suit for himself (trousers and a jacket), sews a hat and even makes an umbrella. Five more years pass in everyday work, marked by the fact that he did build a boat, launched it into the water and equipped it with a sail. You can’t get to a distant land on it, but you can go around the island. The current takes him to the open sea, with great difficulty he returns to the shore not far from the "cottage". Having suffered fear, he will lose his desire for sea walks for a long time. This year, Robinson is improving in pottery and basket weaving (stocks are growing), and most importantly, he makes himself a royal gift - a pipe! There is an abyss of tobacco on the island.

His measured existence, filled with work and useful leisure, suddenly bursts like a soap bubble. On one of his walks, Robinson sees a bare footprint in the sand. Frightened to death, he returns to the "fortress" and sits there for three days, puzzling over an incomprehensible riddle: whose trace? Most likely, these are savages from the mainland. Fear settles in his soul: what if he is discovered? The savages might eat it (he had heard of it), they might destroy the crops and disperse the herd. Starting to go out a little, he takes security measures: he strengthens the "fortress", arranges a new (distant) corral for goats. Among these troubles, he again comes across human tracks, and then sees the remains of a cannibal feast. Looks like the island has been visited again. Horror has been possessing him for all two years, that he has remained without getting out on his part of the island (where the "fortress" and "cottage"), living "always on the alert." But gradually life returns to the "former calm course", although he continues to build bloodthirsty plans on how to ward off the savages from the island. His ardor is cooled by two considerations: 1) these are tribal feuds, the savages did nothing wrong to him personally; 2) why are they worse than the Spaniards who flooded South America with blood? These conciliatory thoughts are prevented by a new visitation of savages (it is the twenty-third anniversary of his stay on the island), who landed this time on "his" side of the island. Having celebrated their terrible feast, the savages swim away, and Robinson is still afraid to look towards the sea for a long time.

And the same sea beckons him with the hope of liberation. On a stormy night, he hears a cannon shot - a ship is giving a distress signal. All night long he burns a huge fire, and in the morning he sees in the distance the wreck of a ship that has crashed on the reefs. Longing for loneliness, Robinson prays to heaven that "at least one" of the team escaped, but "evil fate", as if in mockery, throws the cabin boy's corpse ashore.

And on the ship he will not find a single living soul. It is noteworthy that the poor "booty" from the ship does not upset him very much: he stands firmly on his feet, fully provides for himself, and only gunpowder, shirts, linen - and, according to old memory, money pleases him. He is obsessed with the idea of ​​​​escape to the mainland, and since it is impossible to do it alone, Robinson dreams of saving the savage destined for slaughter to help, reasoning in the usual categories: "acquire a servant, or maybe a comrade or assistant." He has been making cunning plans for a year and a half, but in life, as usual, everything turns out simply: cannibals arrive, the prisoner escapes, Robinson knocks down one pursuer with the butt of a gun, and shoots another to death.

Robinson's life is filled with new - and pleasant - worries. Friday, as he called the saved, turned out to be a capable student, a faithful and kind comrade. Robinson puts three words at the basis of his education: "master" (referring to himself), "yes" and "no". He eradicates bad savage habits by teaching Friday to eat broth and wear clothes, as well as to "know the true god" (previously Friday worshiped "an old man named Bunamuki who lives high"). Mastering English. Friday tells that seventeen Spaniards who escaped from the lost ship live on the mainland with his fellow tribesmen. Robinson decides to build a new pirogue and, together with Friday, rescue the captives. The new arrival of the savages disrupts their plans. This time, the cannibals bring in a Spaniard and an old man who turns out to be Friday's father. Robinson and Friday, no worse than his master with a gun, free them. The idea of ​​gathering everyone on the island, building a reliable ship and trying their luck at sea is to the liking of the Spaniard. In the meantime, a new plot is being sown, goats are being caught - a considerable replenishment is expected. Taking an oath from the Spaniard not to surrender to the Inquisition, Robinson sends him with Friday's father to the mainland. And on the eighth day, new guests come to the island. The rebellious team from the English ship brings the captain, assistant and passenger to be punished. Robinson cannot miss such a chance. Taking advantage of the fact that he knows every path here, he frees the captain and his comrades in misfortune, and the five of them deal with the villains. Robinson's only condition is to bring him to England with Friday. The rebellion is pacified, two notorious villains are hanging on a yardarm, three more are left on the island, having humanely provided with everything necessary; but more valuable than provisions, tools and weapons - the very experience of survival that Robinson shares with the new settlers, there will be five of them in total - two more will escape from the ship, not really trusting the captain's forgiveness.

Robinson's twenty-eight-year odyssey ended: on June 11, 1686, he returned to England. His parents died long ago, but a good friend, the widow of his first captain, is still alive. In Lisbon, he learns that all these years his Brazilian plantation was managed by an official from the treasury, and since it now turns out that he is alive, all the income for this period is returned to him. A wealthy man, he takes care of two nephews, and prepares the second for sailors. Finally, Robinson marries (he is sixty-one years old) "not without benefit and quite successfully in all respects." He has two sons and a daughter.

V. A. Kharitonov

(Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe)

Roman (1719)

Peace is not for Robinson, he barely hatches in England for several years: thoughts about the island haunt him day and night. Age and prudent speeches of his wife for the time being keep him. He even buys a farm, intends to take up rural labor, to which he is so accustomed. The death of his wife breaks these plans. Nothing else keeps him in England. In January 1694, he sails on the ship of his nephew, the captain. With him is faithful Pyatnitsa, two carpenters, a blacksmith, a certain "master for all kinds of mechanical work" and a tailor. It is difficult even to enumerate the cargo that he takes to the island, it seems that everything is provided, right down to "brackets, loops, hooks", etc. On the island, he expects to meet the Spaniards, whom he missed.

Looking ahead, he tells about life on the island everything that he learns later from the Spaniards. The colonists live unfriendly. Those three inveterate ones that were left on the island did not come to their senses - they are loafing, they are not engaged in crops and a herd. If they still keep themselves within the bounds of decency with the Spaniards, then they exploit their two compatriots mercilessly. It comes to vandalism - trampled crops, ruined huts. Finally, the Spaniards also lose patience and this trinity is expelled to another part of the island. Do not forget about the island and the savages: having learned that the island is inhabited, they run into large groups. There are bloody battles. Meanwhile, the restless trio begs the Spaniards for a boat and visits the nearest islands, returning with a group of natives, in which there are five women and three men. The British take women as wives (religion does not allow the Spaniards). The common danger (the biggest villain, Atkins, shows himself excellently in a fight with savages) and, perhaps, the beneficial female influence completely transforms the odious Englishmen (there are two of them left, the third died in the fight), so that by the time Robinson arrives, peace and harmony are established on the island .

Like a monarch (this is his comparison), he generously endows the colonists with inventory, provisions, clothes, settles the last differences. Generally speaking, he acts like a governor, which he might well have been, if not for his hasty departure from England, which prevented him from taking out a patent. No less than the well-being of the colony, Robinson is concerned about establishing "spiritual" order. With him is a French missionary, a Catholic, but the relationship between them is sustained in the educational spirit of religious tolerance. To begin with, they marry married couples living "in sin." Then the native wives themselves are baptized. In total, Robinson stayed on his island for twenty-five days. At sea they meet a flotilla of pirogues full of natives. A bloody slaughter flares up, Friday dies. There is a lot of blood shed in this second part of the book. In Madagascar, avenging the death of a rapist sailor, his comrades will burn and cut out an entire village. Robinson's indignation turns thugs against him, demanding to land him ashore (they are already in the Bay of Bengal). The captain's nephew is forced to yield to them, leaving two servants with Robinson.

Robinson meets with an English merchant who tempts him with the prospect of trade with China. In the future, Robinson travels by land, satisfying natural curiosity with outlandish customs and views. For the Russian reader, this part of his adventures is interesting because he returns to Europe through Siberia. In Tobolsk he made the acquaintance of exiled "state criminals" and "not without pleasantness" spent long winter evenings with them. Then there will be Arkhangelsk, Hamburg, The Hague, and, finally, in January 1705, after ten years and nine months of space, Robinson arrives in London.

V. A. Kharitonov

(The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders)

Roman (1722)

In everyday life, this work by Defoe is called briefly: "Moll Flanders", and with a subtitle the name is even longer: "(...), who was a kept woman for twelve years, married five times, a thief for twelve years, an exile in Virginia for eight years, but at the end of her life she got rich ".

Based on the fact that the story of her life was "written" by the heroine in 1683 (as always, Defoe's narration is in the first person, and he himself is hiding behind the mask of the "publisher") and that she herself must have been seventy or seventy at that time one year, we determine the date of her birth: about 1613 Moll was born in prison, in Nyoget; the thief pregnant with her achieved a commutation of the sentence and, after the birth of her daughter, was exiled to a colony, and the six-month-old girl was given into the care of "some kind of relative." What this supervision was, one can guess: already at the age of three she wanders "with the gypsies", lags behind them, and the city authorities of Colchester assign her to a woman who once knew better times. She teaches orphans to read and sew, instills in them good manners. A hard-working and smart girl early (she is eight years old) realizes the humiliation of the fate prepared for her by servants with strangers and announces her desire to become a "mistress". An intelligent child understands it this way: to be your own mistress - "to earn a living by your own work." The wife of the mayor with her daughters and other empathetic townspeople come to see the unusual "lady". They give her a job, give her money; she stays in a good house.

The elderly teacher dies, the heiress-daughter puts the girl out on the street, pocketing her money (she will return it later), and the fourteen-year-old Moll is taken in by the "good real lady", with whom she was visiting. Here she lived until the age of seventeen. Her position is not entirely clear, household duties are not defined - most likely, she is a friend of her daughters, a named sister, a "pupil". A capable, receptive girl soon rivals the young ladies in dancing and playing the clavichord and spinet, speaks French briskly, and sings even better than them. Nature has not bypassed her with her gifts - she is beautiful and well built. The latter will play a fatal role in the life of "Miss Betty" (Elizabeth? - we will never know her real name), what is her name in the house, since in addition to girls, two sons grow up in the family. The eldest, "great merry fellow" and already an experienced ladies' man, with immoderate praise of her beauty turns the girl's head, flatters her vanity, extolling her dignity to her sisters. The wounded "ladies" turn against her. Meanwhile, the older brother (he will remain nameless) with promises of marriage and generous gifts achieves "the so-called highest favor." Of course, he promises marriage, “as soon as he takes possession of his property,” and, perhaps, the heroine, who sincerely fell in love with him, would have been content with waiting for a long time (although these promises were not repeated), if her younger brother, Robin, had not fallen in love with her. This one is ingenuous and simple, frightening his mother and sisters, he does not hide his feelings, and honestly asks "Miss Betty" for her hand and heart - he is not embarrassed that she is a dowry, Considering herself the wife of his older brother, she refuses Robin and in despair (happy a chance missed) calls for a decisive explanation of her lover-husband. "And he does not seem to refuse his promises, but, soberly assessing reality ("my father is healthy and strong"), advises her to accept her brother's proposal, to bring peace to the family. Shocked by the treachery of her beloved, the girl falls ill with a fever, recovers with difficulty, and finally agrees to marry Robin. The elder brother, with a light heart condemning the "recklessness of youth," pays off his beloved with five hundred pounds. Obvious features of the future psychological novel appear in the description of the circumstances of this marriage : lying with her husband, she always imagined herself in the arms of his brother, meanwhile Robin is a nice person and did not at all deserve death five years later at the behest of the author; alas, the widow did not shed tears over his death.

The newly-made widow leaves two children from this marriage with her mother-in-law, lives comfortably, has admirers, but "observes" herself, setting as her goal "only marriage, and, moreover, profitable." She managed to appreciate what it means to be a "lady" in the common sense of the word, her claims increased: "if you are already a merchant, then let him be like a master." And such is. An idler and a spendthrift, he lowers their small fortune in less than a year, goes bankrupt and flees to France, leaving his wife to hide from creditors. Their child has died. The straw widow moves to Mint (a London quarter where insolvent debtors hid from the police). She takes a different name and from now on is called "Mrs Flanders". Her position is unenviable: without friends, without a single relative, with a small, rapidly dwindling fortune. However, she soon finds a friend, by a cunning intrigue helping one unfortunate woman to get an overly picky captain as her husband. The grateful comrade spreads rumors about a rich "cousin", and soon Moll chooses his favorite from a bunch of fans who have come running. She honestly warns the seeker of her hand about her insignificant dowry; he, believing that the sincerity of his feelings is being tested, declares (in verse!) that "money is vanity."

He really loves her and therefore easily endures the collapse of his calculations. The newlyweds are sailing to America - her husband has plantations there, it's time to delve into business in a businesslike way. His mother lives there in Virginia. From conversations with her, Moll learns that she did not come to America of her own free will. At home, she fell into a "bad company", and pregnancy saved her from a death sentence: with the birth of a child, her punishment was mitigated, exiled to a colony. Here she repented, reformed, married a widower owner, bore him a daughter and a son - Moll's current husband. Some details of her history, and most importantly, the name that she was called in England, lead Moll to a terrible guess: her mother-in-law is none other than her own mother. Naturally, the relationship with her husband-brother goes further and further, the more they go wrong. By the way, they have two children, and she is pregnant with the third. Unable to hide a terrible discovery, she tells everything to her mother-in-law (mother), and then to her husband (brother). She longs to return to England, which he now cannot prevent. The poor fellow is going through hard what happened, close to insanity, twice attempted suicide.

Moll returns to England (she spent a total of eight years in America). The load of tobacco, on which she had hoped to get on her feet and marry well, disappeared on the road, she had little money, nevertheless she often runs into the resort of Bath, lives beyond her means in anticipation of a "happy occasion". Such is presented in the face of a "real gentleman" who comes here to relax from a difficult home environment: he has a mentally ill wife. Friendship develops between the "Master of Batsk" and Moll. The fever that happened to him when Moll left him brings them even closer, although the relationship remains incredibly chaste for two whole years. Then she will become his kept woman, they will have three children (only the first boy will survive), they will move to London. Their established, essentially married, life lasted six years. A new illness of a roommate puts an end to this almost idyllic episode in Moll's life. On the verge of death, "conscience spoke in him", he repented "of his dissolute and windy life" and sent Moll a farewell letter with admonition to "correct" as well.

Again she is a "free bird" (her own words), or rather, a game for a dowry hunter, since she does not prevent others from considering herself a wealthy lady, with means. But life in the capital is expensive, and Moll leans on the persuasion of a neighbor, a woman "from the northern counties", to live near Liverpool. Previously, she is trying to somehow secure the outgoing money, but the bank clerk, having messed up with an unfaithful wife, instead of business conversations, starts matrimonial ones and already offers to draw up an agreement in all form "with the obligation to marry him as soon as he achieves a divorce." Postponing this story for now, Moll leaves for Lancashire. The companion introduces her to her brother - the Irish lord;

dazzled by his noble manners and "fabulous splendor" of receptions, Moll falls in love and marries (this is her fourth husband). In a short time, it turns out that the "Lancashire husband" is a swindler: the "sister" who pimped him turned out to be his former mistress, who, for a decent bribe, found a "rich" bride. Deceived, or rather, deceived newlyweds seethe with noble indignation (if these words are appropriate in such a context), but things cannot be improved. Out of the kindness of his soul, Moll even justifies the unlucky spouse: "he was a gentleman (...) who knew better times." Not having the means to arrange a more or less tolerable life with her, all in debt, Jemmy decides to leave Moll, but it doesn’t work out right away: for the first time after the bitter love for her older Colchester brother, with which her misfortunes began, Moll loves selflessly. She touchingly tries to persuade her husband to go to Virginia, where, with honest work, you can live with little money. Partly carried away by her plans, Jemmy (James) advises first to try his luck in Ireland (although he has no stake or yard there). Under this plausible pretext, he still leaves.

Moll returns to London, sad for her husband, enjoys sweet memories, until she discovers that she is pregnant. A baby born in a boarding house "for single women" is already routinely placed in the care of a peasant woman from Hartford - and inexpensively, which the mother who got rid of "heavy care" notes not without pleasure.

She is all the more relieved that the correspondence with the bank clerk, which has not been interrupted all this time, brings good news: he has achieved a divorce, his wife, who has missed herself late, has committed suicide. After breaking down for a decent time (all Defoe's heroines are excellent actresses), Moll marries for the fifth time. One incident in a provincial hotel, where this prudently planned event took place, frightens Moll "to death": from the window she sees riders who have entered the yard, one of them is undoubtedly Jemmy. They soon leave, but rumors about robbers who robbed two carriages nearby on the same day strengthen Moll in suspicion of the trade that her recent missus is engaged in.

A happy marriage to a clerk lasted five years. Moll day and night blesses heaven for the blessings sent down, laments about the former unrighteous life, fearing retribution for it. And retribution comes: the banker could not endure the loss of a large amount, "plunged into apathy and died." Two children were born in this marriage - and a curious thing: not only is it difficult for the reader to count all her children, but Moll herself (or Defoe?) gets confused - then it turns out that from her "last husband" she has one son, whom she, of course, puts into the wrong hands. Moll fell on hard times. She is already forty-eight, her beauty has faded, and, worst of all for this active nature, who knew how to gather strength and show incredible vitality in difficult times, she "lost all faith in herself." Increasingly, the ghosts of hunger and poverty visit her, until finally the "devil" drives her into the street and she commits her first theft.

The entire second part of the book is a chronicle of the heroine's steady fall into a successful, legendary thief. A "midwife" appears on the scene, eight years ago she successfully freed her from her son, born in a legal (!) marriage with Jemmy, and then appears to remain as a "foster" to the end. (In parentheses, we note that the number eight plays an almost mystical role in this novel, marking the main milestones in the life of the heroine.) When, after several thefts, Moll accumulates "goods" that she does not know how to sell, she recalls a quick-witted midwife with funds and connections. She does not even imagine what a right decision this is: the recipient of unwanted children has now become a pawnbroker, gives money on the mortgage of things. Then it turns out that it is called differently: a gunner and a dealer in stolen goods. A whole squad of unfortunate people works for her. One by one they end up in Newgate, and there either to the gallows, or - if you're lucky - to American exile. Moll has been lucky for an incredibly long time - mainly because she acts alone, relying only on herself, soberly calculating the measure of danger and risk. A talented hypocrite, she knows how to win over people, not shunning to deceive children's trust. She changes her appearance, adapting to the environment, and for some time "works" even in a man's suit. As before, in marriage contracts or when determining the content, each penny was stipulated, so now Moll keeps detailed accounting of his unrighteous accumulations (earrings, watches, lace, silver spoons ...). In the criminal trade, she shows the quickly acquired grip of a "business woman". Her pangs of conscience are less and less disturbing, more and more thoughtful, more sophisticated than her scams. Moll becomes a true professional in his field. She, for example, is not averse to flaunting "skill" when she steals a horse that she absolutely does not need in the city. She already has a considerable fortune, and it is quite possible to give up a shameful craft, but this thought visits her only after the past danger. Then she will not remember about it, but she will not forget to mention the moment of repentance in the meticulous register of everything that speaks in her favor.

As one would expect, luck one day betrays her, and, to the evil joy of the comrades languishing in Newgate, she keeps them company. Of course, she bitterly repents both that she once succumbed to the temptation of the "devil", and that she did not have the strength to overcome the obsession when starvation was no longer threatening her, but still, the worst of all is the thought that she "got caught" and therefore the sincerity and depth of her remorse are doubtful. But the priest believes her, through the efforts of the "pestunia" ("heartbroken", she even falls ill on the basis of repentance), petitioning for the replacement of the death penalty with exile. The judges grant her petition, especially since Moll officially passes as a judge for the first time. In prison, she meets her "Lancashire husband" Jemmy, which is not very surprising, knowing his occupation. However, witnesses to his robberies are in no hurry to appear, the trial is postponed, and Moll manages to convince Jemmy to voluntarily go into exile with her (not expecting a very likely gallows).

In Virginia, Moll meets his already adult son Humphrey (brother-husband is blind, the son is in charge of all affairs), enters into possession of a fortune bequeathed to a long-dead mother. She intelligently runs a plantation economy, condescendingly endures her husband's "lordly" manners (he prefers hunting to work), and in due time, having become rich, they both return to England "to spend the rest of our days in sincere repentance, lamenting our bad life."

The chronicle of the life of Moll Flenders ends with the words: "Written in 1683." Surprisingly, the dates sometimes converge: in the same year, 1683, as if to replace Moll, who had "descended from the stage", a ten-year-old Roxanne was brought to England from France.

V. A. Kharitonov

(Roxana)

Roman (1724)

The happy courtesan, or the story of the life and all sorts of vicissitudes of Mademoiselle de Belo, later called the Countess de Winpelsheim of Germany, she is the person known in the time of Charles II under the name of Lady Roxanne (The fortunate mistress; or, a history of the life and variety vast of fortunes of mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the countess de Wintselsheim in Germany. Being the person known by the name of the lady Roxana, in the time of king Charles II)

Roman (1724)

The heroine, so pompously represented on the title, was actually called Susan, which will be revealed towards the end of the book, in an accidental slip ("my daughter was named after me"). However, in her changeable life, she changed "roles" so many times that the name Roxana was fixed - according to the "role" played by her in her finest hour. But those scholars are also right who, more inattentively, the real name, declare it anonymous and conclude that the heroine is typical: she is indeed a product of her time, a social type.

Generally speaking, Roxanne is French. She was born in the city of Poitiers, in a Huguenot family. In 1683, when the girl was about ten years old, her parents, fleeing religious persecution, moved with her to England. Therefore, the year of birth is 1673. At the age of fifteen, her father married her to a London brewer, who, a useless owner, squandered his wife's dowry in eight years of marriage, sold the brewery, and one morning "left the yard with two servants" and left forever, leaving his wife and children less small (only there are five of them). The ill-fated marriage gives the chance to the “fast on the tongue” and the intelligent heroine to classify the “fools”, of which her husband combined several varieties at once, and warn the readers against a rash decision to link fate with one of these.

Her situation is deplorable. Relatives of the runaway husband refuse to help, leaving her only devoted servant Amy. It occurs to her and two compassionate old women (one of them is her husband's widowed aunt) to take four children (the parish took care of the youngest) to the house of their uncle and aunt and, literally pushing them over the threshold, run away. This plan is carried out, the relatives, shamed by the conscientious uncle, decide to take care of the little ones together.

Meanwhile, Roxanne continues to stay in the house, and moreover: the owner does not ask for payment, sympathizing with her miserable situation, provides all kinds of assistance. Smart Amy realizes that such participation is hardly disinterested and her mistress will have to pay in a certain way. That's how it happens. After a jokingly planned "wedding dinner", convinced by Amy's arguments of the justice of her benefactor's harassment, Roxana gives in to him, accompanying the victim with a long-winded self-justification ("Poverty - that's what killed me, horrendous poverty"). No longer jokingly, but seriously, a "contract" is drawn up, where money and things agreed in detail and precisely guarantee material security for the heroine.

Not to say that she easily survives her fall, although one must take into account the corrective assessments in hindsight that the "late" Roxana makes, mired in vice and, it seems, full of sincere repentance. A symptom of the coming moral deafness is her seduction of "faithful Amy", whom she puts to bed with her roommate. When it turns out that Amy is pregnant, Roxanne, feeling guilty, decides to "take this baby and take care of it as if it were her own." Her own children, we know, are taken care of by others, so this girl will also be sold to the nurse, and nothing more will be said about her. Roxana herself has a girl born only in her third year (she will die six weeks old), and a year later a boy will be born.

Among the activities of her cohabitant ("husband", as he himself insists and who he actually is) is the resale of jewelry (which is why he will be listed as a "jeweler" in the string of her favors). Business demands his departure to Paris, Roxana goes with him. One day he is going to Versailles to see Prince ***sky. Roxana is seized with a bad feeling, she tries to keep him, but the jeweler bound by the word leaves, and on the way to Versailles in broad daylight he is killed by three robbers. Roxana has no legal rights as an heiress, but she has stones, bills - in a word, her position cannot be compared with the insignificance from which her deceased benefactor raised her. Yes, and Roxana is different now - a sober business woman, she arranges her affairs with rare self-control (while quite sincerely grieving for the jeweler). For example, to a London manager who comes to the rescue, she appears to be a Frenchwoman, the widow of his master, who did not know about the existence of another, English wife, and competently demands a "widow's share". Meanwhile, a warned Amy is selling furnishings in London, silver, boarding up the house.

The prince, who did not wait for the jeweler on that ill-fated day, shows sympathy to Roxanne, first sending his valet, and then declaring himself. The result of the visit was an annual pension for the duration of her stay in Paris and an unusually fast growing relationship with the prince ("Comte de Clerac"). Naturally, she becomes his mistress, on which occasion the obligatory morality is deduced for the edification of "unfortunate women." Their relationship will last eight years, Roxana will give birth to two children to the prince. Betrayed Amy, her faithful mirror, lets herself be seduced by the prince's valet, adding belated remorse to the hostess for the girl's initial seduction.

The heroine's measured life suddenly fails: in the Dauphin's Palace of Meudon, where Roxanne comes over with her prince, she sees her missing brewer husband among the guards. Fearing exposure, she sends Amy to him, she composes a pitiful story about the lady who fell into extreme poverty and disappeared into obscurity (however, quite truthfully telling the initial sorrows of the "straw widow" left with small children). Still a nonentity and a slacker, the brewer tries to extract quite a large amount from Amy - supposedly to buy an officer's patent, but is satisfied with a single "on loan" pistol, after which he diligently avoids her. Insuring herself against further unwanted meetings, Roxana hires a detective - "to watch all his movements." And before the deadline, she loses him a second time, this time with incredible relief.

Meanwhile, the prince receives an order from the king to go to Italy. As usual, nobly broken (allegedly not wanting to create additional difficulties for him), Roxana accompanies him. Amy stays in Paris to guard the property ("I was rich, very rich"). The journey lasted almost two years. In Venice, she gave birth to a second boy to the prince, but he soon died. Upon returning to Paris, about a year later, she gave birth to a third son. Their connection is interrupted, following the changeable logic of her unlucky life: the prince’s wife became dangerously ill (“an excellent, generous and truly kind wife”) and on her deathbed asked her husband to remain faithful to her successor (“whoever his choice fell on”). Struck by her generosity, the prince falls into melancholy, withdraws into solitude and leaves Roxanne, taking on the costs of raising their sons.

Deciding to return to England ("I still considered myself an Englishwoman") and not knowing how to dispose of her property, Roxanne finds a certain Dutch merchant, "famous for his wealth and honesty." He gives good advice and even undertakes to sell her jewelry to a familiar Jewish usurer. The usurer immediately recognizes the stones of the jeweler who was killed eight years ago, which were then declared stolen, and, naturally, suspects Roxanne as an accomplice of the hiding murderers. The pawnbroker's threat to "investigate this case" frightens her in earnest. Fortunately, he initiates the Dutch merchant into his plans, and he has already trembled before the spell of Roxanne and fuses her to Rotterdam, meanwhile arranging her property affairs and leading the usurer by the nose.

A storm breaks out at sea, before its ferocity, Amy bitterly repents of her dissolute life, Roxanne silently echoes her, giving promises to completely change. The ship refers to England, and on land their repentance is soon forgotten. Roxana goes to Holland alone. The Rotterdam merchant, whom a Dutch merchant recommended to her, successfully arranges her business, including with dangerous stones. Six months pass in these efforts. From Amy's letters, she learns that the brewer's husband, as Amy's friend, the prince's valet, found out, died in some kind of brawl. Then it turns out that Amy invented it out of the best feelings, wishing her mistress a new marriage. The "fool" husband will die, but much later. The benefactor also writes to her from Paris - a Dutch merchant who has suffered a lot of trouble from the usurer. Digging up the biography of Roxanne, he dangerously approaches the prince, but then he is stopped: on the Pont Neuf in Paris, two unknown people cut off his ears and threaten further trouble if he does not stop. For his part, protecting his own peace of mind, an honest merchant starts a sneak and puts the usurer in jail, and then, out of harm's way, he himself leaves Paris for Rotterdam, to Roxana.

They are getting closer. An honest merchant proposes marriage (his Parisian wife has died), Roxana refuses him ("having entered into marriage, I lose all my property, which will pass into the hands of my husband"). But she explains her refusal by disgust for marriage after the misadventures to which the death of her husband, a jeweler, doomed her. The merchant, however, guesses the true reason and promises her complete financial independence in marriage - he will not touch a single pistol from her fortune. Roxanne has to invent another reason, namely, the desire for spiritual freedom. In her speeches, she shows herself to be the most sophisticated sophist, however, and it’s too late for her to back down for fear of being caught in greed (even though she is expecting a child from him). The frustrated merchant returns to Paris, Roxana goes to "try her luck" (her thoughts, of course, about maintenance, and not about marriage) to London. She settles in a fashionable area, Pel-Mel, next to the palace park, "under the name of a noble Frenchwoman." Strictly speaking, nameless until now, she is always rootless. She lives in grand style, the rumor multiplies her wealth even more, she is besieged by "dowry hunters." Sir Robert Clayton (this is a real person, the largest financier of that time) sensibly helps her in managing her fortune. Along the way, Defoe tells the "English nobles" how they could increase their fortune, "just as merchants increase theirs."

The heroine turns a new page in her biography: the doors of her house open for "high-ranking nobles", she arranges evenings with card games and masquerade balls, one of them incognito, in a mask, is the king himself. The heroine appears before the assembly in a Turkish costume (not knowing how to think otherwise, she, of course, does not forget to say how many pistoles she got it for) and performs a Turkish dance, plunging everyone into amazement. It was then that someone exclaimed - "Why, it's Roxanne herself!" - thus giving the heroine a name at last. This period is the pinnacle of her career: she spends the next three years in the company of the king - "away from the world," as she declares with coquettishly self-satisfied modesty. She returns to society fabulously rich, slightly faded, but still able to win hearts. And soon there is a "gentleman of a noble family" who led the attack. True, he started stupidly, talking about "love, a subject so ridiculous to me when it is not connected with the main thing, that is, with money." But then the eccentric corrected the situation by offering content.

Two times, two eras met in the image of Roxana - the Restoration (Charles II and Jacob I), with its carbon monoxide fun and unscrupulousness, and the Puritan sobering that followed it, which came with the accession of Wilhelm III and further grew stronger under Anna and Georges. Defoe was a contemporary of all these monarchs. The depraved life that Roxanne indulges in, returning from Paris to London, is the very embodiment of the Restoration. On the contrary, a petty calculation of all the benefits that this life brings is already far from aristocracy, it is a typical bourgeois fold, akin to a merchant's ledger.

In London, the story of Roxanne ties a truly dramatic knot, echoing her past. She finally became interested in the fate of her five children, left fifteen years ago at the mercy of relatives. The eldest son and youngest daughter have already died, leaving the youngest son (shelter) and his two sisters, the eldest and middle, who left their unkind aunt (Roxanne's sister-in-law) and decided "to people". Roxanne's calculations do not include opening up to children and relatives and friends in general, and all the necessary searches are carried out by Amy. The son, "a nice, smart and amiable fellow", an apprentice, did hard work. Introducing herself as the former maid of the unfortunate mother of these children, Amy arranges the fate of the boy: she buys the boy from the owner and determines his studies, preparing him for the merchant career. These blessings have an unexpected result; one of Roxanne's maids returns from town in tears, and from her inquiries Amy concludes that this is Roxanne's eldest daughter, dejected by her brother's luck! Finding fault over a trifling matter, Amy is counting on the girl. By and large, the removal of her daughter suits Roxanne, but her heart is now restless - it turns out that "there was still a lot of maternal feeling in it." Amy here unobtrusively alleviates the situation of the unfortunate girl.

With the advent of the daughter in the life of the heroine, a turning point is indicated. She was "dead" by my lord ***, with whom she has been in support for the eighth year, they part. Roxana begins to "justly judge her past." Among the culprits of her fall, in addition to need, another one is announced - the Devil, who frightened her with the specter of need already in favorable circumstances. Both greed for money and vanity are all his intrigues. She has already moved with Pel-Mel to Kensington, and is slowly breaking up old acquaintances, trying to put an end to the "vile and vile" craft. Her last London address is a farmstead near Mineriz, on the outskirts of the city, in the home of a Quaker who had gone to New England. A significant role in the change of address is played by the desire to insure against the visit of her daughter, Susan, who already has a short relationship with Amy. Roxana even changes her appearance, dressing up in a modest Quaker outfit. And of course, she leaves here under a false name. The image of the hostess, a "good Quaker", was written out with warm sympathy - Defoe had reasons to treat the representatives of this sect well. The quiet, correct life so desired by Roxanne nevertheless does not bring peace to her soul - now she bitterly regrets the separation from the "Dutch merchant". Amy goes to explore in Paris. Meanwhile, hurried fate presents the merchant to Roxana right in London: it turns out that he has been living here for a long time. It seems that this time the merchant’s uncooled matrimonial intentions will be crowned with success, especially since they have a son, both are painfully worried about his rootlessness, and, finally, Roxana cannot forget how much this man has done for her (scrupulous honesty in business is not alien to her) .

A new complication: in another "report" from France, Amy reports that the prince is looking for Roxana, intending to grant her the title of countess and marry her. The vanity of the former royal mistress flares up with unprecedented force. A cooling game is being played with the merchant. Fortunately for the heroine, she does not have time to push him away from her again (and finally), because Amy's further messages deprive her of the hope of ever being called "your highness." As if guessing about her ambitious claims, the merchant promises her, in case of marriage, the title of baroness in England (you can buy it) or in Holland - a countess (you can also buy it from an impoverished nephew). Ultimately, she will receive both titles. The Holland option suits her better: by staying in England, she runs the risk that her past may become known to the merchant. In addition, Susan, a smart girl, comes to the conclusion that if not Amy, then Lady Roxanne herself is her mother, and she lays out her thoughts to Amy. Amy, who passes everything on to Roxanne, bursts out in her hearts with a desire to kill the "girl". The shocked Roxanne does not let her see her for some time, but the word has been said. Events hasten the departure of the spouses to Holland, where, Roxana believes, neither her daughter, who accidentally became her first enemy, will reach her, nor other ghosts of the past will encroach on her now respectable life. A fatal accident, of which there are many in this novel, overtakes her at the moment of pre-departure troubles, the wife of the captain of the ship with whom negotiations are being conducted turns out to be Susan's girlfriend, and she comes on board, frightening Roxanne to death. And although her daughter does not recognize her (serving as a dishwasher, she only saw “Lady Roxana” once, and then in a Turkish costume, which plays the role of a revealing “skeleton in the closet” here) and, naturally, does not connect her with the lodger in the Quaker’s house, a trip to Holland is postponed.

Susan besieges the Quaker's house, seeking a meeting with Amy and her mistress, in which she confidently assumes her mother. It is no longer the suffering child love that drives her, but the passion of hunting and revealing pathos. Roxana moves out of her apartment, hides in resort towns, keeping in touch only with Amy and the Quaker, who begins to suspect evil, telling Susan all sorts of fables about her guest when she arrives at the house and feeling herself in a situation of conspiracy. Meanwhile, frightened no less than her mistress by what is happening, Amy accidentally meets Susan in the city, goes with her to Greenwich (then a rather remote place), they violently explain, and the girl stops the walk in time, not allowing herself to be dragged into the forest. Amy's intentions still infuriate Roxana, she drives her away, having lost a true friend in such a difficult moment of her life.

The finale of this story is shrouded in gloomy tones: nothing is heard about Amy and nothing is heard about the girl, and after all, the last time, according to rumors, they were seen together. Given Amy's obsessive drive to "keep" Susan safe, one can assume the worst.

Having showered blessings on her less persistent children in absentia, Roxanne sails to Holland, lives there "with all the splendor and splendor." In due course, Amy will follow her there, but their meeting is outside the book, as is the "wrath of heaven" that punished them. Their misadventures were devoted to a false continuation, published in 1745, that is, fourteen years after the death of Defoe. It tells how Amy managed to imprison Susan in a debtor's prison, leaving which she comes to Holland and exposes both. The most honest husband, whose eyes have finally been opened, expels Roxana from the house, deprives her of any hereditary rights, and marries Susan well. In the "sequel" Roxanne dies a beggar in prison, and Amy, having contracted a bad disease, also dies in poverty.

V. A. Kharitonov

(History of John Bull)

Roman (1712)

Lord Strutt, a wealthy aristocrat whose family has long owned enormous wealth, is persuaded by the parish priest and a cunning attorney to bequeath his entire estate to his cousin, Philip Babun. To the bitter dismay of another cousin, South Esq., the title and estate pass to the young Philip Baboon on Lord Strutt's death.

The young lord is visited by the late Strutt's regular suppliers, cloth merchant John Bull and linen merchant Nicholas Frog. Despite the late Lord Strutt's many debts, it is extremely disadvantageous for them to lose such a rich client as Philip Babun, and they hope that they will receive orders from him for their goods. The young lord promises them not to use the services of other merchants. However, Bull and Frog have a suspicion that the grandfather of the young lord, the trickster and swindler Louis Babun, who is also engaged in trade and does not disdain any fraud in order to obtain profitable orders, will take over all the affairs of his grandson. Fearing ruin due to the machinations of the malicious Louis Babun, a dishonorable swindler and fighter, Buhl and Frog write a letter to Philip Babun informing him that if he intends to receive goods from his grandfather, then they, Buhl and Frog, will sue the young lord in court to collect from him an old debt of twenty thousand pounds sterling, as a result of which the property of the late Strutt will be seized.

Young Babun is frightened by this turn of events. Since he has no cash to pay the debt, he swears to Boole and Frog that he will only buy goods from them. However, the merchants no longer doubt that the old rogue Louis Babun will certainly cheat his grandson. Be and Frog go to court with a lawsuit. Solicitor Humphrey Hawkes draws up a statement of claim defending the interests of Boole and Frog by the law of limitation and contesting the right of Louis Baboon to trade, since the latter "is not a merchant at all, but a brawler and a sorcerer, wandering around country fairs, where he incites honest people to fight with their fists or clubs for the sake of prize."

Ten years have passed, and the case is still dragging on. Young Lord Strutt fails to get a single decision in his favor. However, Buhl does not win anything, on the contrary, all his cash gradually settles into the pockets of judicial officials. John Bull is an honest and good-natured fellow, hospitable and merry, but his passionate and stubborn nature encourages him to continue the lawsuit, which threatens to completely ruin him. Seeing how the lawsuit gradually eats up all his capital, he unexpectedly decides for everyone to become a lawyer himself, since this is such a profitable business. He abandons all business, instructs Frog to conduct his trading operations and zealously studies jurisprudence.

Nicolae Frog is the exact opposite of Bull. The cunning and prudent Frog closely follows the course of the lawsuit, but by no means to the detriment of the interests of his trade.

Bull, who has gone headlong into the study of the intricacies of judicial science, suddenly learns about the connection of the lawyer Hokus, who extorts huge sums of money from Bull, with his wife. Buhl is outraged by the behavior of his wife, who openly cheats on him, but she declares that she considers herself free from any obligations to her husband and is going to continue to behave as she sees fit. A quarrel breaks out between them, turning into a brawl: the wife receives a serious injury, from which she dies six months later.

In the papers of the late wife, Bull discovers a treatise devoted to the issues of "defending the indispensable duty of the wife to instruct her husband in the event of tyranny, infidelity or incapacity." In this treatise, she sharply condemns female chastity and justifies adultery, referring to the laws of nature and the example of "the wisest wives of all ages and peoples" who, using the indicated means, saved the husband's family from death and oblivion due to the lack of offspring. "It turns out that this pernicious doctrine has already spread among women, despite the unequivocal condemnation of their husbands.Women create two parties whose views on the issues of chastity and fidelity are diametrically opposed, but in fact the behavior of both is not much different.

Buhl marries a serious and sedate village woman, and she prudently advises him to take up his mind and check the accounts, instead of doing legal sciences, which undermine his health and threaten to let his family go around the world. He follows her advice and discovers that the solicitor Hocus, without a twinge of conscience, appropriates his money, and Frog participates in their common expenses only in words, while in reality all the costs of litigation fall on the shoulders of Bull. Outraged, Bull refuses the services of Hokus and hires another lawyer.

Frog sends Bull a letter in which he assures him of his honesty and devotion to the common cause. He laments that he is being harassed by the insolent Louis Baboon and complains that he has lost much more money than Buhl. Frog asks Boole to continue to trust him, Frog, with his trading affairs and promises fantastic profits.

Bull meets Frog, Esquire South, and Louis Baboon in a tavern. Buhl suspects that Louis Babun and Frog may conspire among themselves and deceive him. Buhl demands from Frog a full account of how he spent the money that Buhl entrusted to him. Frog tries to cheat Bull, but he catches him.

Frog begins to intrigue against his former companion and friend: he inspires Bull's servants and household that their master has gone mad and sold his wife and children to Louis Babun, that it is not safe to argue with him on the slightest occasion, since Bull always has poison and a dagger with him. However, Bull guesses who is spreading these ridiculous rumors.

Louis Babun, who is in constant financial trouble because all the merchants he has ever deceived have united against him, is on a visit to Boole. Louis Babun slanders the greedy Frog with whom he tried to deal, and asks Boole to take him, Baboon, under his protection and dispose of him and his capital as Boole pleases. Buhl agrees to help old Louis, but only on condition of complete trust in him. Buhl demands firm guarantees from the old swindler and insists that he transfer Ecclesdown Castle, along with nearby lands, to his full ownership. Louis Babun agrees.

Frog, who himself is not averse to taking possession of the castle, enters into a secret agreement with Esquire South. He persuades the esquire to bribe the judicial officials and deprive Boole of all rights to the estate. However, Bull, who manages to eavesdrop on their conversation, exposes Frog's criminal plans and, against all odds, becomes the sovereign master of Ecclesdown Castle.

V. V. Rynkevich

(A Tale of a Tub)

Pamphlet. (1696-1697. publ. 1704)

"The Tale of the Barrel" is one of the first pamphlets written by Jonathan Swift, however, in contrast to the "Battle of the Books" created around the same period, which dealt mainly with literary objects, "The Tale of the Barrel", with its relatively small volume , contains, as it seems, almost all conceivable aspects and manifestations of human life. Although, of course, its main focus is anti-religious, or rather, anti-church. No wonder the book, published seven years after its creation (and published anonymously!), was included by the Pope in the Index prohibitorum. Swift got, however, from the ministers of the Anglican Church (and deservedly, it must be admitted, his caustic pen also did not spare them).

To retell the "plot" of a book belonging to the pamphlet genre is a deliberately ungrateful and senseless task. It is noteworthy, however, that, in the complete absence of "plot" in the usual sense of the word, in the absence of action, characters, intrigue, Swift's book reads like an exciting detective novel or as an exciting adventurous story. And this happens because and only because, formally belonging to the genre of journalism, as they say today, non-fiction - that is, again formally, going beyond the scope of fiction, Swift's pamphlet is in the full sense of the art work. And even if the events inherent in a work of art do not occur in it, it has the only thing that replaces everything else: the movement of the author's thought - angry, paradoxical, sarcastic, sometimes reaching outright misanthropy, but stunningly convincing, because behind it is hidden the true knowledge of human nature, laws , which govern society, laws, according to which relationships between people are built from the century.

The construction of the pamphlet at first glance may seem rather chaotic, confusing, the author deliberately confuses his reader (hence partly the name itself: the expression "barrel tale" in English means chatter, hash, confusion). The structure of the pamphlet falls into two parts that seem logically unrelated to each other: the Tale of the Barrel itself - the story of three brothers: Peter, Jack and Martin - and a series of digressions, each of which has its own theme and addressee. Thus, one of them is called "digression regarding critics", another - "digression in praise of digressions", another - "digression regarding the origin, usefulness and success of madness in human society", etc. Already from the very names of "digressions" understand their meaning and purpose. Swift was generally disgusted by all kinds of manifestations of baseness and depravity of human nature, duplicity, insincerity, but above all - human stupidity and human vanity. And it is against them that his evil, sarcastic, caustic language is directed. He knows how to notice everything and give everything what it deserves.

So, in the first section, which he called "Introduction", the addressees of his sarcasm are judges and speakers, actors and spectators, in a word, all those who either proclaim something (from the podium or, if you like, from the barrel), as well as the others who listen to them open their mouths in admiration. In many sections of his pamphlet, Swift creates a murderous parody of his contemporary scientism, of pseudo-scholarship (when truly "a word is not said in simplicity"), while he himself masterfully owns the gift of perverted verbiage (of course, of a parodic nature, but perfectly reproducing the style of those numerous " scholarly treatises", which came out in abundance from the pen of pundits - his contemporaries). At the same time, he brilliantly knows how to show that behind this stringing of words lies the emptiness and paucity of thought - a motif that is contemporary at all times, like all other thoughts and motifs of Swift's pamphlet, which has by no means turned over the four centuries that separate us from the moment of creation, into a museum piece. No, Swift's pamphlet is alive - because all those human weaknesses and vices against which it is directed are alive.

It is noteworthy that the pamphlet, which was published anonymously, was written from the perspective of an allegedly equally shameless illiterate scientist-talker, whom Swift so fiercely despised, but his voice, his own voice, is quite perceptible through this mask, moreover, the ability to hide behind it gives the pamphlet great spiciness and spiciness. Such duality-two-facedness, the reception of "shifters" are generally very inherent in the author's manner of Swift the pamphleteer, the unusual paradoxicality of his mind is especially sharply manifested in it, with all the biliousness, anger, causticity and sarcasm. This is a rebuke to "sixpence" writers, one-day writers who openly write "for sale", claiming the title and position of the chroniclers of their time, but in fact are only the creators of countless self-portraits of their own. It is about such “saviors of the nation” and bearers of the highest truth that Swift writes: “In various assemblies where these speakers speak, nature itself has taught the listeners to stand with their mouths open and directed parallel to the horizon, so that they intersect with a perpendicular line lowered from the zenith to the center of the earth In this position of the listeners, if they stand in a dense crowd, each takes home a certain share, and nothing or almost nothing is lost.

But, of course, the church becomes the main addressee of Swift's satire, the history of which he sets out in an allegorical and allegorical form in the main narrative, which is a pamphlet and is actually called "The Tale of the Barrel". He tells the story of the division of the Christian Church into Catholic, Anglican and Protestant as the story of three brothers: Peter (Catholics), Jack (Calvinists and other extreme movements) and Martin (Lutheranism, Anglican Church), whose father, dying, left them a will.

By "testament" Swift means the New Testament - from here to the end of the pamphlet begins his incomparable and unparalleled unprecedented blasphemy. The “sharing” that takes place between the “brothers” is completely devoid of a “divine halo”, it is quite primitive and comes down to the division of spheres of influence, in modern terms, and also - and this is the main thing - to finding out which of the “brothers” (that is, of the three main directions that have emerged within the framework of the Christian faith) there is a true follower of the "father", that is, closer than others to the foundations and foundations of the Christian religion. "Redrawing" the left "testament" is described by Swift allegorically and comes down to purely practical issues (which also, no doubt intentionally, leads to an underestimation of such lofty spiritual problems). The object of the dispute, the bone of contention becomes ... caftan. Deviations of Peter (that is, the Catholic Church) from the foundations of the Christian faith come down to the utter decoration of the "caftan" with all sorts of galloons, aiguillettes and other tinsel - a very transparent hint at the pomp of the Catholic ritual and rituals. At the same time, Peter at some point deprives the brothers of the opportunity to see the will, he hides it from them, becoming (more precisely, proclaiming himself) the only true heir. But the “caftan motif” does not arise in Swift by chance: “Is religion not a cloak, honesty is not a pair of boots worn out in mud, self-esteem is not a frock coat, vanity is not a shirt and conscience is not a pair of trousers, which, although they cover lust and shame, nevertheless easily descend at the service of both?"

Clothes - as the embodiment of the essence of a person, not only his class and professional affiliation, but also his vanity, stupidity, complacency, hypocrisy, desire for acting - and here for Swift, church ministers - and actors, government officials - and visitors to brothels. In Swift's words, Russian folk wisdom seems to come to life: "they meet by clothes ..." - so, in his opinion, "clothing" plays an important role, which determines much, if not all, in the one who wears it.

Completely "finished" with Peter (that is, I repeat, with the Catholic Church), Swift is taken for Jack (under whom John Calvin is bred). Unlike Peter, who adorned the "caftan" with a lot of all kinds of tinsel, Jack, in order to distance himself from his older brother as much as possible, decided to completely deprive the "caftan" of all this external gilding - one misfortune: the decorations are so fused with the fabric (that is, with the base) that , furiously tearing them off "with meat", he turned the "caftan" into solid holes: thus, the extremism and fanaticism of Brother Jack (that is, Calvin and others like him) differed little from the fanaticism of Peter's followers (that is, Catholic papists): "... this ruined all his plans to isolate himself from Peter and so strengthened the family traits of the brothers that even the disciples and followers often confused them..."

Having finally acquired the text of the "will" for his personal use, Jack turned it into a permanent "guide to action", not taking a step until he consulted the "canonical text": "Filled with delight, he decided to use the will both in the most important and in the smallest circumstances of life. And even being in a strange house, he needed to "remember the exact text of the will in order to ask for directions to the toilet ...". Is it necessary to add anything else to characterize Swift's blasphemy, next to which the anti-religious statements of Voltaire and other famous freethinkers seem like just Christmas stories of kind grandfathers?!

Swift's virtuosity is in his endless mimicry: the pamphlet is not only a stunning accusatory document, but is also a brilliant literary game, where the diversity of the narrator, combined with numerous and multi-layered hoaxes, creates a truly amazing fusion. There are many names, titles, specific people, events and plots in the text, in connection with and about which one or another part of it was written. However, in order to fully appreciate this undoubted literary masterpiece, it is not at all necessary to delve into all these subtleties and details. The specifics left, taking these people into oblivion, together with scientific treatises and other literary and other research that had sunk into Aeta, but Swift's book remained - for it is by no means only a pamphlet written "on the topic of the day", but truly an encyclopedia of morals. At the same time, unlike the verbose and viscous novels of Swift's contemporaries - writers of the Enlightenment, it is absolutely devoid of an element of edification (and this is with the author's position absolutely clearly read in it, his views on all the problems that he touches on). The lightness of genius is one of the most important sensations produced by Swift's book - a pamphlet "for all time".

Yu. G. Fridshtein

Roman (1726)

Travels into Several Remote rations of the World in Aour Parts by Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships

Roman (1726)

"Gulliver's Travels" is a work written at the intersection of genres: it is also a fascinating, purely novelistic narrative, a travel novel (by no means, however, "sentimental", which Lawrence Sterne would describe in 1768); it is a pamphlet novel and at the same time a novel that bears distinct features of a dystopia - a genre that we are accustomed to believing belongs exclusively to the literature of the XNUMXth century; this is a novel with equally pronounced elements of fantasy, and the rampage of Swift's imagination truly knows no limits. Being a dystopian novel, it is a novel in the full sense of the word utopian too, especially its last part. And finally, undoubtedly, one should pay attention to the most important thing - this is a prophetic novel, because, reading and rereading it today, perfectly aware of the undoubted specificity of the addressees of Swift's merciless, caustic, murderous satire, you think about this specificity last. Because everything that his hero encounters in the course of his wanderings, his kind of Odysseus, all manifestations of human, let's say, oddities - those that grow into "oddities" that have both a national and supranational character, a global character - all this not only did not die along with those against whom Swift addressed his pamphlet, did not go into oblivion, but, alas, is striking in its relevance. And the herd to be - the author's amazing prophetic gift, his ability to capture and recreate what belongs to human nature, and therefore has a character, so to speak, enduring.

There are four parts in Swift's book: his hero makes four journeys, the total duration of which in time is sixteen years and seven months. Leaving, or rather, sailing, each time from a very specific port city that really exists on any map, he suddenly finds himself in some outlandish countries, getting acquainted with those customs, lifestyle, way of life, laws and traditions that are in use there, and talking about his country, about England. And the first such "stop" for Swift's hero is the country of Lilliput. But first, two words about the hero himself. In Gulliver, some features of his creator, his thoughts, his ideas, a kind of "self-portrait", but the wisdom of the Swift hero (or, more precisely, his sanity in that fantastically absurd world that he describes every time with an inimitably serious, imperturbable mine) merged together) combined with the "simplicity" of Voltaire's Huron. It is this innocence, this strange naivety that allows Gulliver to grasp so acutely (that is, so inquisitively, so accurately) every time he finds himself in a wild and foreign country, the most important thing. At the same time, a certain detachment is always felt in the very intonation of his narration, a calm, unhurried, unfussy irony. As if he is not talking about his own "going through the torments", but looks at everything that happens as if from a temporary distance, and quite a considerable one at that. In a word, sometimes there is such a feeling that this is our contemporary, some genius writer unknown to us is leading his story. Laughing at us, at himself, at human nature and human mores, which he sees as invariable. Swift is also a modern writer because the novel he wrote seems to belong to literature, which in the XNUMXth century, and in the second half of it, was called "literature of the absurd", but in fact its true roots, its beginning are here, at Swift, and sometimes in this sense a writer who lived two and a half centuries ago, can give a hundred points ahead of modern classics - precisely as a writer who subtly owns all the techniques of absurdist writing.

So, the first "stop" for Swift's hero is the country of Lilliput, where very small people live. Already in this first part of the novel, as well as in all subsequent ones, the author’s ability to convey, from a psychological point of view, absolutely accurately and reliably, the feeling of a person who is among people (or creatures) who are not like him, to convey his feeling of loneliness, abandonment and inner lack of freedom, constraint precisely by what is around - all the others and everything else.

In that detailed, unhurried tone with which Gulliver tells about all the absurdities, absurdities that he encounters when he gets to the country of Lilliput, an amazing, exquisitely hidden humor is evident.

At first, these strange, incredibly small people (respectively, just as miniature and everything that surrounds them) meet the Mountain Man (as they call Gulliver) quite friendly: they provide him with housing, special laws are adopted that somehow streamline his communication with the locals. residents, in order for it to proceed equally harmoniously and safely for both sides, provide it with food, which is not easy, because the diet of an intruder is grandiose in comparison with their own (it is equal to the diet of 1728 Lilliputians!). The emperor himself talks affably with him, after the assistance rendered by Gulliver to him and his entire state (he walks out into the strait that separates Lilliputia from the neighboring and hostile state of Blefuscu, and drags the entire Blefuskan fleet on a rope), he is granted the title of nardak, the highest title in state. Gulliver is introduced to the customs of the country: what, for example, are the exercises of rope dancers, which serve as a way to get a vacant position at court (is it not from here that the most inventive Tom Stoppard borrowed the idea of ​​​​his play "Jumpers", or, in other words, "Acrobats"?). Description of the "ceremonial march" ... between Gulliver's legs (another "entertainment"), the rite of passage, which he takes an oath of allegiance to the state of Lilliput; its text, in which the first part draws special attention to itself, where the titles of "the most powerful emperor, the joy and horror of the universe" are listed - all this is inimitable! Especially when you consider the disproportion of this midget - and all those epithets that accompany his name.

Further, Gulliver is initiated into the political system of the country: it turns out that in Lilliput there are two "warring parties known as Tremeksenov and Slemeksenov", differing from each other only in that the supporters of one are adherents of ... low heels, and the other - high, and between them on this, undoubtedly very significant, ground, "the most severe strife" occurs: "they say that high heels are most consistent with ... the ancient state structure" of Lilliput, but the emperor "decided that in government offices ... only low heels were used ...". Well, why not the reforms of Peter the Great, disputes regarding the impact of which on the further "Russian path" do not subside to this day! Even more significant circumstances brought to life a "fierce war" waged between "two great empires" - Lilliputia and Blefuscu: which side to break eggs - from a blunt end or quite the opposite, from a sharp one. Well, of course, Swift is talking about contemporary England, divided into Tory and Whig supporters - but their opposition has sunk into oblivion, becoming part of history, but the wonderful allegory-allegory invented by Swift is alive. For it is not a matter of Whigs and Tories: no matter how specific parties are called in a specific country in a specific historical era, Swift's allegory turns out to be "for all time." And it's not about allusions - the writer guessed the principle on which everything has been built, is being built and will be built from time immemorial.

Although, by the way, Swift's allegories, of course, belonged to the country and the era in which he lived and the political underside of which he had the opportunity to learn first-hand from his own experience. And therefore, behind Liliputia and Blefuscu, which the emperor of Liliputia, after the withdrawal of the ships of the Blefuscans by Gulliver, "conceived ... to turn into his own province and rule it through his governor", the relations between England and Ireland are read without much difficulty, which also by no means receded into the realm of legends, to this day day painful and disastrous for both countries.

I must say that not only the situations described by Swift, human weaknesses and state foundations amaze with their today's sound, but even many purely textual passages. You can quote them endlessly. Well, for example: “The language of the Blefuscans is as different from the language of the Lilliputians as the languages ​​of the two European peoples differ from each other. At the same time, each of the nations is proud of the antiquity, beauty and expressiveness of its language. And our emperor, taking advantage of his position, created by the capture of the enemy fleet, obliged the embassy [of the Blefuscans] to present their credentials and negotiate in the Lilliputian language." Associations - clearly unplanned by Swift (however, who knows?) - arise by themselves ...

Although, where Gulliver proceeds to present the foundations of the legislation of Lilliput, we already hear the voice of Swift - a utopian and idealist; these Lilliputian laws that put morality above mental virtues; laws that consider denunciation and fraud as crimes much more serious than theft, and many others are clearly dear to the author of the novel. As well as the law, which makes ingratitude a criminal offence; this latter was especially affected by the utopian dreams of Swift, who knew well the price of ingratitude - both on a personal and state scale.

However, not all of the emperor's advisers share his enthusiasm for the Man of the Mountain, and many do not like the exaltation (both figuratively and literally). The indictment that these people organize turns all the good deeds granted by Gulliver into crimes. "Enemies" demand death, and methods are offered one more terrible than the other. And only the chief secretary for secret affairs, Reldresel, known as Gulliver's "true friend", turns out to be truly humane: his proposal boils down to the fact that it is enough for Gulliver to gouge out both eyes; "such a measure, while satisfying to some extent justice, at the same time will delight the whole world, which will welcome as much the meekness of the monarch as the nobility and generosity of those who have the honor to be his advisers." In reality, however (the interests of the state are, after all, above all!) "The loss of eyes will not cause any damage to [Gulliver's] physical strength, thanks to which [he] can still be useful to His Majesty." Swift's sarcasm is inimitable - but hyperbole, exaggeration, allegory are absolutely at the same time correlated with reality. Such "fantastic realism" of the beginning of the XNUMXth century...

Or here is another example of Swift's providences: "Lilliputians have a custom established by the current emperor and his ministers (very different ... from what was practiced in former times): if, for the sake of the monarch's vindictiveness or the malice of a favorite, the court sentences someone to a cruel punishment, then the emperor delivers a speech in a meeting of the state council, depicting his great mercy and kindness as qualities known and recognized by everyone.The speech is immediately announced throughout the empire; and nothing frightens the people so much as these panegyrics to imperial mercy; for it is established that the more extensive they are and the more eloquent, the more inhuman was the punishment and the more innocent the victim. That's right, but what does Lilliput have to do with it? - any reader will ask. And in fact - what's the point?..

After fleeing to Blefuscu (where history repeats itself with depressing uniformity, that is, everyone is happy for the Man of Grief, but no less happy to get rid of him as soon as possible), Gulliver sets sail on the boat he built and ... accidentally meeting an English merchant ship, safely returns to his native land. He brings with him miniature lambs, which after a few years have bred so much that, as Gulliver says, "I hope that they will bring significant benefits to the cloth industry" (Swift's undoubted "reference" to his own "Letters of the Clothmaker" - his pamphlet, published in light in 17 L.).

The second strange state, where the restless Gulliver finds himself, is Brobdingnag - the state of giants, where Gulliver already turns out to be a kind of midget. Every time Swift's hero seems to fall into a different reality, as if into a kind of "through the looking glass", and this transition takes place in a matter of days and hours: reality and unreality are located very close, you just need to want to ...

Gulliver and the local population, in comparison with the previous plot, seem to change roles, and the treatment of local residents with Gulliver this time exactly corresponds to how Gulliver himself behaved with the Lilliputians, in all the details and details that are so masterful, one might say, lovingly describes, even subscribes to Swift. On the example of his hero, he demonstrates an amazing property of human nature: the ability to adapt (in the best, "Robinsonian" sense of the word) to any circumstances, to any life situation, the most fantastic, the most incredible - a property that all those mythological, fictional creatures, a guest, are deprived of. which turns out to be Gulliver.

And one more comprehends Gulliver, knowing his fantastic world: the relativity of all our ideas about it. Swift's hero is characterized by the ability to accept "proposed circumstances", the very "tolerance" that another great enlightener, Voltaire, stood up for several decades earlier.

In this country, where Gulliver turns out to be even more (or rather, less) than just a dwarf, he undergoes many adventures, eventually getting back to the royal court, becoming the favorite companion of the king himself. In one of the conversations with His Majesty, Gulliver tells him about his country - these stories will be repeated more than once on the pages of the novel, and every time Gulliver's interlocutors will again and again be amazed at what he will tell them about, presenting the laws and customs of his own country as something quite familiar and normal. And for his inexperienced interlocutors (Swift brilliantly portrays this "naive naivety of misunderstanding" of them!) All Gulliver's stories will seem boundless absurdity, nonsense, sometimes - just fiction, lies. At the end of the conversation, Gulliver (or Swift) drew a line: “My brief historical outline of our country over the past century plunged the king into extreme amazement. He announced that, in his opinion, this story is nothing but a bunch of conspiracies, troubles, murders, beatings, revolutions and deportations, which are the worst results of greed, partisanship, hypocrisy, treachery, cruelty, rage, madness, hatred, envy, voluptuousness, malice and ambition." Shine!

Even more sarcasm sounds in the words of Gulliver himself: "... I had to calmly and patiently listen to this insulting treatment of my noble and dearly beloved fatherland ... But one cannot be too demanding of the king, who is completely cut off from the rest of the world and, as a result, is in complete ignorance of morals and customs of other peoples. Such ignorance always gives rise to a certain narrowness of thought and a lot of prejudices, which we, like other enlightened Europeans, are completely alien to. And in fact - alien, completely alien! Swift's mockery is so obvious, the allegory is so transparent, and our naturally occurring thoughts on this matter today are so understandable that it's not even worth the trouble to comment on them.

Just as remarkable is the "naive" judgment of the king about politics: the poor king, it turns out, did not know its basic and fundamental principle: "everything is permitted" - due to his "excessive unnecessary scrupulousness." Bad politician!

And yet, Gulliver, being in the company of such an enlightened monarch, could not help but feel all the humiliation of his position - a midget among the giants - and his, ultimately, lack of freedom. And he again rushes home, to his relatives, to his country, so unfairly and imperfectly arranged. And when he gets home, he cannot adapt for a long time: everything seems ... too small. Used to!

In part of the third book, Gulliver first finds himself on the flying island of Laputa. And again, everything that he observes and describes is the height of absurdity, while the author's intonation of Gulliver-Swift is still imperturbably meaningful, full of undisguised irony and sarcasm. And again, everything is recognizable: both trifles of a purely everyday nature, such as the "addiction to news and politics" inherent in Laputians, and the fear that always lives in their minds, as a result of which "Lalutians are constantly in such anxiety that they cannot sleep peacefully in their beds nor enjoy the ordinary pleasures and pleasures of life." The visible embodiment of absurdity as the basis of life on the island is flappers, whose purpose is to force listeners (interlocutors) to focus their attention on what they are currently being told about. But there are allegories of a larger nature in this part of Swift's book: concerning rulers and power, and how to influence "recalcitrant subjects", and much more. And when Gulliver descends from the island to the "continent" and gets into its capital, the city of Lagado, he will be shocked by the combination of boundless ruin and poverty, which will catch the eye everywhere, and peculiar oases of order and prosperity: it turns out that these oases are all that is left of past, normal life. And then some "projectors" appeared who, having been on the island (that is, in our opinion, abroad) and "returning to earth ... were imbued with contempt for all ... institutions and began to draw up projects for the re-creation of science, art, laws, language and technology in a new way." First, the Academy of projectors appeared in the capital, and then in all cities of the country of any significance. The description of Gulliver's visit to the Academy, his conversations with pundits knows no equal in terms of the degree of sarcasm, combined with contempt - contempt, first of all, for those who allow themselves to be fooled and led by the nose like that ... And linguistic improvements! And the school of political projectors!

Tired of all these miracles, Gulliver decided to sail to England, but for some reason, on his way home, first the island of Glubbdobdrib, and then the kingdom of Luggnagg, turned out to be. I must say that as Gulliver moves from one outlandish country to another, Swift's fantasy becomes more and more violent, and his contemptuous poisonousness becomes more and more merciless. This is how he describes the manners at the court of King Luggnagg.

And in the fourth, final part of the novel, Gulliver finds himself in the country of the Houyhnhnms. Houigngnms are horses, but it is in them that Gulliver finally finds quite human features - that is, those features that Swift would probably like to observe in people. And in the service of the Houyhnhnms live vicious and vile creatures - Yahoo, like two drops of water similar to a person, only deprived of the cover of civility (both figuratively and literally), and therefore appearing to be disgusting creatures, real savages next to well-bred, highly moral, respectable horses-Huyhnhnms, where honor, and nobility, and dignity, and modesty, and the habit of abstinence are alive ...

Once again, Gulliver tells about his country, both customs, mores, political structure, traditions - and once again, more precisely, more than ever, his story is met by his listener-interlocutor, first distrust, then - bewilderment, then - indignation: how can one live so inconsistently with the laws of nature? So unnatural to human nature - this is the pathos of misunderstanding on the part of the horse-guyhnhnma. The organization of their community is the version of utopia that Swift allowed himself at the end of his pamphlet novel: the old writer, who has lost faith in human nature, with unexpected naivety almost sings of primitive joys, a return to nature - something very reminiscent of Voltaire's "Innocent". But Swift was not "simple-hearted", and therefore his utopia looks utopian even to himself. And this is manifested primarily in the fact that it is these pretty and respectable Houyhnhnms who expel from their "herd" the "foreigner" - Gulliver - who has wormed his way into it. For he is too similar to Yahoo, and they don’t care that Gulliver’s resemblance to these creatures is only in the structure of the body and nothing more. No, they decide, as soon as he is a Yahoo, then he should live next to the Yahoo, and not among "decent people", that is, horses. the utopia did not work out, and Gulliver dreamed in vain of spending the rest of his days among these kind animals he liked. The idea of ​​tolerance turns out to be alien even to them. And therefore, the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, in Swift's description reminiscent of his scholarship, well, almost the Platonic Academy, accepts the "admonition" - to expel Gulliver as belonging to the Yahoo breed. And our hero completes his wanderings, once again returning home, "retiring to his garden in Redrif to enjoy reflections, to put into practice the excellent lessons of virtue ...".

Yu. G. Fridshtein

(The Way of the World)

Comedy (1700, publ. 1710)

"Thus they do in the world" is the last of four comedies written by William Congreve, the most famous of the pleiad of English playwrights of the Restoration era. And although incomparably greater fame (both during the life of the author and later), as well as much greater stage success and a richer stage history, had another of his plays - "Love for Love", written five years earlier, it was "That's how they act in light" seems to be the most perfect of the entire legacy of Congreve. Not only in its title, but also in the play itself, in its characters, there is that universal significance, that non-attachment to the time of its creation, to the specific circumstances of life in London at the end of the XNUMXth century. (one of the numerous fin de siecles in the series, surprisingly similar in many essential features, most importantly in the human manifestations inherent in them), which gives this play the character of a true classic.

It is this feature that so naturally evokes the most unexpected (or rather, those with the most unexpected addressees) parallels and associations when reading Congreve's play. The play "Thus they do in the world" is, first of all, a "comedy of manners", the manners of secular society, known to Congreve firsthand. He himself was also a completely secular person, l'hotte du monde, moreover, one of the most influential members of the "Kit-Kzt" club, where the most brilliant and most famous people of that time gathered: politicians, writers, philosophers. However, they were by no means the heroes of Congreve's last comedy (as, indeed, of the three previous ones: "The Old Bachelor", "Double Game" and the already mentioned "Love for Love"), in all of them Congreve brought gentlemen and ladies to the stage - regulars of secular salons, dandy windbags and evil gossips who know how to weave an intrigue at the moment in order to laugh at someone's sincere feeling or dishonor in the eyes of the "light" those whose success, or talent, or beauty stand out from the general mass, becoming the object of envy and jealousy. All this will be developed exactly seventy-seven years later by Richard Sheridan in the now classic "School of Scandal", and two centuries later - by Oscar Wilde in his "immoral morality": "Lady Windermere's Fan", "The Ideal Husband" and others. And the "Russian version" for all its "Russian specifics" - the immortal "Woe from Wit" - will suddenly be "indebted" to Congreve. However - to Congreve? It's just that the whole point is that "this is how they act in the world," and that says it all. They act - regardless of the time and place of action, on the development of a particular plot. "Are you condemned by the light? But what is light? / A crowd of people, sometimes evil, sometimes benevolent, / A collection of undeserved praises / And as many mocking slanders," wrote seventeen-year-old Lermontov in a poem in memory of his father. And the characteristic that Baroness Shtral gives in "Masquerade", written by the same Lermontov four years later, to Prince Zvezdich: "You! characterless, immoral, godless, / Proud, evil, but weak person; / In you alone the whole century is reflected, / The current century, brilliant, but insignificant, "and all the intrigue woven around Arbenin and Nina," an innocent joke "turning into a tragedy - all this also quite fits the formula" this is how they act in the world " . And the slandered Chatsky - what if not a victim of "light"? And not without reason, having accepted quite favorably the first of Congreve's comedies that appeared on the stage, the attitude towards the subsequent ones, as they appeared, became more and more hostile, criticism - more and more caustic. In "Dedication" to "Thus they do in the world," Contreve wrote: "This play was a success with the audience, contrary to my expectations; for it was only to a small extent intended to satisfy the tastes that, by all appearances, now dominate the hall." And here is the judgment uttered by John Dryden, a playwright of an older generation compared to Congreve, who warmly treated his fellow worker: “The ladies believe that the playwright portrayed them as whores; the gentlemen are offended by him because he showed all their vices, their baseness: under the cover of friendship, they seduce the wives of their friends ... "The letter refers to the play "Double Game", but in this case, by God, it is not significant. The same words could be said about any other comedy by W. Congreve.

Congreve's comedy doesn't have many characters. Mirabelle and Mrs. Millamant (Kontriev calls "Mrs." all his heroines, married ladies and maidens alike) are our heroes; Mr and Mrs Feynell; Whitwood and Petulent are society dudes and wits; Lady Wishforth - Mrs Feynell's mother; Mrs. Marwood - the main "spring of intrigue", in a sense, the prototype of Wilde's Mrs. Cheveley from "An Ideal Husband"; maid Lady Wishforth Foible and valet Mirabella Waitwell - they also have to play an important role in the action; Whitwood's stepbrother, Sir Wilfoot, is an uncouth provincial with monstrous manners, who, however, contributes significantly to the final "happy ending". Retelling a comedy, the plot of which is replete with the most unexpected turns and moves, is obviously a thankless task, therefore we will outline only the main lines.

Mirabelle, a windmill known throughout London and an irresistible womanizer, who has a stunning success in ladies' society, managed (still outside the play) to turn the head of both the elderly (fifty-five years old!) Lady Wishfort and the insidious Mrs. Marwood. Now he is passionately in love with the beauty Millamant, who clearly reciprocates his feelings. But the aforementioned ladies, rejected by Mirabell, do everything possible to prevent his happiness with a lucky rival. Mirabelle is very reminiscent of Lord Goring from "An Ideal Husband": by nature, a person who is extremely decent, having quite clear ideas about morality and morality, he nevertheless strives to keep up with the general tone with cynicism and wit in small talk (so as not to be considered boring or funny saints) and is very successful in this, since his witticisms and paradoxes are much brighter, more effective and paradoxical than the rather ponderous attempts of the inseparable Whitwood and Petulent, who are a comic couple, like Gogol's Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky (as Whitwood says, "... we ... we sound in a chord, like a treble and a bass ... We exchange words, like two players in a shuttlecock ... "). Petyulent, however, differs from his friend in a penchant for vicious gossip, and here a characteristic comes to the rescue, which is given out in "Woe from Wit" to Zagoretsky: "He is a secular man, / A notorious swindler, a rogue ..."

The beginning of the play is an endless cascade of witticisms, jokes, puns, and each seeks to "repun" the other. However, in this "salon conversation", under the guise of smiling friendliness, undisguised nasty things are said in the face, and behind them - behind-the-scenes intrigues, hostility, anger ...

Millameng is a real heroine: smart, refined, a hundred heads higher than the rest, captivating and capricious. She has something of both Shakespeare's Catharina and Molière's Célimène from The Misanthrope: she finds special pleasure in tormenting Mirabell, constantly joking and ridiculing him, and, I must say, doing this very successfully. And when he tries to be sincere and serious with her, taking off his jester's mask for a moment, Millamant becomes frankly bored. She strongly agrees with him in everything, but to teach her more, to read morality to her - no, your will, thank you!

However, in order to achieve her goal, Mirabell starts a very ingenious intrigue, the "performers" of which are the servants: Foible and Waitwell. But his plan, with all its cunning and ingenuity, runs into the resistance of Mr. Feinedle, who, unlike our hero, although reputed to be modest, is in reality the embodiment of deceit and shamelessness, and deceit, generated by completely earthly reasons - greed and self-interest. Lady Wishforth is also drawn into the intrigue - this is where the author takes her soul away, giving vent to her sarcasm: in describing an elderly coquette blinded by confidence in her irresistibility, blinded to such an extent that her feminine vanity outweighs all arguments of reason, preventing her from seeing the quite obvious and to the naked eye deception.

In general, placing noble ladies and their maids next to each other, the playwright clearly makes it clear that in terms of morality, the morals of both are the same - more precisely, the maids try not to lag behind their mistresses in anything.

The central moment of the play is the scene of the explanation of Mirabella and Millamant. In the "conditions" that they put forward to each other before marriage, with all the inherent desire to preserve their independence, they are surprisingly similar in one thing: in their unwillingness to be like those numerous married couples that their acquaintances represent: they have seen enough of this " family happiness" and want something completely different for themselves.

The cunning intrigue of Mirabell suffers a fiasco next to the cunning of his "friend" Feynell ("this is how they act in the world" - these are his words, with which he calmly explains - does not justify, by no means! - his actions). However, virtue triumphs in the finale, vice is punished. Some heaviness of this "happy ending" is obvious - like any other, however, because almost any "happy ending" smacks a little like a fairy tale, always to a greater or lesser extent, but at odds with the logic of reality.

The result of everything is summed up by the words that Mirabell utters: "Here is a lesson for those reckless people, / That marriage is defiled by mutual deceit: / Let both sides observe honesty, / Or a rogue is found twice for a rogue."

Yu. G. Fridshtein

(The Recruiting Officer)

Comedy (1707)

Sergeant Kite in the market square of Shrewsbury calls on all those who are dissatisfied with their lives to enlist in the grenadiers and promises rank and money. He invites those who wish to try on a grenadier hat, but people listen to him with apprehension and are in no hurry to enlist in the army; but when Kite invites everyone to visit, there are many hunters to drink at someone else's expense. Captain Plum appears. Kite reports to him on his progress: he has recruited five people in the past week, including a lawyer and a pastor. Plume orders the attorney to be released immediately: literates are not needed in the army, which is good, he will start scribbling complaints. But a pastor who plays the violin is very useful. Kite reveals that Molly from Kasd, whom Plum "recruited" last time, has had a baby. Plum demands that Kite adopt the child. Kite objects: then he will have to take her as his wife, and he already has so many wives. Kite gets their list. Plum proposes to put Molly on Kite's list, and Plum will add the newborn boy to his list of recruits: the child will appear on the list of grenadiers under the name of Francis Kite, who was released on a visit to his mother.

Plum meets an old friend, Worthy. Worthy says that he is in love with Melinda and wanted to take care of her, when suddenly the girl received twenty thousand pounds as an inheritance from her aunt, Lady Capital. Now Melinda looks down on Worthy and does not agree not only to the role of mistress, but also to the role of wife. Unlike Worthy, Plum is a confirmed bachelor. His girlfriend Sylvia, who believed that it was necessary to get married first, and then enter into a close relationship, did not achieve anything. Plum loves Sylvia and admires her open noble character, but freedom is dear to him than anything.

Sylvia visits her cousin Melinda. The languid, capricious Melinda is the complete opposite of the active, cheerful Sylvia. Upon learning of the return of Captain Plum, Sylvia decides to become his wife at any cost. Medina is struck by her arrogance: does Sylvia really imagine that a young wealthy officer will connect her life with a young lady from a bear's corner, the daughter of some judge? Melinda considers Plum a libertine and a slacker, and Plum's friendship only harms Worthy in her eyes. Sylvia reminds Melinda that she was ready to go to Worthy's for a while. The girls quarrel word for word, and Sylvia leaves, telling her cousin not to bother returning her visit. Melinda wants to thwart Sylvia's plans and writes a letter to Judge Balance.

Balance receives news of the death of his son, now Sylvia is his only heir. Balance announces to her daughter that her fortune has increased significantly, and now she should have new attachments and new views on the future. "Know your worth and get Captain Plum out of your head," Balance says. As long as Sylvia had fifteen hundred pounds of dowry, Balance was ready to give her for Plum, but one thousand two hundred pounds a year would ruin Plum, drive him mad. Balance receives a letter from Melinda, where she warns him against Plume: she is well aware that the captain has dishonorable intentions regarding her cousin, and she advises Balance to immediately send Sylvia to the village. Balance follows her advice, having previously taken a word from Sylvia that she would not give her hand to anyone without his knowledge, and promising for her part not to force her to marry. Upon learning of Melinda's letter, Worthy tells Balance that she had a falling out with Sylvia and wrote lies. Balance is glad that Plum, whom he favors, is not a deceiver, but is still pleased that his daughter is far away.

Kite tries to recruit Thomas and Kostar by tricking him into giving them gold coins under the guise of portraits of the queen. Plum arrived in time to explain to them that as soon as they have royal money, it means that they are recruits. Thomas and Kostar are outraged and accuse Kite of cheating. Plum pretends to stand up for them. Having driven Kite away, he praises the soldier's life and boasts that he did not carry a musket on his shoulder for a very long time, and now he is already in command of a company. Having endeared himself to gullible guys, he persuades them to sign up as volunteers.

Plume and Worthy are equally unlucky: while their lovers were poor, everything was fine, but as soon as Melinda and Sylvia got rich, they immediately turned up their noses and did not want to know them. Worthy hopes to outsmart Melinda. Plum wants to outwit Sylvia in his own way: he will stop thinking about her. He admired the generosity and nobility of Sylvia, and he does not need the swaggering and arrogant Sylvia with all her money. Seeing the pretty village girl Rosie, Plum flirts with her, while Kite tries to ingratiate herself with her brother Bullock. Rosie returns from Plume with gifts. To the question of the Balance about what the gifts were received for, she replies that Plum will take her brother and two or three of her boyfriends as soldiers. "Well, if everyone recruits soldiers like that, then soon every captain will become a father to his company," Balance notes.

Worthy complains to Balance that he has a rival - Captain Brazen, who is courting Melinda. Melinda made an appointment with Brazen by the river, Worthy follows him to make sure. Walking along the banks of the Severn, Melinda complains to her maid Lucy that no one has declared love to her for two days. Seeing Captain Brazen, she is surprised that this brainless talker has the audacity to woo her. Lucy is afraid that Brazen might let slip that Melinda made him a date, because it was Lucy who actually made him a date. Worthy appears, and Melinda, to annoy him, walks away with Brazen. As they return, Plum approaches them and attempts to wrest Melinda from Brazen. Brazen challenges Plum to a duel: whoever wins will get Melinda. Being the subject of a dispute between a fool and a reveler, the girl asks for protection from Worthy and runs away with him. Sylvia appears in a man's dress. Calling herself Jack Wilful, she says that she wants to enlist and will go to the one who offers the most. Plume and Brazen vying with each other promise mountains of gold. "Wilful" heard a lot of good things about Captain Plume. Plum rejoices and says that this is him, but Brazen says: "No, it's me - Captain Plum." Plum dutifully agrees to be called Brazen, but still wants "Wilful" to enlist with him. Plume and Brazen cross swords as Kite carries Sylvia away.

Upon discovering that the recruit has disappeared, the captains reconcile and part on friendly terms.

"Wilful" and Plum try to please Rosie. A lively peasant woman cannot decide who is dearer to her, and asks who will give her what. "Wilful" promises her an impeccable reputation: she will have a luxurious carriage and footmen on the back, and this is enough for everyone to be ashamed of their own virtue and envious of someone else's vice. Plum promises to give her a sequined scarf and a theater ticket. Rosie is ready to choose a ticket to the theater, but then "Wilful" puts Plum with a choice: either he refuses Rosie, or "Wilful" enlists with Brazen. "Take her. I will always prefer a man to a woman," Plum concedes. "Wilful" asks what awaits him when he enlists. Plum intends to keep the young man with him. “Just remember: if you do something small, I ask you, but if you do something big, I will expel you,” he warns. "Wilful" agrees to such conditions, because he feels that the most severe punishment for him will be if Plum kicks him out, and it is easier for "Wilful" to go with him into the thick of it than to let Plum go alone.

Melinda complains to Lucy about Worthy's coldness. Having met him by chance, Melinda treats the poor lover in such a way that Worthy curses Plum, who advised him to be cold and aloof with Melinda.

Kite, posing as a soothsayer, receives visitors. He predicts to the blacksmith that in two years he will become the captain of all the forges of a huge artillery convoy and will receive ten shillings a day. Kite promises the butcher the position of chief surgeon of the entire army and a salary of five hundred pounds a year. When Melinda and Lucy come to him, he predicts to Melinda that a gentleman will come to her the next morning to say goodbye before leaving for distant lands. His fate is linked to Melinda's, and if he leaves, his life and hers will be shattered. As soon as Melinda leaves, Brazen appears. He was going to get married and wants to know if this will happen in a day. He shows the love letters and Worthy acknowledges Lucy's hand. And Plum learns that Balance sent Sylvia to the village because of Melinda's letter. Friends rejoice: Melinda is faithful to Worthy, and Sylvia is faithful to Plum.

The constable arrests Sylvia, Bullock and Rosie and brings them to Judge Balance. Sylvia, who calls herself Captain Sideways this time, is accused of seducing Rosie. But Captain Sideways explains that he and Rosie played a wedding according to military regulations: they put the sword on the ground, jumped over it and went to the bedroom to the beat of the drums. Balance asks what brought the captain to their land, and Sylvia replies that the provincials lack intelligence, and he, a metropolitan gentleman, lacks money ... Hearing such impudent speeches, Balance orders Sylvia to be taken to the prison and kept there until further notice.

Arriving at ten in the morning to Melinda, Worthy meets an affectionate welcome, and the lovers reconcile.

Brazen is going out of town on a date with the lady of his heart. So that Worthy's friends do not recognize her, she will arrive in a mask and take it off only after the wedding. Worthy hurries to the river bank and, finding Brazen with a lady in a mask, challenges him to a duel. The lady takes off her mask. Seeing that it is Lucy, Worthy retreats: he has nothing against Brazen's marriage. But Brazen does not want to marry Lucy at all, he thought that Melinda was with him, because Lucy wrote a letter on her behalf.

In the courtroom, Balance, Skade, and Scroople sit at the podium. Prisoners are brought in. The first of them is not charged with anything, but after a brief altercation, he is taken away by Kite. The next prisoner - a miner - is accused of being an honest fellow. Plum dreams of having at least one honest fellow in his company for a change, as a result, Kite takes him along with his wife. When it comes to Sylvia's turn, she is so defiant that the judges unanimously decide to hand her over to the soldiers. Balance asks Captain Plum not to let the impudent boy out of military service under any pretext.

The manager informs Balance that Sylvia has escaped by dressing in a man's suit. Balance understands that he was tricked: the daughter promised not to control her fate without his consent and arranged it so that he himself gave it to Captain Plume, voluntarily and in front of witnesses. Making sure that Plum is unaware of the antics of Sylvia, Balance asks him to fire the impudent boy from the army. The judge says that the father of this youth is his close friend. Plume signs the order to fire "Wilful". Upon learning that everything was revealed, Sylvia falls at the feet of her father. Judge Balance entrusts her to Plume and advises the matrimonial authority to impose a disciplinary sanction on her. Plum is amazed: he only now learned that in front of him is Sylvia. For the love of her, he is ready to retire. Plum gives his entire set to Captain Brazen - instead of the twenty thousand dowry he dreamed of, he will receive twenty hefty recruits. And Plum will henceforth serve the queen and the fatherland at home, recruiting is a troublesome business, and he leaves him without regret.

O. E. Grinberg

(The Beggar's Opera)

Play (1728)

In the introduction, the author - The Beggar - says that if poverty is a patent for poetry, then no one will doubt that he is a poet. He is a member of the troupe of beggars and participates in the performances that this troupe gives weekly in one of the poorest quarters of London - St. Giles. The actor recalls that the muses, unlike all other women, do not meet anyone by dress and do not consider a catchy outfit a sign of intelligence, and modest clothes - a sign of stupidity. The beggar says that his play was originally intended to be performed at the wedding of two excellent singers - James Chanter and Moll Lay. He introduced into it comparisons found in the most famous operas - with a swallow, a moth, a bee, a ship, a flower, and so on. He has written a thrilling scene in the prison, refusing a prologue and an epilogue, so that his play is an opera in all respects, and he is glad that, after several performances in the great hall at St. Giles, it will finally be shown on the real stage. All arias in it are performed to the tunes of popular street songs or ballads.

Peacham - a buyer of stolen goods - sings an aria that people condemn other people's activities in vain: despite all the differences, they have a lot in common. Peacham argues that his trade is similar to the trade of a lawyer: both of them live thanks to swindlers and often labor in a dual capacity - either encouraging criminals or handing them over to justice. Peacham's henchman Filch reports that Black Mall's trial is to take place at noon. Peacham will try to settle everything, but in extreme cases, she can ask for the sentence to be postponed due to pregnancy - being an enterprising person, she secured this exit for herself in advance. But Tom Gag, who is threatened with the gallows, Peacham is not going to save - Tom is awkward and gets caught too often, it is more profitable to get forty pounds for his extradition. As for Betty Sly, Peacham will save her from exile in the colony - in England he will earn more from her. "There's nothing to gain from the death of women, unless it's your wife," notes Peachum. Filch sings an aria about the corruption of women.

Filch goes to Newgate Prison to bring good news to his friends, while Peacham contemplates who should be sent to the gallows during the next court session. Mrs. Peacham believes that there is something attractive in the appearance of those condemned to death: “Let Venus put her belt / Put on a freak, / And immediately any man / will see beauty in her. / The noose is just like that belt, / And the thief who proudly / In a cart he rushes to the scaffold, / For women more beautiful than the lord. Mrs. Peacham asks her husband about Captain MacHeath: the captain is so cheerful and amiable, there is no gentleman on the high road equal to him! According to Peacham, Macheath moves in too good a society: gambling houses and coffee houses ruin him, so he will never get rich. Mrs. Peacham laments: "Well, why should he keep company with all sorts of lords and gentlemen? Let them rob each other themselves." Having learned from his wife that Macheath is caring for their daughter Polly and Polly is not indifferent to him, Peacham begins to worry that her daughter will not jump out in marriage, because then they will become dependent on their son-in-law. You can allow a girl everything: flirting, an affair, but not marriage. Mrs. Peacham advises her husband to be kinder to his daughter and not offend her: she likes to imitate noble ladies and, perhaps, allows the captain liberties only for reasons of profit. Mrs. Peacham herself believes that a married woman should not at all love her husband alone: ​​“A girl is similar to an ingot: / The number of guineas in it is unknown, / Until the treasury / Is minted from it in full weight. / A wife is a guinea that goes / C with the stigma of the spouse in circulation: / Takes and gives again / Her any without salvation. Moreover, he warns Polly that if she plays the fool and strives to get married, then she will be unhappy. Polly assures him that she knows how to yield in small things in order to refuse the main thing.

Upon learning that Polly is still married, the parents are indignant. "Do you really think, scoundrel, that your mother and I would have lived so long in peace and harmony if we were married?" Peach is outraged. In response to Polly's statement that she married Macheath not for convenience, but for love, Mrs. Peacham scolds her for her recklessness and bad manners. An affair would be forgivable, but marriage is a disgrace, she says. Peacham wants to profit from this marriage: if he sends Macheath to the gallows, Polly will inherit his money. But Mrs. Peacham warns her husband that the captain may have several more wives who will challenge Polly's widowhood. Peacham asks her daughter what she expects to live on. Polly replies that she intends, like all women, to live on the fruits of her husband's labors. Mrs. Peacham is amazed at her innocence: the wife of a bandit, like the wife of a soldier, sees money from him no more often than himself. Peacham advises her daughter to do what noble ladies do: transfer property to herself, and then become a widow. The parents demand that Polly inform on Macheath - this is the only way to earn their forgiveness. "Do your duty and send your husband to the gallows!" exclaims Mrs. Peachum. Polly does not agree: "If the friend of the dove dies, / Shot down by the shooter, / She, sad, groans / Above the dove / And falls to the ground like a stone, / Together with him in death and in love." Polly tells Macheath that her parents want him dead. Macheath must hide. When he's safe, he'll let Polly know. Before parting, the lovers, standing in different corners of the stage and not taking their eyes off each other, perform a duet, parodying the operatic cliché of that time.

The thieves of Macheath's gang sit in a tavern near Newgate, smoking tobacco and drinking wine and brandy. Mat Kisten argues that the true robbers of mankind are misers, and thieves only save people from excesses, because what's wrong with taking away from your neighbor what he does not know how to use? Macheath appears. He says he quarreled with Peacham, and asks his friends to tell Peacham that he has abandoned the gang, and in a week he and Peacham will make peace and everything will fall into place. In the meantime, Macheath invites his old prostitute girlfriends to his place: he loves women very much and has never been distinguished by constancy and fidelity. But the prostitutes betray Macheath to Jenny Kunny and Sookie Snot hug him and signal to Peacham and the constables who rush in and grab him. In Newgate, Aokit meets Macheath as an old acquaintance and offers him a choice of shackles: the lightest cost ten guineas, the heavier ones are cheaper, Makhit laments: there are so many requisitions in prison and they are so great that few can afford to get out safely or even die, as befits a gentleman. When Macheath is left alone in the cell, Lokit's daughter Lucy secretly comes to him, who reproaches him for infidelity: Macheath promised to marry her, and he himself, according to rumors, married Polly. Macheath assures Lucy that he does not love Polly and had no intention of marrying her. Lucy goes to look for a priest to marry her to Macheath.

Lokit and Peacham do the math. They decide to divide the bribe for Makhit equally. Peacham complains that the government is slow to pay, and thus puts them in a difficult position: after all, they need to carefully pay off their informants. Each of them considers himself an honest person, and the other - dishonest, which almost leads to a quarrel, but they catch on in time: after all, by sending each other to the gallows, they will not win anything.

Lucy comes to Macheath's cell. She did not find a priest, but promises to make every effort to save her beloved. Polly appears. She is surprised that Macheath is so cold towards his wife. In order not to lose Lucy's help, Macheath disowns Polly, but Lucy does not believe him. Both women feel betrayed and perform a duet to an Irish trot tune. Peach bursts in, he pulls Polly away from Macheath and takes her away. Macheath tries to justify himself to Lucy. Lucy admits that it is easier for her to see him on the gallows than in the arms of a rival. She helps Macheath escape and wants to run with him, but he persuades her to stay and join him later. Upon learning of Macheath's escape, Lokit immediately realizes that it was not without Lucy. Lucy backs off. Lokit does not believe his daughter and asks if Macheath paid her: if she entered into a better deal with Makhit than Lokit himself, he is ready to forgive her. Lucy complains that Macheath treated her like the last villain: he used her help, and he slipped away to Polly, now Polly will lure money from him, and then Peacham will hang him and cheat Lokit and Lucy. Lokit is outraged: Peachum intended to outsmart him. Peacham is his companion and friend, he acts according to the ways of the world, and can cite a thousand examples to justify his attempt to swindle Lokit. So shouldn't Lokit take advantage of his friend's rights and repay him in the same coin?

Lokit asks Lucy to send one of Peacham's men to him. Lucy sends Filch to him. Filch complains about the hard work:

due to the fact that the "breeding stallion" is out of order, Filch has to belly prostitutes so that they have the right to a reprieve. If he doesn't find an easier way to make a living, he's unlikely to make it to the next court session. After learning from Filch that Macheath is in the warehouse of stolen goods in the Counterfeit Promissory Note, Lokit travels there. He and Peacham check the ledgers and do the calculations. The list includes "twenty-seven women's pockets, cut off with all contents", "a train from an expensive brocade dress", etc. Their regular client, Mrs. Diana Hupp, comes to them. She complains about hard times: the Act to close the Mint, where insolvent debtors were hiding, dealt her a big blow, and with the Act to cancel the arrest for small debts, life has become even harder: now a lady can borrow a beautiful skirt or dress from her and not return , and Mrs. Hupp has no place to seek justice against her. Two hours ago Mrs. Hupp had ripped off Mrs. Gossip's dress and left her in her shirt. She hopes that Mrs. Gossip's lover - the generous Captain Macheath - will pay her debt. Hearing about Captain Macheath, Aokit and Peacham promise Mrs. Hupp to pay the debt for Mrs. Gossip if she helps to see him: they have a business with the captain.

Lucy sings an aria about an unjust fate that sends her torment, while she bestows only pleasure on Polly. Lucy wants revenge and poisons Polly. When Filch announces Polly's arrival, Lucy greets her kindly, asks for forgiveness for her thoughtless behavior and offers to drink a glass as a sign of reconciliation. Polly refuses. She says that she deserves pity, because the captain does not love her at all. Lucy consoles her: "Ah, Polly, Polly! The unfortunate wife is me, but he loves you as if you were only his mistress." In the end, they come to the conclusion that they are in the same position, because both were too in love. Polly, suspecting a trick, refuses to drink wine, despite all the persuasion of Lucy. Lokit and Peachum bring in Macheath in shackles. Peacham drives Polly and Lucy away: "Get out of here, you scoundrels! Now is not the time for wives to annoy their husbands." Lucy and Polly perform a duet about their feelings for Macheath. The captain is being taken to court. Lucy and Polly hear merry music: these are the prisoners, whose cases have been postponed until the next session. The shackled prisoners dance, and Polly and Lucy go off to mourn. Macheath is on death row drinking wine and singing songs. Ben the Trickster and Matt Bludgeon come to say goodbye to him. Macheath asks his friends to avenge him. Peacham and Lokit are shameless scoundrels, and Macheath's last wish is for Ben and Mat to send them to the gallows before they themselves fall for it. Polly and Lucy also come to say goodbye to Macheath. When the jailer reports the arrival of four more women, each with a child, Macheath exclaims, "What? Four more wives? That's too much! Hey, tell the sheriff's men I'm ready."

The actor asks the Beggar if he is really going to execute Macheath. The beggar replies that for the perfection of the play, the poet must be as inexorable as the judge, and Macheath will certainly be hanged. The actor does not agree with this ending: it turns out a hopeless tragedy. An opera should have a happy ending. The beggar decides to fix things. This is not difficult, because in works of this kind it does not matter at all whether events develop logically or illogically. To please the taste of the audience, it is necessary to the cries of "Pardon!" triumphantly release the condemned back to their wives.

Once free, Macheath realizes that he still has to get a wife. He invites everyone to have fun and dance on this joyful day and announces his marriage to Polly.

O. E. Grinberg

(The Rape of the Lock)

Poem (1712, additional version 1714)

The work is preceded by the author's introduction, which is a dedication to a certain Arabella Fermor. Pope warns Arabella against taking his creation too seriously, explaining that it has "a single purpose: to entertain a few young ladies" endowed with sufficient common sense and a sense of humor. The author warns that everything in his poem is incredible, except for the only real fact - "the loss of your lock" - and the image of the main character is not likened to Arabella Fermor in anything, "except for beauty." I know how out of place clever words are in the presence of a lady, the author writes further, but it is so common for a poet to strive for understanding. Therefore, he prefaces the text with a few more explanations. The four elements, in the space of which the action of the poem will unfold, are inhabited by spirits: sylphs, gnomes, nymphs and salamanders. Gnomes - or demons of the earth - are malicious creatures and eager for leprosy, but the inhabitants of the air, sylphs, are gentle and benevolent creatures. "According to the Rosicrucians, all mortals can enjoy the most intimate intimacy with these most gentle spirits, so long as the condition is maintained ... the observance of unwavering chastity."

Thus, elegantly delineating the rules of the literary game, Pope introduces the reader into the multi-layered fantasy world of his poem, where a funny everyday incident - an ardent admirer at a high-society reception cut off a lock from an impregnable beauty - takes on a universal scale.

The poem consists of five songs. In the first song, the leader of the sylphs, Ariel, guards the dream of the beautiful Belinda. In a dream, he whispers to her words about how sacred her purity is, giving the right to the constant protection of good spirits. After all, secular life is full of temptations to which malicious dwarfs incline charmers. "So the dwarfs teach the enchantresses to look coquettishly from under their eyelashes, to blush, to be embarrassed for show, to seduce the play of hearts and eyes." At the end of her speech, Ariel warns Belinda in alarm that this day will be marked by disaster for her and she must be doubly vigilant and beware of her sworn enemy - Man.

Belinda wakes up. She skims another love letter. Then he looks into the mirror and begins to perform the sacrament in front of him, as in front of an altar, giving his beauty an even more dazzling brilliance. Gentle sylphs are invisibly present in this exciting morning toilet routine.

Canto Two begins with a hymn to the blooming beauty of Belinda, whose brilliance surpasses even the radiance of a flaming summer day. The beauty goes for a walk along the Thames, capturing the eyes of everyone she meets. Everything in it is perfection itself, but the crown of charm is two dark curls that adorn the marble of the neck. Belinda's admirer, the baron, was inflamed with the desire to take away these luxurious strands - like a love trophy. That morning, at dawn, he burned the gloves and garters of his former lovers, and at this sacrificial fire he asked heaven for only one treasure - Belinda's curl.

Faithful Ariel, anticipating danger, gathered all the army of good spirits subject to him and appealed to them with a call to protect and protect the beauty. He reminds the sylphs, sylphs, elves and fairies how important and responsible their work is and how many dangers every moment is fraught with. “Will innocence be touched by shame, will porcelain be cracked, honor will suffer or brocade, suddenly the nymph loses her bracelet or heart in a hurry at the ball ...” Ariel entrusts each spirit with the care of one item of Belinda's toilet - earrings, fan, watch, curls. He himself undertakes to follow the beauty's dog named Shock. Fifty sylphs are immediately attached to the skirt - this "silver line" of purity. At the end of the speech, Ariel threatens that the spirit caught in negligence will be imprisoned in a vial and pierced with pins. The airy invisible retinue faithfully closes around Belinda and waits in fear for the vicissitudes of fate.

In the third song, the climax comes - Belinda loses her cherished curl. This takes place in the palace, where the courtiers swarm around Queen Anne, condescendingly heeding advice and drinking tea. Belinda belongs in this high-society circle. Here she sits down at the card table and masterfully beats two partners, one of whom is the baron in love with her. After that, the losing nobleman yearns for revenge. During the coffee ritual, when Belinda is bending over a porcelain cup, the baron sneaks up on her - and ... No, he does not immediately succeed in fulfilling his blasphemous plan. The vigilant elves pull the earrings three times, causing Belinda to look back, but the fourth time they miss the moment. Faithful Ariel is also lost - "he looked into the heart of the nymph through the bouquet, suddenly a secret was revealed in the heart; he saw the sylph the object of earthly love and despaired of this secret guilt, taken by surprise, and disappeared, letting out a deep sigh ..." So, it was this moment - when Ariel left the Belinda guarded by him, seeing love in her soul (perhaps for that very baron?), - became fatal. "Enmity closed the scissors in silence, and the curl separated forever." The Baron is experiencing triumph, Belinda - annoyance and anger. This central song of the poem is the peak, the intensity of intense confrontation: as if continuing the just finished card game, where the suits went to war against each other, and kings, aces, ladies and other cards were complex hidden maneuvers, human passions boil under the arches of the palace. Belinda and the baron now signify two hostile and irreconcilable poles - male and female.

In the fourth song, evil spirits come into action, deciding to take advantage of the moment. Belinda's grief over the stolen lock of hair is so deep and great that the malevolent dwarf Umbriel has a hope: to infect the whole world with her despondency. Here this gloomy spirit goes - "on sooty wings" - to the underworlds, where the hideous Moody hides in a cave. No less gloomy Migraine huddles at her head. Having greeted the mistress and politely reminded her of her merits ("you own every woman, inspiring whims, then dreams; you arouse in ladies an interest either in medicine, or in writing plays; you make proud people to be blissful, you teach the pious to hypocrisy ..."), the dwarf urged the mistress of the cave to sow mortal anguish in Belinda's soul - "then half the world will be struck by the blues"!

The spleen takes out a bag of sobs and lamentations, as well as a bottle of sorrows, sorrows and tears. The dwarf happily takes it with him to immediately distribute among the people. As a result, Belinda becomes more and more desperate. The loss of a lock entails a chain of inconsolable experiences and bitter unanswered questions. In fact, consider, "why do we need tongs, hairpins, a comb? Why keep our hair in captivity, hit it with a red-hot iron? .. Why do we need hairpins, finally? ..". This misanthropy ends with a confession of indifference to the fate of the entire universe - from lap dogs to people. Attempts to return the curl back lead to nothing. The baron admires the trophy, caresses it, boasts of it in society and intends to keep the booty forever. "My enemy is cruel! - Belinda exclaims in her hearts at his address, - it would be better if you cut off my other hair at that moment!"

In the last, fifth part of the poem, heated passions lead to an open war of the sexes. In vain do some sober voices try to appeal to the female mind, reasonably assuring that the loss of a lock is not the end of the world, and also that "it is necessary to remember in the midst of vanity that virtue is higher than beauty." It is also said that the curls sooner or later turn gray and in general beauty is not eternal, and also that it is dangerous to despise men, since in such a case you can die a girl. Finally, never lose heart. However, the offended pride of Belinda and her confidantes declares such reasons to be hypocrisy. The ladies shout: "To arms!" And now the fight is already flaring up, the cries of heroes and heroines are heard and the whalebone of corsets is cracking. The malevolent dwarf Umbriel, sitting on a candelabrum, "looked at the battle with pleasure."

Belinda attacked the Baron, but he was not afraid of this. "He was attracted by the only passion - in her arms, the death of the brave fall ..." He would prefer to burn alive in Cupid's fire. In a passionate fight, the truth was again revealed that men and women are necessary to each other and made for each other. And it is better for them to listen to the voice of their own feelings than to the whisper of spirits.

Well, what about curl? alas, in the meantime, he disappeared, disappeared, unnoticed by everyone, apparently at the behest of heaven, who decided that mere mortals were unworthy of owning this treasure. In all likelihood, the author of the poem is convinced, the lock reached the lunar sphere, where there is a cluster of lost objects, a collection of broken vows, etc. The lock soared to be the object of worship and chanting of the poet. He became a star and will shine and send his light to the earth.

Let the human life of a beauty be limited and fleeting, and all the charms and curls are destined to fall into dust - this, the only, stolen curl will always remain intact.

"He is sung by the Muse, and Belinda is inscribed in the starlight."

V. A. Sagalova

(Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded)

Roman in letters (1740)

Pamela, barely fifteen years old, the daughter of a poor but virtuous married couple, the Andrews, reports in a letter to her parents that the noble lady, in whose service she spent the last few years of her life, died of a serious illness. Her nobility and kind attitude towards Pamela was expressed not only in the fact that she taught the girl to read and count, but also did not forget about her future on her deathbed, entrusting the care of Pamela to her son. The young gentleman treated the girl so sympathetically that he gave her a significant amount for a peasant daughter - four golden guineas and silver - which she now gives to her parents so that they can pay off at least part of their debts. In addition, he deigned to read her letter to make sure there were no errors (later on, the owner began to "hunt" for letters, because he did not want the naive girl to be enlightened by interpreting the true meaning of his signs of attention). And since at the same time the young esquire held Pamela by the hand and offered to use the library of his deceased mother in the future, the naive girl was convinced of his infinite kindness.

From the answer of the parents it followed that the courtesy and generosity of the young gentleman made them extremely alert, and they urged Pamela to follow only the path of virtue. The Andrews, having consulted with a very worthy lady about the behavior of the young master, ask their daughter to remember that the doors of their house are always open to her if she considers that her honor is threatened by the slightest danger. In subsequent letters, the girl speaks of the good attitude towards herself of all those living in the house. So, the owner's sister, Lady Davers, who came to visit, noticing the beauty of Pamela, gives her good advice - to keep men at a distance. The good lady, in addition, promised to take the young beauty into her house. The same thoughts, at the instigation of their master, inspired Pamela and other inhabitants of the house. Only later did it become clear that, allegedly caring about the girl's good manners, Mr. B. thinks only of his own interests, which are far from preserving the girl's honor. The girl does not miss a single detail from her relationship with the owner and other servants in the house. Parents learn about Mr. B.'s gifts - dresses, underwear, handkerchiefs (a rarity in the life of even wealthy people of those times) and even aprons made of Dutch linen. The young maid's admiration for her master turned to wariness, and then fear, after Mr. B. ceased to hide his intentions. Pamela remembered the proposal of Lady Davers and wanted to move into her house, but the owner, whose admiration had finally passed, categorically opposed, while the falsity of his arguments was obvious. The parents' worst fears were confirmed. The young master had long ago, even during the life of his mother, paid attention to the lovely maid and decided to make her his mistress. Pamela's letters began to disappear, and the master and his servants tried to convince Pamela that she should not correspond with her parents, under the ridiculous pretext that she was harming Mr. B's family by informing her loved ones about what was happening. Therefore, many details of what happened to her are captured not in letters, but in a diary.

Pamela was ready to leave immediately. The housekeeper, Mrs. Jarvis, unable to persuade the girl to stay, volunteered to accompany her as soon as she could find time. The girl postponed her departure. As time went on, it seemed to her that her piety and modesty softened the cruel heart of Mr. B., as he not only agreed to let her go, but also provided her with a traveling carriage and coachman to accompany her to the place where Pamela was to be met by her father. The girl collected all the things ever given to her by the late mistress and young master, so that the housekeeper checked the contents of her bundles. She herself changed into the same simple peasant dress in which she had once arrived in Bedfordshire. Mr. B., who overheard the conversation of both women, took advantage of the situation, later accusing the girl of stealing, hoping thereby to keep Pamela to himself. Later, the girl learns about other dishonorable acts of the Esquire, for example, about the fate of Miss Sally Godfrey, seduced by Mr. B.

Pamela's diary allows you to find out all the details of how she ended up in the hands of a former innkeeper - Mrs. Jukes, Mr. B.'s housekeeper on his Lincolnshire estate. On the way from Bedfordshire (it was there that Pamela's story began) to the meeting place with her father, the girl was forced to stop at a tavern, where an evil woman was already waiting for her arrival. She made no secret of the fact that she followed the instructions of her master, Mr. B. In vain, Pamela sought protection from her neighbors and all those who seemed to appreciate her piety and modesty. No one wanted to speak in her defense, fearing the revenge of the rich and therefore all-powerful esquire. Those who dared to support her, such as the young pastor Mr. Williams, were persecuted and persecuted. He corresponded with Pamela and was ready to help the girl at any cost. Jukes informed the owner about all the plans of Pamela and the pastor. The priest was first brutally attacked and then arrested on false charges for failing to pay a debt. To prevent Pamela's possible escape, the hard-hearted Jukes took away all the money from the girl, took away her shoes for the day, and put her to sleep between herself and the maid at night. One can only imagine the grief of a father who did not find his daughter in the appointed place. Later, Mr. B. wrote to the girl's parents and, without concealing his intentions, offered the father and mother money for the daughter.

We learn about the state of mind of John Andrews, Pamela's father, from the author's reasoning that precedes the girl's diary. Being locked up, Pamela can only rely on God's help, and she does not stop praying. But a new misfortune awaits her - returning from a trip to Switzerland, a young master appears in Lincolnshire and directly invites the girl to become his mistress, believing that the money and material well-being of her family will force the young creature to yield to his harassment.

Pamela remains adamant, and no temptations can turn her away from the true path and her inherent piety. The insidious seducer, struck by her nobility, offers Pamela to become her husband. Even the threats of his sister (Lady Davers) to break off all relations with him if he marries a commoner do not frighten a young nobleman who has embarked on a worthy path. He tries to correct the harm he caused, and instructs the marriage ceremony to be carried out by the priest Williams - the only one who dared to protect an innocent girl. The first part of the novel consists of another author's discussion about the benefits of piety and fidelity to moral duty.

In the second, third and fourth parts of the novel, Pamela still conducts extensive correspondence, but already as Mrs. B. The heroine tells her father in detail about all, even minor events of her life, quarrels and reconciliations with her husband, joys, visits. She describes in detail the characters, habits and toilets of all those with whom she meets. Most of all, she wants to share her observations about how her husband is changing for the better. Her parents give her instructions regarding the duty and duties of a married woman. The husband's sister is delighted with Pamela's style and reasoning, constantly asking the young woman to describe in more detail the various episodes of her life in her mother's house. She cannot hide her surprise and admiration that Pamela was able to forgive her offenders, especially Mrs. Jukes (who even attended the girl's wedding and now also writes to her). Mrs. B. told her sister-in-law that her Christian duty did not allow her to refuse to help anyone who embarked on the path of correction. Duty forces her to do everything to warn the lost soul from despondency and prevent her from returning to her former vicious life. Later, they exchange opinions about the upbringing of children, gifts sent to each other, and consult in various daily affairs.

The novel ends with the author's (in all digressions Richardson calls himself the publisher) conclusion about the circumstances of the characters' lives that were not included in the correspondence or diary. The Andrews couple (the parents of the heroine) lived for twelve years on their farm in contentment and peace and died almost simultaneously.

Lady Davers, after the death of her husband, settled in Lincolnshire, next to her brother's happy family, and lived for a very long time.

Mr. B. became one of the most respected men in the country, spent some time in the public service, then retired, settled with his family, and met his old age surrounded by universal respect for his always kindness and sympathy.

Pamela is the mother of seven children who grew up surrounded by the love and tenderness of their parents.

R. M. Kirsanova

(Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady)

Roman in letters (1747)

Anna Howe writes to her friend Clarissa Harlow that there is a lot of talk in the world about the skirmish between James Harlow and Sir Robert Lovelace, which ended in the wounding of Clarissa's older brother. Anna asks to tell about what happened, and on behalf of her mother asks to send a copy of the part of the will of Clarisse's grandfather, which reports the reasons that prompted the elderly gentleman to refuse his property to Clarisse, and not to his sons or other grandchildren.

Clarissa, in response, describes in detail what happened, starting her story with how Lovelace got into their house (he was introduced by Lord M. - the uncle of the young esquire). Everything happened in the absence of the heroine, and she learned about the first visits of Lovelace from her older sister Arabella, who decided that the sophisticated aristocrat had serious views on her. She did not hesitate to tell Clarissa about her plans, until she finally realized that the restraint and silent courtesy of the young man indicated his coldness and lack of any interest in Arabella. Enthusiasm gave way to open hostility, which his brother willingly supported. It turns out that he always hated Lovelace, envious (as Clarissa unmistakably judged) of his aristocratic refinement and ease of communication, which is given by origin, not money. James started a quarrel, and Lovelace only defended himself. The attitude of the Harlow family towards Lovelace changed dramatically, and he was denied a home.

From the promised copy attached to Clarissa's letter, the reader learns that the Harlow family is very wealthy. All three sons of the deceased, including Clarissa's father, have significant funds - mines, trading capital, etc. Clarissa's brother is provided for by his godmother. Clarissa, who has taken care of the old gentleman since childhood and thereby extended his days, is declared the only heir. From subsequent letters, you can learn about other clauses of this will. In particular, upon reaching the age of eighteen, Clarissa will be able to dispose of the inherited property at her own discretion.

The Harlow family is outraged. One of his father's brothers - Anthony - even tells his niece (in his reply to her letter) that the rights to Clarisse's land for all Harlow appeared before she was born. Her mother, fulfilling the will of her husband, threatened that the girl would not be able to use her property. All threats were to force Clarissa to renounce her inheritance and marry Roger Solmes. All Harlows are well aware of the stinginess, greed and cruelty of Solms, since it is no secret to anyone that he refused to help his own sister on the grounds that she married without his consent. He did the same cruelty to his uncle.

Since the Lovelace family has significant influence, the Harlows do not immediately break with him, so as not to spoil relations with Lord M. In any case, Clarissa's correspondence with Lovelace began at the request of the family (when sending one of their relatives abroad, the Harlows needed the advice of an experienced traveler) . The young man could not help but fall in love with a lovely sixteen-year-old girl who had a beautiful style and was distinguished by fidelity of judgment (as all the members of the Harlow family reasoned, and so it seemed to Kdarissa herself for some time). Later, from Lovelace's letters to his friend and confidant John Belford, the reader learns about the true feelings of the young gentleman and how they changed under the influence of the moral qualities of a young girl.

The girl persists in her intention to refuse marriage to Solms and denies all accusations that she is infatuated with Lovelace. The family tries very cruelly to suppress Clarissa's obstinacy - her room is searched to find letters incriminating her, and a trusted maid is driven away. Her attempts to find help from at least one of her many relatives lead nowhere. Clarissa's family easily decided on any pretense in order to deprive the rebellious daughter of the support of others. In the presence of a priest, they demonstrated family peace and harmony, in order to treat the girl even harder later. As Lovelace later wrote to his friend, Harlow did everything to ensure that the girl responded to his courtship. To this end, he settled near the estate of Harlow under a false name. In the house, Harlow acquired a spy who told him all the details of what was happening there, with which he later amazed Clarissa. Naturally, the girl did not suspect the true intentions of Lovelace, who chose her as an instrument of revenge by the hated Harlow. The fate of the girl was of little interest to him, although some of his judgments and actions allow him to agree with the initial attitude of Clarissa towards him, who tried to judge him fairly and did not succumb to all sorts of rumors and biased attitude towards him.

At the inn where the young gentleman settled, there lived a young girl who delighted Lovelace with her youth and naivety. He noticed that she was in love with a neighbor's boy, but there was no hope for the marriage of young people, since he was promised a significant amount if he married at the choice of his family. A lovely dowry, brought up by her grandmother, cannot count on anything. About all this, Lovelace writes to his friend and asks him to treat the poor thing with respect upon arrival.

Anna Howe, having learned that Lovelace lives under the same roof with a young lady, warns Clarissa and asks not to get involved in shameless red tape. Clarissa, however, wants to make sure the rumors are true and turns to Anna with a request to speak with her alleged lover. Delighted, Anna tells Clarissa that the rumors are false, that Lovelace not only did not seduce an innocent soul, but, after talking with her family, provided the girl with a dowry in the amount of the same hundred guineas that were promised to her fiancé.

Relatives, seeing that no persuasion and harassment work, declare to Clarissa that they are sending her to her uncle and Solms will be her only visitor. This means that Clarissa is doomed. The girl informs Lovelace about this, and he invites her to run away. Clarissa is convinced that she should not do this, but, moved by one of Lovelace's letters, she decides to tell him about it when they meet. Having reached the appointed place with great difficulty, since all the members of the family followed her walks in the garden, she meets her devoted (as it seems to her) friend. He is trying to overcome her resistance and drags her to the carriage prepared in advance. He manages to fulfill his plan, as the girl has no doubt that they are being pursued. She hears a noise outside the garden gate, she sees a running pursuer and instinctively succumbs to the insistence of her "savior" - Lovelace continues to repeat that her departure means marriage to Solms. Only from Lovelace's letter to his accomplice does the reader learn that the imaginary pursuer began to break down the lock at the agreed signal of Lovelace and chase the hiding young people so that the unfortunate girl would not recognize him and could not suspect collusion.

Clarissa did not immediately realize that there was an abduction, as some of the details of what was happening corresponded to what Lovelace wrote about, suggesting an escape. Waiting for them were two noble relatives of the gentleman, who were in fact his accomplices in disguise, who helped him keep the girl locked up in a terrible brothel. Moreover, one of the girls, tired of assignments (they had to rewrite Clarissa’s letters so that he knew about the girl’s intentions and about her attitude towards him), advises Lovelace to do with the captive in the same way as he once did with them, which over time and happened.

But at first, the aristocrat continued to pretend, either making a proposal to the girl, then forgetting about him, forcing her to be, as she once put it, between hope and doubt, leaving her parental home, Clarissa was at the mercy of the young gentleman, since public opinion was on his side . Since Lovelace believed that the latter circumstance was obvious to the girl, she was completely in his power, and he did not immediately understand his mistake.

In the future, Clarissa and Lovelace describe the same events, but interpreting them differently, and only the reader understands how the characters are mistaken about each other's true feelings and intentions.

Lovelace himself, in his letters to Belford, describes in detail Clarissa's reaction to his words and deeds. He talks a lot about the relationship between men and women. He assures his friend that, they say, nine women out of ten are to blame for their fall and that, having subjugated a woman once, one can expect obedience from her in the future. His letters abound with historical examples and unexpected comparisons. Clarissa's persistence annoys him, no tricks work on the girl - she remains indifferent to all temptations. Everyone advises Clarissa to accept Lovelace's proposal and become his wife. The girl is not sure of the sincerity and seriousness of Lovelace's feelings and is in doubt. Then Lovelace decides on violence, having previously drugged Clarissa with a sleeping potion.

What happened deprives Clarissa of any illusions, but she retains her former firmness and rejects all attempts by Lovelace to atone for what she has done. Her attempt to escape from the brothel failed - the police ended up on the side of Lovelace and the villain Sinclair, the owner of the brothel, who helped him. Lovelace finally begins to see clearly and is horrified by what he has done. But he can't fix anything.

Clarissa prefers death to marriage with a dishonorable man. She sells the few clothes she has to buy herself a coffin. He writes farewell letters, draws up a will and quietly fades away.

The testament, touchingly sheathed in black silk, testifies that Clarissa has forgiven all those who harmed her. She begins by saying that she always wanted to be buried next to her beloved grandfather, at the feet, but, as soon as fate decreed otherwise, she gives the order to bury her in the parish where she died. She did not forget any of her family members and those who were kind to her. She also asks not to pursue Lovelace.

In desperation, the repentant young man leaves England. From a letter sent to his friend Belford by a French nobleman, it becomes known that the young gentleman met with William Morden. A duel took place, and the mortally wounded Lovelace died in agony with words of redemption.

R. M. Kirsanova

(The History of Sir Charles Grandison)

Roman in letters (1754)

The work is prefaced with a preface by the publisher (as Richardson calls himself), reminiscent of the heroes of previously published novels. "Pamela" - evidence of the benefits of virtue; "Clarissa" is an instruction to those parents who, through unreasonable coercion, generate evil. Finally, "Grandison" - "the deeds of a graceful soul", strictly following the firm moral rules in all life situations.

A lovely, early orphaned young girl from a good family, Miss Harriet Byron, writes detailed letters to her relative Lucy Selby about her stay in London in the family of her cousin Archibald Reeves. The letters are not devoid of coquetry, as the girl describes the characters, habits, manners of all her admirers. The virtues of Miss Harriet Byron, her appearance, grace, education (later it turns out that she reads fluently in Italian), attract many admirers to her. But neither nobility, nor wealth, nor attractive appearance are sufficient reasons for marriage. Harriet writes that the freedom granted to her by her relatives is too dear to be forfeited in marriage. In fact, it is obvious that the girl's heart has not yet awakened for love. Miss Byron does not refuse visits, balls and other entertainments, as they amuse her. The only thing that upset her lately was an unsuccessful fancy dress (which later almost ruined her reputation with its absurdity), described by her in a letter to her friend.

Archibald Reeves enters the correspondence. He informs his Selby relatives about a terrible misfortune. Harriet Byron is kidnapped while returning from a masquerade. Suspicion falls on John Greville, the rejected suitor for Miss Byron's hand. He promised to leave London after he was refused, but secretly stayed in the city, moving to another apartment. Other participants in the abduction are later identified. Only a few days later, the true circumstances of the incident become clear. The Reeves family received a letter signed by Charlotte Grandison, informing them that the girl was in their house and was so weak that she could not even write with her own hand. Everyone is oppressed by the thought that a lovely girl could become a victim of violence. Fortunately, the circumstances turned out favorably and the girl's honor did not suffer,

Cousin Reeves immediately goes to the Grandisons' house and learns the circumstances of the kidnapping from the man who saved Harriet Byron, Sir Charles Grandison. The true culprit of the kidnapping turned out to be a baronet, Sir Hargrave Polkofen. He also proposed to Miss Byron and, unlike John Greville, did not express his displeasure in any way, being rejected.

Sir Charles Grandison recounts the circumstances under which he met Harriet Byron. Returning from London, he saw a speeding carriage and, deciding to avoid a collision, ordered his coachman to turn aside. But involuntarily blocked the path of the approaching crew. When he stopped, Sir Charles heard a woman scream and saw a woman wrapped in a cloak in the carriage window. Noticing the coat of arms on the doors of the carriage, Sir Charles decided to find out what was the matter. The owner of the carriage rather rudely replied that he was taking his wife, who had violated her marital duty, to his estate. The woman tried to escape from his hands and asked for help. Since the young lady claimed that she was not the wife of this gentleman, but was kidnapped by him, Sir Charles decided to intervene and free the lady from the hands of a rude gentleman. He kept silent about the details of this release and was very reserved in his story.

Later, from a letter from Harriet Byron to her friend, Lucy Sedby, it becomes clear that Sir Charles behaved heroically. The story of her abduction was as follows. After the masquerade, the servants, hired by the lackey Wilson (who turned out to be an accomplice of the kidnapper), took the sedan chair (stretcher) not to Reeves' house, but to another area of ​​London, to the house of a certain widow. There the wretched Polksfen was waiting for the unfortunate Miss Harriet. The girl begged her kidnapper to let her go home, but he reminded her of how his pleas for marriage had been rejected. Now, said the failed groom, he is marrying against the will of the girl. But he will do it like a noble person - in the presence of a priest.

Priests bribed by Polksthenes appeared, unwilling to listen to the girl's explanations. Only the presence of the widow, misled by the kidnapper's accomplice Wilson (who had promised to marry one of the widow's daughters), saved Miss Byron from coercion. When the priests left, the girl tried to run out after Polkofen, who, in a rage, slammed the door so hard that Miss Byron was badly hurt. He was afraid to leave the bleeding girl in London and decided to take his victim to his estate. On the way there, a meeting took place with the noble Sir Charles, who in his story kept silent about the danger to which his own life was exposed. The enraged kidnapper first tried to clamp the girl's mouth so that Sir Charles would not hear her cries, and then drew his sword against the noble gentleman. Sir Grandison managed to stop the kidnapper, knocking him down with a single blow. And only after he told Paulksfen's companions his name, did he respectfully seat Miss Byron in his carriage. Although Harriet describes in detail the details of his abduction in his letters, it was decided to hide everything that had happened from both acquaintances and the authorities. Everyone who inquired about Miss Byron was informed of her illness, which required her to leave London for several days.

In subsequent letters, Harriet admits to her friend that her letters can no longer contain the former playfulness and can only be surprised at her own frivolity with which she described her admirers. Harriet details the Grandison family - charming Charlotte and her brother, Sir Charles, his graceful figure, fine features, refined manners, but with obvious strength and masculinity, without the slightest touch of dapperness or effeminacy. It is immediately evident that Sir Charles did not try to avoid bad weather or other vicissitudes that await travelers on the road. Grandison's kindness and compassion for all living things is so great that he forbids cutting the tails of horses so that animals can brush off annoying insects.

Harriet also talks about the parents of Charles and Charlotte Grandison. Their father was not an ideal husband, he often went to London and was absent for a long time. Once he was brought in seriously wounded after a duel. His wife was so deeply shocked that, leaving her husband, she herself soon died. Dying, the unfortunate woman asked her son not to participate in fights. The reader later learns that Sir Charles led a decent life and did not inherit his father's weaknesses, but to protect the weak he always drew his sword without hesitation.

Miss Byron learns that her kidnapper not only feels no remorse, but dares to challenge Sir Charles to a duel. Despair seizes Harriet to such an extent that she is ready to sacrifice herself, if only nothing threatened the life of Sir Charles. Her cousin Archibald and Lucy Selby have long noticed that the girl is not indifferent to her savior. Fortunately, everything ended very well and the duel that took place once again confirmed the incredible nobility of Sir Charles.

Grandison did not shy away from the challenge to a duel and, having come to a meeting with Polksfen, tried to convince him that no one has the right to force a woman into marriage, especially by force. Outwardly calm, the scoundrel invited Grandison into the garden, ostensibly to say a few words in private. When the young people were in the garden, Polksfen unexpectedly tried vilely to attack Sir Charles from behind, but failed. Grandison easily threw the hapless opponent to the ground. Polksfen had to admit his defeat. After meeting Miss Byron, he vowed to leave England.

But the development of relations between Charles Grandison and Harriet Byron was hindered by a secret of the heart, the key to which should be sought in Sir Charles's travels in Italy. In time, Miss Byron learned all the circumstances of this story.

While living in Rome, Sir Charles met the offspring of a noble family, who led a rather frivolous lifestyle. Grandison tried to distract Hieronymus della Poretta from frivolous acts, but failed. The young marquis fell passionately in love with a lady whose beauty was the only virtue, and followed her from Rome. After some time, Sir Charles decided to go further, but on the way to Cremona, he witnessed a terrible incident. Already defeated, the young man struggled to defend himself against several attackers. The noble Sir Charles could not remain indifferent and rushed to the defense of the unfortunate. Naturally, he dealt with the villains and only after that he discovered that the victim was Hieronymus della Poretta. It turns out that the lady's admirers lay in wait for the opponent along with hired killers.

After delivering the mortally wounded young man to Cremona, Grandison reported the incident to his family. The whole family of the marquises della Poretta came from Bologna, and Jerome, barely alive, told his relatives about how Sir Charles tried to keep him from rash acts, how bravely he rushed to protect him from attackers, with what care he brought him to the city. Delighted parents began to call Sir Charles their fourth son, and Jerome - brother. All this could not but impress the only daughter of the Marquises of Poretta - Clementine. Since Sir Charles did not dare to leave his friend in a serious condition, he settled in the house of Poretta. He read aloud, talked about England, and finally won the heart of Clementina della Poretga. The girl did not want to pay attention to anyone, even to the Count of Belvedere, who was sincerely carried away by the noble beauty.

Hieronymus della Poretta decided that Sir Charles should become his true brother by marrying Clementine. To do this, you must fulfill only one condition - to become a Catholic. But precisely this is an insurmountable obstacle for the noble Grandiose. His heart is free, he could sacrifice everything for the girl, but not by faith. The entire della Poretta family, including Jerome, feels offended because Clementine belongs to the noblest and richest family in Italy.

The poor girl could not stand what happened and became seriously ill - she lost her mind. Now she could not utter a word and sat motionless, then she could not find a place for herself and rushed about the room. She wrote endless letters to Sir Charles and did not notice that her relatives were taking them away. The only thing that awakened her to life was conversations with an English companion. And she also loved to look at the map of England, remembering the most noble Sir Charles. In moments of enlightenment, she insisted on tonsure. But the Marquise della Poretta could not allow the only daughter of such a high-ranking family to imprison herself in a monastery.

Her parents decided to let her go on a trip around the country so that she could recover. Clementine took advantage of this and left for England, the homeland of her unforgettable Grandiose.

This trip proved beneficial to her health. She did not interfere with the marriage of Sir Charles to Harriet. And over time, she recovered so much that she could agree to marry Count Belvedere.

The novel ends with the beautiful wedding of Miss Byron and Grandison. They settle in Grandison Hold and enjoy the magnificent nature.

R. M. Kirsanova

(The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams)

Epic novel (1742)

Starting to tell about the adventures of his hero, the author discusses two types of depiction of reality. "Historians" or "topographers" are content with "copying from nature." The author classifies himself as a "biographer" and sees his task in describing "not people, but mores, not an individual, but a species."

Joseph Andrews, at the age of ten, is given into the service of Sir Thomas Booby by his parents. Pastor Abraham Adams draws attention to the giftedness of the child and wants the boy to be given into his care, because, in his opinion, Joseph, having received an education, will be able to occupy a higher position in life than the position of lackey. But Lady Bubi does not want to part with the handsome and gracious Joseph, whom she distinguishes from all other servants. After moving to London, Lady Buby's husband dies, and she soon makes it clear to Joseph, who is already twenty-one years old, that she is not indifferent to him. In a letter to his sister Pamela, a chaste young man tells her that his mistress is trying to seduce him. He fears that because of his intransigence he will lose his place. alas, his fears are confirmed: the forty-year-old housekeeper Lady Booby, the ugly and evil-speaking Mrs. Slipslop, who also vainly seeks the young man's reciprocity, slanders him before her mistress, and Joseph receives a settlement.

Joseph leaves London and goes to the estate of Lady Booby, where in the parish of pastor Adams lives, using his love and patronage, the beloved of the young man Fanny. On the way, robbers attack Joseph. The unfortunate and wounded young man finds shelter in an inn, but only the maid Betty takes care of him, while the innkeeper, Tow-Wouse and his wife take Joseph for a tramp and barely tolerate his presence. Here the young man is met by Pastor Adams, who is heading to London to publish nine volumes of his sermons there. The pastor is an honest, naive and good-natured person, he does not miss the opportunity to argue on philosophical and theological topics, but his passionate nature does not tolerate injustice and he is ready to defend it not only with a word, but also with a strong fist. Under the influence of the pastor, even the grumpy Mrs. Tow-Wouse is imbued with sympathy for Joseph, and the maid Betty loses her head with passion and frankly seeks his love, but the young man is unshakable and does not succumb to temptations.

Adams discovers that he has absent-mindedly left all nine volumes of his sermons at home, and is going to accompany the young man to the estate, but unforeseen circumstances separate them for a while. The pastor comes to the aid of a girl who is trying to dishonor some scoundrel. Having dealt with the rapist, Adams, to his amazement, sees that the girl is his parishioner Fanny. She learned of the misfortune that befell her lover, and immediately set off on her way to look after Joseph. Meanwhile, the intruder, who, through the efforts of the pastor, was unconscious and looked like a lifeless corpse, comes to his senses and, calling for help from local peasants who happened to be nearby, insidiously accuses Adams and Fanny of having robbed and beat him. They are brought to the judge, but he, not delving into the essence of the matter and believing the villain, leaves his secretary to find out the degree of guilt of Adams and Fanny. The attacker testifies and hides, and the pastor and the girl are rescued by Squire Booby, Lady Booby's nephew, who accidentally ends up in the judge's house.

Adams and Fanny go in search of Joseph and find him in a run-down hotel, where the young man is waiting out a thunderstorm that caught him on the way. The lovers demand from the pastor that he immediately unite them in marriage, but Adams does not intend to deviate from the form prescribed by the church - a public announcement. The lovers obey and are about to leave the hotel when it turns out that they have nothing to pay the owner through the fault of Adams, a great ale lover. They are unexpectedly rescued by a poor peddler, and they finally hit the road.

Fleeing from a gang of sheep thieves, who are mistaken for robbers by three travelers who spent the night in the open air, Joseph, Adams and Fanny find shelter in the house of Mr. Wilson. He tells them the story of his life, full of ups and downs, and bitterly mentions that his eldest son was kidnapped by gypsies as a boy. But even after many years, Wilson could recognize his son, who has a birthmark in the form of strawberries on his chest. After leaving Wilson's house, the friends hit the road again.

The pastor almost falls victim to the hunting dogs of Squire John Temple, who hunted with friends and for fun set his dogs on the trail of fat man Adams, who was fleeing from them. Joseph, who is excellent with a club, rescues a friend, and Squire Temple, a rich, cruel and treacherous man, noticing Fanny's beauty, intends to take possession of the girl and, apologizing to Adams for the rudeness of his huntsmen, invites travelers to his estate. The squire and his friends at first show feigned friendliness, but then they openly mock the good-natured pastor, and he, along with Joseph and Fanny, leaves Temple's house indignantly. The enraged Temple, who intended to take possession of Fanny by all means, sends his servants under the command of the captain to chase them. The captain overtakes the travelers in the hotel and, after a fierce battle, captures the girl and takes them away with him. However, on the way to Temple Manor, he encounters a carriage carrying Lady Booby's butler, Peter Pence, escorted by armed ssut. One of them recognizes the girl, and she begs to save her from the hands of the captain. By order of Peter Pence, who is on his way to Lady Booby's estate, the captain is escorted to the hotel, where a fierce fight took place. The girl, who so happily avoided all dangers, is again with her beloved, and soon the lovers, along with Adams and Pence, finally get to the estate.

Lady Bubi arrives at her estate and learns that Joseph and Fanny are going to get married, and Pastor Adams has already publicly announced the advance notice of their marriage. The lady, tormented by the pangs of jealousy and giving vent to her anger, summons Scout's lawyer, who tells her how to get rid of Joseph and Fanny with the help of Judge Frolik. They are accused of theft, and the judge, who hesitates to go against Lady Booby's driver, sentences them to one month's imprisonment. However, Judge Frolik, in whose callous heart there was a drop of pity for the young lovers, is going to arrange an escape for them on the way to prison.

At this time, her nephew and Joseph's sister, Pamela, who had recently become the wife of a squire, arrive at the estate of Lady Booby. Mr. Bubi learns about the misfortune that befell his wife's brother, and saves the lovers from the revenge of his aunt. In a conversation with Lady Booby, he convinces her that from now on, without any damage to her honor, she can look at Joseph as a member of his family, since the sister of her former footman became the wife of her nephew. Lady Bubi is overjoyed at this turn of events and dreams of making Joseph her husband. To achieve this goal, she convinces her nephew that Joseph deserves a better party than a simple peasant woman. Squire Booby, along with Pamela, are trying to dissuade Joseph from marrying Fanny, but he does not intend to part with his beloved in order to make a career.

Meanwhile, the same peddler comes to the estate, who recently rescued Adams and his young friends by paying the innkeeper for them. He tells the story of his long-dead mistress, who, just before her death, confessed to him that she had once been stealing children together with a gang of gypsies. Years ago, she sold to Lady Booby's late husband, Sir Thomas, a three-year-old girl she had stolen from the Enryus family. Since then. this girl was brought up in the Booby estate, and her name is Fanny. Everyone is shocked that Joseph and Fanny are brother and sister. The boy and girl are in despair.

At this time, Joseph's parents and Sir Wilson arrive at the estate, who promised the pastor to visit his parish. It soon turns out that Joseph is the son of Sir Wilson: the gypsies stole the boy, and then, having come to the Andrews' house, put him instead of Fanny in the cradle of her mother, who raised him as her own child. Wilson has no doubts when he sees a strawberry birthmark on Joseph's chest.

Wilson agrees to Joseph's marriage to Fanny. Squire Booby shows generosity and gives the girl a dowry of two thousand pounds, and the young couple acquire a small estate with this money in the same parish with Wilson. Squire Booby offers Adams, who is in desperate need of money to feed his large family, a well-paid job, and he accepts. The peddler, through the efforts of the squire, gets the place of an excise official and honestly fulfills his duties. Lady Boobie leaves for London, where she spends time in the company of a young dragoon colonel, who helps her forget Joseph Andrews, for whom she had such a strong passion.

V. V. Rynkevich

(The History of the Life and Death of Jonathan Wilde the Great)

Roman (1743)

Starting a story about the life of his hero, whom the author ranks among the "great people", he seeks to convince the reader that greatness - contrary to popular misconception - is incompatible with kindness. The author considers the desire of the biographers of Caesar and Alexander the Great to ascribe such qualities as mercy and justice to these outstanding personalities as ridiculous and absurd. The author believes that, endowing their heroes with such qualities, their biographers "destroy the high perfection called the integrity of character." Numerous references to the nobility and generosity of Caesar are completely inappropriate, who, according to the author, "with amazing greatness of spirit, destroyed the liberties of his homeland and, through deceit and violence, placed himself as the head of his equals, corrupting and enslaving an entire people."

It should be clear to the reader that such traits in a great man are unworthy of the purpose for which he was born: to do immeasurable evil. Therefore, if the author in his narrative mentions such a quality as kindness, then for him this concept will be synonymous with vulgarity and imperfection, which, alas, are still characteristic of the most narrow-minded representatives of the human race.

Jonathan, born in 1665, shows pride and ambition from a young age. He does not study very diligently, but invariably reveals an amazing skill in appropriating someone else's. At the age of seventeen, his father takes him to London, where the young man meets Count La Ruze, a famous cheater, and helps him escape from arrest. Paying tribute to the sleight of hand of Jonathan, who picks out the pockets of partners while playing cards, the count introduces him into the world so that the young man will apply his talents in the society of people with position and money.

In gratitude, Jonathan persuades his friend, Bob Bagshot, to rob the earl when he gets a big win. At the same time, Jonathan appropriates the lion's share of the booty to himself, explaining this to Bob by the operation of the basic law of human society: the lower part of humanity are slaves who produce all the benefits for the needs of its higher part. Since Jonathan ranks himself among the great, justice requires that he always get what was obtained by the wrong hands. Reinforcing his arguments with threats, Jonathan subjugates his friend and decides to put together a gang, all members of which will work for him. Then his greatness will be compared with the greatness of Caesar and Alexander, who always got their hands on the loot of their soldiers.

In order to get the money needed to organize the gang, Jonathan, with the help of the count, deceives the merchant-jeweler Thomas Heartfree, Jonathan's school friend.

Heartfree receives a counterfeit bill and Jonathan gets fake jewelry, while with the real ones, the Earl goes into hiding, leaving an accomplice in the cold. And yet, Jonathan manages to gather a large gang, whose members, under his leadership, successfully rob the muddler and dupe.

In order to freely take possession of Hartfree's wife, who is threatened with bankruptcy, and along with his property, Jonathan deftly removes him from the house and convinces his wife to take all the valuables and sail to Holland, where he, a devoted friend of her husband, will accompany her. The simple woman agrees.

During a storm, Jonathan tries to take possession of her, but the ship's captain is the one to save him. An oncoming French ship takes the entire crew prisoner, and when Mrs. Heartfree tells the French captain about Jonathan's behavior, he is put on the boat and left to fend for himself. However, he is soon picked up by a French fishing boat and Jonathan returns safely to London.

Hartfree's arrest warrant has already been issued when he learns that his wife, leaving the children at home, took all the valuable goods and left for Holland with Jonathan. Jonathan visits Hartfree in Newgate Jail to regain his trust. He tells Hartfree that the captain of a French ship has captured his wife and appropriated all the valuables, and suggests that Heartfree escape from prison. Heartfree refuses indignantly.

Meanwhile, Jonathan opens an office where everyone robbed by his gang can get their things back, paying for them twice their value. Things are going well for Jonathan, and he plans to marry the beautiful Letitia, the daughter of an old friend and companion of his father. He had long harbored tender feelings for her, which she, alas, rejected in favor of many other men, including robbers from Jonathan's gang.

But, having satisfied his passion, Jonathan soon cools off towards his wife and concludes an agreement with her: from now on, both of them will enjoy unlimited freedom.

Heartfree begins to suspect that Jonathan is the real culprit of all his misfortunes, and he decides to get rid of the honest dupe as soon as possible, accusing Heartfree of sending his wife with all the valuables abroad, wanting to bypass creditors. The robber Fireblood becomes a perjurer, and the case is taken to court.

One of Jonathan's rogues, Butcher Blueskin, refuses to give Jonathan the gold watch he stole. A riot is brewing in the gang, but Jonathan suppresses it: in the presence of other swindlers, he hands Blueskin over to the police, and they find his watch. The rogues understand that they are in Jonathan's hands, and agree to honestly give him the lion's share of the booty, as it was their custom from the very beginning.

Through the efforts of Jonathan and Fireblood, the court finds Heartfree guilty. However, an investigation soon begins regarding the fact that Blueskin, in an attempt on the life of Jonathan, wounded him with a knife. As a result, some of Jonathan's glorious deeds are being publicized.

The judge, known for his incorruptibility, is seeking the introduction of a clause in one of the parliamentary acts, according to which the one who commits theft by proxy is held criminally liable. Jonathan's activities fall under this barbaric law, and he ends up in a Newgate prison, where his wife Letitia, convicted of pickpocketing, is soon brought.

Jonathan is not discouraged. He is fighting for power with a certain Roger Johnson, who is at the head of all the rogues of the Newgate prison. Jonathan wins, and henceforth all the prisoners pay tribute to him, which he uses for his own needs. Upon learning that Heartfree has been sentenced to death, Jonathan shamefully indulges in remorse, but this painful state does not last long: remembering his greatness, he drives away thoughts of saving the hapless merchant.

Just before Heartfree's execution, his wife comes to see him, and they learn that the execution has been canceled because Fireblood, who was a witness at Heartfree's hearing, was convicted of a crime and confessed to the judge that he acted at the instigation of Jonathan.

The judge visits Hartfree in prison and listens with him to his wife's story about everything that she had to endure in separation from her husband. Despite all her misadventures, she kept her chastity unsullied and even returned the jewels that Earl Aa Ruse had tricked out of Hartfree. Moreover, the African leader gave her a precious stone, the cost of which can more than cover all losses. The judge promises Hartfree to achieve his full acquittal, and the happy couple goes home.

Jonathan, sentenced to hang, arranges drinking parties with prisoners and, finally, following the example of many "great ones", ends his days on the gallows.

After paying tribute to the memory of Jonathan and listing his many virtues, the author sums up his story: "as long as greatness consists in pride, power, audacity and doing evil to mankind - in other words, as long as a great man and a great villain are synonymous - until then Wilde will to stand, having no rivals, at the pinnacle of GREAT."

V. V. Rynkevich

(The history of Tom Jones, a Foundling)

Epic novel (1749)

A baby is thrown into the house of the wealthy squire Allworthy, where he lives with his sister Bridget. Squire, who lost his wife and children a few years ago, decides to raise the child as his own son. Soon he manages to find the mother of the foundling, a poor village woman Jenny Jones. Allworthy fails to learn from her the name of the boy's father, but since Jenny repents of her act, the squire does not take the case to court, but only expels Jenny from her native places, having previously lent her a large sum. Allworthy continues to search for the child's father. His suspicion falls on the village teacher Partridge, from whom Jenny took Latin lessons for a long time. At Allworthy's insistence, the case is taken to court. The teacher's wife, who has long been jealous of him for Jenny, accuses her husband of all mortal sins, and no one has any doubts that the teacher is the boy's father. Although Partridge himself denies his involvement with Jenny, he is found guilty and Allworthy sends him out of the village.

The squire's sister, Bridget, marries Captain Blifil, and they have a son. Tom Jones, a foundling who has won Olworthy's love, is brought up with young Blifil, but the greedy and envious captain, fearing that Allworthy's fortune will pass to the foundling, hates him, trying by any means to discredit the boy in the eyes of his named father. After some time, the captain dies unexpectedly, and Bridget becomes a widow.

From an early age, Tom does not differ in exemplary behavior. Unlike Blifil - reserved, pious and industrious beyond his years - Tom does not show zeal in his studies and his mischief constantly causes trouble to Allworthy and Bridget. Despite this, everyone in the house loves the foundling for his kindness and responsiveness. Blifil never takes part in Tom's games, but condemns his tricks and does not miss the opportunity to reprimand for inappropriate pastime. But Tom never gets angry with him and sincerely loves Blifil like a brother.

Since childhood, Tom has been friends with Sophia, the daughter of Allworthy's neighbor, the wealthy squire Western. They spend a lot of time together and become inseparable friends.

To educate the young men, Allverty invites the theologian Twakoma and the philosopher Square to the house, who make one requirement for their students: they must thoughtlessly cramming their lessons and not have their own opinion. Blifil wins their sympathy from the very first days, as he diligently memorizes all their instructions. But Tom is not interested in repeating common truths after arrogant and arrogant mentors, and he finds other things to do.

Tom spends all his free time in the house of a poor caretaker whose family is dying of starvation. The young man, as far as possible, tries to help the unfortunate, giving them all his pocket money. Upon learning that Tom sold his Bible and the horse given to him by Olverty, and gave the proceeds to the caretaker's family, Blifil and both teachers fall in anger at the young man, considering his act reprehensible, while Olverty is touched by the kindness of his favorite. There is another reason that makes Tom spend so much time in the watchman's family: he is in love with Molly, one of his daughters. The carefree and frivolous girl immediately accepts his courtship, and soon her family finds out that Molly is pregnant. This news instantly spreads throughout the region. Sophia Western, who has long loved Tom, is in despair. He, accustomed to seeing in her only a friend of his childhood games, only now notices how she has blossomed. Unbeknownst to himself, Tom becomes more and more attached to the girl, and over time, this attachment develops into love. Tom is deeply unhappy, because he realizes that he is now obliged to marry Molly. However, things take an unexpected turn: Tom finds Molly in the arms of his teacher, the philosopher Square. After some time, Tom finds out that Molly is pregnant not from him at all, which is why he considers himself free from any obligations to her.

Meanwhile, Squire Allworthy falls seriously ill. Feeling the approach of the end, he gives the last orders regarding the inheritance. Only Tom, passionately loving his named father, is inconsolable, while everyone else, including Blifil, is only concerned about their share in the inheritance. A messenger arrives at the house and brings a message that Bridget Allworthy, who has been absent from the estate for several days, has died suddenly. By the evening of the same day, the squire is feeling better and he is clearly on the mend. Tom is so happy that not even Bridget's death can dampen his joy. Wanting to celebrate the recovery of his named father, he gets drunk, which causes condemnation of those around him.

Squire Western dreams of marrying his daughter to Blifil. This seems to him an extremely advantageous grandfather, since Blifil is the heir to most of the Allworthy fortune. Not even interested in the opinion of the daughter. Western is in a hurry to get consent to the marriage from Allworthy. The wedding day has already been appointed, but Sophia, unexpectedly for her father, announces to him that she will never become Blifil's wife. An angry father locks her in a room, hoping that she will come to her senses.

At this time, Blifil, who secretly hated Tom since childhood, because he was afraid that most of the inheritance would go to the foundling, an insidious plan matures. Thickening his colors, he tells the squire about Tom's unworthy behavior on the very day when Allworthy was on the verge of death. Since all the servants witnessed the wild fun of drunken Tom, Blifil manages to convince the squire that Tom rejoiced at his imminent death and that he would soon become the owner of a considerable fortune. Believing Blifil, the angry squire kicks Tom out of the house.

Tom writes a farewell letter to Sophia, realizing that, despite his ardent love for her, now that he is doomed to wandering and a beggarly life, he has no right to count on her favor and ask for her hand. Tom leaves the estate, intending to become a sailor. Sophia, desperate to beg her father not to marry her to Blifil, who she hates, runs away from home.

In a provincial inn, Tom accidentally meets Partridge, the very teacher Allworthy once expelled from his village, considering him the father of a foundling. Partridge convinces the young man that he suffered innocently, and asks permission to accompany Tom on his wanderings.

On the way to the city of Upton, Tom saves a woman, a certain Mrs. Waters, from the hands of a rapist. In the city hotel, Mrs. Waters, who immediately liked the handsome Tom, easily seduces him.

At this time, Sophia, who is heading to London, hoping to find shelter with an old friend of their family, also stops at the Upton hotel and is happy to learn that Tom is among the guests. However, having heard that he cheated on her, the angry girl, as a sign that she knows everything about the behavior of her lover, leaves her muff in his room and leaves Upton in tears. By a lucky chance, Sophia's cousin, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, who ran away from her husband, a scoundrel and a debauchee, also stops at the same hotel. She invites Sophia to hide from her pursuers together. In fact, immediately after the departure of the fugitives, Sophia's furious father and Mr. Fitzpatrick arrive at the hotel.

In the morning, Tom guesses why Sophia did not want to see him, and in desperation leaves the hotel, hoping to catch up with his beloved and get her forgiveness.

In London, Sophia finds Lady Bellaston. She cordially accepts the girl and, having heard her sad story, promises her help.

Tom and Partridge soon also arrive in London. After a long search, Tom manages to get on the trail of his beloved, but her cousin and Lady Bellaston prevent him from meeting Sophia. Lady Bellaston has her own reasons: despite the fact that she is suitable for Tom's mother, she falls passionately in love with him and tries to seduce the young man. Tom guesses what the lady wants from him, but nevertheless he does not refuse to meet with her and even accepts money and gifts from her, because he has no choice: firstly, he hopes to find out where Sophia is, and secondly he has no means of subsistence. However, in his relationship with Lady Bellaston, Tom manages to keep his distance. Finally, Tom accidentally meets his beloved, but she, having listened to assurances of eternal love and fidelity, rejects Tom, because she cannot forgive him for betrayal. Tom is desperate.

In the house where Tom and Partridge rent a room, Mr. Nightingale lives, with whom Tom immediately became friends. Nightingale and Nancy, the daughter of their owner, Mrs. Miller, love each other.

Tom learns from a friend that Nancy is pregnant from him. But Nightingale cannot marry her, for he is afraid of his father, who has found a rich bride for him and, wanting to take over the dowry, insists on an immediate wedding. Nightingale submits to fate and secretly moves out from Mrs. Miller, leaving Nancy a letter in which he explains to her the reasons for his disappearance. Tom learns from Mrs. Miller that her Nancy, who is passionately in love with Nightingale, having received his farewell letter, has already tried to kill herself. Tom goes to the father of his frivolous friend and announces to him that he is already married to Nancy. Nightingale Sr. resigns himself to the inevitable, and Mrs. Miller and her daughter hastily prepare for the wedding. From now on, Nancy and her mother consider Tom their savior.

Lady Bellaston, madly in love with Tom, constantly demands dates from him. Realizing how much he owes her. Tom can't refuse her. But her harassment soon becomes unbearable to him. Nightingade offers a cunning plan to a friend: he should write her a letter with a marriage proposal. Since Lady Bellaston takes into account the opinion of the world and does not dare to marry a man who is half her age, she will be forced to refuse Tom, and he, taking advantage of this, will have the right to terminate all relations with her. The plan succeeds, but the angry lady decides to take revenge on Tom.

Sophia, who still lives in her house, is looked after by the wealthy Lord Fellamar. He proposes to her but is rejected. The insidious Lady Bellaston explains to the lord that the girl is in love with a beggar rogue; if the lord manages to get rid of the rival, Sophia's heart will be free.

Tom visits Mrs. Fitzpatrick to talk to her about Sophia. Leaving her house, he runs into her husband. The enraged jealous man, who finally got on the trail of the fugitive and found out where she lives, takes the young man for her lover and insults him. Tom is forced to draw his sword and accept the challenge. As Fitzpatrick falls, pierced by Tom's sword, they are suddenly surrounded by a group of burly fellows. They grab Tom, hand him over to the constable, and he ends up in jail. It turns out that Fellamar sent several sailors and ordered them to recruit Tom to the ship, letting them know that he wanted to get rid of him, and they, having caught Tom during a duel when he wounded his rival, decided to simply hand Tom over to the police.

Sophia's father, Mr. Western, arrives in London. He finds his daughter and announces to her that until Allworthy and Blyfil arrive, the girl will be under house arrest and wait for the wedding. Lady Bellaston, having decided to take revenge on Tom, shows Sophia his letter with a marriage proposal. Soon the girl learns that Tom is accused of murder and is in prison. Allworthy arrives with his nephew and stays with Mrs. Miller. Allworthy is her longtime benefactor, he invariably helped the poor woman when her husband died and she was left without funds with two young children in her arms. Upon learning that Tom is the adopted son of a squire, Mrs. Miller tells him about the nobility of the young man. But Allworthy still believes in the slander, and the praises lavished on Tom do not move him.

Nightingale, Mrs. Miller and Partridge often visit Tom in prison. Soon the same Mrs. Waters comes to him, an accidental relationship with which led to a quarrel with Sophia. After Tom left Elton, Mrs. Waters met Fitzpatrick there, became his mistress, and left with him. Having learned from Fitzpatrick about his recent encounter with Tom, she hastened to visit the unfortunate prisoner. Tom is relieved to learn that Fitzpatrick is safe and sound. Partridge, who has also come to visit Tom, informs him that the woman who calls herself Mrs. Waters is actually Jenny Jones, Tom's birth mother. Tom is horrified: he has sinned with his own mother. Partridge, who never knew how to keep his mouth shut, tells Allworthy about this, and he immediately summons Mrs. Waters to his place. Appearing before her former master and learning from him that Tom is the same baby whom she threw into the squire's house, Jenny finally decides to tell Allworthy about everything she knows. It turns out that neither she nor Partridge were involved in the birth of the child. Tom's father is the son of Alverty's friend, who once lived in the squire's house for a year and died of smallpox, and his mother is none other than the squire's own sister, Bridget. Fearing her brother's condemnation, Bridget hid from him that she had given birth to a child, and for a large reward she persuaded Jenny to throw the boy into their house. Olworthy's old servant, having heard that the squire had learned the whole truth, confesses to the master that Bridget, on her deathbed, revealed her secret to him and wrote a letter to her brother, which he handed to Mr. Blyfil, for Allworthy was unconscious at that moment. Only now Alworthy realizes the treachery of Blifil, who, wanting to take over the state of the squire, hid from him that he and Tom are brothers.

Soon Allworthy receives a letter from the boy's former teacher, the philosopher Square. In it, he informs the squire that he is dying and considers it his duty to tell him the whole truth. Square, who never loved Tom, sincerely repents: he knew that Blifil slandered Tom, but instead of exposing Blifil, he preferred to remain silent. Allworthy learns that Tom alone was inconsolable when the squire was between life and death, and the reason for such immoderate joy of the young man was precisely the recovery of his named father.

Allworthy, having learned the whole truth about his nephew, sincerely repents of everything that happened, and curses the ungrateful Blifil. Since Fitzpatrick has not filed any charges against Tom, he is released from prison. Allworthy asks forgiveness from Tom, but noble Tom does not blame the squire for anything,

Nightingale tells Sophia that Tom was not going to marry Lady Bellaston, because it was he, Nightingale, who persuaded Tom to write her the letter that she saw. Tom comes to Sophia and again asks for her hand. Squire Western, having learned of Allworthy's intention to make Tom his heir, gladly gives his consent to their marriage. After the wedding, the lovers leave for the village and live happily away from the bustle of the city.

A. V. Vigilyanskaya

(The life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman)

Roman (1760-1767)

At the beginning of the story, the narrator warns the reader that in his notes he will not follow any rules for creating a literary work, will not follow the laws of the genre and will not adhere to chronology.

Tristram Shandy was born on November 1718, XNUMX, but his misfortunes, according to his own statement, began exactly nine months ago, at the time of conception, since my mother, knowing about the unusual punctuality of her father, at the most inopportune moment asked if he had forgotten to wind up the clock. The hero bitterly regrets that he was born "on our mangy and ill-fated earth", and not on the Moon or, say, on Venus. Trisgram talks in detail about his family, claiming that all Shandys are eccentric. He devotes many pages to his uncle Toby, an indefatigable warrior, whose oddities began with a wound in the groin he received during the siege of Namur. This gentleman could not recover from his wound for four years. He got a map of Namur and, without getting out of bed, played out all the vicissitudes of the fatal battle for him. His servant Trim, a former corporal, suggested that the owner go to the village, where he owned several acres of land, and build all the fortifications on the ground, in the presence of which his uncle's passion would have received more opportunities.

Shandy describes the story of his birth, referring to his mother's marriage contract, according to which the child must certainly be born in the village, on the Shandyhall estate, and not in London, where experienced doctors could help the woman in labor. This played a big role in Tristram's life and, in particular, was reflected in the shape of his nose. Just in case, the father of the unborn child invites the village doctor Elephant to his wife. While the birth is taking place, three men - Father Shandy William, Uncle Toby and the doctor are sitting downstairs by the fireplace and discussing a variety of topics. Leaving the gentlemen to talk, the narrator again proceeds to describe the eccentricities of the members of his family. His father held extraordinary and eccentric views on dozens of things. For example, he was addicted to some Christian names while completely rejecting others. He especially hated the name Tristram. Concerned about the forthcoming birth of his offspring, the venerable gentleman carefully studied the literature on obstetrics and became convinced that in the usual way of birth, the cerebellum of the child suffers, namely, in it, in his opinion, "the main sensorium or the main apartment of the soul" is located. Thus, he sees the best way out in a caesarean section, citing the example of Julius Caesar, Scipio Africanus and other prominent figures. His wife, however, was of a different opinion.

Dr. Slop sent the servant Obadiah for medical instruments, but he, fearing to lose them on the way, tied the bag so tightly that when they were needed and the bag was finally untied, obstetrical forceps were placed on Uncle Toby's hand in the confusion, and his brother rejoiced, that the first experience was not made on the head of his child.

Distracting from the description of her difficult birth, Shandy returns to Uncle Toby and the fortifications erected together with Corporal Trim in the village. Walking with his girlfriend and showing her these wonderful structures, Trim stumbled and, pulling Brigitte behind him, fell with all his weight onto the drawbridge, which immediately fell to pieces. Uncle spends all day thinking about the construction of a new bridge. And when Trim came into the room and said that Dr. Sleep was busy in the kitchen making a bridge, Uncle Toby imagined that it was a destroyed military facility. What was the grief of William Shandy when it turned out that this was a "bridge" for the nose of a newborn, to which the doctor flattened it into a cake with his tools. In this regard, Shandy reflects on the size of noses, since the dogma of the advantage of long noses over short ones has taken root in their family for three generations. Shandy's father reads classical authors who mention noses. Here is the story of Slokenbergy translated by him. It tells how a stranger once arrived in Strasbourg on a mule, striking everyone with the size of his nose. The townspeople are arguing about what it's made of and eager to touch it. The stranger reports that he visited the Cape of the Noses and got there one of the most outstanding specimens that have ever been given to a man. When the turmoil that had risen in the city ended and everyone lay down in their beds, Queen Mab took the nose of a stranger and divided it among all the inhabitants of Strasbourg, as a result of which Alsace became the possession of France.

The Shandi family, fearing that the newborn will give his soul to God, hurries to baptize him. The father chooses the name Trismegistus for him. But the maid carrying the child to the priest forgets such a difficult word, and the child is mistakenly named Tristram. The father is in indescribable grief: as you know, this name was especially hateful for him. Together with his brother and a priest, he goes to a certain Didius, an authority in the field of church law, to consult if the situation can be changed. The priests argue among themselves, but in the end they come to the conclusion that this is impossible.

The hero receives a letter about the death of his older brother Bobby. He reflects on how different historical figures experienced the death of their children. When Mark Tullius Cicero lost his daughter, he bitterly mourned her, but, plunging into the world of philosophy, he found that so many beautiful things can be said about death that she gives him joy. Father Shandi was also inclined to philosophy and eloquence and consoled himself with this.

Priest Yorick, a family friend who has served in the area for a long time, visits Father Shandy, who complains that Tristram has difficulty performing religious rites. They discuss the question of the foundations of the relationship between father and son, according to which the father acquires the right and power over him, and the problem of the further education of Tristram. Uncle Toby recommends young Lefebvre as tutor and tells his story. One evening Uncle Toby was sitting at supper when suddenly the landlord of the country inn came into the room.

He asked for a glass or two of wine for a poor gentleman, Lieutenant Lefebvre, who fell ill a few days ago. With Lefebvre was a son of eleven or twelve years old. Uncle Toby decided to visit the gentleman and learned that he served with him in the same regiment. When Lefebvre died, Toby's uncle buried him with military honors and took custody of the boy. He sent him to a public school, and then, when the young Aefevre asked permission to try his luck in the war with the Turks, handed him his father's sword and parted from him as his own son. But the young man began to pursue failures, he lost both his health and his service - everything except the sword, and returned to Uncle Toby. It happened just when Tristram was looking for a mentor.

The narrator returns to Uncle Toby again and tells how his uncle, who had been afraid of women all his life - partly because of his injury - fell in love with the widow Mrs. Waterman.

Tristram Shandy embarks on a journey to the continent, on the way from Dover to Calais he is tormented by seasickness. Describing the sights of Calais, he calls the city "the key of two kingdoms." Further, his path follows through Boulogne and Montreuil. And if nothing in Boulogne attracts the attention of a traveler, then the only attraction of Montreuil is the daughter of the owner of the inn. Finally, Shandy arrives in Paris and reads the inscription on the portico of the Louvre: "There is no such nation in the world, not a single nation has a city equal to this." Thinking about where people go faster - in France or in England, he cannot help but tell an anecdote about how the abbess of Anduate and the young novice Margaret traveled on the waters, having lost a mule driver along the way.

After passing several cities, Shandy ends up in Lyon, where he is going to inspect the mechanism of the tower clock and visit the Great Jesuit Library to get acquainted with the thirty-volume history of China, while admitting that he understands nothing either in clockwork or in the Chinese language. His attention is also drawn to the tomb of two lovers separated by abusive parents. Amandus is taken prisoner by the Turks and taken to the court of the Moroccan emperor, where the princess falls in love with him and torments him for twenty years in prison for her love for Amanda. Amanda at this time, barefoot and with loose hair, wanders through the mountains, looking for Amandus. But one night, chance brings them at the same time to the gates of Lyon. They throw themselves into each other's arms and fall dead with joy. When Shandi, moved by the history of lovers, gets to the place of their tomb, in order to be watered with more tears, it turns out that such a one no longer exists.

Shandy, wanting to record the last twists and turns of his voyage in travel notes, reaches into the pocket of his camisole after them and discovers that they have been stolen. Loudly appealing to everyone around him, he compares himself to Sancho Panza, who cried out on the occasion of the loss of his donkey's harness. Finally, torn notes are found on the head of the carriage maker's wife in the form of papillots.

Passing through Aangedok, Shandi is convinced of the lively ease of the locals. Dancing peasants invite him to their company. "Having danced through Narbonne, Carcassonne and Castelnaudarn," he takes up his pen to turn again to Uncle Toby's love affairs. What follows is a detailed description of the methods by which the widow Wodman wins his heart at last. Shandy's father, who was famous as a connoisseur of women, writes an instructive letter to his brother about the nature of the female sex, and corporal Trim, in the same connection, tells the owner about his brother's affair with the widow of a Jewish sausage maker. The novel ends with a lively conversation about the bull of Obadiah's servant, and to the question of Shandy's mother: "What story are they telling?" Yorick replies, "About a WHITE BUCK, and one of the best I've ever heard."

O. V. Ermolaeva

(A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy)

Roman (1768)

Deciding to make a trip to France and Italy, an Englishman with Shakespeare's name Yorick lands in Calais. He reflects on travel and travelers, dividing them into different categories. He refers to himself as a "sensitive traveler". A monk comes to Yorick's hotel with a request to donate to a poor monastery, which prompts the hero to think about the dangers of charity. The monk is rejected. But wishing to make a favorable impression on the lady he met, the hero gives him a tortoise-shell snuffbox. He invites this attractive lady to go along, as they are on the way, but, despite the mutual sympathy that has arisen, he is refused.

Arriving from Calais to Montgrey, he hires a servant, a young Frenchman named La Fleur, whose cheerful character and cheerful disposition are very conducive to a pleasant journey. On the road from Montreuil to Nanpon, La Fleur threw off her horse, and the rest of the way the master and the servant rode together in a mail-coach. In Nanpon, they meet a pilgrim who bitterly mourns the death of his donkey. At the entrance to Amiens, Yorick sees the carriage of Count L ***, in which his sister, a lady already familiar to the hero, sits with him. The servant brings him a note, in which Madame de L*** offers to continue the acquaintance and invites him to visit her in Brussels on the way back. But the hero remembers a certain Eliza, to whom he swore allegiance in England, and after painful reflections solemnly promises himself that he will not go to Brussels, so as not to fall into temptation. La Fleur, having made friends with the servant of Madame de L ***, gets into her house and entertains the servants by playing the flute. Hearing the music, the hostess calls him to her place, where he lavishes compliments, allegedly on behalf of his master. In a conversation, it turns out that the lady did not receive an answer to her letters, and La Fleur, pretending to have forgotten him at the hotel, returns and persuades the owner to write to her, offering him a message written by a corporal of his regiment to the drummer's wife as a sample.

Arriving in Paris, the hero visits a barber, a conversation with which leads him to think about the distinctive features of national characters. Leaving the barber's, he goes into a shop to find out the way to the Opera Covique, and meets a charming grisette, but, feeling that her beauty has made too much impression on him, he hurriedly leaves. In the theater, looking at the people standing in the stalls, Yorick reflects on why there are so many dwarfs in France. From a conversation with an elderly officer sitting in the same box, he learns about some French customs, which shock him somewhat. Leaving the theater, in a bookstore, he accidentally meets a young girl, she turns out to be the maid of Madame R ***, to whom he was going to visit to deliver a letter.

Returning to the hotel, the hero learns that the police are interested in him. He arrived in France without a passport, and since England and France were at that time in a state of war, such a document was necessary. The innkeeper warns Yorick that the Bastille awaits him. The thought of the Bastille brings to him memories of the starling, once released by him from the cage. Having painted himself a gloomy picture of imprisonment, Yorick decides to ask for the patronage of the Duke de Choisede, for which he goes to Versailles. Without waiting for a reception at the duke, he goes to Count B ***, whom he was told about in a book crush as a great admirer of Shakespeare. After a short conversation, imbued with sympathy for the hero and unspeakably struck by his name, the count himself goes to the duke and returns two hours later with a passport. Continuing the conversation, the Count asks Yorick what he thinks of the French. In a lengthy monologue, the hero speaks highly of the representatives of this nation, but nevertheless claims that if the British acquired even the best features of the French character, they would lose their originality, which arose from the country's insular position. The conversation ends with the count's invitation to dine with him before leaving for Italy.

At the door of his room in the hotel, Yorick finds a pretty maid, Madame R ***. The hostess sent her to find out if he had left Paris, and if he had left, if he had left a letter for her. The girl enters the room and behaves so sweetly and directly that the hero begins to be overcome with temptation. But he manages to overcome it, and, only seeing the girl to the gate of the hotel, he modestly kisses her on the cheek. Outside, Yorick's attention was drawn to a strange man begging for alms. At the same time, he held out his hat only when a woman passed by, and did not turn to men for alms. Returning to his room, the hero thinks for a long time on two questions: why no woman refuses the one who asks, and what a touching story about himself he tells everyone in their ear. But the owner of the hotel prevented him from thinking about this, suggesting that he move out, since he received a woman for two hours. As a result, it turns out that the owner simply wants to impose on him the services of familiar shopkeepers, from whom he takes part of his money for the goods sold in his hotel. The conflict with the owner is settled through the mediation of La Fleur. Yorick again returns to the mystery of the extraordinary beggar; he is concerned about the same question: what words can touch the heart of any woman.

La Fleur buys a new suit for the four louis given to him by the owner and asks to let him go for the whole Sunday, "to look after his beloved." Yorick is surprised that the servant managed to acquire a passion in Paris in such a short time. It turned out that La Fleur met Count B***'s maid while the owner was busy with his passport. This is again an occasion for reflection on the national French character. "A happy people," writes Stern, "can dance, sing, and be merry, throwing off the burden of sorrows that so oppresses the spirit of other nations."

Yorick accidentally comes across a piece of paper with text in Old French from the time of Rabelais and possibly written by his hand.

Yorick spends the day parsing hard-to-read text and translating it into English. It tells about a certain notary who, having quarreled with his wife, went for a walk to the New Bridge, where his hat was blown off by the wind. When he, complaining about his fate, walked along a dark alley, he heard someone's voice call the girl and tell her to run after the nearest notary. Entering this house, he saw an old nobleman who said that he was poor and could not pay for the work, but the will itself would be the payment - it would describe the whole history of his life. This is such an extraordinary story that all mankind should become familiar with it, and its publication will bring great income to the notary. Yorick had only one sheet, and he couldn't find out what was next. When La Fleur returned, it turned out that there were only three sheets, but in two of them the servant wrapped a bouquet, which he presented to the maid. The owner sends him to the house of Count B ***, but it so happened that the girl gave a bouquet to one of the footmen, the footman gave a young seamstress, and the seamstress gave the violinist. Both master and servant are upset. One - the loss of the manuscript, the other - the frivolity of the beloved.

Yorick walks the streets in the evening, believing that a person who is afraid of dark alleys "will never make a good sensitive traveler." On the way to the hotel, he sees two ladies waiting for the cab. A low voice, in graceful terms, asked them to give twelve sous. Yorick was surprised to see the beggar fixing the size of the alms, as well as the required amount: one or two sous were usually served. The women refuse, saying that they have no money with them, and when the older lady agrees to see if she accidentally had one sous lying around, the beggar insists on the same amount, at the same time scattering compliments to the ladies. This ends with both taking out twelve sous each, and the beggar retires. Yorick follows him: he recognizes the very man whose riddle he unsuccessfully tried to solve. Now he knows the answer: women's wallets were untied by well-delivered flattery.

Having revealed the secret, Yorick skillfully uses it. Count B*** renders him another service by introducing him to several noble persons, who in turn introduced him to their acquaintances. With each of them, Yorick managed to find a common language, as he spoke about what interested them, trying to screw in a compliment that was appropriate for the occasion. “For three weeks I shared the opinion of everyone I met,” says Yorick, and eventually begins to be ashamed of his behavior, realizing that it is humiliating. He tells La Fleur to order horses to go to Italy. Passing through Bourbonnais, "the loveliest part of France", he admires the grape harvest. This spectacle makes him enthusiastic. But at the same time, he recalls a sad story told to him by his friend Mr. Shandy, who two years ago met in these parts with a crazy girl Maria and her family. Yorick decides to visit Maria's parents to ask about her. It turned out that Maria's father died a month ago, and the girl misses him very much. Her mother, talking about this, brings tears even to the eyes of the resilient La Fleur. Not far from the Moulin, Yorick meets a poor girl. Having sent the coachman and La Fleur to Moulin, he sits down next to her and tries, as best he can, to console the sick woman, alternately wiping her tears with his handkerchief, then himself. Yorick asks if she remembers his friend Shandy, and she remembers how her goat stole his handkerchief, which she now always carries with her to return when they meet. The girl says that she made a pilgrimage to Rome, passing alone and without money, the Apennines, Lombardy and Savoy. Yorick tells her that if she lived in England, he would take her in and take care of her. Maria washes his handkerchief wet with tears in a stream and hides it on her chest. They go together to Moulin and say goodbye there. As he continues his journey through the province of Bourbonnais, the hero reflects on the "sweet sensibility" by which he "feels noble joys and noble anxieties beyond his personality."

Due to the fact that when climbing Mount Tarar, the root of the team lost two horseshoes, the carriage was forced to stop. Yorick sees a small farm. The family, consisting of an old farmer, his wife, children, and many grandchildren, sat down to supper. Yorick was cordially invited to join the meal. He felt at home and later recalled for a long time the taste of wheat loaf and new wine. But even more he liked the "prayer of gratitude" - every day after dinner, the old man called his family to dance and fun, believing that "a joyful and contented soul is the best kind of gratitude that an illiterate peasant can bring to heaven."

After passing Mount Tarares, the road descends to Lyon. This is a difficult section of the path with sharp turns, cliffs and waterfalls, overthrowing huge stones from the top. The travelers watched for two hours as the peasants removed the boulder between Saint-Michel and Modana. Due to an unforeseen delay and bad weather, Yorick had to stop at a small inn.

Soon another carriage drove up, in which a lady traveled with her maid. The bedroom, however, was only one, but the presence of three beds made it possible to accommodate everyone. Nevertheless, both feel uncomfortable, and only after having dinner and drinking Burgundy, they decide to talk about how best to get out of this situation. As a result of a two-hour debate, a certain agreement is drawn up, according to which Yorick undertakes to sleep dressed and not utter a single word all night. Unfortunately, the last condition was violated, and the text of the novel (the death of the author prevented the completion of the work) ends with a piquant situation when Yorick, wanting to calm the lady, stretches out his hand to her, but accidentally grabs the unexpectedly approaching maid.

O. V. Ermolaeva

(The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle)

Roman (1751)

"The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle" - the second of three novels that brought fame to Smollet - reveals features inherent in both the "novel of education", and the novel of enlightenment, and satire, and even a pamphlet. In part, we can talk about the influence of "sentimentalists". His hero truly passes before us the path from "boy to husband" - as usual in classic novels, meeting many people on his way, discovering and learning about a world in which there are more shortcomings than virtues, he experiences moments of despondency and despair, or, on the contrary, unbridled fun, youthful courage, deceives himself, becomes a victim of other people's deceptions, falls in love, betrays, betrays, but in the end he comes to quiet family happiness, having found, after long ordeals, a quiet and comfortable haven, devoid of everyday worries about daily bread, and besides full of warmth and peace.

It is wonderfully said in "Count Nulin" about the English novel: "classic, ancient, remarkably long, long, long, moralizing and decorous..." As we can see, already in Pushkin's the Russian translation of the novel was published in 1788 under the title "Merry Book, or Human Pranks"; this title fully affected the understanding of both hypostases of the novel - its irony and its philosophy) - and indeed, today Smollett's novel seems to be very "long, long, long ", there is a certain redundancy in it - plot twists, inserted short stories, characters, etc. With this redundancy - the undoubted repetition of all of the above.

However, Smollett's novel cannot be called "decent" by any means: in it, for all its sometimes heaviness, one undoubtedly feels a purely "Falstaffian spirit" and an amazing inner emancipation - both of the author and his characters - and a mockery of hypocrisy, in any, most unexpected manifestation...

However, let's get back to the story. Actually, the story begins even before the birth of its protagonist, begins with the acquaintance of his parents - papa, Esq. , Miss Sally Appleby. However, in the subsequent narrative, the hero's parents will appear infrequently, the inexplicable hatred that Mrs. Pickle had for her first child will make Peregrine an exile from an early age, and he will spend all his childhood and all his youth in the house of his father's friend Commodore Trunnion, a former sailor described by Smollet with incredible color: his speech almost entirely consists of purely marine terminology, with the help of which he sets out all his judgments, as a rule, they have nothing to do with the sea, in addition, the whole way of his house, called the "fortress", retains the signs of marine life, which " indulge" his fellow lieutenant Jack Hatchway and his servant, former boatswain Tom Pipes. It is these people who will become the most devoted and loyal friends of our hero for life. However, Peregrine and Commodore Trunnion would soon be related, for Pickle Sr.'s sister, Miss Grizzle, would become the Commodore's wife, and little Peri would thus be his nephew.

Pushkin's formula "the child was sharp, but sweet" is quite applicable to the small (and not very small either) Peregrine. Childhood pranks are replaced by youthful ones, his "school years" pass before us, we get acquainted with another very colorful type - Peregrine's teacher and mentor Jolter. And indispensable participants in his fun and pranks are Lieutenant Hatchway and Tom Pipes, who do not have a soul in their young "master". Then - the first love - a meeting with Emilia Gantlit. Peregrine's poems addressed to her are frankly parodic (the author's intonation is clearly audible!), coupled with the full seriousness of a young lover, this combination gives a stunning farce effect. Emilia will turn out to be the very heroine whose relationship with Peregrine will last until the very end of the novel, having gone through all the "legal" stages: an attempt to take her away and seduce her, insults, an offer and a refusal, mutual torment and, at the end, a successful connection in a "legal marriage" matured Peregrine, who learned at least a little to distinguish the true from the false, and Emilia, who generously forgave and forgot everything. However, the love story is also, of course, burdened with all sorts of branches and complications: for example, Emilia has a brother, Godfrey, and their late father, Ned Gantlit, turns out to be an old friend of Trunnion, his comrade-in-arms in past battles on the battlefield. The magnanimous Trunnion buys an officer's patent for Godfrey, telling the young man that it was his father who once lent him a certain amount of money, which Trunnion is now returning to him in this way; the sharpness, directness of the old warrior are quite successfully combined with tact and scrupulousness. In general, Trunnion, for all his eccentricity (and perhaps because of it), turns out to be one of the most charming characters of the novel - unlike the others, alien to conventions and "secular" lies, direct and disinterested, sincerely loving and just as sincerely hating, not hiding his feelings and not betraying his affections under any circumstances.

Meanwhile, Peregrine's parents have other children: a son bearing the same name as his father, Gem, and a daughter, Julia. The brother turns out to be a disgusting child, cruel, vindictive, treacherous - and as a result - a mother's favorite, like her, fiercely hating Peregrine (never again during the life of his parents did not cross the threshold of their house), but Julia, on the contrary, by chance, having met her older brother, sincerely attached to him, and Peri pays her the same devoted love. It is he who saves her from her parents' house, when the sister, having taken his side in the confrontation with her mother and younger brother, also turns out to be either a hostage or a prisoner in her own house. Peregrine is transported to Trugnon's house and later quite successfully contributes to her happy marriage.

Smollett's novel is characterized by the presence in it of "references" to real characters and events of that era. Such are many "inserted novels", such as, for example, the story of a "noble lady" called "Memoirs" and belonging, as commentators believe, to Smollet's noble patroness Lady Van. The participation of Smollet himself in the text of the Memoirs is clearly limited to stylistic corrections - so different are their tone, their colorlessness and edifyingness from Smollet's own narrative. The first edition of the novel contained attacks against Fielding, as well as against the famous actor David Garrick, in the second edition, which appeared in 1758, Smollet removed these attacks. However, the "reference" present in the canonical text of the novel is noteworthy to the previous work of Smollet himself - his first famous novel "The Adventures of Rodrick Random": in one of the people he met, Peregrine recognizes "the face that is so respectfully mentioned in The Adventures of Rodrick Random" This element of mystification gives Smollett's narrative an unexpectedly modern coloring, adding variety to a certain monotony of the plot outline.In addition, the writer thereby emphasizes the "chronicity" of the narrative, combining his novels into a kind of "cycle" - a kind of single fusion of biographies, individual sketches, realities era.

Equally colorful and colorful is Smollet's story about Peregrine's trip to Paris, Antwerp, other cities and countries, his description of his hero's by no means "sentimental" journey. A description of the "light", which, by the way, does not accept Peregrine in its "close-knit ranks", for, for all the swagger of the young man, a stranger, "a person from the outside" was nevertheless guessed in him; talking about the conclusion of Peregrine in the Bastille, Smollet describes with pleasure the audacity and fearlessness of his not at all ideal hero. And again - the colorful personalities that Peregrine meets on his way, in particular two of his compatriots, the painter Pelit and a certain learned doctor, his close friend, whose quirks become for Peregrine an occasion for countless tricks and ridicule, not always of a harmless nature. In his "jokes" Peregrine shows both ingenuity and a mocking disposition, and even a certain cruelty, the ability to take advantage of human weaknesses (of which, by the way, he himself is not deprived). In the hero of Smollet there is undoubtedly something of a rogue, a favorite character in picaresque novels: a rogue, a swindler, a mocker, a kind fellow, on his mind, far from moralizing and every time he himself is ready to violate any "moral principles". Such are the numerous love affairs of Peregrine, in which he wonderfully leads the husbands he deceives by the nose, with pleasure cuckolding them (for which, however, they quite reasonably make him pay later, sending all sorts of troubles, very significant ones).

But for all that, Smollet puts many thoughts and observations into the mouth of his hero, with which he himself identifies, attributing his own views and beliefs to him. Whether we are talking about the theater, in the arguments about which Pickl suddenly shows common sense and undoubted professionalism, or about the hypocrisy of the clergy, alien to the nature of Peregrine, taking into account all his weaknesses and shortcomings inherent in man in general, our hero expresses many healthy sincere, direct and ardent remarks, although he himself is sometimes not alien to pretense. He is equally alien to any manifestation of dogmatism, any form of narrow-mindedness - whether it comes to religion, scientific discoveries, literary or theatrical affairs. And here the author's mockery is inseparable from the one that his hero subjects his opponents to.

Having completed his journey with yet another love affair, this time taking place in The Hague, Peregrine returns to England. It is at the very moment when his hero sets foot on his native land that the author considers it necessary to give him, almost for the first time, a completely impartial “characteristic”: “Unfortunately, the work I have undertaken imposes on me the obligation to point out ... the corruption of the feelings of our arrogant young man, who was now in the prime of his youth, was intoxicated with the consciousness of his merits, inspired by fantastic hopes and proud of his condition ... "He leads his hero through many more life tests, which partly knock off the "pollen" of self-confidence, infallibility, commitment to what what today we call "permissiveness". Smollet calls him an "adventurer"; a young rake, full of vital energy, which he does not know where to apply, wasting it on "love joys." Well, let - the author knows, this will also pass - as youth passes, and with it carelessness, confidence in a radiant future will disappear.

In the meantime, Smollet is happy to describe the countless love victories of his hero, taking place "on the waters" in Bath - without the slightest moralizing, mockingly, as if he himself were becoming young and carefree at that moment. Among Pikl's new acquaintances are again the most diverse, unusually colorful personalities; one of them is the old misanthrope, cynic and philosopher (all these are the definitions of Smollet himself) Crabtree Cadwalader, who will remain Pickl's friend until the end of the novel: faithful and unfaithful at the same time, but still invariably coming to his aid in difficult moments. Always grumbling, always dissatisfied with everything (a misanthrope, in a word), but undoubtedly sympathetic in some way. How? Obviously, by the fact that he has an individuality - a quality that is extremely dear to the writer in people, which determines a lot for him in them.

The death of his benefactor, the old Commodore Trunnion, was perceived by Pickle as a bereavement, and at the same time, the inheritance he then received "by no means contributed to the humility of the spirit, but inspired him with new thoughts about greatness and splendor and lifted his hopes to the highest peaks." Vanity - a vice undoubtedly inherent in the young hero of Smollet - reaches its climax at this moment, the desire to shine and revolve in the world, to make acquaintances with noble persons (real, and even more imaginary) - in a word, the boy's head was spinning. And no wonder. At this moment, he imagines that everyone should fall at his feet, that everything is accessible and subject to him. Alas…

It is at these moments that he inflicts that terrible insult on Emilia, which was already mentioned above: only because she is poor, and he is rich.

The piling up of the hero's "novels", all sorts of intrigues and intrigues, a series of lovers, their husbands, etc. at some point becomes almost unbearable, clearly parodic, but perhaps all this is necessary for the author precisely in order to gradually instruct his hero "on the right path"? For all his attempts to enter secular society, to become its full member, end not just in failure - he suffers a monstrous fiasco. He becomes a victim of deceptions, intrigues, as a result loses all his fortune and finds himself on the verge of poverty, falling into the famous Fleet Prison for debts, the morals and "device" of which are also wonderfully described in the novel. The prison has its own "community", its own foundations, its own "circle", its own rules and guidelines. However, there is no place for Piklu in them, in the end he turns into an unsociable misanthrope, shunning people, who decides that his life is already over. And at this very moment luck comes to him, a little "invented", a little "fabricated" by the author, but still pleasant for the reader. Godfrey Gantlit appears, only now having learned that Peregrine Pickle was his true benefactor, the hidden spring of his official success. Their meeting in a prison cell is described with touching sentimentality and heartache.

Godfrey extracts a friend from prison, and then an unexpected inheritance arrives (Pikl's father dies without leaving a will, as a result of which he, as the eldest son, enters into inheritance rights). And finally, the final chord is the long-awaited wedding with Emilia. The reader waited for the "happy ending" to which for so long and in such a painfully winding path of the Vedas Smollett of his hero.

Yu. G. Fridshtein

(The Expedition of Humphry Clinker)

Roman (1771)

"Humphrey Clinker's Travels" is the last work of the English writer: the novel was published a few months before his death in Leghorn, where Smollet voluntarily went into a kind of "exile". The novel is written in an epistolary style, which was not new to English literature; Many of Richardson's novels are also written in this style. The novelty, one might say, Smollett's innovation lies in something else: the same events, seen through the eyes of different people, with different views, belonging to very different classes, differing in level of culture, and finally, in age, appear on the pages of these letters filed in very different ways. sometimes very polar. And above all, this is precisely what strikes in the novel: the amazing dissonance, Smollett's ability to convey not only the difference in style and language, but also the complete dissimilarity in the perception of life, the level of thinking. His heroes are revealed in their messages with such human originality, so unexpectedly and paradoxically that one can rightfully speak about the true virtuosity of Smollet - a psychologist, stylist, philosopher. The letters of his characters fully confirm the thesis: style is a person.

Smollet always, as befits a "classic novel", has several layers. The plot is often replete with all sorts of branches, departures from the chronological presentation, the purpose of which for the author is to present the picture of the era in its entirety. The novel can literally be called an "encyclopedia of British life." Being primarily a wandering novel in terms of genre, the characters of which cross the whole of Great Britain, it is a kaleidoscope of events, a string of destinies, pictures of the life of the capital, life "on the waters" in Bath, the quiet existence of provincial towns and English nature, all kinds of amusements of different strata of society , sketches of court customs and, of course, the features of the literary and theatrical environment, and much, much more.

The protagonist of the novel is not at all Humphrey Clinker, indicated in the title (he appears on the pages when a third of the story is already behind), but Matthew Bramble, a middle-aged bachelor, gout and misanthrope, a man with all his biliousness (as a rule, however, absolutely justified) magnanimous, disinterested and noble, in a word, a true gentleman; as his nephew Jerry Melford says of him, "in his generosity, a true Don Quixote." In this image, undoubtedly, Smollet's cuter ego is read, and it is Bramble who expresses the views closest to the author - on the state of mind, on the development of civilization, it should be noted, very accurate, accurate and, most importantly, not at all outdated. So, in a letter to his permanent addressee, Dr. Lewis (and it should be noted that each of the characters has his own permanent correspondent, who never really appears on the pages of the novel, only in mentions), he writes: "There is one question that I would like to resolve : has the world always deserved such contempt as I think it deserves now?" The question, to be sure, is "for all time".

However, with all the observation and insight, with all the causticity of Smollet (Swift's traditions are palpable in his novel, as well as in many other books written by his contemporaries), he still tries everything that is so hateful to him (because it is hateful that it is too well known, and not from other people's words), to oppose a certain idyll, a certain utopia. Such an Arcadia, alluring, but clearly unattainable, is Bramble's Brambleton Hall estate, about which we learn so many miracles from letters, but where the heroes of the story never get.

However, in the process of their journey, they truly learn the world, discover the nature of people, the originality of customs. As always, on the way they meet a lot of colorful personalities: "noble robber" Martin, an old warrior, all wounded and hacked, Lieutenant Lismahago. He is a Scot by nationality - which serves as an occasion for numerous discussions regarding England and Scotland (the heroes are passing through Scotland at this moment). Smollet's own Scottish origin, which was very tangible for him during his first steps in London, was undoubtedly reflected in such a persistent return to the national theme, and the consequences of this origin, of course, did not affect in the best way. However, in the interpretation of Scotland that is put into the mouth of Bramble in the novel, along with true observations, there is both naivety and a clear idealization of traditions, the national foundations of the Scots, for example, the general depravity of the British is opposed to Scottish moral purity, about the peculiarities of the inhabitants of the capital - London, their loss their roots. Lieutenant Lismahago is not only a participant in the discussion, but also, one might say, the spring of one of the storylines: it is he who eventually becomes the chosen one and husband of Bramble's sister Tabitha, a grumpy old maid who, throughout the novel, gives its participants a lot of trouble and trouble.

Let us return to the hero of the novel, whose name appears in the title. While traveling on the goats of a carriage in which Mr. Bramble, his sister Miss Tabitha, and also the maid Jenkins are sitting, holding on her knees on a special pillow the greatest jewel - Miss Tabitha's favorite dog "mean dog" Chowder, by chance turns out to be an unfamiliar young man, by chance mind - a real ragamuffin. His name is Humphrey Clinker. Later it turns out that he was illegitimate, a foundling, brought up in an orphanage (a paraphrase of Fielding's "Tom Jones, a foundling", but the paraphrase is clearly parodic, which is reflected in the description of Humphrey's appearance, and in the list of his "skills", and in everything else). The magnanimous Bramble, seeing that the young man is left to the mercy of fate, hires him into his service. He shows sincere zeal of a rather idiotic nature, which is why he always gets into ridiculous situations. However, upon arrival in London, Humphrey suddenly discovers completely different talents: he turns out to be a wonderful ... preacher who knows how to bewitch both the common people and quite noble people. A lackey preaching to the duchesses is something Bramble can't stand. He is ready to expel Humphrey: "Either you are a hypocrite and a rogue, or you are possessed, and your brains are damaged!" Meanwhile, Humphrey, who is more "obsessed", or rather, a holy fool, admits with tears to the owner that the "pious" hypocrite Lady Briskin, who convinced him that "the spirit descended" upon him, made him take this path. Convinced that Humphrey is not a "rogue", Bramble leaves him at his house. "If there was pretense or hypocrisy in such excessive piety, I would not keep him in service, but, as far as I could see, this fellow is simplicity itself, ignited by frenzy, and thanks to his simplicity he is able to be faithful and affectionate to his benefactors" - so writes Bramble in a message to the same Dr. Lewis.

However, a little later, irritated by the impenetrable idiocy of Humphrey, Bramble expresses the exact opposite judgment: "Stupidity often infuriates more than chicanery, and does more harm." However, at the decisive moment, when the carriage with Bramble and his household, moving across a stormy river, overturns and everyone, including Bramble, finds themselves in the water, it is Humphrey who saves his master. And closer to the end of the novel, fate suddenly reveals that Humphrey Clinker's father is none other than Bramble himself - "the sins of youth." And Bramble says of the blessed son: "This rogue is a wild apple tree, planted by me myself ..." What is the point here? The innocence of Humphrey Clinker, often reaching idiocy, to outright foolishness (harmless only because Humphrey does not consciously pursue any evil goals), is a continuation of the quixotic Bramble, a man of intelligence, subtle, noble feelings and aspirations, who understands everything, knows the price of everything ...

The second happy marriage, crowning the finale of the novel, is the wedding of Humphrey Clinker (now Matthew Lloyd) and the maid Winifred Jenkins: having fallen in love with her even when he was a servant, Humphrey does not change her and now, becoming a "master". Commendable!

And the third happy union is connected with another story that is mentioned throughout the novel: the story of Bramble's niece, Jerry Melford's sister, Lydia. While still at Oxford boarding school, she met a young man named Wilson, whom she fell in love with passionately. But - he is an actor, "comedian", and therefore - "not a couple." He passes like a shadow through the whole story, so that at the end he turns out to be no actor, but a nobleman, and even the son of Bramble's old friend Mr. Dennison, according to Jerry Melford, "one of the most perfect young men in England."

So - with a triple idyll - this by no means idyllic, but rather a very bitter and very sober novel ends. As usual, Smollet brought out in it a lot of real historical figures: the actor James Quinn, the attitude towards which has changed since the creation of The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle; well-known political figures described with undisguised sarcasm and mockery; and even - himself, under the name of "writer S." He describes with pleasure the reception in his own house for all sorts of "writers": bilious, disgusting, incompetent subjects, diligently, "out of gratitude", vilifying their benefactor. "They all have one reason - envy," Dick, a friend of Jerry Melford, comments on this phenomenon. Smollet describes what he knew better than anything else: the life and customs of the literary hack, all sorts of writers who write dirty denunciations against each other, although they themselves are not worth a penny. But the conclusion that Jerry comes to in the finale is bitter enough, it also reflected the knowledge and experience of Smollet himself: "I have devoted so much space to writers that you may suspect that I am going to join this profession and was able, then it is the most hopeless remedy against starvation, because nothing allows you to put aside in reserve for old age or in case of illness. In conclusion, however, Jerry writes about the writers: "a wonderful breed of mortals, whose manners ... arouse curiosity very much." And in these words, too, we undoubtedly recognize the voice of Smollett himself.

Yu. G. Fridshtein

(The Vicar of Wakefield)

Roman (1766)

England, XNUMXth century

The family of Pastor Charles Primrose enjoys a serene existence "in a beautiful home in a beautiful natural setting." The main treasure of the Primrose couple is six wonderful children:

"sons - well done, dexterous and full of courage, two daughters - blooming beauties." The eldest son, George, studied at Oxford, the middle one, Moses, studied at home, and the two younger ones, Dick and Bill, are still toddlers.

The favorite topic of Pastor Primroz's sermons is marriage in general and the strictest monogamy of clergy in particular. He even wrote several treatises on monogamy, although they remained lying with the bookseller. He loves philosophical disputes and innocent entertainment and hates vanity, vanity and idleness. Having a certain fortune, he spends everything that the parish gives him "on widows and orphans."

But misfortune befalls the family: the merchant who was in charge of her fortune goes bankrupt. Primroz gladly accepts the offer to accept a small parish far from his native Weckfield and calls on the household "without regret to give up luxury."

During the move, the family meets Mr. Burchell, a smart, generous and courteous man, but apparently poor. He saves the life of Sophia, who fell from a horse into a stormy stream, and when the Primroses settle in a new place, he becomes a frequent guest in a one-story thatched house, along with the farmer Flembro and the blind flutist.

The pastor's new parishioners live on their own, "knowing neither need nor excess." They have preserved patriarchal simplicity, work with pleasure on weekdays and indulge in simple-hearted fun on holidays. And the Primroses, too, "rise with the sun and stop their labors at its setting."

One day on a holiday, Mr. Thornhill, nephew of Sir William Thornhill, "known for his wealth, virtue, generosity and eccentricities" appears. The uncle placed almost all his fortune and estates at the disposal of his nephew. The pastor's wife, Deborah, and both daughters, seduced by the guest's luxurious attire and laid-back manner, gladly accept his compliments and introduce a new acquaintance into the house. Soon Deborah already sees Olivia married to the owner of all the surrounding lands, although the pastor warns her against the dangers of "unequal friendship", especially since Thornhill has a very bad reputation.

Mr. Thornhill arranges a village ball in honor of the young ladies of Primrose, and appears there accompanied by two "most magnificently dressed persons," whom he introduces as noble ladies. Those immediately express their disposition towards Olivia and Sophia, begin to paint the delights of metropolitan life. The consequences of a new acquaintance turn out to be the most pernicious, awakening the vanity that has died out during a simple rural life. The once disappeared "frills, trains and jars of ointments" are again used. And when London ladies start talking about taking Olivia and Sophia as companions, even the pastor forgets about prudence in anticipation of a bright future, and Burchell's warnings cause general indignation. However, fate itself seems to be striving to restrain the naive and ambitious aspirations of the pastor's household. Moses is sent to the fair to sell a working stallion and buy a riding horse, on which it is not shameful to go out into the world, and he returns with two dozen useless green glasses. Some swindler handed them to him at the fair. The remaining gelding is sold by the pastor himself, who considers himself "a man of great worldly wisdom." And what? He also returns without a penny in his pocket, but with a fake check received from a handsome, gray-haired old man, an ardent supporter of monogamy. The family commissions a portrait of a traveling painter "in the historical genre", and the portrait turns out to be a success, but the trouble is, it is so large that there is absolutely nowhere to attach it in the house. And both secular ladies suddenly leave for London, allegedly having received a bad review about Olivia and Sophia. The culprit of the collapse of hopes turns out to be none other than Mr. Burcheld. He is denied the house in the most drastic form,

But the real disaster is yet to come. Olivia runs away with a man who, according to descriptions, is similar to the same Burchell. Deborah is ready to renounce her daughter, but the pastor, putting a Bible and a staff under his arm, sets off on a journey to save the sinner. "A very decently dressed gentleman" invites him to visit and starts talking about politics, and the pastor makes a whole speech, from which it follows that "he has an innate disgust for the physiognomy of any tyrant", but human nature is such that tyranny is inevitable, and the monarchy - the lesser evil, for at the same time "the number of tyrants is reduced." A major quarrel is brewing, as the owner is a champion of "freedom". But then the real owners of the house return, Arabella's uncle and aunt Wilmot, along with their niece, the former bride of the pastor's eldest son, and his interlocutor turns out to be just a butler. They all visit a traveling theater together, and the stunned pastor recognizes one of the actors as George. While George is talking about his adventures, Mr. Thornhill appears, who, as it turns out, is wooing Arabella. Not only does he not seem upset to see that Arabella is still in love with George, but, on the contrary, he renders him the greatest service: he buys him a lieutenant's patent and thus escorts his rival to the West Indies.

By chance, the pastor finds Olivia in a village inn. He hugs his "sweet lost lamb" to his chest and learns that the true culprit of her misfortunes is Mr. Thornhill. He hired street girls posing as noble ladies to lure Olivia and her sister to London, and when the idea failed thanks to a letter from Mr. Burchell, persuaded Olivia to run away. A Catholic priest performed a secret marriage ceremony, but it turned out that Thornhill had either six or eight such wives. Olivia could not accept such a situation and left, throwing money in the face of the seducer.

On that very night, when Primroz returns home, a terrible fire breaks out, he barely manages to save his younger sons from the fire. Now the whole family huddles in a barn, having only the property that good neighbors shared with them, but pastor Primroz does not complain about fate - after all, he has kept the main asset - children. Only Olivia is in inconsolable sadness. Finally, Thornhill appears, who not only does not feel the slightest remorse, but offends the pastor by offering to marry Olivia to anyone, so that "her first lover remains with her", Primrose in anger drives out the villain and hears in response the threats that Thornhill has already the next day, he executes: the pastor is sent to prison for debts.

In prison, he meets a certain Mr. Jenkinson and recognizes in him the same gray-haired old man who so cleverly swindled him at the fair, only the old man is pretty younger because he took off his wig. Jenkinson is generally a kindly fellow, albeit a notorious swindler. The pastor promises not to testify against him in court, which wins his gratitude and favor. The pastor is amazed that he hears no cries, no moans, no words of repentance in prison - the prisoners spend their time in rude fun. Then, forgetting about his own troubles, Primrose turns to them with a sermon, the meaning of which is that "there is no benefit in their blasphemy, but they can miscalculate a lot," for, unlike the devil, whom they serve and who did not give they have nothing but hunger and deprivation, "the Lord promises to take everyone to himself."

And new troubles fall upon the Primrose family: George, having received a letter from his mother, returns to England and challenges his sister's seducer to a duel, but he is beaten by Thornhill's servants, and he ends up in the same prison as his father. Jenkinson brings the news that Olivia has died of illness and grief. Sophia is kidnapped by an unknown person. The pastor, setting an example of true Christian firmness of spirit, addresses his relatives and prisoners of prison with a sermon of humility and hope for heavenly bliss, especially precious for those who have experienced nothing but suffering in life.

Deliverance comes in the person of the noble Mr. Burchell, who turns out to be the famous Sir William Thornhill. It was he who snatched Sophia from the clutches of the kidnapper. He calls to account his nephew, whose list of atrocities is replenished by the testimony of Jenkinson, who carried out his vile orders. It was he who ordered the kidnapping of Sophia, it was he who informed Arabella about George's alleged betrayal in order to marry her for a dowry. In the midst of the proceedings, Olivia appears, safe and sound, and Jenkinson announces that instead of a fake marriage license and a priest, Jenkinson delivered real ones this time. Thornhill begs for forgiveness on his knees, and the uncle decides that henceforth the young wife of his nephew will own a third of the entire fortune. George connects with Arabella, and Sir William, who finally found a girl who valued him not for wealth, but for personal virtues, makes an offer to Sophia. All the misfortunes of the pastor are over, and now he has only one thing left - "to be as grateful in happiness as he was humble in trouble."

I. A. Moskvina-Tarkhanova

(The Duenna)

Comic opera (1775)

The action takes place in Spain, where wealthy fathers specifically hire malevolent duennas to look after their young daughters and strictly observe morality. That is exactly what Don Jeronimo, the father of the beautiful Luisa, did. However, he made a big mistake in his calculations ...

Night. Don Antonio, a poor nobleman, came to Don Jeronimo's house to serenade Luisa. The owner of the house drives away the admirer with rude abuse, and when the daughter tries to stand up for the young man she loves, she gets it too. Antonio is left alone in the street. Soon he sees Fernando returning from the city - his friend and brother Luis. Fernando is in despair - he tried to break into the bedroom of his beloved Clara in order to negotiate an escape plan with her, but was expelled in disgrace by a capricious girl. But time does not wait - the father and stepmother decided today to imprison Clara in a monastery so that she does not claim family wealth. Antonio is also not himself: Don Jeronimo has already found a rich groom for Luis - some Jewish businessman from Portugal. He asks a friend to help him marry Luis. Fernando promises help, with one caveat: "There must be no kidnapping," as this will damage the honor of the family. "But you yourself were going to kidnap Clara," reminds the surprised Antonio. "That's another matter," he hears back. "We don't allow others to treat our sisters and wives in the same way that we treat strangers." Comrades pledge to help each other and honor their friendship. (All the heroes of this comic opera not only speak, but also sing arias. So, Fernando at the end of the picture sings to the windy Clara:

"More and more terrible and cruel I endure the torment: the more insidious it is, the more I love.")

At this time, Luis is preparing to escape. Her duenna Margarita helps her. Instead of putting up obstacles and vigilantly following Luisa's every move, this atypical chaperone became the lovers' attorney and decided to rebel against the old tyrant Don Jeronimo. True, the escape was not successful immediately. Caught Luis and Margarita at the crime scene at the gathering, Don Jeronimo becomes furious and immediately drives the duenna out of the house with indignant words:

"Out, shameless Sibyl!" The duenna goes into the bedroom to say goodbye to Luisa, and soon proudly leaves, throwing a veil over her face. Don Jeronimo continues to resent her after. When he finally leaves, a satisfied Margarita appears from the bedroom. It turns out that she quickly changed clothes with Louis, and the girl managed to slip out of the house under the veil.

On the square of Seville, two fugitives meet - Clara and Luis. Girlfriends, recognizing each other under masquerade clothes, embrace and discuss their situation. Clara is going to lie low for the time being in the monastery of St. Catalina under the protection of her relative, the abbess. After telling Luis the address of the monastery for Fernando, she leaves. Luis intends to find Antonio first. Seeing Isaac Mendoza, her Portuguese fiancé, walking along the square, the girl decides to use him as a messenger. The fact is that Luis saw the Portuguese through the crack when Mendoza came to her father to woo, but he himself had never seen his bride. Luis calls out to him, calls him Dona Clara and begs him to help her meet her lover. Flattered by her trust, the swaggering businessman promises all kinds of assistance and offers his own house as a refuge.

Isaac Mendoza comes to officially meet his fiancee Luisa. At first, he tells Don Jeronimo with pleasure that he met Dona Clara, who ran away from home and is looking for Antonio. Proud that his own daughter does not allow himself such insolence, Don Jeronimo leaves the groom alone in front of Luis's bedroom.

The bride comes out. Isaac, not looking at her from timidity, utters incoherent love confessions. Finally he raises his eyes - and freezes, startled. He was convinced that Luis was beautiful, but it turns out that she is old and ugly! "Oh God, how blind are parents!" - mutters the unlucky groom. (We remember that the role of Luis is now played by the inventive chaperone Margarita.) There is a comic dialogue. Mendoza decides, against all odds, to marry "Luis" as he is primarily attracted to her dowry. “What happiness,” he reflects, “that my feelings are directed to her property, and not to her person!” The duenna takes his word from him to arrange her abduction, since she allegedly made a vow not to accept her husband from the hands of her despotic father. Mendoza promises to fulfill her request.

In the father's office, meanwhile, Fernando is trying to intercede for a friend, painting his generosity, honesty and old family. However, Don Jeronimo is adamant. "Nobility without a fortune, my dear, is as ridiculous as gold embroidery on a frieze caftan," he snaps. Enter Isaac Mendoza. When Don Jeronimo asks how the meeting with the bride went, the groom honestly replies that "I have never met a more ugly woman." Father and brother cannot find words from indignation and are already ready to grab their swords. Frightened by their reaction, Mendoza hurries to pass off his words as a joke. He says that he completely got along with Luisa and now she is submissive to her father's will. Fernando is disappointed by this turn of affairs, Don Jeronimo is satisfied. He invites the groom to celebrate the deal with a glass of wine.

Meanwhile, the surprised Antonio is brought to Mendoza's house, convincing that he is looking for ... dona Clara. What is his joy when he finds Luisa here! Left alone with her beloved, the girl tells him that for now she will hide in the monastery of St. Catalina, from where she will write a letter to her father asking for permission for their marriage.

Don Jeronimo is in extreme surprise at the strange whim of his daughter: she ran away with Mendoza, that is, with the very man to whom her father was going to marry her. "It's just unfathomable!" At this time, the servants serve him one after the other two letters - one from Mendoza, the other from Luis. Both contain a request to forgive for the flight and bless for a love marriage. Don Jeronimo grumbles good-naturedly, continuing to be surprised at how quickly his daughter's mood changes. "No further than in the morning she was ready to die rather than marry him ..."

To calm the heart of poor Luisa, he writes an answer, expressing his consent to her marriage - while not specifying with whom, as he is sure that she is talking about the Portuguese. Having sent a letter with a servant, Don Jeronimo orders to arrange a rich dinner in honor of the joyful event.

And his son, Don Fernando, knocked down in search of the disappeared Clara, at this time collides with Mendoza in the square. He hears the Portuguese muttering: “Now Antonio can marry Clara or not marry ...” Fernando, dumbfounded, attacks the merchant with questions, and he admits that he connected Antonio and “Dona Clara”. "Death and madness" - exclaims the jealous lover, continuing to elicit details. He threatens to pierce Mendoza with a sword if he does not reveal where "these traitors" have gone. The frightened businessman calls the monastery of St. Catalina and hurries to retreat from the enraged Fernando. The same, seething with anger, longs to take revenge on his beloved and best friend for treason. The action is transferred to the monastery garden, where Luis and Clara are walking in monastic robes. Clara admits that she is no longer angry with Fernando and is ready to forgive him. When Antonio arrives, Clara leaves the lovers alone. Antonio tells Luisa that he expects nothing from her prank with the letter to her father. Luis understands his doubts, but prudently notes that in poverty the most sincere feeling often perishes. "If we want to make love our household god, we must try to provide him with a comfortable home."

At this time, don Jeronimo's answer is brought. Luisa reads it aloud, not believing his own eyes: "Dear daughter, make your lover happy. I express my full consent ...", etc. Antonio rereads the letter, sure that this is some kind of mistake - Therefore, he hurries Luisa to marry him so that her father could not go back on his word.

After they leave, an angry Fernando appears. Having met Clara in a cassock and veil, he does not recognize and only wonders where Clara and Antonio are. The girl replies that they went to get married. Cursing the sky, Fernando gives his word to upset this wedding.

Father Pablo is simultaneously approached with a request to perform a wedding ceremony by two suitors - Antonio and Mendoza. For the urgency, both knowingly put money in his pocket. When Fernando appears in the courtyard of the cathedral, Mendoza, already familiar with his hot temper, hastily runs away. But dona Luis and dona Clara appear in turn. They throw off their veils, and the misunderstanding is finally cleared up to everyone's joy. Fernando is happy. He apologizes to everyone for being blinded by jealousy and suspecting a friend of betrayal, and a beloved of treason. Two couples follow the holy father to be married immediately. "Hymeney often hears false ringing of magnificent oaths, but he rewards the faithful with the bliss of bright days," the choir sings.

Don Jeronimo busies himself before the start of the gala dinner. And here is his new son-in-law, Isaac Mendoza. The owner rushes to him with a hug, wondering where Luis is. Mendoza proudly replies that she is at the door and longs for a blessing. "Poor child, how happy I will be to see her pretty face," Don Jeronimo hurries to meet his daughter. However, after a few seconds, it is by no means the beautiful Luis that appears before him. "Why, God kill me, old Margarita!" exclaims Don Jeronimo, startled. A squabble follows, in which the duenna stubbornly calls the former owner dear daddy. The appearance of Luis and Antonio intensify the general confusion. Finally, the chaperone admits that she set up all this comedy in retaliation for the violence of her mistress. Now she herself has become the legal wife of Mendoza, and the selfish Portuguese has no choice but to submit to fate. “There is nothing more despicable and funnier than a crook who has become a victim of his own tricks,” Antonio remarks on this matter.

Don Jerome discovers the truth - Mendoza was attracted only by Luis's dowry, otherwise he would never have been seduced by a person with the appearance of an old duenna. Now the father of the family looks at the modest Antonio with different eyes. Moreover, the young man declares that he does not claim to be rich. Thus, he finally wins the heart of the old man.

The last appearance is another happy newlyweds, Clara and Fernando. Don Horonimo admits that his son married a lovely young lady, and also a rich heiress. In a word, the reason for the gala dinner remains. And since everything is ready for this, the fun flares up. The house is filled with friends and neighbors, the night begins with dancing, singing and wine.

- the joyful Don Horonimo sings, and with him all the characters.

V. A. Sagalova

(The Rivals)

Comedy (1775)

Brave Captain Jack Absolute is in love with the charming Lydia Langwish, and his friend Falkland has a passion for Lydia's cousin Julia. Girls respond to fans with ardent reciprocity, and it seems that nothing interferes with the cloudless happiness of the heroes. But this happiness was in jeopardy, as the characters of the comedy managed to thoroughly confuse themselves.

On the other hand, it was confusion that gave rise to many hilarious situations and helped to understand that often the main rival of one's happiness is the person himself ...

So, we must begin with the fact that Lydia is too well-read and romantic person to put up with an ordinary lot, namely, to marry a rich and noble seeker of her hand. Therefore, Jack Absolute reluctantly had to look after her under the assumed name of the poor Ensign Beverley. The venture was a success. Lydia gave Beverley her heart and now dreams of living with him in delightful poverty. The strict aunt Mrs. Madaprop follows her niece's every step, so the lovers meet in secret, exchange letters through the servants and prepare to escape. Suppose that in such a case, underage Lydia loses two-thirds of her fortune - for her this is nothing compared to the opportunity to survive her own abduction.

The entire action of the comedy takes place in the resort town of Bath, where one by one the participants of the events arrive. Among them is Lydia's cousin Julia. She is engaged to Falkland, but the wedding keeps getting delayed. And the reason is in the "unhappy character" of the groom, who exhausted both himself and the bride with doubts and jealousy.

The next visit to the house of Lydia and her aunt is made by the baronet Sir Anthony Absolut. Mrs. Malaprop - she constantly uses learned words out of place and therefore considers herself very smart and educated - complains to the baronet that her obstinate niece rejects profitable suitors. For example, she is cold to the venerable Devonshire esquire Acre, but "throws on the neck" of some rootless ensign. In the course of this conversation, Sir Anthony has a happy idea - why not marry Lydia's son Jack! Mrs. Malaprop picks up on this idea and promises to give Acre an official refusal in this case.

Falkland is next in Bath. Captain Absolute fills him in on the details of his affair with Lydia, and when Falkland asks if his friend is playing Beverley too long, Jack replies with a sigh that he is afraid to confess his wealth to Lydia. “For this trouble, I must prepare her gradually; before revealing the cruel truth to her, I will try to become absolutely necessary for her ...”

Falkland, in turn, is in a nervous melancholy: he is relentlessly tormented by anxiety for Julia. "I constantly tremble for her mood, health, life ... The midday heat, the evening dew - all this poses a danger to her life, and life is dear to me, only while she is alive ..." Jack assures a friend that Julia is in perfect health and is also now in Bath. Just at this time, Acre, Julia's neighbor in Devonshire, comes to visit, and after meeting Fawkland, he joyfully confirms that the girl is quite cheerful and cheerful. This is where the "unhappy character" of the jealous man makes itself felt: now Falkland is tormented that the bride was cheerful, despite the separation from him. "She chirped, sang, had fun - and not a single thought about me ... Oh demons! .."

And Acre complains to the captain about the coldness of Lydia, who, according to rumors, is in love with some Beverley. Esquire hurried to Bath to acquire social gloss, dress up and win the heart of a wayward beauty. Here is Sir Anthony. He is extremely surprised to find his son in Bath, but without further ado he gets down to business: in a categorical tone he informs his son that he has decided to marry him, and when the captain equally categorically opposes his parental will, he brings down noisy curses on Jack and leaves in anger.

“But he himself married for love! And they say that in his youth he was a desperate rake and a real reveler,” the captain remarks thoughtfully after him.

Meanwhile, from Lydia's servant, the captain's footman learns that Beverley has a dangerous rival - Captain Absolute, on whose behalf Lydia has already been proposed by Sir Anthony. Immediately, this news reaches the Absolute itself - Beverley.

So, the marriage that his father insistently proposed to Jack turns out to be the very match for which the captain passionately aspires. The son decides to correct his mistake as soon as possible and, at a new meeting with Sir Anthony, takes on a repentant air. At the same time, of course, he pretends to hear the name of Lydia for the first time, and only humbly obeys his parental will. The baronet triumphs.

Falkland, meanwhile, makes a scene for poor Julia. He is so plagued by reproaches and suspicions of insufficient love for him that even the angelic patience of the girl bursts. "Oh, you torment my heart! I can no longer endure this," she throws at the unfortunate groom. After her departure, Fokland, as usual, begins to scourge himself and frenziedly curse his temper. However, he sees in his behavior a certain spiritual "refinement" and sophistication of feelings.

And Jack appears in Mrs. Malalrop's drawing room as Sir Anthony's son and Lydia's fiancé. In this role, he is favorably received by the old shrew. She even shares her indignation with him about the intercepted letter from the obnoxious Beverley to Lydia. The captain is forced to comment on his own message, pretending to be holding it in his hands for the first time, and hypocritically cursing the ensign's insolence. But after that, the aunt, at his request, leaves, and the captain gets the opportunity to see Lydia alone. He convinces the girl that he has pretended to be the Absolute. Lydia is delighted. The lovers reaffirm their loyalty to each other and their determination to flee from the light. “Love, love alone will be our idol and support… Proud of our hardships, we will rejoice at the shame of wealth,” Absolut promises happy Lydia.

And what about the honest Devonian Acre? alas, no matter how hard he tried to succeed in panache, Lydia refused him. Now in the hotel Acre complains to the servant about the trickiness of secular science. "Pa there ... pa here ... pa, pa, and my leg is not stupid and does not want to dance to the French tune!" At this very moment, his acquaintance comes to the Devonshireman - the Irishman Sir Lucius O'Trigger, who has a very cocky disposition. Learning that Acre is rejected, Sir Lucius advises him to hastily defend his honor in a duel with a happy rival Beverley. The cowardly esquire is shy, but under pressure from the Irishman, he surrenders and writes a letter from dictation to an unfamiliar ensign. Sir Lucius himself is eager to fight with Captain Absolute, who accidentally touched him with something.

"Why were you looking for me, Bob?" - inquires the captain, entering his friend Acre. He replies that he invited the Absolute to convey the challenge to the damned Beverley through him. The captain, cursing to himself, assures Acre that he will deliver the letter to its destination. "Thank you! That's what it means to have a friend!" Acre rejoices. "And you won't agree to be my second, will you, Jack?" To this, the captain firmly says that "he is not entirely comfortable." Then Acre asks to tell Beverley that he will have to fight with a famous brave man. "Tell him that I usually kill a man a week. Maybe he will get scared and nothing will happen." - "I'll definitely tell you," the captain promises, preoccupied with completely different problems.

He is overtaken by the inevitable moment of confession in pretense. This happens during his meeting with Lydia in the presence of Sir Anthony. Seeing Beverley next to the baronet, Lydia does not hide her astonishment. There is general confusion. "Speak, you bastard, who you are," growls Sir Anthony. “I don’t quite clearly imagine it to myself, father, but I’ll try to remember,” the captain mutters, calling for help with all his impudence. He reveals to those present his involuntary deceit and asks for forgiveness. Mrs Malaprop and Sir Anthony are ready to turn their anger into mercy. But Lydia's voice becomes icy. "So there will be no kidnapping?" she asks dryly. And proudly returns to the captain his - that is, Beverley - portrait, which until then she constantly wore behind her corsage. No, Lydia will not become the wife of this "low pretender"!

Cursing the whole world, the captain leaves Lydia and immediately runs into Sir Lucius. After a few overtly bellicose remarks from the Irishman, the enraged Absolute naturally quits that he is ready to give him satisfaction at any time. They agree to meet that same evening at the Royal Clearing - the same place where the duel with Acre is scheduled. “There will still be enough light for swords, although it’s probably already a bit dark for pistols,” the Irishman remarks with importance.

Having met Fokland after this, the captain gloomily informs him of the prospect of going to the next world and invites him to be seconds.

Thirsty for consolation, Lydia rushes to her cousin. She excitedly tells Julia how she was the victim of a dastardly deception. Julia herself can hardly hold back her tears - another attempt to explain to Falkland led to a final break. "I know too well what whims can lead to," she warns Lydia.

In this heat of ambition, common sense seems to be retained only by servants. It is they who, defying all conventions, are in a hurry to prevent the senseless fights of their masters. On their side, they attract Mrs. Malalrop, who, together with them, bursts into Lydia and Julia and shouts about the impending "apostrophe". In the face of real danger, everyone instantly unites and rushes headlong to the Royal Meadow, picking up the expansive Sir Anthony along the way.

They arrive just as Captain Absolute and Sir Lucius draw their swords. Acre has already abandoned the duel, having just learned that his friend Jack and Beverley are the same person. A friendly chorus of exclamations and reproaches falls upon the duelists. All misunderstandings are cleared up here. Couples in love finally put an end to quarrels and resentments. Acre rejoices at the prospect of remaining a bachelor, especially since Sir Anthony proposes to celebrate this event with a male company. Even Mrs. Malaprop is taken by the general jubilation.

Only the servants remain silent, but no doubt they are also pleased with the peaceful outcome of the case.

V. A. Sagalova

(The School for Scandal)

Comedy (1777)

The play opens with a scene in the salon of high-society intriguer Lady Sneerwell, who discusses with her confidant Snake the latest achievements in the field of aristocratic machinations. These achievements are measured by the number of reputations ruined, weddings canceled, incredible rumors circulating, and so on. Lady Sniral's salon is the holy of holies in the school of slander, and only a select few are admitted there. Herself, "wounded in her early youth by the poisonous sting of slander," the owner of the salon now does not know "greater pleasure" than to defame others.

This time, the interlocutors chose a very respectable family as a victim. Sir Peter Teasle was the guardian of the two Surfes brothers and at the same time raised his adopted daughter Mary. The younger brother, Charles Surface, and Maria fell in love. It was this union that Lady Sneerwell planned to destroy, not allowing the matter to be brought to a wedding. To Snake's question, she explains the background of the case: the elder Surfes, Joseph, is in love with Mary - or her dowry, who resorted to the help of an experienced slanderer, having met a happy rival in his brother. Lady Sneeruel herself has a heartfelt weakness for Charles and is ready to sacrifice a lot in order to win him. She gives both brothers sober references. Charles is a "reveler" and a "squanderer". Joseph is "a cunning, selfish, treacherous man", "a sweet-talking rogue", in whom others see a miracle of morality, while his brother is condemned.

Soon, the "sweet-talking rogue" Joseph Serfes himself appears in the living room, followed by Maria. Unlike the hostess, Maria does not tolerate gossip. Therefore, she can hardly bear the company of recognized masters of slander who come for a visit. This is Mrs Candar, Sir Backbite and Mr Crabtree. Undoubtedly, the main occupation of these characters is the washing of bones by their neighbors, and they own both the practice and the theory of this art, which they immediately demonstrate in their chatter. Naturally, it goes to Charles Surfes, whose financial situation, by all accounts, is absolutely deplorable.

Sir Peter Teasle, meanwhile, learns from his friend, the former butler of the Surfes Rowley father, that the uncle of Joseph and Charles, Sir Oliver, a rich bachelor, whose inheritance both brothers hope for, has come from the East Indies.

Sir Peter Teasle himself married a young lady from the provinces just six months before the events described. He suits her father. After moving to London, the newly-made Lady Teasle immediately began to study secular art, including regularly attending the salon of Lady Sneerwell. Joseph Surfes lavished many compliments on her here, seeking to enlist her support in his matchmaking with Mary. However, Lady Teasle mistook the young man for her ardent admirer. Finding Joseph on his knees before Mary, Lady Teasle does not hide her surprise. To correct the oversight, Joseph assures Lady Teazle that he is in love with her and only fears the suspicions of Sir Peter, and to complete the conversation, he invites Lady Teazle to his home - "to look at the library." Inwardly, Joseph is annoyed that he is in "a precarious position."

Sir Peter is really jealous of his wife - but not to Joseph, about whom he has the most flattering opinion, but to Charles. The company of slanderers tried to ruin the reputation of the young man, so that Sir Peter does not even want to see Charles and forbids Mary to meet with him. Having married, he lost his peace. Lady Teazl shows complete independence and does not spare her husband's wallet at all. The circle of her acquaintances also upsets him very much. "Dear company," he remarks of Lady Sneerwell's salon.

So, the venerable gentleman is in a good deal of confusion when Sir Oliver Surface comes to him, accompanied by Rowley. He has not yet informed anyone of his arrival in London after an absence of fifteen years, except Rowley and Teasle, old friends, and is now in a hurry to make inquiries from them about two nephews whom he had previously helped from afar.

Sir Peter Teasle's opinion is firm: for Joseph, he "vouches with his head", as for Charles, he is "a dissolute fellow." Rowley, however, disagrees with this assessment. He urges Sir Oliver to make his own judgment about the Surfes brothers and "test their hearts". And to do this, resort to a little trick ...

So Rowley conceived a hoax, into which he introduces Sir Peter and Sir Oliver. The Surfes brothers have a distant relative, Mr. Stanley, who is now in great need. When he turned to Charles and Joseph with letters for help, the first, although he himself was almost ruined, did everything he could for him, while the second got off with an evasive reply. Now Rowley invites Sir Oliver to personally come to Joseph under the guise of Mr. Stanley - fortunately no one knows him by sight. But that is not all. Rowley introduces Sir Oliver to a usurer who lends money to Charles at interest, and advises him to come to his younger nephew with this usurer, pretending that he is ready to act as a creditor at his request. Plan accepted. True, Sir Peter is convinced that this experience will not give anything new - Sir Oliver will only receive confirmation of the virtue of Joseph and the frivolous extravagance of Charles.

The first visit - in the birth of the false creditor Mr. Premium - Sir Oliver inflicts on Charles. A surprise awaits him immediately - it turns out that Charles lives in his father's old house, which he ... bought from Joseph, not allowing his native home to go under the hammer. This is where his troubles began. Now there is practically nothing left in the house, except for family portraits. It is these that he proposes to sell through the usurer.

Charles Surface appears to us for the first time in a cheerful company of friends who pass the time with a bottle of wine and a game of dice. Behind his first remark, one can guess an ironic and dashing person: "... We live in an era of degeneration. Many of our acquaintances are witty, secular people; but, damn it, they don't drink!" Friends willingly pick up this topic. At this time, the moneylender comes with "Mr. Premium." Charles comes down to them and begins to convince them of his creditworthiness, referring to a rich East Indian uncle. When he persuades the visitors that his uncle's health is quite weak "from the climate there," Sir Oliver goes into a quiet rage. He is even more infuriated by his nephew's willingness to part with family portraits. "Ah, spendthrift!" he whispers to the side. Charles, on the other hand, only laughs at the situation: "When a person needs money, then where the hell can he get it if he starts to stand on ceremony with his own relatives?"

Charles and a friend play a comic auction in front of the "buyers", stuffing the price of deceased and living relatives, whose portraits are quickly sold under the hammer. However, when it comes to an old portrait of Sir Oliver himself, Charles flatly refuses to sell it. "No, pipes! The old man was very nice to me, and I will keep his portrait as long as I have a room to shelter him." Such stubbornness touches Sir Oliver's heart. He increasingly recognizes in his nephew the traits of his father, his late brother. He is convinced that Charles is a carnivore, but kind and honest by nature. Samzhe Charles, having barely received the money, hurries to give the order to send one hundred pounds to Mr. Stanley. Having easily accomplished this good deed, the young life-burner again sits down at the bones.

In the living room of Joseph Surfes, meanwhile, a piquant situation develops. Sir Peter comes to him to complain about his wife and Charles, whom he suspects of having an affair. In itself, this would not have been scary if Lady Teasle had not been hiding behind a screen here in the room, who had come even earlier and did not have time to leave in time. Joseph tried in every possible way to persuade her to "neglect the conventions and opinions of the world," but Lady Teasle unraveled his deceit. In the midst of a conversation with Sir Peter, the servant announced a new visit - Charles Surface. Now it was Sir Peter's turn to hide. He rushed behind the screen, but Joseph hurriedly offered him a closet, reluctantly explaining that a certain milliner had already occupied the place behind the screen. The conversation of the brothers thus takes place in the presence of the Teasles hidden in different corners, which is why each remark is colored with additional comic shades. As a result of an overheard conversation, Sir Peter completely abandons his suspicions about Charles and, on the contrary, is convinced of his sincere love for Mary. Imagine his amazement when, in the end, in search of the “modiste”, Charles overturns the screen, and behind it - oh damn! Lady Teazle shows up. After a silent scene, she courageously tells her husband that she came here, succumbing to the "insidious exhortations" of the owner. Joseph himself can only babble something in his own defense, calling on all the art of hypocrisy available to him.

Soon the intriguer will face a new blow - in frustrated feelings, he brazenly sends the poor petitioner Mr. Stanley out of the house, and after a while it turns out that Sir Oliver himself was hiding under this mask! Now he was convinced that in Joseph there was "neither honesty, nor kindness, nor gratitude." Sir Peter adds to his characterization by calling Joseph low, treacherous and hypocritical. Joseph's last hope is for Snake, who promised to testify that Charles swore his love to Lady Sneerwell. However, at the decisive moment, this intrigue bursts. Snake shyly reveals in front of everyone that Joseph and Lady Sneerwell "paid extremely generously for this lie, but, unfortunately," he was then "offered twice as much to tell the truth." This "impeccable swindler" disappears in order to continue to use his dubious reputation.

Charles becomes Sir Oliver's sole heir and receives Mary's hand, cheerfully promising that he will not go astray again. Lady Teasle and Sir Peter reconcile and realize that they are quite happily married. Lady Sneeruel and Joseph can only squabble with each other, finding out which of them showed more "greed for villainy", which is why the whole well-conceived business lost. They retire on Sir Oliver's mocking advice to marry:

"Lean oil and vinegar - by God, it would be great together."

As for the rest of the Gossip College, Mr. Backbite, Lady Candar, and Mr. Crabtree, no doubt they are comforted by the rich food for gossip that the whole story has taught them. Already in their retellings, Sir Peter, it turns out, found Charles with Lady Teazle, grabbed a pistol - "and they shot at each other ... almost simultaneously." Now Sir Peter lies with a bullet in his chest and is also pierced with a sword. "But surprisingly, the bullet hit the little bronze Shakespeare on the mantelpiece, bounced off at right angles, punched through the window, and wounded the postman, who was just approaching the door with a registered letter from Northamptonshire!" And it does not matter that Sir Peter himself, alive and well, calls gossipers furies and vipers. They chirp their deepest sympathy for him, and bow with dignity, knowing that their lessons in slander will continue for a very long time to come.

V. L. Sagalova

(Things as They Are, or the Adventures of Caleb Williams)

Roman (1794)

Eighteen-year-old Caleb Williams, smart and well-read beyond his years, after the death of his parents, poor peasants who lived in the possessions of the wealthy squire Ferdinand Falkland, becomes his secretary.

The strange behavior of Fokland, who leads a secluded life and often falls into gloomy thoughtfulness, followed by outbursts of anger, leads the young man to the idea that some secret is tormenting his master. According to Caleb himself, the main driving force that guided his whole life has always been curiosity. The inquisitive mind of the young man encourages him to get to the bottom of the driving reasons and hidden motives in everything, and he is looking for explanations for what torments Falkland so much.

Collins, the manager of the estate, at the request of Caleb, tells him the tragic story of his master.

In his youth, Falkland was inspired by ambitious romantic dreams of chivalrous deeds. Traveling in Italy, he repeatedly proved his courage and nobility. Returning a few years later to England, he settled in his family estate. In the person of the landowner Barnaba Tyrrel, his closest neighbor. Falkland has found a mortal enemy.

Tyrrel, a man of remarkable physical strength, rude, despotic and unbalanced, was used to reigning supreme in local society: no one dared to contradict him in anything. With the arrival of Falkland, who not only favorably differed from Tyrred in intelligence and courtesy, but, despite the lack of physical strength, was not inferior to him in courage, the situation changed dramatically: Falkland became the soul of society. Wanting to put an end to the senseless hostility on the part of Tyrrel and fearing a tragic outcome, Falkland made attempts to get closer to him, but he hated his rival even more. In order to take revenge on Falkland, Tyrrel decided to marry his poor relative, Miss Emily Melville, who lived in his house, to Grimes, one of his hangers-on. But Emily refused. The girl's heart already belonged to Auckland, who saved her from imminent death during a fire in the village where she was visiting. When Grimes, at the instigation of Tyrrel, tried to dishonor her. Fokland again saved the girl, aggravating the fury of his gate. Then Tyrrel hid Emily in prison on the absurd charge that she owed him a large sum of money. In prison, the unfortunate girl, whose health had been undermined by a nervous breakdown due to the constant persecution of her cousin, died, despite all the efforts of Falkland to restore her to life.

After Emily's death, everyone turned away from Tyrred, and he, insulted and humiliated, but by no means repentant of his atrocities, appeared uninvited to a public meeting and severely beat Falkland in front of everyone. Tyrrel was put out the door, Fokland soon left the meeting, and after a while, the bloody corpse of Tyrrel was found nearby. The court, before which Falkland gave a brilliant speech, unequivocally found him innocent of the murder. Hawkins, Tyrrel's former tenant, was held responsible for this death. Hawkins had reason to hate his former master, who, out of sheer tyranny, brought him to poverty and put his son in prison. Evidence was found that testified against Hawkins, and he was hanged along with his son, who had escaped from prison just before Tyrrel's murder.

This concludes Collins' story. These events, he tells young Caleb, had such an impact on Falkland that he changed dramatically: he ceased to be in society, became a stern hermit. Despite his kindness to others, he is always cold and restrained, and his usual gloomy mood is sometimes replaced by fits of rage, and then he looks like a madman.

The steward's story makes such a strong impression on the imaginative young man that he constantly reflects on the history of his master. Carefully analyzing all its details, he comes to the conclusion that Hawkins could not be Tyrrel's killer. Accidentally discovered by Caleb, a letter from Hawkins to Fawkland, who sympathized with the poor tenant and tried to save him from Tyrrel's persecution, turns guesswork into a strong certainty. Is the killer Falkland?

Caleb begins to watch him, noticing his slightest mental movements. Talking with Falkland on abstract topics, the young man tries to direct the conversation in the direction he needs in the hope that Falkland will give himself away with a careless word or gesture. The desire to find out the secret of his master at all costs turns into a real mania for Caleb, he loses all caution and almost openly plays a dangerous game with his master: with subtly thought out questions and supposedly random hints, he brings Falkland almost to madness.

Finally, Falkland confesses to Caleb that he, Falkland, the true killer of Tyrrel, caused the death of the innocently convicted Hawkins. But Falkland is not broken by defeat. He warns the young man that he will be punished for his insatiable curiosity: he will not drive him out of the service, but he will always hate him, and if Kadeb shares the revealed secret with someone, then let him blame himself.

The young man realizes that he has actually become a prisoner of Falkland. During his service with him, Caleb grew spiritually and formed as a person, albeit at a high cost. Occupied with constant surveillance and analysis of Falkland's behavior, the young man learned to control his feelings and will, his mind became sharp and penetrating, but he completely lost the ease and cheerfulness of youth. Bowing before the high merits of Fokland, whose character and mindset he thoroughly studied, Caleb is aware of how dangerous a person who was forced to confess to a crime can be.

Caleb and Falkland seemed to switch places. Now Fokland jealously watches every step of Caleb, and the lack of freedom begins to weigh him down. Valentin Forster, Fokdend's older brother by mother, comes to visit the estate. Forster sympathizes with the young man, and Caleb hints to him that he is burdened by the service of his master.

The young man asks Forster for intercession in case of persecution by Falkland. But he suspects that the young man wants to slip out of his power, and demands that Caleb stop all communication with Forster. He backs up his demand with threats, and Caleb decides to run. Forster sends a servant after him with a letter urging him to return to his brother's estate. Caleb returns, but the insidious Falkland accuses him of having robbed him of a large sum of money. In the presence of Forster and servants, Falkland provides false evidence of Kadeb's guilt, and the young man is taken to prison. He tries to escape, but only the second attempt returns him freedom.

Caleb almost dies at the hands of the robbers, but their leader, Raymond, who is no stranger to nobility, saves him and takes him under his protection. The evil and greedy Jains, who robbed and wounded the defenseless Kadeb, is expelled from the gang by Raymond. The young man lives among the robbers in the dense thicket of the forest, in the old ruins, where the household is run by a terrible old woman, whom the locals are afraid of and consider a witch. She hates Caleb, because because of him they drove away Jains, who enjoyed her favor. The young man does not participate in the raids of the gang, on the contrary, he exhorts the robbers and their leader to stop stealing and set foot on the honest path.

In the meantime, leaflets describing the appearance of the dangerous criminal Cadeb Williams are being distributed in the district: a reward of one hundred guineas has been set for his capture. The young man guesses that the old woman, who has already made an attempt on his life, wants to betray him to the authorities, and leaves the gang. He disguises himself as a beggar and tries to sail to Ireland, but two detectives grab him, mistaking him for one of the scammers who robbed the post office, and Caleb nearly goes to jail again.

The young man goes to London. At first, he constantly changes clothes and carefully changes his appearance. Then he pretends to be a poor and crippled Jewish youth (for this, Kadeb wears an artificial hump under his camisole) and begins to earn a living by literary work. However, he is tracked down by Jains, who was a detective before joining the gang of robbers, and after being expelled from it he returned to his former craft. The young man ends up in the same prison from which he escaped. In desperation, he declares to the judges that he is not guilty of anything, and his former owner, Falkland, deliberately accused him of theft. For the first time in his ordeal, Kadeb announces that Falkland is a criminal and a murderer. But the judges are frightened that the poor man dares to accuse the rich gentleman, and refuse to listen to the testimony of the young man. However, when neither Falkland nor Forster appear at the Caleb Williams hearing, the young man is set free.

Falkland, who, with the help of Jains he hired, has long been following Caleb's every move, offers him a deal: the young man must sign a paper stating that Falkland is not guilty of Tyrrel's murder, and then Falkland will leave the young man alone. But Caleb, driven to despair by the persecution of his former master, nevertheless refuses indignantly, not wanting to become an instrument of injustice. To the amazement of the young man, Fokland does not try to put him behind bars again and even transfers money to him through a servant.

Caleb leaves for Wales and lives in a small town where he fixes watches and teaches math. However, here too, Falkland's revenge catches up with him: suddenly and without any explanation, all of Caleb's friends turn away from him, and he is left without a job.

Kadeb leaves Wales to go to Holland, but Jaines tracks him down and informs him that Falkland will take extreme measures if the young man tries to leave England. Caleb wanders around the country, finding nowhere to take refuge. Finally, he makes a decision: the world must learn about his ordeals and the terrible truth about their main culprit. The young man describes in detail the history of his misadventures and arrives in the city where Falkland lives. He comes to the judge, calls himself and demands to bring a case against his former master, who committed the murder. The judge reluctantly agrees to hold a private inquest in the presence of Falkland and a few gentlemen.

Caleb makes an impassioned speech in which he extols the nobility and mind of Fokland, and reproaches himself for not revealing his heart to him in time, Falkland is a murderer, but he committed a crime, blindly avenging the humiliation he suffered. Continuing to live for the ghost of lost honor, Falkland continued to do good and proved that he deserved universal love and respect, and he, Caleb, deserved only contempt for having unwittingly become the accuser of such a fine man who was forced to persecute his former servant.

Falkland is shocked. He admits that Caleb won this unequal struggle, showing the nobility that he, Falkland, unfortunately, did not recognize in him before. Fokland laments that, because of his excessive suspicion, he did not appreciate the young man at its true worth. Falkland confesses his guilt to those present and dies three days later. Kadeb is in despair: the exposure of Fokland did not bring him the desired relief from suffering. The young man considers himself the killer of Falkland and will henceforth be tormented by remorse. Bitterly cursing human society, Kadeb in his notes says that it is "a swampy and rotten soil, from which every noble shoot, growing up, absorbs poison." Caleb ends his notes with Falkland's apology, expressing the hope that thanks to them the story of this noble soul will be fully understood.

V. V. Rynkevich

(El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha)

Roman (part I - 1605, part II - 1615)

In a certain village of La Mancha there lived a hidalgo, whose property consisted of a family spear, an ancient shield, a skinny nag and a greyhound dog. His surname was either Kehana or Quesada, it is not known exactly, and it does not matter. He was about fifty years old, he was lean in body, thin in face, and read chivalric novels for days on end, which made his mind completely disordered, and he decided to become a knight-errant. He polished the armor that belonged to his ancestors, attached a cardboard visor to the shishak, gave his old horse the sonorous name Rocinante, and renamed himself Don Quixote of La Mancha. Since a knight-errant must necessarily be in love, the hidalgo, on reflection, chose a lady of his heart: Aldonsa Lorenzo and named her Dulcinea of ​​Toboso, for she was from Toboso. Dressed in his armor, Don Quixote set off, imagining himself the hero of a chivalric romance. After driving all day, he got tired and went to the inn, mistaking it for a castle. The unsightly appearance of the hidalgo and his lofty speeches made everyone laugh, but the good-natured host fed and watered him, although it was not easy: Don Quixote would never take off his helmet, which prevented him from eating and drinking. Don Quixote asked the owner of the castle, that is, the inn, to knight him, and before that he decided to spend the night in vigil over the weapon, putting it on the drinking trough. The owner asked if Don Quixote had money, but Don Quixote never read about money in any novel and took it with him. The owner explained to him that although such simple and necessary things as money or clean shirts are not mentioned in the novels, this does not mean at all that the knights did not have either. At night, one driver wanted to water the mules and removed Don Quixote's armor from the watering trough, for which he received a blow with a spear, so the owner, who considered Don Quixote crazy, decided to knight him as soon as possible in order to get rid of such an uncomfortable guest. He assured him that the initiation rite consisted of a slap on the back of the head and a blow with a sword on the back, and after the departure of Don Quixote, he delivered a joyful speech no less pompous, although not so lengthy, than the newly minted knight.

Don Quixote turned back home to fill up with money and shirts. On the way, he saw a burly villager beating a shepherd boy. The knight stood up for the shepherd girl, and the villager promised him not to offend the boy and pay him everything he owes. Don Quixote, delighted with his beneficence, rode on, and the villager, as soon as the defender of the offended disappeared from his eyes, beat the shepherd boy to a pulp. The oncoming merchants, whom Don Quixote forced to recognize Dulcinea of ​​Toboso as the most beautiful lady in the world, began to mock him, and when he rushed at them with a spear, they bludgeoned him, so that he arrived home beaten and exhausted. The priest and the barber, fellow villagers of Don Quixote, with whom he often argued about chivalric romances, decided to burn the pernicious books, from which he was damaged in his mind. They looked through the library of Don Quixote and left almost nothing of it, except for "Amadis of Gaul" and a few other books. Don Quixote offered one farmer - Sancho Panse - to become his squire and told him so much and promised that he agreed. And then one night, Don Quixote mounted Rocinante, Sancho, who dreamed of becoming the governor of the island, mounted a donkey, and they secretly left the village. On the way they saw windmills, which Don Quixote mistook for giants. When he rushed to the mill with a spear, its wing turned and smashed the spear to pieces, and Don Quixote was thrown to the ground.

At the inn where they stopped to spend the night, the maid began to make her way in the dark to the driver, with whom she agreed to meet, but by mistake she stumbled upon Don Quixote, who decided that this was the daughter of the owner of the castle in love with him. A commotion arose, a fight ensued, and Don Quixote, and especially the innocent Sancho Panza, got it great. When Don Quixote, and after him Sancho, refused to pay for the lodging, several people who happened to be there pulled Sancho off the donkey and began to toss him on a blanket, like a dog during a carnival.

When Don Quixote and Sancho rode on, the knight mistook a flock of sheep for an enemy army and began to crush the enemies to the right and left, and only a hail of stones that the shepherds brought down on him stopped him. Looking at the sad face of Don Quixote, Sancho came up with a nickname for him: the Knight of the Sorrowful Image. One night, Don Quixote and Sancho heard an ominous knock, but when dawn broke, it turned out that they were fulling hammers. The knight was embarrassed, and his thirst for exploits remained this time unsatisfied. Don Quixote mistook the barber, who put a copper basin on his head in the rain, for a knight in the helmet of Mambrina, and since Don Quixote took an oath to take possession of this helmet, he took away the basin from the barber and was very proud of his feat. Then he released the convicts, who were being led to the galleys, and demanded that they go to Dulcinea and give her greetings from her faithful knight, but the convicts did not want to, and when Don Quixote insisted, they stoned him.

In the Sierra Morena, one of the convicts - Gines de Pasamonte - stole Sancho's donkey, and Don Quixote promised to give Sancho three of the five donkeys that he had on the estate. In the mountains they found a suitcase containing some linen and a bunch of gold coins, as well as a book of poems. Don Quixote gave the money to Sancho and took the book for himself. The owner of the suitcase turned out to be Cardeno, a half-mad youth who began to tell Don Quixote the story of his unhappy love, but did not tell it because they quarreled because Cardeno spoke ill of Queen Madasima in passing. Don Quixote wrote a love letter to Dulcinea and a note to his niece, where he asked her to give the "bearer of the first donkey bill" three donkeys, and, going mad for decency, that is, taking off his pants and turning somersaults several times, sent Sancho to take the letters. Left alone, Don Quixote surrendered to repentance. He began to think about what better to imitate: the violent insanity of Roland or the melancholy insanity of Amadis. Deciding that Amadis was closer to him, he began to compose poems dedicated to the beautiful Dulcinea. On the way home, Sancho Panza met a priest and a barber - his fellow villagers, and they asked him to show them Don Quixote's letter to Dulcinea, but it turned out that the knight forgot to give him the letters, and Sancho began to quote the letter by heart, twisting the text so that instead of "dispassionate señora", he got a "fail-safe señora", etc. The priest and the barber began to invent a means to lure Don Quixote out of Poor Rapids, where he indulged in repentance, and deliver him to his native village to cure him of insanity there. They asked Sancho to tell Don Quixote that Dulcinea had ordered him to come to her immediately. They assured Sancho that this whole undertaking would help Don Quixote become, if not emperor, then at least a king, and Sancho, in anticipation of favors, willingly agreed to help them. Sancho went to Don Quixote, and the priest and the barber remained waiting for him in the forest, but suddenly they heard verses - it was Cardeno, who told them his sad story from beginning to end: the treacherous friend Fernando kidnapped his beloved Lucinda and married her. When Cardeno finished the story, a sad voice was heard and a beautiful girl appeared, dressed in a man's dress. It turned out to be Dorothea, seduced by Fernando, who promised to marry her, but left her for Lucinda. Dorothea said that Lucinda, after being engaged to Fernando, was going to commit suicide, because she considered herself Cardeno's wife and agreed to marry Fernando only at the insistence of her parents. Dorothea, learning that he did not marry Lucinda, had the hope of returning him, but she could not find him anywhere. Cardeno revealed to Dorothea that he was Lucinda's true husband, and they decided to work together to seek the return of "what is rightfully theirs." Cardeno promised Dorothea that if Fernando did not return to her, he would challenge him to a duel.

Sancho told Don Quixote that Dulcinea was calling him to her, but he replied that he would not appear before her until he performed feats, "worthy of her mercy." Dorothea volunteered to help lure Don Quixote out of the forest and, calling herself the Princess of Micomicon, said that she had come from a distant country, which had heard a rumor about the glorious knight Don Quixote, in order to ask for his intercession. Don Quixote could not refuse the lady and went to Mikomikon. They met a traveler on a donkey - it was Gines de Pasamonte, a convict who was freed by Don Quixote and who stole an ass from Sancho. Sancho took the donkey for himself, and everyone congratulated him on his good fortune. At the source they saw a boy - the same shepherd boy, for whom Don Quixote had recently stood up. The shepherd boy said that the intercession of the hidalgo had gone sideways to him, and cursed all the knights-errant on what the world was worth, which led Don Quixote into fury and confusion.

Having reached the same inn where Sancho was thrown up on a blanket, the travelers stopped for the night. At night, a frightened Sancho Panza ran out of the closet where Don Quixote was resting: Don Quixote fought enemies in a dream and brandished his sword in all directions. Wineskins of wine hung over his head, and he, mistaking them for giants, flogged them and filled them all with wine, which Sancho, with fright, mistook for blood. Another company drove up to the inn:

masked lady and several men. The curious priest tried to ask the servant about who these people were, but the servant himself did not know, he only said that the lady, judging by her clothes, was a nun or was going to a monastery, but apparently not of her own free will, and she sighed and cried all the way. It turned out that this was Ausinda, who decided to retire to the monastery, since she could not connect with her husband Cardeno, but Fernando kidnapped her from there. Seeing Don Fernando, Dorothea threw herself at his feet and begged him to return to her. He heeded her prayers, while Lucinda rejoiced at being reunited with Cardeno, and only Sancho was upset, for he considered Dorothea the princess of Micomicon and hoped that she would shower his master with favors and also give him something. Don Quixote believed that everything was settled thanks to the fact that he defeated the giant, and when he was told about the perforated wineskin, he called it the spell of an evil wizard. The priest and the barber told everyone about Don Quixote's insanity, and Dorothea and Fernando decided not to leave him, but to take him to the village, which was no more than two days away. Dorothea told Don Quixote that she owed her happiness to him, and continued to play the part she had begun. A man and a Moorish woman drove up to the inn. The man turned out to be an infantry captain who had been taken prisoner during the Battle of Lepanto. A beautiful Moorish woman helped him escape and wanted to be baptized and become his wife. Following them, the judge appeared with his daughter, who turned out to be the captain's brother and was incredibly happy that the captain, from whom there had been no news for a long time, was alive. The judge was not embarrassed by his deplorable appearance, for the captain was robbed on the way by the French. At night, Dorothea heard the mule driver's song and woke up the judge's daughter Clara so that the girl would also listen to her, but it turned out that the singer was not a mule driver at all, but a disguised son of noble and wealthy parents named Louis, in love with Clara. She is not of very noble birth, so the lovers were afraid that his father would not give consent to their marriage. A new group of horsemen drove up to the inn: it was Louis's father who set out to chase his son. Luis, whom his father's servants wanted to escort home, refused to go with them and asked for Clara's hand in marriage.

Another barber arrived at the inn, the same one from whom Don Quixote took away the "helmet of Mambrina", and began to demand the return of his pelvis. A skirmish began, and the priest quietly gave him eight reais for the pelvis in order to stop it. Meanwhile, one of the guards who happened to be at the inn recognized Don Quixote by signs, for he was wanted as a criminal because he freed the convicts, and the priest had to work hard to convince the guards not to arrest Don Quixote, because he was out of his mind. The priest and the barber made something like a comfortable cage out of the paddock and agreed with a man who rode past on oxen that he would take Don Quixote to his native village. But then they released Don Quixote from the cage on parole, and he tried to take away the statue of the immaculate virgin from the worshipers, considering her a noble lady in need of protection. Finally, Don Quixote arrived home, where the housekeeper and niece put him to bed and began to look after him, and Sancho went to his wife, whom he promised that next time he would certainly return as a count or governor of the island, and not some seedy, but the best best wishes.

After the housekeeper and niece nursed Don Quixote for a month, the priest and the barber decided to visit him. His speeches were reasonable, and they thought that his insanity had passed, but as soon as the conversation remotely touched on chivalry, it became clear that Don Quixote was terminally ill. Sancho also visited Don Quixote and told him that the sons of a neighbor, Bachelor Samson Carrasco, had returned from Salamanca, who said that the story of Don Quixote, written by Cid Ahmet Ben-inhali, was published, which describes all the adventures of him and Sancho Panza. Don Quixote invited Samson Carrasco to his place and asked him about the book. The bachelor enumerated all her advantages and disadvantages and said that everyone, young and old, was read by her, especially the servants loved her. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza decided to set out on a new journey, and a few days later they secretly left the village. Samson saw them off and asked Don Quixote to report all his successes and failures. Don Quixote, on the advice of Samson, went to Zaragoza, where a jousting tournament was to take place, but first decided to call in Toboso to receive Dulcinea's blessing. Arriving in Toboso, Don Quixote asked Sancho where Dulcinea's palace was, but Sancho could not find it in the dark. He thought that Don Quixote knew this himself, but Don Quixote explained to him that he had never seen not only the palace of Dulcinea, but also her, because he had fallen in love with her according to rumors. Sancho replied that he had seen her and brought back the answer to Don Quixote's letter, also according to rumors. So that the deceit would not surface, Sancho tried to take his master away from Toboso as soon as possible and persuaded him to wait in the forest while he, Sancho, went to the city to talk with Dulcinea. He realized that since Don Quixote had never seen Dulcinea, then any woman could be passed off as her, and, seeing three peasant women on donkeys, he told Don Quixote that Dulcinea was coming to him with the ladies of the court. Don Quixote and Sancho fell on their knees before one of the peasant women, and the peasant shouted at them rudely. Don Quixote saw in this whole story the witchcraft of an evil wizard and was very saddened that instead of a beautiful señora he saw an ugly peasant woman.

In the forest, Don Quixote and Sancho met the Knight of Mirrors, who was in love with Casildea Vandal, who boasted that he had defeated Don Quixote himself. Don Quixote was indignant and challenged the Knight of Mirrors to a duel, according to which the defeated had to surrender to the mercy of the winner. Before the Knight of Mirrors had time to prepare for battle, Don Quixote had already attacked him and almost killed him, but the Knight of Mirrors' squire yelled that his master was none other than Samson Carrasco, who hoped in such a cunning way to bring Don Quixote home. But alas, Samson was defeated, and Don Quixote, confident that the evil wizards had replaced the appearance of the Knight of Mirrors with that of Samson Carrasco, again moved along the road to Zaragoza. On the way, Diego de Miranda overtook him, and the two hidalgos rode together. A wagon carrying lions rode towards them. Don Quixote demanded that the cage with the huge lion be opened, and was about to chop him to pieces. The frightened watchman opened the cage, but the lion did not come out of it, but the fearless Don Quixote from now on began to call himself the Knight of Lions. After staying with Don Diego, Don Quixote continued on his way and arrived at the village where the wedding of Kiteria the Beautiful and Camacho the Rich was being celebrated. Before the wedding, Basillo the Poor, Kiteria's neighbor, who had been in love with her since childhood, approached Quiteria and pierced his chest with a sword in front of everyone. He agreed to confess before his death only if the priest married him to Kiteria and he died as her husband. Everyone persuaded Kiteria to take pity on the sufferer - after all, he was about to give up his spirit, and Kiteria, having become a widow, would be able to marry Camacho. Kiteria gave Basillo her hand, but as soon as they were married, Basillo jumped to his feet alive and well - he arranged all this in order to marry his beloved, and she seemed to be in cahoots with him. Camacho, on sound reflection, considered it best not to be offended: why does he need a wife who loves another? After spending three days with the newlyweds, Don Quixote and Sancho moved on.

Don Quixote decided to go down to the cave of Montesinos. Sancho and the student guide tied him with a rope, and he began to descend. When all one hundred braces of the rope were unwound, they waited for half an hour and began to pull the rope, which turned out to be so easy, as if there was no load on it, and only the last twenty braces were hard to pull. When they removed Don Quixote, his eyes were closed and they managed with difficulty to push him aside. Don Quixote said that he saw many miracles in the cave, saw the heroes of the old romances of Montesinos and Durandart, as well as the bewitched Dulcinea, who even asked him for a loan of six reals. This time his story seemed implausible even to Sancho, who knew well what kind of magician had bewitched Dulcinea, but Don Quixote stood his ground. When they reached the inn, which Don Quixote, as usual, did not consider a castle, Maese Pedro appeared there with a soothsayer monkey and a district. The monkey recognized Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and told everything about them, and when the performance began, Don Quixote, taking pity on the noble heroes, rushed with a sword at their pursuers and killed all the puppets. True, he then generously paid Pedro for the ruined raek, so that he was not offended. In fact, it was Gines de Pasamonte, who was hiding from the authorities and took up the craft of a Raeshnik - therefore he knew everything about Don Quixote and Sancho, usually, before entering the village, he asked around about its inhabitants and for a small bribe "guessed" past.

One day, leaving at sunset on a green meadow, Don Quixote saw a crowd of people - it was the falconry of the duke and duchess. The Duchess had read a book about Don Quixote and was full of respect for him. She and the duke invited him to their castle and received him as an honored guest. They and their servants played many jokes with Don Quixote and Sancho and did not cease to marvel at the prudence and madness of Don Quixote, as well as the ingenuity and innocence of Sancho, who in the end believed that Dulcinea was bewitched, although he himself acted as a sorcerer and did all this himself. rigged. The magician Merlin arrived in a chariot to Don Quixote and announced that in order to disenchant Dulcinea, Sancho must voluntarily whip himself on his bare buttocks three thousand three hundred times. Sancho objected, but the duke promised him an island, and Sancho agreed, especially since the period of scourging was not limited and it could be done gradually. Countess Trifaldi, also known as Gorevana, arrived at the castle, the duenna of Princess Metonymia. The sorcerer Evilsteam turned the princess and her husband Trenbreno into statues, and the duenna Gorevana and twelve other duennas began to grow beards. Only the valiant knight Don Quixote could disenchant them all. Evilsteam promised to send a horse for Don Quixote, who would quickly drive him and Sancho to the kingdom of Kandaya, where the valiant knight would fight with Evilsteam. Don Quixote, determined to rid the duennas of their beards, sat down with Sancho blindfolded on a wooden horse and thought that they were flying through the air, while the duke's servants blew air from furs on them. "Flying" back to the Duke's garden, they found a message from Evil Flesh, where he wrote that Don Quixote had disenchanted everyone by the mere fact that he had ventured into this adventure. Sancho was impatient to look at the faces of the beardless duennas, but the entire band of duennas had already disappeared. Sancho began to prepare to manage the promised island, and Don Quixote gave him so many reasonable instructions that he struck the duke and duchess - in everything that did not concern chivalry, he "showed a clear and extensive mind."

The duke sent Sancho with a large retinue to a town that was supposed to pass for an island, for Sancho did not know that islands exist only in the sea and not on land. There he was solemnly handed over the keys to the city and declared the governor for life of the island of Barataria. To begin with, he had to resolve a lawsuit between a peasant and a tailor. The peasant brought the cloth to the tailor and asked if it would make a cap. Hearing that it would come out, he asked if two caps would come out, and when he heard that two would come out, he wanted to get three, then four, and settled on five. When he came to receive caps, they were just on his finger. He became angry and refused to pay the tailor for the work and, in addition, began to demand back the cloth or money for it. Sancho thought about it and passed a sentence: do not pay the tailor for the work, do not return the cloth to the peasant, and donate the caps to the prisoners. Then two old men came to Sancho, one of whom had long ago borrowed ten pieces of gold from the other and claimed to have returned it, while the lender said that he had not received the money. Sancho made the debtor swear that he had repaid the debt, and he gave the lender a moment to hold his staff and swore. Seeing this, Sancho guessed that the money was hidden in the staff and returned it to the lender. Following them, a woman appeared, dragging by the hand the man who allegedly raped her. Sancho told the man to give the woman his purse and let the woman go home. When she came out, Sancho told the man to catch up with her and take the purse, but the woman resisted so much that he did not succeed. Sancho immediately realized that the woman had slandered the man: if she had shown at least half the fearlessness with which she protected her wallet when defending her honor, the man would not have been able to defeat her. So Sancho returned the purse to the man and drove the woman off the island. Everyone marveled at the wisdom of Sancho and the justice of his sentences. When Sancho sat down at a table laden with food, he did not manage to eat anything: as soon as he stretched out his hand to some dish, Dr. Pedro Intolerable de Nauca ordered it to be removed, saying that it was unhealthy. Sancho wrote a letter to his wife Teresa, to which the duchess added a letter from herself and a string of corals, and the duke's page delivered letters and gifts to Teresa, alarming the whole village. Teresa was delighted and wrote very sensible answers, and also sent half a measure of the best acorns and cheese to the Duchess.

The enemy attacked Barataria, and Sancho had to defend the island with weapons in his hands. They brought him two shields and tied one in front and the other behind so tightly that he could not move. As soon as he tried to move, he fell and remained lying, sandwiched between two shields. They ran around him, he heard screams, the sound of weapons, they furiously chopped at his shield with a sword, and finally there were shouts: "Victory! The enemy is defeated!" Everyone began to congratulate Sancho on his victory, but as soon as he was raised, he saddled the donkey and rode to Don Quixote, saying that ten days of governorship was enough for him, that he was not born either for battles or for wealth, and did not want to obey anyone. impudent doctor, no one else. Don Quixote began to be weary of the idle life that he led with the duke, and together with Sancho left the castle. At the inn where they stopped for the night, they met don Juan and don Jeronimo, who were reading the anonymous second part of Don Quixote, which Don Quixote and Sancho Panza considered a slander on themselves. It said that Don Quixote fell out of love with Dulcinea, while he loved her as before, the name of Sancho's wife was mixed up there and there were many other inconsistencies. Upon learning that this book describes a tournament in Zaragoza with the participation of Don Quixote, replete with all sorts of nonsense. Don Quixote decided not to go to Zaragoza, but to Barcelona, ​​so that everyone could see that the Don Quixote depicted in the anonymous second part is not at all the one described by Sid Ahmet Ben-inhali.

In Barcelona, ​​Don Quixote fought the Knight of the White Moon and was defeated. The Knight of the White Moon, who was none other than Samson Carrasco, demanded that Don Quixote return to his village and not leave for a whole year, hoping that during this time his mind would return to him. On the way home, Don Quixote and Sancho had to visit the ducal castle again, because its owners were also obsessed with jokes and practical jokes, like Don Quixote was with chivalric romances. In the castle stood a hearse with the body of the maid Altisidora, who allegedly died of unrequited love for Don Quixote. To resurrect her, Sancho had to endure twenty-four taps on his nose, twelve pinches, and six pin pricks. Sancho was very displeased; for some reason, in order to disenchant Dulcinea, and in order to revive Altisidora, it was he who had to suffer, who had nothing to do with them. But everyone persuaded him so much that he finally agreed and endured the torture. Seeing how Altisidora came to life, Don Quixote began to hasten Sancho with self-flagellation in order to dispel Dulcinea. When he promised Sancho generously to pay for each blow, he willingly began to whip himself with a whip, but quickly realizing that it was night and they were in the forest, he began to whip the trees. At the same time, he moaned so plaintively that Don Quixote allowed him to stop and continue the scourging the next night. At the inn they met Alvaro Tarfe, bred in the second part of the false Don Quixote. Alvaro Tarfe admitted that he had never seen either Don Quixote or Sancho Panza who stood before him, but he had seen another Don Quixote and another Sancho Panza who were not at all like them. Returning to his native village, Don Quixote decided to become a shepherd for a year and invited the priest, the bachelor and Sancho Panza to follow his example. They approved of his idea and agreed to join him. Don Quixote had already begun to remake their names in a pastoral way, but soon fell ill. Before his death, his mind cleared up, and he no longer called himself Don Quixote, but Alonso Quijano. He cursed the romances of chivalry that clouded his mind, and died calmly and in a Christian way, as no knight-errant died.

O. E. Grinberg

(Fabula de Polifemo y Galatea)

Poem (1612-1613)

Beautiful is the abundant island of Sicily, "the horn of Bacchus, the garden of Pomona", its fertile fields are golden, like the wool of sheep grazing on the mountain slopes whitens like snow. But there is a terrifying place on it, a "shelter for a terrible night", where darkness always reigns. This is the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, which serves him both as a "deaf chamber", and a dark house, and a spacious paddock for his sheep herds. Polyphemus, the son of the lord of the sea Neptune, is a thunderstorm for the entire region. He is a walking mountain of muscles, he is so huge that he crushes trees like blades of grass on the move, and a mighty pine serves him as a shepherd's crook. The only eye of Polyphemus burns like the sun in the middle of his forehead, strands of uncombed hair "fall dirty and scattered", intermingling with the lush growth of a beard that covers his chest. Only occasionally does he try to comb his beard with clumsy fingers. This wild giant loves the nymph Galatea, daughter of Dorida, the sea nymph. The immortal gods generously endowed Galatea with beauty, Venus endowed her with "the charm of the Graces of all." All shades of femininity are merged in it, and Cupid himself cannot decide what is more fit for the most beautiful of the nymphs - "purple snow or snow purple." All the men of the island revere Galatea as a goddess.

Plowmen, winegrowers and shepherds bring gifts to the seashore and lay them on the altar of Galatea. But in that veneration there is more passion than faith, and ardent youths dream of the love of a beautiful nymph, forgetting about daytime labors. But Galatea is "colder than snow", no one is able to awaken in her a reciprocal feeling.

One day, in the midst of the heat of the day, Galatea falls asleep in a bowl on the bank of a stream. In the same place comes the young handsome Akid, tired of the scorching heat - / "dust in his hair, / sweat on his forehead." / Going to quench his thirst with cool water, he leans over the stream and freezes when he sees a beautiful maiden, whose image is doubled by reflection in the water. Akid forgets about everything, his lips greedily take in "fluid crystal", while his gaze just as greedily revels in "frozen crystal".

Akid, born of the marvelous Simethis and the goat-legged satyr, is as perfect as the beautiful Galatea is perfect. His appearance pierces the hearts like an arrow of Cupid, but now, at the sight of the beauty of Galatea, he himself is seized with love languor. / "So steel / a captivating magnet found /…"

Akid does not dare to wake the sleeping nymph, but leaves her beside her. her gifts: almond fruit, butter from sheep's milk on reed leaves, honey of wild bees - and hides in the thicket. Waking up, Galatea looks with surprise at the offering and wonders who the unknown donor was: / "... no, not a cyclops, / not a faun / and not another freak." / She is flattered by the gifts themselves, and that the stranger honors not only the goddess herself, but also her dream, and yet the nymph, who has never known love, experiences nothing but curiosity. Then Cupid decides that it is time to break her coldness, and inspires her with love for an unknown donor. Galatea wants to call him, but she does not know his name, she rushes in search and finds Akida in the shade of the trees, who pretends to be asleep in order to "hide the desire".

Galatea examines the sleeping man. His beauty, as natural as the beauty of wild nature, completes the work begun by the god of love: love for the beautiful young man flares up in the soul of Galatea. And he, still pretending to be asleep, watches the nymph through closed eyelids and sees that he has won. The remnants of fear disappear, Galatea allows the happy Akida to rise, with a gentle smile beckons him under a steep cliff, sheltering lovers in a cool canopy.

At that time, Polyphemus, climbing a high rock, carelessly plays the flute, not knowing that the daughter of Dorida, who rejected his love, did not reject the love of another. When the music of Polyphemus reaches Galatea's ears, she is seized with fear, she wants to turn into a blade of grass or a leaf in order to hide from Polyphemus's jealousy, she wants to run away, but the vines of hands / crystal are too strong / twisted with love. Galatea remains in the arms of her lover. Meanwhile, Polyphemus begins to sing, and the mountains are filled with his / "all ashen voice." / Akis and Galatea run in fear to the sea, looking for salvation, they run "along the slopes / through the thorn bush" "like a hare couple", / behind which her death rushes on the heels. But Polyphemus is so vigilant that he could notice a naked Libyan in the endless desert. The piercing gaze of his terrible eye overtakes the fugitives. The giant's jealousy and rage are immeasurable. He / "pulls / out of the mountain steep" / a huge rock / and throws it at Akida. Looking with horror at the crushed body of her lover, Galatea calls out to the immortal gods, begging them to turn the blood of Akid into / "pure current / crystal", / and the dying Akid joins her prayers. By the grace of the gods, Akis turns into a transparent stream running to the sea, where he mixes with sea water and where he is met by the mother of Galatea, the sea nymph Dorida. Dorida mourns for the dead son-in-law and calls him a river.

I. A. Moskvina-Tarkhanova

(El maestro de danzar)

Comedy (1593)

Aldemaro, a young nobleman from a noble but impoverished family, arrives in the city of Tudela with his cousin Ricaredo for the wedding of Feliciana, the daughter of one of the most famous and wealthy citizens, and immediately falls in love with the sister of the newlywed, Florela. The feeling that suddenly struck him is so great that he flatly refuses to leave Tudela and return to Lerin's ancestral castle. Despite all the exhortations of Ricaredo, Aldemaro firmly decides that he will hire himself in the house of Alberigo, the father of Feliciana and Florela, as a dance teacher: the young man has recently returned from Naples, where he learned this art so much that he could compete with the Italians.

Just at this time, Feliciana, her husband Tevano, Florela and Alberigo are discussing the festivity that has just ended. It was a success: a jousting tournament, competitions in strength and dexterity, a masquerade procession, each participant of which showed miracles of ingenuity, and many other amusements. Only one thing upsets young women: among all the entertainment, dancing was clearly lacking, and they bitterly complain to their father about their inability to dance, reproaching him for not teaching them this art. Alberigo decides to immediately correct his mistake and hire a teacher for them; this is where Aldemaro comes in, posing as a dance teacher. All members of the family like him very much, especially Florele, who immediately falls in love with him. The girl is famous for her beauty - at the festival that has just ended, many, including the noble and handsome nobleman Vandalino, laid down their prizes at her feet as a token of admiration.

Vandalino has been in love with Florela for a long time, and at her sister's wedding, he dared, passing the case with his prize to Florela, to put a love message in it. Now the young man hopes to get an answer and, having learned that Alberigo has hired a dance teacher for his daughters, he turns to him with a request to become an intermediary between him and Florela. Aldemaro agrees, hoping in this way to find out how Florela relates to a passionate admirer, and to assess whether he himself has any hope of success. It turns out that Felicyana's happiness is not as great as it might seem to the guests at her wedding: she does not love her husband and married him only in obedience to her father's will. She is clearly jealous of her sister, whom Vandalino is in love with - this young, refined nobleman really likes the newlywed. Upon learning that he dared to send a love message to Florela along with the prize, Felician begs her sister to agree to a date with her admirer, and at night she will go out onto the balcony to talk to him - he still does not know their voices and will easily take one sister for another. For his part, Aldemaro decides to spy on this date to find out if Florela reciprocates the feelings of his admirer. He, like Vandalino, is deceived, taking Felician, who listens favorably from the balcony to the passionate confessions of Vandalino standing below, for Florela.

The unfortunate Aldemaro cannot restrain his feelings and, giving Florele a dance lesson the next day, confesses his love to her. Fortunately, he unexpectedly learns that he is being paid in return. Florele learns that Aldemaro belongs to a noble family and that only love for her forced him to hire a dance teacher. She herself confesses to him that her sister stood on the balcony at night, and explains how and why she ended up there. The conversation of young people is interrupted by the arrival of Feliciana, who managed to write a love letter to Vandalino on behalf of Florela, putting her own feelings and desires into it. Florela instructs Aldemaro to deliver this letter to the addressee: now the young man is aware of the game that the sisters are playing, and willingly undertakes to fulfill this assignment.

Florela is somewhat worried that she does not know the content of the love letter written on her behalf, and Felician in every possible way avoids a direct answer. However, Aldemaro himself learns from Vandalino that he has an appointment at night in the garden. When this becomes known to Florela, she is outraged at the ease with which her sister jeopardizes her honor. After reading Vandalino's reply to Feliciana's note, Florela angrily tears it up and replaces it with another one, in which Vandalino refuses to come to his appointment, because he sees his future wife, not his mistress, in the subject of his passion, and promises to wait for her, as he did last night, under the window. It is this answer that Aldemaro conveys to Fediciana, who is highly offended by the indifferent tone of the message. Aldemaro, together with two servants, decides to lie in wait for Vandalino at night under the window and teach him a lesson. In turn, Tevano, Fediciana's husband, having found fragments of a letter torn by Florela, suspects that it was addressed to his wife, and also decides to spend the night in the garden in order to track down the intruder. Floreda comes out to the garden at night for a date, who reveals the truth to Vandalino: she never wrote to him, and, most likely, some duenna played a trick on him. In the darkness of the night, Aldemaro, who was about to teach a lesson to Florela's ardent admirer, takes Tevano for an intruder and almost injures him.

Meanwhile, the offended Felician decides to talk to Vandalino, who assures that he never wrote indifferent messages to Florela and did not refuse nightly meetings. Realizing that Aldemaro is behind this deception, Feliciana decides to take revenge: she orders the butler, who does not have much love for the dance teacher because of his refined manners and therefore will be silent, to put a jewelry box in Aldemaro's room. She also writes on behalf of her sister a message to Vandalino, in which Florela allegedly confirms her intention to come to him at night on a date and promises to become his wife. Feliciana shows miracles of ingenuity, passing this note to Vandalino right in the presence of Tevano, her husband. Left alone, Feliciana, under some pretext, asks to bring her jewelry, and then their loss is discovered. A butler sent to search soon brings a jewelry box, which was found in the dance teacher's room. The angry owner of the house, Alberigo, orders the servants to take away Aldemaro's sword and send him to prison. The nimble Belardo, Aldemaro's servant, managed to slip away. He rushes in search of Ricaredo, who has returned to Tudela, hoping to persuade his cousin to return to his father's shelter. Taking another servant, Ricaredo and Belardo head to Alberigo's house, where they sneak in unnoticed.

Meanwhile, Florela, in order to save her lover, explains to her father that she never loved Vandalino and that the intercepted letter in which she appoints him a date in the garden at night is forged. Fearing that if the truth comes out, then Feliciana will be disgraced, Alberigo begs Florela to marry Vandalino and save her sister and the whole family from shame. However, the resourceful Florela comes up with a way out: she tells her father how he should behave with Vandalino, and even Alberigo is amazed at her daughter's ingenuity. Not wanting to force Florela to marry an unloved person, he tells Vandalino that he does not dream of anything else than seeing him as his son-in-law, but the reckless Florela decided to secretly marry a dance teacher and, under a false name, introduce him to her father's house. Then she changed her mind, and now her hand is free - Alberigo will gladly give her daughter to Vandalino. What he has heard greatly confuses a young man who has recently been ardently in love: he does not want to dishonor his family by marrying a woman who could behave so unworthily, he cannot imagine such a woman as the mother of his children. And Vandalino refuses without hesitation the honor of becoming Alberigo's son-in-law. While this explanation was going on, Florela removed the fetters from Aldemaro, who was sitting under the castle, and Ricaredo and his companions, who entered the house, almost grabbed Tevano with swords.

Alberigo announces to everyone present that Vandalino has renounced his claims to the hand of Florela and that, knowing the nobility of the family from which Aldemaro comes, he will gladly give his daughter to him. Aldemaro's servant Belardo marries Lisena, Florela's maid, for whom Alberigo gives a generous dowry, and Feliciane has no choice but to throw out her love for Vandalino from her heart.

N. A. Matyash

(Fuente Ovejwia)

Drama (1612-1613. publ. 1619)

The Commander of the Order of Calatrava, Fernand Gomez de Guzman, arrives in Almagro to see the Master of the Order, Don Rodrigo Telles Giron. The master is young for years and only recently inherited this high post from his father. Therefore, the commander, crowned with military glory, treats him with some distrust and arrogance, but is forced to observe respect befitting the occasion. The commander came to the master to tell about the strife characteristic of Spain in the XNUMXth century. After the death of the Castilian king Don Enrique, King Alfonso of Portugal claims the crown - it is his rights that the relatives of the commander and his supporters consider indisputable - and also - through Isavella, his wife - Don Fernando, Prince of Aragon. The commander insistently advises the master to immediately announce the collection of the knights of the order of Calatrava and take Ciudad Real, which lies on the border of Andalusia and Castile and which the king of Castile considers his possession. The commander offers his soldiers to the master: there are not very many of them, but they are warlike, and in the village called Fuente Ovehuna, where the commander settled, people are only able to graze cattle, but cannot fight in any way. The master promises to immediately gather an army and teach the enemy a lesson.

In Fuente Ovehun, the peasants can't wait for the commander's departure: he does not enjoy their confidence, mainly because he pursues girls and beautiful women - some are seduced by his love assurances, others are frightened by the threats and possible revenge of the commander in case of their obstinacy. So, his latest passion is the daughter of the alcalde Fuente Ovejuna, Laurencia, and he does not let the girl pass. But Aaurencia loves Frondoso, a simple peasant, and rejects the rich gifts of the commander, which he sends to her with his servants Ortuño and Flores, who usually help the master to achieve the favor of the peasant women.

The battle for Ciudad Real ends with a crushing victory for the master of the order of Cadatrava: he broke the city's defenses, beheaded all the rebels from the nobility, and ordered ordinary people to be whipped, the master remains in the city, and the commander returns with his soldiers to Fuente Ovejuna, where the peasants sing toast in his honor, the alcalde welcomes on behalf of all the inhabitants, and carts drive up to the commander's house, loaded to the top with pottery, chickens, corned beef, sheepskins. However, the commander does not need this - he needs Laurencia and her friend Pascual, so Fernando and Ortuño are trying either by cunning or by force to force the girls to enter the commander's house, but they are not so simple.

Shortly after returning from a military campaign, the commander, having gone hunting, meets Laurensia in a deserted place near the stream. The girl there has a date with Frondoso, but, seeing the commander, she begs the young man to hide in the bushes. The commander, confident that he and Laurencia are alone, behaves very resolutely and, putting aside the crossbow, intends to achieve his goal at any cost. Frondsso, who jumped out of hiding, grabs a crossbow and forces the commander to retreat under the threat of a weapon, while he himself runs away. The commander is shocked by the humiliation he has experienced and vows to take cruel revenge. The whole village immediately becomes aware of what happened, joyfully meeting the news that the commander was forced to retreat before a simple peasant. The commander comes to Estevan, alcalde and Laurencia's father, demanding to send his daughter to him. Estevan, supported by all the peasants, explains with great dignity that ordinary people also have their own honor and do not offend her.

Meanwhile, two members of the city council of Ciudad Real come to the king of Castile, Don Fernando, and the queen, Dona Isaveli, and, having told about the atrocities committed by the master and commander of the order of Calatrava, they beg the king for protection. They tell the king that only the master remained in the city, and the commander with his people went to Fuente Ovehuna, where he usually lives and where, according to rumors, he rules with unprecedented arbitrariness. Don Fernando immediately decides to send two regiments to Ciudad Real, led by the Master of the Order of Santiago, in order to cope with the rebels. This campaign ends in complete success: the city is besieged, and the master of the Order of Calatrava needs immediate help. The messenger informs the commander about this - only his appearance saves the inhabitants of Fuente Ovehuna from immediate reprisal and revenge of the commander. However, he is not averse to taking the beautiful Jacinta on a campaign for fun and orders his people to slash the back of Mengo, who stood up for her, with whips.

While the commander is away, Laurencia and Frondoso decide to get married - to the delight of their parents and the entire village, which has long been waiting for this event. In the midst of the wedding and general fun, the commander returns: irritated by the military failure and remembering his resentment against the inhabitants of the village, he orders to seize Frondoso and take him to prison. Laurence, who dared to raise her voice in defense of the groom, is also taken into custody. The inhabitants of the village gather for a gathering, and opinions are divided: some are ready even now to go to the commander's house and deal with the cruel ruler, others prefer to be cowardly silent. In the midst of an argument, Laurencia comes running. Her appearance is terrible: her hair is disheveled, she herself is covered in bruises. The excited story of the girl about the humiliation and torture to which she was subjected, that Frondoso is about to be killed, makes a strong impression on the audience. Laurencia's last argument - if there are no men in the village, then women will be able to defend their honor themselves - decides the matter: the whole village rushes to storm the commander's house. At first, he does not believe that the inhabitants of Fuente Ovehuna could rebel, then, realizing that this is true, he decides to release Frondoso. But this can no longer change anything in the fate of the commander: the cup of people's patience has overflowed. The commander himself was killed, literally torn to pieces by the crowd, and his faithful servants did not fare well either.

Only Flores manages to miraculously escape, and, half-dead, he seeks protection from Don Fernando, King of Castile, representing everything that happened as a rebellion of the peasants against the authorities. At the same time, he does not tell the king that the inhabitants of Fuente Ovejuna want the king himself to own them, and therefore they nailed Don Fernando's coat of arms over the commander's house. The king promises that retribution will not be slow to follow; the master of the Order of Calatrava, who came to the king of Castile with a confession and promised to continue to be his faithful vassal, asks him about the same. Don Fernando sends a judge (to punish the guilty) and a captain to Fuente Ovejuna, who should ensure order.

In the village, although they sing a toast in honor of the Castilian kings Don Fernando and Doña Isavela, they still understand that the monarchs will closely understand what happened in Fuente Ovejun. Therefore, the peasants decide to take precautions and agree to answer all questions about who killed the commander: "Fuente Ovejuna." They even arrange something like a rehearsal, after which the mayor calms down: everything is ready for the arrival of the royal judge. The judge interrogates the peasants with more severity than expected; those who appear to him as instigators are thrown into prison; there is no mercy for women, children, or the elderly. To establish the truth, he uses the most cruel tortures, including the rack. But all as one to the question of who is to blame for the death of the commander, they answer: "Fuente Ovejuna." And the judge is forced to return to the king with a report: he used all means, tortured three hundred people, but did not find a single piece of evidence. To confirm the validity of his words, the inhabitants of the village themselves came to the king. They tell him about the bullying and humiliation that they suffered from the commander, and assure the king and queen of their loyalty - Fuente Ovejuna wants to live, obeying only the power of the kings of Castile, their fair trial. The king, after listening to the peasants, delivers his verdict: since there is no evidence, the people should be forgiven, and let the village remain with him until another commander is found to own Fuente Ovejuna.

N. A. Matyash

(La dama boba)

Comedy (1613)

The noble nobleman Liceo, accompanied by his servant Turin, comes from the province to Madrid: Liceo expects a joyful event - a wedding. His future wife Fineya is the daughter of a well-known and respected nobleman in the capital, Octavio. Octavio also has another daughter, Nisa, who is famous in the area for her outstanding intelligence and education. Phinea, on the other hand, is reputed, as, to her chagrin, Liceo learns, talking in a tavern, a fool whose ignorance and lack of any kind of manners have become a byword in Madrid. At the same time, Aiseo becomes aware that Phinea is given a large dowry, which she inherited from an eccentric uncle who unusually loved this particular niece. For Nisa there is no dowry. What he heard somewhat discourages Liceo, but he cannot retreat and hurries to Madrid - to form his own opinion about the bride and, if the information turns out to be correct, go back unmarried.

Meanwhile, in the house of Octavio, the groom was already waiting. The head of the family complains to his friend Miseno how much trouble both daughters give him, each in his own way: one depresses his father with exorbitant stupidity, the other with excessive scholarship, which Octavio, a man of the old school, seems completely superfluous in a woman. At the same time, the rich dowry of Phinea attracts suitors to her, while no one seeks the hand of Nysa, despite all her talents and beauty. In fact, Laurencio, a poor nobleman who is fond of writing poetry, is passionately in love with Nisa. Passion for literature and brought together young people: Nysa pays Laurencio in full reciprocity. But if Nisa bows before Heliodor, Virgil, reads ancient Greek poetry, then for her sister Phinea, even learning the alphabet is an impossible task. The literacy teacher, exhausted with her, loses patience and refuses to teach this girl anything, convinced that "the creator of her brains did not give her a grain." Young people come to Nisa to hear her opinion about the sonnet she has just composed, and Phinea revives only when her faithful maid Clara, who is quite a match for her mind and development, tells in detail how their cat has calved.

But although Laurencio has a sincere feeling for Nysa and considers her perfection, he, being a man of a noble family, but poor, recognizes the need to be guided in his behavior by reason, and not by feeling, and, leaving Nysa, begins to court Phinea.

Having made such a decision, he immediately goes on the offensive, but his refined style, full of elegant comparisons, not only does not conquer Phinea, he is incomprehensible to her, since this girl perceives all words only in a literal sense. The first attempts do not bring any result, which makes the young man regret his decision: Phinea never thought about what love is, and, having heard this word for the first time, she even intends to find out its meaning from her father. A frightened Laurencio barely manages to stop her. Things are no better for Pedro, the servant of Laurencio, who decided to hit on Clara. But if Finea is quite sincere in her extreme innocence, then the maid is in her own mind: she perfectly sees what the true intentions of Laurencio are, why he suddenly became so courteous to her mistress.

Finally, the long-awaited Liceo arrives, who, seeing both sisters side by side, to the displeasure of Phinea, begins to lavish praises on the beauty of Nisa, Phinea, when meeting her future husband, shows herself from the worst side: her stupidity, misunderstanding and ignorance of the simplest things are so obvious that even her father feels embarrassed for her. Liceo, immediately realizing what trouble could fall on him in the event of marriage, immediately abandons the intention to link his fate with such a fool. The beauty of Nysa contributes nothing to this decision.

A month passes. Liceo lives in Octavio's house as Phinea's fiancé, but talk of the wedding has died down. The Liceo spends time courting Nysa and trying to win her love, but has little success in this: the arrogant girl is cold to him and continues to love Laurencio. The same, on the contrary, turned out to be much more successful, gradually winning the love of Phinea. And this feeling completely transformed the recent fool: the mind that had been dormant in her and the innate subtlety of nature woke up. Sometimes Phinea is still rude, but you can’t call her a fool anymore. Nisa is tormented by jealousy and reproaches Laurencio for infidelity, he also rejects such accusations and assures Nisa of his love. The Liceo becomes a witness to their explanation: having found Nisa alone with Laurencio, he challenges his opponent to a duel. But, having arrived at the place of the duel, the young people prefer to speak frankly and join their efforts, constituting something like a conspiracy - Liceo wants to get Nisa as his wife, and Laurencio - Fineya.

Consumed by jealousy, Nysa angrily reproaches her sister for encroaching on her Laurencio, and demands the return of her unfaithful lover, leaving Liceo for herself. However, Finea has already managed to fall in love with Laurencio and suffers severely when she sees him next to her sister. She ingenuously tells Laurencio about her torment, and he assures that only one remedy can help: it is necessary to announce in front of witnesses - and they are nearby - that they agree to become Laurencio's legal wife. And in the presence of the young man's friends - Duardo and Feniso - Phinea immediately joyfully follows this advice. Meanwhile, Liceo, after an explanation with Laurencio, is trying with even greater zeal to win Nisa's favor and openly admits to her that he has absolutely no intention of marrying Phinea. But even after such a recognition, Nysa continues to reject his claims with indignation. Phinea is changing day by day. She herself does not recognize herself and explains her transformation with love: she began to feel thinner, curiosity woke up in her. The change was noticed by everyone around: in the city they only talk about the new Phinea. Tired of unsuccessfully seeking Nysa's love, Liceo decides to return to Phinea, since Nysa openly admitted to him that she loves Laurencio, with whom, in her opinion, no one can compare with intelligence, education, or valor.

The decision of the Liceo immediately - through the servant - becomes known to Laurencio. This news discourages him: he managed to sincerely fall in love with Phinea, and the thought of the possibility of losing her makes the young man suffer. Phinea finds a way out: she is going to pretend to be the old fool Phinea, over whom everyone mocked, so that Liseo again refuses her. She succeeds quite well, and she easily misleads Liceo, Nisa, and her father. But jealous doubts still do not leave Nisa, and she asks her father to forbid Laurencio to visit their house, which he does with pleasure: he is annoyed by the young man's passion for writing poetry. Against expectation, Laurencio is not offended and shows complete readiness to leave Octavio's house, but on the condition that his betrothed leaves this house with him. He explains to the astonished Octavio that he and Phinea have been engaged for two months now, and asks his friends to confirm this. Enraged, Octavio refuses to recognize this engagement, and then Finea comes up with the idea of ​​hiding Laurencio in the attic. Octavio, in order to avoid any more surprises, orders Phinea to hide from sight while at least one more man remains in the house. As a refuge, the girl chooses the attic, to which Octavio immediately agrees.

Then he speaks with Liceo in the most decisive way, insisting on a speedy wedding with Phinea: there is already gossip in the city due to the fact that the young man has been living in the house for the third month without being the husband of any of the owner's daughters. Liceo refuses to marry Phinea and asks Octavio to give Nisa for him. But her hand has already been promised to Duardo, the son of Miseno, a friend of Octavio, and the angry father gives Liceo until the next day to decide whether he will marry a finea or leave their house forever. Immediately there is a new contender for the hand of Phinea, and she has to pretend to be a fool again and, referring to the will of her father, go to the attic.

In the meantime, Celia, Nisa's maid, tracks down Clara in the kitchen, who was collecting a large amount of food in a basket, and, sneaking after her to the attic, sees through the crack a finea, Clara and two men. Octavio rushes there to find out who has covered his house with disgrace. Laurencio says in his defense that he was in the attic with his wife, and Finea - that she was following her father's orders. Octavio is forced to accept the choice of the "cunning fool", as he calls his daughter, against whose wishes he does not want to go, and give her hand to Laurencio. Taking advantage of the right moment, Liceo once again asks for Nysa's hand in marriage - and receives the consent of his father. The servants are not forgotten either: Pedro, the servant of Laurencio, gets Clara as his wife, and Turin, the servant of the Liceo, - Sella. With this, to everyone's pleasure, the play ends.

N. A. Matyash

(El perro del hortelano)

Comedy (1613-1618)

Diana, Comtesse de Belfort, entering the hall of her Neapolitan palace late in the evening, finds there two men wrapped in cloaks, who hastily hide when she appears. Intrigued and enraged, Diana tells the butler to be called, but he justifies his ignorance by going to bed early. Then one of the servants, Fabio, whom Diana sent after the perpetrators of the commotion, returns, and reports that he saw one of the uninvited guests when he, running down the stairs, threw a hat into the lamp. Diana suspects that it was one of her rejected suitors who bribed the servants, and, fearing publicity, which, according to the mores of the XNUMXth century, would bring her house into disrepute, orders all women to be immediately awakened and sent to her. After a strict interrogation by the maids, who are extremely dissatisfied with what is happening, but hide their feelings, the countess manages to find out that the mysterious visitor is her secretary Teodoro, who is in love with the maid Marcela and who came to see her on a date. Although Marcela is wary of her mistress's wrath, she confesses that she loves Teodoro and, under pressure from the Countess, retells some of the compliments that her lover gives her. Upon learning that Marcela and Teodoro are not averse to getting married, Diana offers to help young people, because she is very attached to Marcela, and Teodoro grew up in the countess's house and she has the highest opinion of him. However, left alone, Diana is forced to admit to herself that Teodoro's beauty, intelligence and courtesy are not indifferent to her, and if he were of a noble family, she would not have resisted the virtues of a young man. Diana tries to suppress her unkind envious feelings, but the dreams of Teodoro have already settled in her heart.

Meanwhile, Teodoro and his faithful servant Tristan discuss the events of the previous night. The frightened secretary is afraid of being expelled from the house for his affair with the maid, and Tristan gives him wise advice to forget his beloved: sharing his own life experience, he invites the owner to think more often about her shortcomings. However, Teodoro resolutely does not see any flaws in Marseille. At this moment, Diana enters and asks Teodoro to draft a letter for one of her friends, offering as a model a few lines sketched by the countess herself. The meaning of the message is to reflect on whether it is possible / "to ignite with passion, / seeing someone else's passion, / and be jealous, / not having fallen in love yet." The countess tells Teodoro the story of her friend's relationship with this man, in which her relationship with her secretary is easily guessed.

While Teodoro composes his version of the letter, Diana tries to find out from Tristan how his master spends his free time, who and how passionate he is. This conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the Marquis Ricardo, a longtime admirer of the Countess, who vainly seeks her hand. But this time too, the charming countess deftly evades a direct answer, citing the difficulty of choosing between the Marquis Ricardo and Count Federico, her other loyal admirer. Meanwhile, Teodoro has composed a love letter for an imaginary friend of the countess, which, in Diana's opinion, is much more successful than her own version. Comparing them, the countess shows an ardor unusual for her, and this leads Teodoro to the idea that Diana is in love with him. Left alone, he is tormented by doubts for some time, but gradually imbued with confidence that he is the object of his mistress's passion, and is already ready to answer her, but then Marcela appears, joyfully informing her lover that the countess promised to marry them. Illusions Teodoro instantly crumble. Diana, unexpectedly entering, finds Marcela and Teodoro in each other's arms, but in response to the young man's gratitude for the generous decision to meet the feeling of two loving, the countess irritably orders the maid to be locked up so as not to set a bad example for other maids. Left alone with Teodoro, Diana asks her secretary if he really intends to marry, and, having heard that the main thing for him is to please the wishes of the countess and that he could well do without Marcela, she clearly makes Teodoro understand that she loves him and that only class prejudices hinder the union of their destinies.

Dreams bring Teodoro high: he already sees himself as the husband of the countess, and Marcela's love note not only leaves him indifferent, but irritates him. It especially hurts a young man that a recent lover calls him "her husband." This irritation falls on Marcela herself, who managed to escape her makeshift dungeon. A stormy explanation takes place between the recent lovers, followed by a complete break - it is needless to say that Teodoro becomes its initiator. In retaliation, the wounded Marcela begins to flirt with Fabio, vilifying Teodoro in every possible way.

Meanwhile, Count Federico, a distant relative of Diana, seeks her favor with perseverance no less than the Marquis Ricardo. Having met at the entrance to the temple, where Diana entered, both admirers decide to ask the beautiful countess bluntly, which of the two of them she prefers to see as her husband. However, the Countess deftly evades the answer, again leaving her fans in limbo. However, she turns to Teodoro for advice on which of the two she should prefer. In fact, this, of course, is nothing more than a trick with which Diana, without binding herself with specific words and promises, wants to once again make it clear to the young man how passionately she loves him. Irritated by the respectfulness of her secretary, who does not dare to be completely frank with her and is afraid to reveal her feelings to her, Diana orders to announce that she is marrying the Marquis Ricardo. Teodoro, hearing about this, immediately makes an attempt to reconcile with Marcela. But the girl's resentment is too great, and Marcela cannot forgive her former lover, although she continues to love him. The intervention of Tristan, Teodoro's servant and attorney, helps overcome this barrier - the young people reconcile. This is greatly facilitated by the vehemence with which Teodoro rejects all jealous accusations against Marcel and how disrespectfully he speaks of Countess Diana, who, unnoticed by anyone, is silently present at this scene. Outraged by Teodoro's treachery, the countess, coming out of her hiding place, dictates a letter to the secretary, the meaning of which is completely transparent: this is a sharp rebuke to a simple person who deserved the love of a noble lady and failed to appreciate it. This unequivocal message again gives Teodoro a reason to refuse Marcela's love: he invents on the go, | that the Countess had decided to marry her chambermaid to Fabio. And although Marcela's resentment knows no bounds, the smart girl understands that everything that happens is the result of a change in the mood of the countess, who herself does not dare to enjoy Teodoro's love, because he is a simple person, and she is a noble lady, and does not want to give it to Marcela. Meanwhile, the Marquis Ricardo appears, happy that he will soon be able to call Diana his wife, but the Countess immediately cools the enthusiasm of the ardent groom, explaining that there was a misunderstanding: the servants simply misinterpreted her warm words to the Marquis. And again, for the umpteenth time, between Diana and her secretary there is a complete innuendo explanation, during which the Countess sharply points out to her secretary the abyss separating them. Then Teodoro says that he loves Marcela, for which he immediately receives a slap in the face.

Count Federico becomes an accidental witness to this scene, who, behind Diana's rage, guesses a completely different feeling. The Count reveals his discovery to the Marquis Ricardo, and they plot to find an assassin to get rid of Teodoro. Their choice falls on Tristan, Teodoro's servant, who, for a large reward, promises to rid the count and marquis of a happy rival. Upon learning of such a plan, Teodoro decides to leave for Spain in order to save his life and be cured of his love for Diana away. The countess approves of this decision, cursing with tears the class prejudices that prevent her from uniting life with her loved one.

Tristan finds a way out. Having learned that one of the noble people of the city, Count Ludovico, lost a son named Teodoro twenty years ago - he was sent to Malta, but was captured by the Moors - a clever servant decides to pass off his master as the missing son of Count Ludovico. Disguised as a Greek, he enters under the guise of a merchant into the count's house - the happiness of the aged Ludovico knows no bounds. He immediately rushes to the house of Countess Diana to embrace Teodoro, in whom he immediately recognizes his son without any hesitation; Diana is happy to announce her love to everyone. And although Teodoro honestly admits to the countess that he owes his unexpected rise to Tristan's dexterity, Diana refuses to take advantage of Teodoro's nobility and is firm in her intention to become his wife. There is no limit to the happiness of Count Ludovico: he not only found a son, but also found a daughter. Marcela receives a good dowry, she is married off to Fabio. Tristan does not remain forgotten either: Diana promises him her friendship and patronage if he keeps the secret of Teodoro's rise, while she herself will never again be a dog in the manger.

N. A. Matyash

(La viuda valenciana)

Comedy (1621)

Leonarda, a young widow, is faithful to the memory of her late husband. She spends whole days in prayers and reading pious books, not allowing any of her admirers and seekers of her hand to come to her. There are many of them: the beauty of Leonarda is famous throughout Valencia no less than her inaccessibility and arrogance. A relative of the young woman, Lusensio, is making efforts to persuade Leonarda to remarry, especially since there is no shortage of worthy suitors. But she angrily refuses. She is not convinced by the arguments of Lucencio, who claims that even if Leonard decided to devote the rest of her life to the memory of her husband, people will never believe this and will begin to say that the widow distinguishes one of the servants with her favor.

Among the most faithful and persistent admirers of the widow, three stand out - Ogon, Valerio and Lisandro, each of whom is noble, rich and handsome. They are looking for nothing but the love of a young woman, but their torment leaves Leonard indifferent. Each of these young men tried to break the woman's stubbornness by spending nights under her windows, but they decide to continue seeking Leonarda's attention. And Leonard, resolutely rejecting all admirers, suddenly meets an unfamiliar young man in the church, with whom she immediately falls madly in love. The woman immediately forgets about her good intentions to remain faithful to the memory of her husband and sends her servant Urban to find out the name and address of the stranger. Posing as a representative of one of the religious brotherhoods recruiting supporters, Urban easily fulfills this assignment and immediately receives the following: go to Camilo - that is the name of the young man - after dressing in an outlandish outfit and stocking up on a mask in order to say that a noble sighs over him a lady who wants to remain unrecognized. Then you should appoint a meeting for the young man at night at the Royal Bridge and, putting a hood on his head so that he does not see the road, bring him to Leonarda, who will receive the guest in the twilight. Such ingenuity, prompted by love, amazes not only Leonard herself, but also her servants, Urban and devoted Martha.

Urban is sent to carry out a delicate assignment. At first, Camilo is discouraged by the mystery and is hesitant to accept such an invitation. But Urban manages to convince the young man that, despite the darkness - and it goes without saying that the meeting will take place in complete darkness - the sound of the voice of a mysterious stranger, the touch of her hand will help Camilo to understand how beautiful the lady is, whose peace he has embarrassed. Camilo surrenders to the onslaught and arguments of Urban and promises to come at the appointed hour to the Royal Bridge.

Meanwhile, Leonarda and Martha make preparations for their date night, carefully covering all the windows with heavy curtains, decorating the room with velvet and carpets. Leonarda is very worried: will Camilo change his mind at the last minute, because such a handsome husband should be spoiled by female love, and besides, it may seem humiliating to him that he is being taken on a date secretly, like a thief. But at the appointed hour, Camilo comes to the Royal Bridge, where Urban is already waiting for him. Putting a hood on the young man, the servant leads him, like a blind man, to the house of his mistress. On the way, they meet Ogon, seeking the favor of a beautiful widow, but Urban shows resourcefulness and passes Camilo off as a drunk, who must be led by the hand like a child.

Once in Leonarda's room, Camilo begs the stranger to turn on the light; she is relentless at first, but then surrenders to the sophistication of Camilo's speeches and orders to bring fire - here the night guest is surprised to find that all those present - Leonard, Marta, Urban - are in masks. However, now he can appreciate the elegance of Leonard's figure, the splendor of her outfit, the sophistication of the decoration of the room. Explaining that she is a woman of "a very special kind," Leonard begs her guest to accept her rules of the game - getting to know him better, she will not be so secretive. But if the sophistication of Camilo's manners, the elegance of his speeches make a great impression on Leonard, then Urban definitely does not like this man for the same reason: the young man seems too feminine and refined to the servant. Since Camilo does not know the name of his beautiful lady, he comes up with names for her, and at the same time for everyone present. So Leonard becomes Diana, Martha becomes Iris, and Urban becomes Mercury. In such conversations, time flies by unnoticed, it begins to get light, and, putting a hood on the guest, Urban escorts him to the Royal Bridge.

That same night, at the door of the beautiful widow, Otho, Valerio and Lisandro, wrapped in cloaks, again collide. The same thought gnaws at them all: if Leonarda is so unapproachable, there must be some explanation, and, no doubt, if the widow is not seen in love affairs, then she hides her lover in her house. Young people decide that only Urban can be such a lover, and decide to lie in wait for him and kill him.

Time passes; Camilo and Leonarda's dates continue. The woman still hides her true name from him, but despite this, despite the fact that all dates take place in the twilight, Camilo falls passionately in love with this woman. He tells about this on a country walk to his servant Floro. Here, not far away, the carriage stops, from which Leonard descends. Faithful Martha accompanies her. Camilo and Floro appreciate the widow's beauty; Camilo lavishes pleasantries on Leonarda, but admits to her that he is passionately in love with a woman whose face he has never seen, and strongly rejects even Leonarda's suggestion that he could forget his love for someone else. When Leonarda leaves, Floro reproaches his master for being indifferent to the charms of a woman, but Camilo speaks very dismissively of Leonarda's beauty. At this moment, Urban runs in, pursued by Valerio, Ogon and Lisandro. Camilo stands up for him and saves Leonarda's servant, not suspecting that this is his nightly guide.

Before Camilo met Leonarda, he was in love with Celia, who cannot survive betrayal and continues to pursue the young man with her love. She lies in wait for him on the street and, showering him with reproaches of ingratitude, begs him to return to her. Camilo is trying to get rid of the annoying woman, but then Leonard and Martha appear not far away. Watching this scene, the meaning of which is clear even without words, the widow experiences burning pangs of jealousy. She finds an opportunity to talk to a young man when he is alone, but he, wanting to get rid of her, begins to lavish compliments on her and even says that he is ready to forget his Diana for her sake, whose face he has not even seen. Leonarda is shocked by Camilo's betrayal and decides to break up with him that same night.

Meanwhile, Lusensio, feeling responsible for the fate of Leonarda, although her stubborn unwillingness to remarry and seems to him hypocrisy, leaves no hope of finding a groom for the young widow. He receives a letter from his friend in Madrid, in which he reports that he has found a husband for Leonarda, painting a possible applicant in the most iridescent colors. This letter is brought to Valencia by Rosano, who is instructed to make every effort to persuade Leonard to agree. Together they go to Leonarda, who is extremely annoyed by the behavior of Camilo. And in this state, the young widow almost immediately agrees to give her hand and heart to the Madrid fiance: she wants to leave Valencia in order to forget the unfaithful Camilo. Delighted, Rosano, leaving Lucencio, who hesitated, leaves the house to quickly report this news to Madrid, and runs into Ogon, Valerio and Lisandro, who are waiting for Urban. If in the morning Camilo's intercession saved him, now the fans have firmly decided to deal with the one they consider their lucky rival. Mistaking Rosano for Urban, they severely injure the young man.

And alive and unharmed, Urban, sent to the Royal Bridge, returns to Leonarda with bad news: on the way, he and Camilo met an alguacil, to whom they were forced to give their names. Leonarda, realizing that now, having recognized the servant, Camilo easily recognizes his mistress, orders Urban to pretend that he has been serving her cousin for a year. She resolutely rejects the servant's timid objections that in this way they will cast a shadow on another woman - when it comes to her honor, Leonarda will stop at nothing.

The next morning, Camilo and Floro meet Urban in the church, who accompanies Leonard's old and ugly cousin. He cannot believe his eyes and is shocked that he was so deceived. In his temper, Camilo immediately writes a letter where he refuses his beloved, mockingly reproaching that she misled him, taking advantage of the twilight. Needless to say, Urban passes this letter on to Leonarda.

Angry at the ease with which Camilo mistook her for an old cousin, the widow forces Martha to change into a man's dress and bring Camilo to her. He, after a message from Leonarda, in which she reproaches him for his gullibility, agrees to another date. But now Camilo decides to be smarter and orders Floro to prepare a lantern with a candle lit inside. Once at Leonarda's, he lights up the room - and recognizes in his lady of the heart the widow with whom he recently spoke. Ausensio comes running to the noise, who came to share his concern about Rosano's health and therefore is in the house at such a late hour. He draws his sword, but Leonard admits that she has long loved Camilo and decided to link her fate with him. Delighted, Lusensio immediately announces the news to the people who have fled to the cries of Urban, and the next day it is decided to have a wedding - this is the happy ending of the play.

N. A. Matyash

(Marta la Piadosa)

Comedy (1615, publ. 1636)

Dona Marta and Dona Lucia, daughters of Don Gomez, mourn their brother, who was killed by Don Felipe. But both girls are secretly in love with Don Felipe and are actually more worried about his fate than grieving for their dead brother. Martha guesses about Lucia's love for Felipe. To convict her sister of pretense, she tells Lucia that Felipe has been captured in Seville and will be put on trial. Lucia, who a minute before demanded death for her brother's killer, cannot hold back her tears. Seeing the grief of the sister. Marta realizes that her instincts did not deceive her and Lucia is really in love with Felipe.

Don Gomez receives a letter from an old friend of Captain Urbin. Urbina returned from the West Indies, where he amassed a huge fortune, and now wants to marry Martha. Don Gomez reflects: "He is my age. / I am old and gray. / But he has a hundred thousand pesos! / And a pile of gold coins / Adds weight to a man / Removes the burden of years from him." / Urbina invites Gomez and his daughters to Illescas, where he has a manor: soon a festival will begin in Illescas and a bullfight will take place, so that the guests will not be bored. Gomez and his daughters are going to leave tomorrow. He decides not to tell Martha about Urbina's matchmaking yet. Marta receives a note from Felipe that he is in Illescas. The girl is afraid that, having stayed there until the holiday, he will fall into the hands of the alguacils. Lucia congratulates her father on the capture of the killer. Gomez, who hears about this for the first time, rejoices at the news. Lucia no longer hides her feelings from Marta and reproaches herself for being jealous of Felipe.

Felipe and his friend Pastrana in Illescas. Pastrana persuades Felipe to run away and advises him to join the troops of Admiral Fakhardo - no one will find him there. But Felipe wants to see Marta first, who is about to arrive in Illescas. Felipe knows that both Marta and Lucia are in love with him. He himself loves Marta and would be happy to get rid of Lucia.

Urbina and Gomez meet after a long separation. The lieutenant, Urbina's nephew, falls in love with Lucia at first sight.

In Illescas Square, the lieutenant fights with a bull. Among the spectators are Marta and Lucia. The bull knocks the Lieutenant out of the saddle, and if it were not for Felipe, who slaughters the bull, the Lieutenant would have died. Felipe and Lieutenant are old friends. The lieutenant rejoices at the unexpected meeting and thanks Felipe for saving him. The lieutenant says that his uncle wants to marry Marta, and he himself dreams of marrying Lucia. The lieutenant invites Felipe to go up to the balcony, where Marta and Lucia congratulate him on his victory, but Felipe refuses: he killed their brother in a duel and is now hiding from justice.

Gomez carefully talks to Martha about marriage. While praising Urbina, he keeps mentioning his nephew, and Marta decides that her father wants to marry her to Lieutenant. The lieutenant, catching Marta's gaze on himself, thinks that she has fallen in love with him, but his heart belongs to Lucia, and he willingly yields to Marta to his uncle. Urbina proposes to Martha and her delusion is dispelled. She laments: "Is it to the grave / Are we vulnerable to love arrows? / Oh, how sad our human destiny!" Urbina is waiting for a response from Marta. Felipe, unnoticed among the guests, approaches Marta and for a moment throws back the cloak that hides his face. Marta refuses Urbina: she has taken a vow of chastity and cannot break it. Gomez is furious: how dare his daughter disobey him! Martha explains that until now the vow has not prevented her from being a submissive daughter, and she was silent, but now it is time to announce it publicly. Felipe is confused. Martha promises in a whisper to explain everything to him later.

Captain Urbina comes to Madrid hoping to persuade Marta to marry. But Gomez informs him that Marta leads a monastic life and has even stopped dressing up. Urbina is not averse to marrying her nephew to Lucia, and Gomez hopes that her sister's example will have a beneficial effect on Martha: "And the happiness of a sisterly appearance / Will make Martha throw nonsense: / Where persuasion is useless, / There envy will sober up." The lieutenant is now far away: he went on a campaign together with the Duke of Makeda. When he returns, he will declare his love to Lucia and lead her down the aisle.

The lieutenant returns. He tells in detail about the fight against the Moors and the capture of the fortress of Mamora. Martha appears in monastic attire: she was in the hospital and helped the suffering. She intends to use her dowry to build an infirmary. Gomez, powerless to dissuade her, agrees to everything, hoping that she will soon give up her quirks. Under the name of Don Juan Hurtado, Pastrana comes to Gomez. He says that he arrived on behalf of the Seville court in order to obtain a power of attorney from Gomez - then the criminal Felipe cannot escape execution, Felipe wants to distract Gomez in this way and, taking advantage of the fact that Gomez does not know him by sight, appear in his house. Pastrana is afraid that Lucia will recognize him, but Marta promises to deceive her sister's vigilance. Gomez is happy that the news of Felipe's arrest has been confirmed, and willingly gives Pastrana all the necessary papers. Gomez wants revenge, while Marta talks about mercy and the need to forgive enemies. Felipe arrives at Gomez's house disguised as a sick student. Martha takes pity on the poor man and, against her father's will, wants to leave him in the house until the infirmary is built. She threatens that if Gomez drives the patient away, she will leave with him. Felipe, who identified himself as a licentiate of Nibenimedo, says that he can give Latin lessons, and Marta immediately seizes on this idea: in order to better understand the prayers, she needs to take Latin lessons. When everyone leaves the hall and Martha and Felipe are left alone, they hug. Gomez accidentally walks in, and Martha pretends to support the unconscious licentiate.

Urbina, admiring Martha's piety, donates eight thousand gold pieces to build a hospital. Gomez wants to know what Martha's progress is in learning Latin. Felipe asks Marta to decline the word "dura", but Marta plays an insult, and although Felipe explains to her that "dura" in Latin means "severe", he does not want to decline anything. Left alone, Marta and Felipe kiss. Enter Lucia, who has not given Felipe up to now, hoping that he entered the house for her sake. She is tormented by jealousy and wants to expose the deceivers. Lucia tells Marta that her father is calling her, and when her sister comes out, she reproaches Felipe for treason. Fedipe assures Lucia that he loves her alone. When he entered the house to see her. Martha recognized him and wanted to betray him to her father: in order to save his life, he pretended to be in love with Martha. Lucia throws herself on Felipe's neck. Entered Marta finds them together and, having overheard Felipe's love confessions, decides that she is deceiving. When Lucia leaves, giving Felipe the word to become his wife, Marta sets up a scene of jealousy for Felipe and calls Gomez, Lieutenant and Urbina to seize the villain. Everyone rushes to the call of Martha. Gomez is amazed to hear from the lips of his daughter the words: "God strike me." Martha, having come to her senses, pretends to scold the licentiate who said this phrase and mentioned the name of the Lord in vain. She repeats this phrase, which he allegedly said and which she cannot forgive him: "Say "God strike me"! .. / Fall down or get out of the house!" - and beats Felipe. Gomez reproaches Marta for being too strict, Urbina calls her a saint, the offended Felipe wants to leave, but Marta, pretending to be concerned about the fate of the poor patient, allows him to stay and even asks for his forgiveness. The lieutenant, left alone with Felipe, asks him about the reason for the masquerade. He guessed that Felipe was in love with Marta, and was ready to help him in every possible way. Felipe is thinking about how to arrange Lucia to the Lieutenant. Felipe tells Lucia in secret that he is afraid of the jealous Lieutenant, who is in love with her. To throw him off the trail, he allegedly told the Lieutenant that he was in love with Marta, and advises Lucia, in order to finally lull the Lieutenant's vigilance, to accept his advances favorably. Lucia reluctantly agrees.

Marta, seeing her lover's longing, offers to have dinner by the river. Pastrana thinks it's better to have a feast in a secluded garden near the Prado park. He wants to remove two old men - Gomez and Urbina - from Madrid, then the lovers will be able to get married and no one will be able to separate them. Pastrana, under the guise of Don Juan Hurtado, comes to Gomez with the message that the verdict on the murderer of his son has already been announced in Seville and the criminal will be beheaded in the square. His property should pass into the hands of Gomez. If Gomez wants to see the execution of the villain, he must hurry to Seville. Urbina, it turns out, also has business in Seville, and old friends decide to go together. Martha, pretending that she wants to help Lucia marry Felile, persuades her to give the Lieutenant consent to marry him to avert her eyes. The simple-hearted Lucia falls for this bait and promises the Lieutenant her hand.

Gomez and Urbina return to Madrid. On the way to Seville, they were caught up by a friend of Gomez, to whom his relative, the manager of the ducal castle in Prado, revealed all the intrigues of Martha. Angry Gomez wants to kill Felipe, but he has already managed to get married to Martha and, in addition, has become the owner of a rich inheritance. Felipe asks Gomez to forgive him. Urbina urges a friend to show nobility and not to think about revenge. He himself is so delighted with Martha's cunning that he gives her as a dowry those eight thousand gold pieces that he gave for the construction of the hospital. Lucia realizes that she has been deceived, but quickly consoles herself and decides to marry the Lieutenant. In parting, Gomez gives advice to fathers: "... let daughters / take care of students. / After all, conjugations and inclinations / We know what they are inclined to ...", / and Felipe asks the audience to be indulgent: "I am a pious Marta / Healed from lameness. / If who is lame in what / This is our idea - / do not be angry with us.

O. E. Grinberg

(Don Gil de las Galzas Verdes)

Comedy (1615. publ. 1635)

Dona Juana in a man's suit - green trousers and a camisole - comes from his native Valladolid to Madrid. Quintana, her old faithful servant, accompanies her. He asks the mistress why she left her father's house and travels in male form. Juana says that on Easter, in April, she went out for a walk and met a beautiful stranger whom she fell in love with at first sight. She could not sleep at night, and, opening the door to the balcony, she saw the old handsome man below. Don Martin de Guzman serenaded her at night and sent letters and gifts during the day. Less than two months later, Juana gave up. But when Martin's father Don Andres found out about their love, a terrible scandal erupted. Juana comes from a noble but impoverished family, and the old man appreciates only gold. He wants to marry his son to Ines, the daughter of his friend Don Pedro, but he is afraid that Juana will sue the seducer and perjurer. So Andres decided to send Martin to Madrid under a false name. He wrote to Pedro that his son had connected himself with Juana, but he found a suitable suitor for Inez - Don Gil de Albornoz, who is not only well-born and rich, but also young and handsome. Martin dutifully went to Madrid under the name of Don Gil. Having found out about this, Juana goes after him. So that Martin does not recognize her, she sends Quintana to Vallecas, promising to send him a letter, and hires herself a new servant - Caramanchel. Caramanchel changed many owners: he served with a doctor who prescribed the same medicines to everyone, with a corrupt lawyer, with a gluttonous priest. Caramanchel is surprised at the unmanly appearance of his new master and says that he looks like a castrato. Juana calls himself Don Gil.

Martin comes to Pedro and hands him a letter from Andres, where he praises "don Gil" in every way. Martin says that he wants to get married to Ines as soon as possible, because his father chose another bride for him: if the father finds out about his son’s desire to marry Ines, he will deprive him of his inheritance, Pedro is ready to hurry up with the wedding: he completely trusts Andres and will not waste time on verification of information about the groom. Pedro promises to talk to his daughter today. He will not yet tell her the name of the groom, and in the evening in the Duke's garden, he furtively confesses his love to her. Martin is delighted with his own cunning.

Juan, in love with Ines, begs her not to go to the Ducal Garden: he is tormented by a bad feeling. But Ines had already promised her cousin to go there with her. Ines assures Juan of her love and invites him to come to the garden too.

Pedro talks to Ines about a fiancé, claiming that Juan is no match for him. Ines is unhappy that she is tipped to be the husband of a man whom she has not even seen. Upon learning that the groom's name is Don Gil, she exclaims: "Don Gil? God have mercy! / What is the name! My husband is / A Christmas shepherd in matting / Or sheepskin!" Having learned that Gil is waiting in the Duke's garden. Inez is afraid that he would meet Juan there.

Dona Juana appears in a man's suit in the Ducal Garden. Having bribed servants, she knows about every step of her rival. Seeing Ines, her cousin Clara and Juan, she speaks to them and with her courtesy and beauty captivates the ladies. Juan suffers from jealousy. Hearing that Juana has arrived from Valladolid, Inez asks her about Gila. Juana says her name is also Gil. Ines decides that this is the groom whom her father will read to her. She likes a handsome young man, and Ines is ready to give him her hand. Juana promises to come under the window to Ines at night, and Ines is looking forward to meeting her.

Ines tells her father that she will happily marry Gil. But when she sees Martin, whom Pedro introduces to her as Gil, she realizes that this is not the same Gil with whom she is in love. Her chosen one "Speech flows like a honey river, / Eyes sparkle brighter than the stars" and green pants. Martin promises to come to her tomorrow in green pants.

Doña Juana tells Quintana about her successes: Ines is crazy about her, and Martin, in a rage, is looking everywhere for a double opponent to pierce him with a sword.

Calling herself Elvira, Juana rents a house next door to Ines's. Having met in the garden, the ladies get to know each other and become friends. Juana reminds Ines of her lost lover, and Ines confides all her sorrows to her - thus, Juana knows Martin's every move. Juana is afraid that Martin will suspect that Gil is not Gil at all, but Juana in disguise. She sends Quintana to Martin with the news that after his departure, Juana, who bears the fruit of his love under her heart, has retired to a monastery and there sheds tears day and night. If Martin does not return to her, she will prefer death to dishonor. Juana is sure that, having received such a letter, Martin will believe in the existence of Don Gil.

Don Juan suffers from jealousy. Ines confesses that Khil, dear to her heart, has disappeared, but another self-proclaimed Khil has appeared, and her father forces her to marry him. She asks Juan to kill the rival. For the sake of Ines, Juan is ready to deal with the impostor today. Ines hopes that, having got rid of the false Khil, she will be able to marry Gil Green Pants.

Ines visits her new friend Elvira. "Elvira" tells her that she has arrived from Castile. From childhood, she loves Don Miguel de Ribera, who reciprocated her. But when she gave herself to him, he soon forgot all his vows and left her. Learning that Miguel went to Valladolid, "Elvira" went after him. Miguel's friend Don Gil de Albornoz boasted that a rich and beautiful bride was waiting for him in Madrid, and Miguel, having stolen Don Andres' letter from Gil, introduced himself as Gil in order to marry Ines himself. Fate brought "Elvira" with Gil Green Pants, who looked like her like two drops of water, and the young man fell in love with her. But "Elvira" says that she loves only the anemone Miguel, and is trying with all her might to return him. The ladies find out that Ines doesn't like Miguel and "Elvira" doesn't like Gil.

Quintana gives Martin a note from Juana, who is supposedly in the convent. Martin, who suspected that Juan was in Madrid and was following him, calms down. After reading Juana's letter, he is filled with tenderness for her. Martin assures Quintana that he came to Madrid only to petition the king, and will return to Juana in a few days. He wants to write a reply to Juana and promises to bring it to Quintana the next day. Left alone, Martin thinks that it is unworthy of a nobleman to deceive a woman who is expecting a child from him, and decides to return home.

Juan challenges Martin to a duel. Martin proposes to settle the matter amicably: let Inez make her own choice. Juan says that Ines cannot refuse Martin, because she does not dare to disobey her father, she cries, but is ready to accept and give her hand to Martin. Martin is sorry to lose the right prey from his hands, and, forgetting about his love for Juan, he decides to marry Ines. Martin does not accept Juan's challenge, believing that it is stupid to fight before the wedding - in a month he is ready to fight with an opponent. The servant brings Martin a package from his father in the name of Don Gil de Albornoz: it contains three letters - to Martin, Don Pedro and the merchant Agustin Soller, who must give money to the envoy of Don Gil de Albornoz. Rushing to Ines, Martin loses the letters. They are found by Caramanchel, who gives them to Juana, convinced that she is Gil. Juana sends Quintana for money.

Ines declares to her father that the groom he introduced to her is not Gil at all, but Miguel. Don Pedro is completely bewildered. Ines tells him everything that "Elvira" told her. Don Pedro is indignant at the arrogance of the impostor. Ines promises to introduce him to the real Don Gil. Juana appears in green pants. She tells how Miguel betrayed her trust and stole the letters. But now she has received new letters from her father and can convict the impostor of a lie. Pedro reads Andres' letter and becomes convinced that Juana is the true Don Gil. When Martin shows up, Pedro and Ines expose him as a liar and an impostor. The servant sent to the merchant Soller returns empty-handed: Don Gil has already taken the money intended for him. Martin is furious: an unknown double ruined all his plans.

Quintana brings Martin the news of Juana's death. Martin decides that Don Gil is Juana, who has risen from the grave to punish him. Quintana picks up this idea and says that Juana, after death, comes to her father's house under the guise of a certain Gil and curses Martin, who has forgotten his real name. Martin wants to order five hundred masses so that Juana's spirit will humble and calm down.

Inez asks Caramanchel where his master is. Caramanchel replies that his master Don Gil Green Pants often visits Elvira and leaves her at dawn. Ines does not believe, but Caramanchel shows her Don Gil's love letter to Elvira. Ines is ready to give her hand to Juan if he kills the unfaithful Gil Green Pants.

Juana, having learned from Quintana that Martin never left the thought of marrying Ines, writes to her father that she is on her deathbed, and her killer, Martin, is hiding under the name of Gila to avoid the revenge of her relatives. After reading her letter, her father will immediately go to Madrid, and Martin will have a hard time.

Having accidentally met cousin Ines Clara, who is also in love with Gil Green Pants, Juan in a man's suit declares his love for her too. Ines, who hears their conversation and Gil's unflattering review of herself, decides to marry Miguel out of grief. She urges Miguel to pierce the traitor Gil with a sword, but Juana, afraid of meeting Miguel, says that she is Elvira in disguise: tormented by jealousy, she wanted to know if Ines really loves Gil, and not her Miguel, and she herself wrote a love letter on behalf of Gil to Elvira. Elvira allegedly borrowed a men's suit from Khil, who loves only Ines.

Caramanchel is ordered to deliver the letter to Elvira. Seeing her, he is amazed at her resemblance to his master: "Stay away, stay away from me! Don Gil in a mantilla! / I seem to be sober and not delirious ... / Both of them should be in hell - / And this Gilya and Gilya!" Elvira promises Caramanchel that in an hour he will see both her and his master together. But Caramanchel does not believe and believes that Elvira is Gil in disguise.

Don Juan is looking for his rivals who bear the same name Gil. "There are two of them, and to her window / Both deign to appear: / So let them stab me / Or I will pierce them both." He hurries under the window to Inez. Ines in the dark takes him for her lover - Khil Green Pants. Juan does not dissuade her. Martin soon arrives, also wearing green pants. Seeing Juan talking with Ines, he decides that this is his elusive double, but the thought that this may be the ghost of the late Juana instills fear in him. Don Juan recognizes Martin as a false Gil, whom Ines hates. Juan challenges him to a duel. Inez, seeing two young men in green pants, cannot understand what is wrong. "Elvira" looks out of her window and tells Ines that the traitor Miguel has come here. Martin, mistaking Juan for the spirit of dona Juana, disappears in fear. Clara appears in a man's suit. She came to see if Gil was secretly meeting with Ines. Posing as Khil, she says tender words to Ines. Watching the whole scene from the side, Caramanchel exclaims: "It's not that I'm standing dreaming, / It's not that here the downpour was from Khilei." Juan threatens to kill Clara. Juana changes into a man's dress, goes downstairs and also goes to Inez's window. Juana, Juan and Clara argue over who is the real Gil. Juan rushes at Juan with a sword. Instead, Quintana fights him. Juan is injured.

Juana's father Don Diego, having received a letter from his daughter, comes to Madrid to take revenge on her killer Martin. Martin swears that he did not kill Juana, calling Quintana as a witness, but he claims that Martin stabbed Juana. Alguasil takes Martin into custody. Juana, Juan, Ines, Clara and Don Pedro appear. Juana tells the whole truth, reveals all the tricks that she embarked on in order to return Martin, Martin is happy that he escaped danger. He asks forgiveness from Juana and her hand from Don Pedro. Ines agrees to don Juan, and Clara is ready to become the wife of her old admirer Don Antonio.

O. E. Grinberg

(El Burlador de Sevilla at the Convivado de Piedra)

Drama (probably 1616, published 1930)

Palace of the King of Naples. Night. Don Juan leaves the Duchess Isabela, who takes him for her beloved Duke Octavio. She wants to light a candle, but don Juan stops her. Isabela suddenly realizes that Octavio was not with her and calls for help. The King of Naples comes to the noise and orders the guards to seize don Juan and Isabela. He instructs the Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro Tenorio, to look into what has happened and leaves. Don Pedro orders Isabela to be taken away. When don Pedro and don Juan remain face to face, don Juan tells how he stole his way to Isabela and possessed her. Don Juan is Don Pedro's nephew, and his uncle, willy-nilly, has to cover for his antics. Fearing royal wrath, he sends don Juan to Milan and promises to inform his nephew of the consequences of his deceit. Don Pedro reports to the King of Naples that the man, who was seized by the guards, jumped from the balcony and fled, and the lady, who turned out to be the Duchess Isabela, claims that the Duke Octavio appeared to her at night and treacherously took possession of her. The king orders Isabela to be thrown into prison, and Octavio to be captured and forcibly married to Isabela. Don Pedro and the guards arrive at Octavio's house. Don Pedro, in the name of the king, accuses him of dishonoring Isabela, who believed his promises. Octavio, having learned about the infidelity of his beloved, despairs and decides to secretly flee to Spain. Don Juan, instead of going to Milan, also sails to Spain.

A young fisherwoman, Tisbeia, sits on the seashore near Tarragona and fishes. All her friends are in love, she does not know the pangs of love, and she rejoices that neither passion nor jealousy poison her life. Suddenly, a cry is heard: "Save me! I'm sinking!", and soon two men get out on land: this is don Juan and his servant Katadinon. Don Juan saved the drowning servant, but, having gone to land, he collapsed unconscious. Tisbea sends Catalinon for the fishermen, and she puts don Juan's head in her lap. Don Juan comes to his senses and, seeing the beauty of the girl, declares his love for her. The fishermen take don Juan to Tisbey's house. Don Juan orders Katadinon to get horses to slip away unnoticed before dawn. Catalinon tries to reassure the owner: "To leave the girl and hide - / Is this a price for hospitality?", but don Juan remembers Aeneas, who abandoned Dido. Don Juan swears love to Tisbea and promises to take her as his wife, but after the gullible girl gives herself to him, he escapes with Katadinon on the horses she had borrowed. Thisbey laments her lost honor.

King Alphonse of Castile talks with Don Gonzalo de Ulloa, who has returned from Lisbon. Gonzado talks about the beauty of Lisbon, calling it the eighth wonder of the world. The king, in order to reward Gonzalo for his faithful service, promises himself to find a worthy groom for his beautiful daughter. He intends to marry her off to don Juan Tenorio. Gonzalo likes the future son-in-law - after all, he comes from a noble Seville family.

Don Juan's father, Don Diego, receives a letter from his brother, Don Pedro, where he tells how don Juan was caught at night with Duchess Isabela. King Alphonse of Castile, learning about this, asks where don Juan is now. It turns out that he arrived in Seville that night. The king is going to report everything to Naples, marry Don Juan to Isabela and save Duke Octavio from the undeserved punishment. In the meantime, out of respect for the merits of his father, he sends don Juan into exile in Aebriha. The king regrets that he too hastily betrothed the daughter of don Gonzado to don Juan, and, in order not to offend don Gonzalo, decides to appoint him a marshal. The servant reports to the King that the Duke of Octavio has arrived and asks to receive him. The king and don Diego think that Octavio knows everything and will ask permission to challenge don Juan to a duel. Don Diego, worried for his son's life, asks the King to prevent the duel. The king affectionately receives Octavio. He promises to write to the King of Naples to remove his disgrace, and invites him to marry the daughter of Don Gonzalo de Ulloa. Don Diego invites Octavio to his house. Having met by chance with don Juan, Octavio, not knowing that don Juan is the culprit of all his suffering, exchanges assurances of friendship with him. Don Juan's friend, the Marquis de la Mota, blames don Juan for forgetting him completely. They often played pranks together, and don Juan asks Mota about the beauties he knows. Mota confides his secret to don Juan: he is in love with his cousin dona Anna, and she loves him too, but unfortunately. The king has already betrothed her to someone else. Mota wrote to Dona Anna and is now waiting for her reply. He is in a hurry on business, and don Juan offers to wait for the letter instead of him. When Mota leaves, dona Anna's maid gives don Juan a note for Mota. Don Juan rejoices: "Luck itself serves me / The postman has contracted. / It is clear that the letter is from a lady, / Whose beauty the Marquis is immodest / Praises. How lucky I am! / I am famous not in vain, as the most / Shameless mischievous: / I really am a master / To dishonor the girls in such a way / So that there is no evidence. Don Juan opens the letter. Dona Anna writes that it is "three times more terrible" for her to live with her unloved spouse, and if Mota wants to connect her fate with her, let him come to her at eleven o'clock, wearing a colored raincoat, so that it would be easier to recognize him. Don Juan tells the Marquis de la Mota that his chosen one is waiting for him at midnight in her bedroom and asks him to put on a colored cloak so that the duennas recognize him. Mota is beside herself with happiness. Don Juan rejoices in the adventure ahead.

Don Diego scolds his son for being a vicious glorious family, and conveys to him the order of the King to immediately leave Seville and go to Lebrija.

Don Juan meets Mota at night, who can't wait to see dona Anna. Because it was still an hour before midnight, and don Juan was looking for entertainment. Mota shows him where Beatrice lives and lends her colored cloak so that the beautiful lady will take don Juan for Mota and be affectionate with him. Don Juan in Mota's cloak goes not to Beatrice, but to Dona Anna, but he fails to deceive the girl, and she drives the insolent man away. At the cry of his daughter, Don Gonzalo comes running with a drawn sword. He does not allow don Juan to escape, and in order to save himself, he stabs don Gonzalo.

Rushing out of don Gonzalo's house, don Juan runs into Mota, who hurriedly retrieves his cloak, for it is about midnight. Don Juan manages to tell him that his prank ended badly, and Mota prepares to disentangle Beatrice's reproaches. Don Juan is in hiding. Mota hears screams and wants to find out what's wrong, but then the guards grab him. Don Diego brings Motu to King Alphonse of Castile, who orders the trial and execution of the villain tomorrow. Mota can't figure out what's wrong, but no one explains anything to him. The King orders to bury the glorious Commander - Don Gonzalo - with all honors.

In a field near the village of Dos Hermanas, peasants celebrate the wedding of Patricio and Aminta. Shepherds sing songs. Unexpectedly, Catalinon appears, who announces that a new guest will soon arrive - don Juan Tenorio. Gaseno, the father of the bride, rejoices at the arrival of a noble lord, Patricio is not at all happy with the uninvited guest. When don Juan approaches the festive table, Gaseno asks the guests to make room, but don Juan, who has taken a liking to Aminta, sits right next to her. After the wedding feast, don Juan declares to Patricio that Aminta is his longtime mistress and she herself invited him to see him for the last time before she marries another out of grief. Hearing this about the bride, Patricio yields to her don Juan without regret. Don Juan, asking Gaseno for Aminta's hand and ordering Catalinon to saddle the horses and bring them to the stallion, goes to Aminta's bedroom. Aminta wants to drive him away, but don Juan says that Patricio has forgotten her and from now on he, don Juan, is her husband. The sweet words of the deceiver, who says that he is ready to marry her even against her father's will, soften the girl's heart, and she gives herself to don Juan.

Isabela, on her way to Seville, where she is to be married to don Juan, meets Tisbeia, who confides her grief to her: don Juan seduced her and abandoned her. Tisbea wants to take revenge on the deceiver and complain about him to the King. Isabela takes her as her companion.

Don Juan is talking to Catalinon in the chapel. The servant says that Octavio found out who was responsible for all his troubles, and the Marquis de da Mota also proved his innocence in the murder of don Gonzalo. Noticing the tomb of the Commander, don Juan reads the inscription on it: "Cavaliero is buried here. / He is waiting for the right hand of God / He will take revenge on the soul-destroyer". Don Juan pulls the beard of the statue of the Commander, then invites the stone statue to his place for dinner. In the evening, when don Juan and Catalinon sit down at the table, there is a knock at the door. The servant sent to open the door cannot utter a word for fear; the cowardly Katadinon, whom don Juan orders to let the guest in, as if swallowed by horror. Don Juan takes the candle and goes to the door himself. Don Gonzalo enters, in the form in which he is sculpted above his tomb. He slowly approaches don Juan, who retreats in confusion. Don Juan invites the stone guest to the table. After supper, the Commander makes a sign to don Juan to send the servants away. Left alone with him. The commander takes don Juan's word to come tomorrow at ten to dinner in the chapel, accompanied by a servant. The statue leaves. Don Juan is brave, trying to overcome the horror.

Isabela arrives in Seville. The thought of shame haunts her, and she languishes with grief. Don Diego asks the King to remove don Juan's disgrace, as soon as he is going to marry him to the Duchess Isabela. The king promises not only to remove the disgrace, but also to grant don Juan the title of count so that Isabela's pride does not suffer, because Octavio, with whom she was previously betrothed, is a duke. The Queen asked the King to forgive the Marquis de da Mota, and the King orders the Marquis to be released and married to Dona Anna. Octavio asks the King for permission to challenge don Juan to a duel, but the King refuses him.

Aminta and her father are looking for don Juan. Upon meeting Octavio, they ask where they can find him. Octavio, having found out why they need him, advises Gaseno to buy his daughter an outfit that looks like a court one, and promises to take her to the King himself.

The wedding of don Juan and Isabela is to take place at night, but before that, don Juan is going to keep his word and visit the statue of the Commander. When he and Catalinon arrive at the chapel where Don Gonzalo is buried, the Commander invites them to share a meal with him. He tells don Juan to lift the tombstone - underneath it is a black table set for supper. Two ghosts in black bring chairs. On the table - scorpions, toads, snakes, from drinking - bile and vinegar. After dinner, the Commander extends his hand to don Juan. Don Juan gives him his. Squeezing don Juan's hand, the statue says, "The Lord is inscrutable / In his righteous decisions. / He wants to be punished / You for all your evil deeds / With this dead hand. / The supreme sentence reads: / "According to deeds and retribution." Don Juan says that Dona Anna is clean: he did not have time to dishonor her. He asks to bring a priest to forgive his sins. But Don Gonzalo is relentless. Don Juan is dying. There is a crash, the tomb, along with don Juan and don Gonzalo, collapses, and Catalinon falls to the floor.

Patricio and Gaseno come to the King with a complaint about don Juan, who deceived Patricio from Aminta. They are joined by Tisbeia, whom don Juan has dishonored. The Marquis de la Mota comes for her. He found witnesses who were ready to confirm that the crime for which he was imprisoned was not committed by him, but by don Juan. The king orders the capture and execution of the villain. Don Diego also asks that don Juan be condemned to death. Catalin appears. He tells what happened in the chapel. Hearing about the just punishment that befell the villain. The king proposes to celebrate three weddings as soon as possible:

Octavio with the widowed Isabela, Mota with Dona Anna, and Patricio with Aminta.

O. E. Grinberg

(La vida del buscon, Llamado don Pablos)

Rogue novel. (1603-1604)

According to the laws of the genre, a picaresque novel begins with a description of the childhood years of the hero. Pablos' parents - a witch mother, a thief father - are constantly arguing over whose profession is better. "Theft, son, is not a simple craft, but a fine art," says the father. But the boy cherishes noble dreams from childhood, rejects the parents' proposals to master their "art" and only thanks to his perseverance goes to study. At school, Pablos meets Don Diego Coronel, the son of noble hidalgos, he sincerely loves his new friend and gladly teaches him various games. But the stay of our hero at school was short, as the following happened to him. During the carnival, a skinny horse, on which Pablos was sitting, grabbed a head of cabbage from a vegetable stand and immediately swallowed it. The merchants raised a cry, began to pelt Pablos and his schoolmates with rutabagas, eggplants and other vegetables; schoolchildren, not at a loss, stocked up with stones, and a real battle began. The servants of justice broke off the fight, but still not without casualties. Don Diego's head was pierced, and his parents decided not to let their son go to school anymore.

Pablos' parents were also furious, blaming their negligent son for everything. Pablos decides to leave his father's house, quit school and stay with Don Diego as a servant. The boys are sent to a boarding school, but it soon turns out that the licensee of Kabra, who is raising noble children, is starving the pupils out of greed. The only way out for children is to steal, and Pablos becomes a professional thief, realizing that this is his calling. When one of the pupils dies of hunger, Don Diego's father takes his son and Pablos from the boarding house and sends them to the university in Alcala, where Don Diego is to study grammatical sciences. Pablos soon becomes a well-known "hero" due to his cunning and resourcefulness, while his master remains, living among rogue students, much intrigues and pranks, a pious and honest young man. With Pablos, there are many funny stories. So, one day he promised Don Diego and all his friends to steal swords from the night watch. He did this in the following way: having told the watch the story of six non-existent murderers and robbers who are allegedly currently in a brothel, he asks the law enforcement officers to act according to his instructions. Pablos explains to them that the criminals are armed and, as soon as they see the swords that only the guards have, they will start shooting, so the patrol should leave the swords in the grass in the meadow near the house. Naturally, it was not difficult to take possession of the weapon. Having discovered the loss, the sentinels went around all the yards, peering into the faces, and finally, they got to the house of Pablos, who, in order not to be recognized, pretended to be a dead man, putting one of his comrades instead of a confessor. The unfortunate guard retired in utter despair, finding no trace of theft. In Alcala, they were surprised at this trick of Pablos for a long time, although they had already heard that he imposed tribute on all the surrounding gardens and vineyards, and turned the city market into a place "so unsafe for merchants, as if it were a dense forest." All these "feats" earned our hero the fame of the most dexterous and crafty swindler. Moreover, many caballeros sought to lure Pablos into their service, but he remained faithful to Don Diego. And yet fate was pleased to separate the master from the servant.

Don Pablos receives a letter from his uncle, the executioner, who tells the sad news. His father was hanged for theft, and the uncle, who carried out the sentence, is proud of his relative, because he "hung so sedately that it was impossible to demand anything better." Matushka was sentenced by the Inquisition to four hundred deadly lashes for witchcraft. The uncle asks Pablos to come for an inheritance of 400 ducats and advises him to think about the profession of an executioner, since with his knowledge of Latin and rhetoric, he will be unsurpassed in this art. Don Diego was saddened by the separation, Pablos lamented even more, but, parting with his master, he said: "I have become different, senor ... I aim higher, because if my father hit the frontal place, then I want to try to jump above the forehead."

The next day, Pablos goes to Segovia to his uncle and receives the money that his relative has not yet had time to drink. The uncle is talking stupidly, constantly kissing the bottle, and the nephew decides to get away from his house as soon as possible.

The next morning, Pablos hires a donkey from a driver and begins a long-awaited journey to the capital, Madrid, as he is sure that he will be able to live there thanks to his resourcefulness and dexterity. On the way, an unexpected acquaintance is made. Don Toribio, a poor hidalgo who lost his father's property due to the fact that it was not redeemed on time, initiates Pablos into the laws of metropolitan life. Don Toribio is one of the members of a gang of an amazing kind of scammers: their whole life is a deception aimed at making them be taken not for who they really are. So, at night they collect mutton and bird bones, fruit peels, old wineskins on the streets and scatter all this in their rooms. If someone comes to visit in the morning, then the prepared phrase is immediately pronounced: "Sorry for the mess, your grace, there was a dinner party here, and these servants ...", although, of course, there are no servants in sight. The fooled visitor takes all this rubbish for the remnants of a dinner party and believes that before him are wealthy hidalgos. Every morning begins with a thorough examination of one's own clothes, as it is not easy to throw dust in people's eyes: trousers wear out very quickly, so various ways of sitting and standing against the light are invented, each item has its own long history, and, for example, a jacket can to be the granddaughter of a cape and the great-granddaughter of a large cloak - there are no number of tricks.

There are also a million ways to dine in someone else's house. Suppose, after talking with someone for two minutes, the rogues find out where the stranger lives, and go there as if on a visit, but certainly at lunchtime, while never refusing an invitation to join the meal. These young people cannot afford to fall in love unselfishly, and this happens only out of necessity. They drag after innkeepers - for dinner, after the mistress of the house - for the sake of premises, in a word, a nobleman of their kind, if he knows how to dodge, "is his own king, even though he owns little." Pablos is delighted with this extraordinary way of existence and declares to Don Toribio his decision to join their brotherhood. Upon arrival in Madrid, Pablos lives with one of Don Toribib's friends, to whom he is hired as a servant. A paradoxical situation arises: firstly, the rogue feeds his master, and secondly, the rogue does not leave the poor hidalgo. This confirms the true kindness of Pablos, and we sympathize with him, although we understand that there is, in fact, nothing to admire. Pablos spends a month in the company of easy money knights, learning all their thieving tricks. But one day, caught selling a stolen dress, the entire "fraudulent collegium" goes to jail. But Pablos has an advantage - he is new to this company, therefore, having given a bribe, he goes free. Meanwhile, all the other members of the gang are expelled from Madrid for six years.

Pablos settles in a hotel and begins to take care of the master's daughter, introducing himself as Senor Don Ramiro de Guzman. One fine day, Pablos, wrapped in a cloak and changing his voice, portrays the manager of Don Ramiro and asks the girl to inform the lord about his future large income. This case completely struck the girl who dreams of a rich husband, and she agrees to the night date offered by Pablos. But when our hero climbed onto the roof to get into the room through the window, he slipped, flew and "crashed onto the roof of a neighboring house with such force that he broke all the tiles." The whole house woke up from the noise, the servants, mistaking Pablos for a thief, properly beat him with sticks in front of the lady of the heart. Thus, having become the subject of ridicule and insults, the rogue, without paying for food and accommodation, flees from the hotel.

Now Pablos introduces himself as Don Felipe Tristan and, relying on his enterprise and continuing to pretend to be a rich groom, tries to get acquainted with a noble lady. Soon the bride is found, but, to the misfortune of Pablos, her cousin turns out to be Don Diego Coronel, who recognizes his former servant in Don Felipe Tristan and orders his current servants to properly pay off the vile deceiver and rogue. As a result, Pablos' face is cut with a sword, he is all wounded and groans in pain. This unexpected reprisal unsettled him, and for some time Pablos was doomed to enforced inactivity. Then some poor man taught him the necessary mournful tone and lamentations of a beggar, and our hero wanders the streets for a whole week, begging. Soon, however, his fate changed dramatically again. One of the greatest swindlers "that God has ever created" invites him to work for a couple, revealing his greatest secret in the supreme art of begging. On the day they steal three or four children, and then, for a large reward, they themselves return them to their grateful parents. Having profited well from this, Pablos leaves the capital and heads for Toledo, a city where he knows no one and no one knows about him.

At the inn, our hero meets a troupe of itinerant comedians who are also on their way to Toledo. He is accepted into the troupe, he turns out to be a born actor and enthusiastically plays on stage. Soon he becomes famous and is already writing comedies himself, thinking about becoming the director of the troupe. But all his plans fall apart in an instant. The director, without paying some debt, goes to prison, the troupe breaks up, and everyone goes his own way. His actor friends offer him work in other troupes, but Pablos refuses, because he temporarily does not need money, has lost interest in work and just wants to have fun. For a while, he attends services at a convent and falls in love with one of the nuns. Having robbed a naive girl, Pablos disappears from Toledo.

Now his path lies in Seville. Here, in a short time, he masters the basics of a cheating game of cards and becomes an ace among other scammers. Unexpectedly, in the city hotel, Pablos meets one of his associates in Alcala named Matorral, a professional assassin. Once accidentally caught in a bloody battle with the night watch, Pablos, along with him, is forced to hide from justice.

To find out if his lot will improve with a change in place and mainland, Pablos moves to the West Indies. "However, it all turned out for the worse, for the one who changes his place and does not change his way of life and his habits will never correct his fate."

N. B. Vinogradova

(El principe constante)

Drama (1628-1629)

The play is based on true historical events - an unsuccessful campaign in Africa by Portuguese troops under the command of Infantes Fernando and Enrique, who tried in vain to storm the city of Tangier in 1437.

The king of Fetz wants to recapture the city of Ceuta from the Portuguese. Prince Taroudant promises to send ten thousand horsemen to help him if the king will give his daughter Phoenix for him. The princess does not dare to contradict her father, but in her heart she is against marriage with Taroudant, for she loves the Moorish commander Muley. Her father gives her a portrait of the prince. At this time, Muley appears, who, by order of the king, sailed for reconnaissance to Ceuta. At sea, he noticed a fleet from Lisbon, which was heading for Tangier under the command of the brothers of the Portuguese king, princes Enrique and Fernando. Don Enrique is the master of the Order of Avis, and Don Fernando is the master of the Order of Christ (religious knightly orders created to fight the "infidels"). Mouley urges the king to prepare for the defense of Tangier and punish the enemies with the "terrible whip of Mohammed" so that the prediction of soothsayers that "Africa will be the grave" will come true. The king of Fetz gathers troops, and orders Muley to take cavalry and attack the enemy.

Before the fight, Muley reproaches Phoenix for having a portrait of Taroudant. He believes that the princess cheated on him. Phoenix replies that she is not guilty of anything, she had to obey the will of her father. He demands to give the portrait.

Don Fernando and Don Enrique land with troops near Tangier. They want to capture the city and establish the Christian faith in Africa. However, Don Enrique sees evil signs in everything, "an ominous seal of trouble" - either a solar eclipse, or "the fleet scattered a cyclone across the sea", or he himself stumbled, stepping on the land of Africa. It seems to him that "the whole sky is covered in blood, night birds are overhead during the day, and above the earth ... - around the coffin." Don Fernando, on the contrary, sees good omens in everything, however, no matter what happens, he is ready to thank God for everything, for God's judgment is always fair.

A fight begins, during which Don Fernando captures Muley, who has fallen from his horse. Don Fernando notices that the Moor is terribly sad, but not because he was captured. The prince asks him about the cause of grief. Muley is struck by the nobility of the enemy and his participation in someone else's grief. He talks about his unhappy love, and the prince lets him go to his bride. Muley swears that he will not forget about such a good deed.

The Moors surround the Portuguese, and Don Fernando calls in the name of Christ to fight or die.

Brito, a jester from Prince Fernando's retinue, pretends to be dead in an attempt to save his life on the battlefield.

Fernando and his retinue surrender, the king of Fetz is ready to save the prisoner's life and set him free if the Portuguese give Ceuta. Prince Enrique goes to Lisbon to the king.

On a deserted battlefield, two Moors see Brito lying down and want to drown his body so that it does not become a breeding ground for the plague. Brito jumps up and the Moors flee in terror.

the phoenix tells Muley what happened to her during the hunt: by the stream in the forest she either met, or dreamed of an old woman, "a ghost, a ghost, delirium, a swarthy, withered skeleton." Her toothless mouth whispered mysterious words, full of meaning, but still incomprehensible - "to be an exchange payment for you, a ransom for a dead man." the phoenix is ​​afraid that rock is gravitating over her, that a terrible fate awaits her "to be a bargaining chip for someone's earthly death." Muley interprets this dream in his own way, thinking that we are talking about his death as the only salvation from suffering and adversity.

Fernando meets Christian slaves on a walk and encourages them, urging them to endure the blows of fate, for this is Christian wisdom: since this lot is sent from above, "there is a goodness of the devil in it. Fate is not forever in the same position. News and changes and A king and a slave are awaited."

The king of Fetz appears, and together with Prince Fernando they see a Portuguese galley covered with black cloth swim up to the shore. Don Enrique comes ashore in mourning attire and reports the sad news that the king, having learned about the capture of Fernando, died of grief. In his will, he ordered that Ceuta be given to the Moors in exchange for the prince. The new king Alphonse approved this decision. However, Prince Fernando indignantly refuses such an offer and says that "it is unimaginable that the sovereign of the Christian Moors would surrender the city without a fight." Ceuta is "the center of piety, the citadel of Catholicism", and it cannot be given over to the "infidels" for desecration, for they will turn "chapels into stalls, they will arrange mangers in the altars", they will make mosques in the temples. It will be a shame for all Christians, the descendants will say that "Christians kicked God out" in order to clear the premises for evil demons to please. The inhabitants of Ceuta, in order to preserve their wealth, will change their faith and accept Islam. The life of one person, even a prince, says Fernando, is not worth such sacrifices. He is ready to remain in slavery so as not to sacrifice so many innocent people. The prince tears up the king's letter and is ready to live in prison with the slaves. And for the consecration of the temple in Ceuta in the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Pure Mother of God, the prince is ready to give his life to the last drop of blood.

The king of Fetz is enraged by such an answer from the prince and threatens him with all the horrors of slavery: "Now, in front of all the people, in front of your brother, you will slavishly kiss my feet on the ground in front of me." Fernando is ready to endure everything with joy as God's will. The king declares that the slave must give everything to the master and obey him in everything, which means that Don Fernando must give to King Ceuta. However, the prince replies that, firstly, Ceuta is not his, but "God's", and secondly, that "heaven teaches obedience only in a just cause." If the master wants the slave to "do evil," then the slave is "powerful to disobey the order." The king orders that shackles be put on the prince's legs and neck and kept on black bread and sea water and sent to the stable to clean the royal horses. Don Enrique vows to return with troops to free the prince from shame.

During hard labor, slaves from the retinue of Prince Fernando try to surround him with care and help him, but he refuses this and says that everyone is equal in slavery and humiliation.

Phoenix meets Prince Fernando on a walk and asks with surprise why he is in such rags. He replies that these are the laws that tell slaves to live in poverty. Phoenix objects to him - after all, in the morning the prince and the king were friends and Don Fernando lived in captivity like a king. The prince replies that "such is the order of the earth":

roses bloom in the morning, and by the evening their petals "found a grave in the cradle", so human life is changeable and short-lived. He offers the princess a bouquet of flowers, but she refuses them - by flowers, like by stars, you can read the future, and it frightens the Phoenix, because everyone is subject to "death and fate" - "our destinies are buildings without supports." "Our life and growth" depends on the stars.

Muley offers the prince to arrange an escape, for he remembers that Fernando gave him freedom on the battlefield. To bribe the guards, he gives Fernando money and says that a ship will be waiting for the captives at the agreed place. The king of Fez notices the prince and Muley together from a distance and begins to suspect them of conspiracy. He orders Muley to guard the prisoner day and night, in order to keep an eye on both. Muley does not know what to do - betray the king or remain ungrateful towards the prince. Fernando answers him that honor and duty are higher than friendship and love, he is ready to guard himself so as not to endanger his friend, and if someone else offers him to run away, Fernando will refuse. He believes that, apparently, "it is so pleasing to God that in slavery and captivity" he remains a "steadfast prince."

Muley comes with a report to the king about how the prince-slave lives: his life has become hell, his appearance is pitiful, the prisoner stinks so much that when they meet him, people scatter; he sits by the road on a heap of dung, like a beggar, his companions beg for alms, since prison food is too scarce. "Prince with one foot in the grave, Fernando's song is short-lived," says Muley. Phoenix Princess asks her father for mercy to the prince. But the king replies that Fernando himself chose such a fate for himself, no one forced him to live in a dungeon, and only in his power to hand over Ceuta as a ransom - then the fate of the prince will immediately change.

An envoy from the Portuguese king Alphonse and the Moroccan prince Taroudant arrive to the king of Fez. They approach the throne and at the same time each begin his speech. Then they start arguing over who to tell first. The king grants this right to the guest, and the Portuguese envoy offers for Fernando as much gold as two cities can cost. If the king refuses, then the Portuguese troops will come to the land of the Moors with fire and sword. Taroudant recognizes the Portuguese king Alphonse himself in the messenger and is ready to fight him. The king of Fetz forbids the duel, because both are visiting him, and the Portuguese king answers the same as before: he will give the prince in exchange for Ceuta.

Taroudant wants to take his bride Phoenix with him, the king does not mind, because he wants to strengthen a military alliance with the prince against the Portuguese. The king instructs Muley with soldiers to guard Phoenix and deliver her to her fiancé, who is sent to the troops.

The slaves carry Prince Fernando out of prison, he sees the sun and the blue sky above him and is surprised at how great the world is, he rejoices that the light of Christ is above him, he sees God's grace in all the hardships of fate. The king of Fetz passes by and, turning to the prince, asks what drives him - modesty or pride? Fernando replies that he offers his soul and body as a sacrifice to God, he wants to die for the faith, no matter how much he starves, no matter how much he endures torment, no matter what rags he wears, no matter what heaps of dirt serve as his dwelling, in faith he not broken. The king may triumph over the prince, but not over his faith.

Fernando feels the approach of death and asks to dress him in a monk's robe and bury him, and then someday the coffin will be transported to his homeland and a chapel will be built over the grave of Fernando, because he deserved it.

On the seashore far from Fez, King Alphonse lands with troops, he is going to surprise Taroudant in a mountain gorge, who accompanies his bride Phoenix to Morocco. Don Enrique dissuades him, because the sun has set and night has come. However, the king decides to attack in the dark. Fernando's shadow appears in an order's mantle, with a torch, and calls on the king to fight for the triumph of the Christian faith.

The king of Fez learns of the death of Prince Fernando and over his coffin declares that he received a fair punishment for not wanting to give Ceuta, death will not save him from severe punishment, for the king forbids burying the prince - "let him stand unburied - to passers-by for warning ".

The shadow of Don Fernando with a burning torch appears at the fortress wall, on which King Fetz has ascended, and behind it come King Alphonse and Portuguese soldiers, leading Taroudanta, Phoenix and Muley, captured. The shadow of Fernando orders Alphonse at the walls of Fez to negotiate for the release of the prince.

Alphonse shows the captives to the king of Fez and offers to exchange them for the prince. The king is in despair, he cannot fulfill the condition of the Portuguese king, since Prince Fernando has already died. However, Alphonse says that the dead Fernando means no less than the living one, and he is ready to give "for the corpse of a soulless hand-written beauty a picture" - Phoenix. So the fortuneteller's prediction comes true. In memory of the friendship between Muley and Prince Fernando, King Alphonse asks to give the phoenix as Muley's wife. The coffin with the body of Fernando is taken to the ship to the sound of trumpets.

A. P. Shishkin

(La Dama duende)

Comedy (1629)

The action takes place in the XNUMXth century. in Madrid. Don Manuel and his servant Cosme, who have arrived in the city, are looking for don Juan's house. Don Manuel and don Juan studied together and fought together, they are old friends. Two ladies appear in the street, their faces covered with veils. Someone is chasing them and they ask don Manuel for protection. He is ready to protect the ladies "from shame and misfortune." They disappear, followed by Don Luis with his servant Rodrigo. Don Luis wants to know the name of the beautiful stranger, whose face he barely noticed. To delay him, Cosme approaches him and asks him to read the address on the letter. Don Luis rudely pushes him away. Then don Manuel stands up for his servant and says that he must teach a lesson in politeness to a rude man. They fight with swords.

Don Juan appears in the street with his servants and Dona Beatriz with her maid Clara. Don Juan wants to help his brother don Luis, but dona Beatriz is holding him back. Don Juan recognizes the opponent as Don Manuel's brother and tries to reconcile the two. Don Manuel is wounded in the wrist and needs help. Don Juan generously invites him to his house. Dona Beatriz, hearing about the wound, thinks that don Juan is wounded. Don Luis, who is not indifferent to her, notices her excitement and regrets that he is not the cause of her anxiety.

Don Luis is very worried that his brother has settled in the house of his friend, a single cavalier, as he may accidentally meet with their sister, doña Angela, who is in mourning for her husband. However, Rodrigo's servant reassures him - the entrance to the guest's half is disguised by a cupboard with dishes, and no one will guess that there is a door there.

Doña Angela complains about her widow's fate to the maid Isabel. She wears mourning, and her brothers keep her locked up, for it is considered a shame for the family if a widow meets men and goes to the theater. The maid answers her that many widows at the court of the king are outwardly pious and virtuous, and hide sin under a veil and "to the sound of a pipe, anyone, like a ball, is ready to jump in a dance." She remembers that cavaliero they met in the street and asked for protection when they fled from Don Luis, hiding their faces under veils. Dona Angela secretly went for a walk from her brothers, and Don Luis took her for a beautiful stranger and wanted to know her name.

Don Luis tells his sister about his adventure, not suspecting that it was her that he saw and because of her he got into a quarrel with a stranger cavaliero. Now this cavalier has taken up residence in their house.

Doña Angela dreams of seeing that cavalier who, for her sake, began to fight with swords, and now stays behind the wall in the house of her brothers. Isabel takes it easy to arrange a meeting - where the door leads to the guest's quarters, don Juan made a closet that can be easily pushed aside. Doña Angela wants to secretly take care of the one who bled for her.

Don Luis, whose soul is burdened by his offense and the wound of Don Manuel, gives him his sword as a token of repentance and a pledge of friendship. He gladly accepts it.

Cosme, left alone in the room, sorts out his things, takes out his wallet and counts the money with pleasure. Then he leaves, and doña Angela and Isabel come out of the door, disguised by the wardrobe. Dona Angela, for the fact that Don Manuel risked his life for her, wants to "repay him ... at least with some gift." She opens his trunk and examines the papers and things. Isabelle searches the servant's chest and puts coals in the purse instead of money. Doña Angela writes a note and puts her on the bed, then they leave.

Cosme returns and sees that things are scattered around the room, and coals instead of money in the wallet. He calls the owner and tells him that the brownie was in charge of the room and the money turned into coals. Don Manuel replies that Cosme is drunk, and don Juan advises the footman to choose other jokes that are not so bold. Cosme swears that someone was in the room. Don Manuel finds a letter on his bed, reads it and understands that it was written by the lady, because of whom he fought with Don Luis: "... any door and door is available to her at any hour. It is not difficult for her to enter her lover's house." But Cosme cannot understand how the note ended up on his master's bed and why things are scattered, because all the windows are locked, and no one entered the house. Don Manuel decides to write an answer, and then follow who takes and brings the notes. He does not believe in brownies, or in spirits, or in sorcerers, because he has not yet had to meet with evil spirits. Cosme continues to believe that "devils are playing tricks here."

Doña Angela shows Dona Beatriz Don Manuel's answer, which is written so kindly and playfully, so aptly imitating the "style of chivalric romances." Doña Angela wants to continue her joke. She learns from Don Manuel's letter that he considers her the lady of Don Luis's heart and thinks that she has the key to his house. However, it is very difficult for Don Manuel to lie in wait for her, for Dona Angela always knows for sure whether the guest has left or is at home. Dona Angela admits that she is jealous, because she found a portrait of a lady in the guest's things and wants to steal it.

Don Manuel prepares to leave for a few days to take his papers to the king in Escorial and asks Cosme to pack his things. But Cosme is afraid to be alone in the room, as it is already dark. Don Manuel calls him a coward and leaves to say goodbye to don Juan. Meanwhile, in Don Manuel's room, Isabel comes out from behind the closet with a closed basket in his hands. Cosme enters with a candle, Isabel sneaks after him, trying not to be noticed by him. Cosme hears a rustle and trembles with fear, Isabel hits him and puts out the candle in order to hide in the darkness, but at that moment Don Manuel enters and asks why Cosme did not light the candle. He replies that the spirit hit him and blew out the fire. Don Manuel scolds him, at this moment Isabel stumbles upon don Manuel in the dark, he grabs a basket and shouts that he has caught a spirit. While Cosme was running after the fire, Isabel groped for the door and left, and in the hands of Don Manuel there was a basket. Cosme brings fire, and the owner and servant see a basket instead of a spirit and begin to wonder who and how could enter the room. The owner says that it was the lady who writes letters to him, and Cosme believes that the basket came straight from hell, from the devils. The basket contains thin linen and a note saying that the lady cannot be Don Luis's lover.

Dona Angela decides to arrange a date with the guest - to blindfold him and take him to her room. Dona Beatriz believes that when he sees a lovely young rich lady in front of him, he can go crazy. She also wants to be secretly present at this date and assures her friend that she will not interfere with the meeting. At this time, don Luis enters and, hiding behind a drapery, eavesdrops on their conversation. It seems to him that we are talking about the meeting of his brother Juan with Beatriz. Don Luis is tormented by jealousy and decides to interfere with the date at all costs.

Don Juan informs the ladies that don Manuel is leaving their house but will return soon. Doña Angela declares that fate temporarily relieves everyone of "the annoying presence of a guest." Don Juan does not understand what his guest did to his sister.

Don Manuel and Cosme return to the house, as they have forgotten important papers for the king. In order not to wake up the owners, they do not light a fire. At this time, Doña Angela and Isabel come out from behind the closet. Doña Angela lights a lantern and wants to read the papers that are on the table. Cosme and Don Manuel notice the light and feel uneasy. Doña Angela takes the candle out of the lantern, puts it in the candlestick on the table, and sits down in an armchair with her back to them both. Don Manuel sees her and is delighted with her beauty, while Cosma imagines that the devil is sitting at the table, whose eyes burn like infernal fires, and on his feet instead of toes, hooves - "if you saw a leg ... The leg always betrays them." Don Manuel approaches dona Angela and grabs her by the arm. She begs him to let her go, since she is only a ghost, their meeting is yet to come, the time has not yet come to reveal the secret: "When you violate it, although by chance, do not expect good!" Cosme is struck by the eloquence of evil spirits: "As he says! The orator is just that devilish lady!" Don Manuel believes that before him is not a ghost, not an obsession, but a living person: "You are flesh and blood, not the devil, no, you are a woman!" But Cosme believes that "it's one and the same!". Doña Angela is ready to tell everything, but asks first to lock the doors to the room. Don Manuel and Cosme leave to fulfill her request, at which time Isavel opens the closet and Doña Angela disappears with her.

Don Manuel and Cosme return and cannot understand where the lady has gone, they examine all corners, Cosme continues to insist that it was not a woman, but the devil in the form of a woman, for there is nothing surprising in this - "if a woman is often all year round devil, devil, even once, to get even, she can become a woman.

Doña Angela's room. Isabel leads Don Manuel by the hand in the dark and asks him to wait. He received a letter in which he had an appointment, and so the servants brought him to a house. The door opens, the girls enter, carrying sweets, and behind them appear the luxuriously dressed dona Angela and dona Beatriz, who pretends to be a maid. Don Manuel is amazed and compares the appearance of a beautiful lady at night with the appearance of the goddess of the morning dawn, Aurora, who "beams with her ruddy beauty, the dawn is already in a hurry to change." Doña Angela replies that fate tells her, on the contrary, to hide in the darkness, and not to shine. She asks not to ask anything, if Don Manuel wants to meet her secretly, in time she will tell him everything. At this time, the voice of don Juan is heard, who asks to open the doors for him. Everyone is in a panic, Isaved takes away Don Manuel, Dona Beatriz hides in Angela's bedroom.

Don Juan asks why his sister is in such a luxurious outfit at night - she replies that she is tired of eternal mourning, "a symbol of sorrow and sadness", and she put on a chic dress to console herself a little. The brother remarks that although "trinkets comfort women's sadness, toilets make it easier, but such behavior is not commendable, inappropriate." Don Juan asks where Dona Beatriz is, the sister replies that she has gone home. Then he is going to go to her under the balcony on a date.

Isabel brings Don Manuel to his room, though he is unaware of it, and leaves him to wait for her to return. At this time, Cosme enters the room and stumbles upon the owner in the dark. Don Manuel guesses that there is a servant in front of him, and asks where he got to and who is the servant's master. Cosme replies that there is devilry in the house, which he has to endure, and his master is a fool and his name is Don Manuel. Don Manuel recognizes Cosme and asks where they are. He replies that he is in his room. Don Manuel goes to check his words. Isavel comes out from behind the closet, takes Cosme by the hand, thinking that it is Don Manuel, and takes him behind the closet. The owner returns and does not find his servant, bumping into only bare walls. He decides to hide in an alcove and wait for the Invisible Lady.

Isabelle enters Doña Angela's room, dragging Cosma by the hand, barely alive with fear. Doña Angela is horrified to notice that there has been a mistake, which the whole house will now know about. Cosme talks about the tricks of the devil, who dressed up in a skirt and corset. Don Luis knocks on the door. Isabel and Cosme hurriedly leave. Dona Beatriz hides behind a curtain. Don Luis enters and says that he saw Dona Beatriz's stretcher at the door of the house and thought that she was meeting don Juan there. He lifts the curtain and sees Doña Beatriz. There is a noise behind the closet, and Don Luis rushes to get the candle to find out who is there.

Isabel and Cosme enter Don Manuel's room, and then Don Luis appears with a candle, he clearly saw the man and found that someone had moved the closet. Kosme hides under the table. Don Auis notices Don Manuel and accuses him of dishonoring his friend's house, that he is a seducer. Don Manuel is very surprised by the appearance of Don Luis and cannot understand what he is accused of. Don Luis claims that he entered his sister's room through a secret door, and Don Manuel replies that he has no idea of ​​any secret door. Fate must decide their dispute - they will fight with swords. During the duel, Don Luis's sword breaks, and Don Manuel generously invites him to go for another. Cosme invites the owner to run away, but then he suddenly notices Dona Angela who has appeared. She says that, fleeing the wrath of don Luis, she left the house and met don Juan on the porch. He returned her to the house and is now looking for an unfamiliar man in all rooms. Dona Angela confesses to Don Manuel that she loves him and therefore sought to meet him, she asks him for protection. He is ready to be her protector. Don Luis appears and Don Manuel asks him for the hand of his sister. Don Juan enters, who heard everything and is very glad that such a denouement has come, the invisibility has been found and we can talk about the wedding.

A. P. Shishkin

(El medico de so honra)

Drama (1633-1635)

The action takes place in Spain during the time of King Don Pedro the Just or the Cruel (1350-1369). During a hunt, the king's brother Infante Don Enrique falls off his horse and is carried unconscious to the house of Don Gutierre Alfonso de Solis. They are met by the wife of Don Gutierre, Dona Mencia, in whom the courtiers from the retinue of the Infanta, Don Arias and Don Diego, recognize his former lover. Dona Mencia finds herself in a difficult position, because her husband does not know that Don Enrique, who knew her before, is still in love with her. The Infante comes to his senses and sees Dona Mencia nearby, who informs him that she is now the wife of the owner of the house. She makes it clear to the prince that he now has nothing to hope for. Don Enrique wants to leave immediately, but Don Gutierre appears and persuades him to stay. The prince replies that in the heart he so loved "became the master of another", and he must go. Don Gutierre gives him his horse and, in addition to it, the footman Kokin, a joker who calls himself "a housekeeper with a mare." At parting, Don Enrique hints to Dona Mencia that they will meet soon, saying that the lady should be given "an opportunity to justify herself."

Don Gutierre wants to see the prince off, but Dona Mencia tells him that he really wants to meet Leonora, whom he loved before and has not forgotten until now. The husband swears it's not. Left alone with the maid Jacinta, Dona Mencia confesses to her that when she saw Enrique again, "now love and honor have entered into battle among themselves."

King Don Pedro receives petitioners and bestows gifts on each as he can: he appoints a soldier to command a platoon, he gives a poor old man a ring with a diamond. Dona Leonora addresses the king with a complaint against Don Gutierre, who promised to marry her, and then refused. Now he is married to another, and her honor is disgraced, and Doña Leonora wants him to make a "worthy contribution" for her and give her the opportunity to go to the monastery. The king promises to solve the case, but after listening to Don Gutierre as well.

Don Gutierre appears and the king asks him to explain the reason for his refusal to marry Dona Leonora. He admits that he loved Dona Leonora, but, "being not bound by the word", took another wife for himself. The king wants to know what is the reason for this change, and don Gutierre tells that one day in the house of dona Leonora he found a man who jumped from the balcony and disappeared. Leonora wants to immediately tell what really happened, but Don Arias, who is standing nearby, enters into a conversation and admits that he was at Leonora's house then. He then courted a lady who came to dona Leo-nora at night to visit, and he, "madly in love", followed her impolitely "sneaked into the house", and the hostess could not "obstruct" him. Don Gutierre suddenly appeared, and don Arias, saving the honor of Leonora, disappeared, but was noticed. Now he is ready to give an answer to Don Gutierre in a duel. They grab their swords, but the king, in anger, orders the arrest of both, because without the will of the king, no one dares to draw weapons in his presence.

Don Enrique, seeing that Doña Mencia's husband has been arrested, decides to sneak into her house for a visit. He bribes the maid Jacinta and she escorts him into the house. During a conversation with Dona Mencia, Don Gutierre returns, Don Enrique hides. Don Gutierre tells his wife that he was released from prison for the night by his friend the mayor, the head of the guard. In order to get Don Enrique out of the house, Dona Mencia raises a false alarm, yelling that she saw someone in a raincoat in her bedroom. The husband draws his sword and rushes there, Dona Mencia deliberately overturns the lamp, and in the darkness Jacinta leads Don Enrique out of the house. However, he loses his dagger, which Don Gutierre finds, and a terrible suspicion is born in his soul that his wife deceived him.

The King, at the request of Don Enrique, releases Don Arias and Don Gutierre from prison. Seeing the sword of the prince, Don Gutierre compares it with the dagger found, then tells Don Enrique that he would not like to meet such a fighter as the prince, even under cover of night, without recognizing him. Don Enrique takes the hint, but remains silent, which gives Don Gutierre reason to be suspicious. He is ready at any cost to learn the secret on which his honor depends. He wonders whose dagger he found in his house and whether dona Mencia accidentally knocked over the lamp. He decides to secretly sneak into his house under the guise of Dona Mencia's lover and, covering his face with a cloak, play a date scene with her to check if his wife is faithful to him.

Don Gutierre secretly returns to his house without warning his wife that the king has set him free. He sneaks into Dona Mencia's bedroom and, changing his voice, addresses her. Mencia thinks that the prince has come to her, and calls him "Your Highness", Don Gutierre guesses that we are talking about the prince. Then he leaves, and then pretends to have entered through the garden gate, and loudly demands the servants. Doña Mencia welcomes him with joy, and it seems to him that she is lying and pretending.

Don Gutierre tells the king about the adventures of his brother Don Enrique and shows the prince's dagger. He says that he must save his honor, washed in the blood, but not in the blood of the prince, whom he does not dare to encroach on.

The king meets with his brother and demands that he give up his criminal passion for Doña Mencia, shows him the dagger. Don Enrique grabs a dagger and, out of excitement, inadvertently wounds the king in the arm. The king accuses the prince of making an attempt on his life, don Enrique leaves the king's palace to go into exile

Don Gutierre decides to put his wife to death, because she dishonored his honor, but, according to the unwritten laws of honor, this must be done secretly, because the insult was also done secretly so that people would not guess how Dona Mencia died. Unable to bear the death of his wife, he asks heaven to send him death.

Doña Mencia is sent by Prince Kokin with the news that Don Enrique is in disgrace because of her and must leave the kingdom. In a foreign land, the prince will wither away from grief and separation from Dona Mencia. The departure of the prince will bring disgrace on dona Mencia, for everyone will begin to wonder what the reason for the flight of the prince is, and at last they will find out what is the matter. Jacinta suggests that the mistress write a letter to the prince so that he does not leave and dishonor her name. Doña Mencia sits down to write a letter. At this time, don Gutierre appears, Jacinta rushes to warn the mistress, but the owner tells her to leave. He opens the door to the room and sees dona Mencia, who is writing a letter, goes up to her and tears out a piece of paper from her. Doña Mencia faints, her husband reads the letter and decides to send the servants away to kill his wife. He writes some words on the same piece of paper and leaves. Doña Mencia comes to her senses and reads her sentence on a piece of paper; "Love idolizes you, father-in-law hates you; one brings you death, the other prepares for it. You have two hours left to live. You are a Christian: save your soul, for the body can no longer be saved."

Don Gutierre invites the surgeon Ludovico to bleed his wife and wait until all of it flows out and death occurs. In case of refusal, Don Gutierre threatens the doctor with death. He later wants to assure everyone that "because of a sudden illness, Mencia had to bleed and that she carelessly moved the bandages. Who will see this as a crime?" And he is going to take the doctor away from home and kill him on the street. "The one who heals his honor will not hesitate to open the blood ... for all ailments are treated with blood," says Don Gutierre.

Don Gutierre leads a blindfolded Ludovico down a street in Seville. The King and Don Diego are coming towards them. Don Gutierre runs away. The king removes the bandage from Ludovico's face, and he tells how a woman died, whose face he did not see, but heard her words that she was dying innocently. Ludovico stained his hands with blood and left a mark on the door of the house,

The king goes to the house of Don Gutierre, for he guesses whose death is in question. Kokin appears and also tells the king how Don Gutierre locked his wife at home and sent all the servants away. At the house, the king meets Dona Leonora, he remembers that he promised to save her from shame, and says that he will do it at the first opportunity. Don Gutierre runs out of the house, screaming, and tells the king how his wife died of blood loss after removing bandages from her cuts in her sleep. The king understands that Don Gutierre is deceiving him, but in what happened, he sees an opportunity to fulfill his promise to Doña Leonora. The King proposes to Don Gutierre that Dona Leonora be his wife. He objects, saying that she can cheat on him. The king replies that then it is necessary to bleed her, thereby making it clear to Don Gutierre that he knows everything and he justifies his deed. Doña Leonora agrees to become Don Gutierre's wife and, if necessary, to be "treated" with his medicine.

A. P. Shishkin

(La vida es sueno)

Play (1636)

In a deserted mountainous area, not far from the court of the Polish king, Rosaura, a noble lady dressed in a man's dress, and her servant Clarinet got lost. The night is approaching, and there is not a light around. Suddenly, the travelers make out in the semi-darkness some kind of tower, from behind the walls of which they hear complaints and groans: this is Sechismundo, chained in chains, cursing his fate. He laments the fact that he is deprived of freedom and those joys of life that are given to every person born into the world. Finding the door of the tower unlocked, Rosaura and Clarinet enter the tower and enter into a conversation with Sehismundo, who is amazed by their appearance: in his entire life, the young man saw only one person - his jailer Clotado. At the sound of their voices, Clotaldo, who has fallen asleep, comes running and calls the guards - they are all in masks, which greatly amazes the travelers. He threatens uninvited guests with death, but Sehismundo resolutely stands up for them, threatening to end his life if he touches them. The soldiers take Sekhismundo away, and Clotaldo decides, having taken away the weapons from the travelers and blindfolded them, to lead them away from this terrible place. But when Rosaura’s sword falls into his hands, something in it strikes the old man, Rosaura explains that the person who gave her this sword (she does not name him) ordered to go to Poland and show it to the most noble people of the kingdom, who have it will find support - this is the reason for the appearance of Rosaura, which Clotado, like everyone else, takes for a man.

Left alone, Clotaldo recalls how he once gave this sword to Violante, saying that he would always help those who bring it back. The old man suspects that the mysterious stranger is his son and decides to seek the king's advice in the hope of his rightful judgment.

For the same appeal to Basilio, King of Poland, Infanta Estrella and Prince Astolfo of Muscovy. Basilio is their uncle; he himself has no heirs, therefore, after his death, the throne of Poland should go to one of his nephews - Estrella, the daughter of his older sister Klorina, or Astolfo, the son of his younger sister Resismunda, who married in distant Muscovy. Both claim this crown: Estrella because her mother was Basilio's older sister, Astolfo because he is a man. In addition, Astolfo is in love with Estrella and proposes marriage to her and unite both empires. Estrella is not indifferent to the handsome prince, but she is embarrassed that he wears a portrait of some lady on his chest, which he does not show to anyone. When they turn to Basilio with a request to judge them, he reveals to them a carefully hidden secret: he has a son, the rightful heir to the throne. Basilio was fond of astrology all his life and, before his wife was to be relieved from the burden, he calculated from the stars that a terrible fate was prepared for his son; he will bring death to his mother and will sow death and discord around him all his life and will even raise his hand against his father. One of the predictions came true immediately: the birth of a boy cost Basilio's wife life. Therefore, the Polish king decided not to jeopardize the throne, the fatherland and his life and deprived the heir of all rights, concluding him in prison, where he - Sekhismundo - and grew up under the vigilant protection and supervision of Clotaldo. But now Basilio wants to dramatically change the fate of the crown prince: he will be on the throne and will be able to rule. If he is led by good intentions and justice, he will remain on the throne, and Estrella, Astolfo and all the subjects of the kingdom will swear allegiance to him.

Meanwhile, Clotaldo leads to King Rosaura, who, touched by the participation of the monarch, says that she is a woman and ended up in Poland in search of Astolfo, bound to her by bonds of love - her portrait is worn by the Prince of Muscovy on his chest. Clotaldo provides the young woman with every support, and she remains at court, in the retinue of the Infanta Estrella under the name Astrea. Clotaldo, on the orders of Basilio, gives Sechismundo a soporific drink, and, sleepy, he is transported to the king's palace. Here he wakes up and, realizing himself as a lord, begins to commit atrocities, like a beast escaping to freedom: with everyone, including the king, he is rude and harsh, throws the servant who dared to argue with him from the balcony into the sea, tries to kill Clotaldo. Basilio's patience comes to an end, and he decides to send Sechismundo back to the dungeon. "Wake up where you woke up before" - such is the will of the Polish king, which the servants immediately carry out, again giving the crown prince a sleepy drink.

Sechismundo's dismay when he wakes up in shackles and animal skins is indescribable. Clotaldo explains to him that everything he saw was a dream, like all life, but, he says instructively, "even in a dream / good remains good." This explanation makes an indelible impression on Sechismundo, who now looks at the world from this angle.

Basilio decides to hand over his crown to Astolfo, who leaves no claim to Estrella's hand. The Infanta asks her new friend Astrea to get her a portrait, which the Prince of Muscovy wears on his chest. Astolfo recognizes her and an explanation takes place between them, during which Rosaura initially denies that she is her. Yet, by hook or by crook, she manages to snatch her portrait from Astolfo - she does not want another woman to see him. There is no limit to her resentment and pain, and she sharply reproaches Astolfo for treason.

Upon learning of Basilio's decision to give the crown of Poland to the prince of Muscovy, the people rise in revolt and free Sechismundo from prison. People do not want to see a stranger on the throne, and the rumor about where the crown prince is hidden has already spread throughout the kingdom; Sehismundo leads a popular revolt. The troops under his leadership defeat the supporters of Basilio, and the king has already prepared for death, putting himself at the mercy of Sechismundo. But the prince has changed:

he changed his mind a lot, and the nobility of his nature took precedence over cruelty and rudeness. Sechismundo himself falls at the feet of Basilio as a faithful subject and obedient son. Sejismundo makes another effort and steps over his love for Rosaura for the sake of the feeling that the woman has for Astolfo. The Prince of Muscovy is trying to refer to the difference in their origin, but here the noble Clotaldo enters into the conversation: he says that Rosaura is his daughter, he recognized her by the sword that he once gave to her mother. Thus, Rosaura and Astolfo are equal in their position and there are no more barriers between them, and justice triumphs - Astolfo calls Rosaura his wife. Estrella's hand goes to Sejismundo. With everyone, Sekhismundo is friendly and fair, explaining his transformation by the fact that he is afraid to wake up again in a dungeon and wants to use happiness like a dream.

N. A. Matyash

(El alcalde de Zaiamea)

Drama (1636)

A regiment of soldiers led by a captain enters the village of Salameya. They are very exhausted from the long, exhausting journey and dream of rest. This time, happiness smiles at them: instead of a short halt, several days of a quiet life await them - the regiment remains in Salameya until Don Lope de Figueroa approaches with his units. The sergeant, assistant captain, distributing officers to wait, chose for the captain the house of Pedro Crespo, a wealthy peasant, famous for the fact that his daughter Isabel is the first beauty in the area. Among her admirers is the impoverished nobleman Don Mendo, who spends hours under the girl's windows. However, he is so ragged and pitiful that both the girl herself and her father treat him with nothing more than contempt: Isabel does not know how to ward off an annoying suitor, and his father, outwardly respectful - as befits a simple person to behave with a nobleman, - on actually accompanies him with mocking glances. Isabel is not the only daughter of Pedro Armchair. She has a sister, Ine, and a brother, Juan. The latter brings a lot of grief to his father. Pedro is a hardworking man, rich not only in the contents of his bins, but also in worldly intelligence and ingenuity, while Juan mindlessly spends whole days playing games, squandering his father's money.

Upon learning that the captain has been assigned to their house, Pedro begins hasty preparations, as if he were waiting for the dearest guest. Pedro is rich enough to buy himself a charter of nobility, and with it all the necessary privileges, including exemption from tenure, but he is a man of self-respect and is proud of what he received at birth - his good name. Knowing the impression that the beauty of his daughter Isabel makes on people, he sends her and her sister to the upper chambers, separated from the main part of the house, and orders them to remain there until the soldiers leave the village. However, the captain already knows from the sergeant that Pedro Crespo has a beautiful daughter, and it is this circumstance that makes him rush to wait. Pedro gives him the most cordial welcome, but the captain does not see the girl anywhere. The ubiquitous sergeant learns from the servants where she is hiding. To get into the upper chambers, the captain comes up with the following: having previously agreed with one of the soldiers, Revoledo, he pretends to be pursuing the warrior who has angered him, while he, allegedly fleeing from the captain's sword, runs up the stairs and breaks into the room where the girls are hiding. Now that their shelter is open, Juan comes to the defense of his sister, and it almost comes to a duel, but at that moment Don Lope de Figueroa suddenly appears - it is he who saves the day.

Don Lope is a famous military leader close to King Philip II. He quickly pacifies everyone and himself stays in the house of Pedro Crespo, suggesting that the captain find another room. In the short time that Don Lope spends with Pedro Armchair, they manage to almost make friends, despite the social inequality that separates them. Don Lope likes the calm dignity of the old peasant, his prudence and wisdom, his ideas about the honor of a simple person.

Meanwhile, the captain, touched to the quick by Isaveli's inaccessibility, cannot come to terms with the idea that even a peasant woman can be proud. The resourceful sergeant comes up with a way out - at night to lure the girl to the balcony with songs and music and, having thus achieved a date, get his own. But at the moment when, by order of the captain, music begins to sound under Isaveli's balcony, her unfortunate admirer Don Mendo appears with his servant Nuno, ready to stand up for the honor of the lady of the heart. But it is not their intervention that decides the matter: Don Lope and Pedro Armchair, armed with swords and shields, drive everyone out from under the windows, including Don Mendo. An angry Don Lope orders the captain and his company to leave the village.

The captain obeys only outwardly - in fact, he decides to secretly return to Salameya and, having agreed with Isaveli's maid, talk to the girl. He is even more determined in his determination to carry out this plan when he learns that Don Lope is leaving the village and is heading to meet the king. Indeed, Don Lope made such a decision; Juan Crespo leaves with him as his servant. No matter how hard it is for a father to say goodbye to him, the old peasant understands that this is the surest way to bring a negligent son into the people, to teach him to get his own bread. In parting, he gives his son instructions - an example of worldly wisdom, honesty and dignity. After seeing off his son, Pedro Crespo became sad and went out with his daughters to sit at the threshold of the house. At this moment, the captain and his soldiers unexpectedly swoop in and, right in front of their father, kidnap Isabel.

Grabbing his sword, Pedro Crespo rushes in pursuit of the offenders. He is ready to sacrifice his life in order to save his daughter, but the soldiers tie him to a tree while the captain hides with his prey in the forest thicket, from where Isaveli's screams are heard - more and more muffledly. After a while, all in tears, the girl returns. She is beside herself with grief and shame: the captain rudely abused her and left her alone in the forest. Through the trees, Isabel saw her brother Juan, who, sensing something unkind, was returning home halfway. A battle ensued between Juan Crespo and the captain, during which brother Isaveli seriously wounded her offender, but, seeing how many soldiers surrounded him, he rushed to flee into the thicket. Shame prevented Isaveli from calling out to Juan. All this the girl tells her father, freeing him from the fetters. There is no limit to the sorrow of Pedro Crespo and his daughter, but the usual prudence quickly returns to the old peasant, and he, fearing for the life of Juan, decides to return home as soon as possible.

On the way, he meets one of his fellow villagers, who says that the local council has just chosen him, Pedro Crespo, as alcalde of Salamei at its meeting. Pedro rejoices at this news - primarily because a high position will help him to make a right trial. The wound received by the captain turns out to be quite serious, and he, unable to continue his journey, returns to Salameya, to the house where he had recently been camped. There, Pedro Crespo appears with the baton of the alcalde and orders the arrest of the captain, despite his indignation and angry protests that he is under the jurisdiction only of his equal in position. But before ordering the arrest, Pedro, left alone with the captain, forgetting his pride, begs him to marry Isaveli - in response, he hears only contemptuous mockery. Following Captain Pedro Armchair, he sends his son Juan into custody, fearing that the irrepressible thirst for revenge that has seized him will destroy the young man.

Don Lope unexpectedly returns: he has received a report that some recalcitrant mayor dared to arrest the captain. Upon learning that this rebel is Pedro Armchair, Don Aope orders him to immediately release the arrested man, but encounters the old peasant's stubborn unwillingness to do so. In the midst of their stormy explanation, the king enters the village, extremely unhappy that he was not given a proper reception. After listening to Don Aope's story about what happened and Pedro Crespo's excuses, the king expresses his judgment: the captain is certainly guilty, but he should be judged by another, not a peasant court. Since Pedro Crespo does not believe in royal justice, he hurried to deal with the offender - behind the opened door, the dead captain appears to the eyes of the king and all those present. Pedro Crespo justifies his action by the just expressed opinion of the king about the guilt of the captain, and there is nothing left for him but to recognize the execution as lawful. Philip II also appoints Pedro Crespo the irreplaceable alcalde of Salamei, and don Lope, having ordered the release of Juan Crespo from custody, takes him with him as a servant. Isabel will end his days in a monastery.

N. A. Matyash

(El escondido y la tapada)

Comedy (1636)

In Madrid's Casa de Campo, the city's favorite park, don Carlos and his servant Mosquito are waiting for dusk. They cannot appear in the city during the day: two months ago, Don Carlos killed in a duel the noble caballero Alonso, the son of Don Diego and the brother of Lisarda, with whom Don Carlos was unrequitedly in love. This feeling did not prevent him from simultaneously courting another noble lady - Cell, which was the reason for the duel: Alonso was in love with Cell. Fearing the punishment of the authorities and the revenge of Alonso's relatives, Don Carlos was forced to hastily flee to Portugal, where Sella sent him a letter, persuading him to return and take refuge in her house, where it would not occur to anyone to look for Don Carlos while he puts in order the affairs abandoned due to hasty departure. But Don Carlos has another reason to strive for Madrid: he dreams of wandering at night under the windows of Lisard, whom he cannot forget, although now he can hardly count on her favor. Fate smiles on Don Carlos: while the caballero is waiting for darkness in the Casa de Campo, Aisarda's carriage unexpectedly overturns nearby, and only the intervention of Don Carlos saves the woman's life. Covering his face with a cloak, he stubbornly refuses to tell the grateful Lisard his name, but in the end gives in to her insistence. Lisarda is shocked and outraged by the audacity of Don Carlos, but pulls herself together and, telling her savior that today her gratitude has supplanted the thought of revenge, but that the next morning Don Carlos can no longer be calm for his life, leaves him.

Meanwhile, Cella's brother, Felix, unexpectedly returns to Madrid from a military campaign: he received a letter in which it was reported that Cella, who had made an appointment with one of her admirers, caused a duel between Don Carlos and Don Alonso, while she herself, fortunately, managed to slip away unrecognized . And Felix returns to protect the honor of his sister and intends to take the most severe measures for this, despite the indignation of Celia and her strong protests. The dispute between brother and sister is interrupted by the arrival of don Juan, who is engaged to Lisard and considers himself obligated to avenge the death of his future wife's brother. Don Juan tells Felix that he met a man very similar to Alonso's killer and tracked down where the suspicious stranger was staying. He asks his friend Felix to go with him and help identify this man, since don Juan does not have complete certainty that this is don Carlos.

As soon as they leave, Don Carlos appears with the faithful Mosquito. Upon learning of the unexpected arrival of Felix, he wants to leave Celia's house immediately, but the girl manages to persuade him to stay: she explains that their apartment is connected by a secret staircase to the ground floor, which is known only to her, and that, having learned about the arrival of her brother, she ordered wall up the lower door, leaving only one exit - to her own dressing room. Don Carlos is touched by the courage of the girl and the foresight with which Sella took care of everything, but still hesitating to take advantage of such hospitality and is inclined to leave, but don Juan and Felix suddenly return. Carlos and Mosquito have no choice but to quickly hide behind a secret door. Cella's brother is terrified to death because he got into a duel and, mistaking a man for don Carlos, killed him. It was not possible to hide unrecognized: Felix distinctly heard one of the soldiers who came running to the sound of swords called his name. Now he himself was in the position of Don Carlos: he needed to escape as soon as possible in order to avoid punishment for the murder. But since, bound by the need to protect the honor of his sister, Felix cannot completely leave Madrid, he decides to immediately change the apartment. On his orders, the servants hastily take out all things, and very soon the house is empty: no one remains in it, and the front doors are carefully locked - don Carlos and Mosquito suddenly remain trapped. They do not realize this immediately, deciding at first that everyone is asleep, but soon they are convinced that their assumption is wrong. As soon as they realize that they are locked without food in an empty house, where all the windows, including the attic, are barred, the owner of the house arrives - he was called by the police looking for Felix. After making sure that he is not here, and believing the owner's words that Felix left Madrid a few months ago, the police leave the house, where Don Diego, Lisard's father, who really likes the abandoned apartment, soon enters. He immediately decides to rent it for Lisarda and don Juan, and in a few hours new tenants already take over the house. Lisard, like Celia, assigns a room with a secret door, about which, of course, she knows nothing, under her dressing room. This is where don Juan's servant brings his master's gifts for the bride and her maid.

When everyone leaves and silence sets in, don Carlos and Mosquito get out of their hiding place and decide that Mosquito will change into a woman's dress and go out unnoticed from the house, so that later, with the help of don Carlos' relatives and friends, they will help him get out. The commotion caused by the loss of the dress, which Mosquito chose from a pile of gifts, wakes up all the sleeping inhabitants of the house, even Don Diego. Suddenly, Sella, wrapped in a cloak, appears - she begs Don Diego to help her hide from the man pursuing her. Don Diego, like a true caballero, rushes to the door, without requiring any explanation, to apprehend Cella's imaginary pursuers. At this time, Mosquito, dressed in a woman's dress, comes out from behind a secret door, whom the returning Don Diego, mistaking for Sella in the twilight, gallantly escorts to the exit. During this time, Sella manages to explain everything to Don Carlos, who came out of the hiding place, and give him the key to the front door. However, she herself does not have time to leave: don Juan and Felix, who came to him, enter the room. Hiding behind a curtain, Sella hears that her brother, having discovered her disappearance and deciding that she went on a date with Don Carlos, is determined to find and kill the offender; don Juan readily volunteers to help him.

In their absence, Lisard comes across Celia in the dark and is tormented by jealousy, trying to look into her face, but Selye manages to escape. And don Juan, who returned at that time, runs into don Carlos, but, not recognizing him because of the semi-darkness, he takes him for Lisard's admirer. While Lisarda and don Juan shower each other with jealous accusations of infidelity, don Carlos and Sella hide behind a secret door, where, unable to bear all the experiences, Sella falls unconscious. Don Carlos is faced with a painful task: who to trust, who to turn to for help. He chooses the compassionate Beatrice, Lisard's servant, but instead of her, he suddenly sees Lisard in one of the rooms. The girl is outraged, but, afraid of being compromised, she is forced to hide Don Carlos in Beatrice's room.

Meanwhile, on the street at the door of the house, don Juan saw Mosquito and, grabbing him, is trying to find out where his owner is hiding. And since he refuses to answer, mainly out of fear that don Carlos is behind a secret door and can hear him, Mosquito is locked in a room - until he decides to become more talkative, Left alone, Mosquito wants to hide behind a secret door and finds there a grief-stricken Celia : the girl heard the love confessions of don Carlos addressed to Lisarda, and is determined to reveal to her rival the true reason for the appearance of don Carlos in this house, but then the steps and voices of don Juan and Felix are heard, and Mosquito hastily hides in a hiding place, and Sella does not have time to do this . Don Juan tells Felix that Don Carlos's servant has been caught, and Felix asks to be left alone: ​​he hopes to find out from the servant the whereabouts of Don Carlos, and at the same time his sister. But instead of Mosquito, friends find a woman wrapped in a cloak in the room. Taking her aside, don Juan tries to find out who she is, and before his insistence, Sella is forced to retreat - the girl throws back the edge of the cloak that covered her face. Seeing his friend's excitement from the other side of the room, the intrigued Felix also wants to know the name of the mysterious stranger, and don Juan finds himself in a delicate position: both brother and sister trusted him, and he cannot betray either of them. Fortunately, at this moment, the voice of Don Diego is heard outside the door, who has become aware of the disappearance of don Carlos' servant from the locked room and who demands to be let in. Afraid to give Lisard a new reason for jealousy, don Juan hides Celia in his room.

Filled with a desire to find a servant, Don Diego orders to search the whole house, while he himself resolutely goes to don Juan's room, but then Sella, wrapped in a cloak, appears on her doorstep. There is no limit to the indignation of Don Diego and Lisarda: both accuse don Juan of treason - and then the servants bring don Carlos, who, in response to the demand of the owner of the house, categorically refuses to identify himself, asking permission to leave this house unrecognized, but only with Cella. Don Diego promises the strange guest safety - and Don Carlos throws back the cloak from his face. He explains to the stunned Don Diego that he killed Alonso in a fair duel, and he came to this house for Sella, to whom he is engaged - the play ends with a general reconciliation.

N. A. Matyash

(Oraculo manual y arte de prudenda)

Aphorisms (1647)

The author, in strict sequence, heading each of his aphorisms, writes the following:

At the present time, the personality has reached maturity. All virtues are strung on two rods - nature and culture.

To be successful, you need to "act covertly" and unexpectedly.

Greatness is based on "wisdom and valor". Reason and strength are the eyes and hands of the individual.

To succeed in life, you need to maintain the need for yourself in others and reach maturity by working on yourself.

It is dangerous and unreasonable to achieve "victory over the superiors", one should advise them in the form of a reminder.

The shortest path to good fame about yourself lies in the ability to control your passions and overcome the shortcomings inherent in your compatriots.

If happiness is impermanent, then glory is unchanging, and it can only be achieved by a school of knowledge, communication with those from whom one can learn, which form a kind of "academy of good and refined morals."

While learning, a person constantly struggles with the intrigues of people. Therefore, a penetrating mind must learn to "foresee intrigues and reflect all the intentions of ill-wishers."

In all matters, it is important to observe courtesy, it softens even refusal. Rudeness destroys everything.

Actions must be performed based on the opinion of wise people with whom one should surround oneself, either using power or friendship. Only a good goal of actions can lead to many successes.

The success of a business is determined by the variety of methods of action, which must be changed depending on the circumstances, as well as diligence and talent. Glory is bought with labor. What is easily given is not highly valued.

When starting a business, do not lay out all the expected benefits, let "reality exceed expectations."

Not every person corresponds to the time in which he lives, but only the wise can understand this and belong to eternity.

Only the prudent can be happy in their virtue and diligence.

The art of free and instructive conversation is more important than edification.

one of the hallmarks of perfection is the ability to overcome or hide one's shortcoming, turning it into an advantage.

"Control your imagination," be able to remain perceptive and discern the natural inclinations of people in order to use them for your own benefit.

The essence of greatness is not quantity, but quality, only depth gives true excellence. Do not strive for general accessibility, the crowd is stupid, only a few are able to think soberly.

Only such a person should be considered righteous who is always on the side of justice, neither the crowd nor the tyrant will force him to change it.

In behavior, avoid eccentricities and other "disrespectful activities", reputed to be a person inclined to do good.

"Limit yourself even in friends" and do not demand more from them than they can give. "Excess is always bad," especially in dealing with people.

Do not force your nature, develop the best of your abilities, and then the rest. Make your own judgment about everything, do not rely on strangers.

The ability to retreat in time is just as important as the ability to advance in time. There is no permanent luck.

It is difficult to win the love of the people, merit alone is not enough, one must do good deeds. Do not admire beyond measure, only innate dominance leads to power.

To achieve power, it is necessary to be "in speeches with the majority, and in thoughts with the minority", but not to abuse with calculation and not to show antipathy.

"One of the first rules of prudence" is to avoid commitment and restrain the outward manifestation of feelings. There should be more inside than outside, and circumstances should not control you, but you should control them.

For inner balance, "never lose respect for yourself," that is, be afraid of the inner judgment more than the outer one.

Another important rule of prudence is not to get irritated, combining decisiveness with prudence. Hurry slowly, but be prudent in courage.

For success in business, it is good to be quick in decisions, but to be able to wait for an opportunity.

Be selective in assistants, try to be the first and avoid grief. Do not report bad news, and moreover, do not listen. Better to let another be upset now than you later.

The rule of the sensible is to go against the rules, when otherwise you cannot complete what you started.

Do not give in to whims and know how to refuse, but not immediately, let there be hope.

You need to be decisive in business, but avoid tyranny, slip out of confusing situations, for example, pretend to be incomprehensible.

For success in business, foresight and reflection are necessary; in conducting business, one should "be witty, but not use this technique too often" so as not to be considered an empty person. It is necessary to keep the measure in everything, although sometimes a small flaw is the best recommendation of dignity.

"Flatery is more dangerous than hate." A wise man benefits more from enemies than a fool from friends.

"A man is born a savage" and only by upbringing creates a personality that is integral in everyday life. Only by knowing yourself, you can rule over your feelings and live with dignity and for a long time.

"Impenetrability in knowing oneself by others" helps success. When they do not know and doubt, they respect more than when they know.

Things are judged "not by their essence, but by their appearance", in people they are more often content with appearance.

In any situation, hold on like a king, be great in deeds, exalted in thoughts. "True royalty is in the height of the soul."

For harmonious development, it is necessary to "try different activities" and not be annoying in any of them.

Do not writhe an important person, "if you want to show off - brag about your dignity."

To become a person, choose friends by opposites, in the interaction of extremes a reasonable middle is established.

It is prudent to retire from business before business. move away from you. Have friends and debtors in reserve and avoid rivalry.

In business, deal with decent people, "you can't agree with meanness." Do not talk about yourself and you will earn a reputation as a courteous person who is considered by everyone.

Avoid enmity, it sharpens the soul, if you want to live peacefully, keep quiet, but not in moral matters.

Keep your weaknesses secret. Everyone makes mistakes, and "a good name depends on silence, rather than on behavior. Do not complain."

Ease is the most important natural ability, it decorates everything.

Do not make quick decisions, delay time, it is always beneficial, no matter the outcome. To avoid trouble is to let things take their course, especially in dealing with people.

Know how to recognize the "days of failure" and put up with them as a necessary evil, fate is unchanged.

Stubbornness against the obvious in deeds is evil. Appearance is deceptive, because evil is always on top, so have a confidant who soberly judges and knows how to advise.

In the art of survival, it is important to have a "scapegoat" for whom reproach will be the payment for ambition.

To give value to a product, never make it public. All are susceptible to the unusual.

To succeed, associate with the "outstanding", when successful - with the average. Just to catch up with the predecessors, you must have "twice the merits".

Even in fits of madness, keep your sanity. Patience is the key to priceless peace. If you can not stand it - "hide alone with yourself."

It is prudent not to sympathize with the loser, first to find out the desires of those from whom you want to achieve something. In human opinion, your successes are not noticed, and everyone will notice the failure. So just be sure. In this sense, "half is greater than the whole."

Having important friends and knowing how to save them is more important than having money.

A decent person is not in a hurry to fight - he has something to lose, he enjoys without a slash, strives for solidity, avoids familiarity, is possessed in communication.

Do not tell the whole truth, not every truth can be told, keep silent about one for yourself, about the other for the sake of another.

For a high place, fate takes revenge with the insignificance of the soul. Position gives external dignity, which is only sometimes accompanied by internal dignity.

In business, you cannot "limit yourself to one attempt," if it is unsuccessful, then you must teach you to make the next one.

The best "master key" in any business is someone else's misfortune, know how to wait.

"If you want to live yourself, let others live." If the homeland is a stepmother, do not be afraid to leave it to achieve success.

Perseverance accomplishes the impossible. "Great undertakings do not even need to be considered."

Never "defend yourself with a pen", it will leave a mark and bring glory rather than punishment to the opponent.

The best way to find out anything is to pretend distrust. With deliberate neglect, the most cherished secrets are lured out.

Do not trust in longevity, neither in friendship nor in enmity.

Be ingenuous in appearance, but not simple; shrewd, but not cunning.

Give in in time - win, there is not enough strength - act with your mind.

"Language is a wild beast", master your speech, rule yourself, do not stand out with "oddities".

Do not shine with wit at someone else's expense - revenge awaits you.

"Do not show unfinished business", harmony only in general.

Do not be deceived by the secret passed on to you by your superiors. Forget it, because they do not like the knowledgeable.

Know how to ask so that it looks like a favor. What is understood is not appreciated.

"Trouble does not come alone," therefore, even a small misfortune cannot be neglected.

To lose a friend - an unpaid service is enough. Unable to repay the debt, the debtor becomes an enemy. "The worst enemies are from former friends." Don't expect complete devotion from anyone.

"What everyone says, either is, or should be."

Renew your character by nature, not by office. Otherwise, "at 20 - a peacock, at 30 - a lion, at 40 - a camel, at 50 - a snake, at 60 - a dog, at 70 - a monkey, at 80 - nothing."

Always act as if you are being watched and you will not make a mistake.

"At 20, feeling reigns, at 30 - talent, at 40 - reason."

In the last, 300th aphorism, Gracian writes:

"Virtue is the center of all perfections, the center of all joys." "There is nothing sweeter than virtue, nothing more repulsive than vice."

R. M. Kirsanova

(El criticon)

Roman allegory (1653)

In an address to the reader, the author says that when creating his work, he was guided by what he liked most in the works of Plutarch, Apuleius, Aesop, Homer or Barclay. Trying to combine such different properties in one text, Gracian begins his novel, consisting of "crisis" chapters like this.

On the sea route from the Old World to the New, near the island of St. Helena, the Spaniard Kritilo is desperately fighting for life, clinging to the board. He is helped to get ashore by a stately young man who, as it turned out when trying to speak, does not understand any of the languages ​​\uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbknown to Kritilo and does not speak any language at all. In the process of communication, Critilo gradually teaches him Spanish and gives him a name - Andrenio. Kritilo, according to Andrenio, is the first person he saw, and that, being raised by a female wild animal, he does not know where he came from, and one day he felt like a complete stranger among the animals, although the animals were always affectionate with him.

Critilo tells Andrenio about the structure of the world. The Supreme Creator and the place of all things - the sun, moon, stars. One day they see ships approaching and Kritilo begs Andrenio not to tell people his story, as it will bring him bad luck. They said they were sailors who had fallen behind their squadron, and sailed to Spain. On the ship, Critilo tells Andrenio that he was born on a ship, on the high seas, to wealthy Spanish parents. His youth was dissolute, which greatly upset his parents and hastened their death. Kritilo falls in love with a rich girl, Felisinda, in a fight for whose hand he kills an opponent. As a result of this, he is deprived of a rich inheritance and Felicinda, whom her parents take to Spain. Kritilo studies sciences and arts and soon goes by sea to look for his beloved. However, the captain of the ship, at the instigation of Kritilo's enemies, pushes him into the sea - this is how he ends up on the island.

After going ashore and going inland, the friends are attacked by the insidious leader of the robbers, from whom they were beaten off by another female leader. On the way, they meet the centaur Chiron, who brings friends to a village where thousands of animals walk. Amazed, Critilo and Andrenio see many amazing things: persons walking on their hands and backwards; riding a fox; the blind leading the sighted, and much more. Further, sitting in a carriage with a monster that suddenly appeared, they become witnesses of even greater miracles: a source, drinking from which turns people inside out; a charlatan feeding people with abominations, and many other fantastic visions.

Andrenio, seduced by miracles, seeks ranks at the court of the local ruler, and Critilo flees from the palace to the possessions of Queen Artemia. Appearing before Artemia, he asks to release his second "I" - Andrenio - from the power of Falshemir. The queen sends the chief minister to rescue Andrenio, finding whom the minister, revealing to him the surrounding deceit, convinces him to leave the false kingdom. In the kingdom of Artemia, friends enjoy the conversation with the queen, while Falshemir sends Flattery, Malice and Envy into their domain. The rebellious mob besieges the palace, which Artemia saves with spells. Artemia decides to move to Toledo, and her friends say goodbye to her and continue on their way to Madrid.

In Madrid, Andrenio is unexpectedly handed a note supposedly from his cousin Fagysirena, who welcomes him to Madrid and invites him to her place. Andrenio, without telling Critilo, goes to Falsirena, who tells him about his mother, who, according to her, is Critilo's beloved. Kritilo, busy searching for his lost lover, goes for a walk around the city, finds himself at the closed door of the "cousin's" dwelling. To his inquiries, the neighbors describe the dwelling as the home of the disgusting liar Circe. Since Kritilo cannot understand anything and find Andrenio, he decides to go to Artemia.

On the way, he meets Egenio, a man gifted with the sixth sense - Need, who agrees to help him. Returning to the capital, they cannot find Andrenio for a long time, and only at the place of the house where he was lost, they discover the door to the dungeon, where they find him greatly changed. Having extinguished the magic flame, they manage to awaken Andrenio to life and move on to the Marketplace. Famous people turn out to be sellers of shops: Thales of Miletus, Horace, illustrious princes and barons.

Kritilo and Andrenio head to Aragon, and along the way they meet a man with many eyes - Argus, who explains to them the purpose of each eye. On the way, they pass through the "Customs of Ages", under the influence of what they see there, their "worldview changes and their health improves." A servant met on the road sends greetings from his master Salastano, a collector of miracles, and asks Argus for one of his eyes for Salastano's collection. Critilo and Andrenio decide to inspect the collection and set out with a servant. There they see a lot of unusual things: magnificent gardens of rare plants and insects, a bottle with a joker's laughter, drugs and antidotes, Brutus' daggers and much more. Fascinated by the story of the delights of France, friends decide to visit her; overcome the high peaks of the Pyrenees and find themselves in the palace.

Examining the rich decoration of the palace, they are surprised to find the owner in a dark, poor room without light, in the shabby clothes of a miser. With difficulty getting rid of the courtesies of the owner, friends unsuccessfully try to leave the palace, filled with all sorts of traps: pits, loops, nets. Only a chance meeting with a person who has wings instead of arms helps them avoid captivity or death. Continuing to move to France, friends meet a new monster with a retinue. This half-man, half-snake quickly disappears, and with him Andrenio, carried away by curiosity. Kritilo, together with Winged, rush after Andrenio to the palace shining in the distance.

The palace turns out to be built of salt, which the people around it are happy to lick. In the first hall of the palace, they see a beautiful female musician playing alternately on a zither of pure gold and other unusually decorated instruments. In another hall of the palace, a nymph sits, half of whose face is old, half is young, surrounded by writers and poets. In the next room was the nymph Antiquary, surrounded by treasures. And so it continues until Critilo is seized by the desire to see Sophisbella herself, the mistress of the entire palace.

As for Andrenio, he finds himself in a huge square of artisans: cake-makers, boiler-makers, potters, shoemakers, filled with such an ugly-looking crowd that Andrenio rushes headlong away.

Kritilo, accompanied by companions: a courtier, a student and a soldier, climbs a mountain and at the very top of it unexpectedly meets the missing Andrenio. Overjoyed at the meeting, they tell their stories and move on. Along the way, they meet with Sophisbella-Fortune, the mistress of mortals, who has a strange appearance: instead of shoes - wheels, half of the dress is mourning, half is elegant. At the end of the conversation, she distributes gifts, and friends get the Mirror of Enlightenment. Meanwhile, a frenzied crush begins, in which they remain alive only because the daughter of fortune - Luck manages to grab them by the hair and transport them to another peak. She shows them the way to the palace of Virtelia, the Queen of Bliss.

The hermit met by Critilo and Andrenio leads them to a building similar to a monastery, in which the Hermit tells about the ways of finding Happiness and shows the way to Virtelia's palace. Along the way, they get to the house, where they get acquainted with the weapons of all the heroes known in history and arm themselves with the swords of truth, helmets of prudence and shields of patience. Friends have to join the battle with three hundred monsters and defeat them. Finding themselves at the entrance to a magnificent palace, they meet Satyr, who shows them many monsters who intend to capture them.

Having overcome many difficulties, the friends reach the palace, where they see a friendly and beautiful queen, giving an audience to many who wish. Everyone receives wise advice from Virtelia, and friends ask for directions to Felicinda. Calling four friends: Justice, Wisdom, Courage and Temperance, she tells them to help travelers find what they want. Kritilo and Andrenio pick up the wind, and they find themselves on the road leading to Virtelia's assistant, Gonogia. Their path turns out to be hard and long, at the foot of the Alps Andrenio's head begins to turn white, and "Kritilo's swan down is thinning." If they passed the Pyrenees sweating, then in the Alps - coughing. "How much you sweat in your youth, you cough so much in old age."

Slowly moving, friends find themselves at a half-collapsed, dilapidated building. Janus accompanying them - a man with two faces, presented him as the palace of Old Age. At the entrances to the building, the porter removes the armor and signs of dignity from many heroes: Alba, Caesar, Antonio de Leyva (the inventor of the musket) and many others, and lets some through the door of honors, and others into the door of sorrows. Kritilo falls into the first place and reaches the highest honor among his companions, where there was no mob. Andrenio, who got into the second door, is tormented and, having reached the throne of Old Age, sees Critilo on the other side of the throne. The Secretary of Old Age reads out a protocol on the rights of both.

After these adventures, friends find themselves in the Palace of Fun, filled with people having fun. Andrenio falls into a dead sleep, and Kritilo inspects the palace, where he discovers a lot of abominations associated with drunkenness and debauchery. Returning to Andrenio with a new companion - the Guessing Man, they go to Italy. They see many miracles on the way, the meaning of life and death is more and more revealed to them. The Decoder, Charlatan and Deceiver they met each give their own explanation of the meaning of everything that exists, the main conclusion from which is that "Seduction stands at the entrance to the world, and Insight at the exit."

Andrenio, seduced on the way by the palace of the Invisibles, disappears from the field of view of his companions, and they continue on alone. Critilo's new companion, the Clairvoyant, reassures him and promises to find Andrenio. Indeed, Andrenio appears at one of the forks in the road, and the disappearing Clairvoyant inspires to go to the "Capital of Crowned Knowledge", which lies in Italy.

They experienced a lot on the road to Rome, approaching the desired Felicinda. Having separated the two fighting, Puffy and Lazy, the friends move first after Puffy, and then after Lazy. Finally, they find themselves in a flourishing area, among the merry Italians on the threshold of the cave of Nothing, where everyone who dared to step over the threshold has failed. The Lazy one tries to push Andrenio into the cave, and the Ambitious one tries to drag Kritilo to the Palace of Vanity. Friends, holding hands, stood against this evil. and with the help of pilgrims they came to the palace of the Spanish ambassador.

From the palace, saddened by the news of Felicinda's death, they set off to explore Rome and stop for the night at a hotel. At night, the Guest enters them and, having warned about the trap that is prepared for them, opens a secret hole that led them to terrible caves. In the caves, they see ghosts from the retinue of Death, which rules the court before their eyes. They are led out of the cave by the Pilgrim, who never grows old, and calls them to visit the Island of Immortality. On the Island of Immortality, friends find themselves in front of a bronze gate, where Merit - the gate guard asks the incoming letter, "tested by Courage and confirmed by Rumor." Seeing the signatures of Philosophy, Reason, Vigilance, Self-Consciousness, Firmness, Caution, Vigilance and so on, the guard lets Andrenio and Kritilo into the abode of Eternity.

R. M. Kirsanova

(Demofoonte)

Drama (1733)

Dircea begs her father Matusius not to rebel against the law, which requires the annual sacrifice of a young maiden from a noble family to Apollo. The name of the victim determines the lot. Only the royal daughters are spared from the terrible duty, and even then because they were sent by their father outside the country. But Matusius believes that he, a subject, is equal in paternity to the king, and in fairness the king must either return his daughters to their homeland and thereby set an example of strict observance of the sacred laws, or free everyone else from their implementation. Dircea believes that the rulers are above the laws, Matusius does not agree with her, he does not want to tremble with fear for his daughter - or let Demophon tremble like the others!

Demophon summons his son Timantus to the palace. He leaves the military camp and hurries to the call. Timant is in a secret marriage with Dircea. If their secret is revealed, Dircei will die for daring to marry the heir to the throne. Timant rejoices at the meeting with Dircea and asks her about their son Olint. Dircea says that the boy is like two drops of water like his father. Meanwhile, the time for the annual sacrifice is approaching. It will soon become known which of the young maidens is doomed to the slaughter. The king repeatedly asked the oracle when Apollo would have mercy and stop demanding human sacrifices, but the answer was short and dark: "The wrath of the gods will subside when an innocent usurper learns the truth about himself." Dircea is afraid of the upcoming lot. She is not afraid of death, but Apollo demands the blood of an innocent maiden, and if Dircea silently goes to the slaughter, she will anger God, and if she reveals the secret, she will anger the king. Timant and Dircea decide to confess everything to Demophon: after all, the king has issued a law, the king can cancel it.

Demophon announces to Timant that he intends to marry him to the Phrygian princess Creusa. He sent his youngest son Kerinth after her, and the ship should arrive soon. Demofont could not find a bride worthy of Timant for a long time. For this, he forgot the long-standing enmity between the Thracian and Phrygian kings. Timant expresses bewilderment: why does his wife have to be of royal blood? Demophon insists on the need to honor the covenants of the ancestors. He sends Timant to meet his bride. Left alone, Timant asks the great gods to protect Dircea and protect their marriage.

The Phrygian princess arrives in Thrace. During the journey, Kerinth managed to fall in love with Creusa. Left alone with Creusa, Timant persuades her to refuse marriage to him. Kreusa is offended. She asks Kerinth to avenge her and kill Timant. As a reward, she promises him her heart, hand and crown. Seeing that Kerinth turns pale, Creusa calls him a coward, she despises a lover who speaks of love, but is not able to stand up for the honor of his beloved with a weapon in his hands. In the anger of Creus, Kerinth seems even more beautiful.

Matusios decides to take Dircea away from Thrace. Dircea assumes that her father found out about her marriage to Timant. She is unable to leave her husband and son. Timant declares to Matusia that he will not let Dircea go, and then | it turns out that Matusy does not know about their marriage and therefore cannot understand by what right Timant interferes in their affairs. Matusius tells that Demophon was angry with him because he, a subject, dared to compare himself with the king, and as a punishment for his obstinacy he ordered to sacrifice Dircea, without waiting for the lot. Timant persuades Matusy not to worry: the king is quick-witted, after the first outburst of anger he will certainly cool down and cancel his order. The head of the guard, Adrastus, grabs Dircea. Timant prays to the gods to give him courage and promises Matusia to save Dircea.

Creusa asks Demophon to let her go home to Phrygia. Demophon thinks that Timant scared Creusa with his rudeness and impoliteness, because he grew up among warriors and was not accustomed to tenderness. But Kreusa says she shouldn't be denied. Demofont, believing that the princess's suspiciousness is to blame, promises her that Timant will become her husband today. Creusa decides: let Timant obey the will of his father and offer her his hand, and she will amuse her pride and refuse him. Creusa reminds Demophon: he is a father and a boy, which means that he knows what the will of the father and the punishment of the king are.

Timant begs Demophon to spare the daughter of the unfortunate Matusius, but Demophon does not want to listen to anything: he is busy preparing for the wedding. Timant says that he has an overwhelming disgust for Kreusa. He again begs his father to spare Dircea and confesses that he loves her. Demophon promises to save Dircea's life if Timant obeys his will and marries Creusa. Timant replies that he cannot do this. Demophon says: "Prince, up to now I have spoken to you as a father, do not force me to remind you that I am a king." Timant equally respects the will of his father and the will of the king, but cannot fulfill it. He understands that he is guilty and deserves punishment.

Demophon complains that everyone insults him: a proud princess, an obstinate subject, an impudent son. Realizing that Timant will not obey him while Dircea is alive, he gives the order to immediately lead Dircea to the slaughter. The common good is more important than the life of an individual: so a gardener cuts a useless branch so that the tree grows better. If he had kept it, the tree might have died.

Timant tells Matusy that Demophon was deaf to his pleas. Now the only hope for salvation is flight. Matusius must equip the ship, and in the meantime Timant will deceive the guards and kidnap Dircea. Matusy admires the nobility of Timant and marvels at his dissimilarity with his father.

Timant is firm in his determination to escape: his wife and son are dearer to him than the crown and wealth. But now he sees Dircea in a white dress and a flower crown being led to the slaughter. Dircea convinces Timant not to try to save her: he will not help her anyway and will only destroy himself. Timant is furious. Now he will stop at no one and nothing, he is ready to put the palace, temple, priests to fire and sword.

Dircea prays to the gods for Timant's life. She turns to Creusa with a request for intercession. Dircea says that she is innocently condemned to death, but she asks not for herself, but for Timant, who is threatened with death because of her. Creusa is amazed: on the verge of death, Dircea thinks not of herself, but of Timant. Dircea asks not to ask her about anything: if she could tell Creusa all her misfortunes, the princess's heart would break with pity. Creusa admires Dircea's beauty. If the daughter Matusia was able to touch even her, then there is nothing strange in the fact that Timant loves her. Creusa struggles to hold back her tears. It hurts her to think that she is the cause of the suffering of lovers. She asks Kerinth to humble the gays of Timant and keep him from reckless actions, and she herself goes to Demofont to ask for Dircea. Kerinth admires Creusa's generosity and again tells her about his love. Hope for reciprocity awakens in his heart. It is very difficult for Creusa to pretend to be harsh, Kerinth is dear to her, but she knows that she must become the wife of the heir to the throne. She regrets that vain pride makes her a slave and forces her to suppress her feelings.

Timant and his friends seize the temple of Apollo, knock over the altars, extinguish the sacrificial fire. Demofont appears, Timant does not let him near Dircea. Demophon orders the guards not to touch Timant, he wants to see what filial insolence can reach. Demophon drops his weapon. Timant can kill him and offer his unworthy beloved a hand still smoking from his father's blood. Timant falls at the feet of Demophon and gives him his sword. His crime is great and there is no forgiveness for him. Demophon feels his heart tremble, but he controls himself and orders the guards to put Timant in chains. Timant obediently puts his hands up. Demophon orders to slaughter Dircea right now, in his presence. Timant cannot save his beloved, but asks his father to have mercy on her. He reveals to Demophon that Dircea cannot be sacrificed to Apollo, for God demands the blood of an innocent maiden, and Dircea is a wife and mother. The sacrifice is postponed: another victim must be found. Dircea and Timant are trying to save each other, each is ready to take all the blame. Demophon orders the spouses to be separated, but they ask permission to be together at the last hour. Demophon promises that they will die together. The couple say goodbye.

The head of the guard, Adrastus, conveys to Timant Dircea's last request: she wants Timant to marry Creusa after her death. Timant angrily refuses: he will not live without Dircea. Kerinth appears. He brings good news: Demophon relented, he returns his father's love, wife, son, freedom, life to Timant, and all this happened thanks to the intercession of Creusa! Cerinth tells how he brought Dircea and Olynthus to Demophon, and the king, with tears in his eyes, embraced the boy. Timant advises Cerinth to offer his hand to Creusa, then Demophon will not have to blush for breaking his word given to the Phrygian king. Kerinth replies that she loves Creusa, but does not hope to become her husband, for she will give her hand only to the heir to the throne. Timant renounces his rights as heir. He owes his life to Cerinth, and in giving him the throne, he gives only a fraction of what he owes.

At this time, Matusius learns that Dircea is not his daughter, but Timant's sister. Matusia's wife, before her death, handed her husband a letter and made him swear that he would read it only if Dircea was in danger. As Matusius prepared to flee, he remembered the letter and read it. It was written by the hand of the late queen, who certified that Dircea was the king's daughter. The queen wrote that in the palace temple, in a place where no one except the king has access, another letter was hidden: it explains the reason why Dircea ended up in the house of Matusius. Matusy expects that Timant will be delighted, and does not understand why he turns pale and trembles ... Left alone, Timant despairs: it turns out that he married his own sister. Now it is clear to him what brought the wrath of the gods on him. He regrets that Kreusa saved him from death.

Demophon comes to embrace Timant. He pulls away, ashamed to raise his eyes to his father. Timant - does not want to see Olint, drives Dircea away. He wants to retire to the desert and asks everyone to forget about him. Demophon is in alarm, he is afraid that his son has not been damaged in his mind.

Kerinth convinces Timant that he is not guilty of anything, because his crime is involuntary. Timant says he wants to die. Matusy appears and announces to Timant that he is his father. Dircea reveals that she is not his sister. Timant thinks that, wanting to console him, they are deceiving him. Demophon says that when a daughter was born to the queen and a son was born to his wife Matusias, the mothers exchanged children so that the throne would have an heir. When Cerinth was born, the queen realized that she had deprived her own son of the throne. Seeing how Demophon loves Timant, she did not dare to reveal the secret to him, but before her death she wrote two letters, one she gave to her confidante, wife Matusia, and the other she hid in the temple. Demophon tells Creusa that he promised her his son and heir to the throne as a husband and is now happy that he can keep his word without resorting to cruelty: Kerinth is his son and heir to the throne. Creusa accepts Kerinth's offer. Kerinth asks the princess if she loves him. Creusa asks her consent to be considered an answer. Here only Timant realizes that he is the innocent usurper, about whom the oracle spoke. Finally, the Thracians are spared the annual sacrifice. Timant falls at the king's feet. Demophon says she still loves him. Until now they have loved each other out of duty, from now on they will love each other out of choice, and this love is even stronger.

The choir sings that joy is stronger when it comes to a heart dejected by misfortune. But is the world perfect, where in order to fully enjoy it, it is necessary to go through suffering?

O. E. Grinberg

(La famiglia del Tantiquario, oh sia la suocera e la nuota)

Comedy (1749)

The affairs of Count Anselmo Terraziani were more or less improved when, disregarding class pride, he married his only son, Giacinto, to Doradice, the daughter of the wealthy Venetian merchant Pantalone dei Bisognosi, who gave her twenty thousand crowns of dowry. This amount could have formed the basis of the well-being of the count's house, if Anselmo had not squandered the lion's share of it on his favorite pastime - collecting antiquities; he became literally insane at the sight of Roman medals, fossils and other things of that kind. At the same time, Ansedo did not understand anything about the antiquities dear to his heart, which all sorts of rogues used, selling him for big money all sorts of rubbish that no one needed.

With his head immersed in his studies, Anselmo only brushed off the annoying problems of everyday life, and there were enough of them. In addition to the constant lack of money, which spoiled the blood of all households day by day, it so happened that from the very beginning, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law fiercely disliked each other. Countess Isabella could not give an oracle when Apollo would have mercy and stop demanding human sacrifices, but the answer was short and dark: "The wrath of the gods will subside when an innocent usurper learns the truth about himself." Dircea is afraid of the upcoming lot. She is not afraid of death, but Apollo demands the blood of an innocent maiden, and if Dircea silently goes to the slaughter, she will anger God, and if she reveals the secret, she will anger the king. Timant and Dircea decide to confess everything to Demophon: after all, the king has issued a law, the king can cancel it.

Demophon announces to Timant that he intends to marry him to the Phrygian princess Creusa. He sent his youngest son Kerinth after her, and the ship should arrive soon. Demofont could not find a bride worthy of Timant for a long time. For this, he forgot the long-standing enmity between the Thracian and Phrygian kings. Timant expresses bewilderment: why does his wife have to be of royal blood? Demophon insists on the need to honor the covenants of the ancestors. He sends Timant to meet his bride. Left alone, Timant asks the great gods to protect Dircea and protect their marriage.

The Phrygian princess arrives in Thrace. During the journey, Kerinth managed to fall in love with Creusa. Left alone with Creusa, Timant persuades her to refuse marriage to him. Kreusa is offended. She asks Kerinth to avenge her and kill Timant. As a reward, she promises him her heart, hand and crown. Seeing that Kerinth turns pale, Creusa calls him a coward, she despises a lover who speaks of love, but is not able to stand up for the honor of his beloved with a weapon in his hands. In the anger of Creus, Kerinth seems even more beautiful.

Matusios decides to take Dircea away from Thrace. Dircea assumes that her father found out about her marriage to Timant. She is unable to leave her husband and son. Timant declares to Matusia that he will not let Dircea go, and then | it turns out that Matusy does not know about their marriage and therefore cannot understand by what right Timant interferes in their affairs. Matusius tells that Demophon was angry with him because he, a subject, dared to compare himself with the king, and as a punishment for his obstinacy he ordered to sacrifice Dircea, without waiting for the lot. Timant persuades Matusy not to worry: the king is quick-witted, after the first outburst of anger he will certainly cool down and cancel his order. The head of the guard, Adrastus, grabs Dircea. Timant prays to the gods to give him courage and promises Matusia to save Dircea.

Creusa asks Demophon to let her go home to Phrygia. Demophon thinks that Timant scared Creusa with his rudeness and impoliteness, because he grew up among warriors and was not accustomed to tenderness. But Kreusa says she shouldn't be denied. Demofont, believing that the princess's suspiciousness is to blame, promises her that Timant will become her husband today. Creusa decides: let Timant obey the will of his father and offer her his hand, and she will amuse her pride and refuse him. Creusa reminds Demophon: he is a father and a boy, which means that he knows what the will of the father and the punishment of the king are.

Timant begs Demophon to spare the daughter of the unfortunate Matusius, but Demophon does not want to listen to anything: he is busy preparing for the wedding. Timant says that he has an overwhelming disgust for Kreusa. He again begs his father to spare Dircea and confesses that he loves her. Demophon promises to save Dircea's life if Timant obeys his will and marries Creusa. Timant replies that he cannot do this. Demophon says: "Prince, up to now I have spoken to you as a father, do not force me to remind you that I am a king." Timant equally respects the will of his father and the will of the king, but cannot fulfill it. He understands that he is guilty and deserves punishment.

Demophon complains that everyone insults him: a proud princess, an obstinate subject, an impudent son. Realizing that Timant will not obey him while Dircea is alive, he gives the order to immediately lead Dircea to the slaughter. The common good is more important than the life of an individual: so a gardener cuts a useless branch so that the tree grows better. If he had kept it, the tree might have died.

Timant tells Matusy that Demophon was deaf to his pleas. Now the only hope for salvation is flight. Matusius must equip the ship, and in the meantime Timant will deceive the guards and kidnap Dircea. Matusy admires the nobility of Timant and marvels at his dissimilarity with his father.

Timant is firm in his determination to escape: his wife and son are dearer to him than the crown and wealth. But now he sees Dircea in a white dress and a flower crown being led to the slaughter. Dircea convinces Timant not to try to save her: he will not help her anyway and will only destroy himself. Timant is furious. Now he will stop at no one and nothing, he is ready to put the palace, temple, priests to fire and sword.

Dircea prays to the gods for Timant's life. She turns to Creusa with a request for intercession. Dircea says that she is innocently condemned to death, but she asks not for herself, but for Timant, who is threatened with death because of her. Creusa is amazed: on the verge of death, Dircea thinks not of herself, but of Timant. Dircea asks not to ask her about anything: if she could tell Creusa all her misfortunes, the princess's heart would break with pity. Creusa admires Dircea's beauty. If the daughter Matusia was able to touch even her, then there is nothing strange in the fact that Timant loves her. Creusa struggles to hold back her tears. It hurts her to think that she is the cause of the suffering of lovers. She asks Kerinth to humble the gays of Timant and keep him from reckless actions, and she herself goes to Demofont to ask for Dircea. Kerinth admires Creusa's generosity and again tells her about his love. Hope for reciprocity awakens in his heart. It is very difficult for Creusa to pretend to be harsh, Kerinth is dear to her, but she knows that she must become the wife of the heir to the throne. She regrets that vain pride makes her a slave and forces her to suppress her feelings.

Timant and his friends seize the temple of Apollo, knock over the altars, extinguish the sacrificial fire. Demofont appears, Timant does not let him near Dircea. Demophon orders the guards not to touch Timant, he wants to see what filial insolence can reach. Demophon drops his weapon. Timant can kill him and offer his unworthy beloved a hand still smoking from his father's blood. Timant falls at the feet of Demophon and gives him his sword. His crime is great and there is no forgiveness for him. Demophon feels his heart tremble, but he controls himself and orders the guards to put Timant in chains. Timant obediently puts his hands up. Demophon orders to slaughter Dircea right now, in his presence. Timant cannot save his beloved, but asks his father to have mercy on her. He reveals to Demophon that Dircea cannot be sacrificed to Apollo, for God demands the blood of an innocent maiden, and Dircea is a wife and mother. The sacrifice is postponed: another victim must be found. Dircea and Timant are trying to save each other, each is ready to take all the blame. Demophon orders the spouses to be separated, but they ask permission to be together at the last hour. Demophon promises that they will die together. The couple say goodbye.

The head of the guard, Adrastus, conveys to Timant Dircea's last request: she wants Timant to marry Creusa after her death. Timant angrily refuses: he will not live without Dircea. Kerinth appears. He brings good news: Demophon relented, he returns his father's love, wife, son, freedom, life to Timant, and all this happened thanks to the intercession of Creusa! Cerinth tells how he brought Dircea and Olynthus to Demophon, and the king, with tears in his eyes, embraced the boy. Timant advises Cerinth to offer his hand to Creusa, then Demophon will not have to blush for breaking his word given to the Phrygian king. Kerinth replies that she loves Creusa, but does not hope to become her husband, for she will give her hand only to the heir to the throne. Timant renounces his rights as heir. He owes his life to Cerinth, and in giving him the throne, he gives only a fraction of what he owes.

At this time, Matusius learns that Dircea is not his daughter, but Timant's sister. Matusia's wife, before her death, handed her husband a letter and made him swear that he would read it only if Dircea was in danger. As Matusius prepared to flee, he remembered the letter and read it. It was written by the hand of the late queen, who certified that Dircea was the king's daughter. The queen wrote that in the palace temple, in a place where no one except the king has access, another letter was hidden: it explains the reason why Dircea ended up in the house of Matusius. Matusy expects that Timant will be delighted, and does not understand why he turns pale and trembles ... Left alone, Timant despairs: it turns out that he married his own sister. Now it is clear to him what brought the wrath of the gods on him. He regrets that Kreusa saved him from death.

Demophon comes to embrace Timant. He pulls away, ashamed to raise his eyes to his father. Timant - does not want to see Olint, drives Dircea away. He wants to retire to the desert and asks everyone to forget about him. Demophon is in alarm, he is afraid that his son has not been damaged in his mind.

Kerinth convinces Timant that he is not guilty of anything, because his crime is involuntary. Timant says he wants to die. Matusy appears and announces to Timant that he is his father. Dircea reveals that she is not his sister. Timant thinks that, wanting to console him, they are deceiving him. Demophon says that when a daughter was born to the queen and a son was born to his wife Matusias, the mothers exchanged children so that the throne would have an heir. When Cerinth was born, the queen realized that she had deprived her own son of the throne. Seeing how Demophon loves Timant, she did not dare to reveal the secret to him, but before her death she wrote two letters, one she gave to her confidante, wife Matusia, and the other she hid in the temple. Demophon tells Creusa that he promised her his son and heir to the throne as a husband and is now happy that he can keep his word without resorting to cruelty: Kerinth is his son and heir to the throne. Creusa accepts Kerinth's offer. Kerinth asks the princess if she loves him. Creusa asks her consent to be considered an answer. Here only Timant realizes that he is the innocent usurper, about whom the oracle spoke. Finally, the Thracians are spared the annual sacrifice. Timant falls at the king's feet. Demophon says she still loves him. Until now they have loved each other out of duty, from now on they will love each other out of choice, and this love is even stronger.

The choir sings that joy is stronger when it comes to a heart dejected by misfortune. But is the world perfect, where in order to fully enjoy it, it is necessary to go through suffering?

O. E. Grinberg

The affairs of Count Anselmo Terraziani were more or less improved when, disregarding class pride, he married his only son, Giacinto, to Doradice, the daughter of the wealthy Venetian merchant Pantalone dei Bisognosi, who gave her twenty thousand crowns of dowry. This amount could have formed the basis of the well-being of the count's house, if Anselmo had not squandered the lion's share of it on his favorite pastime - collecting antiquities; he became literally insane at the sight of Roman medals, fossils and other things of that kind. At the same time, Ansedo did not understand anything about the antiquities dear to his heart, which all sorts of rogues used, selling him for big money all sorts of rubbish that no one needed.

With his head immersed in his studies, Anselmo only brushed off the annoying problems of everyday life, and there were enough of them. In addition to the constant lack of money, which spoiled the blood of all households day by day, it so happened that from the very beginning, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law fiercely disliked each other. Countess Isabella could not reconcile herself to the fact that her noble offspring, for the sake of a miserable twenty thousand, took a commoner, a merchant's wife, as his wife; however, when it came to ransoming her jewelry from the pledge, the countess did not disdain to use the merchant's money.

Doraliche, for her part, was indignant that out of all the dowry, not a meager amount had been spent on her, so that now she had nothing even to go out of the house with - she could not show herself to people in a dress, like a maid. She asked her husband, the young Count Giacinto, in vain to somehow influence her father-in-law with her mother-in-law - he loved her very much, but was too gentle and respectful to be able to impose his will on his parents. Giacinto timidly tried to reconcile his wife with his mother, but without any success.

The Countess Doraliche countered the mad, imperious disposition with a murderous icy composure, her mother-in-law constantly poked her daughter-in-law in the eyes with her nobility, and she poked her with her dowry. The enmity between Isabella and Doradice was also fueled by the maid Colombina. She was angry with the young mistress for the slap she received from her, refusing to call her a signora - they say they are equal, both from the merchant class, and it does not matter that her father was a peddler, and her father Doraliche was in a shop. For gossip about her daughter-in-law Colombina, gifts from the countess sometimes fell, and in order to be generous to Isabella, she herself often invented nasty things about her, allegedly said by Doraliche.

The Chichisbey Countess also added fuel to the fire - gentlemen who, out of pure devotion, render services to a married lady. One of them, an old doctor, stoically endured Isabella's whims and indulged her in absolutely everything, including anger at her daughter-in-law. The second, Cavalier del Bosco, however, soon made a bet on the younger and more attractive Doradice and went over to her.

Brigella, blown away by Anselmo, quickly realized that the owner's whim could make a lot of money. He dressed up his friend and compatriot Harlequin as an Armenian, and together they handed the count an object that they had given out as an inextinguishable lamp from a tomb in an Egyptian pyramid. The venerable Pantalone instantly recognized it as an ordinary kitchen lamp, but the collector flatly refused to believe him.

Pantalone's heart was bleeding - he was ready to do everything so that his beloved only daughter would live well in a new family. He begged Doradice to be gentler, kinder with his mother-in-law, and in order to at least temporarily stop skirmishes over money, he gave her a purse with fifty scudos.

As a result of common diplomatic efforts, it seemed that a truce was reached between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, and the latter even agreed to be the first to greet Isabella, but even here she remained true to herself: bowing to her, she explained this gesture of goodwill by the duty of the young girl in relation to the old woman.

Having acquired money, Doraliche decided to acquire an ally in the person of Colombina, which was not difficult - it was worth offering her to pay twice the salary that she received from Countess Isabella. Colombina immediately began to throw mud at the old signora with pleasure, while, however, not wanting to miss out on additional income, she continued to talk nasty things about Doralich to Isabella. Cavalier del Bosco, though free of charge, but also warmly offered his services to Doraliche and shamelessly flattered her that the girl was not so much useful as simply pleasant.

Brigella, meanwhile, got a taste and decided to cheat Anselmo on a grand scale: he told the owner that the famous antiquarian Captain Sarakka had gone bankrupt, who was therefore forced to sell the collection collected over twenty years for nothing. Brighella promised Anselmo to get her for some three thousand crowns, and he enthusiastically gave the servant a deposit and sent it to the seller.

During the entire conversation with Brighella, Anselmo reverently held in his hands a priceless tome - a book of peace treaties between Athens and Sparta, written by Demosthenes himself. Pantalone, who happened right there, unlike the count, knew Greek and tried to explain to him that this is just a collection of songs that young people sing in Corfu, but his explanations convinced the antiquarian only that Pantalone did not know Greek.

However, Pantalone came to the count not for scholarly conversations, but in order to arrange a family reconciliation with his participation - he had already persuaded both women to meet in the living room. Anselmo reluctantly agreed to attend, and then withdrew to his antiquities. When Pantalone was left alone, the case helped him expose the scammers who cheated the count: Harlequin decided, in order not to share with Brighella, to act at his own peril and risk and brought an old shoe for sale. Pantaloon, who called himself a friend of Anselmo and the same lover of antiquity, he tried to foist him under the guise of the same shoe with which Nero kicked Poppea, pushing her off the throne. Caught red-handed. Harlequin told all about the tricks of Brighella and promised to repeat his words in the presence of Anselmo.

Finally, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law managed to be brought together in one room, but both of them, as expected, appeared in the living room, accompanied by gentlemen. Without any malicious intent, but only out of stupidity and wanting to be pleasing to their ladies, the doctor and the cavalier del Bosco diligently egged on the women, who already incessantly let go of various barbs and rudeness against each other. None of them heeded the eloquence lavished by Pantalone and Giacinto, who undertook to help him.

Anselmo, as if he were not the father of the family, sat with an absent look, since he could only think about the meeting of Captain Sarakk floating into his hands. When Brighella finally returned, he recklessly rushed to look at the wealth he had brought, not waiting for the end of the family council. Pantalone couldn't stand it anymore, spat and also left.

Count Anselmo was in utter delight, considering the goods worthy to adorn the collection of any monarch and got him for only three thousand. Pantalone, as always, set out to put an end to the count's antiquarian delights, but only this time Pancrazio, a recognized connoisseur of antiquities, in whom Anselmo completely trusted, appeared with him. This same Pancrazio opened his eyes to the true value of the newly acquired treasures: the shells found, according to Brighella, high in the mountains, turned out to be simple oyster shells thrown out by the sea; petrified fish - stones, which were lightly passed with a chisel, in order to fool the gullible; the collection of Adeppian mummies was nothing more than boxes with gutted and dried corpses of kittens and puppies. In short, Anselmo threw all his money down the drain. At first he did not want to believe that Brighella was to blame for this, but Pantalone brought a witness - Harlequin - and the count had no choice but to recognize the servant as a scoundrel and a swindler.

With the inspection of the collection was over, and Pantalone invited Anselmo to finally think about family matters. The count readily promised to contribute in every possible way to pacification, but to begin with it was absolutely necessary for him to borrow ten sequins from Pantalone. He gave, thinking that it was for the cause, while Anselmo needed this money to purchase genuine lifetime portraits of Petrarch and the Madonna Laura.

Cavaliers, meanwhile, made another attempt to reconcile the mother-in-law with the daughter-in-law - as one would expect, stupid and unsuccessful; Colombina, feeding on the enmity of two women, did everything to exclude the slightest possibility of reconciliation. Pantalone watched this lunatic asylum to its heart's content and decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. He went to Ansevento and offered to take on the role of manager of the count's property free of charge and improve his affairs. Anselmo immediately agreed, especially since after the fraud of Brighella, who fled with money from Palermo, he was on the verge of complete ruin. In order to get Pantalone as a manager, the count had to sign one paper, which he did without batting an eyelid.

Once again, having gathered together all the household members and friends of the house, Pantalone solemnly read out the document signed by Count Anselmo. Its essence boiled down to the following: henceforth, all the count's incomes come to the full disposal of Pantalone dei Bisognosi;

Pantalone undertakes to supply all members of the Count's family equally with supplies and clothing; Anselmo is allocated a hundred skudos a year to replenish the collection of antiquities. The manager was also entrusted with the care of maintaining peace in the family, in the interests of which that signora, who wants to have a permanent gentleman for services, will have to settle in the village; the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law undertake to live on different floors of the house; Columbine retires.

Those present were pleased to note that Isabella and Dorali-che unanimously agreed with the last two points and even without a quarrel decided who should live on the first floor, who - on the second. However, even for a ring with diamonds, offered to Pantalona by the one who first hugs and kisses the other, neither the mother-in-law nor the daughter-in-law agreed to give up their pride.

But in general, Pantaloon was pleased: his daughter was no longer threatened by poverty, and a bad world, in the end, is better than a good quarrel.

L A. Karelsky

(servitore di due padroni)

Comedy (1749)

The happy engagement of Silvio, the son of Dr. Lombardi, with the young Clariche could take place only thanks to a circumstance, in itself very unfortunate - the death in a duel of Signor Federigo Rasponi, to whom Clarice had long been promised in marriage by her father, Pangalone dei Bisognosi.

As soon as the fathers solemnly handed the young people to each other in the presence of Paetalone Smeraldina's maid and Brigella, the owner of the hotel, when out of nowhere a smart fellow appeared, to everyone's amazement, who called himself Trufaldino from Bergamo, the servant of Federigo Rasponi from Turin. At first they did not believe him - such reliable sources reported the death of Federigo, and friendly assurances that his owner had died even forced Trufadino to run outside to make sure he was alive. But when Federigo himself appeared and showed Pantalona letters addressed to him by mutual acquaintances, doubts were dispelled. The engagement of Sidvio and Clarice broke off, the lovers were in despair.

Only Brigella, who had lived in Turin for several years before moving to Venice, immediately recognized the stranger as Federigo's sister, Beatrice Rasponi, dressed in a man's dress. But she begged him not to reveal her secrets for the time being, in support of the request, promising Brighella ten doubloons for silence. A little later, seizing the moment, Beatrice told him that her brother had really died in a duel at the hands of Florindo Aretusi; Beatrice and Florindo had loved each other for a long time, but for some reason Federigo was strongly against their marriage. After the duel, Florindo was forced to flee from Turin, while Beatrice followed him in the hope of finding and helping with money - Pantalone just owed her late brother a round sum.

Trufaldino was thinking about how to have a quick and hearty dinner when he suddenly had the opportunity to serve Florindo Aretusi, who had just arrived in Venice. Tom liked the quick fellow, and he asked if Trufaldino wanted to become his servant. Judging that two salaries are better than one, Trufaldino agreed. He brought the master's things to Brighella's hotel, and then went to the post office to see if there were any letters for Florindo.

Beatrice stayed at the same hotel and also first of all sent Trufaldino for letters addressed to Federigo or Beatrice Rasponi. Before he had time to move away from the hotel, Silvio, tormented by jealousy, stopped him and demanded to call the owner. Trufaldino, of course, did not specify which one, and called the first one he came across - Florindo. She and Silvio did not know each other, but from the ensuing conversation Florindo discovered the news that confused him:

Federigo Rasponi is alive and in Venice.

Three letters were handed to Trufaldino at the post office, and not all of them were intended for Florindo. Therefore, not knowing how to read, he invented a story about a friend named Pasquale, also a servant, who asked to pick up letters for his master, whose name he, Trufaldino, forgot. One of the letters was sent to Beatrice from Turin by her old faithful servant - having opened it, Florindo learned that his beloved, disguised as a man, went to Venice for him. Excited to the extreme, he gave Trufaldino a letter and ordered him to find this Pasquale at all costs.

Beatrice was very unhappy, having received an important letter unsealed, but Trufaldino managed to speak her teeth, again referring to the notorious Pasquale. Pantalone, meanwhile, was burning with a desire to quickly marry her, that is, federigo, to Clarice, although her daughter begged him not to be so cruel. Beatrice took pity on the girl: staying with her face to face, she revealed to Clarice that she was no Federigo, but at the same time she took an oath to remain silent. Delighted by the fact that after a meeting in private his daughter looked exceptionally pleased, Pantalone decided to schedule the wedding for the very next day.

Dr. Lombardi tried to convince Pantalone of the reality of the engagement of Silvio and Clarice by strict logical arguments, citing the fundamental principles of law in Latin, but all in vain. Silvio, in a conversation with a failed father-in-law, was more decisive, even harsh, and in the end grabbed his sword. It would have been bad for Pantaloon here if Beatrice had not happened nearby, who stood up for him with a sword in her hand. After a brief struggle, she had Silvio to the ground and was already holding her blade to his chest when Clarice threw herself between her and Silvio.

Silvio, however, immediately declared to his beloved that he did not want to see her after she had been alone with another for so long. No matter how hard Clarice tried to convince him that she was still faithful to him, her lips were bound by an oath of silence. In desperation, she grabbed a sword, wanting to stab herself, but Silvio considered the impulse an empty comedy, and only the intervention of Smeraldina saved the girl's life.

Beatrice, meanwhile, ordered Trufaldino to order a large dinner for her and Pantalone, and before that, hide a bill for four thousand skudos in a chest. Trufaldino had been waiting for instructions about dinner from both of his hosts for a long time, and finally he waited for at least one of them: he vividly discussed the menu with Brighella, but the serving issue turned out to be more complicated and subtle, so it was necessary to visually depict the location of the dishes on the table - here the bill, which was torn into pieces depicting one or another dish.

Fortunately, the bill was from Pantalone - he immediately agreed to rewrite it. Trufaldino was not beaten, but was instead ordered to wait more sluggishly at dinner. Then Florindo appeared on his head and ordered him to cover himself in the room next to the one where Beatrice and Pantalone dined. Trufaldino had to sweat, serving at two tables at once, but he did not lose heart, consoling himself with the thought that, having worked for two, he would eat for four.

With the gentlemen, everything went smoothly, and Trufaldino sat down for a well-deserved plentiful meal, from which he was torn off by Smeraldina, who brought a note for Beatrice from Clarice. Trufadino had long had his eye on the pretty maid, but before that he had not had the opportunity to play nice with her to his heart's content. Then they talked heartily and somehow in between times opened a note to Clarice, which they still could not read.

Having already received the second letter open, Beatrice was seriously angry and gave Trufaldino a good beating with a stick. seeing this execution from the window, Florindo wanted to find out who dared to beat his servant. When he went out into the street, Beatrice had already left, and Trufaldino came up with such an unfortunate explanation for what had happened that Florindo nailed him with the same stick - for cowardice.

Comforting himself with the thought that a double meal still fully atones for a double thrashing, Trufaldino pulled both master's chests onto the balcony in order to air and clean the dress - the chests were like two drops of water, so he immediately forgot where whose. When Florindo ordered the black camisole to be brought in, Trufaldino pulled it out of Beatrice's chest. Imagine the amazement of the young man who found in his pocket his own portrait, which he had once presented to his beloved. In response to bewildered questions, Florindo Trufaldino lied that he got the portrait from its former owner, who died a week ago. Florindo was in despair - after all, this owner could only be Beatrice disguised as a man.

Then, accompanied by Pantalone, Beatrice came and, wanting to check some accounts, asked Trufaldino for her memorial book; he dragged a book from Florindo's chest. He explained the origin of this book in a proven way: they say, he had an owner named Florindo Aretusi, who died last week ... Beatrice was struck on the spot by his words: she wailed bitterly, no longer caring about keeping the secret.

Her woeful monologue convinced Pantalone that Federigo Ras-poni was actually dead, and in front of him was his sister in disguise, and he immediately ran to tell this joyful news to the inconsolable Silvio. As soon as Pantalone left, Florindo and Beatrice each went out of their room into the hall with daggers in their hands and with the obvious intention of depriving themselves of a hateful life. This intention would have been fulfilled if they had not suddenly noticed each other - immediately they had only to throw daggers and rush into the desired embrace.

When the first enthusiasm had passed, the lovers wanted to properly punish the swindler servants, who almost drove them to suicide with their chatter. Trufaldino got away this time too, telling Florindo about his unlucky friend Pasquale, who is in the service of Signora Beatrice, and Beatrice about the stupid Pasquale, the servant of Signor Florindo; he begged both of them to treat Pasquale's offense with indulgence.

Meanwhile, Pantalona, ​​Dr. Lombardi and Smeraldina had to work hard to reconcile Silvio and Clarice, who were offended by each other, but in the end their work was crowned with success - the young people hugged and kissed.

Everything seemed to be settled, things were going to two weddings, but then, through the fault of the servants, another, final, misunderstanding formed: Smeraldina asked Clarice to marry her to Signora Beatrice's servant; Trufaldino did not know about this and, for his part, persuaded Florindo to ask Pantalone Smeraldina for his wife. It was like two different contenders for the hand of one maid. The desire to unite fate with Smeraldina nevertheless forced Trufaldino to confess that he served two masters at once, that no such Pasquale existed and he alone, thus, was to blame for everything. But contrary to Trufadino's fears, they forgave him for joy and did not punish him with sticks.

D. A. Karelsky

(La locandiera)

Comedy (1752)

Count Albafiorita and the Marquis of Forlipopoli lived in the same Florentine hotel for almost three months and all this time they sorted things out, arguing what was more important, a big name or a full wallet: the Marquis reproached the Count with the fact that his county was bought, the Count parried the attacks of the Marquis, recalling, that he bought the county about the same time that the marquis was forced to sell his marquisate. Most likely, disputes so unworthy of aristocrats would not have been fought if it were not for the mistress of that hotel, the charming Mirandolina, with whom both of them were in love. The count tried to win the heart of Mirandodina with rich gifts, the marquis kept trumping with patronage, which she supposedly could expect from him. Mirandolina did not give preference to either one or the other, demonstrating deep indifference to both, while the hotel servants clearly valued the count more, who lived on a sequin a day, than the marquis, who spent three paolos at most.

Once again starting a dispute about the comparative merits of nobility and wealth, the count and the marquis called for a third guest to judge - the cavalier Ripafratt. The cavalier admitted that, no matter how glorious the name, it is always good to have money to satisfy all sorts of whims, but the reason for which the argument flared up caused him a fit of contemptuous laughter: they also figured out why to quarrel - because for the women! The cavalier Ripafratta himself never liked these same women and didn’t put them at all. Struck by such an unusual attitude towards the fair sex, the count and the marquis began to paint the gentleman's charms of the hostess, but he stubbornly maintained that Mirandolina was a woman like a woman, and there was nothing in her that would distinguish her from the others.

The hostess found the guests behind such conversations, to whom the count immediately presented another gift of love - diamond earrings;

Mirandolina chimed in for decency, but then accepted the gift only, according to her, so as not to offend the Signor Count.

Mirandolina, who was forced to maintain the hotel on her own after the death of her father, was, in general, tired of the constant red tape of the guests, but the gentleman’s speech still seriously hurt her vanity - just think of speaking so dismissively about her charms! Silently, Mirandolina decided to use all her skill and overcome the foolish and unnatural dislike of the gentleman Ripafratt for women.

When the gentleman demanded to change his bed linen, she "instead of sending a servant to his room, went there herself. By this she once again aroused the displeasure of the servant, Fabrizio, whom her father, dying, read to her as her husband. To the timid reproaches of the enamored Fabrizio Mirandolina answered that she would think about her father’s covenant when she got married, but for now her flirting with the guests was very helpful to the institution. tricks interspersed with rude flattery, even endeared him to her.

Meanwhile, two new guests arrived at the hotel, the actresses Dejanira and Ortensia, whom Fabrizio, misled by their outfits, mistook for noble ladies and began to call them "excellencies". The girls were amused by the servant's mistake, and, deciding to have some fun, introduced themselves one as a Corsican baroness, the other as a countess from Rome. Mirandolina immediately saw through their innocent lies, but out of love for funny practical jokes, she promised not to expose the actresses.

In the presence of the newly arrived ladies, the marquis, with great ceremonies, presented Mirandolina with a handkerchief of the rarest, in his words, English work, as the greatest jewel. Posing rather not for the wealth of the donor, but for his title, Dejanira and Ortensia immediately called the marquis to dine with them, but when the count appeared and presented the hostess with a diamond necklace in front of their eyes, the girls, instantly soberly assessing the situation, decided to dine with the count as with man is undoubtedly more worthy and promising.

Ripafratta's cavalier was served dinner earlier than everyone else that day. Moreover, this time Mirandolina added to the usual dishes a sauce prepared by her own hand, and then she herself brought a stew of unearthly taste to the gentleman's room. Wine was served with the stew. Declaring that she was crazy about Burgundy, Mirandolina drank a glass, then, as if by the way, sat down at the table and began to eat and drink with her gentleman - the marquis and count would burst with envy at the sight of this scene, since both of them more than once they begged her to share the meal, but they always met with a decisive refusal. Soon the gentleman sent the servant out of the room, and spoke to Mirandolina with courtesy, which he had never expected from himself before.

Their seclusion was violated by the importunate Marquis. Nothing to do, they poured him Burgundy and put the stew. Satisfied, the marquis took from his pocket a miniature bottle of the most exquisite, as he claimed, Cypriot wine, brought by him in order to please his dear hostess. He poured this wine into glasses the size of a thimble, and then, being generous, sent the same glasses to the count and his ladies. The rest of the Cypriot - vile liquor to the taste of the gentleman and Mirandolina - he carefully corked and put back in his pocket; before leaving, he also sent a full-fledged bottle of Canarian, sent in response by the count, to the same place. Mirandolina left the gentleman shortly after the Marquis, but by this time he was quite ready to confess his love to her.

At a merry dinner, the count and the actresses laughed to their heart's content at the poor and greedy marquis. The actresses promised the count, when the whole troupe arrived, to bring this type on the stage in the most hilarious way, to which the count replied that it would also be very funny to introduce the adamant misogynist cavalier in some play. Not believing that such things happen, the girls, for the sake of fun, undertook to turn the gentleman’s head right now, but it didn’t hurt them. The cavalier, with great reluctance, agreed to speak to them and more or less began to talk only when Dejanira and Ortensia admitted that they were not noble ladies at all, but simple actresses. However, after chatting a little, he eventually cursed the actresses anyway and sent them out.

The cavalier had no time for empty chatter, because he realized with bewildered fear that he had fallen into the net of Mirandolina and that if he did not leave before evening, this charming woman would completely slay him. Gathering his will into a fist, he announced his immediate departure, and Mirandolina gave him a bill. At the same time, desperate sadness was written on her face, then she let out a tear, and a little later she completely collapsed into a faint. When the cavalier gave the girl a decanter of water, he already called her only dear and beloved, and sent the servant who appeared with a sword and travel hat to hell. He advised the count with the marquis who came to the noise to get out there and, for persuasiveness, launched a decanter at them.

Mirandolina celebrated the victory. Now she needed only one thing - for everyone to know about her triumph, which should serve to shame the husbands and the glory of the female.

Mirandolina stroked, and Fabrizio obediently brought her heated irons, although he was in frustrated feelings - he was driven to despair by the frivolity of his beloved, her undeniable predilection for noble and rich gentlemen. Maybe Mirandolina would like to console the unfortunate young man, but did not do this, because she believed that it was not time yet. She was able to please Fabrizio only by sending back to the gentleman the precious golden bottle with healing lemon balm water, which he had transferred.

But it was not so easy to get rid of the gentleman - offended, he personally presented Mirandolina with a bottle and began to persistently impose it on her as a gift. Mirandolina flatly refused to accept this gift, and in general it was as if they had replaced her: she now behaved coldly with her gentleman, answered him extremely sharply and unkindly, and explained her fainting by forcibly pouring Burgundy into her mouth. At the same time, she addressed Fabrizio with emphatic tenderness, and to top it all, having accepted the bottle from her gentleman, she casually threw it into the laundry basket. Here, the cavalier, driven to the extreme, burst into ardent love confessions, but in response received only evil ridicule - Mirayadolina cruelly triumphed over the defeated enemy, who was unaware that in her eyes he was always only an opponent and nothing more.

Left to himself, the gentleman could not recover for a long time after an unexpected blow, until he was slightly distracted from his sad thoughts by the marquis, who appeared to demand satisfaction - but not for the scolded honor of the nobility, but material, for a spattered caftan. The cavalier, as was to be expected, again sent him to hell, but then the bottle thrown by Mirandolina caught the eyes of the marquis, and he tried to remove the stains with its contents. The bottle itself, considering it to be bronze, he presented to Dejanira under the guise of gold. What was his horror when a servant came for the same bottle and testified that it was really gold and that twelve sequins had been paid for it: the honor of the marquis hung in the balance, because it was impossible to take away the gift from the countess, that is, it was necessary to pay for it Mirandolina, and not a penny of money ...

The Count interrupted the gloomy reflections of the Marquis. Angry as hell, he declared that since the cavalier had won the undeniable favor of Mirandolina, he, the Count of Albafiorita, had nothing to do here, he was leaving. Wanting to punish the ungrateful hostess, he persuaded the actresses and the marquis to move out of her, enticing the latter with a promise to live with his friend for free.

Frightened by the frenzy of the gentleman and not knowing what else to expect from him, Mirandolina, meanwhile, locked herself in her room and, sitting locked up, strengthened herself in the thought that it was time for her to marry Fabrizio as soon as possible - marriage with him would become reliable protection for her and her name, freedom , in fact, will not cause any damage. The cavalier justified Mirandolina's fears - he began with all his strength to break into her door. The count and the marquis, who came running to the noise, forcibly dragged the gentleman from the door, after which the count told him that by his actions he had clearly proved that he was madly in love with Mirandolina and, therefore, could no longer be called a misogynist. The enraged cavalier in response accused the count of slander, and there would have been a bloody duel, but at the last moment it turned out that the sword borrowed by the cavalier from the Marquis was a piece of iron with a handle.

Fabrizio and Mirandolina pulled away the unlucky duelists. Backed against the wall, the gentleman was finally forced to publicly admit that Mirandolina conquered him. Mirandolina was only waiting for this recognition - after listening to him, she announced that she was marrying the one whom her father had read for her husband - Fabrizio.

The whole story convinced Cavalier Ripafratta that it is not enough to despise women, one must also run away from them, so as not to inadvertently fall under their irresistible power. When he hastily left the hotel, Mirandolina still felt remorse. She politely but insistently asked the count and the marquis to follow the gentleman - now that she had a fiancé, Mirandolina had no need for their gifts, and even more so patronage.

D. A. Karelsky

(II feudatario)

Comedy (1752)

The community council of Montefosco, represented by three deputies of the community - Nardo, Cecco and Mengone, as well as two elders - Pasqualotto and Marcone, gathered on a very important occasion: the old Marquis Ridolfo Montefosco had died, and now his son, Marquis Florindo, was going to their region to take ownership accompanied by his mother, the widow Marquise Beatrice. The venerable members of the council had to decide how best to meet and greet the new gentlemen.

The deputies themselves were not much of a language, their daughters and wives, too, in general, did not shine with education and upbringing, so at first it seemed natural to everyone to entrust the meeting of the Marquis with the Marquis to Signor Pantalone dei Bisognosi, a Venetian merchant who had long lived in Montefosco as a farmer of income the marquis, and the young signora Rosuare brought up in his house. But according to sound reasoning, both candidates were rejected: signora Pantalone - as a stranger, who grew rich on the sweat and blood of the Montefoscan peasants, and signora Rosaura - as an arrogant person who built herself - with full, however, and no one from the village disputed right - noble.

This same Signora Rosaura was in fact the legitimate, but bypassed by fate, heiress both of the title and the possessions of the Marquises of Montefosco. The fact is that the marquisate was a major property, and Rosaura's father, in the presence of direct heirs, had no right to sell it. But at the time of the transaction, he did not suspect that his wife was expecting a child, and besides, the old marquis died six months before the birth of Rosaura. The buyer of Montefosco, the late Marquis of Ridolfo, did an honor to the girl - he gave Pantalona an impressive amount for her upbringing, education, and even a small dowry, so Rosaura had nothing to complain about. But when she grew up, the idea that someone else was using her title, power and money began to haunt her. Rosaura could start a process, but it required a lot of money, and old Pantalone persuaded the girl not to spoil the lives of people who had treated her nobly.

Since the castle was in a state of disrepair, the new gentlemen had to stay at Pantalone's house. Marchesa Beatrice turned out to be a noble and prudent lady, but her son, young Florindo, could only think about one thing - about women, and the very entry into the possession of Montefosco pleased him solely because, as he believed, among the new subjects, there must certainly be a fair number of beauties. So when the delegates of the community came to Florindo, he barely allowed them to say a few words, but being alone with Rosaura, he immediately came to life and, without wasting time, strongly advised the girl not to be an idiot and quickly indulge in the delights of love with him.

Rosaura unpleasantly struck the Marquis with her intractability, but he did not leave his rude searches until the appearance of Signora Beatrice put an end to them. She put her son out, and started a serious conversation with Rosauro about how to settle the annoying property conflict to everyone's pleasure. Rosaura promised to help all her undertakings to a reasonable extent, as she saw in the Marquis a worthy person who, in addition to her own son, also loves truth and justice.

Having suffered a fiasco with Rosaura, Florindo, however, quickly consoled himself: in the next room, where his mother put him out, a delegation of Montefosco women was waiting for an audience with the Marquise. Giannina, Olivette and Gitte took a fancy to the young marquis, handsome and merry, each of them readily gave him their address. Florindo took a liking to them all, too, but his mother, who was somewhat disappointed at being greeted by not-too-well-dressed girls from the lower strata, did not. The definition of "from the lower strata" of the delegates, amused by this signora Beatrice, was unexpectedly taken as a compliment - of course, they say, of course they are from the valley, and not some savages from the mountains.

With the Marquise Beatrice, the girls, to the best of their ability, carried on an exquisite conversation according to their concepts, but when Rosaura joined the company, they greeted her emphatically boorishly. The marquise took pity on the orphan, forced to live in such a terrible environment with all her noble birth, and she had a plan: in order to allow Rosaura to lead a life worthy of her, stop Florindo's madness and settle the dispute over the rights to Montefosco, it is necessary to marry the young marquis to Rosaura.

Florindo reacted coolly to his mother's plan, but promised to think it over; old, experienced Pantalone warmly supported her. When Signora Beatrice outlined her plans to Rosaura, she angrily declared that it was absolutely impossible for her to marry a young man who, along with the village girls, sang obscene songs about her, Rosaura.

The fact is that, having got rid of his mother's instructions, Florindo immediately ran to the village and now had a good time with Giannina and Olivetta. Beatrice sent Pantalone to him with orders to return immediately from the village. Florindo did not even listen to the boring old man, although he, in addition to maternal anger, promised him beatings from offended village men.

On the way from Giannina and Olivetta to the beautiful Gitte, Florindo almost ran into something even worse than a cane. It so happened that he asked her husband Cecco, a hunter who never parted with a gun, the way to her house. This last served as a weighty argument that forced the marquis, even if only in words, to agree that the wives and daughters of subjects are not included in the income due to him from the estate.

Cecco did not limit himself to not letting Florindo see his wife: after making sure that he had gone home, he went to the community council, where the question of how best to entertain the new masters in the evening was being discussed. Reporting on the unworthy inclinations of Florindo, Cecco declared that the community needed to do something to maintain peace and piety. The first proposal was to shoot the young marquis, but was rejected as painfully bloody; the proposals to set fire to the house and to castrate the zealous aristocrat did not pass either. Finally, Nardo expressed an idea that met with general approval: it is necessary to act diplomatically, that is, to throw fishing rods at the marquise mother.

When the village diplomats came to Signora Beatrice, she had already managed to conclude a strong alliance with Rosaura: the Marquise promised the girl that she would become the heiress by right of the patrimony and titles due to her if she married Florindo; Rosaura, for her part, trusted the Marquise in everything and refused the thought of a lawsuit. The speeches of the representatives of the community convinced Signora Beatrice that, in fact, Rosaura's friendship with her son was even more necessary than she thought: Nardo, Cecco and Mengone explained in very decisive terms that, firstly, they would stop at nothing to to stop the Marquis' attempts on their women, and that, secondly, they consider only Rosaura and will always consider their rightful mistress.

While these negotiations were going on, Florindo, disguised as a shepherd and taking Harlequin as his guide - a close-minded guy, like all the natives of Bergamo - again went in search of the beautiful Gitta. He found Gitta, but there was no sentry from Harlequin, so in the midst of an interesting conversation, Cecco covered the couple. Cecco did not resort to a gun this time either, but he beat Florindo wholeheartedly with a club.

Barely alive from the beatings and refusing to even look in the direction of the village women of the Marquis, they found Signor Beatrice with Pantalone. No matter how much the mother's heart bled, the Marquise could not but admit that her son nevertheless received what he deserved.

The representatives of the community, having learned about the beatings committed by Checco, were seriously afraid of the revenge of the young marquis and, in order to prevent it, decided to declare Rosaura their mistress, and then, having collected money from all over Montefosco, go to Naples and defend her rights in the royal court. The Marchesa Beatrice was indignant at the arrogance of her subjects, and when Rosaura tried to explain to her that the peasants had every reason to displease Florindo, she did not want to listen to the girl and called her an accomplice of the rebels. A major scandal was brewing, but just then they reported on the judicial commissioner and notary, who arrived to formally introduce Florindo into property rights.

The commissioner with the notary had already begun to draw up the necessary papers, when Nardo, on behalf of Rosaura, made a statement that only she was the legitimate heiress of Montefosco. Realizing that the contradictions of the parties promise him additional earnings, the commissioner ordered the notary to officially witness this statement. But then Rosaura, who, as the Marquise and owner of the local lands, did not need intermediaries, took the floor, and stunned everyone present, dictating to the official the renunciation of her rights in favor of the Marquis Florindo. Signora Beatrice, touched to the depths of her soul, in response ordered the notary to write down that the Marquis Florindo undertakes to marry Signora Rosaura. Rosaura wished that her consent to this marriage was also recorded in the papers.

Writing, to the great pleasure of the notary with the commissioner, who receives a separate fee from each act, could continue until the morning - followed by the official lowest apology of the members of the community for the insult inflicted on the Marquis, an equally official forgiveness from the owners, etc., - if Signora Beatrice did not ask the commissioner to postpone the preparation of documents and go along with everyone to take a walk at the wedding.

D. A. Karelsky

(La baruffe chizzoto)

Comedy (1762)

In the Kyodzhin street, women - very young and older - sat and knitted while away the time until the return of the fishermen. Donna Pasqua and Donna Libera had their husbands gone to sea, Lucetta and Orsetta had their suitors. The boatman Toffolo passed by, and he wanted to chat with the beauties; First of all, he turned to young Kekka, the younger sister of Donna Libera and Orsetta, but she in response hinted that it would be nice for Toffolo to stomp his own way. Then the offended Toffolo sat down to Luchetta and began to be kind to her, and when a baked pumpkin seller happened to be nearby, he treated her to this simple delicacy. After sitting for a while, Toffolo got up and left, and a quarrel began between the women: Kekka reproached Luchetta for being too frivolous, she objected that Kekka was just envious - none of the guys pay attention to her, because she is poor from herself not so hot. Donna Pasqua, the wife of her brother, padron Toni, stood up for Luchetta, and her two sisters, Orsetta and Donna Libera, stood up for Kekka. Offensive nicknames were used - Kekka the creative worker, Luchetta the balabolka, Pasqua the cod - and very vicious mutual accusations.

So they cursed, shouted, just didn’t fight, when the fishmonger Vicenzo reported that Tony’s tartan had returned to the harbor. Here the women unanimously began to ask Vicenzo for the sake of all that is holy not to tell the men about their quarrel - it hurts that they don’t like it. However, as soon as they met the fishermen, they let it all out themselves.

It so happened that the brother of the padron Tony, Beppo, brought his bride Orsetta a beautiful ring, and left his sister, Luchetta, without a present, Luchetta was offended and began to slander Orsetta in the eyes of Beppo: she already swears like the last bazaar trader, and shamelessly with the boatman Toffolo flirting, Beppo replied that he would deal with Orsetta, and he would hit the scoundrel Toffolo on the first number.

Meanwhile, Orsetta and Kekka met Tita-Nana and did not spare colors, painting how his flirt-tailed bride Luchetta sat obscenely next to Toffolo, chatted with him and even accepted a piece of baked pumpkin from him. The sisters achieved their goal: the enraged Tita-Nane declared that Luchetta was no longer his bride, and he would catch and cut the despicable Toffolo, give it time, into pieces like a shark.

Beppo was the first to stumble upon Toffolo near the house of padrone Tony. He rushed at the boatman with a knife, he began to throw stones at the enemy, but soon, to his misfortune, the padron Tony and Tita-Nane, both armed with daggers, ran up to the noise of the fight. Toffolo could only flee; running away to a safe distance, he shouted that let her take them this time, but he would not leave it like that and would certainly sue the offenders today.

Toffolo kept his promise and went straight from the scene of the fight to the court. The judge was temporarily away, so the complainant was received by his assistant, Isidoro, who had to listen to the chaotic story of an innocently injured boatman. His offenders - Beppo, Tita-Nane and padrone Tony - Toffolo most seriously demanded to be sentenced to the galleys. To tell the truth, the assistant judge did not really want to mess around with all this noisy company, but if a complaint has been filed, there is nothing to do, it is necessary to appoint a trial. Toffolo named the padrone Fortunato, his wife Libera and sister-in-law Orsetta and Kekka as witnesses, as well as Donna Pasqua and Luchetta. He even volunteered to show the bailiff where they all lived, and promised to supply drinks if he hurried.

Donna Pasqua and Luchetta, meanwhile, sat and lamented what troubles, and not for the first time, their womanish talkativeness brings, while Tita-Nane was just looking for them to announce his rejection of Luchetta. Gathering up his courage, he resolutely said that from now on Luchetga anemone can consider himself free from all promises, in response to which the girl returned every single gift to him. Tita-Nane was embarrassed, Luchetga burst into tears: the young people, of course, loved each other, but pride did not allow them to immediately back down.

The explanation of Tita-Nana with Luchetta was interrupted by the bailiff, who demanded that Donna Pasqua and her sister-in-law immediately go to court. Donna Pasqua, having heard about the court, began to bitterly kill herself, they say, now everything is gone, they are ruined. Tita-Nane, having finally overcome his confusion, again began to blame Luchetta's frivolity with might and main.

While Toffolo and the bailiff were collecting witnesses, Vicenzo came to Isidoro to find out if it was possible somehow to end the matter amicably. The assistant referee explained that yes, it is possible, but only on the condition that the offended party agrees to make peace. Isidoro himself promised to contribute in every possible way to reconciliation, for which Vicenzo promised him a good basket of fresh fish.

Finally, witnesses appeared: padron Fortunato and five women with him. All of them were extremely excited and began to all at once explain to the representative of the law each of their versions of the collision at the house of Padron Tony. Isidoro, forcibly shouting over the general hubbub, ordered everyone to leave his office and enter strictly in turn.

He summoned Kekka first, and she told him rather eloquently about the fight. Then Isidoro spoke to the girl on an irrelevant topic and asked if she had many boyfriends. Kekka replied that she had no suitors, since she was very poor. Isidoro promised to help her with the dowry, and then asked who Kekka would like to have as her boyfriend. The girl called Tita-Nane - after all, he still refused Luchetta.

The second Isidoro summoned Orsetta for interrogation. She was older and more sophisticated than Kekki, so it was not easy for the assistant judge to talk to her, but in the end he got her to confirm the story of her younger sister and then let her go. Donna Libera was the next to go into the office, but talking to her was of no use, as she pretended to be deaf, mainly because she did not want to answer the question of how old she was. Padron Fortunato was naturally tongue-tied, and even spoke in such a wild Chiogin dialect that the Venetian Isidoro was unable to understand a word and after a couple of sentences, thanking for his help, put this witness away. He had had enough; He flatly refused to listen to Donna Pasqua and Luchetta, which offended both of them greatly.

Beppo was tired of hiding from justice: he decided to go whip Orsetta on the cheeks, cut off Toffolo's ears, and then he could go to jail. But he met Orsetta not alone, but in the company of sisters, who, by their combined efforts, cooled his ardor, suggesting that in fact Toffolo did not play with Orsetta, but with Luchetta and Kekka. On the other hand, the sisters added, Beppo had to run, since Lucetta and Donna Pasqua obviously wanted to kill him - after all, it was not for nothing that they chatted with the assistant referee for an hour. But then padron Tony approached them and reassured them, saying that everything is in order, Isidoro ordered not to worry. Vicenzo, who appeared after him, refuted the padron: Toffolo does not want to go to the world, therefore Beppo must flee. Tita-Nane, in turn, began to refute the words of Vicenzo: Isidoro himself told him that the fighters had nothing to fear. The last word, it would seem, remained with the bailiff, who ordered everyone to immediately go to court, but there Isidoro assured everyone that, since he promised to settle the matter amicably, everything would be settled.

As they left the courtroom, the women suddenly quarreled again, taking to heart the fact that Tita-Nane had kindly said goodbye to Kekka, but not so much to Luchetta. This time it was the padron Fortunato who separated them. In the judge's office at this very time, Tita-Nane was taken aback by Isidoro, saying that he did not like Kekka, but he loved Luchetta, and if he said the opposite in the morning, it was from evil,

Toffolo also did not live up to the expectations of the assistant judge: he resolutely did not want to go to the world, arguing that Tita-Nane, Beppo and padron Tony would definitely kill him. Tita-Nana promised not to touch the boatman if he would leave Luchetta alone, and then it gradually became clear that Toffolo did not need Luchetta at all and that he was courting her only to spite Kekka. At this Toffolo and Tita-Nane reconciled, embraced and gathered already for joy to drink, when Beppo suddenly ran in and said that the women had been fighting again - they were fighting and covering each other for what the world was worth, up to "dog shit". The men wanted to separate them, but they got excited and started waving their fists.

Isidore was tired of all this beyond measure. Without long conversations, he betrothed Kekku to Toffolo. Donna Libera and the padron Fortunato at first refused to accept a not very wealthy boatman into the family, but then they nevertheless yielded to the persuasion and arguments of Isidoro. Kekka, having previously ascertained from Isidoro that she had nothing to hope for on Tita-Nana, readily agreed to become Toffolo's wife.

The news of Kekki's marriage puzzled Orsetta: how is it that the younger sister is getting married before the older one. It turns out not like a human being - it is clear that it is time for her to put up with Beppo. The reconciliation turned out to be easy, since everyone already understood that the quarrel was due to a trifle and a misunderstanding. Here Luchetta reared up: while she lives in her brother's house, the second daughter-in-law will not be there. But the way out suggested itself: as soon as Kekka marries Toffolo, Luchetta is no longer jealous of her Tita-Nana and can become his wife. Donna Pasqua thought about protesting, but Padron Tony had only to show her a heavy stick to stop all objections. It was up to Tita-Nane, but by joint efforts he was quickly persuaded.

Preparations began immediately for three weddings, which promised to be cheerful and drunk. The happy brides sincerely thanked the generous Isidoro, but at the same time they also convincingly asked them not to spread rumors in Venice that the kyojin were supposedly quarrelsome and like to fight.

D. A. Karelsky

(L'amore delle tre Melarance)

Dramatic performance (1760)

Silvio, King of Clubs, is extremely agitated and extremely depressed by the illness of his only son, Prince Tartaglia. The best doctors determined the illness of the crown prince as the result of the deepest hypochondria and amicably retreated from the unfortunate. There was only one last resort to prevent Tartaglia in the prime of life from descending into the coffin - to make him laugh.

A devoted servant and friend of the king, Pantalone, offers Silvio a plan to save the patient: first, it is necessary to arrange fun games, a masquerade and bacchanalia at the court; secondly, to admit to the prince the recently appeared in the city of Truffaldino, a man well-deserved in the art of laughter. Heeding the advice of Pantalone, the king calls on the Jack of Clubs Leandro, his first minister, and entrusts him with the organization of the festival. Leandro was trying to object in the sense that extra turmoil would only hurt Tartaglia, but the king insists on his own.

Leandro objected to the king for a reason. After all, he is in cahoots with Princess Clarice, Silvio's niece. The villains want to destroy the prince, get married and, after the death of Silvio, jointly rule the country. Leandro and Clarice in their plans are patronized by the fairy Morgana, who lost a lot of money by betting on the portrait of the king, and partly recouped by betting on the card with the image of Leandro. She promises to be at the festival and with her spells to prevent the healing of Tartaglia.

The funny Truffaldino - and he was sent to the palace by the magician Celio, who loved the king and did not tolerate Leandro for the same reason that determined the sympathies and antipathies of Morgana - no matter how hard he tries, he cannot bring even the shadow of a smile on Tartaglia's face. The festival begins, but even here the prince cries and asks to return to a warm bed.

True to her promise, Fairy Morgan appears in the guise of an ugly old woman among the masquerade crowd. Truffaldino swoops down on her and, showering with a hail of insults, knocks her down. She, hilariously lifting her legs up, flies to the ground, and, lo and behold! - Tartaglia bursts into ringing laughter and is cured of all ailments at once. As soon as she got to her feet, Morgana in anger unleashes a terrible spell on the prince - inspires him with an inescapable passionate love for three Oranges.

Obsessed with violent mania, Tartaglia demands that Truffaldino immediately set out to go with him to look for three Oranges, which, as the children's fairy tale tells, are two thousand miles from their city, in the power of the sorceress-giantess Creonta. There is nothing to do, and Truffaldino, following the prince, dresses in armor, armed with a sword and puts on iron shoes. King Silvio makes every effort to keep his son from a crazy undertaking, but seeing that everything is in vain, he faints. Tartaglia and Truffaldino leave the palace to the great joy of Clarice, Leandro and their henchman Brighella, who, considering the prince already dead, begin to start their own order in the palace.

Courageous travelers reach Creonta's domain with unusual speed, for all two thousand miles they are accompanied by a devil with furs, constantly blowing wind in their backs. The devil with furs disappears, the wind stops, and Tartaglia and Truffaldino realize that they are on target.

But here the magician Celio gets in their way. He unsuccessfully tries to dissuade the prince and his squire from a daring plan, but in the end explains how they can avoid death at the hands of the giantess' magical servants, and supplies everything necessary for this.

Tartaglia with Truffaldino at the gates of the castle of Creonta. Their way is blocked by a Gate with an iron grate, but they smear it with magic ointment, and the Gate opens. A terrible Dog rushes at them barking, but they throw him a piece of bread, and he calms down. While Truffaldino, following the instructions of the magician Celio, pulls out the Rope from the well and lays it out in the sun, and then hands the Baker a heather broom, Tartaglia manages to go to the castle and return from there with three huge Oranges.

Suddenly, the light fades and the terrifying voice of the giantess Creonta is heard: she orders her servants to kill the thieves of the Oranges. But they refuse to obey the cruel mistress, by the grace of which for many years the Baker tormented the white breasts, sweeping the stove with them, the Rope rotted in the well, the Dog starved hopelessly, and the Gate mournfully rusted. Why, tell me, should they ruin their benefactors now?

Tartaglia and Truffaldino safely flee, and the giantess Creon, in desperation, summons thunder and lightning to her head. Her prayers are heard: lightning falls from the sky and incinerates the giantess.

Fairy Morgana learns that with the help of the magician Celio Tartaglia and Truffaldino they stole Oranges and, driven by the devil with furs, are approaching the royal castle unharmed, but she believes that not everything is lost for Leandro and Clarice - after all, she still has more there are goats.

Truffaldino, slightly ahead of the prince, sits down to rest and wait for the owner, when suddenly he is overcome by an inhuman thirst. Not without difficulty, overcoming remorse, he cuts one of the Oranges. O miracle! A girl comes out of Orange, declares that she is dying of thirst, and really falls to the ground. To save the unfortunate, Truffaldino cuts the second Orange, from which the second girl appears and does exactly the same as the first. The girls give off their breath.

The third from the sad fate of the sisters is saved only by the appearance of Tartaglia. He also cuts an orange, and a girl also comes out and begs for water. Unlike Truffaldino, the prince notices that the whole thing is happening on the shore of the lake. Defiant of conventions, he brings water to the girl in his iron shoe, and she, having quenched her deadly thirst, informs the prince that her name is Ninetta and that, by the evil will of Creonta, she was imprisoned in an orange peel along with her two sisters, daughters of the King of Antipodes.

Tartaglia immediately falls in love with Ninetta and wants to take her to the palace as his bride, but she is embarrassed to appear at court not dressed as a princess should. Then Tartaglia leaves her on the shore of the lake with a promise to return soon with rich clothes and accompanied by the court.

Here the African Smeraldina approaches the unsuspecting Ninetta. From Morgana, Smeraldina received two hairpins: one she had to stick in Ninetta's hair and thereby turn her into a bird; then she had to pretend to be a girl from Orange, become Tartaglia's wife and on the very first night, sticking a second hairpin into her husband's head, turn him into a wild beast. So the throne would be vacated for Leandro and Clarice. The first part of Morgana's plan succeeded - Ninetta turned Dove and flew away, and Smeraldina sat in her place.

A procession appears from the palace, led by Tartaglia and Silvio. The prince is somewhat discouraged by the change that has taken place with the bride, but there is nothing to be done, preparations for the wedding begin.

Truffaldino, having received the forgiveness of his sins from the prince and the title of royal cook, is busy preparing a roast for the wedding feast. His roast burns, as the Dove flies into the kitchen and sends a dream to Truffaldino. This is repeated several times, until finally an angry Pantalone appears. Together they catch Dovewing, remove the hairpin from her head, and Dovewing becomes Ninetta again.

By this time, the patience of the feasters, who have already eaten snacks and soup for a long time, overflows, and all of them, led by the king, burst into the kitchen. Ninetta tells what Smeraldina did to her, and the king, without wasting time, sentences the black woman to be burned. But that's not all. The magician Celio, who appeared from nowhere, exposes the guilt of Clarice, Leandro and Brighella, and the king immediately sentences all three to cruel exile.

And then, as expected, they play the wedding of Tartaglia and Ninetta. Guests have fun with might and main: they pour tobacco into each other's drinks, shave rats and let them go on the table ...

D. A. Karelsky

(II Corvo)

Tragicomic Tale (1761)

In the harbor, not far from the capital city of Frattombrosa, a galley, badly battered by the storm, under the command of the valiant Venetian Pantalone, enters. On it, Prince Gennaro is carrying the bride to his brother, King Millon. But against her will, Armilla, the daughter of the King of Damascus, ended up here: Gennaro, disguised as a merchant, lured her to the galley by deceit, promising to show all sorts of overseas curiosities.

Until now, Armilla considered her captor a vile pirate, but now Gennaro can tell her a story that justifies his act and chills the soul.

Previously, King Millon was cheerful and cheerful, but his main pastime was hunting. Once he shot a black Raven, who fell on a marble tomb, staining it with blood. At the same moment, the Ogre, to whom Raven was dedicated, appeared before Millon and cursed the killer with a terrible curse: if Millon does not find a beauty who would be white like marble, scarlet like raven's blood, and black like the wing of a dead bird, he is waiting for terrible death from anguish and torment. From that day on, the king began to wither before his eyes, and Gennaro, driven by brotherly love and compassion, went in search. After a long wandering, he finally found her, Armilla.

Touched by the story, the princess forgives the kidnapper. She is ready to become Millon's wife, but she only fears the revenge of her father, the all-powerful sorcerer Norando. And not in vain.

While Gennaro is talking with the princess, Pantalone is buying from some hunter a horse and a falcon so beautiful that the prince immediately destines them as a gift for his brother.

When Gennaro retires to the tent to rest from the morning worries, two doves settle over his head, and from their conversation the prince learns something terrible: the falcon, falling into the hands of Millon, will peck out his eyes, the horse, as soon as the king jumps into the saddle, will kill the rider, and if he after all, he will take Armilla as his wife, on the first night a dragon will appear in the royal chambers and devour the unfortunate spouse; Gennaro, if he does not hand over the promise to Millon or reveal the secret known to him, is destined to turn into a marble statue.

Gennaro jumps up from the bed in horror, and immediately Norando comes out to him from the depths of the sea. The sorcerer confirms what the Doves have said: one of the brothers - either the king or the prince - will pay with his life for the kidnapping of Armilla. The ill-fated Gennaro, in disarray, cannot find a place for himself until a seemingly saving thought comes to his head.

Having learned about the arrival of his brother, the king with the whole court hurries to the harbor. He is struck by the radiant beauty of Armilla, and, lo and behold! there is no trace of serious illnesses. Armilla likes the beauty and courtesy of Millon, so that she is quite willing to become his wife.

Gennaro works hard not to let slip about the hellish revenge of Norando, but when it comes to the wedding, he asks Millon to wait, but, alas, he cannot clearly explain what caused such a strange request. My brother doesn't like it very much.

The time is coming to give the king a horse and a falcon, at the sight of which he, like a passionate hunter, experiences genuine delight. But as soon as the bird is in the hands of Millon, Gennaro decapitates it with a knife blow. When a horse is brought up to the astonished monarch, the prince cuts off the front legs of a noble animal with the same lightning speed with a sword. Gennaro tries to justify both wild acts with a momentary blind impulse. Millon also comes up with another explanation - the insane blind passion of his brother for Armilla.

The king is saddened and alarmed that his dear brother is burning with love for the future queen. He shares his sadness with Armilla, and she quite sincerely tries to whitewash Gennaro, claims that the conscience and feelings of the prince are pure, but, unfortunately, she cannot back up her words with anything. Then Millon asks Armilla, for the sake of their common peace, to talk with Gennaro, as if in private, while he himself hides behind the curtain.

Armilla directly asks the prince what makes him insist on delaying the wedding. But he does not give an answer and only begs the princess not to become Millon's wife. The brother's behavior reinforces the king's suspicion; to all the assurances of Gennaro in the purity of his thoughts, Millon remains deaf.

Not seeing Gennaro among those present at the wedding ceremony in the temple, Millon decides that his brother is preparing a rebellion and orders him to be arrested. The royal servants look everywhere for the prince, but they do not find him. Gennaro understands that it is not in his power to prevent the marriage, however, he believes, he can still try to save his brother for the last time and stay alive at the same time.

Millon before the altar calls Armilla his wife. Both young people and guests leave the temple not joyful, but, on the contrary, frightened and saddened, for the ceremony was accompanied by all the bad omens that one can imagine.

At night, Gennaro, sword in hand, makes his way through the underground passage to the king's bridal chamber and stands guard, determined to save his brother from a terrible death in the dragon's mouth. The monster does not make you wait, and the prince enters into a mortal battle with him. But, alas! From feet to tail, the dragon is covered with diamond and porphyry scales, against which the sword is powerless.

The prince puts all his strength into the last desperate blow. The monster vanishes into thin air, and Gennaro's sword cuts through the door behind which the young are sleeping. Millon appears on the threshold and brings down terrible accusations on his brother, the same has nothing to justify, since the dragon has caught a cold. But even here, out of fear of turning into stone, Gennaro does not dare to reveal to his brother the secret of Norando's curse.

Gennaro is imprisoned, and some time later he learns that the royal council has sentenced him to death and that the corresponding decree, signed by his own brother, is already ready. Faithful to Pantalone, Gennaro offers to flee. The prince rejects his help and asks only to persuade the king to come to him in prison at all costs.

Millon, who by no means with a light heart doomed his brother to death, descends to him in the dungeon. Gennaro again tries to convince the king of his innocence, but he does not want to listen. Then the prince decides that he will not live in this world anyway, and tells Millon about the terrible curse of the sorcerer.

Barely uttering the last words, Gennaro turns into a statue. Millon, in complete desperation, orders to transfer the miraculous statue to the royal chambers. He wants to end his life, bursting into tears at the feet of the one who until recently was his beloved brother.

The royal palace is now the darkest and saddest place in the world. Servants, to whom life here does not promise more former pleasures and profits, run like rats from a ship, hoping to find a more cheerful place.

Millon weeps at the feet of the petrified Gennaro, cursing himself for his suspicion and cruelty, and more than that, cursing the ruthless Norando. But then, having heard the groans and curses of the king, the sorcerer appears to him and says that it is not he, Norando, who is merciless, but the fate that has ordained the murder of the Raven and the curse of the Ogre, the abduction of Armilla and revenge for him. Norando himself is only an instrument of fate, not powerful to interfere with her destiny.

Unable to change anything, Norando nonetheless reveals to Millon the only terrible way to revive Gennaro: in order for the statue to become human again, Armilla must die from a dagger. With these words, the sorcerer plunges the dagger at the feet of the statue and disappears.

Millon tells Armilla that there is a way to revive Gennaro; Yielding to her persistent requests, he finally reveals which one. As soon as the king leaves the hall with the statue, Armilla grabs a dagger and pierces her chest with it.

As soon as the first drops of her blood are shed on the statue, it comes to life and leaves the pedestal. Gennaro is alive, but the beautiful Armilla is dying. Millon, in desperation, tries to stab himself with the same dagger, and only with great difficulty does his brother hold him back.

Suddenly, the eyes of the inconsolable brothers, as always from nowhere, is Norando. This time, he brings joyful news: with the death of Armilla, who atoned for the murder of Raven, the terrible and mysterious circle of destiny ended. Now he, Norando, is no longer a blind tool and can use his powerful spells at will. First of all, he, of course, resurrects his daughter.

One can imagine what joy seized everyone here: Gennaro, Millon and Armilla embraced and burst into tears of happiness. And the matter ended, as usual, with a cheerful and noisy wedding.

D. A. Karelsky

(II Re Cervo)

Tragicomic Tale (1762)

Once upon a time, the great magician and wizard Durandarte came to the city of Serendippe. The king of this city, Deramo, received the guest with unprecedented luxury and courtesy, for which the grateful wizard left him two amazing magical secrets as a gift.

No matter how powerful Durandarte was, according to the verdict of the fairy god Demogorgon, he had to turn into a Parrot, and a faithful servant of Cigolotti took him to the Ronchislap Forest located near Serendipp. However, in due course, Durandarte promised to come to punish the betrayal caused by one of his wonderful gifts.

King Deramo is unmarried. At one time he interrogated two thousand seven hundred and forty-eight princesses and noble maidens in a secret office, but he did not want to see any of them as his queen. Now the cunning first minister Tartaglia sang to him that, they say, the people are dissatisfied with the absence of the heir to the throne, unrest is possible ... The king agreed to arrange a new test, to which girls of all classes were admitted this time.

Tartaglia is pleased that Deramo heeded his arguments, because he expects his daughter Clarice to become queen. By lot, she was the first to go to the secret office, but Clarice is by no means happy and asks her father to save her from the test - she loves Leandro, the son of the second minister Pantalone, and, in addition, she does not want to cross the path of her best friend, sister Leandro Angela, madly in love with the king. Tartaglia, threatening her daughter with poison, nevertheless forces her to go to a secret office. His rage is caused not only by Clarice's disobedience, but also by the news of Angela's love for Deramo - the minister himself has long been restless with the desire to get the girl for his wife.

Angela also does not want to be tested in a secret office, but she has her own reasons for that. She is sure that the king will reject her and her love, and she cannot survive such a shame and humiliation. Father, Pantalone, would be glad to save Angela from a difficult procedure for her, but this, alas, is beyond his power.

Another contender for the hand and heart is the butler's sister, Smeraldina. This person does not shine with the beauty and subtlety of her manners, but she is completely sure of success - in fact, who can resist her luxurious outfit in oriental taste and to the place of the twisted poems of Tacco and Ariosto? Smeraldina is so alien to doubts about victory that she resolutely and irrevocably rejects her old lover - the royal huntsman Truffaldino.

Many tried to understand what the meaning of the test was, but in vain, because no one except Deramo knew about the wonderful gift of the magician Durandart hidden in the office - a magical statue that unmistakably exposes the lies and hypocrisy of women.

Clarice’s speeches addressed to Deramo are recognized by the statue as sincere until, in response to the king’s question whether her heart has already been given to someone else, she answers no. Then it begins to make faces, and Deramo realizes that the girl is lying.

When Smeraldina enters the office, even her first words make the statue writhe with laughter. The self-confident person even faints from her supposedly overwhelming feelings; they take her out.

Imagine the amazement of the king when, throughout his long conversation with Angela, the statue does not move a single muscle.

Touched by the sincerity of her words of love for him, Deramo convenes the courtiers and solemnly declares Angela his bride. In order to make it clear to everyone how he chose her from hundreds of others, the king tells the courtiers about the wonderful gift of Durandart, and then, in order to avoid temptations, breaks the statue with his own hands.

Pantalone is filled with gratitude to the sovereign for the honor rendered to his daughter. Tartaglia, although he builds a satisfied mine, feels hellish fury in his heart and feels ready for any atrocities.

Tartaglia scolds Clarice for the fact that she revealed to the king her love for Leandro and thereby did not allow her father to become the royal father-in-law and at the same time destroyed his, Tartaglia, dreams of marrying Angela. But still, the cunning minister hopes that not everything is lost for him, and therefore, in response to the requests of Angela and Leandro to bless their union, he persuades the young people to wait a little.

Barely leaving the temple where he was married to Angela, Deramo arranges a merry royal hunt in the Ronchislap forest. And now they find themselves in a secluded place together with Tartaglia, who has conceived evil: to kill the king, capture the city and take Angela as his wife by force. Only an accident prevents him from shooting Deramo in the back.

Being a shrewd person, Deramo notices that something is going on in his minister's soul, and directly asks Tartaglia what he is dissatisfied with. In response, the cunning courtier begins to complain that, despite thirty years of faithful service, the king does not consider him worthy of his full trust - for example, at least he did not tell Durandart about the wonderful gifts.

Kind-hearted Deramo, wanting to console Tartaglia, tells him about the second of the magician's gifts - a hellish spell. The one who reads this spell over the body of a dead animal or person will die, and his spirit will move into a lifeless body; the same magic words allow a person to return to his former shell. In words, Tartaglia is insanely grateful to the king, but in fact, a diabolical plan has already matured in his head.

When Deramo and Tartaglia happen to kill two deer, the minister persuades the king to demonstrate the effect of the spell. Deramo pronounces it, moves into the body of a deer and runs away into the forest. Tartaglia repeats the spell over the lifeless body of the king - and now he is no longer the first minister, but the monarch.

Tartaglia decapitates his own corpse and throws it into the bushes, and sets up a chase for the Deer King. The old peasant he met, unfortunately, did not see any deer, for which he receives a bullet from the ferocious Tartaglia and dies on the spot. The courtiers are amazed at the change that has taken place with their noble master, his viciousness and rudeness of speeches, but of course they cannot suspect a forgery.

To tears, Angela is also amazed by the change in her wife, to whom Tartaglia, barely returning from the hunt, approaches with her love. The rejected impostor is somewhat discouraged, but he is sure that in time everything will settle down.

Truffaldino, meanwhile, finds the headless body of Tartaglia in the forest and brings news of the murder of the first minister to the palace. Tartaglia uses the opportunity to give free rein to his mad temper and orders to throw into prison all those who took part in the hunt.

In the forest of Truffaldino, not only the corpse of Tartaglia was caught, but also the talking Parrot. The magician Durandarte - and it was he - himself went into the hands of the huntsman and, in addition, advised him to take himself to the palace to the queen - she, they say, would generously reward Truffaldino for such a rare game.

Deramo, having left the chase, stumbles upon the body of an old man killed by Tartaglia and decides that it is better for him to live even in an unpresentable, but still human form, rather than in the body of a deer. He utters a spell and turns into an old peasant.

Truffaldino brings the Parrot to the Queen, but, contrary to the hunter's expectations, Angela does not give him a pile of gold for the bird. Angela has confusion and longing in her heart, so she asks Truffaldino to leave, and when he begins to persist, even - which is so unlike her - threatens to throw him off the balcony. While they are bickering, a guard appears and, in pursuance of Tartaglia's order, grabs Truffaldino and drags him to the dungeon.

Deramo, in the form of an old man, nevertheless enters his palace and, seizing the moment, speaks to Angela. At first, she is horrified, mixed, however, with embarrassment - after all, no matter how ugly the old man is, he speaks in the voice of her husband. Deramo tries to convince Angela that he is him. In the speeches of the old man, the queen gradually recognizes the loftiness of thought and feeling that has always been characteristic of the king; Finally, her doubts are dispelled when Deramo recalls the tender morning conversation between them. Now that Angela has recognized the king in the ugly old man, they work together to figure out how to return Deramo to his former appearance and punish the vile first minister.

Some time later, having met Tartaglia, Angela pretends that she is about ready to change her attitude towards him and reciprocate - for this, a little is not enough. Tartaglia is ready to do whatever she asks: he orders the release of Pantalone and Brighella innocently imprisoned there, blesses the marriage of Clarice and Leandro ... And Angela's third request - to show the Durandarte spell and move into a dead deer - Tartaglia promises to respect only after the queen will make him happy with her caresses. This is not part of Angelo's plans with Deramo; the girl resists, Tartaglia drags her by force into the back chambers.

Unable to bear such a sight, Deramo comes out of hiding and rushes at Tartaglia. He is already raising his sword at the king, when suddenly the rumble of an earthquake is heard - this is the magician Durandarte sheds bird feathers and appears in his real guise.

With the touch of the wand, the wizard returns Deramo to his former appearance, and Tartaglia, having exposed his meanness and betrayal, turns him into an ugly horned monster. In rage and despair, Tartaglia prays to be shot on the spot, but by the will of Durandarte he will have to die not from a bullet, but from the pangs of shame and disgrace.

The stupefaction that struck all those who saw the miracles of Durandarte does not immediately disappear. But now that treachery has been punished and justice has been done, it's time to start preparing for a merry wedding feast.

D. A. Karelsky

(Turandot)

Chinese tragicomic tale (1762)

A terrible misfortune befell the Astrakhan king Timur, his family and power: the ferocious sultan of Khorezm defeated the army of Astrakhan and, breaking into the defenseless city, ordered to capture and execute Timur, his wife Elmaz and son Kalaf. Those under the guise of commoners managed to escape to neighboring lands, but even there they were haunted by the revenge of the winner. The royal family wandered for a long time across the Asian expanses, suffering unbearable deprivations; Prince Kalaf, in order to feed his elderly parents, took up any dirty work.

Calaf tells this sad story to his former tutor Barah, whom he meets by chance at the gates of Beijing. Barakh lives in Beijing under the name of the Persian Hassan. He is married to a kind widow named Skirina; his stepdaughter Zelima is one of Princess Turandot's slaves.

Prince Calaf arrived in Beijing with the intention of enlisting in Emperor Altoum. But first, he wants to look at the festival, preparations for which, it seems, are going on in the city.

However, this is not a celebration, but the execution of another failed contender for the hand of Princess Turandot - the prince of Samarkand. The fact is that the vain, hard-hearted princess forced her father to issue such a decree: every prince can woo Turandot, but with the fact that at the meeting of the Divan of the Wise Men she will ask him three riddles; whoever guesses them will become her husband, whoever doesn't guess them will be beheaded. Since then, the heads of many glorious princes have adorned the walls of Beijing.

Out of the city gates comes the heartbroken teacher of the newly executed prince. He throws it to the ground and tramples on the ill-fated portrait of Turandot, whose glance was enough for his pupil to fall madly in love with a heartless proud woman and thereby doom himself to death.

No matter how Barah Kalaf holds, he, confident in his own sanity, picks up a portrait. Alas! Where did his sanity and dispassion go? Burning with love, Calaf rushes into the city to meet happiness or death.

Emperor Altoum and his ministers Tartaglia and Pantaloon mourn with all their hearts the cruelty of the princess, tearfully mourning the unfortunates who fell victim to her inhuman vanity and unearthly beauty. At the news of the appearance of a new seeker of the hand of Turandot, they make rich sacrifices to the great Berjingudzin, so that he would help the prince in love to stay alive.

Appearing before the emperor, Calaf does not name himself; he promises to reveal his name only if he solves the riddles of the princess. The good-natured Altoum and the ministers beg Calaf to be prudent and back down, but the prince stubbornly replies to all persuasion: "I long for death - or Turandot."

Nothing to do. The meeting of the Divan solemnly opens, at which Calaf will compete with the wisdom of the princess. She is accompanied by two slaves - Zelima and Adelma, once a Tatar princess. Both Turandot and Zelime Calaf immediately seem worthy of the previous applicants, for he surpasses all of them in the nobility of appearance, manners and speeches. Adelma recognizes Kalaf - but not as a prince, but as a servant in the palace of her father, the king of Khorasan; even then he won her heart, and now she decides to prevent his marriage to Turandot at all costs and to seize the love of the prince herself. Therefore, Adelma tries to harden the heart of the princess, reminding her of pride and glory, while Zelima, on the contrary, begs her to be more merciful.

To the delight of the emperor, ministers and Zelima, Calaf solves all three riddles of Turandot. However, the princess flatly refuses to go to the altar and demands that she be allowed to ask Calaf three new riddles the next day. Altoum opposes such a violation of the decree, implicitly executed when it was necessary to execute unsuccessful seekers, but the noble lover Calaf goes to meet Turandot: he himself invites her to guess what kind of father and son they are, who had everything and lost everything; if the princess guesses their names tomorrow, he is ready to die, if not, there will be a wedding.

Turandot is convinced that if she fails to guess the names of her father and son, she will be forever disgraced. Adelma warms up this conviction with insinuating speeches. With her sharp mind, the princess realized that by son, the mysterious prince meant himself. But how do you find out his name? She asks for advice from her slaves, and Zelima suggests a deliberately hopeless way - to turn to fortune-tellers and kabbalists. Adelma, on the other hand, reminds Turandot of the prince's words that there is one person in Beijing who knows him, and offers not to spare gold and diamonds, so that during the night, turning the whole city upside down, to find this person.

Zelima, in whose soul the feeling struggled with duty for a long time, finally reluctantly tells the mistress that, according to her mother Skirina, her stepfather, Hassan, knows the prince. Overjoyed, Turandot immediately sends eunuchs, led by Truffaldino, to find and capture Hassan.

Together with Hassan-Barakh, the eunuchs seize his excessively talkative wife and some old man; they take all three to the seraglio. They are unaware that the unfortunate ragged old man is none other than the Astrakhan Tsar Timur, Calaf's father. Having buried his wife in a foreign land, he came to Beijing to look for his son or find death. Fortunately, Barach manages to whisper to the master that he under no circumstances should give his name.

Calaf, meanwhile, is being escorted to special apartments guarded by the imperial pages and their chief Brighella.

Seral Turandot. Here the princess interrogates Barakh and Timur tied to the columns, threatening them with torture and cruel death if they do not name the mysterious prince and his father. But Calaf is dearer to both than their own lives. The only thing that Timur involuntarily lets out is that he is the king and father of the prince.

Turandot is already giving the eunuchs a sign to begin the massacre of Barach, when suddenly Adelma appears in the seraglio with the news that Altoum is heading here; the prisoners are hurriedly taken to the dungeon of the seraglio. Adelma asks the princess not to torment them any more and promises, if she is allowed to act on her own, to find out the names of the prince and king during the night. Turandot completely trusts the approximate slave.

Meanwhile, a messenger from Astrakhan arrives at Altoum. In the secret message he brought, it is said that the Sultan of Khorezm has died and that the people of Astrakhan are calling Timur to take his rightful throne. According to the detailed signs described in the message, Altoum understands who this unknown prince is. Wanting to protect the honor of his daughter, who, he is convinced, would not guess the names he was looking for, and also save the life of Calaf, the emperor invites her to reveal the secret - but on the condition that, having flashed in the Divan of the Wise Men, she will then agree to become the wife of the prince. Pride, however, does not allow Turandot to accept his father's proposal; besides, she hopes that Adelma will fulfill her promise.

Brighella, guarding the chambers of Calaf, warns the prince that, they say, since the guards are forced people, and besides, everyone wants to save money for old age, ghosts may appear to him at night.

The first ghost is not long in coming. This is Skirina sent by Adelma. She informs Calaf about the death of her mother and that his father is now in Beijing. Skirina asks the prince to drop a few words to the old father, but he guesses the trick and refuses.

As soon as Skirina leaves empty-handed, Zelima finds herself in the prince's chambers. She tries a different approach: in fact, says the slave, Turandot does not hate the prince, but secretly loves him. Therefore, she asks him to reveal the names so that in the morning she will not be ashamed in front of the Divan, and promises to give him her hand in the same Divan. The insightful Calaf does not believe Zelima either.

The third is Adelma herself. She opens herself to Calaf in her love and begs to run away together, because, according to her, the insidious Turandot still ordered to kill him at dawn, without waiting for the Divan to meet. Calaf resolutely refuses to run away, but, cast down in despair by the cruelty of his beloved, half-deliriously pronounces his and his father's name.

The night goes by with these conversations. The next morning Calaf is escorted to the Divan.

The sofa is already assembled, only Turandot and her retinue are missing. Altoum, confident that the princess never managed to find out the names of her father and son, sincerely rejoices and orders a temple to be built here, in the meeting room.

The altar has already been set up when Turandot finally appears in the Divan. The view of the princess and retinue is mourning. But, as it turns out, this is just a cruel revengeful joke. She knows the names and triumphantly proclaims them. The emperor and ministers are heartbroken; Calaf prepares for death.

But here, to everyone's joy and amazement, Turandot is transformed - love for Calaf, in which she did not dare to admit even to herself, takes precedence over cruelty, vanity and man-hatred. She publicly announces that Calaf will not only not be executed, but will also become her husband.

Only Adelma is not happy. In tears, she throws a bitter reproach to Turandot that, having previously taken away her freedom, now she takes away her love. But here Altoum enters: love is not in his power, but in order to console Adelma, he returns her freedom and the Khorasan kingdom of her father.

Finally, cruelty and injustice end. Everyone is happy. Turandot wholeheartedly asks heaven to forgive her stubborn aversion to men. The upcoming wedding promises to be very, very joyful.

A A. ​​Karelsky

(L'Augellìno bel verde)

A Philosophical Tale (1765)

Many years have passed since the well-known events that accompanied the marriage of Tartaglia to Ninetta, the daughter of the King of Antipodes, who appeared from an orange. A lot has happened in Monterotondo over the years.

Smeraldina and Brighella, once burned, were resurrected from the ashes: he became a poet and soothsayer, she turned white in body and soul. Truffaldino married Smeraldina, who stole so much from the royal kitchen that he was able to leave the service and open a sausage shop.

King Tartaglia has not shown up in the capital for almost nineteen years, fighting with the rebels somewhere on the outskirts of the kingdom. In his absence, his mother, the aged Queen of Tartaglion, ran everything. The old woman did not like Ninetta, and when she gave birth to Tartaglia's lovely twins, a boy and a girl, she ordered them to be killed, and she wrote to the king that, they say, his wife had brought a couple of puppies. In his hearts, Tartaglia allowed Tartaglion to punish his wife at his own discretion, and the old queen buried the poor thing alive in a crypt under a sewer hole.

Fortunately, Pantalone did not follow Tartagliona's orders: he did not slaughter the babies, but wrapped them securely in oilcloth and threw them into the river. Smeraldina pulled the twins out of the river. She gave them the names Renzo and Barbarina and raised them as her own children.

Extra eaters in the house were an eyesore to the greedy and grumpy Truffaldino, and then one fine day he decides to expel the foundlings.

The news that they are not their own children and now must get away, Renzo and Barbarina perceive in cold blood, because their spirit is strengthened by reading modern philosophers, who explain love, human affection and good deeds with low selfishness. Free, as they believe, from selfishness, the twins go into the wilderness, where they will not be annoyed by stupid and annoying people.

On a deserted shore, a talking antique statue appears to a brother and sister. This is the king of sculptures Kalmon, who was once a philosopher and turned to stone at the moment when he finally managed to get rid of the last remnants of self-love in his soul. Calmon tries to convince Renzo and Barbarina that selfishness is by no means shameful, that one should love the imprinted image of the Creator in oneself and in others.

Young people do not heed the words of a wise statue. Calmont, however, tells them to go to the city and throw a stone at the walls of the palace - this will instantly make them rich. He promises the twins help in the future and also informs that the secret of their birth will be revealed thanks to the Green Bird, who is in love with Barbarina.

This Bird has been flying to Ninetta's crypt for eighteen years already, feeding and watering her. Arriving this time, she predicts the imminent end of the queen's suffering, says that her children are alive, and the Bird herself is not a bird at all, but an enchanted prince.

Finally, King Tartaglia returns from the war. But nothing is sweet to him without the innocently ruined Ninetta. He cannot forgive her death either to himself or to his mother. There is a noisy quarrel between the old queen and Tartaglia.

Tartagliona is inspired by her not so much by her self-righteousness and resentment towards her ungrateful son, but by the prophecies and flattering speeches of Brighella. Brighella uses every occasion to vent about their - himself and Tartaglion - a brilliant future on the Monterotondian throne; at the same time, the cunning one praises to the skies the long-faded charms of the old woman, to whom the heart of the poor poet allegedly belongs undividedly. Tartagliona is ready for anything: to join fate with Brighella, and get rid of her son, only now she considers a will in favor of her betrothed to be inappropriate, since she will have to bloom and shine for many more years.

Renzo and Barbarina, following the advice of Calmon, come to the royal palace, but at the last moment they are overcome by doubt: is wealth proper to philosophers? After conferring, they nevertheless throw a stone, and a magnificent palace grows before their eyes.

Renzo and Barbarina live rich in a wonderful palace, and now they are by no means philosophical reflections. Barbarina is sure that she is the most beautiful in the world, and in order to make her beauty shine even brighter, she spends money without counting on the most exquisite outfits and jewelry. Renzo is in love; but in love not with any woman, but with a statue. This statue is not the creation of a sculptor, but a girl named Pompey, who many years ago was turned to stone by her own boundless vanity. Beside himself with passion, he swears not to regret anything, if only Pompey comes to life.

Driven by love for her adopted daughter, Smeraldina appears in the twins' palace. Barbarina, for whom love is an empty phrase, first drives her away, then tries to pay off with a purse of gold, but in the end allows her to remain a servant in her person. Truffaldino also wants to live in the palace of foundlings, but love has nothing to do with it: he wants to eat deliciously, drink plenty and sleep softly, while things in the sausage shop are going very badly. Not immediately, but Renzo agrees to take the former dad into his service.

The inhabitants of the royal palace are surprised by the new neighborhood. Brighella - and he is, after all, a soothsayer - sees in Renzo and Barbarina a threat to his ambitious plans and therefore teaches Tartaglion how to destroy the twins.

The king, having gone out onto the balcony and seeing the beautiful Barbarina in the window opposite, falls madly in love with her. He is already ready to forget the unfortunate Ninetta and marry again, but, alas, Barbarina is not touched by the signs of the highest attention. Here Tartagliona seizes the moment and tells her that Barbarina will become the most beautiful in the world only when she has a singing Apple and Golden Water that sounds and dances. As you know, both of these miracles are kept in the garden of the fairy Serpentina, where many brave men laid down their lives.

Barbarina, who quickly got used to having all her desires instantly fulfilled, at first demands, and then tearfully begs to bring her an Apple and Water. Renzo heeds her pleas and, accompanied by Truffaldino, sets off.

In the garden of the Serpentina, the heroes almost die, but Renzo remembers Calmon in time and calls him for help. Calmon, in turn, summons a statue with nipples exuding water, and several hefty statues. From its nipples, the statue waters the thirsty guardian beasts, and they allow Renzo to pluck the Apple. Weighty statues, leaning on the gate leading to the source of the Serpentina, do not allow them to slam shut; Truffaldino, not without trepidation, goes and picks up a flask of sounding and dancing Water.

When the deed is done, Calmon informs Renzo that the secret of the revival of the statue he loves, as well as the secret of the origin of the twins, is in the hands of the Green Bird. Finally, the king of sculptures asks Renzo to order him to fix his nose, which was once damaged by the boys.

Returning home, Renzo learns that the king asked Barbarina to become his wife, and she agreed, but then, at the instigation of Brighella and Tartagliona, she demanded the Green Bird as a dowry. Renzo would like to see his sister as a queen, and besides, he is overcome by a passionate desire to revive Pompeii and reveal the secret of his origin. Therefore, he takes Truffaldino and sets off on a new, even more dangerous journey - to the Cannibal Hill for the Green Bird.

On the way, the already familiar Truffaldino devil with furs blows on the back of the brave travelers, so they get to the place very soon. But there they find themselves in some confusion: how to overcome the spell of the Cannibal is unknown, and the only one who could help - Calmon - Renzo cannot call, since he did not fulfill the trifling request of the king of sculptures: he did not correct his nose. Having made up their mind, the master and the servant approach the tree on which the Bird sits, and immediately both turn to stone.

Meanwhile, Barbarina, whose hardened heart still woke up anxiety for her brother, in the company of Smeraldina also goes to the Ogre's domain and finds Renzo and Truffaldino turned into statues. This sad sight makes her repent in tears of excessive arrogance and slavish self-indulgence. As soon as the repentant words are uttered, Kalmon appears before Barbarina and Smeraldina. He reveals a way to take possession of the Green Bird, while warning that the slightest mistake will lead to certain death. Barbarina, driven by her love for her brother, overcomes her fear and, having done everything as Kalmon said, takes Birdie. Then, taking a feather from her tail, he touches the petrified Renzo and Truffaldino with it, and they come to life.

Tartaglia burns with impatience, wanting to call Barbarina his wife. It would seem that now nothing prevents it. After all, Renzo does not interfere with being combined with Pompeii, animated by a bird's feather, even the fact that she was a statue in the recent past. However, first of all, Barbarina insists, one should listen to what Water, Apple and Green Bird have to say.

The magical objects and the bird tell the whole story of the atrocities of Tartagliona and her henchman Brighella. The king, who found children and miraculously avoided an incestuous marriage, is literally overjoyed. When Ninetta comes into the light of God from the fetid crypt, he completely loses his senses.

The Green Bird utters a spell, and Tartaglion and Brighella, before everyone's eyes, to the general joy, turn into dumb creatures: the old woman - into a turtle, and her lover pretender - into a donkey. Bird then sheds his feathers and becomes a young man, the king of Terradombra. He calls Barbarina his wife, and calls on all those present on stage and in the hall to be true philosophers, that is, realizing their own mistakes, to become better.

D. A. Karelsky

(Histoire de ma vie)

Memoirs (1789-1798, published in full I960-1963)

The famous Venetian adventurer, whose name has become a household name, was a brilliant storyteller; gradually he began to write down his stories; These records turned into memoirs.

Like any true adventurer, Kazakova spends her life on the road. Arriving one day in Constantinople, he meets the venerable philosopher Yusuf and the wealthy Turk Ismail. Fascinated by Casanova's judgments, Yusuf invites him to convert to Islam, marry his only daughter and become his rightful heir. Ismail himself shows his love to the guest, which is why he almost completely breaks with the hospitable Turk. Having survived a number of adventures, Casanova departs back to Europe, calling on the island of Corfu, where he manages to fall in love and have an affair.

On the way to Paris, Casanova lingers in Turin; there he finds "all the same beautiful - the city, the court, the theater" and women, starting with the Duchess of Savoy. But, despite this, not one of the local ladies is honored with the love of a great heartthrob, except for an occasional washerwoman in a hotel, and therefore he soon continues on his way. Stopping in Lyon, Casanova becomes a "freemason, student", and two months later, in Paris, he rises to the second step, and then to the third, that is, he receives the title of "master". "This step is the highest", because other titles have only a symbolic meaning and "do not add anything to the title of a master."

In Paris, Casanova watches, observes, meets with literary celebrities. Crebillon praises Casanova's skill as a storyteller, but notes that his French speech, although quite understandable, sounds "as if in Italian phrases." Crebillon is ready to give lessons to the talented Italian, and Casanova has been studying French under his guidance for a whole year. The inquisitive traveler visits the Opéra, the Italians, the Comédie Français, and also the Hotel du Roule, a gay establishment run by Madame Paris. The girls there make such a strong impression on the Italian that he regularly visits him until his move to Fontainebleau.

Every year, Louis XV hunts in Fontainebleau, and for the month and a half that the king spends hunting, the entire court, along with actors and actresses from the Opera, moves to Fontainebleau. There, Casanova meets the august family, as well as Madame de Pompadour, who is sincerely in love with her handsome king. Rotating among the charming court ladies, Casanova does not forget about the beauties of the townspeople. The daughter of his landlady becomes the culprit of his clash with French justice. Noticing that the girl is in love with him, the adventurer cannot help comforting the beauty, and soon it turns out that she will have a child. The girl's mother goes to court, but the judge, after listening to the accused's cunning answers, lets him go in peace, sentenced only to pay the court costs. However, touched by the tears of the girl, Casanova gives her money for childbirth. Subsequently, he meets her at the fair - she has become an actress in a comic opera. The girl Vezian, a young Italian who came to Paris to pity the minister and get something for her dead father, an officer in the French army, also becomes an actress. Casanova helps a young compatriot get a job as a figurant at the Opera, where she quickly finds herself a rich patron. Casanova suits the fate of a thirteen-year-old shabby girl who accidentally met him in a booth. Having seen with a sharp look under the mud the amazing perfection of the girl's forms, Casanova washes her with his own hands and sends her to the artist to paint her portrait. This portrait catches the eye of the king, who immediately orders the original delivered to him. So the girl, nicknamed Kazonova O-Morphy ("Beauty"), settles in Deer Park for two years. After parting with her, the king marries her to one of his officers. The son of his time, Casanova has a wide variety of knowledge, including Kabbalistic knowledge. With their help, he cures the Duchess of Chartres from acne, which contributes a lot to his success in society.

In Paris, Dresden, Venice - wherever Casanova is, he makes acquaintances both with the inhabitants of cheerful houses, and with all the pretty women that you can meet around. And women who have received the attention of a brilliant adventurer are ready for anything for his love. And the sickly Venetian girl, having known Casanova's love, is even cured of her illness; this girl bewitches the great adventurer so much that he is even ready to marry her. But then the unexpected happens: the Venetian tribunal of the Inquisition arrests Casanova as a disturber of public peace, a conspirator and "a fair scoundrel." In addition to denunciations written by jealous and jealous women, books of spells and instructions on the influence of the planets are found in Casanova's house, which gives reason to accuse him of black magic.

Casanova is imprisoned in Piombi, the Lead Prison. From longing and pious books that the jailers slip him, Casanova falls ill. The doctor called by the guard orders the prisoner to overcome his anguish. Casanova decides, risking her life, to get her freedom: "Either I will be killed, or I will bring the matter to an end." However, it takes a long time from conception to implementation. As soon as Casanova manages to make a sharp stiletto and dig a hole in the floor, he is transferred to another cell. The warden discovers traces of his labors, but the resourceful adventurer manages to intimidate the jailer, threatening to expose him to his superiors as his accomplice. Wanting to appease the prisoner, the warden allows him to exchange books with other prisoners. Hiding messages in book bindings, Casanova starts a correspondence with Padre Bagli, who is in prison for a dissolute lifestyle. The monk turns out to be active in nature, and since Casanova needs an assistant, he enlists his support. After making holes in the ceilings of their cells, and then in the lead roof, Casanova and Balbi escape from prison. Once free, they seek to leave the Venetian Republic as soon as possible. Casanova has to part with his comrade in misfortune, who has become a burden for him, and, connected with nothing and no one, he rushes to the border.

And now Casanova is back in Paris; he faces an important task - to replenish his purse, which has become emaciated during his stay in prison. He invites interested parties to arrange a lottery. And since "there is no other place in the world where it would be so easy to fool people," he manages to get all the possible benefits from this enterprise. He does not forget about corrupt beauties and noble admirers of his various talents. Suddenly, his new friend La Tour d'Auvergne falls ill; Casanova, declaring that a damp spirit has entered into him, undertakes to heal him by imposing the seal of Solomon, and draws a five-pointed star on his thigh. Six days later, La Tour d'Auvergne is back on her feet. He introduces Casanova to the venerable Marquise d'Urfe, who is passionately fond of the occult sciences. The Marquise has an excellent collection of manuscripts of the great alchemists, in her house she set up a real laboratory, where something is constantly evaporated and distilled. Madame d'Urfe often has lunch with the "glorious adventurer" Count de Saint-Germain - a brilliant storyteller, scientist, "an excellent musician, an excellent chemist, good-looking." Together with the Marquise Casanova, Jean-Jacques Rousseau pays a visit; however, the famous philosopher does not make the expected impression on them: "neither his appearance nor his mind struck with originality."

Wanting to gain a steady income, Casanova, at the suggestion of a projector, opens a manufactory. But she brings him only losses: carried away by young workers, Casanova takes a new girl every three days, generously rewarding her predecessor. Having abandoned the unprofitable enterprise, Casanova leaves for Switzerland, where, as usual, she alternates lofty communication with the best minds of the era with love adventures. In Geneva, Casanova several times talks with the great Voltaire. Further, his path lies in Marseille. There he is overtaken by Madame d'Urfe, eager to perform a magical rite of rebirth, which only Casanova can perform. And since this rite consists mainly in the fact that Casanova must make love to the elderly marquise, in order to adequately get out of the situation, he takes a certain young beauty as an assistant. Having worked hard and having completed the ceremony, Casanova leaves Marseille.

The journey continues. From London, where Casanova did not like it, he heads to the German principalities. In Wolfenbüttel he spends all his time in the library, in Braunschweig he indulges in amorous pleasures, in Berlin he is honored with an audience with King Frederick. Then his path lies to Russia - through Riga to St. Petersburg. Everywhere Casanova gets acquainted with unusual customs and customs with interest. In St. Petersburg, he observes the baptism of babies in ice water, goes to the bathhouse, attends palace balls, and even buys himself a serf girl, who turned out to be unusually jealous. From the northern capital, Casanova travels to Moscow, because, in his words, "he who has not seen Moscow has not seen Russia." In Moscow, he inspects everything: "factories, churches, ancient monuments, collections of rarities, libraries." Returning to St. Petersburg, Casanova rotates at court, meets with Empress Catherine II, who finds the judgments of the Italian traveler very entertaining. Before leaving Russia, Casanova arranges a fireworks celebration for her Russian friends. Casanova is again attracted to Paris, his path runs through Warsaw ... and everything continues - intrigues, scams, love adventures ...

E. V. Morozova

Tragedy (1782)

David comes at night to the camp of the Israelites at Gilboa. He is forced to hide from King Saul, to whom he has filial feelings. Earlier, Saul also loved him, he himself chose David as his wife for his beloved daughter Michal. "But the ransom / Sinister - a hundred enemy heads - / You demanded, and I took a double harvest / I took off for you ..." Today Saul is not himself: he is chasing David. David dreams of taking part in the battle with the Philistines and demonstrating his devotion to Saul. Saul's son Jonathan, hearing David talking to himself, approaches him. Jonathan rejoices at the meeting: he loves David like a brother. He fears for David's life, knowing how much Saul hates him. David is not afraid of anything: "I am here to die: but only in battle, / As a strong one - for the fatherland and for / That ungrateful Saul, / Who prays for my death." Jonathan tells that the evil and envious Abner, a relative of Saul and the head of his army, all the time sets Saul against David. Michal, David's wife, is faithful to her husband and every day, with tears, she begs Saul to return David to her. Jonathan says that without David, the Israelites lost their former courage: "They left with you / Peace, glory and confidence in battle." Jonathan recalls how the prophet Samuel received David before his death and anointed him with oil. He advises David to wait in the mountains for a signal to fight and only then come out of hiding. David laments: "Oh, do bold deeds / Hide like intrigues?" He wants to go to Saul and, despite the fact that he does not know any fault, ask his forgiveness. Samuel once loved Saul like a son, but Saul's ingratitude brought the wrath of the Lord upon himself. The prophet Samuel bequeathed to David love and loyalty to the king, and David will never disobey him. Jonathan swears while he lives to protect David from the wrath of Saul. David wants to see Michal. Usually, Michal comes before dawn to weep for David and, together with Jonathan, prays for his father. David hides while Jonathan carefully prepares his sister to meet her husband. Michal sees David without the purple cape that she wove for him, in a coarse cloak he looks not like a royal son-in-law, but like a simple infantryman. Jonathan and Michal decide to find out what mood Saul is in, and if it seems favorable to them, then gradually prepare their father for a meeting with David. So that no one would recognize David and Abner would not send a murderer, Jonathan asks him to lower his visor and mingle with the crowd of soldiers. But Michal believes that by the look and by the ability to carry the sword of David, it is easy to recognize. She shows him a cave in the woods where he can hide. David leaves.

Saul remembers what a fearless warrior he was. Now he is old and his strength is not the same as before. But he lost not only his youth: "I was with me / Still an irresistible right hand / of the Most High! .. And at least David was with me, my knight." Abner inspires Saul that David is the main cause of all his troubles. But Saul understands that the matter is in himself: "Impatient, gloomy, / Cruel, vicious - that's what I have become, / Always not nice to myself, not nice to others, / In peace I thirst for wars, in wars - peace." Avenir convinces Saul that the prophet Samuel, who was the first to say that Saul was rejected by God, is a bold, deceitful and cunning old man, he himself wanted to become king, but the people chose Saul, and Samuel out of envy announced that God had rejected Saul. Abner says that David was always closer to Samuel than to Saul, and more disposed to the altar than to the battlefield. Abner of the same blood with Saul: "I am of your kind, and the splendor of the king / There is the glory of Abner, and David / Will not be exalted without trampling Saul." Saul often sees in a dream how Samuel tears off the royal crown from his head and wants to put it on the head of David, but David falls on his face and with tears asks the prophet to return the crown to Saul. Abner exclaims: "Let David perish: disappear with him / All fears, and misfortunes, and visions."

Saul no longer wants to delay the battle with the Philistines. Jonathan has no doubts about victory. Michal hopes that after the battle, Saul will find rest and peace and return her beloved husband to her. Saul believes that the Israelites are doomed to defeat. Michal recalls how David pleased Saul with his singing and distracted from gloomy thoughts. Jonathan reminds Saul of David's military prowess. David appears: "My king! I have long wanted / You have my head. So - take it, / Seki it." Saul greets him affectionately: "God speaks in you; the Lord has brought you / To me ..." David asks Saul to let him fight in the ranks of the Israelites or stand at the head of the army - as he pleases - and then he is ready to accept the execution. Saul accuses David of pride, of wanting to outshine the king. David knows that he is not guilty of anything, these are all the slanders of Abner, who is envious of him. Abner claims that David hid in Philistia, among the enemies, sowed confusion among the people of Israel and more than once made an attempt on the life of Saul. In justification, David shows a piece of Saul's royal robe. One day, Saul, who was looking for David to kill, fell asleep in the cave where David was hiding. David could kill him and run away, for Abner, who was supposed to guard Saul, was far away. But David did not take advantage of the fact that the king was in his power for revenge and only cut off a flap from Saul's mantle with a sword. After hearing David's speech, Saul restores his favor to him and appoints him commander of the army.

David calls Abner to him for an important conversation. He says that Abner should not serve him, David, but both of them should serve the sovereign, the people and God. Abner proposes a battle plan, which David fully approves. He appoints Abner as the head of the main forces. David wants to attack at four o'clock in the afternoon: the sun, wind and thick dust will help them in the battle. Michal tells David that Abner had already managed to whisper something to Saul, and the king's mood had changed. Saul again accuses David of pride. David replies: "On the battlefield - a warrior, at court - / Your son-in-law, and before God I am nothing." Saul notices David's sword. This sacred sword was given to David by the priest Ahimelech. When Saul hears that Ahimelech has given the sacred sword that hung over the altar in Nob to David, Saul becomes furious. He accuses the children that they are only waiting for his death in order to take possession of the royal crown. Jonathan asks David to sing, hoping to dispel his father's anger. David sings about Saul's feats of arms, about peace after the battle, but when he hears the word "sword", Saul again becomes furious. Jonathan and Michal hold Saul ready to stab David so he can leave. Saul sends Michal for David. Jonathan, meanwhile, is trying to pacify the gays of his father, begging him not to become hardened against the truth and God, whose chosen one is David. Abner is also looking for David: less than an hour is left before the battle. Ahimelech appears in the camp of the Israelites. He reproaches Saul that he has descended from the path of the Lord, but Saul calls Ahimelech a traitor who gave the exile David not only shelter and food, but also sacred weapons. Saul has no doubt that Ahimelech came to betray him, but the priest came to pray for Saul's victory. Saul scolds all the priests, he recalls how Samuel himself killed the king of the Amalekites, captured by Saul and spared for military prowess. Ahimelech calls on Saul to return to God: "The king of the earth, but before God / Who is the king? Saul, come to your senses! You are no more / Than a crowned speck of dust." Ahimelech threatens Saul with the wrath of the Lord and denounces the evil and treacherous Abner. Saul orders Avenir to kill Ahimelech, cancel David's order and postpone the attack until tomorrow, seeing in David's desire to start the battle before sunset a hint of his weakening senile hand. Saul orders Abner to bring David in to cut his own wrists. Ahimelech predicts before his death that Saul and Abner will die a miserable death from the sword, but not from the enemy and not in battle. Jonathan tries to appeal to his father's mind, but to no avail. Saul drives the children away: he sends Jonathan to the army, and sends Michal to look for David. "I am left alone with myself, / And only I am afraid of myself."

Michal persuades David to flee under the cover of night, but David does not want to leave the Israelites on the eve of the battle. Michal talks about the execution of Ahimelech and that Saul ordered Abner to kill David if he met him during the battle. David hears a prophetic voice, he predicts that the coming day will be terrible for the king and for all the people. But here the pure blood of the servant of the Lord was shed, and David cannot fight on the land that is defiled. Reluctantly, he agrees to run away, but, worrying about Michal, he does not want to take her with him: "stay / With your father until the Lord / returns you to your husband." David is hiding. Michal hears screams from his father's tent and sees Saul fleeing from the shadow that pursues him. Michal tries in vain to convince his father that no one is chasing him. Saul sees a fiery punishing sword raised above him and asks the Lord to turn his sword away from his children, he himself is to blame, but the children are not guilty of anything. He imagines the voice of the prophet Samuel interceding for David. He wants to send for David, captive. Eurycleia is convinced that Mirra does not love Perey: if Mirra liked someone, she would notice. In addition, there is no love without hope, while Mirra's grief is hopeless, and the girl longs for death. Eurycleia would like to die so as not to see the suffering of her beloved in her old age. Kenchreida has been trying for almost a year to understand the reason for her daughter's torment, but to no avail. Is it possible that Venus, seeing a daring challenge in the insane maternal happiness of Kenchreida, hated Mirra for her beauty and decided to punish the queen by taking away her only daughter?

King Kiner, having interrogated Eurycleia, decides to cancel the wedding: "What do I need life, possessions, honor for, / When unconditionally happy / I don’t see my only daughter?" Kinir wants to become a friend of the king of Epirus, he likes Perey, but the most important thing for him is his daughter: “I was a father / Nature made me a king, but it’s a chance”, the interests of the state are nothing for him in comparison with a single breath of Mirra. He can only be happy if she is happy. Kiner decides to talk to Perey. He tells the young man that he would be happy to call him son-in-law. If he chose a husband for his daughter, he would choose Perey, and when Mirra chose him, Perey became doubly dear to him. Kinnir believes that the main thing in Perea is his personal dignity, and not royal blood and not his father's possessions. Kinir cautiously asks Perey if his love for Mirra is mutual. The young man says that Mirra seems to be happy to answer his love, but something is stopping her. It seems strange to him that Mirra turns pale in his presence, does not raise her eyes to him, and speaks to him in a cold tone. She seems to be eager to get married, then she is afraid of the wedding, then she will appoint a wedding day, then she will postpone the wedding. Perey does not imagine life without Mirra, but wants to free her from her word, seeing how she suffers. Perey is ready to die if Mirra's happiness depends on it. Kiner sends for Mirra and leaves her with Perey. Perey looks at the bride's wedding dress, but the sadness in her eyes tells him that she is unhappy. He tells her that he is ready to release her from her word and leave. Mirra explains to him that sadness is innate and questions about its causes only exacerbate it. The girl is simply grieving about the upcoming separation from her parents. She swears that she wants to be Perey's wife and will no longer delay the wedding. Today they will be married, and tomorrow they will sail to Epirus. Perey does not understand anything: either she says that it is hard for her to part with her parents, or she rushes to leave. Mirra says she wants to leave her parents forever and die of grief.

Myrrha tells Eurycleia that she wants only death and deserves it only. Eurycleia is sure that only love can torment a young soul like that. She prayed to Venus at the altar, but the goddess looked at her menacingly, and Eurycleia left the temple, barely dragging her feet. Myrrha says it's too late to ask the gods for her and asks Eurycleia to kill her. The girl knows that she will not get to Epirus alive anyway. Eurycleia wants to go to the king and queen and beg them to upset the wedding, but Mirra asks her not to say anything to her parents and not to attach importance to the words that accidentally escaped from her. She cried, poured out her soul, and now she is much easier.

Mirra goes to her mother and finds Kinir with her. Seeing that his presence confuses his daughter, the king hurries to reassure her: no one is forcing her to anything, she may or may not reveal the cause of her suffering. Knowing her disposition and nobility of feelings, her parents completely trust her. Mirra can do as she sees fit, they just want to know what she has decided. Mother and father agree to anything, just to see their daughter happy. Mirra says that she feels the proximity of death, this is her only medicine, but nature does not allow her to die. Mirra either pities herself or hates herself. It seemed to her that marriage with Perey would at least partly dispel her sadness, but the closer the wedding day was, the sadder she became, so she postponed the wedding three times. Parents persuade Mirra not to marry Perey, since he is not dear to her, but Mirra insists: even though she does not love the young man as much as he loves her, no one else will become her husband, or she will marry Perey, or die. Mirra promises to overcome her pain, talking with her parents gave her strength and determination. She hopes that new experiences will help her get rid of longing faster, and wants to leave her father's home immediately after the wedding. Myrrha will come to Cyprus when Pereus becomes king of Epirus. She will leave one of her sons with her parents to be their support in old age. Mirra begs her parents to let her leave immediately after the wedding. Parents reluctantly let go of their daughter: it is easier for them not to see her than to see her so unhappy. Mirra retires to her place in order to prepare for the wedding and go out to the groom with a bright brow.

Kinir shares his suspicions with his wife: "Words, eyes and even sighs / Instill fear in me that she / Inhuman is driven by power, / Unknown to us." Kenchreida thinks that Venus punished Mirra for maternal insolence: Kenchreida did not burn incense to Venus and, in a fit of maternal pride, dared to say that the divine beauty of Myrrha in Greece and the East is now revered higher than Venus was revered in Cyprus from time immemorial. Seeing what was happening with Mirra, Kenchreida tried to appease the goddess, but neither prayers, nor incense, nor tears help. Kinyer hopes that the wrath of the goddess will not haunt Mirra when she leaves Cyprus. Perhaps, anticipating this, Mirra is in such a hurry to leave. Perey appears. He is afraid that, having become Mirra's husband, he will become her murderer. He regrets that he did not kill himself before he sailed to Cyprus, and is going to do it now. Kinyer and Kenchreida try to console him. They advise him not to remind Mirra of grief - then this grief will pass.

Preparing for the wedding, Mirra tells Eurycleia that the thought of leaving soon gives her peace and joy. Eurycleia asks Mirra to take her with her, but Mirra decided not to take anyone with her. Perey informs her that a ship will be waiting for them at dawn, ready to sail. Mirra replies: "Together with you / Hurry to stay and not see around / All that I have seen / So long tears and, perhaps, was / The reason for them; on new seas to sail, / Mooring to new kingdoms; air / Unknown to inhale , and day and night / To share with such a spouse ... "Perey loves Mirra very much and is ready for anything: to be her husband, friend, brother, lover or slave. Mirra calls him the healer of her suffering and the savior. The wedding ceremony begins. The choir sings wedding songs. Mirra's face changes, she trembles and can hardly stand on her feet. Furies and Erinnies with poisonous scourges are crowded in her chest. Hearing such speeches, Perey is imbued with confidence that Mirra is disgusted with him. The wedding ceremony is interrupted. Perey leaves, promising that Mirra will never see him again. Kinnir ceases to feel sorry for his daughter: her unheard of trick hardened him. She herself insisted on the wedding, and then disgraced herself and her parents. Both he and Kenchreida were too soft, it's time to be strict. Mirra asks her father to kill her or she will kill herself. Kiner is scared. Mirra faints. Cenchreida reproaches Kinyra with cruelty. Coming to her senses, Mirra asks Kenchreid to kill her. Kenchreida wants to hug her daughter, but she pushes her away, saying that her mother only aggravates her grief. Mirra asks her mother again and again to kill her.

Kinyer mourns Perey, who committed suicide. He imagines the grief of a father who lost his beloved son. But Kinyros is no happier than the king of Epirus. He sends for Mirra. Some monstrous secret lies in her actions, and he wants to know her. Mirra never saw her father angry. He decides not to show his love to her, but to try to wrest a confession from her with threats. Kiner tells his daughter about Perey's suicide. Kinir guesses that Mirra is tormented not by Furies, but by love, and no matter how much her daughter refuses, she insists on her own. He persuades Mirra to open up to him. He himself loved and will be able to understand her. Mirra admits that she is really in love, but does not want to name her beloved. Even the object of her love is unaware of her feelings, she hides them even from herself. Kinir reassures her daughter: "Understand, your love, your hand / And my throne will be exalted by anyone. / No matter how low a person stands, / He cannot be unworthy of you, / When he is after your heart." Kiner wants to hug Mirra, but she pushes him away. Mirra says that her passion is criminal, and calls the name of her beloved: Kinir. The father does not immediately understand her and thinks that she is laughing at him. Realizing that Mirra is not joking, Kinyr is horrified. Seeing her father's anger, Mirra rushes at his sword and plunges it into herself. She simultaneously avenges Kinir for wresting a monstrous secret from her heart by force, and punishes herself for her criminal passion. Kiner cries, he sees in Mirra at once a wicked woman and a dying daughter. Mirra begs him never to tell of her love to Kenchreid. Hearing a loud cry, Kenchreid and Eurycleia come running. Kiner shields the dying Mirra from Kenchreida and asks his wife to leave. Kenchreida is confused: is Kiner really ready to leave her dying daughter? Kinyr reveals the secret of Mirra to Kenchreida. He takes his wife away by force: "It's not here for us from grief / And from shame to die. Let's go." Only Eurycleia remains next to Myrrha. Before her death, the girl reproaches her: "When ... / I ... asked for a sword ... you would, Eurycleia ... / Listen ... And I would die ... / Innocent ... than to die ... vicious ..."

O. E. Grinberg

(Bruto Secondo)

Tragedy (1787)

In Rome, in the Temple of Concord, Caesar delivers a speech. He fought a lot and finally returned to Rome. Rome is mighty, it inspires fear in all nations. For the greater glory of Rome, it remains only to subdue the Parthians and avenge them for the victory over Crassus. The defeat in the battle with the Parthians was a shameful stain on Rome, and Caesar is ready to either fall on the battlefield or deliver the captive Parthian king to Rome. It was not for nothing that Caesar gathered the flower of Rome in the Temple of Concord. He expects from the Romans consent and readiness to march against the Parthians. Cimbri objects: now is not the time for the Parthians; the civil massacre that began under the Gracchi does not subside, the Roman Empire is flooded with blood: "first you need to restore order at home / Take revenge for Rome / Not before it becomes the former Rome." Antony supports Caesar: there was no case that the Romans did not avenge the death of the Roman commander. If revenge on the Parthians is not avenged, many conquered peoples will decide that Rome has trembled and will not want to endure her domination. A campaign against the Parthians is necessary, it remains only to decide who will lead the troops, but who under Caesar will dare to call himself a leader? "Rome" and "Caesar" mean the same thing today, and he who today wants to subordinate the common greatness to personal interests is a traitor. Cassius takes the floor. He is an opponent of a military campaign, he is worried about the fate of his homeland: "Let the consul be a consul, the senate - / The Senate and tribunes - tribunes, / And let the true people fill, / As before, the forum." Cicero says that he is still faithful to the dream of the common good, peace and freedom. In the Roman Republic, they have long ceased to honor the laws. When order prevails in Rome, there will be no need for weapons, "so that the enemies / Become the fate of clouds driven by the wind." Brutus begins his speech by saying that he does not love Caesar because, in his opinion, Caesar does not like Rome. Brutus does not envy Caesar, because he does not consider him superior to himself, and does not hate him, because Caesar is not afraid of him. Brutus reminds Caesar how the obliging consul wanted to put on him the royal crown, but Caesar himself pushed his hand away, because he realized that the people are not such a thoughtless mass as he would like, the people can tolerate a tyrant for some time, but not an autocrat . In his heart, Caesar is not a citizen, he dreams of a royal crown. Brutus urges Caesar to become not the oppressor, but the liberator of Rome. He, Brutus, is a citizen and wants to awaken civil feelings in Caesar's soul. Antony denounces Brutus for his bold speeches. Caesar wants the question of the campaign against the Parthians to be resolved here, in the temple of Concord, and to resolve the remaining issues, he proposes to gather tomorrow morning in the curia of Pompey.

Cicero and Cimbrus are waiting for their like-minded people - Cassius and Brutus. They understand that the homeland is in danger and it is impossible to delay. Cicero sees that Caesar, convinced that general fear is more reliable for him than the love of a corrupt mob, is betting on the army. Leading the Roman soldiers into battle with the Parthians, he deals the final blow to Rome. Cicero regrets that he is already an old man and cannot fight for his homeland with a sword in his hands. Came to the rescue, Cassius bitterly says that Cicero no longer has worthy listeners left, but Cicero objects: the people are always the people. No matter how insignificant a person is alone with himself, in public he invariably transforms. Cicero wants to make a speech before the people. The dictator relies on force, while Cicero relies on truth and therefore is not afraid of force: "Caesar will be defeated / As soon as he is exposed." Cimbri is sure that Cicero will not be able to enter the forum, because the way there is closed, and if he could, his voice would be drowned in the cries of bribed people. The only remedy is the sword. Cassius supports Cimbrus: there is no need to wait for the cowardly people to declare Caesar a tyrant, we must be the first to sentence him and carry him out. The best remedy is the fastest. To put an end to slavery in Rome, one sword and one Roman are enough, why sit and waste time in hesitation? Brutus appears. He was late because he was talking to Antony. Caesar sent Antony to Brutus to arrange a meeting. Brutus agreed to meet with Caesar here, in the temple, because he believes that Caesar's enemy is more terrible than Caesar's friend. Cassius says that he, Cimbrus and Cicero are unanimous in hatred of Caesar, in love for the fatherland and in readiness to die for Rome. "But there were three plans: / To plunge the fatherland into a civil war, / Or, calling lies a lie, disarm / The people, or kill Caesar in Rome." He asks Brutus' opinion. Brutus wants to try to convince Caesar. He believes that the thirst for honor is dearer to Caesar than the thirst for the kingdom. Brutus sees in Caesar not a villain, but an ambitious one. During the Battle of Pharsalus, Brutus was captured by Caesar. Caesar spared his life, and Brutus does not want to return kindness with ingratitude. Brutus believes that only Caesar can restore freedom, power and life to Rome today if he becomes a citizen again. Brutus believes that Caesar has a noble soul and will become a defender of laws, and not their violator. If Caesar remains deaf to his arguments, Brutus is ready to stab him with a dagger. Cicero, Cimbrus and Cassius are sure that Brutus has too high an opinion of Caesar and his plan is unrealizable.

Antony reports to Caesar that Brutus agrees to meet with him. He hates Brutus and does not understand why Caesar tolerates him. Caesar says that of his enemies, Brutus is the only one worthy of him. Caesar prefers to win not with weapons, but with mercy: to forgive a worthy enemy and enlist his friendship is better than to destroy him. This is what Caesar did with Brutus in his time, and this is what he intends to do in the future. He wants to make Brutus his friend by all means. When Brutus arrives, Antony leaves them alone. Brutus appeals to the mind of Caesar. He conjures him to become a citizen again and restore freedom, glory and peace to Rome. But Caesar certainly wants to conquer the Parthians. He fought so much that he wants to meet death on the battlefield. Caesar says he loves Brutus like a father. Brutus, on the other hand, experiences all feelings for Caesar in turn, except for envy: when Caesar manifests himself as a tyrant, Brutus hates him, when a man and a citizen speaks in Caesar, Brutus feels love and admiration for him. Caesar reveals to Brutus that he is his father. As proof, he shows Brutus a letter from his mother, Servilia, confirming that Brutus is her son by Caesar. Brutus is stunned, but this news does not change his convictions. He wants to save his homeland or die. Caesar hopes that Brutus will change his mind and support him tomorrow in the Senate, otherwise he will meet in Caesar not a father, but a master. Brutus urges Caesar to prove his paternal love and give him the opportunity to be proud of his father, otherwise he will have to assume that his real father is the same Brutus who gave Rome life and freedom at the cost of the lives of his own children. Left alone, Caesar exclaims: "Is it possible that my only son / Refuses to obey me / Now that the whole world is subdued to me?"

Cicero, along with other senators, leaves Rome: he is an old man, and he no longer has his former fearlessness. Cimbri and Cassius question Brutus about his conversation with Caesar. Brutus tells them that he is Caesar's son. "In order to cleanse the blood from this stain / Terrible, to the drop I must / Shed it for Rome." Brutus failed to convince Caesar. Cimbrus and Cassius believe that Caesar should be killed. Brutus goes for advice to his wife Portia - the daughter of the great Cato. Portia, to prove her courage, cut off her chest with a sword and steadfastly endured the pain, so that her husband did not even know about it. And only after this test did she dare to ask Brutus to entrust her secrets to her. Cimbrus and Cassius admire Portia's courage.

Antony comes to Brutus. Caesar tells him that he hopes for the voice of blood, which will command Brutus to love and respect the man who gave him life. Brutus asks if Caesar is ready to give up his dictatorship, revive the laws and obey them. Brutus asks Antony to tell Caesar that tomorrow in the Senate he hopes to hear from him a list of effective measures to save the fatherland. Brutus is as eager to save Rome for the good of the Romans as he is to save Caesar for the sake of Rome. After Antony's departure, the conspirators decide to enlist a few more worthy Roman citizens to their side.

Senators gather in the curia of Pompey. From the street comes the screams of the crowd. Cassius tells Brutus that at his sign, the conspirators with swords will attack Caesar. Caesar appears. He asks why so many senators didn't come to the meeting. Brutus replies: "Those who sit in the senate / Came out of fear; those who are not here / Dispelled fear." Brutus delivers a speech where he extols the virtues of Caesar, who has gained the upper hand over himself and over someone else's envy. He congratulates Caesar, who wants to become a citizen, equal among equals, as before. Brutus explains to the audience that he speaks on behalf of Caesar, since he and Caesar are now one, because he is the son of Caesar. Caesar is shocked by Brutus' inspirational audacity. He says he wants to make him his successor. Caesar did not back down from his decision to go on a campaign against the Parthians. He wants to take Brutus with him, and after defeating the enemies of Rome, he is ready to give himself into the hands of his enemies: let Rome decide who he wants to see Caesar: a dictator, a citizen, or no one at all. Brutus appeals to Caesar for the last time, but Caesar declares that whoever does not obey him is an enemy of Rome, a rebel and a traitor. Brutus draws a dagger and shakes it over his head. The conspirators rush to Caesar and smash him with swords. Brutus stands aside. The wounded Caesar crawls to the statue of Pompey and expires at its foot with the words: "And you ... my boy? .." People come running to the cries of the senators. Brutus explains to the people that Caesar is killed, and he, Brutus, although his dagger is not stained with blood, along with others killed the tyrant. The people want to punish the murderers, but they are hiding, only Brutus is in the hands of the people. Brutus is ready for death, but reminds the people of freedom and calls on those to whom she is dear to rejoice: Caesar, who fancied himself a king, sleeps forever. Hearing the inspired speeches of Brutus, the people are imbued with confidence in him, and when they hear that Brutus is the son of Caesar, they appreciate all his nobility. Brutus mourns Caesar, for he honors his dignity, which cannot be found equal. He is ready for death, but asks for a reprieve. Having fulfilled his duty as a liberator and citizen, he will end his life over the coffin of his murdered father. The people are ready to follow Brutus. Brandishing his sword, Brutus leads the people to the Capitol to drive the traitors from the sacred hill. The people, following Brutus, repeat: "Freedom or death!", "Death or freedom!"

O. E. Grinberg

(Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis)

Roman in letters (1798)

The action begins in October 1789, ends in March 1799 and takes place mainly in northern Italy, in the vicinity of Venice. The narrative consists of letters from the protagonist, Jacopo Ortiz, to his friend Lorenzo, as well as Lorenzo's memories of Jacopo.

In October 1797, an agreement was signed between Napoleonic France and Austria, according to which Bonaparte ceded Venice to the Austrians, and received Belgium and the Ionian Islands. This agreement crossed out the hopes of the Venetians for the liberation of their homeland from Austrian rule, the hopes that were originally associated with the emperor of France, who embodied the Great French Revolution in the eyes of the Italians. Many young Venetians who fought for freedom were included in the proscription lists by the Austrian authorities and doomed to exile. Jacopo Ortiz, who left his mother in Venice and left for a modest family estate in the Euganean mountains, was also forced to leave his native city. In letters to a friend, Lorenzo Alderani, he mourns the tragic fate of his homeland and the younger generation of Italians, for whom there is no future in their native country.

The solitude of the young man was shared only by his faithful servant Michele. But soon Jacopo's loneliness was broken by the visit of a neighbor, Signor T., who lived on his estate with his daughters - the blond beauty Teresa and the four-year-old baby Isabella. Tormented by the soul, Jacopo found solace in conversations with an intelligent, educated neighbor, in games with a baby, in tender friendship with Teresa. Very soon, the young man realized that he loved Teresa selflessly. Jacopo also met a family friend, Odoardo, serious, positive, well-read, but completely alien to subtle emotional experiences and not sharing the lofty political ideals of Jacopo. During a walk in Arcua, to the house of Petrarch, the excited Teresa unexpectedly entrusted her secret to Jacopo - her father marries her to Odoardo. The girl does not love him, but they are ruined; because of his political views, the father is compromised in the eyes of the authorities; marriage with a wealthy, reasonable, trustworthy person, according to the father, will ensure the future of his daughter and strengthen the position of the T. family. Teresa's mother, who took pity on her daughter and dared to object to her husband, was forced to leave for Padua after a fierce quarrel.

Teresa's confession shocked Jacopo, made him suffer severely and deprived him of that illusory peace that he had found far from Venice. He succumbed to his mother's persuasion and left for Padua, where he intended to continue his education at the university. But university science seemed to him dry and useless; he became disillusioned with books and ordered Lorenzo to sell his huge library left in Venice. The secular society of Padua rejected Jacopo: he ridiculed the empty chatter of salons, openly called scoundrels scoundrels and did not succumb to the charms of cold beauties.

In January, Ortiz returned to the Euganean Mountains. Odoardo was away on business, and Jacopo continued to visit the T family. Only when he saw Teresa did he feel that life had not yet left him. He was looking for meetings with her and at the same time was afraid of them. Somehow, while reading Stern, Jacopo was struck by the similarity of the story told in the novel with the fate of the young Lauretta, whom both friends once knew - after the death of her lover, she lost her mind. Having connected the translation of part of the novel with the true story of Lauretta, Jacopo wanted to let Teresa read it, so that she would understand how painful unrequited love is, but did not dare to embarrass the girl's soul. And soon Lorenzo told a friend that Lauretta died in misery. Lauretta became for Jacopo a symbol of true love.

But the young man happened to see something else - at Signor T., he met a girl who was once loved by one of his now deceased friends. She was given in marriage to a well-intentioned aristocrat. Now she startled Jacopo with her empty chatter about hats and frank callousness.

Once on a walk, Jacopo could not stand it and kissed Teresa. The shocked girl ran away, and the young man felt himself at the pinnacle of bliss. However, the inevitable return of Odoardo was approaching, and from Teresa Jacopo heard the fateful words: "I will never be yours."

Odoardo returned, and Jacopo completely lost his mental balance, emaciated, turned pale. As if mad, he wandered through the fields, tormented and sobbed for no reason. The meeting with Odoardo ended in a violent quarrel, the reason for which was Odoardo's pro-Austrian views. Signor T., who loved and understood Jacopo, began to guess about his feelings for Teresa. Worried about the young man's illness, he nevertheless told Teresa that Ortiz's love could push the T. family into the abyss. Preparations for the wedding had already begun, and Jacopo fell ill with a severe fever.

Ortiz felt guilty for destroying Teresa's peace of mind. As soon as he got to his feet, he went on a trip to Italy. He visited Ferrara, Bologna, Florence, where, looking at the monuments of the great past of Italy, he thought bitterly about its present and future, comparing great ancestors and miserable descendants.

An important stage in Jacopo's journey was Milan, where he met Giuseppe Parini, a famous Italian poet. Ortiz poured out his soul to the old poet and found in him a like-minded person who also did not accept the conformism and pettiness of Italian society. Parini prophetically predicted a tragic lot for Ortiz.

Jacopo intended to continue his wanderings in France, but stopped in a town in the Ligurian Alps, where he ran into a young Italian, a former lieutenant of the Napoleonic troops, who once fought against the Austrians with weapons in his hands. Now he was in exile, in poverty, unable to feed his wife and daughter. Jacopo gave him all the money; the sad fate of the lieutenant, doomed to humiliation, again reminded him of the futility of existence and the inevitability of the collapse of hopes.

Having reached Nice, Ortiz decided to return to Italy: someone told him the news, which Lorenzo preferred to keep silent about - Teresa was already married to Odoardo. "In the past - repentance, in the present - longing, in the future - fear" - this is how life now seemed to Ortiz. Before returning to the Euganean mountains, he stopped at Ravenna to bow to the grave of Dante.

Returning to the estate, Jacopo only glimpsed Teresa, accompanied by her husband and father. Deep mental suffering pushed Jacopo to insane acts. He rode through the fields at night and once accidentally knocked a peasant to death with his horse. The young man did everything so that the unfortunate family did not need anything.

Jacopo had the strength to pay another visit to the T family. He talked about the upcoming trip and said that they would not see each other for a long time. Father and Teresa felt that this was not just a goodbye before leaving.

The story of the last week of Jacopo Ortiz's life was collected bit by bit by Lorenzo Alderani, including fragments of records found in Jacopo's room after his death. Jacopo confessed to the aimlessness of his own existence, to spiritual emptiness and deep despair. According to the servant Michele, most of what was written on the eve of his death was burned by his master. Gathering the last strength, the young man went to Venice, where he met with Lorenzo and his mother, whom he convinced that he was returning to Padua, and then continue the journey. In his hometown, Jacopo visited Lauretta's grave. After spending only one day in Padua, he returned to the estate.

Lorenzo stopped by a friend, hoping to persuade him to go traveling together, but saw that Ortiz was not happy with him. Jacopo was just about to visit Signor T. Lorenzo did not dare to leave his friend alone and went with him. They saw Teresa, but the meeting passed in heavy silence, only little Isabella suddenly burst into tears and no one could calm her down. Then Lorenzo learned that by this time Jacopo had already prepared farewell letters: one for a friend, the other for Teresa.

Michele, who was sleeping in the next room, at night it seemed that groans were coming from the master's bedroom. Lately, however, Ortiz had often been plagued by nightmares, and the servant did not visit Jacopo. In the morning the door had to be forced open - Jacopo was lying on the bed covered in blood. He plunged a dagger into his chest, trying to hit his heart. The unfortunate man had the strength to pull out his weapon, and blood flowed like a river from a vast wound. The young man was dying, but still breathing.

The doctor was not at home, and Michele rushed to Signor T. Teresa, having learned about the misfortune, lost consciousness, fell to the ground. Her father rushed to Ortiz's house, where he managed to take the last breath of Jacopo, whom he had always loved like a son. On a piece of paper thrown on the table, one could read "dear mother ...", and on the other - "Teresa is not to blame for anything ..."

Lorenzo was summoned from Padua, Jacopo in a farewell letter asked his friend to take care of the funeral. Teresa spent all these days in complete silence, immersed in deep mourning. Jacopo Ortiz was buried in a modest grave at the foot of a hill in the Euganean mountains.

I. I. Chelysheva

Tales (1632)

Once lived in friendship two scientists - Tu and Guan. And they married sisters. True, they differed greatly in character: Guan had the most strict rules, and Tu was frivolous, even unbridled. And they raised their wives according to their own views. At first, both families lived together, and then quarreled. They divided the estate with a tall wall, even built a dam across the pond.

Even before the quarrel, a son was born in the Tu family, named Zhensheng, Precious-born, and in the Guan family, a girl named Yujiu-an - Beautiful Jasper. The children were similar to each other - indistinguishable. Their mothers were brought to each other by sisters.

The children grew up already separated, but from the conversations of the elders they knew about each other and dreamed of seeing each other. The young man even decided to visit his aunt, but they did not show him his sister - Guan's morals were strict. They could not see each other until they thought to look at the reflections in the pond. They saw each other and immediately fell in love.

The young man, who was bolder, sought a meeting. The maiden from modesty resisted. A friend of the Tu family, a certain Li, tried to woo the lovers, but was resolutely refused. Parents sympathized with their son, tried to find him another bride. It was remembered that Lee himself had an adopted daughter. They compared the horoscopes of young people - they coincided with extraordinary accuracy. They arranged an engagement. The girl Li was happy, but the girl Guan, having learned about the future wedding of her lover, began to wither day by day.

The young man, due to his frivolity, could not decide in any way and dreamed of each of the girls. Then Lee came up with a plan for a triple marriage. He initiated his friend Tu into it, and obtained Guan's consent by deceit. The day of the ceremony was set. Unsuspecting Guan saw that there was no groom next to her daughter, but he was afraid to break the ceremony. When everything was cleared up, he became angry, but he was convinced that everything was to blame for the excessive severity in which he kept his daughter, and his bad temper, which led to a quarrel with the Tu family. He had to calm down.

The young people lived together. Especially for them, a pavilion was built on the pond, called the "Tower of the United Reflection", and the wall, of course, was demolished.

During the Ming Dynasty, there lived a certain Qian Xiaojing, who was a fisherman. With his wife, nee Bian, he did not have an agreement. It is true, for this the sky did not give them offspring. But when the couple reached forty, their daughters were born with a difference of only one hour. The girls grew up to be real beauties, even though they were commoners.

It was time to marry them off. Accustomed to arguing with each other in everything, the parents decided to do each in their own way. The wife received matchmakers in secret from her husband, and he himself conducted marriage negotiations. It got to the point that on the same day two wedding processions met at the gates of their house. Barely managed to keep up appearances. True, when the husbands and grooms came after a while for the brides, Mrs. Bian made a real massacre. The husband persuaded the future relatives to sue, and he himself volunteered to be a witness.

At that time, a young criminal inspector was in charge of all affairs. He listened to both sides, but he could not decide who was right. He called the girls to ask their opinions, but they only blushed in embarrassment. Then he called the suitors and was crushed by their ugliness. I realized that such dorks cannot be like beauties.

And he conceived this: to arrange competitions among the young people of the district, something like examinations. Whoever excels will receive, if single, a wife, and if already married, a deer as a reward. And for the time being, the girls should be placed in a tower called the "Tower of the Won Award." Advertisements were posted, and applicants began to flock from all sides. Finally the winners were announced. Two were married, two were single. True, one of the bachelors was not at all interested in brides, and the second was completely absent.

The inspector called the winner and announced his decision. Then he asked where the second winner was. It turned out that the winners were sworn brothers, and one passed the exams both for himself and for his named brother. Yuan Shijun, who confessed this by the name of Yuan Shijun, flatly refused to marry, assured that he brought only misfortunes to the girls betrothed for him, and therefore he gathered to be a monk. But the inspector did not give up. He ordered the girls to be brought in and announced that Yuan, as the winner, would receive two brides at once.

Yuan obeyed the will of the ruler. He lived happily and reached high positions. The young ruler also succeeded. It is rightly said: "Only a hero can recognize a hero."

During the Ming Dynasty, a rich man named Tang lived in the Chengdu region. He only did what he bought up new lands - he considered it stupid to spend money on something else: the guests would eat food, the buildings would be destroyed by fire, someone would certainly ask to wear a dress. He had a son, just as stingy as his father. Avoided excesses. I just wanted to build a big beautiful house, but greed got in the way.

I decided to consult with my father. He, for the sake of his son, came up with this. In the same lane, he spotted a garden, the owner of which was building a house. The father was sure that, having completed the house, he would want to sell it, because by that time he would have made a lot of debts, and his creditors would overcome him.

And the house was built by a certain Yu Hao, a respectable man who did not pursue fame, who devoted his leisure time to poetry and wine. A few years later, as Tang foresaw, Yu became completely impoverished - construction ate up a lot of money. He had to sell a new house. Tana's father and son pretended that they were not interested in buying, scolded the buildings and the garden in order to bring down the price. They offered a fifth of its true value for the house. Yu Hao reluctantly agreed, but set one condition: he leaves a high tower behind him, enclosing it with a wall with a separate entrance. The younger Tang tried to argue, but his father convinced him to give in. He understood that sooner or later Yu would sell the tower as well.

The tower was wonderful. On each of the three floors, the owner arranged everything to his liking. The new owners soon disfigured the house with restructuring, and the tower still amazed with its perfection. Then the rich conceived to take it away at all costs. They failed to persuade Yuya. They started a lawsuit. But, fortunately, the judge quickly realized their dastardly plan, reprimanded the Tanov and drove them away.

In distant lands, Yu had a twin friend, a man as rich as he was generous and indifferent to money. He came to visit and was very upset by the sale of the house and garden and the tricks of the neighbors. He offered money to buy the estate, but Yu refused. A friend was about to leave and before leaving he told Yu that in a dream he saw a white mouse - a sure sign of the treasure. I begged him not to sell the tower.

And the Tans were now waiting for the death of their neighbor, but he, contrary to their expectations, was strong and even at the age of sixty gave birth to a son-heir. The rich were on fire. However, after a while, a mediator appeared to them. It turned out that Yu had spent a lot of money after the birth of his son and was ready to sell the tower. His friends dissuaded him, but he insisted on his own, and he himself settled in a tiny house under a thatched roof.

Soon Yu went to another world, leaving a widow with a young son. Those lived only on the money left over from the sale of the tower. At the age of seventeen, Yu's son passed his exams and achieved high positions, but suddenly submitted his resignation and went home. On the way, a woman gave him a petition. It turned out that she is a relative of the Tans, whose family has long been haunted by misfortune. The elders died, the descendants went bankrupt, and recently, on slander, her husband was arrested: someone wrote a denunciation that they were hiding stolen wealth in the tower. They searched and found silver ingots. The woman assumed that since the estate once belonged to the Yu family, the silver could belong to them. However, to a young man who remembered his constant poverty, such an assumption seemed absurd. But he promised to talk to the county chief.

At home, the old mother, having learned about the incident, told him about a dream that had once been dreamed of by a twin friend of the late father. It all seemed like a fairy tale to my son. Soon the head of the county came to him. The old woman told him the old story. It turned out that the twin brother was still alive and at one time was very sad when he learned about the sale of the tower. The chief immediately understood everything.

At this time, the servant reported on the guest. It turned out to be the same friend, now a deep old man. He fully confirmed the hunches of the head of the county: he secretly left the silver in the tower, even the numbers of the ingots were preserved in his memory.

The chief decided to let Tan go free, gave him the money and took the bill of sale for the estate and the tower. Thus came the reward for Yu's good deeds and for the bad deeds of Tang's father and son.

During the Yuan Dynasty, there was a retired official named Zhan. His two sons followed in their father's footsteps and served in the capital, while he drank wine and composed poetry. And in later years, his daughter was born to him, named Xianxian - Charming. She was really pretty, but not a coquette, not a flirtatious.

Her father was still worried that spring desires would not wake up in her soul ahead of time, and he came up with an occupation for her. Among the Chelyadins, he selected ten girls and ordered his daughter to teach them. She set to work with zeal.

It was a hot summer. Fleeing from the heat, Xianxian moved to the shore of the pond in the "Arbor of Summer Delight". One afternoon, tired, she dozed off, and her students decided to take a bath. One of them offered to swim naked. Everyone cheerfully agreed. When, waking up, the hostess saw such a disgrace, she was terribly angry and punished the instigator. The rest got it too. The father liked the severity of his daughter.

Meanwhile, matchmakers came to Zhan's house, offering a young man from the Qu family as a suitor. He sent rich gifts and asked Mr. Zhang to take him as a student. The old man agreed to this, but answered evasively about marriage. The young man did not intend to retreat.

His determination reached Xianxian and she couldn't help but like it. And then she found out that he excelled in the exams. I started thinking about him constantly. But Qu never returned to his native land. The girl was even worried: did his father's evasiveness scare him off? She fell ill from anxiety, slept off her face.

Soon the young man returned home and immediately sent a matchmaker to find out about Xianxian's health, although the girl did not tell anyone about her illness. The matchmaker assured her that the young man was always aware of everything, and in confirmation she retold the story of the ill-fated bathing. The girl could not believe her ears. She wanted to marry Qu even more.

His omniscience was due to the fact that he once bought from a junk dealer a magical thing that brought the most distant objects closer to the eyes. Through this All-Seeing Eye, he saw both the bathing scene and the gloomy appearance of Xianxian herself. Once he even saw what kind of poetry she was writing, and sent a sequel with the matchmaker. The girl was shocked. She believed that Qu was a celestial, and since then she could not even think about her husband - a mere mortal,

Father, meanwhile, did not give an answer, he was waiting for the results of the metropolitan tests. Qu succeeded there too, took second place, hurried to send matchmakers to the Xianxiang brothers. But they also did not give a decisive answer, explaining that two more of their fellow countrymen, who successfully passed the exams, had previously wooed their sister. Qu had to return home with nothing. The brothers wrote a letter to their father, advising him to resort to divination.

The old man took the advice. Although the girl was sure that Qu was all-powerful, the divination was not in his favor. Xianxian herself tried to persuade her father, referring to the opinion of the late mother, who, having appeared to her in a dream, ordered to marry Qu. Everything is useless. Qu then came up with a plan and communicated it to Xianxian. She again went to her father and declared that she could repeat the text of the spell he had burned, addressed to mother, to the word. And she said it without hesitation from beginning to end. The old man trembled with fear. He believed that the marriage of his daughter and Qu was a foregone conclusion in heaven. He immediately called the matchmaker and ordered to arrange the wedding.

But the thing was that Qu was able to read and memorize the text of the spell with the help of the All-Seeing Eye, which Xianxian transmitted. After the wedding, he confessed everything to his wife, but she was not disappointed. The All-Seeing Eye was placed in the "Tower of Summer Delight", and the couple often resorted to him for advice. They lived in love and harmony, although Qu sometimes allowed himself to have fun with her former students secretly from his wife.

During the Ming Dynasty, there lived an amazing swindler. No one knew his real name or where he came from. Few have seen him. But the glory of him was, as they say, all over the world. There he robbed someone, here he fooled; today operates in the south, tomorrow - in the north. The authorities were knocked off their feet, but they could not catch him. It happened that they grabbed him, but there was no evidence against him. This is because the swindler was extremely clever at changing guises: the deceived never managed to recognize him. This went on for almost three decades, and then he voluntarily settled in one place, revealed his true appearance and often told about his past life as an edification - like this: some funny stories have survived to this day.

The fraudster's name was Bei Quzhong. His father traded in robberies, but his son decided to follow a different path: he preferred cunning to rude robbery. The father doubted the abilities of his son. Once, standing on the roof, he demanded that he make him go down to the ground, then, they say, he would believe in his abilities. The son said that he could not do this, but he could persuade his father to go up to the roof. The father agreed and got down from the roof - the son surpassed him in cunning. Parents highly appreciated the dexterity of their offspring. We decided to test it in a more serious matter.

He left the gate and returned three hours later. The porters brought in boxes of food and tableware after him, received some coins, and departed. It turned out that the trickster took part in someone else's wedding ceremony. He sniffed everything out, realized that soon the feast would move from the bride's house to the groom's house, pretended to be the groom's servant and volunteered to accompany food and utensils. Then, under some pretext, he sent the porters away, hired new ones, and ordered them to carry everything to the parental home. No one understood where the wedding food and dishes had gone.

Several years have passed. The young swindler became famous. There wasn't a person he couldn't fool. so that an experienced money changer kept a shop in the city of Hangzhou, so he got caught: he bought an ingot of gold from a stranger, after a while another unknown person declared that the ingot was fake, and volunteered to expose the fraudster together with the merchant, but as soon as the merchant made a fuss, the well-wisher disappeared. It turned out that it was he - and this, of course, was the fraudster Bay himself - and replaced the real ingot with a fake one.

On another occasion, Bay, along with his friends, saw a flotilla of boats on the river. Local officials met the new ruler from the capital. Since no one knew the ruler by sight, Bay easily impersonated him, deceived a lot of money from officials and was like that. He had many such feats.

But among the singers, he was famous for his generosity. Once they even hired burly fellows to catch Bay and bring him to visit them. And so it happened, but the swindler managed to change his appearance, and the singers decided that they just got a similar person. One girl, whose name was Su Yingyang, was especially upset. With the help of Bay, she dreamed of giving up her unworthy profession and becoming a nun. Her tears moved the unrecognized swindler, and he decided to help the unfortunate. He bought her out of a merry house, found a building suitable for a chapel, with two yards: in one half of the house he settled the girl, in the other he decided to settle himself.

In the garden, he hid the stolen wealth, just at the foot of the three towers. One of them was decorated with a plaque with the inscription: "Tower of Return and Stop", but suddenly a miracle happened: the inscription changed by itself, and now the tower was inscribed: "Tower of Return to Truth." From that time on, Bei gave up cheating and, like Su Yingyang, abandoned the worldly fuss.

True, for prayer he needed a two-story building, so he decided for the last time to resort to his craft. He disappeared for six months along with his henchmen, predicting that well-wishers would definitely appear who would like to build a chapel. Indeed, after a while, an official and a merchant came to Su Yingyang, who expressed their readiness to pay for the construction of such a house. And soon Bay returned.

When Su marveled at his perspicacity, he revealed to her fraudulent tricks, with the help of which he forced the official and the merchant to fork out. But this was the last time Bay resorted to his unworthy craft.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were two friends Jin Zhongyu and Liu Mingshu. They tried to become scientists, but did not show much zeal and decided to engage in trade. They also had a third friend, Quan Ruxiu, with an unusually good-looking face. They bought three shops, combined them into one and began to trade in books, incense, flowers and antiquities. Behind their shop was the Tower of Finesse Collection.

Their friends traded honestly, they knew a lot about subjects: they read rare books, lit marvelous incense, knew how to play musical instruments, understood pictures. Things were going great, the shop was a success with connoisseurs.

Two older friends were married, and the younger did not have time to marry and lived at the shop.

At that time, a certain Yan Shifen, the son of the first minister Yan Song, was the court academician. He heard about the shop of friends, but his beautiful young man was more interested in antiquities or incense, for the nobleman was not alien to a known vice. He went to the shop, but his friends, having found out about his inclination, decided to hide young Quan. Yan collected a thousand gold items and returned to the palace. He promised to pay for the purchases later.

No matter how many friends visit for money, it's all in vain. Finally, Yang's steward opened their eyes: the nobleman would not return the money until he saw Quan. The young man had to go to the palace. True, Yan's hopes were not justified: despite his youth, Quan showed unusual firmness and did not give in to his harassment.

At that time, the treacherous eunuch Sha Yucheng served at the court. Once Yan Shifan came to visit him and saw that he was scolding the servants for negligence. Decided to recommend young Quan to him. And the two villains had a plan: to lure the young man to the eunuch and castrate him. The eunuch knew that he was ill and death was not far off. After his death, the young man should pass into the hands of Yan.

The eunuch Sha sent for Quan. As if the dwarf trees bought from him in the shop once needed pruning. The young man came. The eunuch drugged him with a sleeping potion and castrated him. The unfortunate man had to part with his twin friends and settle in the house of a eunuch. Soon, after asking someone, he guessed that Yan Shifan was responsible for his misfortune, and decided to take revenge. After a while, the eunuch died, and Quan entered the service of his worst enemy.

Day after day, he wrote down the evil words that the nobleman and his father uttered against the emperor, remembered all their misdeeds. He was not the only one harmed by this family. Many submitted revealing reports to the sovereign. Finally Yana was exiled.

Through one court lady, the emperor learned about Quan Ruxiu's misfortune. He called the young man to him and interrogated him with predilection. Here and other officials added fuel to the fire. The villain was taken to the capital and cut off his head. Quan managed to obtain his skull and fit it into a urine vessel. Such is the revenge for the insult.

During the Ming Dynasty, a young man named Pei Jidao lived in Lin'an. He was good-looking, talented and extremely intelligent. They asked Wei the maiden for him, but then the parents preferred the daughter of the rich man Feng, a rare ugly woman, and a vile character. Pei never appeared in public with her, he was afraid of the ridicule of his friends.

Once, during a summer festival, a terrible whirlwind came up on Lake Xihu. Frightened women jumped out of the boats, the water and rain washed away the powder and rouge from their faces. The young people who gathered for the holiday decided to take the opportunity and find out which of the inhabitants of the city is beautiful and which is ugly. Among the youth was Pei. When his wife appeared in the crowd of women, her ugliness aroused universal ridicule. But two beauties struck everyone with their charm. In one of them, Pei recognized his first betrothed, the maiden Wei. The second was her maid Nenghong.

Soon, Pei's wife died, and he again became the groom. Matchmakers were again sent to the Wei family, but they angrily rejected the proposal. It's a shame that Pei once preferred a rich bride. The young man could not find a place for himself from grief.

Near the house of Wei lived a certain mother Yu, who had a reputation as a mentor in every women's craft. She taught needlework and the maiden Wei with a maid. To her help, and decided to resort to PZY. He gave her rich gifts, told about his sorrows. But Mama Yu, although she spoke to the Wei girl herself, did not succeed either. The resentment in the girl's heart did not fade away.

Then Pei fell on his knees in front of Mother Yu and began to beg her to arrange a wedding for him, at least with the maid Nenghong. This very maid was watching this scene from the top of the Tower of Scattered Clouds. I only thought that Pei was praying for her mistress. When she learned from mother Yu what was discussed, she relented and promised that if they took her as a wife, she would persuade her mistress.

The maid's plan was complex and required patience. First, she persuaded the parents of the girl Wei to turn to a fortuneteller. Of course, Pei had to cajole this fortuneteller beforehand properly. Arriving at the house, he convinced the bride's parents that the future groom should be from among the widowers, and in addition, it is imperative that he take a second wife for himself. Here it was not difficult to hint at Pei as a possible candidate for husbands. The parents decided to slip the fortuneteller, among others, his horoscope. Of course, the fortune teller chose him.

Seeing that the matter was almost settled, the cunning Nenghong demanded from Pei a paper confirming his intentions to marry her. He signed.

Soon they played a wedding. Nenghong and her owner moved into a new house. On their wedding night, Pei pretended to have a terrible dream, which the same fortune teller interpreted as a hint of the need to take a second wife. Wei, afraid that she would not get along with her new wife, herself persuaded her maid to marry Pei. They played a second wedding. After the prescribed number of moons, both wives gave birth to sons. Pei never took other women into the house.

During the Ming Dynasty, there lived in the Wenzhou region a certain farmer called the Wine Fool, an unlearned, even stupid man. True, he knew how to write hieroglyphs amazingly in his drunkenness. It was said that the immortal gods guided him with a brush, and local residents often visited Fool to find out their future. And his written predictions always came true.

At the same time, there lived a young man named Yao Jian, who became famous for his remarkable talents. His father hoped to marry him to some noble beauty. Found him a girl from the Tu family. The matter was quickly settled, and a tower was built for the newlyweds. It was then that the Wine Fool was called in to draw an omenous inscription - the name for the tower. He drained a dozen cups of wine, grabbed a brush and wrote in an instant; Tower of Ten Cups. The hosts and guests could not understand the meaning of the inscription, they even decided that the drunk calligrapher was mistaken.

Meanwhile, the day of the wedding arrived. After the solemn feast, the young husband dreamed of reuniting with his wife, but a certain flaw was discovered in her bed - as they say, "among the rocks there was no gate for the traveler." The young man became sad, and in the morning he told his parents about everything. They decided to return the unfortunate woman home, and instead demand her younger sister.

They secretly made an exchange. But Yao Jun was not lucky here either: the youngest turned out to be ugly, and she also suffered from urinary incontinence. Every morning, the young mule woke up in a wet bed amidst a terrible stench.

Then we decided to try the third sister from the house of Tu. This one, it seemed, was good for everyone - neither the flaw of the older one, nor the ugliness of the younger one. The husband was delighted. True, it soon became clear that the beauty, even before the wedding, confessed to some man and suffered. I had to drive the sinner away.

All the following attempts by the unfortunate Yao to find a mate ended in such or some other failure: either a malicious one came across, or an obstinate, or a stupid one. For three years, our hero has been a groom nine times. An old relative named Guo Tushu guessed what was going on. It is known that the brush of the Wine Fool, when he wrote the name for the "Tower of Ten Wedding Cups", was led by a holy celestial. Young Yao has not yet fulfilled the prediction, he only drank from nine cups, there was one more. Then the parents asked Guo to find a bride for their son somewhere in a foreign land. They waited a long time. Finally, news came from Guo that the bride had been found. They brought her and performed the marriage ceremonies. When the husband removed the muslin veil from her, it turned out that in front of him was his first wife

What was to be done? Day after day, the spouses suffered, but suddenly the unexpected happened. In the very place where the wife did not have a "peony bud", an abscess appeared. A few days later it burst, a wound formed. They were afraid that the wound would heal, but everything worked out. Now the beauty was, as they say, flawless. Truly the couple were overjoyed. No wonder it is said that happiness must be achieved, and not received easily.

During the Song Dynasty, a certain Duan Pu, the offspring of an old family, lived in Bianjing. At the age of nine, he joined the sciences, but was in no hurry to pass the exams, he wanted to gain experience. He was in no hurry to get married. He was an orphan, he did not need to take care of anyone, so he lived freely and for his own pleasure.

He was friends with a certain Yu Zichang, also a talented young man with a similar disposition to him. Yu also did not strive for a career, but he was seriously thinking about marriage. However, it was very difficult to find a worthy wife.

Meanwhile, the emperor issued a decree. All learned people were required to arrive at the palace for testing. Duan and Yu also went. Although they did not dream of success at all and even wrote compositions carelessly, luck accompanied them, and they took high places.

In the capital city there lived a respectable man named Guan, in whose house two beauties grew up - his daughter Weizhu, Pearl in the frame, and Zhaoqu's niece - Azure. Azure beauty even surpassed the Pearl. When the sovereign's decree on the selection of beauties for the palace harem arrived, the court eunuch was able to choose only these two, although he preferred Zhaoqu. It was she who was supposed to become the sovereign's concubine. However, soon the sovereign abandoned his intention. The time was restless, it was necessary to bring the wise men closer to oneself, and not indulge in lust.

It was then that Guan heard about the two youths who had succeeded in the trials. For such, you can give your daughter and niece.

Yuya was pleased with the news. But Duan considered marriage an annoying hindrance. True, it was not appropriate to argue with a high dignitary, and Duan resigned himself. They played weddings. Yu married Pearl, Duan married Azure. Yu lived happily, could not get enough of his beautiful wife and even promised not to take concubines into the house. Duan also fell in love with his wife, but sometimes he was overwhelmed by longing: he understood that such a wife was a rare jewel, so expect trouble.

Soon friends received appointments to high positions. Everything seemed to be working out for the best. However, the joy did not last long. The sovereign changed his previous decision and again ordered the beauties to be taken to the harem. When he learned that the two most beautiful maidens had gone to miserable students, he became terribly angry and ordered the two friends to be sent to remote provinces. Helpful officials immediately advised to send them with tribute to the state of Jin. Messengers usually did not return from there.

Yu Zichang loved his wife, and parting seemed like dry flour to him. Duan, on the contrary, honestly told his wife that he most likely would not be able to return, and ordered not to torment his heart in vain. The young woman was shocked by his coldness, she became very angry. In addition, on their house, he strengthened a sign with the inscription: "The Tower of the Returning Crane", hinting at eternal separation - he, they say, will return here only after his death in the guise of a crane.

The journey has been difficult. Even harder was life in Jin. Jin officials demanded bribes. Duan immediately refused to pay and was treated cruelly, chained in stocks and beaten with whips. But he was firm. But Yu, in a hurry to return to his wife, littered right and left with the money that his father-in-law sent him, they treated him well and soon released him to his homeland.

He was already in his thoughts hugging his wife, and she, knowing about his arrival, could not wait to meet. But the sovereign, after listening to the report of Yu Zichang, immediately appointed him an inspector for supplying troops with provisions. It was a military matter, there was not a minute to lose. Of course, the emperor continued to take revenge on the man who intercepted the beauty from him! And again, for Yuya and his wife, the joy of meeting was replaced by the pain of separation. He only managed to convey a letter from Duan to his wife. She read the poems and realized that her husband had not changed at all - instead of a heart he had a stone. And she decided not to be tormented in vain, to do needlework, earn money, and then spend it generously. In a word, she stopped languishing.

Yu Zichang's life was spent in the hardships of the march. He did not get off his saddle for days on end, the wind whipped him, the rain poured down. So not a year or two passed. Finally the victory was won. But just then it was time to pay tribute to the Jin state again. A certain official at the court, who remembered that the sovereign did not favor Yuya, offered to send him as an ambassador. The sovereign immediately made the appointment. Yu was in despair. I even wanted to lay hands on myself. He was saved by a letter from Duan, who, himself suffering hardships and hardships, found an opportunity to keep his friend from a rash act.

The Jin were overjoyed at Yu's arrival. They expected generous offerings from him. But this time, the father-in-law was in no hurry to send money, and Yu could not please the greedy Jin people. It was then that terrible tests fell upon him. In the end, they retreated from Duan, they were even ready to let him go home. Only he was in no hurry. After two years of continuous torment, they also waved their hand at Yuya - it became clear that money could not be obtained from him.

Over the years, the friends have become even closer. They helped each other in everything, shared sorrows and sorrows. Duan tried to explain his harshness to his wife, but Yu could not believe that he was right.

Eight years have passed. Jin province went on a campaign against the Song, captured the capital. The emperor was taken prisoner. Here he met with his subjects, whose life was ruined. Now he was bitterly remorseful. He even ordered them to return to their homeland.

And now, after an endless separation, the ill-fated wanderers approached their native places. Time has not been kind to Yuya. He became quite gray-haired. Not daring to appear to his wife in this form, he even blackened his hair and beard with a special paint. But when he entered the house, he found out that his wife had died of grief.

On the other hand, Zhaocui, Duan's wife, seems to have even become prettier. The husband was delighted, he decided that she had correctly taken his old advice. But his wife held a grudge against him. Then he reminded her of the secret token contained in the letter given eight years ago through Yuya. The woman objected that it was his usual letter with words that destroy love. But it turned out that it was a flip letter. The wife read it in a new way, and her face lit up with a joyful smile. This time she realized how wise and far-sighted her husband was.

During the reign of the Ming Dynasty - already in its decline - the scholar Shu lived near Nanjing. His family was very numerous, but only one child was born to his ancestors in seven generations. As his wife, he took a girl from an eminent family. She soon became a mainstay in the house. The couple loved each other very much. They had no children for a long time, finally a boy was born. Parents and relatives literally prayed for the child. True, the neighbors were surprised at the courage of people who gave birth to a son. the times were painfully turbulent, gangs of robbers were rampant everywhere, and women with children seemed especially defenseless. Soon, the Shu family also realized the danger.

Shu himself decided to save his son at all costs - a precious gift of fate. Therefore, he dreamed of taking a word from his wife that she, even at the cost of her own dishonor, would try to save the boy. Such a decision was not easy for the wife, she tried to explain herself to her husband, but he stood his ground. In addition, relatives also demanded to save the life of the successor of their family without fail. Turned to divination. The answer was still the same.

Soon, robbers descended on their land. The scientist fled. The woman was left alone with the child. Like all the surrounding women, she did not escape abuse. Once a robber broke into the house and already raised his sword, but the woman offered him her life in exchange for the life of her son. He did not kill anyone, but took the mother and child with him. Since then, they have followed him everywhere.

At last peace reigned. The scientist sold the house and all the utensils, went to ransom his wife and son from captivity. I just couldn't find them anywhere. In addition, robbers attacked him on the way, and he lost all his money. I had to beg. Once a piece of meat was thrown to him, he dug his teeth into it, but felt an unusual taste. It turned out that this was beef, which they had never eaten in their family. Because there was a kind of vow that allowed each generation to have at least one heir, and Shu decided it would be better to die than break the ancient ban.

He had already almost accepted death, when the spirits suddenly appeared and, amazed by his stamina, brought the scientist back to life. They explained to Shu that he observes a "half fast", a ban on the consumption of beef and dogs, which means that he is able to turn any misfortune into his own good.

A few more months passed. The poor fellow walked thousands of roads, endured many ordeals. Somehow the soldiers forced him to drag the ship along the river. During the day, the barge haulers were strictly monitored by guards; at night they were locked in some temple. At night, Shu did not close his eyes, shed tears and complained about his fate. Once, a noble lady, who was sailing towards her husband, heard his groans. She ordered me to bring him to her. I asked. And then she ordered him to be chained in iron so that he would not interfere with her sleep. She said that she was putting his fate in the hands of her husband, the military commander, who was about to appear.

The commander has arrived. The unfortunate man appeared before him. It was clear that he had no malicious intent. He explained why he wept so bitterly at night, gave the names of his wife and son. It was then that it turned out that the commander's wife was the ex-wife of the scientist. Shu begged for the return of the child, the successor of the family. The warlord didn't mind. The wife refused to return - she had lost her honor.

The warlord gave Shu money for the road and the boat. Soon doubts began to gnaw at the soul of the scientist, he wanted to return his wife. Here the rider appeared, who brought the order from the commander to immediately return. The scientist was lost in gloomy conjectures. It turned out that after the departure of her husband and son, the unfortunate woman decided to accept death. She was found hanging under the bar of the cabin. The commander ordered to pour a healing infusion into her mouth and put a pill that prolongs life. The woman came to life.

Now she fulfilled her oath - she tried to die. You could go back to your husband. The warlord ordered Shu to tell everyone that his wife had died and he had remarried. He gave them money, clothes, utensils. Since ancient times, such noble deeds are a rarity!

In the later years of the Song Dynasty, there was a wealthy man named Yin who lived in the Yunyang area. He was distinguished by great frugality, his wife helped him in this. They did not boast of anything, they lived quietly. They did not decorate their dwelling. True, Yin decided to build a small tower near the ancestral shrine so that the Yang forces would be favorable to him. In this tower, the couple arranged a bedroom.

Soon Yin's wife suffered, and in due time gave birth to a boy, who was named Lousheng, born in the tower. The child was good for everyone, however, he had only one testicle. Parents doted on him.

Once he went for a walk with the kids and disappeared. They decided that the tiger had carried him away. The couple were in despair. No matter how much they tried to give birth to a child since that time, they were pursued only by failures. But Yin firmly refused to take the concubine. By the age of fifty, they decided to take an adopted son. They were only afraid that they might be tempted by their wealth, that they might rob the old people. Therefore, Yin decided to go to distant lands. There, no one knew that he was rich, and it was easier to choose an adopted son. The wife approved her husband's intention and packed him for the journey.

Yin put on a commoner's dress and set off. In order to achieve his goal faster, he even wrote a special paper: "I am old and childless, I want to become foster fathers. I ask only ten liang. Those who wish can make a deal immediately and will not repent." But everyone just laughed at the old man. Sometimes they kicked me, gave slaps on the head.

One day, a young man of good appearance squeezed through the crowd and approached Yin with a respectful bow. Everyone laughed at him, but he kindly invited the old man to a drinking establishment, treated him. So they got to know each other better. It turned out that the young man lost his parents in childhood, is still not married, is engaged in trade and even managed to save up something. For a long time he dreamed of becoming adopted sons, but he was afraid that everyone would decide that he was coveting someone else's wealth. Now the adoptive father and son have healed in perfect harmony.

At this time, there was a rumor that enemy troops were approaching, and robbers were outrageous on the roads. Old Yin advised his son to distribute the goods to merchants, and go home lightly. The son agreed, but was worried that the old man would have to starve on the road. It was then that Yin announced that he was rich.

On the way, Yin learned that the young man was in love with the daughter of his former master and would like to visit her. They agreed that the old man would go ahead, and the young man would stay to visit her. When the boat with the old man had already sailed, he realized that he had not told his adopted son his name, and decided to leave an announcement at every pier.

Meanwhile, the young man found out that the village where his master lived was plundered by robbers and all the women were taken into captivity. In terrible grief, Yao swam further and stumbled upon a bazaar where they traded captives. Only the robbers did not allow looking at women. Yao bought one at random - it turned out to be an old woman. But the respectful young man did not scold her, but offered to be his mother.

The woman, in gratitude, informed him that the next day the robbers were going to trade young and beautiful, and explained how, according to the sign, to find the best of the girls. Yao did as she ordered, bought a woman without bargaining, took off her covers - it turned out to be his beloved Cao. The sign was a jasper arshin, which he himself had once presented to her.

Needless to say, how happy the young were, how they thanked the old woman. We moved on. We sailed to a village. They were called from the shore. The son recognized his adoptive father, but the old woman also recognized her husband. When he left his native place, she was seized by robbers. In captivity, she met with the maiden Cao.

Delighted, Yin and his wife brought the young people to the tower in order to perform the ceremony. But the young man, looking around, suddenly said that he recognized the bed, toys, utensils. They asked around, it turned out - in front of them was a son abducted in childhood. Then the father remembered the sign of his child, took the young man aside, looked and probably recognized him as his own son.

The wonderful story immediately became known to the entire district. The young had many children, and the Yin family flourished for a long time.

During the reign of the Ming Dynasty, there lived a respectable man, and he was called Yin. He occupied the post of interpreter of texts with the person of the sovereign, and everyone called him the historiographer Yin. He had a cousin named Daisou, Elder Slow-dum, a very modest man, like a hermit.

When Daisou was thirty years old, gray hair appeared in his beard. He burned all his poems and writings, destroyed his brushes, and distributed drawing supplies to his acquaintances. He left only a few books on agriculture for himself. He explained to those who were interested that it was impossible to live as a hermit in the mountains and practice calligraphy.

Historiographer Yin appreciated Slow Dum: he did not flatter, he always told the truth. So the official was not too lazy to visit him, although Daisou lived far away. But Tugodum was not interested in vanity. He dreamed only of the purity of being, of detachment from worldly fuss. He dreamed of leaving the city and settling in seclusion. I bought some shabby land and built a hut to live here until old age. I said goodbye to my friends and a few days later I went to the mountains with my family. It was then that Yin decided to call the tower in which they had once held conversations, "The Tower where they listen to advice."

Gu Slowdum enjoyed the life of a hermit. Yin sent him a letter, begging him to return, but he refused. One day, a messenger came from the county government demanding to go to the city, because Gu had an arrears. He was terribly upset. Then he decided to cajole the messenger. The trickster took a hundred coins.

And then there were robbers in the area. Once they came to Gu and robbed him to the skin, and even left some things taken from other unfortunates. Life got worse day by day. Friends sent him letters with sympathetic words, but no one helped with money. Another six months passed. Gu is accustomed to poverty. But fate did not spare him.

The guards came with an arrest order. The robbers were arrested, and they admitted that they left part of the booty in the house of a certain Gu. Gu understood that for some sins the heavens did not allow him to live as a hermit. He called his wife, ordered to collect things and moved to the city. Friends met him at the city gates. They persuaded him not to talk with the boss, they say, he will ruin everything, but they took over the negotiations. They put forward one condition: from that day on, Gu remains to live in the suburbs. They even found a house for him.

When the friends parted, only the historiographer Yin remained, who told how he lacked the advice of a friend. They talked all night, and in the morning, Gu, looking around, could not understand why the owner left such a beautiful house.

Here came a messenger from the council. At first, Gu was alarmed, but he appeared to return the money that Gu had given him to cajole the officials. Then the robbers appeared and with apologies returned the belongings stolen from him to Gu. Then the head of the county arrived in person. He expressed his joy at Gu's decision to settle near the city.

In the evening guests arrived with wine and food. Gu told them about an honest official, noble robbers, and a respectful county chief. The guests looked at each other and laughed. Then the historiographer Yin laid it all out. It turned out that all of Gu's troubles were set up by his friends in order to force him to give up the life of a hermit. The fun lasted until dawn, the wine flowed. Gu settled in a new place, and everyone came to him for advice. And the historiographer Yin simply settled nearby in a peasant house called "The Tower Where Heeds the Advice."

The attentive reader has already understood that this story is more about Yin than about Gu Slow-dum. There are few people in the world who are able to reject the vanity and live as a hermit, but even fewer - especially among the nobility - are aware of their own imperfections and are ready to listen to someone else's opinion.

Novels (publ. 1766)

Wang Zifu from Luodian lost his father early. His mother never took her eyes off him. Wooed him a young lady from the Xiao family, only she died before the wedding. Once, during the Lantern Festival, Van's cousin came to see him and took him along to watch the festivities. Soon his brother returned home on urgent business, and Wang, in an excited rapture, went for a walk alone.

And then he saw a young lady with a branch of plum blossom in her hand. A face of such beauty that the world does not exist. The student couldn't take his eyes off him. The young lady burst out laughing, dropped the branch and left. The student picked up the flower, went home saddened, where he hid the flower under his pillow, bowed his head and then fell asleep. The next morning it turned out that he stopped eating and talking. The mother was alarmed, ordered a prayer service with a spell from obsession, but the patient became even worse.

The mother begged Brother Wu to ask Wang. He confessed to everything. Brother Wu laughed at his misfortune and promised to help. He started looking for the girl. But he couldn't find a trace of her anywhere. And Van meanwhile cheered up. I had to lie that the young lady was found, turned out to be a distant relative - this, of course, will complicate matchmaking, but in the end everything will work out. The hopeful student began to recover with might and main. Only U all did not appear. And again the student became ill. His mother offered him other brides, but Van did not want to listen. Finally, he decided to go in search of the beauty himself.

He walked and walked until he was in the Southern Mountains. There, among the bowls and flower fields, a village lurked. In it, the student met his missing young lady. She again held the flower in her hand and laughed again. The student did not know how to meet her. He waited until evening, when an old woman came out of the house and began to ask who he was and why he had come. He explained that he was looking for a relative. Word by word it turned out that they were indeed related. They took the student into the house, introduced him to the young lady, and she laughed without restraint, although the old woman tried to shout at her.

A few days later, the mother sent messengers for her son. And he persuaded the old woman to let Yinning go with him so that she could meet her new relatives. Mother, having learned about relatives, was very surprised. She knew that Brother Wu simply deceived his son. But they began to find out - indeed relatives. Once one of their relatives confessed to the fox, fell ill with dryness and died, and the fox gave birth to a girl named Innin. Wu then decided to check everything and went to that village, but found nothing there but flowering thickets. He returned, and the young lady only laughs.

Van's mother, deciding that the girl was a demon, told her everything she had learned about her. Only she was not at all embarrassed, giggled and giggled. Van's mother was already about to marry the young lady and her son, but she was afraid to intermarry with the demon. Still, they got married.

One day, a neighbor saw Innin and began to persuade her to fornication. And she just laughs. He decided that she agreed. At night he appeared at the appointed place, and the young lady was waiting for him. As soon as he clung to her, he felt a prick in a secret place. He looked - he was clinging to a dry tree, in the hollow of which a huge scorpion was hiding. The man suffered and died. The mother realized that the matter was in the indefatigable gaiety of the daughter-in-law. I begged her to stop laughing, she promised, And in fact she no longer laughed without restraint, but she remained cheerful as before.

Once Innin confessed to her husband that she was grieving that her mother had not yet been buried, the unfortunate body was left lying in the mountains. She confessed because the student and his mother, although they knew about her fox nature, did not shy away from their relatives.

They went with the coffin to the mountains, found the body and buried it with proper ceremonies in the grave of Yingning's father. A year later, Yingning gave birth to an unusually intelligent child.

This means that stupid laughter is not at all a reason to deny a person the presence of a heart and mind. Look how you avenged the harlot! And how mother revered and pitied - for nothing that the demonic breed. Maybe, in general, Yinning - this strange woman, is actually a hermit, hiding from everyone, hiding in laughter?

Zong Xiangruo from Huzhou served somewhere. Once in the autumn field he caught a couple. The man got up and ran away. Zong looked, and the girl was pretty, her body was lush and smooth, like lipstick. He persuaded her to visit a secluded office in his house late in the evening. The maiden agreed, and at night it poured, so to speak, an exhausting rain from swollen clouds - between them the most complete love intimacy was established. Month after month, everything was kept secret.

Once a Buddhist monk saw Zong. I realized that he was tormented by a demonic obsession. Zong was actually getting weaker day by day. I began to suspect the girl. The monk ordered Zong's servant to lure the fox maiden - and it was just a fox! - in a jug, seal the neck with a special talisman, put on fire and boil in a cauldron.

At night, the maiden, as usual, came to Zong, brought wonderful oranges to the sick man. The servant deftly did everything as the monk ordered, but as soon as he was about to put the jug into a vat of boiling water, Zong, looking at the oranges, remembered the kindness of his beloved, took pity on her and ordered the servant to let the fox girl out of the jug. She promised to thank him for his mercy and disappeared.

First, a stranger gave the servant medicine, and Zong began to recover quickly. He understood that this was the gratitude of the fox, and again dreamed of seeing his friend. At night she came to him. She explained that she had found him a bride instead of herself. One has only to go to the lake and find a beauty in a crepe cape, and if her trace is lost, look for a lotus with a short stem.

Zong did just that. Immediately he saw the maiden in the cloak, she disappeared, and when he plucked the lotus, she reappeared in front of him. Then - time! and turned into stone. Zong put it on the table with care and kindled incense. And at night he found a maiden in his bed. He loved her deeply. No matter how she resisted, no matter how she assured that her nature was fox, Zong did not let her go anywhere, and they healed together. She was just very silent.

The maiden was expecting a child and she herself took birth, and in the morning she was already healthy again. After six or seven years, she suddenly declared to her husband that she had atoned for her sins, and it was time to say goodbye. He begged her to stay, but in vain. Before the eyes of the astonished Zong, she soared to heaven, he only managed to tear off the shoe from her foot. Immediately the shoe turned into a stone red swallow. And a crepe cloak was found in the chest. When he wanted to see the maiden, he took the cloak in his hands and called her. Immediately a beauty appeared in front of him - her exact likeness, only mute.

Student Gao Fan from childhood was quick-witted, had a beautiful face and pleasant manners. His parents dreamed of successfully marrying him, but he was capricious, refusing the richest brides, and his father did not dare to argue with his only son.

But he fell in love with the daughter of the poor scientist Fan. No matter how his mother dissuaded him, he did not retreat from his own: they played a wedding. The couple were a wonderful couple, very suitable for each other, only the young wife (and her name was Jiangcheng) from time to time began to get angry with her husband, turning away from him, as if from a stranger. Somehow, Gao's parents heard her screams, reprimanded their son, saying why he dismissed his wife. He tried to reassure Jiangcheng, but she became even more furious, beat her husband, kicked him out the door, and slammed the door.

Then everything went even worse, the wife did not know how to shorten it at all, she was constantly angry. Gao's old men demanded that the son give his wife a divorce.

A year later, Jiangcheng's father, old Fan, met a student and begged him to visit their home. The elegant Jiangcheng came out, the couple were touched, and in the meantime the table had already been set, and they began to regale their son-in-law with wine. The student stayed overnight. He hid everything from his parents. Soon Fan came to old Gao to persuade him to take his daughter-in-law back to the house. He resisted, but, with extreme amazement, he learns that his son spends the night with his wife, resigned himself and agreed.

The month passed quietly, but soon Jiangcheng took up her old ways - her parents began to notice traces of her nails on their son's face, and then they saw how she was beating her husband with a stick. Then the old men ordered their son to live alone and only sent him food. They called Fanya so that that daughter would calm down, but that daughter did not even want to listen to her father, showered him with insulting, nasty words. He died of anger, and the old woman died after him.

The student became homesick, alone, and the matchmaker sometimes began to bring young girls to him to have some fun. Once the wife tracked down the matchmaker, threatened to find out from her the details of nightly visits and, under the guise of another guest, she herself entered the bedroom to her husband. When everything was revealed, the unfortunate man was so frightened that from that time on, and in rare moments of conjugal favor, he turned out to be incapable of anything. His wife completely despised him.

The student had the right to go out only to the husband of his wife's sister, with whom he sometimes drank. But Jiangcheng showed her temper here too: she beat her sister half to death, drove her husband out of the yard. Gao completely dried up, abandoned classes, failed the exam. I couldn't even speak a word to anyone. Once he spoke to his own maid, the wife grabbed a wine jar and let them beat her husband, then tied him and the maid, cut out a piece of meat on each of their stomachs and transplanted from one to another.

Gao's mother was very sad. One day, an old man appeared to her in a dream, who explained that in her last birth, Jiangcheng was a mouse, and her son was a scientist. Once in a temple, he accidentally crushed a mouse, and now he is experiencing her revenge. So the only thing left to do is pray. The old people began to diligently offer prayers to the divine Guanyin.

After a while, a wandering monk appeared. He began to preach about rewards for the deeds of the former life. The people gathered. Jiangcheng also came. Suddenly the monk splashed clean water on her, shouted: "Don't be angry!" - and, without saying a single angry word to him, the woman wandered home.

At night, she repented before her husband, stroked all his scars and bruises left after her beatings, sobbed incessantly, reproached herself with the last words. And in the morning they returned to the old people's house, Jiangcheng confessed to them, lying at her feet, begging for forgiveness.

Since then, Jiangcheng has become an obedient wife and a respectful daughter-in-law. The family got rich. And the student excelled in the sciences.

So, reader, a person in his life will certainly receive the fruit of his deeds: he drinks or eats - there will certainly be retribution according to his deeds.

Wang Pingzi came to the capital to take the official exams and settled in the temple. A certain student already lived there, who did not even want to get to know Wang.

One day a young man dressed in white entered the temple. Wang quickly became friends with him. He was from Dengzhou and had the surname Song. A student appeared, immediately showing his arrogance. He tried to offend Sun, but he himself turned out to be a laughingstock. Then the insolent person offered to compete in the ability to compose on a given topic. Once again Sun surpassed him.

Then Wang took him to his place to acquaint him with his work. Sun both praised and criticized. Wang felt great confidence in him, as if in a teacher. treated him to dumplings. Since then, they met often: Song taught a friend to compose, and he fed him dumplings. Over time, the student, who reduced his arrogance, asked to be evaluated for his work, already highly praised by his friends. Sun did not approve of them, and the student held a grudge.

One day, Wang and Sun met a blind Heshan doctor. Song immediately realized that Heshang was a great connoisseur of literary style. He advised Wang to bring his compositions to Heshang. Wang obeyed, collected his works at home and went to the blind man. On the way he met a student who also tagged along with him. Heshang said that he had no time to listen to the compositions, and ordered them to be burned one by one - he would be able to understand everything by smell. So they did. Hashan's comments were remarkably insightful. Only the student did not believe them too much. He burned the works of ancient authors for the experiment - heshang was directly delighted, and when the student burned his own work, the blind man instantly caught the substitution and spoke of his talent with complete disdain.

However, in the exams, the student excelled while Wang failed. They went to the hashan. He noticed that he was judging style, not fate. He offered the student to burn any eight compositions, and he, hashang, guess which of the authors is his teacher. Started to burn. Heshang sniffed until he suddenly vomited - the student was just burning the work of his mentor. The student became furious and left, and then completely moved out of the temple somewhere.

And Wang decided to study hard for the next year's exams. Sun helped him. In addition, in the house where he lived, a treasure was discovered that once belonged to his grandfather. It's time for the exams, but Van again failed - he violated some rules once and for all. Song was inconsolable and Wang had to comfort him. He admitted that he was not a person at all, but a wandering soul, and, apparently, the spell gravitating over him extended to his friends.

It soon became clear that the Lord of Hell ordered Sun to be in charge of literary affairs in the abode of darkness. In parting, he advised Sung Wang to work hard, and then said that all the food that he had eaten all the time in Wang's house was in the backyard and had already sprouted magic mushrooms - any child who ate them would instantly become wiser. So they parted.

Wang went to his homeland, began to study with even greater zeal and concentration. Sun appeared to him in a dream and told him that the sins of past births would prevent him from taking an important post. And in fact: Wang passed the exams, but did not serve. He had two sons. One was stupid. His father fed him mushrooms, and he immediately became wiser. All Sun's predictions came true.

Taoist Gong had neither a name nor a nickname. Once I wanted to see Prince Lusky, but the gatekeepers did not even begin to report. Then the Taoist stuck with the same to the official who left the palace. He ordered the ragamuffin to be driven away. The Taoist started to run. Once in the wasteland, he laughed, took out the gold and asked to give it to the official. He did not ask the prince at all, but simply wanted to take a walk in the magnificent palace garden.

The official, seeing the gold, became kinder and led the Taoist through the garden. Then they climbed the tower. The Taoist pushed the official, and he flew down. It turned out that he was suspended on a thin rope, and the Taoist disappeared. The poor man was saved with difficulty. The prince ordered to find the Taoist. Togo was soon taken to the palace.

After a rich treat, the Taoist demonstrated his skills to the prince: he extracted from the sleeve of the singers who sang for the prince, fairies and celestials, and the heavenly weaver even brought a magic dress to the prince. The delighted prince offered the guest to settle in the palace, which he refused, continuing to live with the student Shan, although sometimes he stayed overnight with the prince and arranged all sorts of miracles.

A student, not long before, made friends and became close to the singer Hui Ge, and the prince summoned her to the palace. The student asked the Taoist for help. He put Shan in his sleeve and went to play chess with the prince. Hui Ge saw it and unnoticed by those around him brushed it into his sleeve. The lovers met there. So they saw each other three more times, and then the singer suffered. You can’t hide a child in the palace, and the student again fell at the feet of the Taoist. He agreed to help. Once he brought home a baby, whom Shana's smart wife accepted meekly, and gave his bathrobe, stained with maternity blood, to a student, saying that even a piece of it would help with difficult births.

After some time, the Taoist announced that he would soon die. The prince did not want to believe, but he soon really died. They buried him with honors. And the student began to help with difficult births. Once, the beloved concubine of the prince could not be resolved. He helped her too. The prince wanted to generously endow him, but the student wished for one thing - to unite with his beloved Hui Ge. The prince agreed. Their son is already eleven years old. He remembered his Taoist benefactor and visited his grave.

Somehow, in a distant land, a local merchant met a Taoist who asked him to give the prince a bundle. The prince recognized his thing, but, not understanding anything, ordered to dig up the grave of the Taoist. The coffin was empty.

How wonderful it would be if this would actually happen - "heaven and earth in the sleeve"! Further to die in a similar sleeve - it would be worth it!

When Minister Wang was still in his childhood, when he was lying on his bed, this is what happened: suddenly a strong thunder struck, it became dark all around, and someone larger than a cat clung to him, and as soon as the twilight cleared and everything cleared up, the incomprehensible creature disappeared. The brother explained that it was a fox that hid from Thunder Thunder, and her appearance promises a high career. And so it happened - Wang succeeded in life. But his only son was born stupid, and it was not possible to marry him.

But one day, a woman with a girl of extraordinary beauty entered the gates of the Wang Manor and offered her daughter to the fool Yuanfeng as a wife. The parents were delighted. Soon the woman disappeared, and the girl Xiaotsui began to live in the house.

She was unusually quick-witted, but all the time she had fun and played pranks and made fun of her husband. The mother-in-law will scold her, but you know she is silent, smiling.

On the same street lived a censor who also bore the surname Wang. He dreamed of annoying our Van. And Xiaotsui, dressing up somehow as the first minister, gave the censor a reason to suspect her father-in-law of secret intrigues against him. A year later, the real minister died, the censor came to Wang's house and accidentally ran into his son, dressed in royal clothes. He took away the fool's clothes and hat and went to inform the sovereign.

In the meantime, Wang and his wife went to punish their daughter-in-law for their foolish pastimes. She just laughed.

The emperor examined the clothes brought and realized that it was just fun, got angry at the false denunciation and ordered the censor to be brought to justice. He tried to prove that an evil spirit lives in Van's house, but the servants and neighbors denied everything. The censor was exiled to the far south.

Since then, the family fell in love with the daughter-in-law. True, they were worried that young children did not.

Once a wife jokingly covered her husband with a blanket. Look, he's not breathing anymore. As soon as they attacked the daughter-in-law with swearing, the barich came to his senses and became normal, as if he was not a fool. Now the young have finally begun to live like human beings.

Once a young woman dropped and broke an expensive old vase. They began to scold her. Then she announced that she was not a person at all, but lived in the house only in gratitude for the kind attitude towards her fox mother. Now she will leave. And she disappeared.

The husband began to wither from melancholy. Two years later, he somehow heard a voice from behind the fence and realized that it was his wife, Xiaotsui. Wang begged her to settle in their house again, even called her mother for persuasion. But Xiaocui agreed to live with him only in seclusion, in a country house.

After some time, she began to age. They had no children, and she persuaded her husband to take a young concubine. He refused, but then decided. The new wife turned out to be the spitting image of Xiaocui in her youth. And in the meantime, she disappeared. The husband understood that she purposely aged her face so that he would more easily come to terms with her disappearance.

Student Kong Xueli was a descendant of the Perfect, that is, Kungzi, Confucius. Being educated, well-read, he wrote poetry well. Once I went to a learned friend, and he died. I had to temporarily settle in the temple.

Somehow I was walking past the empty house of Mr. Dan, and a handsome young man suddenly comes out of the gate. He began to persuade the student to move into the house and teach, instruct him, the young man. Soon the Senior Mister arrived. He thanked the student for not refusing to teach his stupid son. Donated generously. The student continued to instruct, enlighten the young man, and in the evenings they drank wine and had fun.

The heat has come. And then the student got a tumor. The young man called on Sister Jiaono to treat the teacher. She came. She quickly coped with the disease, and when she spat out a red ball from her mouth, the student immediately felt healthy. Then she put the ball back in her mouth and swallowed.

From that time on, the student lost his peace - he thought about the beautiful Jiaono. Only she was still too small for years. Then the young man asked him to marry the dear Sun, the daughter of his aunt. She's older. The student, as he looked, immediately fell in love. They arranged a wedding. Soon the young man and his father were about to leave. And Kun was advised to return to his homeland with his wife. The old man gave them a hundred bars of gold. The young man took the young by the hands, ordered them to close their eyes, and they fluttered in an instant, overcame the space. Arrived home. And the young men were gone.

Lived with mother Kuhn. A son named Xiaohuan was born. Kun was promoted but was abruptly removed from his position.

Once, while hunting, I met a young man again. He invited me to some village. Kun came with his wife and child. Jiaono also came. She was already married to a certain Mr. Lived together. Once the young man told Kun that a terrible disaster was coming and only he, Kun, could save them. He agreed. The young man admitted that in their family all are not people, but foxes, but Kun did not back down.

A terrible thunderstorm began. In the darkness, a figure resembling a demon with a sharp beak appeared and grabbed Jiaono. Kun hit him with a sword. The imp collapsed to the ground, but Kun also fell dead.

Jiaono, seeing the student who died because of her, ordered to hold his head, separate his teeth, and she herself let a red ball into his mouth. She clung to her lips and began to blow, and the ball began to gurgle in her throat. Soon Kun woke up and revived.

It turned out that the whole family of Jiaono's husband died in a thunderstorm. She and the young man, together with Kun and his wife, had to go to their homeland. So they lived together. Kun's son grew up and became handsome. But there was something foxish in his face. Everyone in the neighborhood knew it was a fox cub.

One day, a maiden of rare beauty fluttered right out of Student Cheng's clothes. She admitted, however, that she was a fox. The student was not afraid and began to live with her. She bore him a girl, who was named Qingmei - Plum.

She asked the student only one thing: not to marry. She promised to give birth to a boy in due time. But because of the ridicule of relatives and friends, he could not stand it and betrothed the girl Van. The fox got angry and left.

Qingmei grew up smart, pretty. She became a servant in the house of a certain Wang, to his daughter Ah Si, fourteen years old. They fell in love with each other.

In the same city lived the student Zhang, poor, but honest and devoted to the sciences, who did nothing haphazardly. Qingmei went to his house one day. He sees: Zhang himself eats bran stew, and has stocked pork legs for his old parents; he follows his father like a small child. She began to persuade Xi to marry him. She was afraid of poverty, but agreed to try to persuade her parents. The matter did not work out.

Then Qingmei herself offered herself to the student. He wanted to take her honor by honor, but was afraid that he would not have enough money. Just then, Ah Si's father, Wang, was offered the position of county chief. Before leaving, he agreed to give his servant as a concubine to Zhang. Part of the money was saved up by Qingmei herself, partly by Zhang's mother.

Qingmei took care of all the household chores, earned money by embroidering, and took care of the elderly. Zhang devoted himself entirely to his studies. Meanwhile, in a far western county, Wang's wife died, then he himself was put on trial and went bankrupt. The servants fled. Soon the owner himself died. And Xi remained an orphan, she grieved that she could not even bury her parents with dignity. I wanted to marry the one who would arrange the funeral. She even agreed to become a concubine, but the master's wife drove her away. I had to live near the temple. Only dashing fellows pestered her with harassment. She even considered killing herself.

One day, a wealthy lady and servants took refuge in the temple from a thunderstorm. It turned out to be Qingmei. She and Xi recognized each other, embraced with tears. Zhang, as it turned out, succeeded, became the head of the judicial chamber. Qingmei immediately began to persuade A Xi to fulfill the destiny's destiny, to marry Zhang. She resisted, but Qingmei insisted. She herself began, as before, to faithfully serve the mistress. Never been lazy, never neglected.

Zhang later became a deputy minister. The emperor, by his decree, granted the title of "lady" to both women, from both Zhang had children.

Behold, reader, with what bizarre, crooked paths, roundabout paths, the maiden, to whom Heaven entrusted the arrangement of this marriage, walked!

Old Feng of Guangping had an only son, Xiangru. Both the wife and the daughter-in-law died; the father and son managed everything in the house themselves.

One evening, Xiangzhu saw a neighbor's maiden named Hongyu, the red jasper. They had a secret love. Six months later, my father found out about it, he was terribly angry. The maiden decided to leave the young man, but in parting she persuaded him to marry a girl from the Wei family, who lived in a village nearby. I even gave him silver for such a thing.

The girl's father was seduced by the silver, and the marriage contract was concluded. The young people lived in peace and harmony, they had a boy named Fuer. The local tycoon Sun, who lived in the neighborhood, saw a young woman and began to harass her. She refused him. Then his servants broke into the Feng house, beat the old man and Xiangzhu, and took the woman away by force.

The old man could not bear the humiliation and soon died. The son was left with the boy in his arms. I tried to complain, but I didn't get the truth. Then it dawned on him that his wife, unable to bear the insults, had also died. I even thought of slaughtering the offender, but he was guarded, and there was no one to leave the child to.

Once a stranger came to him on a mourning visit. He began to persuade Suna to take revenge, promising to personally fulfill his plan. The frightened student took his son in his arms and ran away from home. And at night, someone stabbed Sun, both of his sons and one of his wives. The student was blamed. They took off his scientist's attire, a special suit, and tortured him. He denied.

The ruler, who was administering an unjust judgment, woke up at night because a dagger stuck into his bed with unprecedented force. Out of fear, he dropped the charge from the student.

The student returned home. Now he was all alone. Where the child is, it is not known, because he was taken from the unfortunate. One day someone knocked on the gate. I looked - a woman with a child. Recognized Red Jasper with his son. Began to ask. She admitted that she was not a neighbor's daughter at all, but a fox. One night I came across a crying child in a hollow, took him to be raised.

The student begged her not to leave him. Lived together. Red Jasper deftly managed the household, bought a loom, rented land. It's time for exams. The student became sad: after all, they took away his suit, the attire of a scientist. But the woman, it turned out, sent money long ago to have his name restored on the lists. So he successfully passed the exams. And his wife worked all the time, exhausted herself with work, but still remained tender and beautiful, as if at twenty years old.

Wang Cheng came from an ancient family, was extremely lazy by nature, so his estate fell into decay more and more every day. Lying with his wife and know each other swore.

It was a hot summer. The villagers - and Van among others - got into the habit of spending the night in an abandoned garden. All those who slept got up early, only Wang got up when the red sun had already, as they say, risen by three bamboo poles. Raz found a precious golden pin in the grass. Then an old woman suddenly appeared and began looking for a pin. Van, though lazy, but honest, gave her the find. It turned out that the pin was a memory of her late husband. I asked his name and understood: this is his grandfather.

The old woman was also amazed. She admitted that she is a fairy fox. Wang invited the old woman to visit. A wife appeared on the threshold, disheveled, with a face like a withered vegetable, all black. The economy is in disrepair. The old woman invited Wang to do business. She said that she had saved some money while still living with his grandfather. You need to take them, buy canvas and sell in the city. Wang bought a canvas and went to the city.

On the way it will rain. Clothes and shoes were soaked through. He waited, waited, and showed up in the city when prices for canvas fell. Again Wang began to wait, but had to sell himself at a loss. I was about to return home, I looked, but the money disappeared.

In the city, Wang considered that the organizers of quail fights have a huge profit. I scraped together the rest of the money and bought a cage with quails. Here it rained again. Day after day it poured non-stop. Van looks, and the only quail is left in the cage, the rest are dead. It turned out that this is a strong bird and in battle it had no equal in the whole city. Six months later, Van had already accumulated a decent amount of money.

As always, on the first day of the new year, the local prince, who was reputed to be a lover of quails, began to invite quail hawks to his palace. Van went there too. His quail beat the prince's best birds, and the prince set out to buy him. Wang refused for a long time, but finally he bargained for the bird at a high price. Returned home with money.

At home, the old woman told him to buy land. Then they built a new house, furnished it. Lived like a well-born nobility. The old woman made sure that Wang and his wife were not lazy. Three years later, she suddenly disappeared.

Here, it happens, it means that wealth is not obtained by diligence alone. To know, the point is to keep the soul clean, then heaven will have mercy.

Novels (XVIII century)

Lee Chang-ming, a military official, died suddenly, but his body did not cool down for three days, and they were afraid to bury him. Suddenly, the dead man's stomach swelled, urine poured out, and Lee was resurrected.

It turned out that he was among the loose sands, on the banks of the river. There he saw a palace under yellow tiles and guards. They tried to grab him, a fight broke out. An order came from the palace to stop the quarrel and wait for the command. Freeze all night long. In the morning they told the guest to go home. The guards handed him over to some shepherds, who suddenly attacked him with their fists. Li fell into the river, swallowed water, so that his stomach was swollen, pissed and revived.

Li actually died ten days later.

Before that, at night, giants in black robes came to his neighbor, demanded to lead them to Li's house. There, at the door, two even more ferocious-looking men were waiting for them. They broke into the house, breaking through the wall. Soon there was a cry. This story is known from a certain Zhao, a friend of the late Li.

A certain Ye went to congratulate his friend Wang on his sixtieth birthday. Some fellow, introducing himself as Van's brother, volunteered to go with him. It soon got dark. Thunderstorm began.

E looked around and saw: the kid was hanging on the horse with his head down, and his legs, as if walking across the sky, and with every step thunder strikes, and steam puffs out of his mouth. Ye was terribly frightened, but he hid his fear.

Van went out to meet them. He also greeted his brother, who turned out to be a silversmith. Ye calmed down. Sat down to celebrate. When they began to pack up for the night, Ye did not want to sleep in the same room with the kid. He insisted. I had to lay down the third old servant.

The night has come. The lamp went out. The fellow sat up on the bed, sniffed the curtains, stuck out his long tongue, and then pounced on the old servant and began to devour him. In horror, Ye called to Emperor Guan-di, the overthrower of demons. He jumped from the ceiling beam to the thunder of the drum and hit the kid with a huge sword. He turned into a butterfly the size of a cartwheel and repelled blows with wings. Ye lost consciousness.

I woke up - next to no servants, no kids. Only blood on the floor. They sent a man to find out about the brother. It turned out that he worked in his workshop and did not go to congratulate Van.

One day, a certain Gu asked to spend the night in an old monastery. The monk who let him in told him that a funeral service was being held in the evening and asked to look after the temple. Gu locked himself in the temple, put out the lamp and lay down.

In the middle of the night, someone knocked on the door. He called himself an old friend Gu, who died more than ten years ago. Gu refused to open.

The knocker threatened to call the demons for help. I had to open it. The sound of a falling body was heard, and the voice said that he was no friend, but a recent dead man, who was poisoned by the villainous wife. The voice begged to inform everyone about the crime.

There were voices. The frightened monks returned. It turned out that during the service the deceased disappeared. Gu told them about the incident. They lit the corpse with torches and saw that blood was flowing from all the holes. The next morning, the authorities were informed about the atrocity.

A certain sovereign's bodyguard chased a hare, accidentally pushed the old man into the well and sped away in fright. That same night, the old man broke into his house and committed atrocities. The family begged him for forgiveness, but he demanded to write a memorial tablet and make sacrifices to him every day, like an ancestor. They did as he ordered, and the atrocities ceased.

Since then, the bodyguard has always traveled around the ill-fated well, but one day, accompanying the sovereign, he could not do this. At the well, he saw an old man he knew, who, grabbing him by the hem of his dressing gown, began to scold the young man for his long-standing misconduct and beat him. The bodyguard, having prayed, said that he was making sacrifices to make amends. The old man was even more indignant: what kind of victims, if, fortunately, he did not drown then in the well, but escaped ?!

The bodyguard led the old man to him and showed the sign. It had a completely different name on it. The old man threw the tablet on the floor in anger. Laughter was heard in the air and immediately died down.

One day, a Taoist knocked on Venerable Zhu's gate and announced that he had to see his friend, who was in the master's office. Surprised, Zhu escorted him to his office. The Taoist pointed to a scroll with the image of the immortal Lu and said that this was his friend, who once stole the gourd from him.

With these words, the Taoist made a gesture with his hand, the pumpkin disappeared from the picture and ended up with him. Shocked, Zhu asked why the monk needed a pumpkin. He said that a terrible famine was coming, and in order to save human lives, it was necessary to melt the pills of immortality in a pumpkin. And the Taoist showed Zhu some pills, promising to come again on the Mid-Autumn Festival when the moon is bright.

The excited owner presented the monk with a thousand gold pills in exchange for ten pills. The Taoist accepted the purse, hung it on his belt like a feather, and disappeared.

There was no famine during the summer. On the Mid-Autumn Festival it rained, the moon was not visible, and the Taoist never appeared again.

They say that the demon has three tricks: one is to lure, the second is to hinder, the third is to intimidate.

A certain Lü saw one evening a woman, powdered, with furrowed eyebrows, running with a rope in her hands. Noticing him, she hid behind a tree, and dropped the rope. Lu picked up the rope. A strange smell came from her, and Lü realized that the woman he met was a gallows. He put the rope in his bosom and walked away.

The woman blocked Lu's path. He to the left, she to the same place, he to the right, she too. I understood: in front of him was a "demonic wall." Then Lu moved straight at her, and the woman, sticking out her long tongue and disheveled her hair, from which blood dripped, began to jump at him with screams.

But Lu was not afraid, which means that the three demonic tricks - to lure, hinder and scare - failed. Besovka took on her original appearance, fell to her knees and admitted that once, having quarreled with her husband, she hanged herself, and now she went to look for a replacement, but Lu confused her plans. Only the prayer of the abbot of a Buddhist temple can save her.

It just turned out to be our Lu. He loudly sang a prayer, and the woman, as if suddenly seeing the light, ran away. Since then, as the locals said, all kinds of evil spirits have come out in these places.

Dai Yu-chi drank wine with a friend, admiring the moon. Outside the city, near the bridge, he saw a man in blue clothes, who was walking, holding an umbrella in his hand, noticing Dai, he hesitated, not daring to go forward.

Thinking it was a robber, Dai grabbed the stranger. He tried to deceive him, but in the end confessed to everything. He turned out to be a demon, whom an official of the Kingdom of the Dead sent to the city to arrest people according to the list.

Dai looked through the list and saw the name of his own brother. However, he did not believe the stranger's tales, and therefore did nothing and remained sitting on the bridge.

After a while, the man in blue appeared again. To Dai's question, he replied that he managed to arrest everyone and now carries them on his umbrella to the Kingdom of the Dead. Dai looked, and five flies tied with a thread were buzzing on the umbrella. Laughing, Dai released the flies, and the messenger in horror rushed after them in pursuit.

At dawn, Dai returned to the city and went to visit his brother. The family told me that my brother had been ill for a long time and had died that night. Then he suddenly came to life, and at dawn he again departed to another world. Dai realized that the stranger did not deceive him, and in vain he did not believe him.

Chen was friends with his fellow villager, the poor scholar Li Fu. One autumn they gathered to chat and drink, but it turned out that Lee's house had run out of wine, and he went to the shop to get it.

Chen began to read the scroll with the verses. Suddenly the door opened and a woman with tousled hair appeared. When she saw Chen, she stepped back. He decided that it was someone from the family who was afraid of a stranger, and turned away so as not to embarrass her. The woman quickly hid some thing and went to the women's quarters. Chen looked and found a bloody rope that stinks. Understood: it was the spirit of the gallows. He took the rope and hid it in his shoe.

After a while, the woman appeared for the rope, and not finding it, she attacked Chen, began to blow jets of icy air at him, so that the unfortunate man almost died. Then, with the last of his strength, Chen himself blew on the woman. First the head disappeared, then the chest, and after a moment only a light smoke reminded of the gallows.

Li Fu soon returned and found that his wife had hanged herself right next to the bed. But Chen knew something: she could not cause true harm to herself, he kept the rope with him. And in fact, the wife was easily revived. She said that she could no longer endure poverty. My husband spent all his money on guests. And then an unknown woman with disheveled hair, who called herself a neighbor, whispered that her husband took the last hairpin and went to a gambling house. Then she offered to bring the "Buddha cord"! promising that the woman herself will turn into a Buddha. Went for the cord and didn't come back. The wife herself was as if in a dream until her husband helped her.

They asked the neighbors. It turned out that a few months ago, a woman from the village hanged herself.

A certain Ding Kui was sent with a dispatch and on the way came across a stone stele with the inscription "Boundary of the worlds of yin and yang." He came closer and imperceptibly found himself outside the world of yang, the world of the living. Wanted to go back, but lost the way. I had to go where the foot was. In an abandoned temple, he dusted off the image of a spirit with a cow's head. Then he heard the murmur of water. I looked closely: some woman was washing vegetables in the river. He approached and recognized his dead wife. She also recognized her husband and was terribly frightened, because the afterlife is not a place for the living.

She said that after her death she was assigned as a wife to the servant of the local sovereign, a spirit with a cow's head, and her duty was to wash the fetuses. As you wash, such a person will be born.

She took her ex-husband to her home and hid her current husband until the arrival. A spirit with a cow's head appeared. I immediately sniffed it - it smelled alive. I had to confess everything and beg to save the unfortunate. The spirit agreed, explaining that he was doing this not only for the sake of his wife, but because he himself had done a good deed, having cleansed him, the spirit, the image in the temple. You just need to find out in the office how much your husband has left to live.

In the morning the spirit found out everything. My husband had a long life. The spirit was supposed to visit the world of people with an assignment and could lead the lost one from the world of the dead. He also gave him a piece of stinking meat. It turned out that the sovereign of the underworld punished a certain rich man, ordering him to drive a hook into his back. He managed to pull out a hook with meat, but since then he has a rotting wound on his back. If you crush a piece of meat and sprinkle the wound, everything will immediately heal.

Back home, Dean did just that. The rich man gave him five hundred gold pieces as a reward.

Taoist Lu was over a hundred years old, he could breathe with a thunderous noise, he could not take food for ten days, and then eat five hundred chickens at a time; dies on a person - he will be scorched as if by fire; put a raw pie on his back as a joke - it will be baked in an instant. In winter and summer, he wore one canvas robe.

In those days, Wang Chao-en built a stone dam. There seemed to be no end to the construction. Lü realized that evil dragon spells were at work. This dragon had already collapsed the old dam once, and now only Lü could go down under the water and fight the dragon. However, it is necessary that Wang, as the chief, issue a decree regarding this construction, which in oiled paper will be tied to the back of the Taoist.

They did as he said. Leaning on his sword, Lu entered the water, and the battle boiled over. Only the next day at midnight, the wounded Taoist appeared on the shore. He reported that the dragon's paw was cut off and he fled to the East Sea. The Taoist dealt with his wounds on his own.

The next day, construction was in full swing. Soon the dam was built. Taoist became famous, and then gained fame also as a healer. Many have been cured of serious ailments. His disciple said that Lu swallowed the sun's rays every morning at dawn, gaining great strength.

That is: a lengthy, non-fictional and highly memorable biography of a certain simple-minded, outlandish and rare tramp or vagant named Melchior Sternfels von Fuchsheim (Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch. Das ist: die Beschreibung des Lebens eines seltsamen Vaganten, genannt Melchior Sternfels von Fuchsheim)

Roman (1669)

The action takes place in Europe during the Thirty Years' War. The story is told from the perspective of the main character.

In one village, in Spessert, a boy lives in complete ignorance in a peasant family. One day, their house is attacked by soldiers who ruin the economy, take away money, rape women, and torture their father. The boy runs away from fear into the forest and settles there with a hermit. The hermit, for his naivete, gives him the name Simplicius. He teaches him to read, write and the word of God. After the death of the hermit, who was formerly a nobleman and officer, Simplicius leaves their wretched dwelling and enters the Hanau fortress. Here the boy becomes the page of the governor, to whom the local priest reveals the secret that Simplicius is the son of his dead sister. But simplicity and naivety force the hero to play the role of a fool at court. In the end, Simplicius is dressed in a calfskin dress, and a jester's cap is put on his head. By order of the governor, he is taught to play the lute. Despite everything, under a stupid cap, the young man retains his natural mind and quick wit.

One day, when he plays the lute in front of the fortress, he is attacked by Croats, and after a series of ups and downs, Simplicius ends up in the camp of German soldiers near Magdeburg. For his musical talent, the colonel takes him to his page, and appoints Herzbrudera as his tutor. With the son of a mentor, Ulrich, Simplicius enters into a friendly alliance. The mentor, guessing a common sense under the young man's jester's outfit, promises to help him throw off this dress soon. At this time, Ulrich is being slandered in the camp, accusing him of stealing a golden goblet, he is threatened with punishment. Then he pays off the captain and leaves, then to enter the service of the Swedes. Soon old Herzbrudera is stabbed to death by one of the lieutenants of the regiment. Simplicius is left alone again, on occasion he changes his dress for women's clothes, and since his appearance was very attractive, he has to go through a number of delicate moments in his new guise. But the deception is revealed, Simplicius is going to be tortured, as he is suspected of being an enemy spy. Chance saves the hero - the camp is attacked by the Swedes, among them Ulrich Herzbruder, he frees his friend and sends him along with his servant to a safe place. But fate decides otherwise - Simplicius gets to the owner, who sends him to guard the monastery. Here the young man lives for his own pleasure: he eats, rests, rides and fencing, reads a lot. When the owner of Simplicius dies, all the goodness of the deceased is transferred to him on the condition that he enrolls in the soldiers instead of the deceased, so the young man becomes a brave soldier.

Simplicius gradually forgets the orders of the hermit, he robs, kills, indulges in epicureanism. He gets the nickname "huntsman from Zust", and thanks to his courage, military cunning and ingenuity, he manages to become famous.

Once Simplicius finds a treasure, which he immediately takes to Cologne and leaves for storage to a rich merchant against receipt. On the way back, the brave soldier falls into Swedish captivity, where he spends six months indulging in the pleasures of life, since, recognizing him as a huntsman from Zust, the Swedish colonel gives him complete freedom within the fortress. Simplicius flirts with girls, drags after the daughter of the colonel himself, who finds him at night in her bedroom and forces him to marry her. To acquire his own house and household, Simplicius goes to Cologne to receive his treasure, but the merchant went bankrupt, the case is dragging on, and the hero is still accompanying two noble sons to Paris.

Here, thanks to his art of playing the lute and the ability to sing, he is universally admired. He is invited to perform at the Louvre in the theater, and he successfully participates in a number of ballet and opera productions. Rich ladies secretly invite him to their boudoirs, Simplicius becomes a fashionable lover. Finally, everything bothers him, and since the owner does not let him go, he flees from Paris.

On the way, Simplicius falls ill with smallpox. His face turns from beautiful to ugly, pockmarked all over, and beautiful curls come out, and now he has to wear a wig, his voice also disappears. To top it off, he gets robbed. After his illness, he tries to return to Germany. Near Philipsburg, he is captured by the Germans and becomes a simple soldier again. Hungry, skinned Simplicius unexpectedly meets Herzbruder, who managed to make a military career, but did not forget his old friend. He helps him free himself.

However, Simplicius failed to use the help of Ulrich, he again contacts the marauders, then ends up with the robbers, among whom he meets another old acquaintance, Olivier. For a while, he joins him and continues the life of a robber and murderer, but after the punitive detachment suddenly attacks Simplicius and Olivier and brutally kills the latter, the young man decides to return to his wife. Unexpectedly, he again meets Herzbrudera, who is seriously ill. With him, he makes a pilgrimage to Switzerland, to Einsiedlen, here the hero accepts the Catholic faith, and together they go to heal Ulrich, first to Baden for water, and then to Vienna. Herzbruder buys Simplicius the captaincy. In the very first battle, Herzbruder is wounded, and his friends go to Griesbach to heal him. On the way to the waters, Simplicius learns of the death of his wife and father-in-law, and that his son is now being raised by his wife's sister. Meanwhile, Herzbruder is dying from the poison that envious people poisoned him with in the regiment.

Learning that he is single again, despite the loss of a true friend, Simplicius embarks on a love adventure. First, on the waters with one pretty, but windy lady, then with a peasant woman, whom he marries. It soon turns out that his wife is not only cheating on her husband, but also likes to drink. One day she gets so drunk that she becomes poisoned and dies.

Walking around the village, Simplicius meets his father. From him, the hero learns that his own father was a nobleman - Sternfels von Fuchsheim, who later became a hermit. He himself was baptized and recorded in church books as Melchior Sternfels von Fuchsheim.

Simplicius settles with his foster parents, who skillfully and diligently run his peasant household. Having learned from the locals about the existence of the mysterious bottomless Mummelsee in the mountains, he goes to him and there he ends up with the help of a magic stone that allows you to breathe underwater, into the kingdom of the Sylphs. Having got acquainted with the underwater world, its king, he returns to earth with a gift, an iridescent stone, which, it turns out, has an amazing property: where you put it on earth, a healing source of mineral water will clog. Simplicius hopes to get rich with this stone.

The village in which the hero lives is captured by the Swedes, a colonel settles in his house, who, having learned about the noble origin of the owner, offers to re-enter the military service, promises him a regiment and wealth. With him, Simplicius reaches Moscow, where, on the orders of the tsar, he builds powder mills and makes gunpowder. The colonel leaves him without fulfilling his promises. The king keeps Simplicius under guard. He is sent along the Volga to Astrakhan to set up the production of gunpowder there, but on the way he is captured by the Tatars. The Tatars present it to the King of Korea. From there, he gets through Japan to Macau to the Portuguese. Turkish pirates then deliver him to Constantinople. Here it is sold to galley rowers. Their ship is captured by the Venetians and Simplicius is freed. The hero, in order to thank God for his deliverance, makes a pilgrimage to Rome and then finally returns through Loretto to Switzerland, to his native Black Forest.

For three years he traveled all over the world. Looking back on his past life, Simplicius decides to retire from worldly affairs and become a hermit. He does so.

And so, when he once lay down to rest near his hut, he dreamed that he would go to hell and see Lucifer himself. Together with the young men Julius and Avar, he makes an unusual journey, which ends with the death of both young people. Waking up, Simplicius decides to make the pilgrimage to Einsiedlen again. From there he goes to Jerusalem, but in Egypt robbers attack him, take him prisoner and show him for money, passing him off as a primitive man, who, they say, was found far from any human habitation. In one of the cities, European merchants free Simplicius and send him on a ship to Portugal.

Suddenly, a storm hits the ship, it crashes against the stones, only Simplicius and the ship's carpenter manage to escape. They end up on a deserted island. Here they lead a life like the famous Robinson. The carpenter, on the other hand, learns to make palm wine and is so carried away by this occupation that in the end his lungs and liver become inflamed, and he dies. After burying his comrade, Simplicius remains alone on the island. He describes his life on palm leaves. One day, the crew of a Dutch ship makes an emergency landing on the island. Simplicius gives the captain of the ship his unusual book as a gift, and he himself decides to stay on the island forever.

B. A. Korkmazova

Epic poem (1748-1751)

While Jesus, weary with prayer, sleeps in a quiet sleep on the Mount of Olives, the Almighty "among the myriads of radiant worlds" talks with the Archangels. Archangel Eloah proclaims that the Messiah is called to give all the worlds sacred joy and salvation. Gabriel carries this message to the "guardians of the kingdoms and peoples of the earth", the shepherds of immortal souls, then he rushes past the shining stars to the "radiant temple", where immortal souls live and with them the souls of the Ancestors - Adam and Eve. Seraphim talks with Adam "about the good of people, about what the coming life is preparing for them," and their eyes tend to the gloomy land, to the Mount of Olives.

The Messiah goes to the tombs and with a healing look pulls the soul of the possessed Zam from the hands of Satan. Unable to resist Jesus, the evil spirit rushes through the "great chain of boundless worlds" created by the Creator, by whom he himself was once created, reaches the "remote region of the gloomy worlds", shrouded in eternal darkness, where the Almighty placed hell, a place of damnation and eternal torment . The inhabitants of the abyss flock to the throne of the lord of hell: Adramelech, who has been dreaming for thousands of centuries to take the place of the ruler of hell; fierce Moloch; Mogog, dweller of the watery depths; gloomy Beliel; sad Abbadon yearning for the bright days of Creation and closeness to God. Behind them stretch legions of spirits subject to them. Satan announces his decision, which should forever shame the name of Jehovah (God). He convinces his henchmen that Jesus is not the Son of God, but "a mortal dreamer, a creature of dust" and vows to destroy him.

In the soul of Judas Iscariot awakens a secret malice towards the Savior and envy towards John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. Ituriel, the heavenly guardian of Judah, sees with great sadness how Satan flies from Judah. Judas sees a dream sent by Satan, in which his late father inspires him that the Teacher hates him, that He will give the other Apostles "all the rich, wonderful kingdoms." The soul of Judas, thirsting for earthly riches, strives for revenge, and the spirit of evil, triumphant, flies to the palace of Caiaphas.

Caiaphas convenes a meeting of priests and elders and demands that the "contemptible man" be put to death until he destroys "the law sanctified for centuries, the sacred commandment of God." The fierce enemy of Jesus, the frantic Philo, also longs for the death of the Prophet, but after the speech of the wise Nicodemus, threatening all those responsible for the death of Jesus with God's vengeance at the Last Judgment, the assembly "freezes, with downcast eyes." Then the despicable Judas appears. The betrayal of the Pupil Caiaphas exposes as evidence of the guilt of the Teacher.

Ithuriel, in a language inaudible to the ears of mortals, tells Jesus about the betrayal of Judas. With deep sadness, Seraphim recalls what thoughts he once cherished about the fate of Judas, who was destined to die the righteous death of a martyr, and then take his place next to the Conqueror of death, the Messiah. And Jesus, after his last meal with the Disciples, prays to the Lord to save them from sin, to keep them from the "spirit of perdition."

Jehovah, in his Divine glory, rises from the eternal throne and walks "by the radiant path, bowed to the earth" in order to execute his Judgment on God the Messiah. From the high peak of Tabor, He surveys the earth, over which lies a terrible cover of sin and death. Jesus, having heard the sound of the trumpet of the Archangel Eloah, hides in the desert. He lies in the dust before the face of His Father, His holy sufferings last for a long time, and when the immutable judgment is performed, the whole earthly world trembles three times. The Son of God rises from the dust of the earth as a “victorious one full of majesty,” and all heaven sings His praise.

With furious anger, the crowd approaches the place of prayer. The treacherous kiss of Judas, and now Jesus is in the hands of the guards. In healing the wound inflicted by Peter on one of the guards, Jesus says that if He had asked His Father for protection, legions would have come to the call, but then the Atonement could not have been accomplished. The Messiah appears before the Judgment Seat, now the human judgment is being passed on those who have experienced the burden of the terrible judgment of God, and He will have to come to earth with glory and administer the final judgment on the world. At the time when the Messiah is being judged by Pontic Pilate, unbearable fear awakens in Judas' soul. He throws the price of betrayal at the feet of the priests and flees from Jerusalem into the desert to deprive himself of a contemptible life. The angel of death raises his flaming sword to heaven and proclaims: "Let the blood of the sinner fall on him!" Judas strangles himself, and the soul flies away from him. The angel of death announces the final verdict: the traitor will face "incalculable eternal torment."

The Holy Virgin, in despair looking for her son, meets the Roman woman Portia, who has long been attracted by an unknown force to the true God, although she does not know his name. Portia sends a maid to Pilate with the news that Jesus is innocent, and Mary reveals to her that God is one, and his name is Jehovah, and speaks of the great mission of his Son: "He must redeem people from sin" by his death.

The crowd, incited by Philo, demands from Pilate: "Crucify him! Crucify him on the cross!", and Pilate, not believing in His guilt, wishing to exonerate himself of the guilt for His death, washes his hands in front of the people with a silver stream of water.

The Redeemer slowly ascends Calvary, bearing the sins of the whole world. Eloa dedicates Golgotha, near her on the bright clouds gather heavenly forces, the souls of the forefathers, the unliving souls. When the moment of crucifixion comes, the rotation of the worlds stops, "the whole chain of the universe freezes in a stupor." Bleeding Jesus with compassion turns his gaze to the people and asks "Forgive them, my Father, You are their error, they themselves do not know what they are doing!"

Terrible are the sufferings of the Redeemer, and in the hour of these sufferings He begs His Father to have pity on those "who believe in the Eternal Son and God." When the gaze of the Lord dying on the cross falls on the Dead Sea, where Satan and Adramelech are hiding, the spirits of evil experience unbearable torment, and together with them all who once rebelled against the Creator feel the weight of His wrath. The Messiah raises his fading gaze to the sky, crying out: "My Father, I commend My spirit into your hands!" "It's done!" - He says at the moment of death.

The souls of the obsolete forefathers fly to their tombs to "taste the bliss of the resurrection from the dead," and those who loved the Savior stand silently looking at the drooping body. Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate and receives permission to remove the body of Jesus and bury him in the tomb near Golgotha. Night reigns over the tomb, but the immortals - heavenly powers and resurrected, renewed people - see in this twilight "the flickering of the dawn of the resurrection from the dead." Mary, the Apostles and all those chosen by Jesus gather in a wretched hut. There is no end to their grief. While groaning, they invoke death in order to unite with their beloved Master. The immortals gather at the tomb and sing the glory of the Son of God: "The Lord made the most holy sacrifice for all the sins of the human race." They see a cloud rushing from the throne of Jehovah, a thunderous echo is heard in the mountains - it is Eloa who appears in the assembly of the resurrected and announces that the "sacred hour of Sunday" has come. The earth trembles, the Archangel moves away the stone that closes the opening of the tomb, and the immortals contemplate the resurrected Son, "shining with great victory over eternal death." The Roman guard falls down in horror. The head of the guard tells the assembly of high priests that the earth suddenly shook, the stone covering the tomb was thrown away by a whirlwind, and now the tomb is empty. Everyone freezes, and Philo snatches the sword from the head of the guard and sticks it in his chest. He dies with an exclamation: "O Nazarene!" The angel of vengeance and death carries his soul into the "dark abyss deep."

The holy women go to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with balm. Gabriel appears to them in the form of a young man and announces that their Teacher has risen. Jesus himself appears to Mary Magdalene, who at first does not recognize him. At first, only the mother of Jesus believes her story. Peter, in deep thought, kneels on the slope of Golgotha ​​and suddenly sees Jesus beside the cross. Those who have not seen the resurrected grieve and pray to the Almighty to take pity on them and fill their hearts with the same holy delight that fills the souls of the brethren whom He was. And now, into a modest hut, where all the friends of Jesus gather, the resurrected souls and the angels of heaven flock, and then the Savior enters there. Everyone falls on their faces, Mary hugs the feet of the Savior. Christ stands among the elect, foreseeing that they will all suffer for him, and blesses them.

Christ sits on the sacred throne on the top of Tabor in the radiance of majesty and glory. An angel leads to the throne a host of souls of the dead for the first judgment of God. Christ assigns to every soul a path after death. Some of these paths lead to the "bright heavenly abode", others - to the "underground dark abyss". Merciful, but just is His judgment. Woe to the warrior, the slanderer, woe to the one who "waits to be rewarded in the future life for deeds in which there are few hardships." The sun rises many times, but the immutable judgment of the Savior of the world continues.

Quietly descends the Redeemer into the underground abyss. The kingdom of darkness falls faster than the thought of an Angel: the throne of the lord of hell collapses, the temple of Adramelech crumbles, wild cries and groans are heard, but death itself does not show compassion for the forever dead exiles of heaven, and there is no end to their terrible torment.

All the disciples of Jesus gather on Tabor, all the poor whom He healed with His power, all humble in spirit. Lazarus urges them to "endure with patience the cruel torments, ridicule and malicious hatred of those who do not know God," for they are already preparing from above to shed their blood for Him. Those who have come to see the Savior of the world ask Him to strengthen them on the path to a lofty goal. Mary lifts up a prayer to heaven: "Eternal praise to You there in heaven, eternal praise to You here on earth, to You who redeemed the human race." Christ descends from the top of Tabor and addresses the people. He says that he will come for everyone at the hour of his death, and whoever fulfills His commands, He will lead him to "the bliss of that life beyond the grave and eternal." He prays to the All-Good Father for the elect, for those to whom the holy mystery of the Redemption is revealed.

Accompanied by the Apostles, Christ ascends to the top of the Mount of Olives. He stands in "wonderful majesty" surrounded by God's chosen ones, resurrected souls and angels. He commands the Apostles not to leave Jerusalem and promises that the Spirit of God will descend upon them. "Let the Merciful Himself turn his eyes on you, and He will send eternal peace to your souls!" A bright cloud descends, and on it the Savior rises to heaven.

The Lord Incarnate ascends "by the radiant path to the eternal throne" surrounded by resurrected souls and the heavenly host. Seraphim and Angels praise Him with holy singing. The procession approaches the throne of Jehovah, "shining with divine splendor," and all the inhabitants of heaven throw palm branches at the feet of the Messiah. He ascends to the top of the heavenly throne and sits at the right hand of God the Father.

I. A. Moskvina-Tarkhanova

(Der God Adams)

Tragedy (1790)

A valley surrounded by mountains, in it are huts and the altar of Abel (the tomb of Abel, who was killed by his brother, Cain). Adam prays at the altar, while his son, Seth, and one of his great granddaughters, Zelima, talk among themselves. Zelima is happy - after all, today Adam must "bring her into the bridal canopy", she is marrying the wise Geman, whom she herself chose as her husband. But Seth cannot rejoice with her, because he recently saw that his father, Adam, is sad, that his face is covered with deathly pallor, and "the legs can barely cross."

Adam exclaims: "Gloomy day! Terrible." He sends Zelima to his mother and, left alone with Seth, tells that he had a vision. The Angel of Death appeared to him and told him that soon Adam would see him again. The thought of imminent death, that he must die, and all his children - the entire human race - are also mortal, torments Adam, fills his soul with unbearable horror and longing. After all, he was created for immortality, and mortality is a punishment for the great sin that he committed by disobeying the Lord, and the blame for that sin lies with all his descendants. He asks Seth to beg the Creator for at least one more day of life, but darkness descends on the valley, the Angel of Death appears and announces to Adam that, at the behest of the Almighty, he will die "before the sun goes down", at the moment when the Angel ascends the rock and overthrows it . Adam humbly accepts this news, but his soul is full of sorrow. He does not want his wife, Eve, and descendants to see him dying. Zelima returns. She is distraught because a stranger, "terrible, ferocious, with quick eyes and a pale face", is looking for Adam. She sees a grave dug near the altar, learns that Adam is preparing for death, and begs him not to die. At this time, Cain appears, who blames Adam for all his misfortunes, and when he asks him to shut up, to pity at least the young Zelim, "this weeping innocence", bitterly says: "But where is innocence, since the children of Adam were born ?" He wants to take revenge on his father for killing his brother, Abel, because he cannot find peace anywhere. He conceived a terrible revenge - to curse his father on the day of his death. Adam conjures him not to do this for the sake of salvation, which is still possible for Cain, but he furiously exclaims in front of the altar of his murdered brother: "Let your curse begin on the day of your death, let your generation be destroyed!" But suddenly he - like a man who has left madness - is horrified by what he is doing. Cain imagines that he shed the blood of his father, and he rushes away, seized with despair. Cain's guilt before his father is great, and the sin committed by him is grave, but Adam sends Seth to him and orders him to ease his torment and convey that he forgives him. Cain, in an ecstatic impulse, appeals to the Lord and asks to forgive Adam, as he forgave his sinful son. Exhausted by suffering, Adam falls asleep at the tomb.

Eva appears. She is full of happiness because her youngest son, Zuniya, who has recently lost his way, has been found. When Seth informs her that Adam must die, she rushes to her husband in immense sadness and begs him to take her with him. Awakened Adam consoles her with words full of endless love. At this time, young mothers come, whose children the forefather should bless, and Zunius. Adam, whose eyes are already covered with a veil of death, hears the voice of his youngest son among the voices of weeping relatives, but in this world there can no longer be joy for Adam. Seth is horrified to see that the tops of the cedars are already covering the sun, and asks Adam to bless them all. But Adam replies that he cannot do this, for he is under a curse. The fear of death, the thought that he brought a curse on his children and thereby doomed them to suffering, torment him even more. "Where will I be?" he asks in desperation. The veil falls from Adam's eyes, he sees the faces of his relatives and the "deplorable dwelling of death" - the finished tomb. But suddenly, when the horror of the dying man reaches its climax, peace descends on him, as if someone is sending him good news, and everyone sees with amazement and great joy how his face lights up with an angelic smile. The fear of death leaves Adam, for he now knows that God has forgiven him and that salvation and eternal life are coming after death.

Adam calls his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to him. Together with Eve, who will soon unite with Adam in another life, he blesses his descendants and informs them that he is forgiven, and with him the whole human race is forgiven. "You will die, but you will die for immortality," he instructs his children. He orders them to be wise, noble, to love one another and to give thanks to the one who created them in the hour of life and the hour of death.

A noise is heard in the distance, rocks are falling down.

Adam dies with the words: "Great Judge! I'm coming to You!"

I. A. Moskvina-Tarkhanova

(Minna von Barnhelm oder das Soldatenglück)

Comedy (1772)

Retired Major von Tellheim lives in a Berlin hotel with his faithful servant Just, without any means of subsistence. The owner of the hotel moves him from a decent room to a wretched little room. Tellheim hasn't paid his bills for the past two months, and a "visitor" needs a room, a young and beautiful lady with a maid. Just, who adores his major, indignantly remarks to the owner of the hotel that during the war the "innkeepers" fawned over officers and soldiers, and in peacetime they already turn up their noses. Von Tellheim - Prussian officer, participant in the internecine Seven Years' War of Prussia against Saxony. Tellheim fought not out of vocation, but out of necessity. He suffers from the fragmentation of the country, does not tolerate arbitrariness in relation to the defeated Saxony. Having received an order during the war to collect a high indemnity from the inhabitants of Thuringia (part of Saxony), Tellheim reduced the amount of the indemnity and loaned some of the money to pay it to the Thuringians from his own funds. At the end of the war, the military leadership accuses Tellheim of bribery and dismisses him with the threat of trial, loss of honor and fortune.

Tellheim is approached by the widow of his former officer and friend who died in the war. She fulfills her husband's last will - to return the debt to the major and brings the money left over from the sale of things. Tellheim takes no money and promises to help the widow whenever he can. The generous major has always had many debtors, but he, accustomed to giving rather than taking, does not want to remember them.

Tellheim invites the servant, whom he owes a salary, to draw up an account and part with the poor owner. He recommends Justus to a wealthy acquaintance, and he himself will get used to doing without a servant. The cunning Yust draws up such an account, according to which he himself finds himself in an irredeemable debt to the major, who more than once rescued him throughout the war. The servant is sure that without him, with one wounded hand, the major will not be able to get dressed. Just is ready to beg and steal for his master, but this does not please the major at all. Both grumpily bicker, but remain inseparable.

Tellheim tells Justus to pawn for money the only jewel he has left - a ring with the monogram of his girlfriend, Minna von Barnhelm. Young people got engaged during the war and exchanged rings. Just takes the ring to the innkeeper to pay him off.

Tellheim is wanted by his former sergeant-major Werner, a close friend who saved his life twice. Werner knows about the major's plight and brings him money. Knowing Tellheim's scrupulousness, he offers them to him on the pretext that he will keep them better than Werner himself, the gambler. Upon learning that the money came from the sale of the family estate, Tellheim does not accept help from a friend and wants to keep him from going to Persia to fight the Turks, where he is voluntarily going - a soldier should be only for the good of his homeland.

Arriving person with a maid, who occupies the former room of Tellheim, turns out to be his bride, Minna von Barnhelm, who came in search of a loved one. She worries that Tellheim has only written to her once since peace was made. Minna talks to her maid Francisca only about Tellheim, who, in her opinion, has all the possible virtues. Both girls are from Thuringia, they know how grateful its inhabitants are for the nobility shown by Tellheim in the matter of indemnity.

The owner of the hotel, wanting to attach the major's ring expensively, shows it to Minna, and the girl recognizes her ring and monogram, because she wears exactly the same ring - with Tellheim's monogram. Minna's joy knows no bounds, her chosen one is somewhere nearby. Minna generously buys the ring from the owner and prepares to meet Tellheim.

Unexpectedly seeing Minna, Tellheim rushes to her, but immediately stops and switches to an official tone. Minna cannot understand this, a playful and cheerful girl is trying to turn everything into a joke. But the practical Franziska realizes that the major's affairs are bad, he does not look happy at all.

Tellheim evades Minna's embrace and bitterly says that he is unworthy of her love, and therefore "does not dare to love himself." Reason and necessity ordered him to forget Minna von Barnhelm, for he was no longer the Tellheim she knew; not the prosperous, strong in spirit and body officer to whom she gave her heart. Would she give him now to another Tellheim, retired, devoid of honour, crippled and destitute? Minna gives - she takes his hand and puts it on her chest, still not taking Tellheim's words seriously. But Tellheim, in despair at her undeserved kindness, breaks free and leaves.

Minna reads Tellheim's letter in which he refuses her, explaining his situation. Minna does not like his exorbitant pride - not wanting to be a burden to his beloved girl, rich and noble. She decides to play a joke on this "blind man", to play the role of an impoverished and unhappy Minna. The girl is sure that only in this case Tellheim will "fight for her with the whole world." In addition, she starts a comical combination with the rings, replacing Tellheim's ring on her hand with her own.

At this time, Minna learns that her uncle, Count von Buchval, is coming, who does not personally know the major, but is eager to meet the chosen one of his only heiress. Minna informs Tellheim about this and warns that his uncle has heard a lot of good things about him, his uncle is going as a guardian and as a father to "hand over" Minna to the major. In addition, the count is carrying the amount of money that Tellheim lent to the Thuringians. Tellheim feels a positive change in his business, the military treasurer has just told him that the king is dropping the charge against Tellheim. But the major does not accept this news as a complete restoration of his honor, therefore he believes that he is still unworthy of Minna. Minna deserves a "spotless husband".

Now Minna is forced to act in a different role. She removes the ring from her finger and returns it to Tellheim, freeing her from fidelity to her, and leaves in tears. Tellheim does not notice that Minna returns the ring to him not with his monogram, but with hers, a pledge of love and fidelity, bought by her from the owner of the hotel. Tellheim tries to go after Minna, but Franziska holds him back, initiating her mistress into the "secret". Minna allegedly ran away from her uncle, having lost his inheritance because she did not agree to marry at his request. Everyone has left Minna, condemning her. Francis advises Tellheim to do the same, especially since he has taken his ring from Minna's hand.

And then Tellheim seizes the thirst for decisive action. He borrows a large amount from the satisfied Werner to buy back Minna's ring, which was pawned from the owner, in order to then immediately marry her. Tellheim feels how the misfortune of his beloved inspires him, because he is able to make her happy. Tellheim rushes to Minna, but she shows feigned coldness and does not take back "his" ring.

At this time, a courier appears with a letter from the Prussian king, who fully justifies Tellheim and kindly invites him to return to military service. Satisfied, Tellheim calls on Minna to share his joy with him and builds before her a plan for a wedding and a happy life together, in which there is no place for the service of the king. But he encounters the skillfully acted resistance of the girl: the unfortunate Barnhelm will not become the wife of the happy Tellheim, only "equality is the solid foundation of love."

Tellheim is again desperate and confused, realizing that Minna is repeating his own previous arguments against their marriage. Minna sees that she is going too far with her joke, and she has to explain to the "gullible knight" the meaning of the whole intrigue.

Arriving very opportunely at this moment, Count von Buchval, Minna's guardian, is glad to see the young couple together. The Count expresses his deep respect for Tellheim and desire to have him as his friend and son.

A. V. Dyakonova

(Emilia Galotti)

Tragedy (1772)

Prince Gonzaga, ruler of the Italian province of Guastella, examines the portrait of Countess Orsina, a woman whom he loved not so long ago. He was always easy, joyful and fun with her. Now he feels different. The prince looks at the portrait and hopes to find in it again what he no longer notices in the original. It seems to the prince that the artist Conti, who completed his long-standing commission, flattered the countess too much.

Conti reflects on the laws of art, he is pleased with his work, but is annoyed that the prince no longer judges him with "the eyes of love." The artist shows the prince another portrait, saying that there is no original more admirable than this one. The prince sees Emilia Galotti on the canvas, the one that he has been thinking about incessantly in recent weeks. He casually remarks to the artist that he knows this girl a little, once he met her with her mother in the same society and talked with her. With Emilia's father, an old warrior, an honest and principled man, the prince is on bad terms. Conti leaves a portrait of Emilie to the prince, and the prince pours out his feelings before the canvas.

Chamberlain Marinelli announces the arrival of Countess Orsina in the city. The prince has just received a letter from the countess, which he does not want to read. Marinelli expresses sympathy for a woman who "thinks" of seriously falling in love with the prince. The marriage of the prince with the princess of Massana is approaching, but this is not what worries the countess, who also agrees to the role of favorite. The insightful Orsina is afraid that the prince has a new lover. The countess seeks consolation in books, and Marinelli admits that they will "completely finish her off." The prince judiciously remarks that if the countess goes crazy with love, then sooner or later it would happen to her even without love.

Marinelli informs the prince about the upcoming wedding of Count Appiani that day, until now the count's plans were kept in the strictest confidence. A noble count marries a girl of no fortune or position. For Marinelli, such a marriage is a "cruel joke" in the fate of the count, but the prince is jealous of someone who is able to completely surrender to the "charm of innocence and beauty." When the prince finds out that the count's chosen one is Emilia Galotti, he becomes desperate and confesses to the chamberlain that he loves Emilia, "prays for her." The prince seeks sympathy and help from Marinelli. He cynically reassures the prince, it will be easier for him to achieve the love of Emilia when she becomes Countess Appiani, that is, a "goods" purchased second-hand. But then Marinelli remembers that Appiani does not intend to seek his fortune at court, he wants to retire with his wife to his Piedmontese possessions in the Alps. Marinelli agrees to help the prince, provided that he is given complete freedom of action, to which the prince immediately agrees. Marinelli suggests that the prince hastily send the count as an envoy to the Duke of Massan, the father of the prince's bride, on the same day, thereby canceling the count's wedding.

At Galotti's house, Emilia's parents are waiting for their daughter from the church. Her father Odoardo is worried that because of him, whom the prince hates for his intractability, the count will finally deteriorate relations with the prince. Claudia is calm, because at the evening at the chancellor's, the prince showed favor to their daughter and was apparently fascinated by her gaiety and wit. Odoardo is alarmed, he calls the prince "a voluptuary" and reproaches his wife for vanity. Odoardo leaves, without waiting for his daughter, to his family estate, where a modest wedding is to take place soon.

An excited Emilia comes running from the church and, in confusion, tells her mother that in the temple the prince approached her and began to declare his love, and she hardly ran away from him. Mother advises Emilia to forget about everything and hide it from the count.

Count Appiani arrives, and Emilia remarks, playfully and affectionately, that on the wedding day he looks even more serious than usual. The count confesses that he is angry with his friends, who urgently demand that he inform the prince about the marriage before it takes place. The count is going to go to the prince. Emilia dresses up for the wedding and gaily talks about her dreams, in which she saw pearls three times, and pearls mean tears. The count thoughtfully repeats the words of the bride about tears.

Marinelli appears in the house and, on behalf of the prince, gives the count an order to go to the Duke of Massan without delay. The count declares that he is forced to refuse such an honor - he is getting married. Marinelli speaks with irony about the simple origin of the bride, about the pliability of her parents. The Count, in anger at Marinelli's vile hints, calls him a monkey and offers to fight a duel, but Marinelli leaves with threats.

At the direction of Marinelli, the prince arrives at his villa, past which the road passes to the Galotti estate. Marinelli tells him the content of the conversation with the Count in his own interpretation. At this moment shots and screams are heard. These two criminals, hired by Marinelli, attacked the count's carriage on the way to the wedding in order to kidnap the bride. Protecting Emilia, the count killed one of them, but he himself was mortally wounded. The prince's servants lead the girl to the villa, and Marinelli instructs the prince how to behave with Emilia: do not forget about your art to please women, seduce and convince them.

Emilia is frightened and worried, she does not know what state her mother and the count are left in. The prince leads the trembling girl away, comforting her and assuring her of the purity of his thoughts. Soon Emilia's mother appears, having just survived the death of the count, who managed to pronounce the name of his true killer - Marinelli. Claudia is taken in by Marinelli himself, and she curses the head of the killer and "procurer".

Behind the backs of Emilia and Claudia, the prince learns from Marinelli about the death of the count and pretends that this was not part of his plans. But the chamberlain has already calculated everything in advance, he is confident in himself. Suddenly, the arrival of Countess Orsina is reported, and the prince hastily disappears. Marinelli makes it clear to the countess that the prince does not want to see her. Having learned that the prince has Galotti's mother and daughter, the countess, already aware of the murder of Count Appiani, guesses that it happened by agreement between the prince and Marinelli. The woman in love sent "spies" to the prince, and they tracked down his long conversation with Emilia in the church.

Odoardo is looking for his daughter after hearing about a terrible incident. The countess takes pity on the old man and tells him about the prince's meeting with Emilia in the temple shortly before the bloody events. She suggests that Emilia might have conspired with the prince to kill the count. Orsina bitterly tells the old man that now his daughter will have a wonderful and free life as the prince's favorite. Odoardo becomes furious and searches for weapons in the pockets of his doublet. Orsina gives him the dagger she brought - to take revenge on the prince.

Claudia comes out and admonishes her husband that her daughter "keeps the prince at a distance." Odoardo sends his exhausted wife home in the countess's carriage and goes to the prince's quarters. He reproaches himself for believing the Countess, who has gone berserk with jealousy, and wants to take his daughter with him. Odoardo tells the prince that Emilia can only go to the monastery. The prince is confused, such a turn of events will disrupt his plans for the girl. But Marinelli comes to the aid of the prince and uses obvious slander. He says that, according to rumors, the count was not attacked by robbers, but by a man who enjoys the favor of Emilia in order to eliminate a rival. Marinelli threatens to call the guards and accuse Emilia of conspiring to kill the Count. He demands an interrogation of the girl and a lawsuit. Odoardo feels like he is losing his mind and doesn't know who to trust.

Emilia runs out to her father, and after the very first words of her daughter, the old man is convinced of her innocence. They remain alone, and Emilia is indignant at the perfect violence and arbitrariness. But she confesses to her father that more than violence, she is afraid of temptation. Violence can be rebuffed, but the temptation is more terrible, the girl is afraid of the weakness of her soul before the temptation of wealth, nobility and seductive speeches of the prince. Emilia's grief from the loss of her fiancé is great, Odoardo understands this, he himself loved the count like a son.

Emilia makes a decision and asks her father to give her a dagger. Having received it, Emilia wants to stab herself, but her father pulls out a dagger - it is not for a weak female hand. Taking the still surviving wedding rose out of her hair and tearing off its petals, Emilia begs her father to kill her in order to save her from shame. Odoardo stabs his daughter. Emilia dies in her father's arms with the words: "They plucked the rose before the storm took away its petals..."

A. V. Dyakonova

(Nathan der Weise)

Dramatic Poem (1779)

During the crusades at the end of the XII century. The crusaders are defeated in their third campaign and are forced to conclude a truce with the Arab Sultan Saladin, who rules Jerusalem. Twenty captured knights were brought into the city, and all but one were executed on Saladin's orders. The surviving young templar knight freely walks around the city in a white cloak. During a fire that broke out in the house of a wealthy Jew, Nathan, a young man, at the risk of his own life, saves his daughter Rehu.

Nathan returns from a business trip and brings a rich cargo from Babylon on twenty camels. His co-religionists honor him "like a prince," and nicknamed him "Nathan the wise man," not "Nathan the rich man," as many people notice. Nathan is met by his daughter's friend, a Christian Daiya, who has been living in the house for a long time. She tells the owner about what happened, and he immediately wants to see the noble young savior in order to generously reward him. Daiya explains that the templar does not wish to communicate with him and responds to her invitation to visit their home with bitter ridicule.

Modest Rekha believes that God "worked a miracle" and sent her a "real angel" with white wings to save her. Nathan teaches his daughter that it is much easier to dream piously than to act according to conscience and duty, devotion to God should be expressed by deeds. Their common task is to find a templar and help a Christian, lonely, without friends and money in a strange city. Nathan considers it a miracle that his daughter survived thanks to a man who himself was saved by "no small miracle." Never before had Saladin shown mercy to captured knights. Rumor has it that in this templar the Sultan finds a great resemblance to his beloved brother, who died twenty years ago.

During Nathan's absence, his friend and chess partner, the dervish Al-Ghafi, becomes the Sultan's treasurer. This surprises Nathan, who knows his friend as a "dervish at heart". Al-Ghafi informs Nathan that Saladin's treasury is thin, the truce due to the crusaders is coming to an end, and the Sultan needs a lot of money for the war. If Nathan "opens his chest" for Saladin, then by doing so he will help fulfill Al-Ghafi's call of duty. Nathan is ready to give money to Al-Ghafi as his friend, but by no means as the Sultan's treasurer. Al-Ghafi admits that Nathan is kind as well as smart, he wants to cede his position as treasurer to Nathan in order to become a free dervish again.

A novice from the monastery, sent by the patriarch, who wants to find out the reason for Saladin's mercy, approaches the templar walking near the Sultan's palace. The templar knows nothing but rumors, and the novice conveys to him the opinion of the patriarch: the Almighty must have saved the templar for "great deeds." The templar ironically remarks that saving a Jewess from the fire is certainly one of those cases. However, the patriarch has an important assignment for him - to transfer Saladin's military calculations to the camp of the enemy of the Sultan - the crusaders. The young man refuses, because he owes his life to Saladin, and his duty as a templar of the order is to fight, and not to serve "in scouts." The acolyte approves of the templar's decision not to become an "ungrateful scoundrel".

Saladin plays chess with his sister Zitta. Both understand that a war they don't want is inevitable. Zitta resents Christians who exalt their Christian pride instead of honoring and following common human virtues. Saladin defends Christians, he believes that all evil is in the order of the templars, that is, in the organization, and not in faith. In the interests of chivalry, they have turned themselves into "stupid monks" and, blindly counting on luck, break the truce.

Al-Ghafi arrives and Saladin reminds him of the money. He invites the treasurer to turn to his friend Nathan, about whom he heard that he is wise and rich. But Al-Ghafi is cunning and assures that Nathan has never lent money to anyone, but, like Saladin himself, only gives to the poor, be it a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim. In money matters, Nathan behaves like an "ordinary Jew". Later, Al-Ghafi explains his lie to Nathan with sympathy for a friend, unwillingness to see him as the treasurer of the Sultan, who "takes off his last shirt."

Daiya persuades Nathan to turn to the templar himself, who will not go to the Jew first. Nathan does just that and encounters a contemptuous reluctance to speak "with a Jew", even with a rich one. But Nathan's persistence and sincere desire to express gratitude for his daughter affect the templar, and he enters into a conversation. Nathan's words that a Jew and a Christian must first of all prove themselves as people and only then - as representatives of their faith, find a response in his heart. The templar wants to become Nathan's friend and meet Reha. Nathan invites him to his house and learns the name of the young man - it is of German origin. Nathan recalls that many representatives of this family have visited these parts, and the bones of many of them rot in the ground here. The templar confirms this, and they part ways. Nathan thinks about the young man's extraordinary resemblance to his longtime dead friend, which leads him to some suspicions.

Nathan is called to Saladin, and the templar, not knowing about it, comes to his house. Rekha wants to throw herself at the feet of her savior, but the templar holds her back and admires the beautiful girl. Almost immediately, he, in embarrassment, runs after Nathan. Reha confesses to Dia that, for reasons unknown to her, "finds her peace" in the knight's "anxiety" that caught her eye. The girl's heart "began to beat evenly."

To the surprise of Nathan, who was expecting a question about money from the Sultan, he impatiently demands from the wise Jew a direct and frank answer to a completely different question - which faith is better. One of them is a Jew, the other is a Muslim, the templar is a Christian. Saladin claims that only one faith can be true. In response, Nathan tells the tale of the three rings. One father, who by inheritance had a ring with miraculous power, had three sons, whom he loved equally. He ordered two more rings, exactly like the first, and before his death he gave each son a ring. Then none of them could prove that it was his ring that was miraculous and made the owner of it the head of the family. Just as it was impossible to know who had the real ring, so it was impossible to give preference to one faith over another.

Saladin recognizes Nathan's rightness, admires his wisdom and asks him to become a friend. He does not talk about his financial difficulties. Nathan himself offers him his help.

The templar lies in wait for Nathan, who is returning from Saladin in a good mood, and asks him for the hand of Reha. During the fire, he did not consider the girl, and now he fell in love at first sight. The young man has no doubts about the consent of Reha's father. But Nathan needs to understand the genealogy of the templar, he does not give him an answer, which, unwittingly, offends the young man.

From Daiya, the templar learns that Rekha is the adopted daughter of Nathan, she is a Christian. The templar seeks out the patriarch and, without naming names, asks if a Jew has the right to raise a Christian woman in the Jewish faith. The patriarch severely condemns the "kid" - he must be burned. The patriarch does not believe that the templar's question is an abstract one, and tells the novice to find the real "criminal".

The templar trustingly comes to Saladin and tells about everything. He already regrets his action and fears for Nathan. Saladin reassures the hot-tempered young man and invites him to live in his palace - as a Christian or as a Muslim, it doesn't matter. The templar gladly accepts the invitation.

Nathan learns from a novice that it was he who, eighteen years ago, gave him a baby girl left without parents. Her father was a friend of Nathan, more than once saved him from the sword Shortly before that, in the places where Nathan lived, Christians killed all the Jews, while Nathan lost his wife and sons. The novice gives Nathan a prayer book, in which the pedigree of the child and all relatives is written by the hand of the owner - the girl's father.

Now Nathan also knows the origin of the templar, who repents before him of his involuntary denunciation to the patriarch. Nathan, under the patronage of Saladin, is not afraid of the patriarch. The templar again asks Nathan for Reha's hand in marriage, but can't get an answer.

In the palace of the Sultan Reha, having learned that she is the adopted daughter of Nathan, she begs Saladin on her knees not to separate her from her father. Saladin does not even have this in mind, he jokingly offers himself to her as a "third father." At this time, Nathan and the templar arrive.

Nathan announces that the templar is Rahi's brother; their father, Nathan's friend, was not German, but was married to a German woman and lived in Germany for some time. The father of Rehi and the templar was not European and preferred Persian to all languages. Here Saladin guesses that we are talking about his beloved brother. This is confirmed by the entry on the prayer book, made by his hand. Saladin and Zitta enthusiastically embrace their nephews, and a touched Nathan hopes that the templar, as the brother of his adopted daughter, is not. refuses to be his son.

A. V. Dyakonova

(Geschichte des Agathon. Aus einer alten griechischen Handschrift)

Roman (1766)

The action takes place in ancient Greece. We meet the main character at a difficult moment in his life: exiled from his native city - Athens, Agathon is heading to the Middle East. Having lost his way in the mountains of Thrace, he accidentally falls on the Bacchus festival, which is celebrated by the noble inhabitants of this region. Cilician pirates suddenly attack the participants of the celebration and take them into slavery. Among the captives is Agathon. On the ship, he meets the girl Psishe, with whom he was in love when he was still living in Delphi, and with whom he was forcibly separated. She manages to tell him how she was sent to Sicily. There, having learned that Agathon is in Athens, dressed in a man's dress, she runs, but on the way she falls into the hands of pirates, who now, like Agathon, will sell her into slavery.

At the slave market in Smyrna, a handsome, educated young man is bought by the rich sophist Gippias, who is going to make his disciple and philosophical follower out of him. Kallias, as he calls Agathon, is an adherent of the philosophical teachings of Plato. He is alien to the desire for refined pleasures, he feels uncomfortable in the house of Gippias with his far-fetched morality. In long dialogues and monologues, Gippias tries to convince the young man that the main thing in life is the satisfaction of his needs. The art of being rich is built on the ability to subjugate the property of other people, and in such a way that it looks like a voluntary act on the part of these people.

All the efforts of Gippias lead to nothing, then he introduces his stubborn slave to the charming heterosexual Danae, hoping that she will be able to persuade Agathon with her love to his side. At first, the beautiful hetaera only pretends to be a virtuous and sympathetic mistress, but gradually the sincerity of the young man, his devotion give rise to a real reciprocal feeling in her.

Danae Agathon tells the story of his life. He grew up in Delphi at the temple of Apollo, he was destined for the fate of a priest. He sincerely believed his mentor Theogithon, but he deceived him. Once he played Agathon, appearing before him in the grotto of the Nymphs in the form of Apollo, but when the student revealed the fraud, he began to explain that "everything that was said about the gods was a cunning invention." Terrible disappointment befalls Agathon, but he manages not to lose his final faith in the "supreme spirit". His own reflections on philosophical topics give him strength. So he reaches the age of eighteen, when the already middle-aged high priestess Pythia falls in love with him. She covets his love, while Agathon, at first, due to her naivety, does not understand her intentions. One of the priestess's slaves was Psyche, a girl who, at the age of six, was kidnapped from Corinth by robbers and sold into slavery at Delphi. Agathon falls in love with Psyche, their kindred spirits are drawn to each other, they begin to secretly meet at night near the city in the grove of Diana. But the jealous mistress of the girl finds out about the inclination of young people to each other, she comes on a date instead of Psishe. The young man rejects Pythia's love, and then the humiliated priestess sends the slave to Sicily.

Agathon flees from Delphi in search of Psyche. In Corinth, he meets his father, who recognizes the young man on the city street by his resemblance to his dead mother. Stratonikos, that is the name of Agathon's father, turns out to be one of the noblest inhabitants of Athens. Since Agathon, like his younger sister later, were born out of wedlock, he sent him to Delphi so that at the temple of Apollo he could receive a decent upbringing and education. Where is his younger sister now, he does not know.

Together with his father, Agathon settled in Athens and became a legal citizen of the republic. The father soon dies, leaving the son as the only legitimate heir. Agathon studies at the philosophical school of Plato. He stands up for his unjustly accused friend, which incurs the discontent of some wealthy Athenians. The young man seeks to destroy the differences between the rich and the poor in the republic, advocating the return of the "golden age". Gradually, with his activities, he makes enemies for himself, who declare Agathon a state criminal and expel him from Greece. So he eventually ends up in the house of Gippias.

The love of Danae and Agathon is not included in the plans of the prudent sophist, and he destroys the idyll by telling Kallias about Danae's dubious past. In desperation, Agathon flees from Smyrna, he heads to Syracuse, where, according to rumors, the young tyrant Dionysius became an enthusiastic student of Plato, the Young man hopes to find application for his powers there.

After a detailed description of the relations at the court in Syracuse, the author returns to the story of his hero. Agathon meets the philosopher from Cyrene, Aristippus, in the city. His outlook combines cheerfulness of disposition with peace of mind. This wise man represents Agathon at the court of Dionysius. Soon the educated young man becomes the tyrant's first adviser. For two years, Agathon softens the oppression of Dionysius on the people by all means available to him. He indulges the tyrant's minor weaknesses in order to overcome his much more serious weaknesses. The people of Syracuse revere Agathon as their intercessor, but on the other hand, he makes enemies among his courtiers. He is hated by the dismissed former minister Philistus and the former favorite Timocrates. In addition, Agathon becomes involved in the court intrigue of the smart, beautiful and power-hungry wife of Philistus Cleonissa, whose love he rejects, while Dionysius harasses her. Anticipating a fatal outcome, Aristippus advises Agathon to leave, but the whirlwind of events captures the passionate young man. He becomes involved in a plot by Dionysius' exiled brother-in-law, Dion. Philistus uncovers the plot and Agathon is arrested.

In prison, the philosophical views of the hero are severely tested; from a champion of virtue and a people's defender, he is ready to turn into an embittered misanthrope. The unexpected arrival of Gippias in Syracuse sobers up Agathon. He again refuses to accept the sophist's offer to become his follower in Smyrna and finally decides to always wish people only good and do only good. The famous statesman, philosopher and commander Archytas of Tarentum frees Agathon.

In Tarentum, the hero finds his new home. Archytas, who knew Stratonikos well, replaces his father. Here Agathon finds his beloved Psishe, who became the wife of the son of Archytas, Critolaus, and learns that she is in fact his own sister.

Agathon in Tarentum delves into the study of the sciences, especially the natural ones. One day, while hunting, he finds himself in a secluded rural house, where he meets Danae, who calls herself Chariclea. By telling a confession about her life, she acquires a true friend in the person of Agathon. Psyche becomes her friend.

Archytas with his life wisdom, as it were, crowns the spiritual development of the protagonist of the novel. The political successes of the practical philosophy of the Tarentine figure make a strong impression on Agathon. During the thirty-year reign of Archytas, the inhabitants of Tarentum have become so accustomed to the wise laws of their ruler that they do not perceive them otherwise than as something natural and ordinary.

After traveling around the world in order to learn as much as possible about the life of other peoples, Agathon devotes himself to social activities in Tarentum. Now he sees the meaning of his life in achieving the prosperity of this small state with its well-behaved inhabitants.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Die Ameriten)

Roman (1774)

The action takes place in the ancient Greek city of Abdera. This city, located in Thrace, has become famous in the history of mankind for the stupidity of its inhabitants, just like the German city of Schilda or the Swiss city of Lalenburg.

The only sane person in Abdera is the philosopher Democritus. He is from this city. His father died when Democritus was twenty years old. He left him a decent inheritance, which his son used to travel around the world. Returning to his native city after a twenty-year absence, Democritus, to the great regret of the inhabitants of Abdera, retires, instead of telling them about his wanderings. Intricate arguments about the origin of the world are alien to him, the philosopher first tries to find out the reason and structure of simple things that surround a person in everyday life.

Democritus in his secluded dwelling is engaged in natural science experiments, which are perceived by the inhabitants of Abdera as witchcraft. Wanting to laugh at his compatriots, Democritus "confesses" that he can test the wife's fidelity to her husband. To do this, you need to put the tongue of a living frog on the woman’s left breast during sleep, then she will talk about her adultery. All Abderite husbands take to catching amphibians to test the honesty of their wives. And even when it turns out that without exception, all Abderite wives are faithful to their husbands, it never occurs to anyone how cleverly Democritus played on their naivety.

Taking advantage of the fact that the views of the philosopher do not find understanding among others, one of his relatives wants to prove that Democritus is insane. This will give him the right to take custody of the sick person and take possession of his inheritance. First, the accusation of a relative is based on the fact that in a city where frogs are especially revered, the philosopher catches them and conducts his experiments on them. The main accuser against Democritus is the archpriest of the goddess Latona. Upon learning of this, the defendant sends the high priest to supper as a gift of a peacock stuffed with gold coins. The greedy clergyman removes suspicion from Democritus, but the relative does not calm down. Finally, it comes to the fact that the court summons Hippocrates for a medical examination in Abdera. The Great Physician arrives in the city, he meets with Democritus and announces that he is the only person in Abdera who can be considered completely healthy.

One of the main hobbies of the Abderites is the theater. However, the plays that are staged on the stage of the theater, the musical accompaniment and the acting of the actors prove the absolute lack of taste among the Abderites. For them, all plays are good, and the acting is all the more skillful, the less natural it is.

Once at the Abdera theater they were giving Euripides' Andromeda to the musical accompaniment of the composer Grill. Euripides happened to be among the spectators at the performance, who, on his way to the capital of Macedonia, Pella, decided to visit the republic, "so famous for the wit of its citizens." Everyone was extremely surprised when the foreigner did not like the play, and especially the music, which, in his opinion, absolutely did not correspond to the poet's intention. Euripides is accused of taking on a lot, then he has to confess that he is the author of the tragedy. They do not believe him and even compare him with the bust of the poet, which is installed above the entrance to the Abderite national theater, but in the end they are accepted as a dear guest, they show the city and persuade him to give a performance on the stage of their theater. Euripides puts together with his troupe "Andromeda", the music for which he also composed himself. At first, the Abderites were disappointed: instead of the usual artificial suffering of the heroes and loud screams on the stage, everything happened as in ordinary life, the music was calm and harmonized with the text. The performance had such a strong effect on the imagination of the audience that the next day all of Abdera spoke in iambs from the tragedy.

The fourth book of "History .." describes a lawsuit about the shadow of a donkey. A toothpicker named Strution, who has a donkey foaled, hires a donkey to go to another city. The donkey driver accompanies him on the road. On the way, the tooth-puller gets hot, and since there was not a tree steep, he gets off the donkey and sits in its shade. The owner of the donkey demands an additional payment from Struthion for the shadow of the animal, the same one believes that "he will be thrice a donkey if he does this." The drover returns to Abdera and sues the toothbrusher. A long fight begins. Gradually, the whole city is drawn into the trial and is divided into two parties: the party of "shadows" supporting the tooth puller, and the party of "donkeys" supporting the drover.

At the meeting of the Grand Council, which includes four hundred people, almost all the inhabitants of Abdera are present. Representatives of both sides speak. Finally, when passions reach the limit and no one understands why such a simple matter has become insoluble, a donkey appears on the streets of the city. Before that, he always stood in the city stable. The people, seeing the cause of the misfortune that has become universal, rushes at the poor animal and tears it into a thousand pieces. Both parties agree that the matter is settled. It was decided to erect a monument to the donkey, which should serve as a reminder to everyone "how easily a flourishing republic can perish because of the donkey's shadow."

After the famous lawsuit in the life of Abdera, first the archpriest Jason Agatirs, and after him all the citizens of the republic, begin to intensively breed frogs, which are considered sacred animals in the city. Soon Abdera, together with the areas adjacent to it, turns into a continuous frog pond. When this excessive number of frogs was finally noticed, the city senate decides to reduce their number. However, no one knows how to do this, while the method proposed by the Abdera Academy - to eat frogs in food - is objectionable to many. While the matter was under discussion, the city was infested with huge hordes of rats and mice. Residents leave their homes, taking with them the sacred golden fleece from Jason's temple. This ends the history of the famous republic. Its inhabitants moved to neighboring Macedonia and there assimilated with the local population.

In the final chapter of the book, which is called "The Key to the History of the Abderites", the author once again emphasizes the satirical and didactic nature of his work: "All human races change from migration, and two different races, mixing, create a third. But in the Abderites, wherever they were not resettled, and no matter how they mixed with other peoples, not the slightest significant change was noticeable. They are all the same fools everywhere as they were two thousand years ago in Abdera.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Wunderbare Reisen zu Wasser und Lande, Feldzüge und lustige Abenteuer des Freyherrn von Münchhausen, wie er dieselben bey der Flasche im Zirkel seiner Freunde selbst zu erzählen pflegt)

Prose (1786/1788)

The time of action of the adventures described in the book of Baron Munchausen is the end of the XNUMXth century, during the course of the plot the main character finds himself in different countries, where the most incredible stories happen to him. The whole narrative consists of three parts: the baron's own narrative, Munchausen's sea adventures and travels around the world and other noteworthy adventures of the hero.

The incredible adventures of the most truthful man in the world, Baron Myushausen, begin on the way to Russia. On the way, he gets into a terrible snowstorm, stops in an open field, ties his horse to a post, and when he wakes up, he finds himself in the village, and his poor horse is beating on the dome of the church bell tower, from where he shoots it with a well-aimed shot in the bridle. Another time, when he is riding a sleigh through a forest, a wolf, which has attacked his horse in harness at full speed, bites into the body of the horse so much that, having eaten it, he himself is harnessed to the sleigh, on which Munchausen gets safely to St. Petersburg.

Having settled in Russia, the baron often goes hunting, where amazing things happen to him, but resourcefulness and courage always tell him a way out of a difficult situation. So, one day, instead of a gun flint, forgotten at home, he has to use sparks to fire a shot that fell from his eyes when struck. Another time, on a piece of lard strung on a long rope, he manages to catch so many ducks that they were able to safely carry him on their wings to the house, where he, turning their necks in turn, makes a soft landing.

Walking through the forest, Munchausen notices a magnificent fox, so as not to spoil its skin, he decides to catch it by nailing it to a tree by the tail. The poor fox, without waiting for the decision of the hunter, leaves her own skin and runs into the forest, so the baron gets her magnificent fur coat. Without coercion, a blind boar comes into Munchausen's kitchen. When the baron, with his well-aimed shot, hits the tail of the guide pig held by the mother, the pig runs away, and the pig, holding on to the rest of the tail, obediently follows the hunter.

Most of the unusual hunting incidents are due to Munchausen running out of ammo. Instead of a cartridge, the baron shoots a cherry bone at the head of a deer, in which a cherry tree then grows between the horns. With the help of two rifle flints, Munchausen explodes with a monstrous bear that attacked him in the forest. The baron turns the wolf inside out, thrusting his hand into his belly through his open mouth.

Like any avid hunter, Munchausen's favorite pets are greyhounds and horses. His beloved greyhound did not want to leave the baron even when it was time for her to have offspring, which is why she littered while chasing a hare. What was Munchausen's surprise when he saw that not only her offspring were rushing after his bitch, but also her rabbits were chasing the hare, whom she also gave birth to during the chase.

In Lithuania, Munchausen tames a zealous horse and receives it as a gift. During the assault of the Turks in Ochakovo, the horse loses its hindquarters, which the baron then finds in a meadow surrounded by young mares. Munchausen is not at all surprised by this; he takes and stitches the horse's croup with young laurel sprouts. As a result, not only the horse grows together, but the laurel sprouts give roots.

During the Russian-Turkish war, in which our valiant hero could not but take part, several more amusing incidents happen to him. So, he makes a trip to the camp of the Turks on a cannonball and returns in the same way. During one of the transitions, Munchausen, along with his horse, almost drowned in the swamp, but, having gathered his last strength, he pulled himself out of the bog by the hair.

No less exciting are the adventures of the famous storyteller at sea. During his first trip, Munchausen visits the island of Ceylon, where, while hunting, he finds himself in a seemingly hopeless situation between a lion and the open mouth of a crocodile. Without wasting a moment, the baron cuts off the lion's head with a hunting knife and stuffs it into the crocodile's mouth until it stops breathing. The second sea voyage Munchausen makes to North America. Thirdly, he throws the baron into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, where he enters the stomach of a huge fish. Dancing an incendiary Scottish dance in her belly, the baron makes the poor animal beat in the water so that it is noticed by Italian fishermen. The fish hit by a harpoon gets on the ship, so the traveler is freed from his imprisonment.

During his fifth voyage by sea from Turkey to Cairo, Munchausen acquires excellent servants who help him win a dispute with the Turkish Sultan. The essence of the dispute boils down to the following: the baron undertakes to deliver a bottle of good Tokay wine from Vienna to the Sultan's court in an hour, for which the Sultan will allow him to take as much gold from his treasury as Munchausen's servant can carry. With the help of his new servants - a fast walker, a listener and a well-aimed shooter, the traveler fulfills the condition of the bet. The strongman, on the other hand, easily takes out the entire treasury of the Sultan at a time and loads it onto the ship, which hastily leaves Turkey.

After helping the British during their siege of Gibraltar, the baron embarks on his northern sea voyage. Resourcefulness and fearlessness help the great traveler here too. Surrounded by ferocious polar bears, Munchausen, having killed one of them and hiding in his skin, exterminates all the others. He saves himself, gets magnificent bear skins and delicious meat, which he treats to his friends.

The baron's list of adventures would probably be incomplete if he had not visited the Moon, where his ship was thrown by the waves of a hurricane.

There he meets the amazing inhabitants of the "sparkling island", whose "belly is a suitcase", and the head is a part of the body that can exist quite independently. Sleepwalkers are born from nuts, and a warrior hatches from one shell, and a philosopher from the other. In all this, the baron suggests that his listeners see for themselves by going immediately to the moon.

The next amazing journey of the baron begins with the exploration of Mount Etna. Munchausen jumps into a fire-breathing crater and finds himself visiting the fire god Vulcan and his Cyclopes. Then, through the center of the Earth, the great traveler enters the South Sea, where, together with the crew of the Dutch ship, he discovers a cheese island. People on this island have three legs and one arm. They feed exclusively on cheese, washed down with milk from the rivers flowing through the island. Everyone here is happy, because there are no hungry people on this earth. Leaving the wonderful island, the ship on which Munchausen was, falls into the belly of a huge whale. It is not known how the further fate of our traveler would have developed and we would have heard about his adventures if the crew of the ship had not managed to escape from captivity along with the ship. Inserting the ship's masts into the animal's mouth instead of struts, they managed to slip out. Thus ends the wanderings of Baron Munchausen.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand)

Tragedy (1773)

The drama takes place in Germany in the twenties of the XNUMXth century, when the country was fragmented into many independent feudal principalities that were in constant enmity with each other, but nominally all of them were part of the so-called Holy Roman Empire. It was a time of violent peasant unrest that marked the beginning of the Reformation era.

Gay von Berlichingen, a brave independent knight, does not get along with the Bishop of Bamberg. In a tavern on the road, he set up an ambush with his people and is waiting for Adelbert Weislingen, an approximate bishop, with whom he wants to pay for the fact that his squire is being held captive in Bamberg. Having captured Adelbert, he goes to his family castle in Jaxthausen, where his wife Elizabeth, sister Maria and little son Karl are waiting for him.

In the old days, Weislingen was Goetz's best friend. Together they served as pages at the court of the margrave, together they participated in military campaigns. When Berlichingen lost his right hand in battle, instead of which he now has an iron one, he looked after him.

But their paths diverged. Adalbert sucked life with its gossip and intrigue, he took the side of Getz's enemies, who seek to discredit him in the eyes of the emperor.

In Jaxthausen, Berlichingen tries to win over Weislingen to his side, suggesting to him that he lowers himself to the level of a vassal in the presence of some "wayward and envious priest." Adalbert seems to agree with the noble knight, this is facilitated by the love that has flared up in him for the meek, pious sister of Getz Maria. Weislingen becomes engaged to her, and on parole that he will not help his enemies, Berlichingen lets him go. Adelbert goes to his estates to put them in order before bringing his young wife into the house.

At the court of the Bishop of Bamberg they are looking forward to Weislingen, who should have returned from the emperor's residence in Augsburg long ago, but his squire Franz brings the news that he is on his estate in Swabia and does not intend to appear in Bamberg. Knowing Weislingen's indifference to the female sex, the bishop sends Liebetraut to him with the news that the recently widowed beauty Adelgeida von Waldorf is waiting for him at court. Weislingen arrives in Bamberg and falls into the love nets of an insidious and soulless widow. He breaks his word to Getz, stays at the bishop's residence and marries Adelgeide.

His ally Franz von Sickingen is staying at Berlichingen's house. He is in love with Maria and tries to persuade her, who is having a hard time with Adelbert's betrayal, to marry him, in the end, Getz's sister agrees.

A punitive detachment sent by the emperor is approaching Jaxthausen to capture Getz. A complaint came to Augsburg from the Nuremberg merchants that their people, returning from the Frankfurt fair, had been robbed by the soldiers of Berlichingen and Hans von Selbitz. The emperor decided to call the knight to order. Sickingen offers Getz the help of his raters, but the owner of Jaxthausen believes that it is more reasonable if he remains neutral for a while, then he will be able to ransom him out of prison if something happens.

The emperor's soldiers attack the castle, Getz defends with difficulty with his small detachment. He is rescued by suddenly arrived Hans von Selbitz, who himself is wounded during the battle. The emperor's raiders, who have lost many people, withdraw for reinforcements.

During a respite, Goetz insists that Sickingen and Maria get married and leave Jaxthausen. As soon as the young couple leaves, Berlichingen orders the gates to be closed and filled with stones and logs. An exhausting siege of the castle begins. A small detachment, lack of stocks of weapons and food force Getz to negotiate with the emperor's raters. He sends his man to negotiate the conditions for the surrender of the fortress. The parliamentarian brings the news that people are promised freedom if they voluntarily lay down their arms and leave the castle. Getz agrees, but as soon as he leaves the gate with a detachment, he is seized and taken to Gelbron, where he will appear before the imperial advisers.

Despite everything, the noble knight continues to stand boldly. He refuses to sign a peace treaty with the emperor, offered to him by advisers, because he believes that it unfairly calls him a violator of the laws of the empire. At this time, his son-in-law Sickingen approaches Heilbron, occupies the city and frees Getz. In order to prove his honesty and devotion to the emperor, Berlichingen himself sentences himself to knightly imprisonment, from now on he will remain in his castle without a break.

Peasant unrest begins in the country. One of the detachments of peasants forces Getz to become their leader, but he agrees only on certain conditions. Peasants must renounce senseless robbery and arson and really fight for freedom and their trampled rights. If they break the treaty within four weeks, then Berlichingen will leave them. The imperial troops, led by Commissar Weislingen, are pursuing Goetz's detachment. Some of the peasants are still unable to resist looting, they attack the knight's castle in Miltenberg, set fire to it. Berlichingen is already ready to leave them, but too late, he is wounded, remains alone and is taken prisoner.

Fate crosses again the paths of Weislingen and Goetz. The life of Berlichingen is in the hands of Adelbert. Maria goes to his castle with a request to pardon her brother. She finds Weislingen on his deathbed. He was poisoned by the squire Franz. Adelgeide seduced him by promising her love if he gave poison to his master. Franz himself, unable to bear the sight of Adalbert's suffering, throws himself out of the castle window into Main. Weislingen breaks Goetz's death sentence before Maria's eyes and dies. The judges of the secret court sentence Adelheid to death for adultery and the murder of her husband,

Berlichingen is located in the Heilbronn dungeon. With him, his faithful wife Elizaveta Getz's wounds almost healed, but his soul is exhausted from the blows of fate that have befallen him. He lost all his faithful people, and his young squire George also died. The good name of Berlichingen is tarnished by association with bandits and robbers, he is deprived of all his property.

Maria arrives, she reports that Getz's life is out of danger, but her husband is besieged in his castle and the princes overcome him. Berlichingen, who is losing his strength, is allowed to take a walk in the garden at the prison. The view of the sky, the sun, trees pleases him. For the last time, he enjoys all this and dies with the thought of freedom. In the words of Elizabeth: "Woe to posterity if it does not appreciate you!" the drama about the ideal knight ends.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Die Leiden des jungen Werthers)

Roman (1774)

It is this genre, characteristic of the literature of the XNUMXth century, that Goethe chooses for his work, while the action takes place in one of the small German towns at the end of the XNUMXth century. The novel consists of two parts - these are letters from Werther himself and additions to them under the heading "From the publisher to the reader." Werther's letters are addressed to his friend Wilhelm, in which the author seeks not so much to describe the events of life as to convey his feelings that the world around him causes.

Werther, a young man from a poor family, educated, prone to painting and poetry, settles in a small town to be alone. He enjoys nature, communicates with ordinary people, reads his beloved Homer, draws. At a country youth ball, he meets Charlotte S. and falls head over heels in love with her. Lotta, this is the name of the girl close friends - the eldest daughter of the princely amtsman, in total there are nine children in their family. Their mother died, and Charlotte, despite her youth, managed to replace her with her brothers and sisters. She is not only outwardly attractive, but also has independence of judgment. Already on the first day of their acquaintance, Werther and Lotta reveal a coincidence of tastes, they easily understand each other.

Since that time, the young man spends most of his time every day in the house of the amtsman, which is an hour's walk from the city. Together with Lotta, he visits a sick pastor, goes to look after a sick lady in the city. Every minute spent near her gives Werther pleasure. But the love of the young man from the very beginning is doomed to suffering, because Lotta has a fiancé, Albert, who went to get a solid position.

Albert arrives, and although he treats Werther kindly and delicately hides the manifestations of his feelings for Lotte, the young man in love is jealous of her for him. Albert is restrained, reasonable, he considers Werther an outstanding person and forgives him for his restless disposition. Werther, on the other hand, finds it hard to have a third person during meetings with Charlotte, he falls into either unbridled merriment or gloomy moods.

One day, to get a little distraction, Werther is going to ride into the mountains and asks Albert to lend him pistols on the road. Albert agrees, but warns that they are not loaded. Werther takes one pistol and puts it to his forehead. This harmless joke turns into a serious argument between young people about a man, his passions and reason. Werther tells a story about a girl who was abandoned by her lover and threw herself into the river, because without him life has lost all meaning for her. Albert considers this act "stupid", he condemns a person who, carried away by passions, loses the ability to reason. Werther, on the other hand, is disgusted by excessive rationality.

For his birthday, Werther receives a bundle from Albert: it contains a bow from Lotta's dress, in which he saw her for the first time. The young man suffers, he understands that he needs to get down to business, to leave, but he keeps postponing the moment of parting. On the eve of his departure, he comes to Lotte. They go to their favorite gazebo in the garden. Werther does not say anything about the upcoming separation, but the girl, as if anticipating it, starts talking about death and what will follow it. She remembers her mother, the last minutes before parting with her. Werther, excited by her story, nevertheless finds the strength to leave Lotta.

The young man leaves for another city, he becomes an official with the envoy. The envoy is picky, pedantic and stupid, but Werther made friends with Count von K. and tries to brighten up his loneliness in conversations with him. In this town, as it turns out, class prejudices are very strong, and the young man is constantly pointed out to his origin.

Werther meets the girl B., who remotely reminds him of the incomparable Charlotte. With her, he often talks about his former life, including telling her about Lotte. The surrounding society annoys Werther, and his relationship with the envoy is getting worse. The case ends with the envoy complaining about him to the minister, who, like a delicate person, writes a letter to the young man, in which he reprimands him for being too touchy and tries to direct his extravagant ideas in the direction where they will find their true application.

Werther temporarily comes to terms with his position, but then a "trouble" occurs that forces him to leave the service and the city. He was on a visit to Count von K., stayed up too long, at which time guests began to arrive. In this town, however, it was not customary for a man of low class to appear in a noble society. Werther did not immediately realize what was happening, besides, when he saw the familiar girl B., he started talking to her, and only when everyone began to look askance at him, and his interlocutor could hardly keep up the conversation, the young man hurriedly left. The next day, gossip spread throughout the city that Count von K. kicked Werther out of his house. Not wanting to wait to be asked to leave the service, the young man submits his resignation and leaves.

First, Werther goes to his native places and indulges in sweet childhood memories, then he accepts the prince's invitation and goes to his domain, but here he feels out of place. Finally, unable to bear the separation any longer, he returns to the city where Charlotte lives. During this time, she became Albert's wife. Young people are happy. The appearance of Werther brings discord into their family life. Lotta sympathizes with the young man in love, but she is unable to see his torment. Werther, on the other hand, rushes about, he often dreams of falling asleep and never waking up again, or he wants to commit a sin, and then atone for it.

One day, while walking around the outskirts of the town, Werther meets a crazy Heinrich, who is picking a bouquet of flowers for his beloved. Later, he learns that Heinrich was a scribe for Lotta's father, fell in love with a girl, and love drove him crazy. Werther feels that the image of Lotta haunts him and he does not have the strength to put his horses to suffering. This is where the young man's letters end, and we will learn about his future fate from the publisher.

Love for Lotte makes Werther unbearable for others. On the other hand, the decision to leave the world gradually strengthens in the soul of a young man, because he is not able to simply leave his beloved. One day, he finds Lotta sorting out gifts for her relatives on the eve of Christmas. She turns to him with a request to come to them next time not earlier than Christmas Eve. For Werther, this means that he is deprived of the last joy in life. Nevertheless, the next day he nevertheless goes to Charlotte, together they read an excerpt from Werther's translation of Ossian's songs. In a fit of vague feelings, the young man loses control of himself and approaches Lotte, for which she asks him to leave her.

Returning home, Werther puts his affairs in order, writes a farewell letter to his beloved, sends a servant with a note to Albert for pistols. Exactly at midnight, a shot is heard in Werther's room. In the morning, the servant finds a young man, still breathing, on the floor, the doctor comes, but it's too late. Albert and Lotta are having a hard time with Werther's death. They bury him not far from the city, in the place that he chose for himself.

E. A. Korkmazova

Tragedy (1775-1787)

The action of the tragedy takes place in the Netherlands, in Brussels, in 1567-1568, although in the play the events of these years unfold over several weeks.

In the town square, the townspeople compete in archery, a soldier from Egmont's army joins them, he easily beats everyone and treats them with wine at his own expense. From the conversation between the townspeople and the soldier, we learn that the Netherlands is ruled by Margarita of Parma, who makes decisions with a constant eye on her brother, King Philip of Spain. The people of Flanders love and support their governor, Count Egmont, a glorious commander who has won victories more than once. In addition, he is much more tolerant of the preachers of a new religion that penetrates the country from neighboring Germany. Despite all the efforts of Margarita of Parma, the new faith finds many supporters among the common population, tired of the oppression and exactions of Catholic priests, of constant wars.

In the palace, Margherita of Parma, together with her secretary, Machiavelli, reports to Philip about the unrest taking place in Flanders, mainly on religious grounds. In order to decide on further actions, she convened a council, to which the governors of the Dutch provinces should arrive.

In the same city, in a modest burgher house, the girl Clara lives with her mother. From time to time the neighbor Brackenburg comes to see them. He is clearly in love with Clara, but she has long been accustomed to his affection and perceives him, rather, as a brother. Recently, big changes happened in her life, Count Egmont himself began to visit their house. He spotted Clara as he rode down their street, accompanied by his soldiers, and everyone cheered for him. When Egmont unexpectedly appeared at their place, the girl completely lost her head because of him. The mother hoped so much that her Clarchen would marry the respectable Brakenburg and be happy, but now she realizes that she did not save her daughter, who is just waiting for the evening to come and her hero to appear, in which now the whole meaning of her life.

Count Egmont is busy with his secretary sorting out his correspondence. Here are letters from ordinary soldiers with a request to pay salaries, and complaints from soldiers' widows that they have nothing to feed their children. There are also complaints about soldiers who abused a simple girl, the daughter of an innkeeper. In all cases, Egmont offers a simple and fair solution. A letter from Count Oliva came from Spain. The worthy old man advises Egmont to be more careful. His openness and reckless actions will not lead to good. But for a brave commander, freedom and justice are above all, and therefore it is difficult for him to be careful.

The Prince of Orange arrives, he reports that the Duke of Alba, known for his "bloodthirstiness", is heading from Spain to Flanders. The prince advises Egmont to retire to his province and fortify himself there, he himself will do just that. He also warns the count that he is in danger of death in Brussels, but he does not believe him. To escape from sad thoughts, Egmont goes to his beloved Clarchen. Today, at the request of the girl, he came to her in the outfit of a knight of the Golden Fleece. Clairchen is happy, she sincerely loves Egmont, and he replies the same to her.

Meanwhile, Margherita of Parma, who also learned about the arrival of the Duke of Alba, abdicates the throne and leaves the country. Arrives in Brussels with the troops of the Spanish King Alba. Now, according to his decree, it is forbidden for citizens to gather on the streets. Even if two people are spotted together, they are immediately thrown into jail for incitement. The viceroy of the Spanish king sees a conspiracy everywhere. But his main opponents are the Prince of Orange and the Earl of Egmont. He invited them to the Kuhlenburg Palace, where he prepared a trap for them. After meeting with him, they are arrested by his officers. Among those close to Alba is his illegitimate son Ferdinand. The young man is fascinated by Egmont, his nobility and simplicity in communication, his heroism and courage, but he is unable to contradict his father's plans. Shortly before the beginning of the audience, a messenger from Antwerp brings a letter from the Prince of Orange, who, under a plausible pretext, refuses to come to Brussels.

Egmont appears, he is calm. To all Alba's claims about the unrest in the Netherlands, he answers with courtesy, but at the same time, his judgments about the events taking place are quite independent. The count cares about the welfare of his people, their independence. He warns Alba that the king is on the wrong path, trying to "trample into the ground" people who are devoted to him, they also count on his support and protection. The duke is not able to understand Egmont, he shows him the king's order to arrest him, takes away the count's personal weapon, and the guards take him to prison.

Having learned about the fate of his beloved, Clarchen is unable to stay at home. She rushes into the street and calls on the townspeople to take up arms and free Count Egmont. The townspeople only look at her sympathetically and disperse in fear. Brackenburg takes Clarchen home.

Count Egmont, who has lost his freedom for the first time in his life, is having a hard time with his arrest. On the one hand, remembering the warnings of his friends, he feels that death is somewhere very close, and he, unarmed, is unable to defend himself. On the other hand, in the depths of his soul, he hopes that Oransky will still come to his rescue or that the people will make an attempt to free him.

The king's court unanimously passes sentence on Egmont - the death penalty. Clarchen also finds out about this. She is tormented by the thought that she is unable to help her powerful lover. A visitor from the city of Brakenburg reports that all the streets were filled with the soldiers of the king, and a scaffold was being erected in the market square. Realizing that Egmont will inevitably be killed, Clarchen steals poison from Brackenburg, drinks it, goes to bed and dies. Her last request is to take care of her aging mother.

Alba's officer informs Egmont of the decision of the royal court. The Count will be beheaded at dawn. Together with the officer, Alba's son, Ferdinand, came to say goodbye to Egmont. Left alone with the count, the young man confesses that all his life he considered Egmont his hero. And now he is bitterly aware that he can do nothing to help his idol: his father foresaw everything, leaving no possibility for the release of Egmont. Then the count asks Ferdinand to take care of Clairchen.

the prisoner is left alone, he falls asleep, and in a dream Clarchen appears to him, who crowns him with a laurel wreath of the winner. Waking up, the count feels his head, but there is nothing on it. Dawn breaks, the sounds of victorious music are heard, and Egmont goes to meet the guards who have come to lead him to his execution.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Reineke Fuchs)

Poem (1793)

The action takes place in Flanders. The plot is well known and has already been subjected to poetic processing more than once before Goethe. The generalizations contained in the text make it possible to apply the plot to many tenses.

On the holiday, Trinity Day, the animal king Nobel gathers his subjects. Only Reineke the fox did not appear at the court, he is a rogue and avoids once again appearing in front of the monarch. Again, all the animals complain about him. He dishonored his wife from Isegrim the wolf, and crippled the children, took away the last piece of sausage from the dog Vakerlos, almost killed the hare Lyampe. A badger stands up for his uncle. He tells everyone how the wolf treated Reineke unfairly, when he, having cunningly climbed onto the peasant's cart, slowly began to throw the fish off the wagon, so that, together with Isegrim, he would then satisfy his hunger. But the wolf ate everything himself, and the fox left only scraps. Isegrim did the same when cutting the carcass of a pig, which Reinecke, risking his own life, threw to him through the window of a peasant house.

At that moment, when all the animals were ready to agree with the badger, they brought in a headless chicken on a stretcher, Reinecke the fox shed her blood. He violated the king's rescript on inviolable peace between animals. Having made his way into the rooster's house, he first dragged the children, and then killed the hen.

Enraged, Nobel sends Brown the bear for the fox to bring him to the royal court. The bear found Reinecke's house without difficulty, but he said that he wanted to treat the messenger with honey in combs. He led Brown into the yard to the carpenter, showed him the log into which the peasant had driven stakes, and suggested that he get honey from there. When the lover of eating with his head climbed into the deck, Reinecke quietly pulled out the stakes, and the muzzle and paws of the bear got stuck in the deck. From pain, Brown began to yell, then a carpenter ran out of the house, saw a clubfoot, called his fellow villagers, and they began to beat the uninvited guest. Escaped with difficulty from the deck, stripping his muzzle and paws, barely alive Brown returned to the king's court with nothing.

Nobel sent the cat Ginze for the fox, but he also fell for Reinecke's trick. The rogue said that nearby, in the barn of one priest, there are fat mice, and Ginze decided to have a bite to eat before the way back. In fact, near the hole in the barn, the son of the priest pulled a noose so that a thief who steals chickens from them would fall into it. The cat, feeling the rope on itself, made a noise and thrashed about. The family of the priest came running, the cat was beaten, his eye was gouged out. In the end, Ginze gnawed the rope and ran away, in such a very deplorable state he appeared before the king.

For the third time, his nephew, a badger, volunteered to go to Reinecke. He persuaded the fox to come to the court. On the way, Reinecke confesses his many sins to a relative in order to relieve his soul before being brought to justice.

The court, taking into account the numerous complaints against the fox, decides on execution by hanging. And now, when the guilty person has already been taken to execution, he asks for a delay in order to tell everyone to the end about his "crimes".

Father Reinecke found in the recent past the treasure of Emmerich the Mighty and planned to organize a conspiracy to put a new king on the throne - the bear Brown. He bribed his supporters, and they were the wolf Izegrim, the cat Ginze and other animals that now spoke at the trial against Reinecke, he bribed with the promise of money. Then Reinecke, loyal to Nobel, tracked down his own father, where he kept the treasure, and hid it. When the old fox discovered the loss, he strangled himself with grief. So, having denigrated his father and his enemies, the cunning fox rubs himself into the confidence of Nobel, and for the promise to reveal the location of the treasure to the king and queen, he receives a pardon.

Reinecke reports that the treasure is buried in the desert in Flanders, but, unfortunately, he himself cannot indicate the place, because his duty now is to go to Rome and receive absolution from the pope. By order of the king, the fox was sewn a knapsack from a piece of the skin of Brown the bear and was given two spare pairs of boots, tearing off the skin from the paws of Isegrim and his wife. And Reinecke sets off. On the road, he is accompanied by the hare Lampe and the ram Ballin. First, the pilgrim fox comes to his home to please his family that he is alive and well. Leaving the ram in the yard and luring the hare into the house, Reinecke with his wife and children eats Lampe. He puts his head in a knapsack and sends it along with Ballin to the king, deceiving the poor animal that his message is there, which must be immediately delivered to the court.

The king, realizing that Reinecke has again deceived him, decides to oppose him with all his bestial strength. But first, he sets a feast in honor of those who suffered through the fault of the fox Brown, Isegrim and his wife. The animals offended by Reinecke are gathering again for the royal feast: a rabbit with a torn off ear, which barely took its legs from the fox, a raven whose wife was eaten by a rogue.

The badger nephew decides to get ahead of the king's army and warn Reinecke of the impending danger so that he can escape with his family. But the fox was not afraid, he goes back to the court to protect himself from unfair accusations.

All the blame for the murdered Lampe Reinecke is blamed on the ram, who, moreover, according to him, did not give the king and queen magnificent gifts from him - a priceless ring and a comb with an unusual mirror. But Nobel does not believe the words of the cunning fox, then the monkey stands up for him, saying that if Reinecke had not been clean, would he have come to court? In addition, the monkey reminds the king that the fox has always helped him with his wise advice. Didn't he decide the tangled litigation between the man and the snake.

Having convened a council, the king allows the fox to try again to justify himself. Reinecke himself pretends to be the deceived hare Lampe and the ram Ballin. They stole all his wealth, and now he does not know where to look for them. "So, word by word, Reinecke came up with fables. Everyone hung their ears ..."

Realizing that the words of the fox can not be outwitted, Izegrim challenges him to a duel. But here, too, Reinecke is smarter. He rubs his body with fat before the fight, and during the fight he continually releases his caustic liquid and pours sand into the eyes of the wolf with his tail. With difficulty, the fox defeats Isegrim. The king, convinced of the correctness of Reinecke, appoints him chancellor of the state and hands over the state seal.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Hermann and Dorothea)

Poem (1797)

The action takes place in a provincial German town during the French bourgeois revolution. The poem consists of nine songs, each of which bears the name of one of the Greek muses - the patrons of various types of arts. The names of the muses determine the content of each song.

On the roads leading from the Rhine, carts with refugees stretch. Unfortunate people are saved with the surviving good from the chaos that arose in the border regions of Germany and France as a result of the French Revolution.

A poor couple from a nearby town sends their son Herman to give people in trouble some clothes and food. A young man meets a wagon (a wagon drawn by oxen) lagging behind the main mass of refugees on the road. A girl walks in front, who turns to him with a request to help them. In the wagon, a young woman has just given birth to a child, and there is not even anything to wrap it in. With joy, Herman gives her everything that his mother has collected for him, and returns home.

Parents have long dreamed of marrying Herman. Opposite their house lives a wealthy merchant who has three marriageable daughters. He is rich and in time all his wealth will pass to his heirs. Herman's father, who dreams of a prosperous daughter-in-law, advises his son to marry the merchant's youngest daughter, but he does not want to know stiff and flirtatious girls, who often mock his simple manners. Indeed, Herman was always reluctant to go to school, was indifferent to the sciences, but kind, "an excellent host and a glorious worker."

Noticing the change in her son's mood after meeting with the refugees, Herman's mother, a simple and determined woman, finds out from him that he met a girl there who touched his heart. Fearing to lose her in this general turmoil, he now wants to declare her his bride. Mother and son ask their father to give permission for Herman's marriage to a stranger. The shepherd and the pharmacist, who just came to visit their father, intercede for the young man.

The three of them, the shepherd, the pharmacist and Herman himself, go to the village, where, as they know, the refugees have stopped for the night. They want to see the chosen one of the young man and ask the companions about her. From the judge, whom the shepherd met in the village, he learns that the stranger has a decisive character. She had young children in her arms. When marauders attacked their house, she snatched a saber from one of them and hacked him to death, and wounded the other four, thereby protecting her life and the lives of her children.

The shepherd and the pharmacist return to the house of Herman's parents, and the young man remains, he wants to speak frankly with the girl himself and confess his feelings to her. He meets Dorothea, that is the name of the stranger, near the village, at the well. Herman honestly confesses to her that he returned here for her, as he liked her friendliness and quickness, and his mother needs a good helper in the house. Dorothea, thinking that the young man is calling her to work, agrees. She takes the water to her companions, says goodbye to them, although they are very reluctant to part with her, and, taking her bundle, goes with Herman.

Parents greet them cordially, but the young man, seizing the moment, asks the shepherd to explain to Dorothea that he did not bring her into the house as a servant, but as a future mistress. Meanwhile, Herman's father, making an awkward joke about his son's good choice, causes embarrassment for Dorothea. Here the shepherd pestered her with questions about how she would react to the fact that her young master was going to marry. The frustrated girl is about to leave. As it turned out, Herman also immediately liked her, and deep down she hoped that over time she would be able to win his heart. Unable to remain silent any longer, the young man opens up to Dorothea in his love and asks for forgiveness for his shyness, which prevented him from doing this earlier.

Young people are happy that they found each other. Having removed their wedding rings from Herman's parents, the shepherd betrothed them and blesses "a new union, so similar to the old one", but it turns out that Dorothea already has a wedding ring on her finger. The girl tells about her fiancé, who, inspired by the love of freedom, having learned about the revolution, hurried to Paris and died there. In the noble Herman, Dorothea's story only strengthens the resolve to tie "my life forever with her and defend her in this difficult time" with the valor of a husband.

E. A. Korkmazova

The action takes place in Germany, contemporary to the author of the play. The plot unfolds over two years. The drama is preceded by an epigraph by Hippocrates, which in Russian translation sounds like this: "What medicines do not heal, iron heals; what iron does not heal, fire heals."

The plot is based on a family tragedy. In the ancestral castle of the barons von Moor, the father, the youngest son, Franz, and the ward of the count, the bride of the eldest son, Amalia von Edelreich, live. The plot is a letter allegedly received by Franz from the "Leipzig correspondent", which tells about the dissolute life of Karl von Moor, the eldest son of the count, who is at the university in Leipzig. Saddened by the bad news, the old man von Moor allows Franz to write a letter to Karl and inform him that the count, enraged by the behavior of his eldest son, is depriving him of his inheritance and his parental blessing.

At this time, in Leipzig, in a tavern where students of the University of Leipzig usually gather, Karl von Moor is waiting for an answer to his letter to his father, in which he sincerely repents of his dissolute life and promises to continue to do business. Letter arrives??? gem forests, take away money from rich travelers and put them into circulation. This idea seems tempting to poor students, but they need an ataman, and although Spiegelberg himself was counting on this position, everyone unanimously chooses Karl von Moor. Hoping that "blood and death" will make him forget his former life, father, bride, Karl takes an oath of allegiance to his robbers, and they, in turn, swear allegiance to him.

Now that Franz von Moor has managed to expel his older brother from his father's loving heart, he is trying to denigrate him in the eyes of his bride, Amalia. In particular, he informs her that the diamond ring, which she gave to Karl before parting as a pledge of fidelity, he gave to the harlot when he had nothing to pay for his love pleasures. He paints in front of Amalia a portrait of a sickly beggar in rags, from whose mouth it reeks of "deadly nausea" - such is her beloved Karl now. But it is not so easy to convince a loving heart, Amalia refuses to believe Franz and drives him away.

But in the head of Franz von Moor, a new plan has already matured, which will finally help him realize his dream, become the owner of the inheritance of the Counts von Moor. To do this, he persuades the illegitimate son of a local nobleman, Herman, to change clothes and, having come to the old man Moor, to report that he witnessed the death of Charles, who took part in the battle of Prague. The heart of the sick count is unlikely to withstand this terrible news. For this, Franz promises Herman to return to him Amalia von Edelreich, who was once recaptured from him by Karl von Moor.

That's how it all happens. Old man Moore remembers his eldest son with Amalia. At this time Herman appears in disguise. He tells about Karl, left without any means of subsistence, and therefore decided to take part in the Prussian-Austrian campaign. The war threw him into Bohemia, where he died heroically. Dying, he asked to give his sword to his father, and return the portrait of Amalia to her along with her oath of allegiance. Count von Moore blames himself for the death of his son, he leans back against the pillows, and his heart seems to stop. Franz rejoices at the long-awaited death of his father.

Meanwhile, Carl von Moor is robbing the Bohemian woods. He is bold and often plays with death, as he has lost interest in life. The ataman gives his share of the booty to the orphans. He punishes the rich, robbing ordinary people, follows the principle: "My trade is retribution, revenge is my trade."

And in the von Moor family castle, Franz rules. He achieved his goal, but he does not feel satisfaction: Amalia still refuses to become his wife. Herman, who realized that Franz had deceived him, reveals a "terrible secret" to the maid of honor von Edelreich - Karl von Moor is alive and the old man von Moor too.

Karl and his gang are surrounded by Bohemian dragoons, but they manage to escape from it at the cost of the death of only one fighter, while the Bohemian soldiers lost about 300 people. A Czech nobleman is asked to join von Moor's detachment, having lost all his fortune, as well as his beloved, whose name is Amalia. The story of the young man stirred up former memories in Karl's soul, and he decides to lead his gang to Franconia with the words: "I must see her!"

Under the name of Count von Brand of Mecklenburg, Karl enters his family castle. He meets his Amalia and becomes convinced that she is faithful to the "dead Karl". In the gallery among the portraits of his ancestors, he stops at the portrait of his father and stealthily wipes away a tear. No one recognizes the eldest son of the count, only the all-seeing and always suspecting everyone Franz guesses his elder brother in the guest, but does not tell anyone about his guesses. The younger von Moore makes his old butler Daniel swear an oath that he will kill the visiting count. By the scar on his hand, the butler recognizes Karl in Count von Brande, who is unable to lie to the old servant who raised him, but now he must hurry to leave the castle forever. Before disappearing, he still decides to see Amalia, who has feelings for the count that she had previously associated with only one person - Karl von Moor. An unrecognized guest says goodbye to the ladies-in-waiting.

Karl returns to his robbers, in the morning they will leave these places, and while he wanders through the forest, in the darkness he hears a voice and sees a tower. It was Herman who came furtively to feed the prisoner locked up here. Carl rips the locks off the tower and frees the old man, withered like a skeleton. the prisoner turns out to be old man von Moor, who, unfortunately, did not die then from the news brought by Herman, but when he came to his senses in a coffin, his son Franz imprisoned him secretly from people in this tower, dooming him to cold, hunger and loneliness . Karl, after listening to his father's story, can no longer endure it and, despite the family ties that bind him to Franz, orders his robbers to break into the castle, grab his brother and bring him here alive.

Night. Old valet Daniel says goodbye to the castle where he spent his whole life. Franz von Moore runs in in a dressing gown with a candle in his hand. He cannot calm down, he had a dream about the Last Judgment, where he is sent to the underworld for his sins. He begs Daniel to send for the pastor. Franz has been an atheist all his life, and even now he cannot reconcile with the pastor who has come and is trying to argue on religious topics. This time he fails to laugh at the thesis of the immortality of the soul with his usual ease. Having received confirmation from the pastor that fratricide and patricide are the gravest sins of a person, Franz is frightened and realizes that his soul cannot escape hell.

Robbers sent by Charles attack the castle, they set fire to the castle, but they fail to capture Franz. In fear, he strangles himself with a hat-lace.

The members of the gang who followed the order return to the forest near the castle, where Karl is waiting for them, never recognized by his father. Amalia comes with them, who rushes to the robber Moor, hugs him and calls him her fiancé. Then, in horror, old Moore recognizes his beloved eldest son Karl in the leader of these bandits, thieves and murderers and dies. But Amalia is ready to forgive her lover and start a new life with him. But their love is hindered by the oath of allegiance given by Moor to his robbers. Realizing that happiness is impossible, Amalia prays for only one thing - death. Carl stabs her.

The robber Moor drank his cup to the end, he realized that the world cannot be corrected by atrocities, his life is over, he decides to surrender to justice. Even on the way to the castle of Moors, he talked with the poor man, who has a large family, now Karl goes to him so that he, having handed over the "famous robber" to the authorities, received a thousand louis for his head.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Die Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua)

Republican Tragedy (1783)

The author accurately indicates the place and time of events at the end of the list of characters - Genoa, 1547. The play was prefaced by an epigraph of the Roman historian Sallust about Catalina: "I consider this villainy out of the ordinary due to the unusualness and danger of the crime."

The young wife of Count Fiesco di Lavagna, the leader of the Republicans in Genoa, Leonora is jealous of her husband for Giulia, the sister of the ruler of Genoa. The count really looks after this coquettish dowager countess, and she asks Fiesco to give her a locket with a portrait of Leonora as a pledge of love, and she gives him hers.

The nephew of Doria, the ruler of Genoa, Gianettino suspects that the Republicans in Genoa are plotting against his uncle. To avoid a coup, he hires a Moor to kill the head of the Republicans, Fiesco. But the perfidious Moor betrays Gianettino's plan to Count di Lavagna and goes to his service.

There is great grief in the house of the Republican Verrina, his only daughter Bertha is raped. The criminal was wearing a mask, but according to the description of his daughter, the unfortunate father guesses that this is the work of Doria's nephew. Having come to Verrina to ask for the hand of Berta Burgognino, he witnesses the terrible curse of his father; he locks his daughter in the dungeon of his own house until the blood of Gianettino will wash away the shame from his family.

The nobles of Genoa come to Fiesco, they tell him about the scandal in the signoria that occurred during the election of the procurator. Gianettino disrupted the elections, he pierced the ball of the nobleman Cibo during the voting with a sword with the words: "The ball is invalid! It has a hole!" In society, dissatisfaction with the rule of Doria has clearly reached its limit. Fiesco understands this. He wants to take advantage of the mood of the Genoese and carry out a coup d'état. The count asks the Moor to act out the scene of the assassination attempt on him. As di Lavagna expected, the people arrest the "criminal", he "confesses" that he was sent by Doria's nephew. The people are outraged, their sympathies are on the side of Fiesco.

To Gianettino is his trusted Lomellino. He warns Doria's nephew about the danger hanging over him in connection with the betrayal of the Moor. But Gianettino is calm, he has long stocked up with a letter signed by Emperor Charles and his seal. It says that twelve senators of Genoa are to be executed, and young Doria will become monarch.

Genoese republican patricians come to Fiesco's house. Their goal is to persuade the Count to take the lead in the plot against the Duke. But di Lavagna was ahead of their proposal, he shows them letters that report the arrival in Genoa of soldiers from Parma, "gold from France", "four galleys of the Pope" to "get rid of tyranny". The nobles did not expect such promptness from Fiesco, they agree on a signal to speak and disperse.

On the way, Verrina entrusts her future son-in-law Burgognino with the secret that he will kill Fiesco as soon as the tyrant Doria is overthrown, for the shrewd old republican suspects that the count's goal is not to establish a republic in Genoa. Di Lavagna wants to take the duke's place himself.

The Moor, sent by Fiesco to the city in order to find out the mood of the Genoese, returns with a message about Gianettino's intention to execute twelve senators, including the count. He also brought the powder, which the Countess Imperiali asked him to pour into Leonore's chocolate cup. Fiesco urgently convenes the conspirators and informs them of the Emperor's letter from Doria's nephew. The uprising must begin this very night.

Late in the evening, Genoese noblemen gather in Fiesco's house, supposedly for a performance of comedians. The count delivers a fiery speech in which he urges them to overthrow the tyrants of Genoa, and distributes weapons. The last to burst into the house is Calcagno, who has just come from the duke's palace. There he saw a Moor, he betrayed them. Everyone is in turmoil. In an effort to master the situation, Fiesco says that he himself sent his servant there. German soldiers appear guarding Duke Doria. They bring in the Moor, with him a note in which the tyrant of Genoa informs the count that he has been informed of the conspiracy and will purposely send his bodyguards away tonight. Nobility and honor do not allow Fiesco to attack Doria in such a situation. Republicans are adamant, they demand to lead them to storm the ducal palace.

Julia is also invited to the presentation of imaginary comedians in the count's house. In front of his wife Leonora, Fiesco plays a scene, seeking a declaration of love from the Countess Imperiali. Contrary to expectation, Count di Lavagna rejects the fiery love of the insidious coquette, he calls the nobles who are in the house, returns to Giulia the powder with which she wanted to poison his wife, and the "jester's trinket" - a medallion with her portrait, orders the countess herself to be arrested. Leonora's honor has been restored.

Left alone with his wife, Fiesco confesses his love for her and promises that she will soon become a duchess. Leonora is afraid of power, she prefers a secluded life in love and harmony, she tries to persuade her husband to this ideal. Count di Lavagna, however, no longer able to change the course of events, a cannon shot sounds - the signal for the start of the uprising.

Fiesco rushes to the duke's palace, changing his voice, he advises Andrea Doria to run, the horse is waiting for him at the palace. He does not agree at first. But, having heard a noise in the street, Andrea, under the cover of security, flees from the palace. Meanwhile, Burgognino kills Doria's nephew and hurries to Verrina's house to inform Berta that she has been avenged and can leave her dungeon. Bertha agrees to become the wife of her protector. They flee to the harbor and leave the city by ship.

Chaos reigns in Genoa. Fiesco meets a man in a purple cloak on the street, he thinks it is Gianettino, and stabs the duke's nephew. Throwing back the man's cloak, di Lavagna learns that he has stabbed his wife. Leonora could not sit at home, she rushed into battle to be next to her husband. Fiesco is heartbroken.

Duke Andrea Doria unable to leave Genoa. He returns to the city, preferring death to eternal wandering.

After recovering from the death of Leonora, Fiesco puts on a purple cloak, a symbol of ducal power in Genoa. In this form, Verrina finds him. The Republican offers the Count to throw off the clothes of the tyrant, but he does not agree, then Verrina drags di Lavagna into the harbor, where, while climbing the ladder to the galley, he throws Fiesco into the sea. Entangled in the cloak, the count drowns. The conspirators rushing to the rescue inform Verrina that Andrea Doria has returned to the palace and half of Genoa has gone over to his side. Verrina also returns to the city to support the reigning duke.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Don Karlos Infant von Spanien)

Dramatic poem (1783-1787)

The action takes place in Spain in 1568, in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Philip II. The plot is based on the history of the relationship between Philip II, his son Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne, and his wife, Queen Elizabeth.

In Aranjus, the residence of the Spanish king near Madrid, is the entire Spanish court. Here is the son of the king - Don Carlos. The king is cold to him, he is busy with public affairs and his young wife, who was formerly the bride of Don Carlos. Philip II assigned his servants to his son to spy on him.

The Marquis of Pose, a childhood friend of the prince, comes to Aranjus from Flanders, with whom he has touching memories. The Infante reveals himself to him in criminal love for his stepmother, and the Marquis arranges for Don Carlos to meet with Elizabeth alone. In response to the prince's passionate love confessions, she asks him to direct his love to the unfortunate Spanish kingdom and gives him several letters with "tears of the Netherlands".

After reading these letters, Don Carlos decides to ask his father to appoint him as governor of the Netherlands, instead of the cruel Duke of Alba, who is supposed to be in this position. This intention is also approved by the Marquis of Posa.

The court of the king moves to the royal palace in Madrid. With difficulty, Don Carlos obtains an audience with Philip. He asks to be sent to Flanders, where he promises to pacify the rebellion in Brabant. The king refuses, he believes that the place of the prince is at court, while the Duke of Alba will go to Flanders.

Don Carlos is disappointed, at this time the queen's page secretly hands him a love note with a request to come on a date with half of Elizabeth. The prince is sure that the note is from the queen, he comes to the indicated place and meets there the lady-in-waiting of Elizabeth, Princess Eboli. The infant is perplexed. Eboli declares her love to him, she seeks protection from him against attacks on her own innocence and gives the prince a letter as proof. Don Carlos hardly begins to understand his tragic mistake, while the princess, seeing the indifference towards her, realizes that the signs of attention of the infanta, which she took personally, actually belonged to the queen. Eboli chases the prince, but before that she asks to return to her the key that the page gave to Don Carlos, and the king's love letter to her, which she herself had just given to the prince. Don Carlos is shocked by the news of Philip's attitude towards Princess Eboli, he leaves, but takes the letter with him.

Meanwhile, at the court of the king, the prince has enemies who do not like the unbalanced temper of the heir to the throne. The confessor of King Domingo and the Duke of Alba believe that such a monarch would be very uncomfortable on the Spanish throne. The only way to remove Don Carlos is to make the king believe in the love of the queen for her son, in this case, according to Domingo, they have an ally - Princess Eboli, with whom Philip is in love.

Upon learning of the refusal of the king to send a prince to Flanders, Pose is upset. Don Carlos shows his friend the King's letter to Princess Eboli. The Marquis warns the Infante against the intrigues of the offended princess, but at the same time shames him for wanting to use the stolen letter. The pose breaks it and, in response to the suffering of the unfortunate infant, promises to re-arrange his meeting with the queen.

From the Duke of Alba, Domingo and Princess Eboli, Philip II learns about the "treason" of Elizabeth, he loses his peace and sleep, he sees conspiracies everywhere. In search of an honest man who would help him establish the truth, the king's eyes rest on the Marchioness of Posa.

Philip's conversation with the Marquis is most reminiscent of a conversation between a blind man and a deaf man. Pose considers it her duty, first of all, to put in a good word for her suffering Flanders, where people's freedom is being stifled. The old monarch cares only about personal well-being. Philip asks the marquis "to enter into the confidence of his son", "to test the queen's heart" and prove his devotion to the throne. leaving, the noble grandee still hopes that he will be able to achieve freedom for his homeland.

As Philippe's envoy, Posa gets a date alone with the queen. He asks Elizabeth to persuade Don Carlos to go to the Netherlands without the king's blessing. He is sure that the king's son will be able to gather "rebels" under his banner, and then his father, seeing the pacified Flanders, will himself appoint her governor to this province. The Queen sympathizes with the patriotic plans of the Marquis of Posa and appoints a date with Doc Carlos.

The Marquis of Posa delivers Don Carlos' personal letters to the King. Among them, the monarch recognizes by handwriting a note from Princess Eboli, who, wanting to prove Elizabeth's betrayal of her husband, broke open the queen's box and stole letters from Don Carlos, written to Elizabeth, as it turned out, even before her marriage. Pose asks the king for a paper with his signature, which would allow him, as a last resort, to arrest the unstable prince. Philip gives such a document.

At court, the behavior of the Marquis of Posa causes bewilderment, which reaches its limit when the grandee orders the arrest of Don Carlos on the basis of a letter from the king. At this time, the postal director, Don Raymond de Taxis, appears, he brings a letter from Posa, which is addressed to the Prince of Orange, who is in Brussels. It should explain everything to everyone.

Princess Eboli informs Elizabeth of the arrest of the Infante and, tormented by pangs of conscience, confesses her villainy against the queen, she orders her to be exiled to the monastery of St. Mary.

After a meeting with the queen, in which he asks Elizabeth to remind the prince of their youthful oath, the Marquis of Posa goes to prison with his friend Don Carlos. Knowing that this is their last meeting, he reveals his plan to the Infanta. To save Carlos, he wrote a letter to the Prince of Orange about his imaginary love for the Queen and that the Infante Don Carlos had been given to Philip by him only to divert his eyes. Poza is sure that his letter will fall into the hands of the monarch. The prince is shocked, he is ready to run to his father-king to ask for forgiveness for himself and the Marquis, but too late: a shot is heard, the Marquis of Posa falls and dies.

Philip comes to prison with grants to free his son. But instead of the grateful and obedient Don Carlos, he finds there a heartbroken man who blames the king for the death of his friend. Noise is growing around the prison, it is in Madrid that a rebellion of the people begins, which demands the release of the prince.

At this time, a Carthusian monk falls into the hands of the spies of the Duke of Alba. With him were letters from the Marquis of Posa to Flanders, which dealt with the escape of the crown prince to the Netherlands, where he would lead an uprising for the independence of this country. The Duke of Alba immediately delivers the letters to the Spanish king.

King Philip summons the Grand Inquisitor. He is tormented by the thought that infanticide is a grave sin, while he decided to get rid of his son. To appease his conscience, the old monarch wants to enlist the support of the church in his crime. The Grand Inquisitor says that the Church is able to forgive sonicide and gives an argument: “In the name of justice, the eternal son of God was crucified *. He is ready to take responsibility for the death of the Infante, if only the champion of freedom were not on the throne.

Night falls, Don Carlos comes on a date with Elizabeth. He sets out for Flanders, determined to accomplish in the name of friendship what he and the marquis had dreamed of. The Queen blesses him. The king appears with the Grand Inquisitor. The queen faints and dies, Philip, without a shadow of a doubt, hands over his son to the hands of the Grand Inquisitor.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Kabale und Liebe)

Petty-bourgeois tragedy (1784)

The action takes place in Germany in the XNUMXth century, at the court of one of the German dukes.

The son of President von Walter is in love with the daughter of a simple musician, Louise Miller. Her father is suspicious of this, since the marriage of an aristocrat with a mash is impossible. The secretary of the president, Wurm, also claims to be Louise's hand, he has been visiting the Miller house for a long time, but the girl does not have any feelings for him. The musician himself understands that Wurm is a more suitable party for Louise, although he is not to Miller's heart, but the last word here belongs to the daughter herself, the father is not going to force her to marry anyone,

Wurm informs the president about his son's infatuation with the daughter of the tradesman Miller. Von Walter doesn't take it seriously. A fleeting feeling, perhaps even the birth of a healthy illegitimate grandson - all this is not new in the noble world. For his son, Mr. President prepared a different fate. He wants to marry him to Lady Milford, the duke's favorite, in order to gain the duke's confidence through her. The news of the secretary makes von Walter speed up the course of events: the son should know about his upcoming marriage immediately.

Returning home Ferdinand. The father tries to talk to him about his future. Now he is twenty years old, and he is already in the rank of major. If he continues to obey his father, then he will have a place next to the throne. Now the son must marry Lady Milford, which will finally strengthen his position at court. Major von Walter refuses his father's offer to marry a "privileged charmer", he is disgusted with the president's deeds and how he "works" them * at the duke's court. The place near the throne does not appeal to him. Then the president offers Ferdinand to marry Countess Ostheim, who from their circle, but at the same time did not discredit himself with a bad reputation. The young man again disagrees, it turns out that he does not love the countess. Trying to break the stubbornness of his son, von Walter orders him to visit Lady Milford, the news of his upcoming marriage to whom has already been spread around throughout the city.

Ferdinand breaks into Lady Milford's house. He accuses her that she wants to dishonor him by her marriage to him. Then Emilia, who is secretly in love with the major, tells him the story of her life. The hereditary Duchess of Norfolk, she was forced to flee England, leaving her entire fortune there. She didn't have any relatives. The Duke took advantage of her youth and inexperience and turned her into his expensive toy. Ferdinand repents of his rudeness, but informs her that he is unable to marry her, as he loves the musician's daughter Louise Miller. All Emilia's plans for personal happiness collapse. "You are destroying yourself, me and another third person," she says to the major. Lady Milford cannot refuse marriage to Ferdinand, as she "cannot wash away the shame" if the duke's subject rejects her, so the whole burden of the struggle falls on the shoulders of the major.

President von Walter comes to the musician's house. He tries to humiliate Louise, calling her a corrupt girl who cleverly lured the son of a nobleman into her net. However, having coped with the first excitement, the musician and his daughter behave with dignity, they are not ashamed of their origin. Miller, in response to von Walther's intimidation, even points him to the door. Then the president wants to arrest Louise and her mother and chain them to the pillory, and throw the musician himself into jail. Arriving in time, Ferdinand defends his beloved with a sword, he injures the police, but this does not help. He has no choice but to resort to the "devil's remedy", he whispers in his father's ear that he will tell the whole capital how he removed his predecessor. The President leaves Miller's house in horror.

The way out of this situation is suggested to him by the insidious secretary Wurm. He offers to play on Ferdinand's feelings of jealousy by throwing him a note written by Louise to an imaginary lover. This should persuade the son to marry Lady Milford. Louise's bogus lover was persuaded by the president to become Marshal von Kalb, who, together with him, wrote false letters and reports in order to remove his predecessor from his post.

Wurm goes to Louise. He informs her that her father is in prison and he is threatened with a criminal trial, and her mother is in a workhouse. An obedient daughter can release them if she writes a letter under Wurm's dictation, and also takes an oath to recognize this letter as voluntary. Louise agrees. The letter "lost" by von Kalb falls into the hands of Ferdinand, who challenges the marshal to a duel. The cowardly von Kalb tries to explain everything to the major, but passion prevents him from hearing a frank confession.

Meanwhile, Lady Milford arranges a meeting with Louise at her home. She wanted to humiliate the girl by offering her a job as a maid. But the musician's daughter shows such nobility towards her rival that the humiliated Emilia leaves the city. She flees to England, distributing all her possessions to her servants.

Having endured so much in recent days, Louise wants to end her life, but her old father returns home. With tears, he manages to dissuade his daughter from a terrible act, Ferdinand appears. He shows Louise the letter. Miller's daughter does not deny that it was written by her hand. The major is beside himself, he asks Louise to bring him lemonade, but he sends the musician to President von Walter with a request to convey a letter from him and say that he will not come to dinner. Left alone with his beloved, Ferdinand imperceptibly adds poison to the lemonade, drinks it himself and gives the terrible potion to Louise. The imminent death removes the seal of oath from Louise's lips, and she confesses that she wrote the note on the President's orders to save her father from prison. Ferdinand is horrified, Louise dies.

Von Walter and old Miller run into the room. Ferdinand blames his father for the death of an innocent girl, he points to Wurm. The police appear, Wurm is arrested, but he does not intend to take all the blame. Ferdinand dies, before his death he forgives his father.

E. A. Korkmazova

Dramatic poem (1796-1799)

The poem begins with a prologue, in which, on behalf of the author, a brief description of Germany in the era of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) is given, the main character, Generalissimo Wallenstein of the imperial troops, is described, and the exact time of what is happening is indicated - 1634.

The action of the play "Camp Wallenstein" takes place near one of the largest cities in Bohemia, Pilsen. Here the emperor's troops were stationed under the leadership of the Duke of Friedland. There is no plot in this part of the trilogy, these are scenes from the life of ordinary soldiers. Here is a candienne with her son, who has been wandering with the army for a long time. Here are hired soldiers from different places, they have changed their owners more than once in search of more reliable income. They are always happy to exchange the stolen goods, lose it at cards, drink a glass of wine for their lucky Duke of Friedland. Among them is the Capuchin, who is trying to instruct the soldiers on the path of a righteous life. Peasants from nearby war-ravaged villages also wander into the camp in order to profit from something here. One of them, playing fake dice, is caught by the soldiers, but then released.

There is a rumor in the camp that the emperor is going to send most of the army to the Netherlands, but the soldiers do not want to obey the order of the emperor, Wallenstein is their "father", it was he who united many different regiments into a single army, he pays them a salary from his own pocket, their desire is to stay with him. The soldiers decide that each regiment should write a report asking them to stay with their general, and Max Piccolomini, the commander of the cuirassier regiment, let them pass them on to the emperor.

In the second part of the trilogy, the scene is transferred to Pilsen. The commanders of thirty regiments, standing at the walls of Pilsen, gather in the town hall. Here is the minister of the emperor von Questenberg with the orders of the monarch. According to rumors, he was sent to remove Wallenstein. In conversations among themselves, the commanders of the regiments Illo, Butler, Isolani support the Duke of Friedland. Von Questenberg is talking to a friend of the duke, Octavio Piccolomini, who is on the side of the emperor in his heart, he does not like Wallenstein's desire for independence.

The wife and daughter of the Duke of Friedland, accompanied by Max Piccolomini, arrive at the town hall. Wallenstein is talking with his wife, he is primarily interested in their visit to Vienna. The duchess bitterly informs her husband that the attitude of the court towards them has changed, from grace and trust, everything has grown into "ceremonial etiquette". From letters received from Vienna, the generalissimo learns that a successor has been found for him, the son of the emperor, young Ferdinand. Wallenstein needs to make a decision about his next steps, but he hesitates.

Regimental commanders gather in the duke's castle. Minister Questenberg gives them the order of the emperor to clear Bohemia of troops and send them to liberate Regensburg from the Lutherans. Eight regiments will go to Milan to accompany the Cardinal Infante on his way to the Netherlands. Most commanders oppose the order. Wallenstein's brother-in-law, Count Tertsky, and Field Marshal Illo are developing a plan on how to finally lure the regiments to the side of the duke and force them to disobey the order of the emperor. They draw up the text of the oath of allegiance to Wallenstein, which the regimental commanders will have to sign.

Countess Terzky, the duke's sister, initiated into the affairs of the heart of her niece Tekla, tries to convince her that, as the daughter of a worthy parent, she must submit to the will of her father, who himself will choose a groom for her. Tekla loves Max Piccolomini and is sure that she will be able to defend her feelings in the eyes of her father, while Countess Terzka has something else on her mind, she hopes that Max's love for Wallenstein's daughter will tie his father's hands, and Octavio will remain on the side of the duke.

There is a feast in Terzka's house, to which all regimental commanders are invited. At the end, when enough wine has already been drunk, Illo and the count ask the commanders to sign an oath of allegiance to Wallenstein, in which there is allegedly nothing contradicting their oath to the emperor. Everyone signs, and even Octavio, only Max Piccolomini, under the pretext that he always does everything with a fresh head, evades.

At home, a frank conversation takes place between father and son Piccolomini, in which Octavio reports that the Duke of Friedland is going to take away the troops from the emperor and hand them over to the enemy - the Swedes. To do this, at a party at Tertsky's, they were forced to sign an oath, that is, to swear allegiance to Wallenstein. Max does not believe that this is the idea of ​​the duke himself, most likely it is the intrigues of his entourage. At this time, a courier arrives from the commander of the regiment Galles, who refused to come to Pilsen with his soldiers. He reports that the duke's messenger with his letters to the Swedes was captured by the people of Galles. They are stamped with the coat of arms of Terzka, and now they are on their way to Vienna. Octavio shows his son an imperial decree, according to which, in the event of irrefutable evidence of Wallenstein's treason, he must lead the duke's troops for a short time until the arrival of Ferdinand. It is difficult for Max Piccolomini to understand these "intricacies", he rushes to the castle to the duke to ask him about the truth himself. His last words: "Before the day of the end is reached, I shall lose my friend - or my father."

The action of the last part of the dramatic poem begins in Pilsen. The astrologer predicted to Wallenstein from the state of the planets that a favorable moment had come for him. Count Terzky arrives, letters to the Swedes are intercepted, which means that their plan is known to the enemy. Now we must act, but the Duke of Friedland is still slow.

Colonel Wrangel came to Wallenstein from the Swedes. He has a letter from the chancellor, in which he offers the duke the Bohemian crown in exchange for the two fortresses of Egra and Prague. Premonition did not deceive Wallenstein, the Swedes do not trust him. The Duke is trying to explain to Wrangel that the surrender of Prague will mean for him the loss of support in the troops, because this is the capital of Bohemia. The cunning Swedish colonel, who already knows about the fate of Wallenstein's envoy to the Swedes, understands that the duke is cornered, he has no way back to the emperor's camp, so he is ready to abandon the plan to get Prague. Everyone is waiting for the final decision of the Generalissimo.

Wallenstein, who still trusts Octavio Piccolomini, sends him to Frauenberg, where the Spanish regiments that have betrayed him are stationed. Standing at the head of them, Octavio will have to stand still and remain neutral. Just in case, he leaves his son Piccolomini in Pilsen.

A young Piccolomini appears at the duke's headquarters, who sees the Swedish colonel and understands that his father was right. He rushes to the duke to convince him not to mess with the Swedes, otherwise his name is "traitor". Wallenstein is trying to justify himself, but the young hero is adamant, you cannot change your oath.

Meanwhile, Octavio is getting ready to go, but first, with the help of an imperial decree, he tries to convince individual regimental commanders stationed at Pilsen to leave with him. He poached Isolani and Butler. Butler even decides to take on the role of a scout in the enemy camp and stay with the duke in order to fulfill his duty to the emperor to the end. Returns home after meeting with Wallenstein Max. He is clearly not himself, all his hopes have collapsed, but he refuses to go with his father either.

Thekla, having learned about her father's betrayal of the emperor, understands that her happiness with Max is impossible. In addition, Countess Terzky told Wallenstein about her daughter's love for the young Piccolomini, and he reacted sharply negatively to the choice of Tekla. He wants the daughter of a "crowned" husband.

Count Terzky and Illo enter, Octavio led part of the troops from Pilsen, in addition, a messenger returned from Prague, the guards seized him and took away the letter addressed to the Generalissimo. Many cities of Bohemia, including the capital, swore allegiance to the emperor. Wallenstein is losing allies. Ten Pappenheim cuirassiers are asking for the duke's apartments. They want to hear from him personally the answer to the accusation of treason to the emperor. Wallenstein explains that in the name of peace in Germany, he entered into a temporary alliance with the Swedes he hates, but he will soon drive them away. At this time, Butler reports that the regiment of Count Tertzky, instead of the coat of arms of the emperor, hoisted the coat of arms of the Duke of Friedland on their banner. The cuirassiers hurriedly leave. A rebellion begins in the Pappenheim regiment, they demand that Wallenstein give them their commander, Max Piccolomini, whom, according to their information, the duke is holding by force in the castle.

Max is really in the duke's castle, he came to Tekla to hear from her whether she would accept his love if he betrayed his duty and the emperor. Wallenstein's daughter encourages him to stay true to himself, even if fate wants to separate them.

The Pappenheimers, meanwhile, have captured two city gates, they refuse to obey Wallenstein's order to retreat and are already directing their cannons towards the castle. The Duke of Friedland releases Piccolomini and orders the regiments loyal to him to be prepared for the campaign, he goes with them to the fortress of Egru.

In Egre, Wallenstein, with the five regiments remaining loyal to him, is waiting for the approach of the Swedes, so that, leaving his wife, sister and daughter here, move on. Butler, by order of the emperor, must capture Wallenstein and prevent him from joining the Swedish troops. The commandant of the fortress, on the one hand, is loyal to the emperor, on the other hand, he knew the duke as a twenty-year-old youth, when they were pages with him at a German court.

A messenger from the Swedes arrives at the fortress. He says that Max Piccolomini and his regiment attacked the Swedish troops standing in Neustadt, the superior forces of the Swedes destroyed all the Pappenheimers. Max himself, under whom the horse fell from the blow of the spear, was trampled by his own cavalry. The body of Piccolomini will be in the monastery of St. Catherine until her father arrives. Tekla, together with her maid of honor and the master of the horse, flees the fortress at night to say goodbye to the body of her lover.

Realizing that the Swedes are very close and Wallenstein can slip out of his hands, Butler decides to kill the duke. First, together with his officers, he goes to the chambers of Count Terzka, where he feasts with Illo, and kills the Count and Field Marshal Illo. The Duke of Friedland is about to go to bed, at which time his astrologer bursts into the room and warns that the stars portend trouble for Wallenstein. The commandant of the fortress, who happened to be nearby, supports the astrologer's proposal not to collude with the Swedes, but the generalissimo goes to rest. Butler appears with the officers, they go to the duke's chambers. At this time, the commandant of the fortress sees that the fortress is occupied by the emperor's troops, he shouts to Butler, but too late - Wallenstein is stabbed to death.

Octavio appears in the hall, he accuses Butler of killing the duke. Countess Terzky also dies by poisoning herself. A messenger from the emperor arrives in Egra, Octavio is granted the title of prince.

E. A. Korkmazova

Tragedy (1801)

The action takes place in England, at the end of 1586 - beginning of 1587. At the castle of Fotringay, her half-sister Mary Stuart, who claims to the English throne, is imprisoned by order of the English Queen Elizabeth. Her nurse, Anna Kennedy, is with her. Despite the rigors of detention and many hardships, Maria continues to be adamant. She has more than once managed to bribe the guards and organize conspiracies against Elizabeth.

Her last guardian, Flight, is extremely strict with her. But recently his nephew Mortimer appeared in Fotringay, having returned from wanderings in France and Italy, where he converted to Catholicism. There he became a supporter of Mary and now came to England to free her. On his side are twelve reliable warriors who agree to help. Mortimer reports that Mary was tried in London and sentenced to death. The queen warns the young man that if his escape fails, he will die. Mortimer is adamant in his desire to release Lady Stewart. Yielding to him, Mary writes a letter to the Earl of Leicester in London, she hopes that he will help Mortimer and her.

In the Palace of Westminster at the Queen's court, they are discussing the upcoming marriage of Elizabeth with the Duke of Anjou. The queen herself reluctantly agreed to this marriage. She is forced to think about the desire of her subjects to have a legitimate heir to the throne. But now Elizabeth's thoughts are occupied with something else - she will have to approve the decision of the court over her half-sister Mary. Most of the nobles from the circle of the English queen, led by Lord Burghley, support the verdict of the court. Only the old Earl of Shrewsbury stands up for Lady Stewart, and the Earl of Leicester also timidly supports him.

Polet and his nephew appear in the palace. Polet gives Elizabeth a letter from a prisoner asking for a personal meeting. Tears appear in the eyes of the queen when reading the letter, those around her are already ready to understand them as a sign of mercy to her sister. In fact, the English queen asks Mortimer to secretly kill his rival, but in such a way that no one would guess that the blow was inflicted by the royal hand. Flight's nephew agrees, as he understands that only by deceit can he avert trouble from Lady Stuart.

Left alone with the Earl of Leicester, Mortimer gives him Mary's letter. It turns out that the count has been a favorite of Queen Elizabeth for ten years now, but now her marriage to a young, handsome French duke finally deprives him of hope not only for her hand, but also for her heart. Lady Stewart's letter once again inspires him with hope for the royal throne. If he helps her free herself, she promises him her hand. But Leyster is cunning and very cautious, he asks Mortimer never to mention his name in conversations even with his like-minded people.

The count offers to arrange a meeting between Elizabeth and Mary, then, he is sure, the execution will be canceled, and it will be possible to talk about the future later. The young man is not satisfied with such discretion, he asks Leyster to lure the English queen into one of the castles and keep her locked up there until she orders the release of Mary. The count is not capable of this.

Leyster carries out his plan. On a date with Elizabeth, he manages to persuade her during the hunt to turn to the castle-prison of Mary and meet her unexpectedly, during her walk in the park. The Queen agrees to her lover's "wacky" proposal.

Unsuspecting Maria rejoices at the permission to walk in the park, but Polet informs her that a meeting with Elizabeth awaits her here. In the first minutes of the meeting, the beautiful prisoner throws herself at the feet of her crowned sister with a request to cancel the execution and release her, but Elizabeth tries to humiliate Lady Stuart, reminding her of her failed personal life. Unable to overcome her insane pride and having lost control of herself, Maria reminds her sister that she is an illegitimate child, and not a legitimate heiress. Enraged, Elizabeth hurriedly leaves.

Maria understands that she has ruined the hope of salvation with her own hands, but Mortimer, who has come, reports that this night he and his people will seize Fothringey by force and free her. For his courage, the young man expects to receive a reward - the love of Mary, but she refuses him.

The park around the castle is filled with armed men. Mortimer's friend brings news that one of their supporters, a Toulon monk, has made an attempt on Elizabeth's life, but his dagger has pierced only the mantle. The plot is revealed, the soldiers of the English queen are already here and they must urgently flee, but Mortimer is blinded by his passion for Mary, he remains to either free her or die with her.

After an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Elizabeth, since the killer turned out to be a French citizen, the French ambassador is urgently expelled from England, while the marriage agreement is broken. Burghley accuses Leicester of malice, because he lured Elizabeth to meet with Lady Stuart. Mortimer arrives at the court, he informs Leyster that during the search, drafts of her letter to the count were found at Mary's. The cunning lord orders Mortimer to be arrested, realizing that if he informs him of the disclosure of a conspiracy against Elizabeth, this will be credited to him when answering for Mary's letter to him. But the young man is not given into the hands of the officers and in the end stabs himself to death.

At an audience with Elizabeth, Burghley shows Mary Stuart's letter to the Earl of Leicester. The humiliated queen is already ready to approve the death sentence for the depraved woman, but Leyster bursts into her chambers by force. He reports that the monk captured after the assassination attempt is only a link in the chain of the conspiracy, the purpose of which was to free Lady Stuart and raise her to the throne. Indeed, he corresponded with the prisoner, but it was only a game on his part to keep abreast of what was happening and protect his monarch in time. They had just captured the initiator of the conspiracy, Sir Mortimer, but he managed to stab himself. The magnanimous Elizabeth is ready to believe her lover if he himself carries out Mary's death sentence.

Outraged people under the windows of the royal palace demand the death penalty for Lady Stuart. After deliberation, Elizabeth nevertheless signs the court decision on execution and hands it over to her secretary. The paper says that the Scottish queen should be executed at dawn. The secretary hesitates whether to give this document for immediate execution, but Lord Burghley, who is in the queen's waiting room, snatches the paper from his hands.

A scaffold is being built in the courtyard of Fothringay Castle, and in the castle itself, Maria says goodbye to people close to her. Lady Stuart is calm, only alone with her butler Melville, she admits that her innermost desire would be to communicate with a Catholic confessor. The old man reveals to her that he has taken holy orders and is now ready to forgive her all her sins. Mary's last request is that after her death everything should be carried out exactly according to her will. She asks to send her heart to France and bury it there. Count Leicester appears, he came to fulfill the order of Elizabeth - to accompany Mary to the place of execution.

At this time, in the royal castle, Elizabeth is waiting for news from Fothringay. The old Earl of Shrewsbury comes to her, who reports that Mary's scribes, who in court testified that their mistress was guilty of an attempt on the English throne, retracted their words and confessed to slandering Lady Stuart. Elizabeth pretends to express her repentance in her signature under the court decision and shifts all the blame on her slow secretary. Enter Lord Burghley. Mary Stuart is executed. Elizabeth accuses him of haste in carrying out the sentence. Lord Shrewsbury announces his decision to retire from court. The Earl of Leicester departs immediately after the execution of Mary in France.

E. A. Korkmazova

Drama (1804, unfinished)

The play takes place in three "forest cantons" - Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden, which, having united in 1291, formed the basis of the Swiss Union in the struggle against the Austrian rule of the Habsburgs.

It is hard for ordinary people suffering from the arbitrariness of the governors of the Austrian emperor - the Vochts. A villager from Unterwalden, Baumgarten, had his wife almost dishonored by the commandant of the fortress. Baumgzrten killed him, and he had to flee from the soldiers of the Landsfocht. In a storm with a risk to his life, he is helped to cross the lake by the daredevil William Tell. Thus, he avoids persecution.

In the canton of Schwyz, the peasant Werner Stauffacher is grieving. He is threatened by the governor of the region. He promises to deprive him of housing and farming only because he did not like how well he lives. Werner's wife advises him to go to Uri, where there will also be people dissatisfied with the power of the foreign Vochts. Although she is a woman, she understands that in the fight against a common enemy, one must unite.

In the house of a respected man in Uri Werner Fürst, Arnold Melchtal from Unterwalden is hiding from Vocht Landenberg. By order of the governor, they wanted to take away a pair of oxen from him, resisting, he broke the finger of an Austrian soldier and was forced, like a criminal, to flee from his home. Then his father's eyes were gouged out for the fault of his son, everything was taken away, they were given a staff and allowed to wander under the windows of people.

But the patience of the people is over. In the house of Werner Furst, Melchtal, Stauffacher and the owner himself agree to start joint actions. Each of them will go to his villagers and discuss the situation with them, and then ten reliable men from each canton will gather to work out a joint decision in the mountains, in the Rütli glade, where the borders of the three cantons converge.

The ruling baron of the local area, Attinghausen, does not support the power of the Landsfochts either. He dissuades his nephew Rudenz from entering the Austrian service. The old baron guesses that the true reason that prompted the nephew to make such a shameful decision is love for the wealthy Austrian heiress Bertha von Bruneck, but this is not a serious reason for a man to betray his homeland. Embarrassed by his uncle's foresight, Rudenz does not find an answer, but nevertheless leaves the castle.

The villagers of Schwyz, Unterwalden and Uri gather in the Rütli clearing. They make an alliance. Everyone understands that they cannot reach an agreement with the Austrian governors by peaceful means, therefore it is necessary to develop an exact plan of military operations. First you need to capture the castles of Rosberg and Sarnen. It will be easy to get into Sarnen during Christmas, when, according to the tradition of fochtu, it is customary for the villagers to give gifts. Melchtal will point the way to the Rosberg fortress. He has an acquaintance there. When the two castles are captured, the lights will appear on the tops of the mountains - this will serve as a signal for the performance of the people's militia. Seeing that the people are armed, the Vochts will be forced to leave Switzerland. The peasants take an oath of allegiance in the struggle for freedom and disperse.

William Tell, whose house is located in the mountains, is still aloof from the main events taking place in the villages. He does household chores. Having repaired the gate, he is going with one of his sons to his father-in-law, Walter Fürst, in Altorf. His wife Hedwig does not like this. Gesler, the emperor's viceroy, is there, but he does not like them. In addition, Tell recently met Gesler by chance alone on a hunt and witnessed how he was frightened of him, "he will never forget the shame."

Tell's road leads him to the square in Altorf, where there is a hat on a pole, to which, on the orders of Landsfocht Gesler, all passers-by must bow. Not noticing her, the Alpine shooter and his son pass by, but the soldiers standing guard detain him and want to take him to prison because he did not honor his hat. The villagers stand up for Tell, but then Gesler appears with his retinue. Having learned what was the matter, he offers the Alpine shooter to knock an apple off his son's head with an arrow, or he and his son are threatened with death. The villagers and Walter Fürst, who approached, persuade Gesler to change his mind - the Landsfocht is adamant. Then Tell's son - Walter - stands up himself, puts an apple on his head. William Tell shoots and knocks down the apple. Everyone is touched, but Gesler asks the shooter why he took out two arrows before taking aim. Wilhelm candidly admits that if the first shot had killed his son, the second arrow would have pierced Gesler. Landfocht orders Tell's arrest.

On the boat, the landfocht, along with the soldiers, sets off across the lake to deliver William Tell to the canton of Küsnacht. A storm begins, the soldiers of the Vogt throw their oars, then Gesler offers the shooter to steer the boat. They untie him, he also brings the boat closer to the shore and jumps out onto the stones. Now through the mountains Tell is going to go to Kusnacht.

Baron Attinghausen dies in his castle, surrounded by settlers from three mountain cantons. They love their master, he has always been their reliable support. The old man says that he leaves this world with sadness in his heart, because his peasants remain "orphans" without him, there will be no one to protect them from foreigners. Then ordinary people reveal to him the secret that they have concluded an alliance of three cantons on Rütli and will fight together against imperial tyranny. The baron rejoices that his homeland will be free, only the indifference of the nobles to what is happening overshadows him, but he dies with the hope that the knights will also take an oath of allegiance to Switzerland. The baron's nephew, Rudenz, runs in, he was late for the bed of the dying man, but over the body of the deceased he swears allegiance to his people. Rudenz reports that he is aware of the decision taken at Rütli, but the hour of the speech must be accelerated. Tell was the first victim of delay, and his fiancee, Bertha von Bruneck, was kidnapped from him. He asks the peasants to help him find her and release her.

Tell is in ambush on the mountain path leading to Kusnacht, waiting for Gesler. In addition to him, there are also peasants who hope to get an answer to their petitions from the Vogt. Gesler appears, the woman rushes to him, praying for her husband's release from prison, but then Tell's arrow overtakes him, the landfocht dies with the words: "This is Tell's shot." Everyone rejoices at the death of the tyrant.

Signal fires are lit on the tops of the mountains, the people of Uri arm themselves and rush to destroy the fortress of Igo Uri in Altdorf - a symbol of the power of the Austrian landfochts. Walter Furst and Melchtal appear on the street, who says that at night Ulrich Rudenz captured Sargen Castle with a sudden attack. He, with his detachment, as planned, made his way to Rosberg, captured it and set it on fire. It turned out that Bertha von Bruneck was in one of the rooms of the castle. Arriving in time, Rudenz rushed into the fire, and as soon as he carried his bride out of the castle, the rafters collapsed. Melchtal himself caught up with his offender Landenberg, whose people blinded his father, he wanted to kill her, but his father begged to let the criminal go. Now he is far away from here.

The people celebrate the victory, the hat on the pole becomes a symbol of freedom. A messenger appears with a letter from the widow of Emperor Albrecht, Elizabeth. The emperor is killed, his killers managed to escape. Elizabeth requests the extradition of criminals, the main of which is the Emperor's own nephew, the Swabian Duke John. But no one knows where he is.

In the house of Tell, a wandering monk asks for shelter. Recognizing in Tell the shooter who killed the imperial landfocht, the monk throws off his cassock. He is the emperor's nephew, it was he who killed the emperor Albrecht. But contrary to John's expectations, Wilhelm is ready to drive him out of his house, because the "mercenary murder" for the throne cannot be compared with the "self-defense of the father." However, the good Tell is unable to push away the inconsolable person, and therefore, in response to all John's requests for help, he shows him the way through the mountains to Italy, to the Pope, who alone can help the criminal find the path to consolation.

The play ends with a national holiday. The settlers of the three cantons rejoice in their freedom and thank Tell for getting rid of the landfocht. Bertha announces to Rudenz her consent to marry him, the same one, on the occasion of a general holiday, gives freedom to all his serfs.

E. A. Korkmazova

(Hyperion or Der Eremit in Griechenland)

Roman (1797-1799)

The lyrical novel - the largest work of the writer - is written in epistolary form. The name of the protagonist - Hyperion - refers to the image of a titan, the father of the sun god Helios, whose mythological name means High-reaching. One gets the impression that the action of the novel, which is a kind of "spiritual odyssey" of the hero, unfolds outside of time, although the scene of the events taking place is Greece in the second half of the 1770th century, which is under the Turkish yoke (this is indicated by references to the uprising in Morea and the Battle of Chesme in XNUMX).

After the trials that fell to his lot, Hyperion withdraws from participating in the struggle for the independence of Greece, he has lost hope for the near liberation of his homeland, he recognizes his impotence in modern life. From now on, he chose the path of hermitage for himself. Having the opportunity to return to Greece again, Hyperion settled on the Isthmus of Corinth, from where he wrote letters to his friend Bellarmine, who lives in Germany.

It would seem that Hyperion achieved what he wanted, but contemplative hermitage also does not bring satisfaction, nature no longer opens its arms to him, he, always longing to merge with her, suddenly feels like a stranger, does not understand her. It seems that he is not destined to find harmony either within himself or outside.

In response to Bellarmine's requests, Hyperion writes to him about his childhood spent on the island of Tinos, the dreams and hopes of that time. He reveals the inner world of a richly gifted teenager, unusually sensitive to beauty and poetry.

A huge influence on the formation of the views of the young man is exerted by his teacher Adamas. Hyperion lives in the days of bitter decline and national enslavement of his country. Adamas instills in the pupil a sense of admiration for the ancient era, visits with him the majestic ruins of the former glory, tells about the valor and wisdom of great ancestors. Hyperion is having a hard time about the upcoming parting with his beloved mentor.

Full of spiritual strength and high impulses, Hyperion leaves for Smyrna to study military affairs and navigation. He is lofty, longs for beauty and justice, he is constantly faced with human duplicity and despair. The real success is the meeting with Alabanda, in which he finds a close friend. Young men revel in youth, hope for the future, they are united by the high idea of ​​​​liberating their homeland, because they live in a desecrated country and cannot come to terms with it. Their views and interests are in many ways close, they do not intend to become like slaves who habitually indulge in sweet slumber, they are overwhelmed by a thirst for action. This is where the discrepancy appears. Alabanda - a man of practical action and heroic impulses - constantly carries the idea of ​​the need to "blow up rotten stumps." Hyperion, on the other hand, insists that it is necessary to educate people under the sign of "beauty theocracy". Alabanda calls such reasoning empty fantasies, friends quarrel and part.

Hyperion is going through another crisis, he returns home, but the world around him is discolored, he leaves for Kalavria, where communication with the beauties of the Mediterranean nature awakens him to life again.

Notar's friend brings him to a house where he meets his love. Diomite seems to him divinely beautiful, he sees in her an unusually harmonious nature. Love connects their souls. The girl is convinced of the high vocation of her chosen one - to be the "educator of the people" and lead the struggle of the patriots. And yet Diomita is against violence, even if it is to create a free state. And Hyperion enjoys the happiness that has come to him, the peace of mind he has gained, but foresees the tragic ending of the idyll.

He receives a letter from Alabanda with a message about the impending action of the Greek patriots. Having said goodbye to his beloved, Hyperion hurries to join the ranks of the fighters for the liberation of Greece. He is full of hope for victory, but is defeated. The reason is not only impotence in the face of the military might of the Turks, but also in discord with the environment, the collision of the ideal with everyday reality: Hyperion feels the impossibility of planting paradise with the help of a gang of robbers - the soldiers of the liberation army commit robberies and massacres, and nothing can hold them back.

Having decided that he has nothing more in common with his compatriots, Hyperion enters the service of the Russian fleet. From now on, the fate of an exile awaits him, even his own father cursed him. Disappointed, morally broken, he seeks death in the Chesme naval battle, but remains alive.

Having retired, he intends to finally live in peace with Diomita somewhere in the valley of the Alps or the Pyrenees, but receives news of her death and remains inconsolable.

After many wanderings, Hyperion ends up in Germany, where he lives for quite some time. But the reaction and backwardness prevailing there seem suffocating to him, in a letter to a friend he speaks caustically about the falsity of the deadening social order, the Germans' lack of civic feelings, pettiness of desires, reconciliation with reality.

Once upon a time, the teacher Adamas predicted to Hyperion that natures like him were doomed to loneliness, wandering, to eternal dissatisfaction with oneself.

And now Greece is defeated. Diomite is dead. Hyperion lives in a hut on the island of Salamis, goes over memories of the past, mourns for losses, for the impracticability of ideals, tries to overcome internal discord, experiences a bitter feeling of melancholy. It seems to him that he repaid black ingratitude to mother earth, disregarding both his life and all the gifts of love that she lavished.

His destiny is contemplation and philosophizing, as before, he remains true to the pantheistic idea of ​​the relationship between man and nature.

L. M. Burmistrova

(Der Tod des Empedokles)

Tragedy (1798-1799)

In the center of the unfinished play is the image of the ancient Greek thinker, statesman, poet, healer Empedocles, who lived in 483-423. BC e. The action takes place in the homeland of the philosopher - in the town of Agrigent in Sicily.

Vestal Panthea secretly brings her guest Rhea to the house of Empedocles so that she can at least from afar look at a wonderful person who feels like a god among the elements and composes divine chants. It was to him that Panthea owed the healing from a serious illness. She enthusiastically tells about the sage, who knows all the secrets of nature and human life, with what responsiveness he comes to the aid of those who suffer, how much he did for the good of his fellow citizens. Rhea guesses that her friend is in love with Empedocles, and she does not hide her feelings. Panthea is worried that lately Empedocles has been gloomy and depressed, she foresees that his days are numbered.

Noticing the approach of Panthea's father - the archon Critias and the chief priest of Hermocrates, the girls disappear.

Men with gloating reason: Empedocles surrendered, and rightly so. He thought too much of himself, revealed the black divine secrets, which were supposed to remain the property of some priests. His influence on the people was harmful - all these impudent speeches about a new life, which should replace the old, familiar way of life, calls not to submit to primordial customs and traditional beliefs. A person should not violate the limits set for him, rebellion turned out to be a defeat for Empedocles. As he retired from everyone, a rumor went around that the gods took him alive to heaven. The people are accustomed to consider Empedocles a prophet, a sorcerer, a demigod, it is necessary to overthrow him from his pedestal, to expel him from the city. Let his fellow citizens see him broken in spirit, having lost his former eloquence and extraordinary abilities, then it will cost nothing to restore them against Empedocles.

Empedocles is tormented - it seems that pride ruined him, the immortals did not forgive him for trying to become equal with them, turned away from him. He feels powerless and devastated - he subjugated nature, mastering its secrets, but after that the visible world lost its beauty and charm in his eyes, everything in it now seems petty and unworthy of attention. In addition, he remains misunderstood by his compatriots, even though they worship him. He never managed to raise them to the height of his thought.

The disciple Pausanias is trying to encourage Empedocles - he is just tired, what kind of life defeat can be discussed, because it was he who breathed sense and reason into the state. But Empedocles is inconsolable.

Hermocrates and Critias lead the inhabitants of Agrigentum to look at the fallen idol and his suffering. The philosopher enters into an argument with Hermocrates, accusing him and all the priestly brethren of hypocrisy and falsehood. The people do not understand the polymathic speeches, the Agrigentines are more and more inclined to believe that Empedocles' mind has become clouded. And then Hermocrates keeps talking about the curse of the gods sent down on the daring rebel and the danger of further communication with those who were rejected by the immortals. Empedocles is doomed to exile from his native city. In parting, the philosopher talks with Critias, he advises the archon to move to live in another place if his daughter is dear to him - she is divinely beautiful, perfection itself and will wither away in Agrigentum.

Leaving his father's shelter, Empedocles releases the slaves, instructing them to grab what they like in the house and try not to fall into captivity anymore. Outraged by the monstrous injustice of fellow citizens towards Empedocles, Panthea comes to say goodbye to the philosopher, but no longer finds him.

Empedocles and Pausanias, having overcome mountain paths, ask for an overnight stay in a peasant hut, but the owner warily meets travelers, and after learning who they are, he drives them away with curses. Pausanias is dejected, and Empedocles comforts the young man. He has already decided for himself: the way out of the spiritual crisis that has taken possession of him is to return to the "father-ether" and dissolve in nature.

The repentant Agrigentines, catching up with the exile, vainly offer Empedocles honor and the royal throne. The philosopher is adamant: after the ridicule and persecution that fell to his lot, he rejected the society of people and does not intend to sacrifice his soul and convictions to them. The anger of the people turns to the chief priest, who deprived them of the protection of the messenger of the gods, and all because he did not want to endure someone else's superiority. Empedocles begs to stop arguing and scolding. He calls fellow citizens to a bright community in the field of labor and knowledge of the world, to the creation of new forms of social order. He is destined to return to the bosom of nature and by his death to affirm the beginning of a new birth.

Empedocles says goodbye to Pausanias, he is proud that he raised a worthy student, in whom he sees his successor. Left alone, he throws himself into the fire-breathing crater of Etna to burn in its flames.

Having learned from Pausanias about what happened, Panthea is shocked: a fearless and truly majestic person who, by his own will, chose such an end for himself.

A. M. Burmistrova

(La vraie histoire comique de Francien)

A picaresque novel (1623)

Seeking the favors of Loreta, the young wife of the castle manager, the old man Valentine, Francion, having penetrated the castle under the guise of a pilgrim, plays a cruel joke with Valentine. That night, thanks to Francion, incredible events take place in the castle: Loreta has a good time with a thief, mistaking him for Francion, another thief hangs on a rope ladder all night, a fooled husband is tied to a tree, a maid Catherine turns out to be a man, and Francion himself breaks his head and barely does not sink in a bucket of water. After this adventure, stopping for the night in a village tavern, Francion meets with the old procuress Agatha, with whom, as it turns out, he is well acquainted, and a Burgundian nobleman. Agatha tells about the adventures of Loreta, and at the same time about her own, no less entertaining. Francion accepts the invitation of a courteous nobleman and, arriving at his rich castle, at the request of the owner, who has taken great liking to him, tells his story.

Francion is the son of a nobleman from Brittany, a noble and noble family, who faithfully served his sovereign on the battlefield, but did not receive any awards or honors. A large part of his already small fortune was shaken up by the chicane-judges in a protracted litigation for an inheritance. Francion grew up like a peasant boy, but already in childhood he showed "contempt for low deeds and stupid speeches." Having heard a lot about universities and schools, he dreamed of getting there in order to "enjoy a pleasant company", and his father sent him to a Parisian school. He did not find any pleasant company there, in addition, the mentors pocketed most of the money for the maintenance, and the schoolchildren were fed "nothing but a look." Young Francion did not burden himself too much with studies, but he was always "one of the most learned in the class", and he also re-read a bunch of chivalric novels. Yes, and how could one not prefer reading to the nonsense that ignorant educators stuffed schoolchildren with, in their entire lives, they had not read anything but comments on classical authors. And the most learned among them, like class teacher Francion Hortensius (who changed his name to Latin), were even worse. Hortensius, who considered himself one of the most outstanding minds, had not a single thought of his own, could not pronounce a single phrase in good French, and even explained his love with the help of a set of ridiculous quotations specially learned for the occasion.

When Francion graduated from the basic course at the school of philosophy, his father took him home to Brittany and nearly identified him on the legal side, forgetting his hatred of the judiciary. But after the death of his father, Francion received permission to return to Paris and "learn noble pursuits." Settling in the university quarter, he began to take lessons from the "lute player, fencing master and dancer", and devoted all his free time to reading and in a short time achieved considerable scholarship. Poverty was his greatest misfortune, he dressed so badly that no one recognized him as a nobleman, so he did not even dare to carry a sword and endured many insults every day. Even those who knew about his origins disdained to keep in touch with him. Having finally lost hope for the life that he once pictured in his dreams, Francion would have fallen into the abyss of despair if he had not taken up poetry, although his first poems "received a schoolboy spirit and did not shine with either gloss or sanity." Through a bookseller, he became acquainted with the Parisian poets and their writings, and found that among them there was not a single great talent. All of them were poor, because the craft of a poet does not bring money, and a rich man will not take up a pen, and all were distinguished by absurdity, inconstancy and unbearable self-conceit. Francion, possessing a sharp mind by nature, quickly learned the rules of versification and even tried to break into the court poets or enlist the patronage of a great noble, but nothing came of it. And then fortune turned to face Francion: his mother sent him a considerable amount of money. He immediately dressed as a courtier, and was finally able to introduce himself to the beautiful Diana, with whom he had long been in love. However, Diana preferred the empty dandy, the lute player Melibey, to him, and Francion's love faded away. After her, he loved many more and chased after all the beauties in a row, but he could not give his heart to any one, because he did not find a woman "worthy of perfect love."

Having acquired a luxurious dress, Francion also made many acquaintances among young people and founded a company of "enemies of stupidity and ignorance" called "Remote and Generous". They arranged pranks, which all Paris talked about, and "smashed vice not only with the edge of tongues," but over time, young people settled down, the brotherhood broke up, and Francion turned to philosophical reflections on human nature and again began to think about finding someone someone who would strengthen his position. But fate did not send him a snobbish patron, but rather a friend in the person of the rich nobleman Clerant, who had heard about Francion's wit and had long dreamed of meeting him. Clerant offered him a "decent reward", and Francion was finally able to show off in luxurious outfits on a magnificent horse. He took revenge on those who previously showed contempt for him, and his stick taught upstarts that in order to be called a nobleman, one must "not allow anything vile in one's actions." Francion became Clerant's attorney in all affairs, who, having fallen into favor, introduced Francion to the court. Francion has earned the favor of the King and Prince Protogen. And now a new hobby - Loretta - led him to Burgundy.

This is where Francion ends his story, and it turns out that his owner is the same Remon who once stole money from him and about whom Francion spoke very unflatteringly. Remon exits, slamming the door in anger. Two days later, Francion is informed by the butler that he must die by Remon's orders. He is dressed in antique robes and taken to trial for an insult to Remon. The court decides to betray Francion into the hands of the most severe of the ladies, the door opens, and Loreta and Remon appear, who embrace Francion and assure him of eternal friendship. After this, a bacchanalia begins, which lasts for a whole week, while Loreta is almost caught at the crime scene by her once again fooled husband.

And Francion is going on a journey to find the woman whose portrait struck his imagination. From her relative, Dorini, one of Remon's friends, Francion learns that Nais is Italian, a widow, prefers Frenchmen to Italians and is in love with a portrait of a young French nobleman, Floriander, and he has just died of a serious illness.

Along the way, Francion, like a knight-errant, does good deeds and finally finds the beautiful Nais in a village famous for its healing waters. Despite the fact that he is not Floriander, he manages to win the favor of the beauty and earn the hatred of her ardent Italian admirers, Valery and Ergast. All four, accompanied by magnificent retinues, go to Italy, and Ergast and Valery, joining forces against a common enemy, lure Francion into a trap: he finds himself in an underground prison of the fortress, and the commandant is ordered to kill him. Ergast writes Nais a fake letter on Francion's behalf, and Nais, having lost Francion, realizes how much she loved him.

But the commandant of the fortress releases Francion to freedom. In peasant dress, without servants and without money, Francion is hired to tend sheep in an Italian village. He plays the lute, writes poetry, enjoys true freedom and feels happy like never before. Complete bliss is hindered only by "attacks of love fever" and the desire to see his beloved, which, however, does not prevent Francion from enjoying the village girls. The peasants consider him a sorcerer who knows demons because he heals the sick and mumbles poetry. Francion administers court and sorts out complicated cases, showing wisdom akin to Solomon's, he even trades in potions prepared with his own hands. Finally, the valet Petronius finds him, and now Francion is already in Rome, again dressed like a nobleman, and also tells Remon and Dorini, who have arrived in Rome, about their new adventures. Hortensius also turns up in Rome, who has not wised up a bit since he was Francion's mentor. Everyone in Rome only talks about Francion and envy Nais. The wedding is already a settled matter, but then the rivals, Valery and Ergast, intervene again. Through their efforts, Francion is accused of both counterfeiting money and breaking his promise to marry a certain Emilia, whom Francion met upon arrival in Rome and, in truth, thoughtlessly had views of her, without ceasing to court Nais. Nais is offended by the betrayal, she refuses Francion, but his friends reveal the plot, Ergast and Valery confess everything, the court acquits Francion, and Nais forgives. Francion, mindful of the troubles that happened to him because of Emilia, decides to continue to love only one Nais. Marriage turns him into a man "of a sedate and calm disposition", but he does not repent of the tricks that he committed in the days of his youth "in order to punish human vices."

I. A. Moskvina-Tarkhanova

Tragedy (1637)

The teacher Elvira brings dona Jimena good news: of the two young nobles in love with her - Don Rodrigo and Don Sancho - Jimena's father, Count Gormas, wants to have the first son-in-law; namely, the feelings and thoughts of the girl are given to Don Rodrigo.

The same Rodrigo has long been ardently in love with Jimena's friend, the daughter of the Castile king dona Urraca. But she is a slave to her high position: her duty tells her to make her chosen one only equal in birth - the king or prince of the blood. In order to end the suffering caused by her obviously insatiable passion, the Infanta did everything so that fiery love would bind Rodrigo and Jimena. Her efforts were successful, and now Doña Urraca cannot wait for the day of the wedding, after which the last sparks of hope must die out in her heart, and she will be able to rise in spirit.

The fathers of Rodrigo and Jimena - Don Diego and Count Gormas - glorious grandees and faithful servants of the king. But if the count is still the most reliable support of the Castilian throne, the time of the great deeds of Don Diego is already behind - in his years he can no longer, as before, lead Christian regiments on campaigns against the infidels.

When King Ferdinand faced the question of choosing a mentor for his son, he gave preference to the wise Don Diego, which unwittingly put the friendship of the two nobles to the test. Count Gormas considered the choice of the sovereign unfair, Don Diego, on the contrary, praised the wisdom of the monarch, who unmistakably marks the most worthy person.

Word for word, and arguments about the merits of one and the other grandee turn into an argument, and then into a quarrel. Mutual insults pour in, and in the end the count gives Don Diego a slap in the face; he draws his sword. The enemy easily knocks her out of the weakened hands of Don Diego, but does not continue the fight, because for him, the glorious Count Gormas, it would be the greatest shame to stab the decrepit, defenseless old man.

The deadly insult inflicted on Don Diego can only be washed away by the blood of the offender. Therefore, he orders his son to challenge the count to a mortal battle.

Rodrigo is in dismay - after all, he has to raise his hand against the father of his beloved. Love and filial duty are desperately fighting in his soul, but one way or another, Rodrigo decides, even life with his beloved wife will be an endless shame for him if his father remains unavenged.

King Ferdinand is angry with the unworthy act of Count Gormas; he tells him to apologize to Don Diego, but the arrogant nobleman, for whom honor is above everything in the world, refuses to obey the sovereign. Count Gormas is not afraid of any threats, for he is sure that without his invincible sword, the king of Castile cannot hold his scepter.

The saddened dona Ximena bitterly complains to the infanta about the accursed vanity of the fathers, which threatens to destroy the happiness that both of them seemed so close to Rodrigo. No matter how events develop further, none of the possible outcomes bode well for her: if Rodrigo dies in a duel, her happiness will die with him; if the young man prevails, an alliance with the murderer of her father will become impossible for her; well, if the duel does not take place, Rodrigo will be disgraced and will lose the right to be called a Castilian nobleman.

Dona Urraca, in consolation to Jimena, can offer only one thing: she will order Rodrigo to be with her person, and there, just look, the fathers themselves, through the king, will settle everything. But the Infanta was late - Count Gormas and Don Rodrigo had already gone to the place they had chosen for the duel.

An obstacle that has arisen in the way of lovers makes the infanta mourn, but at the same time it causes a secret joy in her soul. Hope and sweet longing again settle in the heart of dona Urraca, she already sees Rodrigo conquering many kingdoms and thereby becoming her equal, and therefore rightfully open to her love.

Meanwhile, the king, outraged by the disobedience of Count Gormas, orders to take him into custody. But his command cannot be carried out, for the count has just fallen at the hands of the young Don Rodrigo. As soon as the news of this reaches the palace, a sobbing Jimena appears before Don Ferdinand and on her knees prays to him for retribution for the killer; only death can be such a reward. Don Diego retorts that victory in a duel of honor can in no way be equated with murder. The king listens favorably to both and proclaims his decision: Rodrigo will be judged.

Rodrigo comes to the house of Count Gormas, who was killed by him, ready to appear before the inexorable judge - Jimena. The tutor of Jimena Elvira, who met him, is frightened: after all, Jimena may not return home alone, and if the companions see him at her house, a shadow will fall on the girl's honor. Heeding Elvira's words, Rodrigo hides.

Indeed, Ximena comes accompanied by Don Sancho, who is in love with her, and who offers himself as an instrument of retaliation for the killer. Jimena does not agree with his proposal, relying entirely on the righteous royal court.

Left alone with the teacher, Jimena admits that she still loves Rodrigo, cannot imagine life without him; and, since it is her duty to doom the killer of her father to execution, she intends, having avenged herself, to descend into the coffin after her beloved. Rodrigo hears these words and comes out of hiding. He hands Chimene the sword with which Count Gormas was killed, and begs her to bring judgment upon him with her own hand. But Jimena drives Rodrigo away, promising that he will certainly do everything so that the killer pays for what he has done with his life, although in her heart she hopes that nothing will work out for her.

Don Diego is unspeakably glad that his son, a worthy heir of ancestors glorified by courage, washed away the stain of shame from him. As for Jimena, he says to Rodrigo, this is only one honor - lovers are changed. But for Rodrigo it is equally impossible either to change his love for Jimena, or to unite fate with his beloved; it remains only to call for death.

In response to such speeches, Don Diego offers his son, instead of looking for death in vain, to lead a detachment of daredevils and repel the army of the Moors, who secretly approached Seville under cover of night on ships.

The sortie of the detachment led by Rodrigo brings the Castilians a brilliant victory - the infidels flee, two Moorish kings are captured by the hand of a young commander. Everyone in the capital praises Rodrigo, only Jimena still insists that her mourning dress exposes Rodrigo, no matter how brave a warrior he is, a villain and cries out for revenge.

Infanta, in whose soul does not go out, but, on the contrary, love for Rodrigo flares up more and more, persuades Jimena to refuse revenge. Even if she cannot go down the aisle with him, Rodrigo, the stronghold and shield of Castile, must continue to serve his sovereign. But despite the fact that he is honored by the people and loved by her, Jimena must fulfill her duty - the killer will die.

However, Jimena hopes for a royal court in vain - Ferdinand is immensely admired by the feat of Rodrigo. Even royal power is not enough to adequately thank the brave man, and Ferdinand decides to use the hint given to him by the captive kings of the Moors: in conversations with the king, they called Rodrigo Cid - master, lord. From now on, Rodrigo will be called by this name, and already his name alone will start to tremble Granada and Toledo.

Despite the honors rendered to Rodrigo, Jimena falls at the feet of the sovereign and prays for revenge. Ferdinand, suspecting that the girl loves the one whose death she asks, wants to check her feelings: with a sad look, he tells Jimena that Rodrigo died of his wounds. Jimena turns deathly pale, but as soon as she finds out that in fact Rodrigo is alive and well, she justifies her weakness by the fact that, they say, if the murderer of her father died at the hands of the Moors, this would not wash away her shame; allegedly she was afraid of the fact that now she is deprived of the opportunity to take revenge.

As soon as the king has forgiven Rodrigo, Ximena announces that whoever defeats the murderer of the count in a duel will become her husband. Don Sancho, in love with Jimena, immediately volunteers to fight Rodrigo. The king is not too pleased that the life of the most faithful defender of the throne is not in danger on the battlefield, but he allows the duel, while setting the condition that whoever comes out victorious, he will get the hand of Chimene.

Rodrigo comes to Jimena to say goodbye. She wonders if Don Sancho is really strong enough to defeat Rodrigo. The young man replies that he is not going to battle, but to execution, in order to wash away the stain of shame from the honor of Chimene with his blood; he did not allow himself to be killed in battle with the Moors, since then he fought for the fatherland and the sovereign, but now it is a completely different case.

Not wanting the death of Rodrigo, Jimena first resorts to a far-fetched argument - he cannot fall at the hands of Don Sancho, since this will damage his fame, while she, Jimena, is more comfortable to realize that her father was killed by one of the most glorious knights of Castile - but in the end In the end, she asks Rodrigo to win so that she does not marry the unloved.

Confusion grows in the soul of Jimena: she is afraid to think that Rodrigo will die, and she herself will have to become the wife of Don Sancho, but the thought of what will happen if the battlefield remains with Rodrigo does not bring her relief.

Jimena's thoughts are interrupted by Don Sancho, who appears before her with a drawn sword and starts talking about the fight that has just ended. But Ximena does not allow him to say even two words, believing that Don Sancho will now begin to boast of his victory. Hurrying to the king, she asks him to have mercy and not force her to go to the crown with Don Sancho - it’s better that the winner take all her property, and she herself will go to the monastery.

In vain did Ximena fail to listen to Don Sancho; now she learns that, as soon as the duel began, Rodrigo knocked the sword out of the hands of the enemy, but did not want to kill the one who was ready to die for the sake of Chimena. The king proclaims that the duel, albeit brief and not bloody, washed away the stain of shame from her, and solemnly hands Rodrigo's hand to Jimena.

Jimena no longer hides her love for Rodrigo, but still, even now she cannot become the wife of her father's killer. Then the wise King Ferdinand, not wanting to inflict violence on the girl's feelings, offers to rely on the healing property of time - he appoints a wedding in a year. During this time, the wound on the soul of Jimena will heal, while Rodrigo will accomplish many feats for the glory of Castile and its king.

D. A. Karelsky

Tragedy (1640)

Longtime allies Rome and Alba went to war with each other. Until now, only minor skirmishes have taken place between the enemy armies, but now, when the Albanian army is standing at the walls of Rome, a decisive battle must be played out.

The heart of Sabina, the wife of the noble Roman Horace, is full of confusion and sorrow: now, in a fierce battle, either her native Alba or Rome, which has become her second home, will be defeated. Not only is the thought of the defeat of either side equally sad for Sabina, by the evil will of fate in this battle the most dear to her people - her husband Horace and her three brothers, the Curiatians, must draw swords against each other.

Horace's sister, Camilla, also curses the evil fate that brought two friendly cities together in mortal enmity, and does not consider her position easier than that of Sabina, although her confidante friend Julia tells her and Sabina about this. Julia is sure that it is fitting for Camilla to cheer for Rome with all her heart, since only her birth and family ties are connected with him, while the oath of allegiance that Camilla exchanged with her Albanian fiancé Curiatius is nothing when the honor and prosperity of the motherland are placed on the other side of the scales.

Exhausted by excitement about the fate of her native city and her fiancé, Camilla turned to the Greek soothsayer, and he predicted to her that the dispute between Alba and Rome would end in peace the next day, and she would unite with Curiatius, never to be separated again. A dream that Camilla had that night dispelled the sweet deception of the prediction: in a dream she saw a cruel massacre and piles of dead bodies.

When suddenly a living, unharmed Curiatia appears before Camilla, the girl decides that for the sake of love for her, the noble Albanian has sacrificed his duty to his homeland, and in no way condemns the lover.

But it turns out that everything is not so: when the rati came together for battle, the leader of the Albans turned to the Roman king Tull with the words that fratricide should be avoided, because the Romans and Albanians belong to the same people and are interconnected by numerous family ties; he proposed to resolve the dispute by a duel of three fighters from each army, on the condition that the city whose soldiers were defeated would become a subject of the victorious city. The Romans gladly accepted the proposal of the Albanian leader.

At the choice of the Romans, the three Horace brothers will have to fight for the honor of their native city. Curiatius is jealous of the great fate of the Horatii - to glorify the homeland or lay down their heads for it - and regrets that, with any outcome of the duel, he will have to mourn either the humiliated Alba or the dead friends. Horace, the embodiment of Roman virtues, does not understand how one can mourn for someone who accepted death for the glory of his native country.

Behind such speeches, friends are caught by an Albanian warrior who brought the news that Alba had chosen the three Curiatii brothers as her protectors. Curiatius is proud that it was on him and his brothers that the choice of compatriots fell, but at the same time, in his heart he would like to avoid this new blow of fate - the need to fight with his sister's husband and bride's brother. Horace, on the contrary, warmly welcomes the choice of the Albanians, which destined him for an even more sublime lot: it is a great honor to fight for the fatherland, but at the same time to overcome the bonds of blood and human affections - few people have had the opportunity to acquire such perfect glory.

Camilla does her best to dissuade Curiatius from entering into a fratricidal duel, conjures him in the name of their love and almost succeeds, but the noble Albanian still finds the strength not to change his duty for the sake of love.

Sabina, unlike her relative, does not think to dissuade her brother and husband from the duel, but only wants this duel not to become fratricidal - for this she must die, and with her death the family ties connecting the Horatii and Curiatii will be interrupted.

The appearance of old Horace stops the conversations of the heroes with women. The honored patrician commands his son and son-in-law, relying on the judgment of the gods, to hasten to fulfill their high duty.

Sabina is trying to overcome her spiritual grief, convincing herself that, no matter who falls in the fight, the main thing is not who brought death to him, but in the name of what; she inspires herself that she will certainly remain a faithful sister if her brother kills her husband, or a loving wife if her husband strikes her brother. But all in vain: Sabina confesses again and again that in the winner she will first of all see the killer of a person dear to her.

Sabina's woeful thoughts are interrupted by Julia, who brought her news from the battlefield: as soon as six fighters went out to meet each other, a murmur swept through both armies: both the Romans and the Albanians were outraged by the decision of their leaders, who condemned the Horatii and Curiatii to a criminal fratricidal duel. King Tull heeded the voice of the people and announced that sacrifices should be made in order to find out from the entrails of animals whether the choice of fighters was pleasing to the gods or not.

Hope again settles in the hearts of Sabina and Camilla, but not for long - old Horace tells them that, by the will of the gods, their brothers entered into battle with each other. Seeing the grief this news plunged women into, and wanting to strengthen their hearts, the father of heroes starts talking about the greatness of the lot of his sons, performing feats for the glory of Rome; Roman women - Camilla by birth, Sabina by virtue of marriage - both of them at this moment should only think about the triumph of their homeland ...

Again appearing before her friends, Julia tells them that the two sons of the old Horace fell from the swords of the Albans, while the third, the husband of Sabina, flees; Julia did not wait for the outcome of the duel, for it is obvious.

Julia's story strikes old Horace to the very heart. Having paid tribute to the two gloriously dead defenders of Rome, he swears that the third son, whose cowardice with indelible shame has covered the hitherto honorable name of Horatii, will die by his own hand. No matter how Sabina and Camilla ask him to moderate his anger, the old patrician is implacable.

Valery, a noble young man, whose love was rejected by Camilla, comes to old Horace as a messenger from the king. He starts talking about the surviving Horace and, to his surprise, hears terrible curses from the old man against the one who saved Rome from shame. Only with difficulty interrupting the bitter outpourings of the patrician, Valery talks about what, having prematurely left the city wall, Julia did not see: Horace's flight was not a manifestation of cowardice, but a military trick - running away from the wounded and tired Curiatii, Horace thus separated them and fought with each in turn, one on one, until all three fell to his sword.

Old Horace triumphs, he is full of pride for his sons - both those who survived and those who laid down their heads on the battlefield. Camille, stricken by the news of her lover's death, is consoled by her father, appealing to reason and fortitude, which have always adorned Roman women.

But Camilla is inconsolable. And not only is her happiness sacrificed to the greatness of proud Rome, this same Rome requires her to hide grief and, together with everyone, rejoice at the victory won at the cost of crime. No, this will not happen, Camille decides, and when Horace appears before her, expecting praise from her sister for her feat, he unleashes a stream of curses on him for killing her fiancé. Horace could not imagine that in the hour of the triumph of the fatherland one could be killed after the death of her enemy; when Camilla begins to revile Rome with her last words and call terrible curses on her hometown, his patience comes to an end - with the sword with which her fiancé was killed shortly before, he stabs his sister.

Horace is sure that he did the right thing - Camilla ceased to be his sister and daughter to her father at the moment when she cursed her homeland. Sabina asks her husband to stab her too, for she too, contrary to her duty, mourns for her dead brothers, envious of the fate of Camilla, whom death delivered from hopeless grief and united with her beloved. Horace of great difficulty is not to fulfill the request of his wife.

Old Horace does not condemn his son for the murder of his sister - having betrayed Rome with her soul, she deserved death; but at the same time, by the execution of Camilla, Horace irretrievably ruined his honor and glory. The son agrees with his father and asks him to pronounce the verdict - whatever it may be, Horace agrees with him in advance.

In order to personally honor the father of the heroes, King Tull arrives at the house of the Horatii. He praises the valor of old Horace, whose spirit was not broken by the death of three children, and speaks with regret of the villainy that overshadowed the feat of his last surviving son. However, the fact that this villainy should be punished is out of the question until Valery takes the floor.

Calling on royal justice, Valery speaks of Camilla's innocence, who succumbed to a natural outburst of despair and anger, that Horace not only killed a blood relative for no reason, which is terrible in itself, but also outraged the will of the gods, blasphemously desecrating the glory bestowed by them.

Horace does not even think of defending himself or making excuses - he asks the king for permission to pierce himself with his own sword, but not to atone for the death of his sister, for she deserved it, but in the name of saving her honor and glory as the savior of Rome.

Wise Tull listens to Sabina too. She asks to be executed, which will mean the execution of Horace, since husband and wife are one; her death - which Sabina seeks as deliverance, being unable to selflessly love the murderer of her brothers, or reject her beloved - will quench the wrath of the gods, while her husband will be able to continue to bring glory to the fatherland.

When everyone who had something to say spoke out, Tull pronounced his verdict: although Horace committed an atrocity, usually punishable by death, he is one of those few heroes who, in decisive days, serve as a reliable stronghold for their sovereigns; these heroes are not subject to the general law, and therefore Horace will live, and further jealous of the glory of Rome.

D. A. Karelsky

Tragedy (1640)

Emilia is possessed by a passionate desire to avenge Augustus for the death of her father, Kai Thorania, the educator of the future emperor, who was executed by him during the triumvirate. In the role of the performer of revenge, she sees her lover, Cinna; no matter how painful it is for Emilia to realize that by raising her hand against the almighty Augustus, Cinna endangers her life, which is priceless to her, yet duty is above all. to evade the call of duty is the greatest shame, but the one who fulfills his duty is worthy of the highest honor. Therefore, even ardently loving Cinna, Emilia is ready to give him her hand only when the hated tyrant is killed by him.

Emilia's confidante, Fulvia, is trying to dissuade her friend from a dangerous plan, recalling with what honors and respect Augustus surrounded Emilia, thereby atoning for old guilt. But Emilia stands her ground: Caesar's crime can only be redeemed by death. Then Fulvia starts talking about the danger that awaits Cinna on the path of revenge, and that even without Cinna among the Romans, Augustus cannot count the enemies who are thirsty for the death of the emperor; so wouldn't it be better to leave the execution of the tyrant to one of them? But no, Emilia will consider her duty of revenge unfulfilled if Augustus is killed by someone else.

Cinnoi has drawn up a whole conspiracy against the emperor. In a close circle of conspirators, all as one are burning with hatred for the tyrant, who paved his way to the Roman throne with corpses, all as one yearn for the death of a man who, for the sake of his own exaltation, plunged the country into the abyss of fratricidal massacre, betrayal, betrayal and denunciations. Tomorrow is the decisive day, on which the tyrant-fighters decided either to rid Rome of Augustus, or to lay down their own lives.

As soon as Cinna manages to tell Emilia about the plans of the conspirators, the freedman Evander comes to him with the news that August demands him, Cinna, and the second leader of the conspiracy, Maxim. Cinna is embarrassed by the emperor's invitation, which, however, does not yet mean that the plot has been discovered - both Augustus counts him and Maximus among his closest friends and often invites him for advice.

When Cinna and Maxim come to Augustus, the emperor asks all the others to leave, and turns to two friends with an unexpected speech: he is weary of power, the ascent to which he once reveled, but now carries him only a heavy burden of worries, universal hatred and constant fear of violent death. Augustus invites Cinna and Maximus to accept the rule of Rome from him and decide for themselves whether their native country should be a republic or an empire.

Friends meet the proposal of the emperor in different ways. Cinna convinces Augustus that he inherited the imperial power by right of valor and strength, that under him Rome reached an unprecedented flourishing; if power were in the hands of the people, the senseless crowd, and the country would again be mired in strife, the greatness of Rome would inevitably come to an end. He is sure that the only right decision for Augustus is to keep the throne. As for death at the hands of murderers, it is better to die as the ruler of the world than to drag out the existence of an ordinary subject or citizen.

Maximus, in turn, wholeheartedly welcomed the abdication of Augustus and the establishment of the republic: the Romans have long been famous for their freedom, and, no matter how legitimate the emperor’s power, they will always see even the wisest ruler first of all as a tyrant.

After listening to both, Augustus, to whom the good of Rome is incomparably more precious than his own peace, accepts the arguments of Cinna and does not lay down the imperial crown. He appoints Maximus governor of Sicily, but keeps Cinna with him and gives him Emilia as his wife.

Maximus is at a loss why the leader of the conspirators suddenly became a friend of tyranny, but Cinna explains to him why he urged Augustus not to leave the throne: firstly, freedom is not freedom when it is taken from the hands of a tyrant, and secondly, the emperor cannot be allowed to do so simply retire to rest - he must atone for his atrocities by death. Cinna did not betray the cause of the conspirators - he will take revenge at all costs.

Maximus complains to his freedman Euphorbus that Rome did not receive freedom only at the whim of Cinna, who was in love with Emilia; now Maxim will have to commit a crime for the benefit of a happy rival - it turns out that he has long loved Emilia, but she does not reciprocate. The cunning Euphorb offers Maxim the surest, in his opinion, means not to stain his hands in the blood of Augustus, and to get Emilia - you need to inform the emperor about the conspiracy, all the participants of which, except for Cinna, allegedly repented and pray for forgiveness.

Meanwhile, Cinna, touched by the greatness of the soul of Augustus, loses his former determination - he realizes that he is faced with a choice: to betray the sovereign or his beloved; whether he kills Augustus or not, in both cases he commits treason. Cinna still cherishes the hope that Emilia will resolve him from the oath, but the girl is adamant - as soon as she vowed to take revenge on Augustus, she will achieve his death at any cost, even at the cost of her own life, which is no longer dear to her, since she cannot unite her with her lover - perjurer. As for the fact that Augustus magnanimously gave it to Cinna, to accept such gifts is to grovel before tyranny.

Emilia's speeches force Cinna to make a choice - no matter how hard it is for him, he will keep his promise and end Augustus.

The freedman Euphorbus presented the whole matter to Augustus in such a way that, they say, Maxim sincerely repented of malicious intent against the person of the emperor, and Cinna, on the contrary, persists himself and prevents other conspirators from admitting their guilt. The measure of repentance of Maximus is so great that in despair he rushed to the Tiber and, as Euphorbus believes, ended his days in its stormy waters.

Augustus is deeply stricken by Cinna's betrayal and burns with a thirst for revenge, but, on the other hand, how much blood can be shed? Hundreds of murders have not yet secured the emperor, and new executions are unlikely to ensure his calm rule in a country where opponents of tyranny will never be transferred. So isn't it nobler to humbly meet death at the hands of conspirators than to continue to reign under the sword of Damocles?

Behind such thoughts, Augustus is caught by his loving wife Livia. She asks him to heed her women's advice: this time not to shed the blood of the conspirators, but to have mercy on them, for mercy for the defeated enemies is no less valor for the ruler than the ability to decisively deal with them. Livia's words touched the soul of Augustus, little by little he is inclined to leave Cinna alive.

The freedmen Evander and Euphorb have already been captured, while Cinna is urgently summoned by Augustus for advice. Emilia understands that all this means that the plot has been discovered, and mortal danger hangs over her and Cinna. But then Maxim appears to Emilia and starts an inappropriate conversation about his passion, offering to run away on a ship with him, Maxim, as soon as Cinna is already in the hands of Augustus and there is nothing to help him. Not only is Emilia completely indifferent to Maxim, but how carefully the escape is prepared leads her to suspect that it was Maxim who betrayed the conspirators to the tyrant.

Maxim's treacherous plan collapsed. Now he curses Euphorbus and himself with terrible words, not understanding how he, a noble Roman, could commit low crimes on the advice of a freedman, who forever preserved, despite the freedom granted to him, the most servile soul.

Augustus calls Cinna to him and, ordering him not to interrupt, reminds the failed conspirator of all the blessings and honors with which the emperor surrounded the ungrateful descendant of Pompey, and then sets out to him in detail the plan of the conspiracy, tells him who was supposed to stand where, when to strike ... August refers not only to the feelings of Cinna, but also to his mind, explains that even with the luck of the conspirators, the Romans would not want to have Cinna as emperor, because there are many men in the city with whom he can in no way be equaled either by the glory of his ancestors or personal prowess.

Cinna denies nothing, he is ready to suffer punishment, but in his reciprocal speeches there is not even a shadow of remorse. Repentance is not heard in the words of Emilia, when she, standing before Augustus, calls herself the true head and inspirer of the conspiracy. Cinna retorts that it was not Emilia who seduced him to evil intent, but he himself hatched plans for revenge long before he knew her.

Augustus and Emilia admonishes to leave anger, asks to remember how he exalted her in order to atone for the murder of his father, in which he is guilty not so much as fate, whose playthings are often kings. But Cinna and Emilia are relentless and determined to meet the hour of death together.

In contrast to them, Maxim deeply repents of the triple betrayal - he betrayed the sovereign, his fellow conspirators, wanted to destroy the union of Cinna and Emilia - and asks to put him and Euphorbus to death.

But August this time is in no hurry to send enemies to execution; he surpasses all conceivable limits of generosity - he forgives everyone, blesses the marriage of Cinna and Emilia, grants Cinna consular power. With wise generosity, the emperor softens hearts hardened against him and finds in the person of former conspirators his truest friends and associates.

D. A. Karelsky

Tragedy (1644)

The preface to the author's text is a fragment from the book of the Greek historian Appian of Alexandria (II century) "Syrian Wars". The events described in the play date back to the middle of the XNUMXnd century BC. BC when the Seleucid kingdom was attacked by the Parthians. The prehistory of the dynastic conflict is set forth in a conversation between Timagenes (teacher of the twin princes Antiochus and Seleucus) and his sister Laonica (confidante of Queen Cleopatra). Timagenes knows about the events in Syria by hearsay, since the queen mother ordered him to hide both sons in Memphis immediately after the alleged death of her husband Demetrius and the rebellion raised by the usurper Tryphon. Laonica, however, remained in Seleucia and witnessed how the people, dissatisfied with the rule of a woman, demanded that the queen enter into a new marriage. Cleopatra married her brother-in-law Antiochus, and together they defeated Tryphon. Then Antiochus, wanting to avenge his brother, attacked the Parthians, but soon fell in battle. At the same time it became known that Demetrius was alive and in captivity. Wounded by the betrayal of Cleopatra, he planned to marry the sister of the Parthian king Phraates Rodogune and regain the Syrian throne by force. Cleopatra managed to repulse the enemies: Demetrius was killed - according to rumors, by the queen herself, and Rodogune ended up in prison. Phraates threw a myriad army into Syria, however, fearing for the life of his sister, he agreed to make peace on the condition that Cleopatra cede the throne to the eldest of his sons, who would have to marry Rodogun. Both brothers fell in love with the captive Parthian princess at first sight. One of them will receive the royal title and the hand of Rodoguna - this significant event will put an end to the long troubles.

The conversation is interrupted by the appearance of Tsarevich Antiochus. He hopes for his lucky star and at the same time does not want to deprive Seleucus. Having made a choice in favor of love, Antiochus asks Timagen to speak with his brother: let him reign, renouncing Rodoguna. It turns out that Seleucus also wants to give up the throne in exchange for the princess. The twins swear to each other in eternal friendship - there will be no hatred between them. They made a too hasty decision: it is fitting for Rodoguna to reign together with her elder brother, whose name the mother will name.

Alarmed, Rodogune shares her doubts with Laonika: Queen Cleopatra will never give up the throne, as well as revenge. The wedding day is fraught with another threat - Rodogun is afraid of a marriage union with the unloved. Only one of the princes is dear to her - a living portrait of her father. She does not allow Laonika to give her name: passion can give itself away with a blush, and persons of the royal family must hide their feelings. Whoever heaven chooses for her husband, she will be faithful to her duty.

Rodoguna's fears are not in vain - Cleopatra is full of anger. The queen does not want to give up the power that she got at too high a price, moreover, she will have to crown the hated rival who stole Demetrius from her with a crown. She frankly shares her plans with the faithful Laonica: the throne will be received by one of the sons who will avenge their mother. Cleopatra tells Antiochus and Seleucus about the bitter fate of their father, who was killed by the villainous Rodoguna. The birthright must be earned - the elder will be indicated by the death of the Parthian princess.

The stunned brothers realize that their mother is offering them a crown at the cost of a crime. Antiochus still hopes to awaken good feelings in Cleopatra, but Seleucus does not believe in this: the mother loves only herself - there is no place for her sons in her heart. He suggests turning to Rodoguna - let her chosen one become king. The Parthian princess, warned by Laonica, tells the twins about the bitter fate of their father, who was killed by the villainous Cleopatra. Love must be won - her husband will be the one who avenges Demetrius. The dejected Seleucus tells his brother that he is renouncing the throne and the Rodogune - bloodthirsty women have repulsed his desire to both reign and love. But Antiochus is still convinced that mother and lover will not be able to resist tearful pleas.

Appearing to Rodogun, Antiochus betrays himself into her hands - if the princess is burning with a thirst for revenge, let her kill him and make her brother happy. Rodoguna can no longer hide her secret - her heart belongs to Antiochus. Now she does not demand to kill Cleopatra, but the agreement remains inviolable: despite her love for Antiochus, she will marry the elder - the king.

Inspired by success, Antiochus hurries to his mother. Cleopatra meets him severely - while he hesitated and hesitated, Seleucus managed to take revenge. Antioch admits that both of them are in love with Rodoguna and are not able to raise a hand against her: if his mother considers him a traitor, let him order him to commit suicide - he will submit to her without hesitation. Cleopatra is broken by the tears of her son: the gods are favorable to Antiochus - he is destined to receive the power and the princess. Immensely happy Antiochus leaves, and Cleopatra tells Laonica to call Seleucus. Only left alone, the queen gives vent to anger: she still wants revenge and mocks her son, who so easily swallowed the hypocritical bait.

Cleopatra tells Seleucus that he is the eldest and rightfully owns the throne, which Antiochus and Rodogune want to take possession of. Seleucus refuses to take revenge: in this terrible world, nothing seduces him anymore - let others be happy, and he can only expect death. Cleopatra realizes that she has lost both sons - the cursed Rodogune bewitched them, as Demetrius had before. Let them follow their father, but Seleucus will die first, otherwise she will face inevitable exposure.

The long-awaited moment of the wedding celebration is coming. Cleopatra's chair stands below the throne, which means her transition to a subordinate position. The queen congratulates her "dear children", and Antiochus and Rodoguna sincerely thank her. In Cleopatra's hands is a goblet with poisoned wine, from which the bride and groom must sip. At the moment when Antiochus raises the goblet to his lips, Timagenes rushes into the hall with terrible news: Seleucus was found on the alley of the park with a bloody wound in his chest. Cleopatra suggests that the unfortunate man committed suicide, but Timagen refutes this: before his death, the prince managed to convey to his brother that the blow was dealt "by a dear hand, by his own hand." Cleopatra immediately accuses Rhodoguna of the murder of Seleucus, and she blames Cleopatra. Antiochus is in painful meditation: "dear hand" points to his beloved, "native hand" - to his mother. Like Seleucus, the king experiences a moment of hopeless despair - having decided to surrender to the will of fate, he again raises the goblet to his lips, but Rodogune demands to try the wine brought by Cleopatra on the servant. The queen indignantly declares that she will prove her complete innocence. Taking a sip, she passes the goblet to her son, but the poison works too quickly. Rodoguna triumphantly points out to Antiochus how his mother turned pale and staggered. The dying Cleopatra curses the young spouses: may their union be filled with disgust, jealousy and quarrels - may the gods give them the same respectful and obedient sons as Antiochus. Then the queen asks Laonik to take her away and thereby save her from the last humiliation - she does not want to fall at the feet of Rodoguna. Antiochus is filled with deep sorrow: the life and death of his mother equally frighten him - the future is fraught with terrible troubles. The wedding celebration is over, and now you need to proceed to the funeral rite. Perhaps the heavens will nevertheless turn out to be favorable to the unfortunate kingdom.

E. D. Murashkintseva

Tragedy (1651)

Two of his sons arrive at the court of King Prusius of Bithynia. Nicomedes, a son from his first marriage, left an army, at the head of which he won numerous victories, laying more than one kingdom at the feet of his father; he was tricked into the capital by his stepmother, Arsinoe. The son of Prusius and Arsinoe, Attalus, returned to his homeland from Rome, where he lived as a hostage from the age of four; By the efforts of the Roman ambassador Flaminius Attalus, they were released to their parents because they agreed to extradite the Republic of its worst enemy, Hannibal, but the Romans did not enjoy the spectacle of the captive Carthaginian, because he preferred to take poison.

The queen, as is often the case with second wives, completely subordinated the aged Prusius to her influence. It was at her will that Prusius, for the sake of Rome, deprived Hannibal of his patronage, but now she weaves intrigues, wanting to make her son Attalus the heir to the throne instead of Nicomedes, and also to upset the marriage of her stepson with the Armenian queen Laodice.

Flaminius supports Arsinoe in her intrigues, for it is in the interests of Rome, on the one hand, to elevate Attalus, who received Roman education and Roman citizenship, to the Bithynian throne, and not the proud and independent Nicomedes, glorified in campaigns, and on the other hand, to prevent the strengthening of Bithynia due to the dynastic union with Armenia.

Until now, the half-brothers did not know each other and meet for the first time in the presence of Laodice, with whom they are both in love, but only Nicomede reciprocates. This first meeting almost ended in a quarrel.

Arsine friction between the brothers is only at hand, because in accordance with her plans, one of them must be crushed, the other, on the contrary, exalted. The queen is sure that with the help of the Romans, Attalus will easily take his father's throne; as for marrying Laodike, it is more difficult, but still she sees a way to destroy Nicomedes and force the Armenian queen into an unwanted marriage.

King Prusius has recently been seriously alarmed by the unprecedented rise of Nicomedes: the conqueror of Pontus, Cappadocia and the country of the Galatians enjoys power, glory and popular love greater than those that ever fell to the lot of his father. As the lessons of history tell Prussia, such heroes are often bored with the title of subject, and then, having desired the royal dignity, they do not spare sovereigns. The head of Prussia's bodyguards, Arasp, convinces the king that his fears would be justified if it were about someone else, but the honor and nobility of Nicomedes are beyond doubt. Arasp's arguments do not completely dispel Prussia's anxieties, and he decides to try, acting with extreme caution, to send Nicomedes into honorable exile.

When Nicomedes comes to his father in order to tell about his victories, Prusius meets him very coldly and reproaches him for leaving the army entrusted to him. To the respectful request of Nicomedes to allow him to accompany Laodike, who is leaving for her homeland, the king refuses.

The conversation between father and son is interrupted by the appearance of the Roman ambassador Flaminius, who, on behalf of the republic, demands that Prusius appoint Attalus as his heir. Prusius orders Nicomedes to give an answer to the ambassador, and he resolutely rejects his demand, exposing Rome's plans to weaken Bithynia, which, under such a king as Attalus, together with the newly acquired lands, will lose all its greatness.

In addition to the difference in aspirations, Flaminius and Nicomedes are prevented from reaching an agreement between themselves by the enmity that separates them: the father of Flaminius fell at the battle of Lake Trasimene at the hands of Hannibal, the teacher of Nicomedes, highly revered by him. Flaminius nevertheless makes a concession: Nicomedes will rule Bithynia, but on the condition that Attalus will marry Laodice and ascend the Armenian throne. Nycomedes and this time answers Flaminius with a decisive refusal.

Nobility is not alien to Prusius, and although Laodike is in his power, he does not consider it possible to inflict violence on a royal person. Therefore, since the marriage of Attalus and Laodice is pleasing to Rome, let Flaminius go to the Armenian princess and, on behalf of the republic, offer her son Arsinoe as her husband.??? beloved from captivity, even if it means breaking the walls of the Eternal City.

The plan of Flaminius was not destined to come true - on the way to the galley, Nicomedes fled with the help of an unknown friend. The prince goes out to the crowd, and the rebellious people immediately calm down. In the consciousness of his own strength, he appears before the frightened household and the Roman ambassador, but he does not even think about revenge - everyone who wanted him harm can be justified: the stepmother was led by blind love for his son, the father - by passion for Arsinoe, Flaminius - by the desire to observe the interests of his own countries. Nicomedes forgives everyone, but for Attalus he promises to conquer any of the neighboring kingdoms that Arsinoe likes.

Nicomedes touched the heart of her stepmother, and she sincerely promises to love him from now on as her own son. Here, by the way, it turns out that the friend who helped Nicomedes escape was Attalus.

Prusius has no choice but to arrange for sacrifices in order to ask the gods to grant Bithynia a lasting peace with Rome.

L A. Karelsky

(Jodelet ou le Maître valet)

Comedy (1645)

The play takes place in Madrid. Don Juan Alvarado flew to the capital from his native Burgos to meet his bride. Even family misfortune did not stop the young nobleman: on his return from Flanders, don Juan learned that his older brother had been treacherously killed, and the dishonored sister Lucrezia had disappeared to no one knows where. All thoughts of revenge were abandoned as soon as don Juan saw the portrait of his betrothed, the lovely Isabella de Rojas. Passion flared up instantly: the young man ordered the servant Jodle to send his own image to Madrid, and he himself went after him. On the spot, an unpleasant circumstance is revealed: Jodle, taking the opportunity, also decided to capture his physiognomy, then began to compare both works, and as a result, the beautiful Isabella received a portrait of not a master, but a servant. Don Juan is shocked: what will a girl say when she sees such a pig's snout? But the resilient Jodlele consoles his master: when the beauty sees him, she will like him twice as much in contrast, and the story of the foolish servant's mouthing will, of course, make her smile.

At the house of Fernand de Rojas, don Juan notices a shadow and draws his sword. Don Luis, having descended the rope ladder from the balcony, quickly dissolves into the darkness so as not to start a duel under the windows of Isabella. Don Juan stumbles upon the faithful Jodle: he falls backwards with fear and begins to kick, defending himself with his feet from the enraged caballero. Everything ends happily, but a suspicion arises in don Juan's soul: the youngster who slipped away did not look like a thief - rather, it was about a lover. The example of a sister brought up in terms of honor and not resisting the seducer calls for caution, so don Juan suggests that Jodlelet reverse roles - the servant may well impersonate the master due to confusion with the portrait. Jodlele, having broken for the sake of appearance, agrees and looks forward with pleasure to how he will feast on the master's dishes and cuckold the court dandies.

In the morning, Isabella passionately interrogates the maid about who climbed onto the balcony at night. At first, Beatrice swears in her complete innocence, but then she confesses that Don Luis, the handsome nephew of Don Fernand, bypassed her by cunning. The young helipad, with tears in his eyes, begged to be let in at least for a second to the seigneur, tried to bribe and soften the vigilant Beatrice, but nothing worked out for him, and the darling had to jump down, where they were already waiting for him - it’s not for nothing that people say that don Juan Alvarado rode to Madrid. Isabella is filled with disgust for the groom - she has never met a more disgusting physiognomy. The girl is trying to convince her father of this, but Don Fernand does not want to back down: according to the portrait, the future son-in-law is extremely clumsy, but he stands high in the opinion of the court.

Don Fernand sends his daughter away at the sight of a veiled lady. Lucrezia, don Juan's disgraced sister, came to seek protection from her father's old friend. She does not hide her guilt - her life was burned by the fire of love passion. Two years ago, at a tournament in Burgos, all the knights were eclipsed by a visiting young man who pierced the heart of Lucrezia. The impulse was mutual: the insidious seducer, if he did not love, then skillfully pretended. Then a terrible thing happened: the elder brother died, the father died of grief, and the lover disappeared without a trace. But Lucretia saw him from the window - now she had the hope of finding the villain.

Don Fernand promises the guest full support. Then his nephew turns to him for advice. Two years ago, Don Luis, at the invitation of his best friend, came to a tournament in Burgos and fell madly in love with a beautiful girl who also gave him her heart.

One day an armed man burst into the bedroom, a fight broke out in the dark, both opponents struck at random, and Don Luis struck the enemy to death. Great was his despair when he recognized a friend in the murdered man - his beloved turned out to be his own sister. Don Luis managed to escape safely, but now the circumstances have changed: according to rumors, the younger brother of the nobleman he killed is going to Madrid - this brave young man is burning with a thirst for revenge. The duty of honor tells Don Luis to accept the challenge, but his conscience does not allow him to kill.

There is a loud knock on the door, and Beatrice reports that the groom is breaking into the house - all in curls and curls, undressed and perfumed, in stones and gold, like a Chinese god. Don Luis was unpleasantly surprised: how could an uncle ask his daughter to marry him without informing his relatives? Don Fernand is concerned about something completely different: there will be a massacre in the house if don Juan finds out who his offender is. Jodles appear in the costume of don Juan and don Juan in the guise of Jodles. The young man is struck by the beauty of Isabella, and she looks at her betrothed with hatred. The imaginary caballero rudely pushes the future father-in-law, bestows a vulgar compliment on the bride and immediately demands to quickly round off the dowry business. Don Luis, madly in love with Isabella, secretly rejoices - now he is sure that his cousin will not resist his pressure. Beatrice colorfully paints for him how don Juan greedily pounced on food. Having dripped the sauce all over his jacket, the son-in-law lay down in the pantry right on the floor and began to snore so that the dishes on the shelves rattled. Don Fernand has already slapped his daughter, although he himself dreams of only one thing - how to turn back the shafts.

Isabella again presses on her father with persuasion, but Don Fernand insists that he cannot break his word. In addition, a great sin hangs on the family before don Juan - don Luis dishonored his sister and killed his brother. Left alone, Isabella indulges in sorrowful reflections: her future husband is disgusting to her, her cousin's passion is disgusting, and she herself is suddenly captivated by someone whom she has no right to love - honor does not allow her to even pronounce this name! Don Luis appears with ardent outpourings. Isabella quickly stops them: let him make empty promises and commit heinous atrocities in Burgos. Beatrice warns her mistress that her father and fiancé are descending on the noise, and the exit is closed: don Juan's servant is hanging around the door - and this handsome man does not look at all harmless. Don Luis hurriedly hides in the bedroom, while Isabella begins to honor Beatrice, who allegedly called don Juan an ugly and stupid beast. Enraged, Jodlet showers Beatrice with public abuse, and Don Fernand hurriedly retreats upstairs.

The groom and his "servant" are left alone with the bride. Jodlele frankly declares that he has always liked such rich beauties. Isabella replies that with the advent of don Juan, her life has changed: before, men almost disgusted her, but now she passionately loves what is constantly with the groom. Jodle understands only one thing from this - the girl has a crush! Deciding to try his luck, he sends the "servant" away and invites the bride to go get some air on the balcony. This idea ends with a beating: don Juan mercilessly beats Jodle, but when Isabella enters, the roles change - Jodle begins to court his master, allegedly for an unflattering review of Isabella. Don Juan has to endure, because a quick-witted servant has put him in a stalemate. The masquerade must be continued in order to clarify the truth: Isabella is inexpressibly beautiful, but, apparently, is unfaithful.

Finally, Beatrice lets Don Luis out of the bedroom, and at that moment Lucrezia enters, extremely amazed at the behavior of Don Fernand, who promised to protect her, but does not show himself. Don Luis, mistaking Lucrezia for Isabella, tries to explain himself: in Burgos, he simply dragged himself behind one girl, but she is no match for a lovely cousin. Lucrezia, throwing back the veil, showers don Luis with reproaches and loudly calls for help. Don Juan appears - Lucrezia, instantly recognizing her brother, involuntarily rushes under the protection of don Luis. Don Juan draws his sword with the intention of defending the honor of his "master". Don Luis is forced to fight with the footman, but then Don Fernand bursts into the room. Don Juan whispers orders to Lucretia to keep a secret, and aloud announces that he was doing his duty: don Luis was in Isabella's bedroom - therefore, don Juan was clearly insulted. Don Fernand acknowledges the correctness of the Jodle, and don Luis gives his word that he will fight either don Juan or his servant.

Touched by the kindness of Isabella, Lucrezia hints that don Juan is not at all what he seems. Jodlele enters the stage, picking his teeth with pleasure and belching loudly after a hearty breakfast of meat and garlic. At the sight of Beatrice, he is already ready to dissolve his hands, but the appearance of an indignant Isabella spoils the matter. Jodle with a sigh remembers the wise precept of Aristotle: women should be admonished with a stick. Don Fernand informs his "son-in-law" of good news: don Juan can finally cross his sword with don Luis, his sister's offender. Jodlelet categorically refuses to duel: firstly, he does not care about any insult, because his own skin is more expensive, secondly, he is ready to forgive everything for his future father-in-law's nephew, thirdly, he has a vow - never get into a fight because for the grandmother Outraged to the depths of his soul, Don Fernand declares that he does not intend to pass off his daughter as a coward, and Jodle immediately informs his master that Don Luis has dishonored Lucrezia. Don Juan asks the servant to be patient a little longer. He wants to believe that Isabella is innocent, because her cousin could just bribe the maid. A fight is coming, and Jodlet begs don Juan not to miscalculate.

Beatrice, offended by another lover, mourns the bitter maiden lot. Isabella longingly awaits the wedding, and Lucrezia assures her friend that in all of Castile there is no more worthy knight than her brother. Jodle leads don Luis to the room where don Juan has already hidden. The servant is obviously cowardly, and Don Luis showers him with ridicule. Jodle then puts out the candle: don Juan takes over and inflicts a light wound on the opponent's arm. The situation is clarified only with the appearance of Don Fernand: Don Juan admits that he entered the house under the guise of a servant because Isabella was jealous of Don Luis, who at the same time turned out to be his sister's seducer. Don Luis swears that Beatrice led him to the balcony and into the room without the knowledge of her mistress. He deeply repents that he accidentally killed his best friend, and is ready to marry Lucrezia. Don Fernand appeals to prudence: the nephew and son-in-law must reconcile, and then the house will become a place for a merry wedding feast. Don Juan and don Luis embrace, Lucrezia and Isabella follow suit. But the last word remains with Jodle: the servant asks the former "bride" to give the portrait: this will be his gift to Beatrice - let three couples enjoy well-deserved happiness.

E. D. Murashkintseva

(Roman Comique) (1651)

The action takes place in contemporary France, mainly in Mance, a city located two hundred kilometers from Paris.

The "comic novel" is conceived as a parody of "high-style" fashionable novels - instead of knights-errant, its heroes are wandering comedians, countless fights replace duels, and kidnapping scenes, obligatory in adventure novels, are extraordinarily funny. Each chapter is a separate comic episode, strung on the core of a simple plot. The novel is distinguished by a whimsical composition, it is replete with inserted episodes - as a rule, these are short stories told by one of the characters, or the heroes' memories. The plots of the short stories are taken mainly from the life of the noble Moors and Spaniards. I would especially like to say about the short story "Your Own Judge" - the story of a Spanish cavalry girl: young Sofia is forced to hide in a man's dress. Once in the military camp of Emperor Charles V, she shows such courage and military talent that she receives command of a cavalry regiment, and then the appointment of viceroy of her native Valencia, but, having married, she concedes all titles to her husband.

Scarron managed to complete two parts of the novel. The third after his death was written by Offrey, who hastily finished the plot.

Three bizarrely dressed people appear in the Mansa market - an elderly woman, an old man and a stately young man. This is a traveling troupe. The comedians aroused the wrath of the governor of Tours and lost their comrades during the flight. But the three of them are ready to give a performance in the upper room of the tavern. The local judge, Mr. Rappinière, orders the innkeeper to lend to the actors for the duration of the performance the clothes of young people playing ball left for her to keep. The handsome comedian Desten amazes everyone with his skill, but ball players appear, see their dress on the actors and begin to beat the judge who ordered it without the knowledge of the owners. The fight becomes general, and Desten is destined to once again delight the inhabitants of Mans: he mercilessly beats people who interfere with the performance. When leaving the tavern, friends of the beaten attack Rappinier with swords. Again, Desten saves the life of the judge, he also wields a sword very skillfully, chopping the attackers on the ears with it. Grateful Rappinier invites comedians to his house. At night, he raises a terrible commotion, deciding that Madame Rappinière has gone to the room of the young comedian. In fact, it is a goat wandering around the house, feeding orphaned puppies with its milk.

The next morning, the judge asks the second actor, the caustic Rankun, about Desten. According to him, Desten has only recently joined the troupe, and he owes his mastery to Rankun, and his life too. After all, Rankun saved him in Paris, when the young man was attacked by robbers who took away a certain jewel from him. Upon learning when the attack took place, the judge and his servant Dogen are terribly embarrassed. On the same day, Dogen is mortally wounded by one of the young men beaten by him in a tavern. Before dying, he calls Desten. The actor tells Rappinier that the dying man was just delirious. The rest of the actors gather: the daughter of an old actress, sixteen-year-old Angelica, Desten's student Leandre, a few more people. Only Etoile, Desten's sister, is missing: she has sprained her leg, and a horse-drawn stretcher is sent for her. Some armed riders forcibly inspect all the stretchers on the road. They are looking for a girl with an injured leg, but they kidnap a priest on his way to the doctor. Etoile arrives safely in Mans. Angelica and her mother, Cavern, ask the young people, as a sign of friendship, to tell them their story.

Destin agrees. He is the son of a village rich man, a man of anecdotal miserliness. His parents did not like him, all their attention was absorbed by the offspring of a certain Scottish earl given to him for education. Desten is taken in by his generous godson. The boy is an excellent student, accompanied by the children of the Baron d'Arc - the rude Saint Far and the noble Verville. After completing their education, young people go to Italy for military service. In Rome, Desten meets a French lady and her daughter, Leonora, who was born in a secret marriage. He saves them from the impudence of some traveling Frenchman and, of course, falls in love with his daughter. Leonora is also not indifferent to him, but St. Farre tells her mother that Desten is just a servant, and the poor girl is taken away without being told about her feelings. Desten is lured into an ambush and severely wounded by the sass he learned when he met Leonora. Having recovered, Desten seeks death on the battlefields, but instead finds the glory of a desperate brawler. At the end of the campaign, young people return to France. Verville falls in love with his neighbor, Mademoiselle Saldan. Her parents are dead, and the tyrant brother wants to send her and her second sister to a monastery so as not to spend money on a dowry. Desten accompanies a friend on a secret date. Suddenly, Saldan appears - this, it turns out, is the Roman enemy of our hero. A fight begins, Saldan is slightly wounded. After recovering, he challenges Verville to a duel. According to the custom of that time, Verville's second Desten was forced to fight with Saldan's second. alas, this is the eldest son of his benefactor Saint Far. The young man at first spares the enemy, but he vilely abuses this. In order not to die, Desten wounds him. Verville disarms Saldanya. The matter is settled by a double wedding - Verville marries his beloved, Saint-Far - her sister. Insulted, Desten, despite the persuasion of a friend, leaves the house of the Baron d'Arc. He again goes to Italy and on the way he meets his beloved and her mother. They are looking for Leonora's father, but their search is unsuccessful, and besides, all the money was stolen from them. Desten decides to accompany them.

During the search, Leonora's mother dies. Robbers steal a diamond-encrusted portrait of the father of his beloved from Desten - proof of her origin. In addition, Saldan is on their trail. The need to hide and the need force young people to pretend to be brother and sister and join the troupe of comedians under false names. In Tours, Saldan meets them again, he tries to kidnap Leonora-Etoile. The story takes several evenings. Meanwhile, a visiting doctor, his Spanish wife, who knows a myriad of fascinating stories, and a certain widowed lawyer Ragotten make acquaintance with the comedians. This little man is impudent, stupid and ill-bred, but has a peculiar talent for always getting into ridiculous troubles, described in detail in the novel. He decides that he is in love with Etoile. Rankyun agrees to help the lawyer win her favor, but in the meantime eats and drinks at his expense. The troupe is invited outside the city - they celebrate the wedding there. Comedians arrive, but the performance is not destined to take place - Angelica is kidnapped. Cavern is sure that the kidnapper is Leander, this is clear from the love letters she found. Desten gives chase. In an inn in one of the villages, he finds a wounded Leander and listens to his story. Leandre joined the troupe only out of love for Angelica. He is a nobleman, and a large inheritance awaits him, but his father does not agree to his son's marriage to a comedian. He chased the kidnappers, entered into a fight with them - the villains beat him and left him half dead on the road.

After some time, Angelica herself appears in the hotel - she was taken away by mistake. This became clear when the kidnappers met Etoile on the way. Rappinier tried to lure her into his networks with the help of a bribed servant. The servant was beaten, Angelica was thrown into the forest, and Etoile was taken away to no one knows where. There is no doubt that these are the tricks of Saldanya. However, with the help of Verville, who appeared in time, Desten rescues his beloved, this is all the more easy because a horse fell under Saldan and he was terribly hurt. It is possible to bring Rappinier to clean water, the judge is forced to return the portrait of Leonora's father: it was he and his late servant who robbed Desten in Paris. Comedians move from Mance to Alençon. Ragotin, in order not to part with the object of his love and show off his talents, joins the troupe. But Leander leaves his comrades - the news came that his father was dying and wanted to say goodbye to his son. The very first performance in a new place could end badly - the restless Saldan recovered from his injury and again tried to kidnap Etoile. But theater fans from among the local nobles take the side of the comedians. Saldan dies in a shootout, which he himself provoked. Leander inherits the baronial title and fortune from his father, but is not going to part with the theater and remains in the troupe. It was decided to play two weddings at the same time. On the eve of a joyful day, Cavern meets his brother, also a comedian, from whom they were separated as children. So everyone is happy except Ragoten. He tries to fake suicide and then drowns in the river while trying to water his horse. The evil prankster Rankun also leaves the troupe - his brother Cavern will take his place.

I. A. Bystrova

(L'autre monde ou les Etats et Empires de la Lune)

Philosophical-utopian novel (1647-1650, publ. 1659)

At nine o'clock in the evening the author and four of his friends were returning from the same house in the vicinity of Paris. The full moon shone in the sky, attracting the eyes of the revelers and arousing wit, already honed on the stones of the pavement. One suggested that this is a heavenly dormer window, from where the radiance of the blessed shines through. Another claimed that Bacchus kept a tavern in heaven and hung the moon as his sign. A third exclaimed that it was an ironing board on which Diana ironed Apollo's collars. The fourth said that it was just the sun in a dressing gown, without a robe of rays. But the author expressed the most original version: undoubtedly, the moon is the same world as the earth, which, in turn, is the moon for it. The companions greeted these words with loud laughter, although the author relied on the authority of Pythagoras, Epicurus, Democritus, Copernicus and Kepler. But providence or fate helped the author to establish himself on his path: when he returned home, he found on his table a book that he did not put there and which just spoke about the inhabitants of the moon. So, by a clear suggestion from above, the author was ordered to explain to people that the moon is an inhabited world.

In order to ascend to heaven, the author bound himself with flasks filled with dew. The sun's rays attracted them to itself, and soon the inventor was above the highest clouds. Then he began to break the bottles one after another and smoothly sank to the ground, where he saw completely naked people who fled in fear at his appearance. Then a detachment of soldiers appeared, from whom the author learned that he was in New France. The Viceroy received him very kindly: he was a man capable of lofty thoughts and who fully shared the views of Gassendi regarding the falsity of the Ptolemaic system. Philosophical conversations gave the author great pleasure, but he did not leave the idea of ​​​​climbing the moon and built a special machine with six rows of rockets filled with combustible composition. An attempt to take off from a cliff ended sadly: the author hurt himself so badly in the fall that he had to rub himself from head to toe with a brain of bull bones. However, the moon on its detriment has a habit of sucking the brain out of the bones of animals, so it pulled the author to itself. After flying three-quarters of the way, he began to descend feet up, and then collapsed on the branches of the tree of life and found himself in a biblical paradise. At the sight of the beauties of this sacred place, he felt the same pleasant and painful feeling that an embryo experiences at the moment when the soul is infused into it. The traveler immediately looked fourteen years younger: old hair fell out, replaced by new, thick and soft ones, blood caught fire in his veins, natural warmth harmoniously permeated his entire being.

Walking in a wonderful garden, the author met an unusually handsome young man. It was the prophet Elijah, who ascended to paradise on an iron chariot, with the help of a constantly thrown up magnet. Having eaten of the fruits of the tree of life, the holy elder gained eternal youth. From him the author learned about the former inhabitants of Paradise. Exiled by God, Adam and Eve, having flown to earth, settled in the area between Mesopotamia and Arabia - the pagans, who knew the first person under the name of Prometheus, composed a fable about him, as if he stole fire from heaven. Several centuries later, the Lord inspired Enoch with the idea of ​​leaving the vile tribe of people. This holy man, having filled two large vessels with smoke from the sacrificial fire, sealed them hermetically and tied them under his arms, as a result of which the steam lifted him to the moon. When the flood hit the earth, the waters rose to such a terrible height that the ark floated across the sky at the same level as the moon. One of Noah's daughters, having launched a boat into the sea, also ended up in the Garden of Eden - the most daring of animals followed her. Soon the girl met Enoch: they began to live together and gave birth to a large offspring, but then the godless disposition of the children and the pride of his wife forced the righteous man to go into the forest to devote himself entirely to prayers. Resting from work, he combs a linen tow - that's why in the autumn a white cobweb is worn in the air, which the peasants call "threads of the Virgin."

When it came to the ascension to the moon of the Evangelist John, the devil inspired the author with an inappropriate joke. The prophet Elijah, beside himself with indignation, called him an atheist and drove him away. The author, tormented by hunger, bit into an apple from the tree of knowledge, and immediately thick darkness enveloped his soul - he did not lose his mind only because the life-giving juice of the pulp somewhat weakened the harmful effect of the skin. The author woke up in a completely unfamiliar area. Soon he was surrounded by many large and strong animals - they resembled a person in face and build, but moved on four paws. Subsequently, it turned out that these giants mistook the author for the female of the queen's small animal. At first he was deposited with a magician - he taught him to tumble and make faces for the amusement of the crowd.

No one wanted to recognize a rational creature that moves on two legs, but once among the spectators there was a man who had been on earth. He lived for a long time in Greece, where he was called the Demon of Socrates. In Rome, he joined the party of the younger Cato and Brutus, and after the death of these great men he became a hermit. The inhabitants of the moon on earth were called oracles, nymphs, geniuses, fairies, penates, vampires, brownies, ghosts and ghosts. Now the earthly people have become so coarse and stupid that the lunar sages have lost the desire to teach them. However, real philosophers sometimes still meet - for example, the Demon of Socrates gladly visited the Frenchman Gassendi. But the moon has much more advantages: here they love the truth and put reason above all else, and only sophists and orators are considered mad. The Demon, born in the sun, took on a visible form, moving into a body that had already grown old, so now he blows life into a recently deceased young man.

The visits of the Demon brightened up the bitter share of the author, forced to serve as a magician, and then the rejuvenated Demon took him away with the intention of presenting him to the court. At the hotel, the author became more familiar with some of the customs of the inhabitants of the moon. He was put to sleep on a bed of flower petals, fed with delicious smells, and stripped naked before eating so that the body could better absorb the fumes. The demon paid the owner for a stay with poems that were rated at the Mint, and explained that in this country only fools die of hunger, and smart people never live in poverty.

In the palace, the author was eagerly awaited, because they wanted to happen to the queen's small animal. This riddle was solved when, among the crowd of monkeys dressed in pantaloons, the author saw a European. He was from Castile and managed to fly to the moon with the help of birds. At home, the Spaniard almost ended up in the prison of the Inquisition, for he asserted to the face of pedants that there is a void and that no substance in the world weighs more than another substance. The author liked the reasoning of a comrade in misfortune, but he had to conduct philosophical conversations only at night, since during the day there was no escape from the curious. Having learned to understand the sounds they made, the author began to speak with sin in a foreign language, which led to great unrest in the city, which was divided into two parties: some found flashes of reason in the author, others attributed all his meaningful actions to instinct. In the end, this religious dispute was submitted to the court. During the third meeting, a man fell at the feet of the king and lay on his back for a long time - this is the position the inhabitants of the moon take when they want to speak publicly. The stranger delivered an excellent defense speech, and the author was recognized as a man, but sentenced to public penance: he had to recant the heretical assertion that his moon is the real world, while the world here is nothing more than the moon.

In the clever lawyer, the author recognized his dear Demon. He congratulated him on his release and took him to a house that belonged to a venerable old man. The demon settled here in order to influence the master's son, who could become the second Socrates if he knew how to use his knowledge and did not pretend to be an atheist out of empty vanity. The author was surprised to see how the gray-haired professors invited to dinner obsequiously bow to this young man. The demon explained that the reason for this was age: on the moon, old people show all respect to the young, and parents must obey their children. The author once again marveled at the rationality of local customs: on earth, panic fear and an insane fear of acting are taken for common sense, while on the moon, decrepitude that has survived from the mind is appreciated.

The master's son fully shared the views of the Demon. When his father took it into his head to argue with him, he kicked the old man with his foot and ordered to bring his effigy, which he began to flog. Not satisfied with this, he ordered the unfortunate man to walk on two legs all day to increase disgrace.

The author was extremely amused by such pedagogy. Afraid of laughing, he started a philosophical conversation with the young man about the eternity of the universe and the creation of the world. As the Demon had warned, the young man turned out to be a vile atheist. In an attempt to seduce the author, he boldly denied the immortality of the soul and even the very existence of God. Suddenly, the author saw something terrible in the face of this handsome young man: his eyes were small and set very deep, his complexion was swarthy, his mouth was huge, his chin was hairy, and his nails were black - only the Antichrist could look like that. In the midst of the dispute, a gigantic serpent appeared and, grabbing the blasphemer across the body, climbed with him into the chimney. The author nevertheless managed to become attached to the unfortunate man, and therefore grabbed hold of his legs in order to wrest the giant from the clutches. But the Ethiopian was so strong that he rose behind the clouds with a double weight, and now the author held fast to his comrade, not out of philanthropy, but out of fear of falling. The flight continued indefinitely, then the outlines of the earth appeared, and at the sight of Italy it became clear that the devil was carrying the master's son straight to hell. The author cried out in horror, "Jesus, Mary!" and at the same instant found himself on the slope of a heather-covered hill. Kind peasants helped him get to the village, where he was almost torn to pieces by dogs smelling the moon smell - as you know, these animals are used to barking at the moon for the pain that it causes them from afar. The author had to sit naked in the sun for three or four hours until the stink disappeared - after that the dogs left him alone, and he went to the port to board a ship sailing for France. On the way, the author thought a lot about the inhabitants of the moon: probably, the Lord deliberately removed these unbelieving people by nature to a place where they have no opportunity to corrupt others - as a punishment for complacency and pride, they were left to themselves. Out of mercy, no one was sent to them with the preaching of the Gospel, because they would certainly have used the Holy Scripture for evil, thereby aggravating the punishment that inevitably awaits them in the next world.

E. D. Murashkintseva

(Le Roman bourgeois. Ouvrage comique)

Roman (1666)

The publisher warns the reader that this book is written not so much for entertainment as for instructive purposes.

The author promises to tell without fuss a few love stories that happened to people who cannot be called heroes, because they do not command armies, do not destroy states, but are just ordinary Parisian philistines, walking slowly along their life path.

On one of the big holidays, young Javotte collected donations in the church on the Place Maubert. The collection of donations is a touchstone that unmistakably determines the beauty of a girl and the power of love of her fans. The one who donated the most was considered the most in love, and the girl who collected the largest amount was considered the most beautiful. Nicodemus fell in love with Javotta at first sight. Although she was the daughter of an attorney, and Nikodem was a lawyer, he began to court her in the way that is customary in secular society. A diligent reader of Cyrus and Clelia, Nicodemus tried to be like their heroes. But when he asked Zhavotga to honor him and allow him to become her servant, the girl replied that she did without servants and knew how to do everything herself. To Nicodemus' exquisite compliments, she answered with such innocence that she baffled the gentleman. In order to get to know Zhavotga better, Nicodemus made friends with her father Volishon, but this was of little use: when he appeared, the modest Zhavotta either retired to another room or remained silent, constrained by the presence of her mother, who did not leave her a single step. In order to be able to speak freely with the girl, Nicodemus had to announce his desire to marry. Having studied the inventory of movable and immovable property of Nicodemus, Volishon agreed to conclude a contract and made an announcement in the church.

Many readers will be indignant: the novel is kind of short, without any intrigue, the author starts right with the wedding, while it should be played only at the end of the tenth volume. But if readers have even a drop of patience, they will wait for the way, because, as they say, a lot can happen on the way from glass to mouth. It would not cost the author anything to make the heroine of the novel kidnapped in this place and later on she was kidnapped as many times as the author pleases to write volumes, but since the author promised not a ceremonial performance, but a true story, he directly admits that marriage this was prevented by an official protest on behalf of a certain person named Lucretia, who claimed that she had a written promise from Nicodemus to marry her.

The story of a young townswoman Lucrezia. The daughter of the speaker of the judicial board, she was orphaned early and remained in the care of her aunt, the wife of a middle-class lawyer. Aunt Lucrezia was an inveterate gambler, and guests gathered in the house every day, who came not so much for the sake of a card game, but for the sake of a beautiful girl. Lucrezia's dowry was invested in some dubious business, but she nevertheless refused the solicitors and wanted to marry at least an auditor of the Accounts Chamber or a state treasurer, believing that such a husband corresponded to the size of her dowry according to the marriage rate. The author informs the reader that modern marriage is a combination of one amount of money with another, and even gives a table of suitable parties to help persons entering into marriage. Once in the church, a young marquis saw Lucretia. She charmed him at first sight, and he began to look for an opportunity to make acquaintance with her. He was lucky: driving in a carriage along the street where Lucrezia lived, he saw her on the threshold of the house: she was waiting for late guests. The marquis opened the door ajar and leaned out of the carriage to bow and try to strike up a conversation, but then a horseman rushed down the street, throwing mud at both the marquis and Lucretia. The girl invited the marquis into the house to clean herself or wait for fresh linen and clothes to be brought to him. The philistines from among the guests began to taunt the marquis, mistaking him for an unlucky provincial, but he answered them so witty that he aroused the interest of Lucretia. She allowed him to visit their house, and he appeared the next day. Unfortunately, Lucretia did not have a confidante, and the Marquis did not have a squire: it is usually to them that the heroes of novels retell their secret conversations. But lovers always say the same thing, and if readers open Amadis, Cyrus, or Astrea, they will immediately find everything they need. The marquis captivated Lucrezia not only with his pleasant appearance and secular manners, but also with wealth. However, she gave in to his harassment only after he made a formal promise to marry her. Since the connection with the marquis was a secret, the fans continued to besiege Lucretia. Among the fans was Nicodemus. Once (this happened shortly before meeting Zhavotta), Nicodemus also rashly gave Lucrezia a written promise to marry her. Lucretia was not going to marry Nicodemus, but still kept the document. On occasion, she boasted of them to her neighbor, the state attorney Villeflatten. Therefore, when Volishon informed Villeflatten that he was giving his daughter to Nicodemus, he, without the knowledge of Lucretia, protested on her behalf. By this time, the Marquis had already managed to leave Lucrezia, having stolen his marriage obligation before that. Lucretia was expecting a child from the Marquis, and she needed to get married before her position became noticeable. She reasoned that if she won the case, she would get a husband, and if she lost, she could claim that she did not approve of the lawsuit initiated by Villeflatten without her knowledge.

Upon learning of Lucretia's protest, Nicodemus decided to pay off her and offered her two thousand crowns so that the case would be immediately dismissed. Lucretia's uncle, who was her guardian, signed the agreement without even informing her niece. Nicodemus hurried to Javotte, but after being convicted of debauchery, her parents had already changed their minds about marrying her off as Nicodemus and managed to find her a richer and more reliable groom - boring and stingy Jean Bedu. Bedu's cousin Laurent introduced Bedu to Javotte, and the old bachelor liked the girl so much that he wrote her a pompous love letter, which the ingenuous Javotte gave to her father without opening. Laurane introduced Javotte to one of the fashionable circles in Paris. The hostess of the house where the society met was a very educated person, but she hid her knowledge as something shameful. Her relative was the exact opposite of her and tried to flaunt her learning. The writer Charosel (an anagram of Charles Sorel) complained that book publishers stubbornly refused to publish his works; it didn't even help that he was holding a carriage, which immediately showed a good writer. Philalethes was reading his Tale of the Lost Cupid. Pancras fell in love with Javotta at first sight, and when she said that she would like to learn to speak as fluently as other young ladies, he sent her five volumes of Astrea, after reading which Javotta felt a fiery love for Pancras. She resolutely refused Nicodemus, which made her parents very happy, but when it came to signing a marriage contract with Jean Bedu, she left child obedience and flatly refused to pick up a pen. Angry parents sent the obstinate daughter to a monastery, and Jean Bedu soon consoled himself and thanked God for delivering him from the horns that would inevitably threaten him if he married Zhavotte. Thanks to generous donations, Pancras visited his beloved in the monastery every day, and she devoted the rest of the time to reading novels. After reading all the romance novels, Javotte got bored. Since her parents were ready to take her away from the monastery only if she agreed to marry Bede (they did not know that he had already changed his mind about marrying), Javotta accepted Pancras's offer to take her away.

Lucrezia became very pious and retired to a monastery, where she met and befriended Javotte. When the time came for her to give birth, she informed her friends that she needed solitude and asked not to disturb her, and herself, having left the monastery and being relieved of her burden, she moved to another monastery, known for the severity of the charter. There she met Laurence, who was visiting a nun friend. Laurane decided that Lucrezia would be a good wife to her cousin, and Bedu, who, after failing with the windy Javotte, decided to marry a girl taken straight from the monastery, married Lucrezia. Readers will know how happily or unhappily they lived in marriage if the fashion comes to describe the life of married women.

At the beginning of the second book, in an address to the reader, the author warns that this book is not a continuation of the first and there is no connection between them. This is a series of small adventures and incidents, but as for the connection between them, the author leaves the bookbinder to take care of it. The reader should forget that he has a novel in front of him, and read the book as separate stories about all sorts of everyday incidents.

History of Charosel, Colantina and Belatr. Charosel did not want to be called a writer and wanted to be considered a nobleman and only, although his father was just a lawyer. Malicious and envious, Charosel did not tolerate other people's glory, and each new work created by others hurt him, so life in France, where there are many bright minds, was torture for him. In his younger years, he had some success, but as soon as he moved on to more serious writings, his books stopped selling and, except for the proofreader, no one read them. If the author wrote a novel according to all the rules, it would be difficult for him to come up with adventures for his hero, who never knew love and devoted his whole life to hatred. The longest was his affair with a girl who had the same vicious disposition as his. It was the daughter of a bailiff named Colantina. They met in court, where Kolantina led several lawsuits at the same time. Appearing to Colantina on a visit, Charosel tried to read to her something from his works, but she spoke incessantly about her litigation, not allowing him to insert a word. They parted, very pleased with the fact that they had annoyed each other in order. The stubborn Charoselle decided at all costs to force Colantina to listen to at least some of his writings and regularly visited her.

One day Charoselle and Colantina had a fight because Colantina did not want to consider him a nobleman. Kolantina got less, but she screamed louder and, having rubbed her hands with graphite for the absence of mutilations and stuck several plasters, she achieved monetary compensation and an order for the arrest of Charosel. Frightened, Charosel took refuge in the country house of one of his friends, where he began to write a satire on Kolantina and on the entire female sex. Charosel made an acquaintance with a certain attorney from Chatelet, who initiated a case against Colantina and achieved the annulment of the previous court order. Charosel's good outcome not only did not restore Colantina against him, but even elevated him in her eyes, for she decided to marry only the one who defeated her in a judicial duel, just as Atlanta decided to give her love to the one who defeated her. on the run. So, after the trial, the friendship between Charosel and Kolantina became even closer, but then Charosel had a rival - the third chisel-maker, the ignorant Belatr, with whom Kolantina waged an endless lawsuit. Confessing his love to Colantina, Belatr said that he was fulfilling the gospel law, which tells a person to love his enemies. He threatened to institute criminal proceedings against the eyes of Colantina, who had killed him and stolen his heart, and promised to obtain a guilty verdict for them with a personal arrest and compensation for the archpriests and losses. Belatr's speeches were much more pleasing to Colantina than Charosel's rantings.

Flushed with success, Belatr sent a love letter to Colantina, replete with legal terms. Her respect for Belatru grew, and she considered him worthy of even more fierce persecution. During one of their skirmishes, Belatra's secretary entered, bringing him for signature an inventory of the property of the late Mythophylact (under this name Fuuretier brought himself out). Everyone became interested in the inventory, and the secretary Volateran began to read. After listing the miserable furniture and instructions of the testator, there followed a catalog of Mythophylact's books, among which was the "General French Fool", "Poetic Dictionary" and "Encyclopedia of Initiations" in four volumes, the contents of which, as well as the pricing of various types of praise, were read aloud by the secretary. Belatr made an offer to Colantina, but the need to end the lawsuit with him became an obstacle to marriage. Charosel also asked for the hand of Colantina and received consent. It is difficult to say what prompted him to take this step; probably, he married to spite himself. The young only did what they scolded: even during the wedding feast, there were several scenes that vividly recalled the battle of the centaurs with the lapiths. Kolantina demanded a divorce and started a lawsuit with Charosel. "They have been suing all the time, they are suing now, and they will be suing for as many years as it pleases the Lord God to let them live."

O. E. Grinberg

(Historiettes)

Memoirs (1657, publ. 1834)

The author brought together oral evidence, his own observations and historical writings of his time, and on their basis recreated the life of French society at the end of the 376th - first half of the XNUMXth centuries, presenting it in the form of a kaleidoscope of short stories, the heroes of which were XNUMX characters, including crowned persons.

Henry IV, had he reigned in peacetime, would never have become so famous, for "he would be mired in voluptuous pleasures." He was not too generous, did not always know how to be grateful, never praised anyone, "but one cannot remember a more merciful sovereign who would love his people more." Here is what they say about him: one day, a certain representative of the third estate, wanting to address the king with a speech, kneels down and stumbles upon a sharp stone, which caused him such pain that he could not stand it and cries out: "Vigorous louse!" "Excellent!" - Heinrich exclaims and asks not to continue, so as not to spoil the glorious beginning of the speech. Another time, Henry, passing through the village, where he has to stop for lunch, asks to call some local wit to him.

A peasant, nicknamed the Funny Man, is brought to him. The king sits him opposite him, on the other side of the table, and asks: "Is it far from a womanizer to an amusing one?" "Yes, between them, sir, only the table is standing," the peasant replies. Heinrich was very pleased with the answer. When Heinrich appoints de Sully superintendent of finance, Sully's braggart hands him an inventory of his property and swears that he intends to live solely on a salary. However, soon Sully begins to make numerous acquisitions. One day, greeting the king, Sully stumbles, and Heinrich declares to the courtiers around him that he is more surprised that Sully did not stretch to his full height, because he should be fairly dizzy from the magarychs he receives. Henry himself was thieving by nature and took everything that came to his hand; however, he returned what he had taken, saying that if he had not been king, "he would have been hanged."

Queen Margot was beautiful in her youth, although she had "slightly sagging cheeks and a somewhat long face." There was no more loving woman in the world; for love notes, she even had special paper, the edges of which were decorated with "emblems of victories in the field of love." "She wore large tanks with many pockets, each of which contained a box with the heart of a deceased lover; for when one of them died, she immediately took care to embalm his heart." Margarita quickly put on weight and went bald very early, so she wore a chignon, and extra hair in her pocket so that she was always at hand. They say that when she was young, the Gascon nobleman Salignac fell madly in love with her, but she did not respond to his feelings. And then one day, when he reproaches her for callousness, she asks if he agrees to take poison in order to prove his love. The Gascon agrees, and Margarita personally gives him a powerful laxative. He swallows the potion, and the queen locks him in a room, vowing that she will return before the poison takes effect. Salignac sat in the room for two hours, and since the medicine worked, when the door was unlocked, next to the Gascon "it was impossible to stand for a long time."

Cardinal de Richelieu at all times sought to advance. He went to Rome to receive the bishopric. Dedicating him, the pope asks if he has reached the required age, and the young man answers in the affirmative. But after the ceremony, he goes to the pope and asks his forgiveness for having lied to him, "saying that he had reached the required years, although he had not yet reached them." Then dad said that in the future this boy will become a "big rogue." The cardinal hated the king's brother and, fearing that he would not get the crown, for the king was in poor health, he decided to enlist the goodwill of Queen Anne and help her in the birth of an heir. To begin with, he sows discord between her and Louis, and then, through intermediaries, invites her to allow him "to take the place of the king next to her." He assures the queen that as long as she is childless, everyone will neglect her, and since the king will obviously not live long, she will be sent back to Spain. If she has a son from Richelieu, then the cardinal will help her govern the state. The queen "resolutely rejected this proposal," but she did not dare to finally push the cardinal away, so Richelieu repeatedly made attempts to be in the same bed with the queen. Having failed, the cardinal began to pursue her and even wrote the play "Miram", where the cardinal (Richelieu) beats the main character (Buckingham) with sticks. About how everyone was afraid of the cardinal, they tell the following story. A certain colonel, a quite respectable man, is driving along Tickton Street and suddenly feels that he is "propped up". He rushes through the gates of the first house he comes across and relieves himself right on the path. The run-out homeowner makes a noise. Here the colonel's servant declares that his master serves the cardinal. The townsman humbles himself: "If you serve with His Eminence, you can ... wherever you like." As you can see, many people did not like the cardinal. So, the queen mother (Maria de Medici, wife of Henry IV), who believed in predictions, "almost lost her mind with anger when she was assured that the cardinal would live in good health for a very long time." It was said that Richelieu was very fond of women, but "was afraid of the king, who had an evil tongue." The famous courtesan Marion Delorme claimed that he visited her twice, but paid only one hundred pistoles, and she threw them back to him. One day the cardinal tried to seduce Princess Mary and received her while lying in bed, but she got up and left. The cardinal was often seen with flies on his face: "one was not enough for him."

Wanting to entertain the king, Richelieu slipped him Saint-Mar, the son of marshal d'Effia. The king never loved anyone so ardently as Saint-Mars; he called him a "kind friend". During the siege of Arras, Saint-Map wrote to the king twice a day. In his presence, Louis talked about everything, so he was aware of everything. The cardinal warned the king that such carelessness could end badly: Saint-Map was still too young to be privy to all state secrets. Saint-Map was terribly angry with Richelieu. But even more angry with the cardinal was a certain Fontreille, over whose ugliness Richelieu dared to laugh. Fontray participated in a conspiracy that nearly cost Richelieu his life. When it became clear that the plot had been discovered, Fontreille warned Saint-Mar, but he did not want to run. He believed that the king would be indulgent towards his youth, and confessed everything. However, Louis did not spare either him or his friend de Tu: both laid down their heads on the scaffold. This is not surprising, since the king loved what Saint-Map hated, and Saint-Map hated everything that the king loved; they agreed on only one thing - in hatred of the cardinal.

It is known that the king, pointing to Treville, said: "Here is a man who will relieve me of the cardinal as soon as I want it." Treville commanded the mounted musketeers who accompanied the king everywhere, and he selected them himself. Treville was from Béarn, he had curried himself from the junior ranks. It is said that the cardinal bribed Treville's cook: he paid her a pension of four hundred livres to spy on her master. Richelieu really did not want the king to have a person whom he completely trusted. Therefore, he sent M. de Chavigny to Louis to persuade the king to drive Treville away. But Treville serves me well and is devoted to me, answered Louis. But the cardinal also serves you well and is devoted to you, and besides, the state still needs him, objected Chavigny. Nevertheless, the emissary of the cardinal achieved nothing. The cardinal was indignant and again sent Chavigny to the king, ordering him to say this: "Sire, this must be done." The king was extremely afraid of responsibility, as well as of the cardinal himself, since the latter, occupying almost all important posts, could play a bad joke with him. "In a word, Treville had to be driven away."

In love, King Louis began with his coachman, then he felt "a penchant for a kennel", but he burned with a special passion for de Luyne. The cardinal was afraid that the king would not be nicknamed Louis the Stutterer, and he "was delighted when the opportunity arose to call him Louis the Just." Louis sometimes reasoned quite cleverly and even "gained the upper hand" over the cardinal. But most likely, he just gave him this little pleasure. For some time the king was in love with the queen's lady-in-waiting, Madame d'Hautefort, which, however, did not prevent him from using fireplace tongs to get a note from behind this lady's corsage, as he was afraid to touch her chest with his hand. The king's love interests were generally "strange", for of all the feelings he was most characterized by jealousy. He was terribly jealous of Madame d'Hautefort for d'Aiguillon-Vasse, although she assured him that he was her relative. And only when the genealogist d'Ozier, knowing what was the matter, confirmed the words of the court beauty, the king believed her. With Madame d'Hautefort, Louis often talked "about horses, dogs, birds and other similar subjects." And I must say that the king was very fond of hunting. In addition to hunting, he "knew how to make leather trousers, snares, nets, arquebuses, mint coins", grew early green peas, made window frames, shaved well, and was also a good confectioner and gardener.

E. V. Morozova

(La Mort et le Bûcheron)

Fable (1668-1694)

In the cold winter, an old peasant picks up dead wood and, groaning, carries it to his smoky shack. Stopping on the way to rest, he lowers the bundle of firewood from his shoulders, sits down on it and begins to complain about fate.

In a speech addressed to himself, the old man recalls what he is in need of, how he was tormented by "per capita, boyarism, dues", that in his whole life he did not have a single joyful day, and in despondency calls his Death.

At the same moment, she appears and asks: "Why did you call me, old man?"

Frightened by her stern appearance, the peasant quickly replies that it was only so that she would help him pick up his bundle.

From this story it is clear that no matter how bad life is, dying is even worse.

(Le Chene et le Roseau)

Fable (1668-1694)

Once, in a conversation with Reed, Oak sympathizes with her: she is so thin, weak; she bends under a small sparrow, and even a light wind sways her. Here he is - he laughs at whirlwinds and thunderstorms, in any bad weather he stands straight and firm, and with his branches he can protect those who grow below. However, Reed does not accept his pity. She declares that the wind, although it bends her, does not break her; Storms haven't harmed the oak tree yet, it's true, "but - let's wait for the end!"

And before she has time to say this, a ferocious aquilon arrives from the north. The reed falls to the ground and is thus saved. The oak, on the other hand, holds on, holds on ... however, the wind doubles its strength and, roaring, uproots it.

(La Colombe et la Fourmi)

Fable (1668-1694)

Somehow, a young Dove flies to the stream in the midday heat to get drunk and sees an Ant in the water that has fallen off the stalk. The poor thing is floundering with the last of her strength and is about to drown. The Good Dove picks off a grass shoot and throws it to the Ant; he climbs on a blade of grass and thanks to this he is saved. Not even a minute passes when a barefoot tramp with a gun appears on the bank of the stream. He sees the Dove and, seduced by such prey, aims at him. But the Ant comes to the rescue of a friend - he bites the tramp on the heel, and he, crying out in pain, lowers his gun. And Dove, noticing the danger, flies away safely.

(La Chatte metamorphosee en femme)

Fable (1668-1694)

Once upon a time, there lived a certain eccentric who passionately loved his cat. He cannot live without her: he puts him to sleep in his bed, eats with her from the same plate; finally decides to marry her and prays to Fate to turn his cat into a human. Suddenly a miracle happens - a beautiful girl appears in place of the pussy! Crazy crazy with joy. He does not get tired of hugging, kissing and caressing his beloved. She is also in love with him and agrees to the marriage proposal (after all, the groom is not old, good-looking and rich - no comparison with a cat!). They rush down the aisle.

Here the wedding ends, the guests disperse, and the young are left alone. But as soon as the happy husband, burning with desire, begins to undress his wife, she breaks out and rushes ... where to? under the bed - a mouse ran there.

Natural inclination cannot be destroyed by anything.

(Les Membres et l'Estomac)

Fable (1668-1694)

In this fable, the author speaks of the greatness of kings and their connection with subjects, using the comparison with the stomach for this - the whole body feels whether the stomach is satisfied or not.

One day, the Members of the body, tired of working for the Stomach, decide to live only for their own pleasure, without grief, without worries. Legs, Back, Arms and others declare that they will no longer serve him, and, indeed, stop working. However, the empty Stomach no longer renews the blood. The whole body is afflicted with disease. Then the Members learn that the one whom they considered an idler was more concerned about their welfare than themselves.

So it is with kings: only thanks to the king and his laws can each person earn his living in peace.

Once upon a time, people complained that the senate got honors, and they - only taxes and taxes, and they began to rebel. But Menevius Agrippa told them this fable; everyone recognized the justice of his words, and the popular excitement calmed down.

(Le Savetier et le Financier)

Fable (1668-1694)

The rich Farmer lives in magnificent mansions, eats sweetly, drinks deliciously. His treasures are innumerable, he gives banquets and feasts every day. In a word, he would live and be happy, but here's the trouble - the Farmer can't get enough sleep. At night, he cannot fall asleep, either because of the fear of ruin, or in heavy thoughts about God's judgment, and he also cannot take a nap at dawn because of the neighbor's singing. The fact is that in a hut standing next to the mansions lives a poor shoemaker, so cheerful that from morning to night he sings incessantly. What's a scapegoat to do here? It is not in his power to tell a neighbor to be silent; asked - the request does not work.

Finally, he comes up with an idea and immediately sends for a neighbor. He comes. The farmer affectionately asks him about life. The poor man does not complain: there is enough work, his wife is kind and young. The farmer asks if the Shoemaker wants to become richer? And, having received the answer that wealth does not interfere with any person, he hands the poor man a bag of money: "I fell in love with you for the truth." The shoemaker, grabbing the sack, runs home and buries the present in the cellar that same night. But since then, he has had insomnia. At night, the Shoemaker is disturbed by every noise - it all seems that a thief is coming. Songs don't come to mind!

In the end, the poor man returns the bag of money to the Farmer, adding:

"... You live with your wealth, And I don't need a million for songs and for a dream."

(Les obseques de la Lionne)

Fable (1668-1694)

Leo's wife has died. Animals gather from everywhere to express their sympathy to him. The king of beasts cries and groans throughout his cave, and, echoing the ruler, the court staff roars in a thousand ways (this happens in all courts: people are only a reflection of the moods and whims of the king).

One Deer does not cry for the Lioness - she once killed his wife and son. The court flatterers immediately report to the Lion that the Deer does not show proper grief and laughs at the general grief. The enraged Lion tells the wolves to kill the traitor. But he declares that the deceased queen appeared to him, all radiant, and ordered not to weep for her: she tasted thousands of pleasures in paradise, knew the joys of the blessed palace and is happy. Hearing this, the whole court unanimously agrees that the Deer had a revelation. The lion lets him go home with gifts.

Masters should always be entertained with fabulous dreams. Even if they are angry with you - flatter them and they will call you their friend.

Fable (1668-1694)

Our whole life is dominated by two demons, to which weak human hearts are subject. One of them is called Love, and the second - Ambition. The possessions of the second are wider - sometimes Love is included in them. You can find many examples of this, but in the fable it will be about something else.

In the old days, a certain reasonable King, seeing how, thanks to the cares of the Shepherd, the herds of the last year are multiplied and bring a fair income, calls him to himself, says: "You are worthy to be a shepherd of the people" and bestows on him the title of supreme judge. Although the Shepherd is uneducated, he has common sense, and therefore judges fairly.

Once the former shepherd is visited by the Hermit. He advises his friend not to entrust himself to the royal mercy - she caresses, threatening disgrace. The judge only laughs carelessly, and then the Hermit tells him a parable about a blind man who, having lost his scourge, found a frozen snake on the road and took it in his hands instead of a whip. In vain, a passer-by urged him to leave the Serpent - he, confident that he was being forced to part with a good whip out of envy, refused. And what? The snake, having warmed up, stung the stubborn man in the hand.

The hermit turns out to be right. Soon slanderers come to the King: they assure that the judge thinks only about how to get rich. After checking these rumors, the King discovers that the former shepherd lives simply, without luxury and splendor. However, the slanderers do not let up and repeat that the judge probably keeps his treasures in a chest with seven seals. In the presence of all the dignitaries, the King orders to open the judge's chest - but only old, worn-out shepherd's clothes, a bag and a pipe are found there. Everyone is confused...

And the Shepherd, having put on this clothes that does not excite envy and resentment, forever leaves the judges' chambers. He is pleased: he knew the hour of his power and the hour of his fall; now the ambitious dream has dissipated, but "who among us does not have ambition, at least a grain?"

K A. Stroeva

(L'école des maris)

Comedy (1661)

The text of the play is preceded by an author's dedication to the Duke of Orleans, the king's only brother.

Brothers Sganarelle and Ariste unsuccessfully try to convince each other of the need to change. Sganarelle, always gloomy and unsociable, condemning the vagaries of fashion, reproaches his older brother for frivolity and panache: "Here is a true old man: he deftly fools us / And wants to cover his gray hair with a black wig!" The sisters Leonora and Isabella appear, accompanied by the maid Lisette. They continue to discuss the brothers, not noticing their presence. Leonora assures Isabella that she will support and protect her from Sganarelle's chicanery. The brothers enter into a conversation - Sganarelle demands that Isabella return home, and Leonora and Ariste try to persuade him not to interfere with the girls enjoying the walk. Sganarelle objects, he recalls that the father of the girls before his death entrusted them to the care of the brothers, "Letting us take them as wives / Or dispose of their fate in a different way." Therefore, Sganarelle believes, each of the brothers has the right to deal with the girl who is in his care, in accordance with their ideas about life. The arist can pamper Leonora and encourage her passion for dresses and entertainment, but he, Sganarelle, demands seclusion from Isabella, considering mending linen and knitting stockings to be sufficient entertainment for her.

The maid Lisette intervenes in the conversation, outraged that Sganarelle is going to keep Isabella locked up, as is customary in Turkey, and warns the unreasonable guardian that "Those who contradict us are in danger." Arist calls on the younger brother to think again and reflect on the fact that "the school is secular, inspiring a good tone, / It teaches us no less than a big book" and that one should be a husband, but not a tyrant. Sganarelle persists and orders Isabella to leave. Everyone follows, leaving Sganarelle alone.

At this time, Valer, in love with Isabella, and his servant Ergast appear. Noticing Sganarelle, whom Valere calls "my terrible argus, / Cruel guardian and guardian of my beautiful", they intend to enter into a conversation with him, but this does not immediately succeed. Having managed to attract the attention of Sganarelle, Valere could not achieve the desired result of getting close to his neighbor, pursuing the only goal - to be able to see Isabella. Left alone with his servant, Valer does not hide his grief, because he does not know anything about Isabella's feelings for him. Ergast consoles him, rightly believing that "Jealous sorrows of spouses and fathers / The affairs of lovers usually eased." Valer complains that for five months now he has not been able to approach his beloved, since Isabella is not only locked up, but also alone, which means that there is no maid who, for a generous reward, could be an intermediary between a young man in love and his object. passions.

Sganarelle and Isabella appear, and from their remarks it is clear that they are continuing a long-begun conversation, and it is obvious that Isabella's trick was a success - she managed to convince Sganarelle of the need to talk to Valere, whose name the girl, supposedly quite by accident, heard somewhere. Sganarelle, left alone, is eager to immediately get even with Valera, as he took Isabella's words at face value. He is so absorbed in his thoughts that he does not notice his mistake - he knocks on his own door, believing that he has approached Valera's house. The young man begins to make excuses for his presence in Sganarelle's house, but soon realizes that there has been a misunderstanding. Not noticing that he is in his own house, Sganarelle, refusing the offered chair, hurries to talk to Valere. He announces that he intends to marry Isabella, and therefore wishes "that your indiscreet look does not excite her." Valère is surprised and wants to know how Sganarelle found out about his feelings for Isabella, because he did not manage to get close to her for many months. The young man is even more surprised when Sganarelle reports that he learned about everything from Isabella herself, who could not hide Valera's impoliteness from her beloved. Valera's surprise convinces Sganarelle that Isabella's speeches are true. Valère, accompanied by Ergast, hurries to leave so that Sganarelle does not realize that he is in his own house. Isabella appears, and the guardian tells her about how the conversation with Valera went, how the young man tried to deny everything, but calmed down in embarrassment when he learned that Sganarelle was acting on behalf of Isabella.

The girl wants to be sure that Valer fully understood her intentions, so she resorts to a new trick. She informs the guardian that the servant Valera threw a chest with a letter into her window, but she wants to return it immediately. At the same time, Sganarelle must make it clear to Valera that Isabella did not even want to open the letter and does not know its contents. The fooled Sganarelle is delighted with the virtues of his pupil, is ready to fulfill her instructions exactly and goes to Valera, never ceasing to admire and extol Isabella.

The young man, having opened the letter, no longer doubts the young beauty's disposition towards him, ready to unite with him as soon as possible, otherwise the hated guardian Sganarelle himself will have time to marry her.

Sganarelle appears, and Valère humbly admits that he realized the futility of his dreams of happiness with Isabella and will keep his unrequited love to the grave. Confident in his triumph, Sganarelle retells in detail to his pupil a conversation with a young man, without knowing it, he passes on the answer of his lover to Isabella. This story encourages the girl to act further, and she persuades the guardian not to trust the words of Valère, who, according to her, intends to kidnap Sganarelle's bride. The again fooled guardian goes to Valery and reports that Isabella revealed to him the black plans of a disrespectful neighbor who planned to kidnap someone else's bride. Valere denies everything, but Sganarelle, acting on the instructions of his pupil, is ready to take the young man to Isabella and give him the opportunity to verify the veracity of his words.

Isabella skillfully portrays indignation, barely seeing Valera. Sganarelle convinces her that there was only one way to get rid of annoying courtship - to give Valera the opportunity to hear the verdict from the lips of the subject of his passion. The girl does not miss the opportunity to describe her situation and express her wishes: "I expect that my dear one will take action without delay / And take away everything from the unlovable hope." Valer is convinced that the girl is passionate about him and is ready to become his wife, and the unlucky guardian does not understand anything.

Isabella continues to weave her webs and convinces Sganarelle that her sister Leonora is in love with Valera. Now that Valère is put to shame by Isabella's virtues and must leave, Leonora dreams of a rendezvous with him and asks her sister for help. She wants, pretending to be Isabella, to meet Valera. The guardian pretends to be upset for his brother, locks up the house and goes after Isabella, believing that he is after Leonora. After making sure that the imaginary Leonora entered Valera, he runs after the commissioner and the notary. He convinces them that a girl from a good family is seduced by Valera and now there is an opportunity to combine them in an honest marriage. He himself hurries after his brother Arist, who is sure that Leonora is at the ball. Sganarelle gloats and informs that this ball is in the house of Valera, where Leonora actually went. Both brothers join the commissioner and the notary, and it turns out that Valer has already signed the necessary documents and only the name of the lady needs to be entered. Both brothers confirm by signature their consent to marriage with Valera of their pupil, while Arist believes that we are talking about Isabella, and Sganarelle - that of Leonora.

Leonora appears, and Arist blames her for not telling him about her feelings for Valera, since her guardian never hampered her freedom. Leonora admits that she only dreams of marriage with Arist and does not understand the reasons for his grief. At this time, newlyweds and government officials appear from Valera's house. Isabella asks her sister's forgiveness for using her name to achieve her desires. Valère thanks Sganarelle for having received his wife from his hands. Aristo advises the younger brother to take what happened with meekness, because "the reason for everything is your actions alone; / And in your fate, the saddest thing is, / That no one pities you in such trouble."

R. M. Kirsanova

(L'école des femmes)

Comedy (1662)

The play is preceded by a dedication to Henrietta of England, the wife of the king's brother, the official patron of the troupe.

The author's preface notifies readers that the answers to those who condemned the play are contained in the "Critique" (meaning the comedy in one act "Criticism of the School of Wives", 1663).

Two old friends - Krisald and Arnolf - are discussing the latter's intention to marry. Chrysald recalls that Arnolf always laughed at unlucky husbands, assuring that horns are the lot of every husband: "... no one, great or small, / Did not know salvation from your criticism." Therefore, any hint of fidelity to Arnolf's future wife will cause a hail of ridicule. Arnolf assures his friend that he "knows how the horns plant women on us" and therefore "I calculated everything in advance, my friend." Enjoying his own eloquence and insight, Arnolf makes a passionate speech, characterizing the unsuitability for marriage of women who are too smart, stupid or immoderate dandies. To avoid the mistakes of other men, he not only chose a girl as his wife "so that neither in the nobility of the breed, nor in the estate / She could not take preference over her husband," but also raised her from childhood in a monastery, taking the "burden" from a poor peasant woman . Severity has borne fruit, and his pupil is so innocent that she once asked, "Is it true that children will be born from the ear?" Chrysald listened so attentively that he did not notice how he called his old acquaintance by his usual name - Arnolf, although he was warned that he had adopted a new one - La Souche - on his estate (play on words - la Souche - stump, fool). After assuring Arnolf that he will not make a mistake again, Chrysald leaves. Each of the interlocutors is sure that the other is behaving undoubtedly strange, if not crazy.

Arnolf with great difficulty got into his house, since the servants - Georgette and Alain - did not unlock for a long time, succumbed only to threats and did not talk too respectfully with the master, very vaguely explaining the reason for their slowness. Agnes arrives with work in hand. Her appearance touches Arnolf, since "to love me, to pray, to spin and sew" - this is the ideal of a wife that he told a friend about. He promises Agnese to talk about important things in an hour and sends her home.

Left alone, he continues to admire his good choice and the superiority of innocence over all other feminine virtues. His thoughts are interrupted by a young man named Oras, the son of his old friend Orant. The young man informs that in the near future Enric will arrive from America, who, together with his father Horace, intends to carry out an important plan, about which nothing is known yet. Horace decides to borrow money from an old friend of the family, as he is infatuated with a girl who lives nearby and would like to "finish the adventure as soon as possible." At the same time, to the horror of Arnolf, he pointed to the house in which Agnes lives, protecting which from bad influence, the newly-minted La Souch settled separately. Horace openly told a family friend about his feelings, quite mutual, for the charming and modest beauty Agnes, who is in the care of a rich and close-minded person with an absurd surname.

Arnolf hurries home, deciding to himself that he will never give up the girl to the young dandy and will be able to take advantage of the fact that Horace does not know his new name and therefore easily entrusts his heart secret to a person whom he has not seen for a long time. The behavior of the servants becomes clear to Arnolf, and he forces Alain and Georgette to tell the truth about what happened in the house in his absence. Arnolf, while waiting for Agnes, tries to pull himself together and moderate his anger, remembering the ancient sages. Agnes, who appeared, does not immediately understand what her guardian wants to know, and describes in detail all her activities over the past ten days: "I sewed six shirts and caps in full." Arnolf dares to ask directly - was the man in the house without him and did the girl talk to him? The girl's confession struck Arnolf, but he consoled himself with the fact that Agnes' frankness testified to her innocence. And the girl's story confirmed its simplicity. It turns out that while sewing on the balcony, the young beauty noticed a young gentleman who kindly bowed to her. She had to politely respond to courtesy, the young man bowed again and so, bowing lower and lower to each other, they spent time until dark.

The next day, some old woman came to Agnes with the news that the young charmer had done terrible harm - she had inflicted a deep heart wound on the young man with whom she bowed yesterday. The girl had to accept the young gentleman, as she did not dare to leave him without help. Arnolf wants to know everything in more detail, and he asks the girl to continue the story, although he shudders inwardly from fear of hearing something terrible. Agnes confesses that the young man whispered declarations of love to her, tirelessly kissed her hands, and even (here Arnolf almost went mad) took the ribbon from her. Agnes admitted that "something sweet tickles, hurts, / I don't know what, but my heart melts." Arnolf convinces the naive girl that everything that happened is a terrible sin. There is only one way to fix what happened: "One marriage removes guilt." Agnes is happy, because she believes that it is about the wedding with Horace. Arnolf, however, has in mind himself as a husband and therefore assures Agnes that the marriage will be concluded "on this same day." The misunderstanding is still cleared up, since Arnolf forbids Agnese to see Horace and orders not to let her into the house under any circumstances. Moreover, he recalls that he has the right to demand complete obedience from the girl. Further, he invites the poor thing to get acquainted with the "Rules of matrimony, or the duties of a married woman, along with her daily exercises," since for "our happiness you will have to, my friend, / And curb the will and reduce leisure." He makes the girl read the rules aloud, but on the eleventh rule he himself cannot stand the monotony of petty prohibitions and sends Agnes to study them on her own.

Horace appears, and Arnolf decides to find out from him further details of the adventure that has just begun. The young man is saddened by unexpected complications. It turns out, he informs Arnolf, that the guardian has returned, having somehow mysteriously learned about the ardent love of his ward and Horace. The servants, who had previously helped in their love, suddenly behaved rudely and closed the door in front of the discouraged admirer's nose. The girl also behaved harshly, so the unfortunate young man realized that a guardian was behind everything and directed the actions of the servants and, most importantly, Agnes. Arnolf listened to Horace with pleasure, but it turned out that the innocent girl showed herself to be very resourceful. She really threw a stone at her admirer from the balcony, but along with the stone, the letter, which the jealous Arnolf, watching the girl, simply did not notice. But he has to forcefully laugh with Horace. It was even worse for him when Horace begins to read Agnes' letter and it becomes clear that the girl is fully aware of her ignorance, endlessly trusts her lover, and parting for her will be terrible. Arnolf is shocked to the core when he learns that all his "works and kindness are forgotten."

Nevertheless, he does not want to give in to a pretty girl to a young rival and invites a notary. However, his upset feelings do not allow him to really agree on the terms of the marriage contract. He prefers to talk to the servants again to save himself from an unexpected visit from Horace. But Arnolf was out of luck again. A young man appears and tells that he met Agnes again in her room, and how he had to hide in the closet, because her guardian (Arnolf) appeared to Agnes. Horace again could not see the opponent, but only heard his voice, so he continues to consider Arnolf his confidant. As soon as the young man left, Chrysald appears and again tries to convince his friend of an unreasonable attitude towards marriage. After all, jealousy can prevent Arnolf from a sober assessment of family relationships - otherwise, "the horns are almost put on / On those who earnestly swear not to know them."

Arnolf goes to his house and again warns the servants to better guard Agnes and not allow Horace to her. But the unexpected happens: the servants tried so hard to fulfill the order that they killed the young man and now he lies lifeless. Arnolf is horrified that he will have to explain himself to the young man's father and his close friend Orontes. But, consumed by bitter feelings, he suddenly notices Horace, who told him the following. He arranged a meeting with Agnes, but the servants attacked him and, knocking him to the ground, began to beat him so that he fainted. The servants took him for a dead man and began to lament, and Agnes, hearing the screams, instantly rushed to her lover. Now Horas needs to leave the girl for a while in a safe place, and he asks Arnolf to take Agnes into his care until he can persuade the young man's father to agree with the choice of his son. Delighted, Arnolf hurries to take the girl to his house, and Horace unwittingly helps him, persuading his beautiful girlfriend to follow her family friend in order to avoid publicity.

Left alone with Arnolf, Agnes recognizes her guardian, but holds firm, confessing not only her love for Horace, but also that "I have not been a child for a long time, and for me it is a shame / That I have been known as a simpleton until now." Arnolf tries in vain to convince Agnes of his right to her - the girl remains inexorable, and, threatening to send her to a monastery, the guardian leaves. He again meets Horace, who shares with him the unpleasant news: Enric, having returned from America with a large fortune, wants to marry his daughter to the son of his friend Orontes. Horace hopes that Arnolf will persuade his father to refuse the wedding and thereby help Horace to connect with Agnes. They are joined by Chrysald, Enric and Orontes. To the surprise of Horace, Arnolf not only does not comply with his request, but advises Orontes to marry his son as soon as possible, regardless of his desires. Orant is glad that Arnolf supports his intentions, but Chrysald draws attention to the fact that Arnolf should be called by the name La Souche. Only now Horace understands that his "confidant" was a rival. Arnolf orders the servants to bring Agnes. The case takes an unexpected turn.

Chrysald recognizes the girl as the daughter of his late sister Angelica from a secret marriage to Enric. To hide the birth of a girl, she was given up for education in the village to a simple peasant woman. Enric, forced to seek his fortune in a foreign land, left. And the peasant woman, having lost her help, gave the girl to Arnolf to raise. The unfortunate guardian, unable to utter a word, leaves.

Horace promises to explain to everyone the reason for his refusal to marry Enric's daughter, and, forgetting about Arnolf, old friends and young people enter the house and "there we will discuss everything in detail."

R. A. Kirsanova

(Le Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur)

Comedy (1664-1669)

At the invitation of the owner, a certain Mr. Tartuffe settled in the house of the venerable Orgon. Orgon did not cherish the soul in him, considering him an incomparable example of righteousness and wisdom: Tartuffe's speeches were exceptionally sublime, teachings - thanks to which Orgon learned that the world is a big garbage pit, and now he would not blink an eye, having buried his wife, children and other relatives - extremely useful, piety aroused admiration; and how selflessly Tartuffe observed the morality of the Orgon family...

Of all the members of the household, Orgon's admiration for the newly-born righteous was shared, however, only by his mother, Madame Pernel. Elmira, Orgon's wife, her brother Cleanthe, Orgon's children Damis and Mariana, and even the servants saw in Tartuffe who he really was - a hypocritical saint who deftly uses Orgon's delusion in his simple earthly interests: to eat deliciously and sleep softly, to have a reliable roof over your head and some other benefits.

Orgon's household was utterly sick of Tartuffe's moralizing; with his worries about decency, he drove almost all his friends away from home. But as soon as someone spoke badly about this zealot of piety, Madame Pernel staged stormy scenes, and Orgon, he simply remained deaf to any speeches that were not imbued with admiration for Tartuffe.

When Orgon returned from a short absence and demanded a report on home news from Dorina's maid, the news of his wife's illness left him completely indifferent, while the story of how Tartuffe happened to overeat at dinner, then sleep until noon, and sort out wine at breakfast, filled Orgon with compassion for the poor fellow.

Orgon's daughter, Mariana, was in love with a noble youth named Valer, and her brother Damis was in love with Valer's sister. Orgon seemed to have already agreed to the marriage of Mariana and Valera, but for some reason he kept postponing the wedding. Damis, worried about his own fate - his marriage to his sister Valera was supposed to follow the wedding of Mariana - asked Cleantes to find out from Orgon what was the reason for the delay. Orgon answered questions so evasively and unintelligibly that Cleanthes suspected that he had decided otherwise to dispose of his daughter's future.

How exactly Orgon sees the future of Mariana became clear when he told his daughter that Tartuffe's perfections needed a reward, and his marriage to her, Mariana, would be such a reward. The girl was stunned, but did not dare to argue with her father. Dorina had to intercede for her: the maid tried to explain to Orgon that to marry Mariana to Tartuffe - a beggar, a freak of low soul - would mean becoming the subject of ridicule of the whole city, and besides, pushing her daughter onto the path of sin, because no matter how virtuous the girl was, she would not cuckolding a hubby like Tartuffe is simply impossible. Dorina spoke very passionately and convincingly, but, despite this, Orgon remained adamant in his determination to intermarry with Tartuffe.

Mariana was ready to submit to the will of her father - as her daughter's duty told her. Submission, dictated by natural timidity and reverence for her father, tried to overcome Dorina in her, and she almost succeeded in doing this, unfolding before Mariana vivid pictures of the marital happiness prepared for him and Tartuffe.

But when Valer asked Mariana if she was going to submit to the will of Orgon, the girl replied that she did not know. In a fit of despair, Valer advised her to do as her father orders, while he himself will find a bride for himself who will not change this word; Mariana replied that she would only be glad of this, and as a result, the lovers almost parted forever, but then Dorina arrived in time. She convinced young people of the need to fight for their happiness. But they only need to act not directly, but in a roundabout way, to play for time, and then something will certainly work out, because everyone - Elmira, and Cleanthe, and Damis - is against the absurd plan of Orgon,

Damis, even too determined, was going to properly rein in Tartuffe so that he forgot to think about marrying Mariana. Dorina tried to cool his ardor, to suggest that more could be achieved by cunning than by threats, but she did not succeed in convincing him of this to the end.

Suspecting that Tartuffe was not indifferent to Orgon's wife, Dorina asked Elmira to talk to him and find out what he himself thought about marriage with Mariana. When Dorina told Tartuffe that the lady wanted to talk to him face to face, the saint perked up. At first, scattering before Elmira in ponderous compliments, he did not let her open her mouth, but when she finally asked a question about Mariana, Tartuffe began to assure her that his heart was captivated by another. To Elmira's bewilderment - how is it that a man of a holy life is suddenly seized with carnal passion? - her admirer answered with fervor that yes, he is pious, but at the same time, after all, he is also a man, that they say the heart is not a flint ... Immediately, bluntly, Tartuffe invited Elmira to indulge in the delights of love. In response, Elmira asked how, according to Tartuffe, her husband would behave when he heard about his vile harassment. The frightened gentleman begged Elmira not to destroy him, and then she offered a deal: Orgon would not know anything, while Tartuffe, for his part, would try to get Mariana to marry Valera as soon as possible.

Damis ruined everything. He overheard the conversation and, indignant, rushed to his father. But, as was to be expected, Orgon believed not his son, but Tartuffe, who this time surpassed himself in hypocritical self-abasement. In anger, he ordered Damis to get out of sight and announced that Tartuffe would take Mariana as his wife that very day. As a dowry, Orgon gave his future son-in-law all his fortune.

For the last time, Cleante tried to have a human conversation with Tartuffe and convince him to reconcile with Damis, to give up the unjustly acquired property and from Mariana - after all, it is not appropriate for a Christian to use a quarrel between a father and son for his own enrichment, and even more so doom a girl to lifelong torment. But Tartuffe, a noble rhetorician, had an excuse for everything.

Mariana begged her father not to give her to Tartuffe - let him take the dowry, and she would rather go to the monastery. But Orgon, having learned something from his pet, without blinking an eye, convinced the poor thing of the soul-saving life with a husband who only causes disgust - after all, mortification of the flesh is only useful.

Finally, Elmira could not stand it - as soon as her husband does not believe the words of his relatives, he should personally verify the baseness of Tartuffe. Convinced that he would have to make sure just the opposite - in the high morality of the righteous - Orgon agreed to crawl under the table and from there eavesdrop on the conversation that Elmira and Tartuffe would conduct in private.

Tartuffe immediately pecked at Elmira's feigned speeches that she supposedly had a strong feeling for him, but at the same time he showed a certain prudence: before refusing to marry Mariana, he wanted to receive from her stepmother, so to speak, a tangible guarantee of tender feelings. As for the violation of the commandment, which would involve the delivery of this pledge, then, as Tartuffe assured Elmira, he had his own ways of dealing with heaven.

What Orgon heard from under the table was enough to finally break his blind faith in the sanctity of Tartuffe. He ordered the scoundrel to get away immediately, he tried to justify himself, but now it was useless. Then Tartuffe changed his tone and, before proudly departing, promised to cruelly get even with Orgon.

Tartuffe's threat was not unfounded: firstly, Orgon had already managed to straighten the donation to his house, which from today belonged to Tartuffe; secondly, he entrusted the vile villain with a casket with papers exposing his own brother, who was forced to leave the country for political reasons.

We had to urgently look for a way out. Damis volunteered to beat Tartuffe and discourage his desire to harm, but Cleante stopped the young man - with the mind, he argued, you can achieve more than with your fists. Orgon's household had not yet come up with anything when the bailiff, Mr. Loyal, appeared on the threshold of the house. He brought the order to vacate M. Tartuffe's house by tomorrow morning. At this point, not only Damis's hands began to itch, but also Dorina's, and even Orgon himself.

As it turned out, Tartuffe did not fail to use the second opportunity he had to ruin the life of his recent benefactor: Valère brought the news that the villain had given the king a chest of papers, and now Orgon was threatened with arrest for aiding the rebel brother. Orgon decided to run before it was too late, but the guards got ahead of him: the officer who entered announced that he was under arrest.

Together with the royal officer, Tartuffe also came to Orgon's house. The family, including Madame Pernel, who finally began to see clearly, began to shame the hypocritical villain in unison, listing all his sins. Tom soon got tired of this, and he turned to the officer with a request to protect his person from vile attacks, but in response, to his great - and everyone's - amazement, he heard that he had been arrested.

As the officer explained, in fact, he did not come for Orgon, but in order to see how Tartuffe reaches the end in his shamelessness. The wise king, the enemy of lies and the bulwark of justice, from the very beginning had suspicions about the identity of the scammer and turned out to be right, as always - under the name of Tartuffe there was a villain and a swindler, on whose account a great many dark deeds were hidden. With his power, the sovereign terminated the donation to the house and forgave Orgon for indirect aiding the rebellious brother.

Tartuffe was sent to prison in disgrace, but Orgon had no choice but to praise the wisdom and generosity of the monarch, and then bless the union of Valera and Mariana.

A A. ​​Karelsky

(Don Juan, ou le Festin de Pierre)

Comedy (1665)

Leaving his young wife, Dona Elvira, Don Juan rushed in pursuit of another beauty who captivated him. He was not in the least embarrassed that in the city where he arrived in her wake and where he intended to kidnap her, six months before he had killed the commander - and why worry if Don Juan killed him in a fair duel and was completely justified by justice. This circumstance embarrassed his servant Sganarelle, and not only because the deceased had relatives and friends here - it’s somehow not good to return to where you, if not human, then divine law, were definitely violated. However, Don Juan did not care about the law - whether it be heavenly or earthly.

Sganarelle served his master not out of conscience, but out of fear, in the depths of his soul considering him the most vile of the atheists, leading a life more befitting of cattle, some kind of Epicurean pig, than a good Christian. The mere fact how badly he treated women was worthy of the highest punishment. Take at least the same Doña Elvira, whom he kidnapped from the walls of the monastery, forced to break monastic vows, and soon abandoned, disgraced. She was called his wife, but this did not mean anything to Don Juan, because he married almost once a month - each time brazenly mocking the sacred sacrament.

From time to time Sganarelle found the courage to reproach the master for an inappropriate way of life, to remind him that the sky is not to be trifled with, but in such a case, Don Juan had many folding tirades about the diversity of beauty and the decisive impossibility to forever associate himself with one its manifestation, about the sweetness of striving for a goal and the melancholy of calm possession of what has been achieved. When Don Juan was not in the mood to crucify himself before the servant, in response to reproaches and warnings, he simply threatened to beat him.

Doña Elvira did not know her treacherous husband well and therefore went after him, and when she found him, she demanded an explanation. He did not begin to explain anything to her, but only advised her to return back to the monastery. Dona Elvira did not reproach or curse Don Juan, but in parting she predicted his inevitable punishment from above.

The beauty, for whom he rushed this time, Don Juan intended to kidnap during a boat trip, but his plans were prevented by an unexpectedly flowing squall that overturned his boat with Sganarelle. The owner and servant were pulled out of the water by peasants who were spending time on the shore.

Don Juan reacted to the endured mortal danger as easily as he easily treated everything in this world: barely having time to dry off, he was already courting a young peasant girl. Then another caught his eye, the girlfriend of the same Piero who saved his life, and he set to work on her, showering with simple compliments, assuring the honesty and seriousness of his intentions, promising to marry without fail. Even when both passions were in front of him at the same time, Don Juan managed to manage things in such a way that both of them were satisfied. Sganarelle tried to seize the moment and tell the simpletons the whole truth about his master, but the truth did not seem to be of much interest to them.

During such a pastime, our hero was caught by a familiar robber who warned him that twelve horsemen were scouring the district in search of Don Juan. The forces were too unequal and Don Juan decided to go for a trick: he offered Sganarelle to change clothes, which did not at all arouse delight in the servant.

Don Juan and Sganarelle nevertheless changed clothes, but not in the way the master had first suggested: he himself was now dressed as a peasant, and the servant as a doctor. The new attire gave Sganarelle an opportunity to rant about the virtues of various doctors and the drugs they prescribed, and then gradually move on to matters of faith. Here Don Juan succinctly formulated his credo, striking even Sganarelle, who had seen the seeds: the only thing you can believe in, he said, is that twice two is four, and twice four is eight.

In the forest, the owner and his servant came across a beggar who promised to pray to God for them all his life if they give him at least a copper penny. Don Juan offered him a golden louis, but on condition that the beggar would change his rules and blaspheme. The beggar flatly refused. Despite this, Don Juan gave him a coin and immediately, with a sword drawn, rushed to rescue the stranger, who was attacked by three robbers.

Together, they quickly dealt with the attackers. From the ensuing conversation, Don Juan learned that before him was Doña Elvira's brother, Don Carlos. In the forest, he lagged behind his brother, Don Alonso, with whom they searched everywhere for Don Juan in order to avenge him for the desecrated honor of his sister. Don Carlos did not know Don Juan by sight, but his appearance was well known to Don Alonso. Don Alonso soon drove up with his small retinue and wanted to immediately put an end to the offender, but don Carlos asked his brother for a reprieve of punishment - as a thank you for being saved from the robbers.

Continuing their journey along the forest road, the master and servant suddenly saw a magnificent marble building, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be the tomb of the commander killed by Don Juan. The tomb was decorated with a statue of amazing work. In a mockery of the memory of the deceased, Don Juan ordered Sganarelle to ask the statue of the commander if he would like to dine with him today. Overcoming his timidity, Sganarelle asked this impudent question, and the statue nodded in the affirmative. Don Juan did not believe in miracles, but when he himself repeated the invitation, the statue nodded to him too.

Don Juan spent the evening of that day in his apartment. Sganarelle was under a strong impression of communicating with the stone statue and kept trying to convince the owner that this miracle had probably come as a warning to him that it was time to change his mind… Don Juan asked the servant to shut up.

All evening Don Juan was harassed by various visitors who allegedly conspired not to let him dine in peace. First, the supplier showed up (Don Juan owed him a lot), but, resorting to rude flattery, he made it so that the merchant soon left - slurping unsalted, but extremely pleased that such an important gentleman accepted him as a friend.

The next was old Don Luis, Don Juan's father, driven to the utmost despair by his son's debauchery. He again, for the umpteenth time, spoke about the glory of the ancestors, stained by the unworthy deeds of the descendant, about noble virtues, which only bored Don Juan and strengthened his conviction that it would be good for fathers to die early, instead of annoying their sons all their lives .

As soon as the door closed behind Don Luis, the servants reported that a lady under a veil wanted to see Don Juan. It was Doña Elvira. She was determined to withdraw from the world and came to him for the last time, moved by love, to beg for the sake of all that was holy to change her life, for it was revealed to her that Don Juan's sins had exhausted the store of heavenly mercy, that perhaps he had only one day to repent and avert a terrible punishment from yourself. Doña Elvira's words made Sganarelle burst into tears, while in Don Juan, thanks to her unusual appearance, she aroused only a very specific desire.

When Don Juan and Sganarelle finally sat down to supper, the only guest who had been invited today appeared - the statue of the commander. The owner was not shy and had a calm supper with a stone guest. leaving, the commander invited Don Juan to pay a return visit the next day. He accepted the invitation.

The next day, old don Luis was as happy as ever: first, the news reached him that his son had decided to reform and break with the vicious past, and then he met Don Juan himself, and he confirmed that yes, he repented and from now on begins a new life .

The master's words were like a balm to Sganarelle's soul, but as soon as the old man left, Don Juan explained to the servant that all his repentance and correction was nothing more than a trick. Hypocrisy and pretense is a fashionable vice that easily passes for virtue, and therefore it is a sin not to indulge in it.

How useful hypocrisy is in life, Sganarelle became convinced very soon - when Don Carlos met him with the owner and threateningly asked if Don Juan intended to publicly call Dona Elvira his wife. Referring to the will of heaven, which was revealed to him now that he had embarked on the path of righteousness, the pretender argued that for the sake of saving his and her soul, they should not renew the marriage union. Don Carlos listened to him and even let him go in peace, reserving, however, the right to achieve final clarity on this issue somehow in a fair duel.

Not for long, however, Don Juan had to blaspheme with impunity, referring to the alleged voice from above. The sky really showed him a sign - a ghost in the form of a woman under a veil, who said menacingly that Don Juan had one moment left to appeal to heavenly mercy. Don Juan was not afraid this time either, and arrogantly declared that he was not accustomed to such treatment. Then the ghost was transformed into the figure of Time with a scythe in his hand, and then disappeared.

When the statue of the commander appeared before Don Juan and held out her hand for him to shake, he boldly extended his. Feeling the shaking of a stone right hand and hearing from the statue words about a terrible death awaiting the one who rejected heavenly mercy, Don Juan felt that an invisible flame was burning him. The earth opened up and swallowed him, and from the place where he disappeared, flames burst forth.

The death of Don Juan was in the hands of many, except, perhaps, the long-suffering Sganarelle - who will now pay him his salary?

D. A. Karelsky

(Le Misanthrope)

Comedy (1666)

With his disposition, beliefs and actions, Alceste never ceased to amaze people close to him, and now he even refused to consider his old friend Philint as a friend - because he talked too cordially with a man whose name he could then only remember with great difficulty. From the point of view of Alceste, thereby his former friend demonstrated low hypocrisy, incompatible with genuine spiritual dignity. In response to Philint's objection that, they say, living in society, a person is not free from the decency required by mores and custom, Alceste resolutely branded the ungodly vileness of secular lies and pretense. No, Alceste insisted, always and under any circumstances one should tell people the truth in person, never stooping to flattery.

Loyalty to his convictions Alceste not only declared aloud, but also proved in practice. So, for example, he flatly refused to flatter the judge, on whom the outcome of an important lawsuit depended, and Alceste came to the house of his beloved Célimène, where Filintus found him, precisely in order to cleanse her soul from the scale of sin with impartial speeches inspired by love. - frivolity, coquetry and the habit of slandering inherent in the spirit of the times; and let such speeches be unpleasant to Célimène ...

The conversation of friends was interrupted by a young man named Orontes. He, like Alceste, had tender feelings for the charming coquette and now wanted to present a new sonnet dedicated to her to Alceste and Philint. After listening to the work, Filinta rewarded him with elegant, non-binding praise, which greatly pleased the writer. Alceste spoke sincerely, that is, he smashed the fruit of Orontes' poetic inspiration to smithereens, and with his sincerity, as expected, made himself a mortal enemy.

Célimène was not accustomed to the fact that admirers - and she had many of them - sought a date only to grumble and swear. And just so behaved Alceste. He most ardently denounced Célimène's frivolity, the fact that in one way or another she gives favor to all the gentlemen curling around her. The girl objected that it was not in her power to stop attracting fans - she does nothing for this anyway, everything happens by itself. On the other hand, do not drive them all out of the door, especially since it is pleasant to receive signs of attention, and sometimes - when they come from people who have weight and influence - and it is useful. Only Alceste, said Célimène, is truly loved by her, and it is much better for him that she is equally friendly with everyone else, and does not single out one of them and does not give grounds for jealousy. But even such an argument did not convince Alceste of the advantages of innocent windiness.

When Selimene was informed about two visitors - the court dandies Marquis Akaet and Marquis Clitandre - Alceste felt disgusted and left; rather, having overcome himself, he remained. Célimène's conversation with the marquises developed exactly as Alceste expected - the hostess and guests tastefully washed the bones of secular acquaintances, and in each they found something worthy of ridicule: one is stupid, the other is boastful and vain, no one would keep in touch with the third, if not for the rare talents of his cook.

Célimène's sharp tongue earned the stormy praises of the marquises, and this overflowed the patience of Alceste, who had not opened his mouth until then.

Alceste decided not to leave Célimène alone with Acaste and Clitandre, but the gendarme prevented him from fulfilling this intention, who appeared with an order to immediately deliver Alceste to the office. Philinth persuaded him to obey - he believed that the whole point was a quarrel between Alceste and Orontes because of the sonnet. Probably, in the gendarme department they decided to reconcile them.

Brilliant court cavaliers Akat and Klitandr are accustomed to easy success in matters of the heart. Among Célimène's admirers, they resolutely did not find anyone who could compete with them at least somehow, and therefore they concluded such an agreement among themselves: which of the two will provide more solid evidence of the beauty's favor, the battlefield will remain; the other will not interfere with him.

In the meantime, Arsinoe, who was considered, in principle, her friend, appeared on a visit to Célimène. Célimène was convinced that the modesty and virtue of Arsinoe preached only involuntarily - insofar as her own miserable charms could not inspire anyone to violate the boundaries of these same modesty and virtue. However, she met the guest Célimène quite kindly.

Arsinoe did not have time to enter, when immediately - referring to the fact that the duty of friendship tells her to talk about it - she started talking about the rumor surrounding the name of Célimène. She herself, of course, did not believe for a second idle speculation, but nevertheless strongly advised Célimène to change the habits that give rise to such. In response, Célimène - since friends must certainly tell any truth in the face - told Arsinoe that they were talking about herself: devout in church, Arsinoe beats servants and does not pay them money; seeks to hang nakedness on canvas, but strives, if given a chance, to beckon with his own. And Célimène had ready advice for Arsinoe: first look after yourself, and only then for your neighbors. Word for word, the dispute between the friends had already almost turned into a squabble, when, most opportunely, Alceste returned.

Célimène retired, leaving Alceste alone with Arsinoe, who had long been secretly indifferent to him. Wishing to be pleasant to the interlocutor, Arsinoe started talking about how easily Alceste wins over people; using this happy gift, she believed, he could succeed at court. Extremely dissatisfied, Alceste replied that a court career was good for anyone, but not for him - a man with a rebellious soul, courageous and disgusted with hypocrisy and pretense.

Arsinoe hastily changed the subject and began to denigrate Célimène in the eyes of Alceste, who allegedly meanly cheated on him, but he did not want to believe the unfounded accusations. Then Arsinoe promised that Alceste would soon receive true proof of the deceit of her beloved.

What Arsinoe was really right about was that Alceste, despite his oddities, had the gift of winning over people. So, Célimène's cousin, Eliante, who in Alceste was bribed by a rare frankness and noble heroism, had a deep spiritual inclination towards him. She even admitted to Filinto that she would gladly become the wife of Alceste, if he were not passionately in love with another.

Philinte, meanwhile, sincerely wondered how his friend could have kindled a feeling for the flirtatious Célimène and not prefer her a model of all sorts of virtues - Eliante. The union of Alceste with Eliante would have pleased Filinta, but if Alceste were still married to Celimena, he himself would offer his heart and hand to Eliante with great pleasure.

The declaration of love was not allowed to be completed by Philinto Alceste, who burst into the room, all blazing with anger and indignation. He had just received a letter from Célimène, which fully exposed her infidelity and deceit. The letter was addressed, according to the person who handed it over to Alceste, to the rhymer Orontes, with whom he barely managed to come to terms through the mediation of the authorities. Alceste decided to break with Célimène forever, and in addition, to take revenge on her in a very unexpected way - to marry Eliante. Let the insidious see what happiness she has deprived herself of!

Eliante advised Alceste to try to reconcile with her beloved, but he, seeing Célimène, brought down on her a hail of bitter reproaches and offensive accusations. Célimène did not consider the letter reprehensible, since, according to her, the addressee was a woman, but when the girl was tired of assuring Alceste of her love and hearing only rudeness in response, she announced that, if he so desired, she really wrote to Orontes, charmed her with his countless virtues.

A stormy explanation was put to an end by the appearance of Alceste's frightened servant, Dubois. Every now and then, shaking with excitement, Dubois said that the judge - the same one whom his master did not want to flatter, relying on the incorruptibility of justice - had made an extremely unfavorable decision in Alceste's lawsuit, and therefore now both of them, in order to avoid major troubles, must both leave the city as soon as possible.

No matter how Philintus tried to persuade him, Alceste flatly refused to file a complaint and challenge the obviously unfair verdict, which, in his opinion, only once again confirmed that dishonor, lies and depravity reign supreme in society. He will retire from this society, and for his fraudulently selected money he will receive an indisputable right to shout at all corners about the evil untruth that rules on earth.

Now Alceste had only one thing to do: to wait for Célimène to announce the imminent change in his fate; if a girl truly loves him, she will agree to share her with him, if not, good riddance.

But not only Alceste demanded a final decision from Célimène - Orontes pestered her with the same. In her heart she had already made her choice, but she was disgusted by public confessions, usually fraught with loud insults. The situation of the girl was further aggravated by Akat and Klitander, who also wanted to get some clarification from her. They had in their hands Célimène's letter to Arsinoe - a letter, as Alceste had previously, supplied the marquises by the jealous addressee herself - containing witty and very evil portraits of the seekers of her heart.

The reading of this letter aloud was followed by a noisy scene, after which Akaetes, Clitander, Orontes and Arsinoe, offended and wounded, hastily bowed. The remaining Alceste turned all his eloquence on Célimène for the last time, urging him to go somewhere in the wilderness, away from the vices of the world. But such selflessness was beyond the power of a young creature, spoiled by universal worship - loneliness is so terrible at twenty years old.

Wishing Filinta and Eliant great happiness and love, Alceste said goodbye to them, for now he had to go looking for a corner in the world where nothing would prevent a person from being always completely honest.

D. A. Karelsky

Comedy (1668)

Eliza, the daughter of Harpagon, and the young man Valer fell in love with each other for a long time, and this happened under very romantic circumstances - Valer saved the girl from the stormy sea waves when the ship on which both of them sailed crashed. Valera's feeling was so strong that he settled in Paris and became a butler to Eliza's father. Young people dreamed of getting married, but an almost insurmountable obstacle stood on the way to the realization of their dream - the incredible stinginess of Eliza's father, who would hardly have agreed to give his daughter to Valera, who did not have a penny for his soul. Valer, however, did not lose heart and did everything to win the favor of Harpagon, although for this he had to break a comedy day after day, indulging the weaknesses and unpleasant whims of the miser.

Eliza's brother Cleanthes had the same problem as hers: he was madly in love with a newly settled girl named Mariana, but because she was poor, Cleanthes feared that Harpagon would never allow him to marry Mariana.

Money was the most important thing in life for Harpagon, and his boundless stinginess was combined with equally boundless suspicion - he suspected everyone in the world, from servants to his own children, of striving to rob him, to deprive him of treasures dear to his heart. On the day when the events we are describing unfolded, Harpagon was more suspicious than ever: of course, because the day before he had been repaid a debt of ten thousand crowns. Not trusting the chests, he put all this money in a casket, which he then buried in the garden, and now he was trembling, as if someone had sniffed out about his treasure.

Gathering up their courage, Eliza and Cleanthe nevertheless started a conversation with her father about marriage, and he, to their surprise, readily supported him; moreover, Harpagon began to praise Mariana: she is good to everyone, except perhaps a dowry, but that's nothing ... In short, he decided to marry her. These words completely stunned the brother and sister. Cleanthe just got sick of it.

But that was not all: Harpagon intended to marry Eliza to the sedate, prudent and wealthy Monsieur Anselm; he was about fifty years old, and besides, he agreed to marry Eliza - just think! - absolutely no dowry. Eliza turned out to be stronger than her brother and resolutely declared to her father that she would rather kill herself than marry the old man.

Cleanthe was constantly in need of money - what his stingy father gave him was not even enough for a decent dress - and one fine day he decided to resort to the services of a usurer. Broker Simon found a lender for him, whose name was kept secret. True, he lent money not at the accepted five percent, but at the predatory twenty-five, and besides, out of the required fifteen thousand francs, he was ready to give only twelve in cash, imposing some unnecessary belongings at the expense of the rest, but there was no need to choose Cleante, and he agreed to such conditions.

The lender was Cleante's own father. Harpagon willingly agreed to deal with a young rake unknown to him, since, according to Simon, he was expecting the death of his rich father in the very near future. When at last Harpagon and Cleanthes came together as business partners, there was no limit to the indignation of both one and the other: the father angrily stigmatized his son for shamefully getting into debt, and the father’s son for no less shameful and reprehensible usury.

Having driven Cleanthe out of sight, Harpagon was ready to accept Frosina, who was waiting for him, a mediator in matters of the heart, or, simply speaking, a matchmaker. From the threshold, Frozina began to scatter compliments to the elderly fiancé: at his sixty, Harpagon looks better than other twenty-year-olds, and he will live to be a hundred years old, and will still bury his children and grandchildren (the last thought came to his heart especially). She did not bypass the bride with praise either: the beautiful Mariana, although a dowry, is so modest and unpretentious that it is only to save money to support her; and she won’t be drawn to young men, since she can’t stand them - give her no younger than sixty, so much so that she wears glasses and a beard.

Harpagon was extremely pleased, but no matter how hard Frosina tried, she - as Cleante's servant, Lafleche, had predicted - did not succeed in extorting a penny from him. However, the matchmaker did not despair: not from this, but from the other end, she would receive her money.

In Harpagon's house, something unprecedented was being prepared - a dinner party; Eliza's fiancé Mr. Anselm and Mariana were invited to it. Harpagon remained true to himself even here, strictly ordering the servants, God forbid, not to include him in expenses, and the cook (part-time coachman) Jacques to cook dinner tastier and cheaper. All the instructions of the owner regarding economy were diligently echoed by the butler Valer, thus trying to ingratiate himself with the father of his beloved. The sincerely devoted Jacques was disgusted to hear how shamelessly Valère sucked up to Harpagon. Giving vent to his tongue, Jacques honestly told the owner how the whole city was walking around about his incredible stinginess, for which he was beaten first by Harpagon, and then by the zealous butler. He accepted the beatings from the owner without a murmur, but promised to repay Valera somehow.

As agreed, Mariana, accompanied by Frosina, paid Harpagon and his family a daytime visit. The girl was horrified by the marriage to which her mother was pushing her; Frosina tried to console her with the fact that, unlike young people, Harpagon is rich, and in the next three months he will certainly die. Only at Harpagon's house did Mariana learn that Cleanthe, whose feelings she reciprocated, was the son of her ugly old fiancé. But even in the presence of Harpagon, who was not very quick-witted, the young people managed to talk as if in private - Cleanthes pretended to speak on behalf of his father, and Mariana answered her lover, while Harpagon was confident that her words were addressed to him. Seeing that the trick had succeeded, and emboldened by this, Cleanthe, again on behalf of Harpagon, presented Mariana with a diamond ring, removing it directly from papa's hand. He was beside himself with horror, but did not dare to demand the gift back.

When Harpagon retired for a short time on urgent (monetary) business, Cleanthe, Mariana, and Eliza began to talk about their affairs of the heart. Frozina, who was present immediately, understood the difficult situation in which the young people found themselves, and felt sorry for them from the bottom of her heart. Having convinced the youth not to despair and not to give in to the whims of Harpagon, she promised to come up with something.

Returning soon, Harpagon found his son kissing the hand of his future stepmother and began to worry if there was some catch. He began to ask Cleanthe how the future stepmother happened to him, and Cleante, wanting to dispel the suspicions of his father, replied that on closer examination she was not as good as at first glance: they say, her appearance is mediocre, her manner is affected, her mind is the most ordinary . Here it was Harpagon's turn to resort to cunning: it was a pity, he said, that Cleanthe did not like Mariana - after all, he had just changed his mind about marrying and decided to give up his bride to his son. Cleanthes fell for his father's trick and revealed to him that he had in fact been in love with Mariana for a long time; that was what Harpagon needed to know.

A fierce skirmish began between father and son, which did not end in assault only thanks to the intervention of the faithful Jacques. He acted as an intermediary between father and son, misrepresenting to one the words of the other, and thus achieved reconciliation, however not for long, because, as soon as he left, the rivals figured out what was what. A new outbreak of a quarrel led to the fact that Harpagon disowned his son, disinherited him, cursed him and ordered him to get out.

While Cleante was not too successful in fighting for his happiness, his servant Lafleche did not waste time - he found Harpagon's money box in the garden and stole it. Having discovered the loss, the miser almost lost his mind; he suspected everyone without exception of the monstrous theft, almost even himself.

Harpagon told the police commissioner that the theft could have been committed by any of his household, any of the inhabitants of the city, any person in general, so everyone should be interrogated. Jacques was the first to turn up under the arm of the investigation, who thus unexpectedly had the opportunity to take revenge on the toady butler for the beatings: he testified that he had seen the treasured Harpagon's box in Valera's hands.

When Valera was pinned to the wall with the accusation of stealing the most precious thing that Harpagon had, he, believing that it was, without a doubt, about Elise, admitted his guilt. But at the same time, Valer ardently insisted that his act was excusable, since he did it out of the most honest motives. Shocked by the impudence of a young man who claimed that money, you see, can be stolen from honest motives, Harpagon nevertheless stubbornly continued to believe that Valer confessed to stealing money - he was not in the least embarrassed by the words about the unshakable virtue of the casket, about Valera’s love for her ... The veil fell from his eyes only when Valer said that the day before he and Eliza had signed a marriage contract.

Harpagon was still raging when Mr. Anselm, who had been invited to dinner, appeared at his house. Only a few remarks were needed to suddenly reveal that Valera and Mariana were brother and sister, the children of the noble Neapolitan Don Tomaso, now living in Paris under the name of Mr. Anselm. The fact is that sixteen years earlier, Don Tomaso had been forced to family run away from hometown; their ship was caught in a storm and sank. Father, son, mother and daughter - all lived for many years with the certainty that other family members died at sea: Mr. Anselm, in his old age, even decided to start a new family. But now everything fell into place.

Harpagon finally allowed Elise to marry Valera, and Cleanthe to take Mariana as his wife, on the condition that the precious box be returned to him, and M. Anselm would bear the costs of both weddings, make a new dress for Harpagon and pay the commissioner for compiling the protocol that turned out to be unnecessary.

D. A. Karelsky

(Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme)

Comedy (1670)

It would seem, what else does the venerable bourgeois Mr. Jourdain need? Money, family, health - everything you can wish for, he has. But no, Jourdain took it into his head to become an aristocrat, to become like noble gentlemen. His mania caused a lot of inconvenience and unrest to the household, but it played into the hands of a host of tailors, hairdressers and teachers who promised, through their art, to make Jourdain a brilliant noble gentleman. And now two teachers - dances and music - together with their students were waiting for the appearance of the owner of the house. Jourdain invited them so that they would decorate a dinner that he arranged in honor of a certain titled person with a cheerful and elegant performance.

Appearing before the musician and dancer, Jourdain first of all invited them to evaluate his exotic dressing gown - such, according to his tailor, is worn by all the nobility in the mornings - and the new liveries of his lackeys. From the assessment of Jourdain's taste, apparently, the size of the future fee of connoisseurs directly depended, therefore, the reviews were enthusiastic.

The dressing gown, however, caused some hitch, since Jourdain could not decide for a long time how it would be more convenient for him to listen to music - in it or without it. After listening to the serenade, he considered it insipid and, in turn, sang a lively street song, for which he again received praise and an invitation, among other sciences, to also study music and dance. To accept this invitation, Jourdain was convinced by the assurances of teachers that every noble gentleman would certainly learn both music and dance.

A pastoral dialogue was prepared by the music teacher for the upcoming reception. Jourdain, in general, liked it: since you can’t do without these eternal shepherdesses and shepherdesses, all right, let them sing to themselves. The ballet presented by the dance teacher and his students was to Jourdain's liking.

Inspired by the success of the employer, the teachers decided to strike while the iron is hot: the musician advised Jourdain to arrange weekly home concerts, as is done, according to him, in all aristocratic houses; the dance teacher immediately began to teach him the most exquisite of dances - the minuet.

The exercises in graceful movements were interrupted by the fencing teacher, the teacher of the science of sciences - the ability to strike, but not to receive them himself. The dance teacher and fellow musician unanimously disagreed with the swordsman's claim that the ability to fight must take precedence over their time-honored arts. The people got carried away, word for word - and a couple of minutes later a fight broke out between the three teachers.

When the teacher of philosophy came, Jourdain was delighted - who better than a philosopher to admonish the fighters. He willingly took up the cause of reconciliation: he mentioned Seneca, warned his opponents against anger that degraded human dignity, advised him to take up philosophy, this first of the sciences ... Here he went too far. He was beaten along with the others.

The shabby but unmutilated philosophy teacher was finally able to start the lesson. Since Jourdain refused to deal with both logic - the words there are already painfully tricky - and ethics - why does he need to moderate his passions, if it doesn’t matter, if it goes wrong, nothing will stop him - the learned man began to initiate him into the secrets of spelling.

Practicing the pronunciation of vowels, Jourdain rejoiced like a child, but when the first enthusiasm was over, he revealed a big secret to the teacher of philosophy: he, Jourdain, is in love with some high society lady, and he needs to write this lady a note. It was a couple of trifles for the philosopher - in prose, in verse whether ... However, Jourdain asked him to do without these same prose and verses. Did the venerable bourgeois know that here one of the most stunning discoveries in his life awaited him - it turns out that when he shouted to the maid: "Nicole, give me shoes and a nightcap", just think, the purest prose came from his mouth!

However, in the field of literature, Jourdain was still not a bastard - no matter how hard the teacher of philosophy tried, he could not improve the text composed by Jourdain: "Beautiful marquise! Your beautiful eyes promise me death from love."

The philosopher had to leave when Jourdain was informed about the tailor. He brought a new suit, sewn, of course, according to the latest court fashion. The apprentices of the tailor, dancing, made a new one and, without interrupting the dance, dressed Jourdain in it. At the same time, his wallet suffered greatly: the apprentices did not skimp on the flattering "your grace", "your excellency" and even "lordship", and the extremely touched Jourdain - on tips.

In a new suit, Jourdain set out to stroll through the streets of Paris, but his wife resolutely opposed this intention of his - half the city is already laughing at Jourdain. In general, in her opinion, it was time for him to change his mind and leave his silly quirks: why, one wonders, Jourdain fencing, if he doesn't intend to kill anyone? Why learn to dance when your legs are about to fail anyway?

Objecting to the woman’s senseless arguments, Jourdain tried to impress her and the maid with the fruits of his learning, but without much success: Nicole calmly uttered the sound “y”, not even suspecting that at the same time she was stretching her lips and bringing the upper jaw closer to the lower, and with a rapier she easily applied Jourdain received several injections, which he did not reflect, since the unenlightened maid did not inject according to the rules.

Madame Jourdain blamed all the foolish things that her husband indulged in the noble gentlemen who had recently begun to make friends with him. For court dandies, Jourdain was an ordinary cash cow, but he, in turn, was confident that friendship with them gives him significant - how are they there - pre-ro-ga-tivas.

One of these high society friends of Jourdain was Count Dorant. As soon as he entered the drawing room, this aristocrat paid a few exquisite compliments to the new suit, and then briefly mentioned that he had spoken about Jourdain that morning in the royal bedchamber. Having prepared the ground in this manner, the count reminded him that he owed his friend fifteen thousand eight hundred livres, so that it was a direct reason for him to lend him another two thousand two hundred - for good measure. In gratitude for this and subsequent loans, Dorant took on the role of an intermediary in cordial affairs between Jourdain and the subject of his worship - the Marquise Dorimena, for whose sake a dinner with a performance was started.

Madame Jourdain, so as not to interfere, was sent that day to dinner with her sister. She did not know anything about her husband's plan, but she herself was preoccupied with the arrangement of her daughter's fate: Lucille seemed to reciprocate the tender feelings of a young man named Cleont, who, as a son-in-law, was very suitable for Madame Jourdain. At her request, Nicole, who was interested in marrying the young mistress, since she herself was going to marry Cleont's servant, Coviel, brought the young man. Madame Jourdain immediately sent him to her husband to ask for the hand of her daughter.

However, Lucille Cleont did not answer the first and, in fact, the only requirement of Jourdain to the applicant for the hand - he was not a nobleman, while his father wanted to make his daughter, at worst, a marquise, or even a duchess. Having received a decisive refusal, Cleont became discouraged, but Coviel believed that all was not lost. The faithful servant decided to play one joke with Jourdain, since he had actor friends, and the appropriate costumes were at hand.

Meanwhile, the arrival of Count Dorant and Marquise Dorimena was reported. The count brought the lady to dinner not at all out of a desire to please the owner of the house: he himself had been courting the widow marquise for a long time, but did not have the opportunity to see her either at her place or at his place - this could compromise Dorimena. In addition, he deftly attributed all Jourdain's crazy spending on gifts and various entertainments for her to himself, which in the end won the woman's heart.

Having greatly amused the noble guests with a pretentious clumsy bow and the same welcoming speech, Jourdain invited them to a luxurious table.

The marquise was not without pleasure consuming exquisite dishes to the accompaniment of exotic compliments of an eccentric bourgeois, when all the splendor was suddenly broken by the appearance of an angry Madame Jourdain. Now she understood why they wanted to send her away to dinner with her sister - so that her husband could safely spend money with strangers. Jourdain and Dorant began to assure her that the count was giving a dinner in honor of the Marquise and he paid for everything, but their assurances did not in the least moderate the ardor of the offended wife. After her husband, Madame Jourdain took on a guest who should have been ashamed to bring discord into an honest family. Embarrassed and offended, the marquise got up from the table and left the hosts; Dorant followed her.

Only noble gentlemen left, as a new visitor was reported. It turned out to be Coviel in disguise, who introduced himself as a friend of Mr. Jourdain's father. The late father of the owner of the house was, according to him, not a merchant, as everyone around him kept repeating, but a real nobleman. Covel's calculation was justified: after such a statement, he could tell anything, without fear that Jourdain would doubt the veracity of his speeches.

Coziel told Jourdain that his good friend, the son of the Turkish Sultan, had arrived in Paris, madly in love with his, Jourdain, daughter. The Sultan's son wants to ask for the hand of Lucille, and in order for his father-in-law to be worthy of a new relative, he decided to dedicate him to mammamushi, in our opinion - paladins. Jourdain was delighted.

The son of the Turkish sultan was represented by Cleont in disguise. He spoke in terrible gibberish, which Coviel supposedly translated into French. With the main Turk, the appointed muftis and dervishes arrived, who had a lot of fun during the initiation ceremony: the eye turned out to be very colorful, with Turkish music, songs and dances, as well as with the ritual beating of the initiate with sticks.

Dorant, initiated into Coviel's plan, finally succeeded in persuading Dorimenta to return, seducing her with the opportunity to enjoy a funny spectacle, and then also an excellent ballet. The count and the marquise, with the most serious look, congratulated Jourdain on conferring a high title on him, and he was also eager to hand over his daughter to the son of the Turkish sultan as soon as possible.

At first, Lucille did not want to marry the Turkish jester, but as soon as she recognized him as a disguised Cleon, she immediately agreed, pretending that she was dutifully fulfilling her daughter's duty. Madame Jourdain, in turn, sternly declared that the Turkish scarecrow would not see her daughter as her own ears. But as soon as Covel whispered a few words in her ear, mother changed her anger to mercy.

Jourdain solemnly joined the hands of a young man and a girl, giving a parental blessing on their marriage, and then sent for a notary. Another couple decided to use the services of the same notary - Dorant and Dorimena. While waiting for the representative of the law, everyone present had a nice time enjoying the ballet choreographed by the dance teacher.

D. A. Karelsky

(Les Fourberies de Scapin)

Comedy (1671)

From the experience of their own youth, knowing well that their sons need an eye and an eye, Argant and Geronte, when they left Naples on trading business, entrusted the care of their children to servants: Octave, the son of Argant, was left under the supervision of Sylvester, and Geronte’s offspring Leander were swindlers Scapena. However, in the role of mentors and overseers, the servants were not painfully zealous, so that young people were free to use the time of parental absence entirely at their discretion.

Leander immediately began an affair with the pretty gypsy Zerbinetta, with whom he spent all his days. Once Octave saw off Leander, and on the way to the place where the gypsy lived, friends heard that from one house there were weeping and moaning. For the sake of curiosity, they looked inside and saw a dead old woman, over whom a young girl was shedding tears. Leander thought that she was very good-looking, but Octave fell in love with her without memory. From that day on, he only thought about Hyacinth - that was the name of the girl - and with all his might sought reciprocity from her, but she was modest, and besides, as they said, she came from a noble family. So the only means left for him to call Hyacinth his own was to marry her. And so he did.

Only three days had passed after the marriage, when, from a letter from a relative, Octave learned the terrible news for him: Argant and Geront are not returning tomorrow tomorrow, and the father has the firm intention of marrying Octave to Geront's daughter, whom no one has ever seen, since she still lived with his mother in Tarentum. Octave did not want to part with his young wife, and Hyacinth begged him not to leave her. Having promised her to settle everything with her father, Octave nevertheless had no idea how to do it. Just the thought of the anger that his father would bring down on him at the meeting plunged him into horror.

But it was not for nothing that Leander's servant Scapin was known as a rare rogue and rogue. He willingly undertook to help the grief of Octave - for him it was as easy as shelling pears. When Argant lashed out at Sylvester with scolding for the fact that, due to his oversight, Octave married an unknown person and without his father's knowledge, Scapen, having intervened in the conversation, saved the servant from the lord's wrath, and then gave Argant a story about how Hyacinth's relatives found her with her his poor son and forcibly married. Argant already wanted to run to the notary to dissolve the marriage, but Scapin stopped him: firstly, for the sake of saving his and his father's honor, Octave should not admit that he married not of his own free will; secondly, he will not admit it, since he is quite happy in marriage.

Argant was beside himself. He regretted that Octave was his only offspring - if he had not lost his little daughter many years ago, she could have inherited all her father's fortune. But even Octav, who was not yet deprived of his inheritance, was decisively short of money, he was pursued by creditors. Scapin promised to help him in this difficulty, and to get a couple of hundred pistoles out of Argant.

Geronte, when he found out about Octave's marriage, was offended by Argant for not keeping his word to marry his son to his daughter. He began to reproach Argant with the bad education of Octave, while Argant, in a polemical heat, took it and declared that Leander could do something worse than what Octave did; at the same time, he referred to Scapin. It is clear that the meeting of Geronte with his son after that turned out to be unpleasant for Leander.

Leander, although his father did not accuse him of anything specific, wished to settle accounts with the traitor Scapin. Under fear of severe beatings, Scapin did not confess to anything: he drank a barrel of the master's wine with a friend, then dumped it on the maid, and pocketed the watch sent by Leander as a gift to Zerbinetta, and beat the owner himself one night, pretending to be a werewolf, so that he would be disrespectful it was to drive the servants at night on trifling assignments. But there was never any denunciation behind him.

From the continuation of the massacre, Scapen was saved by a man who informed Leandro that the gypsies were leaving the city and taking Zerbinetta with them - if Leandre did not pay a ransom for her in two hours, he would never see her again. The young man did not have such money, and he turned to the same Scapen for help. The servant, for decency, rebuffed, but then agreed to help, especially since it was even easier to extract money from the near Geronte than from Argant, who was not inferior to him in stinginess.

For Argant, Scapin prepared a whole performance. He told him that he had visited Hyacinth's brother - a notorious thug and a dashing slasher - and persuaded him to agree to a divorce for a certain amount. Argant perked up, but when Scapin said that only two hundred pistoles were needed, he declared that it would be better to seek a divorce through the courts. Then Scapin launched into a description of the delights of judicial red tape, which, by the way, also costs the litigant money; Argan stood his ground.

But then Sylvester, disguised as a thug, appeared and, scattering terrible curses, demanded that Scapin show him the scoundrel and scoundrel Argant, who wants to sue him in order to get Octave to divorce his sister. He rushed with a sword at Argant, but Scapen convinced the imaginary thug that this was not Argant, but his worst enemy. Sylvester, however, continued to swing his sword furiously, demonstrating how he would deal with Father Octave. Argant, looking at him, decided at last that it would be cheaper to part with two hundred pistoles.

To lure money from Geronte, Scapin came up with the following story: in the harbor, a Turkish merchant lured Leander to his galley - allegedly wanting to show him various curiosities - and then set sail and demanded a ransom of five hundred ecu for the young man; otherwise, he intended to sell Leandre as a slave to the Algerians. To believe, Geronte immediately believed, but it was painful for him to feel sorry for the money. At first he said that he would report to the police - and this is on a Turk in the sea! - then he suggested that Scapin go hostage instead of Leander, but in the end he nevertheless parted with his wallet.

Octave and Leander were at the height of happiness, having received parental money from Scapen, with which one could redeem his beloved from the gypsies, and the other could live humanly with his young wife. Scapin was still determined to settle accounts with Geronte, who had slandered him before Leander.

Leander and Octave decided that until everything was settled, Zerbinetta and Hyacinth should be together under the supervision of faithful servants. The girls immediately became friends, but they did not agree on whose situation is more difficult: Hyacinth, from whom they wanted to take away her beloved husband, or Zerbinetta, who, unlike her friend, could not hope to ever know who her parents were. So that the girls would not be too discouraged, Scapin entertained them with a story about how he deceived the money from the fathers Octave and Leander. Scapen's story amused his friends, but then he himself almost went sideways.

Meanwhile, Scapin found time to take revenge on Geronte for slander. He scared Geronte to death with a story about Hyacinth's brother, who swore to deal with him because he allegedly intended to get Octave's divorce through the court, and then marry the young man to his daughter; soldiers from the company of this same brother, according to Scapin, have already blocked all approaches to Geronte's house. Convinced that the story had the expected effect on Geronte, Scapin offered his help - he would put the owner in a bag and carry him past the ambush. Geront readily agreed.

As soon as he got into the bag, Scapin, speaking in two voices, acted out a dialogue with a Gascon soldier, burning with hatred for Geronte; the servant defended the master, for which he was allegedly severely beaten - in fact, he only lamented, and he threshed the sack with a stick from the heart. When the imaginary danger passed and the beaten Geronte leaned out, Scapin began to complain that most of the blows fell on his poor back.

Scapin threw out the same number when another soldier seemed to approach him and Geronte, but on the third - Scapin just began to act out the appearance of a whole detachment - Geronte leaned out of the bag a little and understood everything. Scapin escaped by force, and then, as luck would have it, Zerbinetta was walking along the street, who could not calm down in any way - Scapin told her such a funny story. She did not know Geronte by sight and willingly shared with him the story of how a fine servant cheated two greedy old men.

Argant and Geronte were complaining to each other about Scapin, when suddenly a woman called out to Geronte - it turned out to be the old nurse of his daughter. She told Geronte that his second wife - whose existence he hid - had long since moved with her daughter from Tarento to Naples and died there. Left without any means and not knowing how to find Geronte, the nurse gave Hyacinth in marriage to the young man Octave, for which she now asked for forgiveness.

Immediately after Hyacinth, Zerbinetta also found her father: the gypsies, to whom Leander carried the ransom for her, said that they had kidnapped her four years old from noble parents; they also gave the young man a bracelet with which his family could identify Zerbinetta. One glance at this bracelet was enough for Argant to be sure that Zerbinetta was his daughter. Everyone was unspeakably happy, and only the rogue Scapen was expected to be brutally punished.

But then a friend of Scapin came running with news of an accident: poor Scapen was walking past a construction site and a hammer fell on his head, breaking through his skull. When the bandaged Scapin was brought in, he diligently pretended to be a dying man and begged Argant and Geronte before his death to forgive all the harm done to them. Of course he was forgiven. However, as soon as everyone was called to the table, Scapin changed his mind about dying and joined the festive meal.

A A. ​​Karelsky

(Le Malade Imaginaire)

Comedy (1673)

After long calculations and checks of records, Argan finally understood why his health had recently deteriorated so much: as it turned out, this month he had taken eight kinds of medicines and made twelve flushing injections, while last month there were as many as twelve kinds of medicines and twenty enemas. He decided to put this circumstance to the attention of Dr. Purgon, who used it. So it won't take long to die.

Argan's family had different attitudes towards his obsession with his own health: his second wife, Belina, indulged the doctors in everything, in the belief that their drugs would bring her husband to the grave sooner than any illness; the daughter, Angelica, perhaps did not approve of her father's mania, but, as he prescribed her a daughter's duty and respect for her parent, she modestly kept quiet; on the other hand, the maid Touaneta completely unbelted - she scolded the doctors and impudently refused to examine the contents of the master's chamber pot for bile that had gone under the influence of drugs.

The same Toineta was the only one to whom Angelica revealed herself in the feeling that gripped her for the youth Cleanthe. She saw him only once - in the theater, but even for this brief meeting, the young man managed to charm the girl. Not only was Cleanthe very good-looking, he also protected Angelica, not being familiar with her then, from the rudeness of an irreverent gentleman.

Imagine Angelica's astonishment when her father spoke to her about marriage - from his first words, she decided that Cleante had wooed her. But Argan soon disappointed his daughter: he did not mean Cleanthe, but a much more suitable, from his point of view, groom - the nephew of Dr. Purgon and the son of his brother-in-law, Dr. Diafuarus, Tom Diafuarus, who himself was a doctor without five minutes. In Diafuarus Jr., as in a son-in-law, he saw a bunch of virtues: firstly, the family would have its own doctor, which would save money on doctors; secondly, Tom is the only heir to both his father and Uncle Purgon.

Angelique, although she was terrified, out of modesty did not utter a word, but everything that followed, Argan heard from Toineta. But the maid shook the air in vain - Argan firmly stood his ground.

Belina was also displeased with Angelica’s marriage, but she had her own reasons for that: she did not want to share Argan’s inheritance with her stepdaughter and therefore tried with all her might to send her to the monastery. So Angelica completely entrusted her fate to Tuaneta, who readily agreed to help the girl. The first thing she had to do was to notify Cleante that Angelica was getting married to someone else. She chose the old pawnbroker Polichinel, who had long since been hopelessly in love with her, as her messenger.

The procession of the love-drunk Polichinelle down the street, which led to a funny incident with the police, formed the content of the first interlude with songs and dances.

Cleanthe did not keep himself waiting and soon appeared at Argan's house, but not as a young man in love who wants to ask for Angelica's hand, but in the role of a temporary singing teacher - Angelica's real teacher, friend of Cleanthe, as if he was forced to urgently leave for the village. Argan agreed to a replacement, but insisted that the classes take place only in his presence.

No sooner had the lesson started, however, than Argan was informed of the arrival of Diafuarus the father and Diafuarus the son. Then, it is true, he mistook Angelique for Argan's wife and spoke to her as to a future mother-in-law, but when the misunderstanding cleared up, Thomas Diafuarus proposed to her in terms that delighted grateful listeners - there was a statue of Memnon with her harmonic sounds, and heliotropes, and an altar of charms... As a gift to the bride, Toma presented his treatise against the followers of the harmful theory of blood circulation, and as the first joint entertainment he invited Angelica the other day to attend the autopsy of a female corpse.

Fully satisfied with the merits of the groom, Argan wished that his daughter also showed herself. The presence of a singing teacher came in handy here, and her father ordered Angelica to sing something for the entertainment of society. Cleante handed her the notes and said that he just had a draft of a new opera - so, a trifling improvisation. Addressing, as it were, to everyone, but in fact only to his beloved, he in a bucolic vein - replacing himself with a shepherdess, and her shepherdess and placing both in the appropriate surroundings - retold a brief history of their love with Angelica, which allegedly served as the plot of the composition. This story ended with the appearance of a shepherdess in the shepherd's house, where he caught an unworthy rival, who was favored by her father; now or never, despite the presence of the father, the lovers had to explain themselves. Cleante and Angelica sang and in touching impromptu couplets confessed their love to each other and swore fidelity to the grave.

The lovers sang in a duet until Argan felt that something indecent was happening, although what exactly, he did not understand. Telling them to stop, he immediately got down to business - he invited Angelica to lend a hand to Tom Diafuarus and call him her husband, but Angelica, who had not dared to argue with her father before, flatly refused. The venerable Diafuaruses retired with nothing, trying to maintain a good professional face even in a bad game.

Argan was already beside himself, and then Belina found Angelique Cleante in the room, who, at the sight of her, fled. So when his brother Berald came to him and started talking about the fact that he had in mind a good groom for his daughter, Argan did not want to hear about anything like that. But Berald saved for his brother a cure for excessive gloominess - a performance by a troupe of gypsies, which should have acted no worse than Purgon klisters.

The dances of the gypsies and their songs about love, youth, spring and the joy of life were the second interlude, entertaining the audience in between acts.

In a conversation with Argan, Berald tried to appeal to his brother's mind, but to no avail: he was firm in the belief that only a doctor should become his son-in-law, and no one else, and who Angelica wants to marry is the tenth thing. But is it really, Berald wondered, that Argan, with his iron health, is going to mess around with doctors and pharmacists all his life? According to Berald, there could be no doubts about the excellent health of Argan, if only because the whole sea of ​​drugs he had taken had not yet killed him.

The conversation gradually turned to the topic of medicine, as such, and its very right to exist. Berald argued that all doctors - although they are mostly people well educated in the humanities, who speak Latin and Greek - are either charlatans, deftly emptying the wallets of gullible patients, or artisans who naively believe in the spells of charlatans, but also benefit from it. The structure of the human body is so subtle, complex and full of secrets sacredly guarded by nature that it is impossible to penetrate into it. Only nature itself can overcome the disease, provided, of course, that doctors do not interfere with it.

No matter how hard Berald fought, his brother stood his ground to the death. The last way Berald knew of to overcome his blind faith in doctors was to somehow take Argan to one of Molière's comedies, in which the representatives of medical pseudoscience get so well. But Argan did not want to hear about Molière and predicted a terrible death for him, abandoned by the doctors to the mercy of fate.

This highly scientific controversy was interrupted by the appearance of the pharmacist Flerand with a clyster prepared by Doctor Purgon with his own hand and with love according to all the rules of science. Despite Argand's protests, the apothecary was driven away by Berald. leaving, he promised to complain to Purgon himself and kept his promise - a short time after his departure, Dr. Purgon, offended to the depths of his soul, burst in. He had seen a lot in this life, but in order for his klistir to be so cynically rejected ... Purgon announced that he no longer wanted to have anything to do with Argan, who, without his care, would undoubtedly come to a state of complete incurability in a few days, and in a few more he would give up ends from bradypepsia, apepsia, dyspepsia, lienteria, etc.

However, as soon as one doctor said goodbye to Argan forever, another appeared at his doorstep, although he looked suspiciously like the servant Tuaneta. He immediately introduced himself as an unsurpassed wandering doctor, who is by no means interested in banal cases - give him good dropsy, pleurisy with pneumonia, at worst, the plague. Such a famous patient as Argan simply could not help but attract his attention. The new doctor instantly recognized Purgon as a charlatan, made prescriptions directly opposite to Purgonov's, and with that left.

With this, the medical topic was exhausted, and the conversation between the brothers resumed about Angelica's marriage. For a doctor or a monastery - there is no middle ground, Argan insisted. The idea of ​​placing his daughter in a monastery, quite obviously with bad intent, imposed on Belin's husband, but Argan refused to believe that she, the person closest to him, might have some kind of bad intention. Then Tuaneta offered to arrange a small prank, which was supposed to reveal the true face of Belina. Argan agreed and pretended to be dead.

Belina was indecently happy about the death of her husband - now, finally, she could manage all his money! Angelica, and after her Cleante, seeing Argan dead, were sincerely killed and even wanted to give up the idea of ​​marriage. Having resurrected - to Belina's horror and Angelica's joy with Cleante, - Argan agreed to marry his daughter ... but on the condition that Cleante learn to be a doctor.

Berald, however, expressed a more sensible idea: why not learn to be a doctor Argan himself. And as for the fact that at his age knowledge is unlikely to get into his head - this is nothing, no knowledge is required. As soon as you put on a doctor's robe and cap, you can easily begin to talk about illnesses, and, moreover, in Latin.

By a lucky chance, there were actors familiar to Berald nearby, who performed the last interlude - a clownish, flavored with dances and music, the ceremony of initiation into a doctor.

D. A. Karelsky

(Les provinciales)

Pamphlet (1656-1657)

These letters are a polemic between the author and the Jesuits, who are fierce persecutors of the supporters of the teachings of the Dutch theologian Jansenius, who opposed the true believers to the rest of the mass formally accepting church teaching. In France, the Parisian Abbey of Port-Royal became the stronghold of Jansenism, within the walls of which Pascal spent several years.

Arguing with the Jesuits, the author primarily proceeds from common sense. The first topic of discussion is the doctrine of grace, or rather, the interpretation of this doctrine by the Jesuit fathers, who represent the official point of view, and the supporters of Jansenius. The Jesuits recognize that all people are endowed with overwhelming grace, but in order to be able to act, they need effective grace, which God does not send to everyone. Jansenists, on the other hand, believe that any overwhelming grace is effective in itself, but not everyone possesses it. So what's the difference? - the author asks, and immediately answers: "And it turns out that they (the Jesuits) disagree with the Jansenists only at the level of terminology." Nevertheless, he goes to a theologian, an ardent opponent of the Jansenists, asks him the same question, and receives the following answer: it’s not a matter of whether grace is given to everyone or not to everyone, but that the Jansenists do not recognize that “the righteous have the ability to keep the commandments of God just as we understand it." Where is the concern for logic, or at least common sense!

The Jesuit Fathers are just as inconsistent in their discussion of sinful acts. After all, if acting grace is a revelation from God, through which he expresses his will to us and induces us to desire to fulfill it, then what is the difference with the Jansenists, who also see grace as a gift of God? But in the fact that, according to the Jesuits, God sends down active grace to all people at every temptation; "If we did not have grace active in every temptation to keep us from sin, then whatever sin we commit, it cannot be imputed to us." Jansenists, on the other hand, argue that sins committed without active grace do not become less sinful from this. In other words, the Jesuits justify everything with ignorance! However, it has long been known that ignorance by no means frees the person who committed the offense from responsibility. And the author begins to ponder why the Jesuit fathers resort to such sophisticated casuistry. It turns out that the answer is simple: the Jesuits "have such a good opinion of themselves that they consider it useful and, as it were, necessary for the good of religion, so that their influence spreads everywhere." To do this, they elect from their midst casuists who are ready to find a decent explanation for everything. So, if a person comes to them who wants to return unjustly acquired property, they will praise him and strengthen him in this charitable deed; but if another person comes to them who does not want to return anything, but wants to get a pardon, they will equally find reasons to pardon him. And so, "through such guidance, obliging and accommodating", the Jesuits "stretch out their hands to the whole world. To justify their hypocrisy, they put forward the doctrine of probable opinions, which consists in this, that, on the basis of due reasoning, a learned person can come to both one conclusion, and to the other, and the knower is free to follow the opinion that he likes best. "Thanks to your probable opinions, we have complete freedom of conscience," the author mockingly remarks. And how do casuists answer the questions posed to them? pleasant, or rather, what is pleasant to those who ask us."

Of course, with this approach, the Jesuits have to invent all sorts of tricks to evade the authority of the gospel. For example, Scripture says, "Give alms out of your abundance." But casuists have found a way to free rich people from the obligation to give alms, explaining the word "surplus" in their own way: "What secular people put aside in order to elevate their position and the position of their relatives is not called excess. there will be a surplus among secular people and even among kings. The Jesuits are just as hypocritical in drawing up rules "for people of every kind", that is, for the clergy, nobility and the third estate. So, for example, they allow the service of mass by a priest who has fallen into the sin of debauchery, solely on the basis that if today with all severity "we excommunicate priests from the altar", there will literally be no one to serve mass. "Meanwhile, a large number of dinners serve to the greater glory of God and to greater benefit for the soul." No less flexible are the rules for servants. If, for example, a servant performs an "immoral commission" of his master, but does it "only for his own temporary benefit," such a servant can easily be excused. Thefts of the property of the masters are also justified, "if other servants of the same rank receive more elsewhere." At the same time, the author mockingly remarks that for some reason such reasoning does not work in court.

And here is how the Jesuit Fathers "combined the rules of the Gospel with the laws of the world." "Return evil for evil to no one," says Scripture. "From this it is clear that a military man can immediately begin to pursue the one who wounded him, however, not with the aim of repaying evil for evil, but in order to preserve his honor." Similarly, they justify killings - the main thing is that there is no intention to harm the enemy, but only a desire to do one's own good: "one should kill only when it is appropriate and there is a good probable opinion." "Where do such revelations come from!" - the author exclaims in confusion. And instantly receives an answer: from "very special insights."

Theft is justified in the same peculiar way: "If you meet a thief who has decided to rob a poor person, in order to turn him away from this, you can point out to him some rich person whom he can rob instead." Similar reasoning is contained in a work called "The Practice of Love for Your Neighbor" by one of the most authoritative Jesuits. "This love is really unusual, - the author notes, - to save from the loss of one to the detriment of the other." No less curious are the arguments of the Jesuits about people engaged in divination: should they return the money to their clients or not? "Yes" if "the fortuneteller is ignorant of the black book", "no" if he is "a skillful sorcerer and did everything he could to find out the truth." "In this way, sorcerers can be made to become versed and experienced in their art," the author concludes. His opponent sincerely asks: "Isn't it useful to know our rules?"

Next, the author cites no less curious arguments from the book of the Jesuit father "The Sum of Sins": "Envy of the spiritual good of a neighbor is a mortal sin, but envy of a temporary good is only a venial sin," for temporary things are insignificant for the Lord and his angels. The seducer's justification is also placed here: "the girl owns her virginity in the same way as her body," and "can dispose of them at her discretion."

A striking innovation is the doctrine of "mental reservations" that allow perjury and false oaths. It turns out that after you say aloud: “I swear that I didn’t do this,” it’s enough to add quietly “today” or something similar, “in a word, to give your speeches a turn that a skilled person would give them.”

No less briskly the Jesuits deal with the sacraments of the Church, which require spiritual and other efforts from the parishioner. For example, one can have two confessors - for ordinary sins and for the sin of murder; not to answer the question, "Is sin habitual," in which you repent. It is enough for the confessor to ask if the repentant sin in his soul hates, and, having received a “yes” in response, to believe in the word and give forgiveness. Sin should be avoided, but if circumstances lead you to sin, then the sin is excusable. And, completely turning all ideas about decency upside down, the Jesuits exclude slander from the number of the most disgusting sins. "Slandering and attributing imaginary crimes in order to undermine the credibility of those who speak ill of us is only a venial sin," they write. This doctrine is so widely spread among the members of the order, the author notes, that anyone who dares to challenge it, they call "ignorant and impudent." And how many truly pious people fell victim to the slander of these unworthy teachers!

"Do not undertake to portray mentors any more; you have neither moral nor mental abilities for this," "leave the church alone," the author urges his opponents. The same in response fall upon him with accusations of heresy. But what evidence does the indignant Jesuit Fathers provide? And here are some: the author "from the members of the Port-Royal", the abbey of Port-Royal "declared heretical", which means that the author is also a heretic. "Consequently," concludes the author, "the whole weight of this accusation falls not on me, but on the Port-Royal." And he again fiercely rushes into battle in defense of faith, which elevates the human spirit: “God changes the heart of a person, pouring into his soul heavenly sweetness, which, overcoming carnal pleasures, produces what a person, feeling, on the one hand, his mortality and his insignificance and contemplating, on the other hand, the greatness and eternity of God, he is disgusted by the temptations of sin, which separate him from the incorruptible good.Finding his highest joy in God, who draws him to himself, he is steadily attracted to him himself, with a completely free feeling, completely voluntary."

E. V. Morozova

Fragments (1658-1659, published 1669)

“Let a person know what he is worth. Let him love himself, for he is capable of good”, “let him despise himself, for the ability to do good remains in him in vain” ...

"A purely mathematical mind will work correctly only if all definitions and beginnings are known to it in advance, otherwise it becomes confused and unbearable." "The mind, knowing directly, is not able to patiently seek out the primary principles underlying purely speculative, abstract concepts that it does not encounter in everyday life and is unusual for it." "It sometimes happens that a person who talks sensibly about phenomena of a certain order talks nonsense when the question concerns phenomena of another order." “He who is used to judging and evaluating by the prompting of the senses does not understand anything in logical conclusions, because he seeks to penetrate the subject of research at a glance and does not want to explore the principles on which it is based. On the contrary, whoever is used to studying the principles does not understand anything in the arguments of feeling, because he is looking for what they are based on, and is not able to grasp the subject with a single glance. "The feeling is as easy to corrupt as the mind." "The smarter a person is, the more originality he finds in everyone with whom he communicates. For an ordinary person, all people look the same."

"Eloquence is the art of speaking in such a way that those to whom we address listen not only without difficulty, but also with pleasure." "It is necessary to preserve simplicity and naturalness, not to exaggerate the little things, not to underestimate the significant." "The form must be elegant", "correspond to the content and contain everything necessary." "Otherwise, the words spaced take on a different meaning, otherwise the spaced thoughts produce a different impression."

"The mind should be distracted from the work begun, only to give it rest, and even then not when it pleases, but when necessary": "rest does not tire at the right time, and fatigue distracts from labor."

"When you read a work written in a simple, natural style, you involuntarily rejoice."

"It's good when someone is called" "just a decent person."

"We are not capable of either comprehensive knowledge or complete ignorance." "The middle, given to us as a lot, is equally removed from both extremes, so does it matter whether a person knows a little more or less?"

"Imagination" - "a human ability that deceives, sowing errors and delusions." "Put the wisest philosopher on a wide board over the abyss; no matter how much reason tells him that he is safe, imagination will still prevail." "Imagination controls everything - beauty, justice, happiness, everything that is valued in this world."

"When a person is healthy, it is not clear to him how sick people live, but when he is sick," "he has other passions and desires." "By our very nature, we are unhappy always and under all circumstances." "A person is so unhappy that he languishes with longing even for no reason, simply because of his special position in the world." "The state of man: inconstancy, melancholy, anxiety." "The essence of human nature is in motion. Complete rest means death." "We are comforted by any trifle, because any trifle brings us down." "We will understand the meaning of all human activities if we delve into the essence of entertainment."

"Of all positions" "the position of the monarch is the most enviable." “He is satisfied in all his desires, but try to deprive him of entertainment, give him thoughts and reflections about what he is,” “and this happiness will collapse,” “he will involuntarily plunge into thoughts about the threats of fate, about possible rebellions,” “ about death and inevitable ills. "And it will turn out that the monarch deprived of entertainment" "is more unfortunate than his most miserable subject, who indulges in games and other entertainments." "That's why people so value games and chatter with women, so eager to go to war or take a high position. It's not that they expect to find happiness in this": "we are looking for" "disturbances that entertain us and take us away from painful reflection." "The advantage of the monarch lies in the fact that they vied with each other to entertain and give him all the pleasures in the world."

"Entertainment is our only solace in grief." “A person from childhood” is “burdened with studies, learning languages, bodily exercises, tirelessly suggesting that he will not be happy if he” fails to maintain “health, good name, property”, and “the slightest need for something will make him unfortunate." "And so many tasks and duties fall upon him that from dawn to dusk he is in vanity and worries." "Take away these worries from him, and he will begin to think what he is, where he came from, where he is going - that is why it is necessary to plunge him headlong into business, turning him away from thoughts."

"How empty is the human heart and how many impurities are in this desert!"

"People live in such a complete misunderstanding of the vanity of all human life that they are completely bewildered when they are told about the senselessness of the pursuit of honors. Well, isn't that amazing!"

"We are so pathetic that at first we rejoice in luck," and then "we are tormented when it cheats on us." "Whoever learns to rejoice in success and not to grieve because of failure, he would make an amazing discovery - it's like inventing a perpetual motion machine."

"We carelessly rush to the abyss, shielding our eyes with anything, so as not to see where we are running." But even realizing "all the sadness of our being, which brings us troubles", we "still do not lose some instinct, indestructible and uplifting us."

"It's not good to be too free. It's not good not to need anything."

"Man is neither an angel nor an animal," but his misfortune is "that the more he strives to become like an angel, the more he turns into an animal." "Man is so constituted that he cannot always go forward - he either goes or returns." "The greatness of a man lies in his ability to think." "Man is only a reed, the weakest of the creatures of nature, but he is a thinking reed."

"The strength of the mind is that it recognizes the existence of many phenomena." "Nothing is more in harmony with reason than his distrust of himself." "We must obey reason more unquestioningly than any ruler, for whoever contradicts reason is unhappy, and whoever contradicts the ruler is only stupid." "Reason always and in everything resorts to the help of memory." "The soul is not kept on the heights that the mind sometimes reaches in a single impulse: it rises there not like on a throne, not forever, but only for a short moment."

"We comprehend the existence and nature of the finite, because we ourselves are finite and extended, like it. We comprehend the existence of the infinite, but do not know its nature, for it is extended, like us, but has no boundaries. But we do not comprehend either the existence or the nature of God for it has neither extension nor limits, only faith reveals to us its existence, only grace reveals its nature." "Faith speaks differently than our feelings, but never contradicts their evidence. It is higher than feelings, but does not oppose them."

"It is fair to obey justice, it is impossible not to obey force. Justice, not supported by force, is weak, force, not supported by justice, is tyrannical. Powerless justice will always be opposed, because bad people are not translated, unjust force will always be indignant. Therefore, we must unite the force with justice." However, "the concept of justice is as subject to fashion as women's jewelry."

"Why do people follow the majority? Is it because it is right? No, because it is strong." "Why do they follow ancient laws and views? Because they are healthy? No, because they are generally accepted and do not allow the seeds of discord to germinate." "Those who know how to invent new things are few in number, and the majority wants to follow only the generally accepted." "Do not boast about your ability to innovate, be content with the knowledge that you have it."

"He who does not love the truth turns away from it under the pretext that it is rebuttable, that the majority denies it. This means that his delusion is conscious, it stems from a dislike for truth and goodness, and this person has no forgiveness."

"People are not bored with eating and sleeping every day, because the desire to eat and sleep is renewed every day, and if it were not for this, no doubt, they would be bored. Therefore, one who does not feel hunger is burdened by spiritual food, The hunger for truth: the highest bliss."

“I work hard for him” is the essence of respect for another person, and it is “deeply just”.

"Human weakness is the source of many beautiful things."

"The greatness of man is so certain that it is confirmed even by his insignificance. For we call insignificance in man what is considered nature in animals, thereby confirming that if now his nature is not much different from the animal, then once, while he was awake, she was blameless."

"Self-interest and strength are the source of all our actions: self-interest is the source of conscious actions, strength is the source of unconscious ones." "A person is great even in his self-interest, for this property taught him to observe an exemplary order in business."

"The greatness of man is great because he is aware of his insignificance. The tree is not aware of its insignificance."

"People are mad, and this is such a general rule that not being mad would be a kind of madness."

"The power of flies: they win battles, stupefy our souls, torment our bodies."

E. V. Morozova

(Les Lettres Portugaises)

Tale (1669)

A lyrical tragedy of unrequited love: five letters from the unfortunate Portuguese nun Mariana, addressed to the French officer who abandoned her.

Mariana takes up the pen when the sharp pain from separation from her lover subsides and she gradually gets used to the idea that he is far away and the hopes with which he comforted her heart turned out to be "treacherous", so it is unlikely that she will now wait for an answer from him at all letter. However, she had already written to him, and he even answered her, but that was when the mere sight of a sheet of paper that had been in his hands aroused the strongest excitement in her: “I was so shocked,” “that I lost all my senses more than than three hours. After all, only recently she realized that his promises were false: he would never come to her, she would never see him again. But Mariana's love lives on. Deprived of support, unable to conduct a tender dialogue with the object of her passion, she becomes the only feeling that fills the girl's heart. Mariana "decided to adore" the unfaithful lover all her life and "never see anyone again." Of course, it seems to her that her traitor will also “do well” if he doesn’t love anyone else, for she is sure that if he manages to find a “beloved more beautiful”, then he will never meet an ardent passion like her love. But was it fitting for him to be content with less than he had beside her? And for their separation, Mariana reproaches not her lover, but her cruel fate. Nothing can destroy her love, for now this feeling is equal to her life itself. Therefore, she writes: "Love me always and make me suffer even more torment." Suffering is the bread of love, and for Mariana now it is the only food. It seems to her that she is committing "the greatest injustice in the world" in relation to her own heart, trying to explain her feelings in letters, while her lover should have judged her by the strength of his own passion. However, she cannot rely on him, because he left, left her, knowing for sure that she loves him and "worthy of greater fidelity." Therefore, now he will have to endure her complaints about the misfortunes that she foresaw. However, she would be just as unhappy if her lover had only love-gratitude for her because she loves him. "I would like to owe everything to your inclination alone," she writes. Could he renounce his future, his country, and remain forever by her side in Portugal? she asks herself, knowing perfectly well what the answer will be.

Every line of Mariana breathes a feeling of despair, but, making a choice between suffering and oblivion, she prefers the first. "I cannot reproach myself for wishing for one moment not to love you more; you are more pitiable than I, and it is better to endure all the sufferings to which I am doomed, rather than enjoy the wretched joys that your French mistresses," she proudly declares. But that does not make her suffering any less. She envies the two little Portuguese lackeys who were able to follow her lover, "for three hours straight" she talks about him with a French officer. Since France and Portugal are now at peace, can't he visit her and take her to France? - she asks her lover and immediately takes her request back: "But I do not deserve this, do as you please, my love no longer depends on your treatment of me." With these words, the girl tries to deceive herself, because at the end of the second letter we learn that "poor Mariana loses her senses, finishing this letter."

Starting the next letter, Mariana is tormented by doubts. She endures her misfortune alone, for the hopes that her lover will write to her from every stop have collapsed. Memories of how frivolous were the pretexts on which the lover left her, and how cold he was at parting, make her think that he was never "overly sensitive" to the joys of their love. She loved and still loves him madly, and because of this she is unable to wish him to suffer in the same way as she suffers: if his life were full of "similar worries", she would die of grief. Mariana does not need the compassion of her lover: she gave him her love, not thinking about the anger of her relatives, or about the severity of the laws against the nuns who violated the charter. And as a gift to a feeling like hers, you can bring either love or death. Therefore, she asks her lover to treat her as severely as possible, begs him to order her to die, because then she will be able to overcome the "weakness of her sex" and part with life, which without love for him will lose all meaning for her. She timidly hopes that if she dies, her lover will keep her image in his heart. How nice it would be if she never saw him! But then she herself convicts herself of a lie: "I realize, while I am writing to you, that I prefer to be unhappy, loving you, than never to see you." Reproaching herself for the fact that her letters are too long, she is nevertheless sure that she has so many more things to say to him! Indeed, despite all the torment, in the depths of her soul she thanks him for the despair that seized her, for she hates the peace in which she lived until she recognized him.

And yet she reproaches him for the fact that, once in Portugal, he turned his gaze precisely on her, and not on another, more beautiful woman who would become his devoted mistress, but would quickly be comforted after his departure, and he left would be her "without guile and without cruelty." “With me, you behaved like a tyrant, thinking about how to suppress, and not like a lover, striving only to please,” she reproaches her lover. After all, Mariana herself experiences "something like remorse" if she does not devote every moment of her life to him. She hated everything - relatives, friends, the monastery. Even the nuns are touched by her love, they pity her and try to comfort her. The venerable Dona Brites persuades her to take a walk on the balcony, from where a beautiful view of the city of Mertola opens. But it was from this balcony that the girl first saw her lover, therefore, overtaken by a cruel memory, she returns to her cell and sobs there until late at night. alas, she understands that her tears will not make her lover faithful. However, she is ready to be content with little: to see him "from time to time", while realizing that they are "in the same place." However, she immediately recalls how, five or six months ago, her lover told her with "excessive frankness" that he loved "one lady" in his country.

Perhaps now it is this lady who is preventing his return, so Mariana asks her lover to send her a portrait of the lady and write what words she says to him: perhaps she will find in this "any reason to be consoled or grieve even more" . The girl also wants to get portraits of her lover's brother and daughter-in-law, for everything that is "somewhat touching" to him is extraordinarily dear to her. She is ready to become his servant, just to be able to see him. Realizing that her letters, filled with jealousy, can irritate him, she assures her lover that he will be able to open her next message without any emotional excitement: she will no longer repeat to him about her passion. It is not at all in her power not to write to him: when lines addressed to him come out from under her pen, she imagines that she is talking to him, and he "approaches her somewhat." Here the officer, who promised to take the letter and hand it to the addressee, reminds Mariana for the fourth time that he is in a hurry, and the girl, with pain in her heart, finishes pouring out her feelings on paper.

Mariana's fifth letter is the end of the drama of unhappy love. In this hopeless and passionate message, the heroine says goodbye to her lover, sends back his few gifts, enjoying the torment that parting with them causes her. “I felt that you were less dear to me than my passion, and it was painfully difficult for me to overcome it, even after your unworthy behavior made you hateful to me,” she writes. The unfortunate shudders from the “ridiculous courtesy” of the last letter beloved, where he admits that he received all her letters, but they did not cause "any excitement" in his heart. Bursting into tears, she begs him not to write to her anymore, for she does not know how to cure her of her immense passion. "Why does blind attraction and cruel fate seek, as it were, deliberately to force us to choose those who would be able to love only another?" she asks a question that obviously remains unanswered. Realizing that she herself brought on herself the misfortune called unrequited love, she nevertheless blames her lover that he was the first to decide to lure her into the network of his love, but only in order to fulfill his plan: to make her love herself. As soon as the goal was achieved, she lost all interest for him. And yet, absorbed by her reproaches and the infidelity of her lover, Mariana nevertheless promises herself to find inner peace or to decide on "the most desperate act." "But am I obliged to give you an accurate account of all my changing feelings?" she concludes her last letter.

E. E. Morozova

(Contes de ma mère l'Oye, ou Histoires et contes du temps passé avec des moralités)

Verse Tales and Prose Stories (1697)

The poetic tale begins with a description of the happy life of the brilliant king, his beautiful and faithful wife and their lovely little daughter. They lived in a magnificent palace, in a rich and flourishing country. In the royal stable, next to the frisky horses, "a well-fed donkey hung its ears peacefully." "The Lord set up his womb so that if he sometimes crap, it was with gold and silver."

But here "in the prime of her magnificent years, the ruler's wife was suddenly stricken with an illness." Dying, she asks her husband "to go down the aisle a second time only with the chosen one, who will finally be more beautiful and worthy of me." The husband "swore to her through the river of insane tears in everything she was waiting for ... Among widowers, he was one of the noisiest! He cried so much, sobbed so much ... "However, "a year has not passed, as we are talking about shameless matchmaking." But the beauty of the deceased is surpassed only by her own daughter, and the father, inflamed with a criminal passion, decides to marry the princess. In desperation, she goes to her godmother - a good fairy that lives "in the wilderness of forests, in cave darkness, between shells, corals, mother-of-pearl." In order to upset the terrible wedding, the godmother advises the girl to demand from her father a wedding dress of the shade of clear days. "The task is cunning - it is not feasible in any way." But the king "called the tailors and ordered from high throne chairs that the gift should be ready by tomorrow, otherwise how could he hang them for an hour!" And in the morning they bring "tailors a wonderful gift." Then the fairy advises the goddaughter to demand silk "lunar, unusual - he will not be able to get it." The king calls the embroiderers - and in four days the dress is ready. The princess, with delight, almost submits to her father, but, "forced by her godmother", asks for an outfit of "wonderful sunny flowers." The king threatens the jeweler with terrible tortures - and in less than a week he creates "porphyry from porphyry". - What a sight - new clothes! - the fairy whispers contemptuously and orders to demand the skin of a precious donkey from the sovereign. But the passion of the king is stronger than stinginess - and the skin is immediately brought to the princess.

Here, “the stern godmother found that disgust is inappropriate on the paths of good,” and on the advice of the fairy, the princess promises the king to marry him, and herself, throwing a vile skin over her shoulders and smearing her face with soot, runs out of the palace. The girl puts wonderful dresses in a box. The fairy gives the goddaughter a magic twig: "As long as it is in your hand, the box will crawl after you in the distance, like a mole hiding under the ground."

The royal messengers look for the fugitive all over the country in vain. The courtiers are in despair: "no wedding, that means no feasts, no cakes, that means no cakes ... The chaplain was most upset of all: he did not have time to eat in the morning and said goodbye to the wedding treat."

And the princess, dressed as a beggar, wanders along the road, looking for "at least a poultry house, even a swineherd. But the beggars themselves spit after the slut." Finally, the farmer takes the unfortunate woman as a servant - "to clean the pig stalls and wash the greasy rags. Now in the closet behind the kitchen is the princess's yard." The impudent villagers and "the masculine disgustingly disturb her," and even mock the poor thing. Her only joy is that, locking herself up in her closet on Sunday, washing herself, dressing up in one or another marvelous dress and turning around in front of the mirror. "Ah, the moonlight pales her a little, and the sun makes her a little fat ... A blue dress is the best of all!"

And in these parts "the king, luxurious and omnipotent, kept a brilliant poultry yard." This park was often visited by the prince with a crowd of courtiers. "The princess has already fallen in love with him from a distance." Oh, if he loved girls in donkey skin! the beauty sighed.

And the prince - "a heroic look, a fighting grip" - somehow came across a poor hut at dawn and saw through the crack a beautiful princess in a marvelous outfit. Struck by her noble appearance, the young man did not dare to enter the shack, but, returning to the palace, "did not eat, did not drink, did not dance; he lost interest in hunting, opera, fun and friends" - and thought only of the mysterious beauty. He was told that a dirty beggar, Donkeyskin, lived in a squalid hut. The prince does not believe. "He weeps bitterly, he weeps" - and demands that Donkeyskin bake him a pie. The loving queen mother will not contradict her son, and the princess, "hearing these news", hurries to knead the dough. "They say: working extraordinarily, she ... quite, quite by accident! - She dropped a ring into the dough." But "my opinion - there was her calculation." After all, she saw how the prince looked at her through the crack!

Having received the pie, the patient "devoured it with such greedy passion that, really, it seems like a fair amount of luck that he did not swallow the ring." Since the young man in those days "was losing weight terribly ... the doctors unanimously decided: the prince is dying of love." Everyone begs him to marry - but he agrees to marry only one who can put a tiny ring with an emerald on her finger. All virgins and widows begin to thin their fingers.

However, neither the noblewomen, nor the cute grisettes, nor the cooks and laborers, the ring fit. But then "from under the skin of a donkey appeared a fist that looked like a lily." Laughter stops. Everyone is shocked. The princess goes to change - and an hour later appears in the palace, shining with dazzling beauty and luxurious outfit. The king and queen are happy, the prince is happy. Bishops from all over the world are called to the wedding. The sensible father of the princess, seeing his daughter, cries for joy. The prince is delighted: "what a lucky chance that his father-in-law is such a mighty ruler." “Sudden thunder… The queen of the fairies, the witness of the misfortunes of the past, descends her goddaughter forever to glorify virtue…”

Moral: "It is better to endure terrible suffering than to change the debt of honor." After all, "youth is able to satisfy itself with a crust of bread and water, while it keeps an outfit in a golden casket."

There was once a very rich man who had a blue beard. She so disfigured him that, seeing this man, all the women fled in fear.

His neighbor, a noble lady, had two daughters of wondrous beauty. He asked to marry any of these girls to him. But none of them wanted to have a spouse with a blue beard. They did not like the fact that this man had already been married several times and no one knew what fate befell his wives.

Bluebeard invited the girls, their mother, friends and girlfriends to one of his luxurious country houses, where they had fun for a whole week. And now it began to seem to the youngest daughter that the beard of the owner of the house was not so blue, and that he himself was a very respectable person. Soon the wedding was decided.

A month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he was leaving on business for six weeks. He asked her not to be bored, to have fun, to call her friends, gave her the keys to all the chambers, pantries, caskets and chests - and forbade her to enter only one small room.

His wife promised to obey him, and he left. Immediately, without waiting for the messengers, the girlfriends came running. They were eager to see all the riches of Bluebeard, but they were afraid to come in his presence. Now, admiring the house full of priceless treasures, the guests enviously extolled the happiness of the newlywed, but she could only think about a small room ...

Finally, the woman abandoned the guests and rushed headlong down the secret staircase, almost breaking her neck. Curiosity overcame fear - and the beauty opened the door with trepidation ... In a dark room, the floor was covered with gore, and on the walls hung the bodies of Bluebeard's former wives, whom he had killed. In horror, the newlywed dropped the key. Picking it up, she locked the door and, trembling, rushed to her room. There, the woman noticed that the key was stained with blood. The unfortunate woman cleaned the stain for a long time, but the key was magic, and the blood, wiped off on one side, appeared on the other ...

Bluebeard returned the same evening. His wife greeted him with ostentatious delight. The next day he demanded the keys from the poor thing. Her hands trembled so much that he immediately guessed everything and asked: "Where is the key to the small room?" After various excuses, I had to bring a dirty key. "Why is he covered in blood?" inquired Bluebeard. "Did you enter the little room? Well, ma'am, that's where you'll stay now."

The woman, sobbing, threw herself at her husband's feet. Beautiful and sad, she would have softened even a stone, but Bluebeard's heart was harder than stone. "Let me at least pray before I die," the poor thing asked. "Give you seven minutes!" - answered the villain.

Left alone, the woman called her sister and said to her: "Sister Anna, see if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today." The girl climbed the tower and from time to time said to the unfortunate woman: "There is nothing to see, only the sun is burning and the grass is shining in the sun." And Bluebeard, clutching a large knife in his hand, shouted: "Come here!" - "One more minute!" - answered the poor thing, and kept asking sister Anna, could you see the brothers? The girl noticed clouds of dust in the distance - but it was a herd of sheep. At last she saw two riders on the horizon...

Then Bluebeard roared throughout the house. The trembling wife came out to him, and he, grabbing her by the hair, was about to cut off her head, but at that moment a dragoon and a musketeer burst into the house. Drawing their swords, they rushed at the villain. He tried to run, but the brothers of the beauty pierced him with steel blades.

The wife inherited all the wealth of Bluebeard. She gave a dowry to her sister Anna when she married a young nobleman who had long loved her; The young widow helped each of the brothers to achieve the captain's rank, and then she herself married a good man who helped her forget about the horrors of her first marriage.

Moral: "Yes, curiosity is a scourge. It confuses everyone, it was born on a mountain to mortals."

One queen had such an ugly son that the courtiers doubted for a long time whether he was a man. But the good fairy assured that he would be very smart and would be able to endow with his mind the person he loves. Indeed, as soon as he learned to babble, the child began to say sweet things. He had a small tuft on his head, which is why the prince was nicknamed: Rike with a tuft.

Seven years later, the queen of a neighboring country gave birth to two daughters; seeing the first - beautiful as day, - the mother was so delighted that she almost became ill, while the second girl turned out to be extremely ugly. But the same fairy predicted that the ugly woman would be very smart, and the beauty would be stupid and awkward, but she would be able to endow beauty with someone she liked.

The girls grew up - and the beauty always had much less success than her smart sister. And then one day in the forest, where the silly girl went to mourn her bitter fate, the unfortunate woman met with the freak Ricke. Having fallen in love with her from portraits, he came to the neighboring kingdom ... The girl told Rika about her misfortune, and he said that if the princess decides to marry him in a year, she will immediately become wiser. The beauty foolishly agreed - and immediately spoke so witty and elegant that Riquet thought if he had not given her more intelligence than he had left to himself? ..

The girl returned to the palace, amazed everyone with her mind and soon became her father's main adviser; all the fans turned away from her ugly sister, and the fame of the beautiful and wise princess thundered all over the world. A lot of princes wooed the beauty, but she made fun of them all, until finally one rich, handsome and smart prince appeared ...

Walking through the forest and thinking about the choice of the groom, the girl suddenly heard a dull noise under her feet. At the same moment, the earth opened up, and the princess saw people preparing a sumptuous feast. "This is for Riquet, tomorrow is his wedding," they explained to the beauty. And then the shocked princess remembered that exactly a year had passed since the day she met the freak.

And soon Rike himself appeared in a magnificent wedding dress. However, the wiser princess flatly refused to marry such an ugly man. And then Riquet revealed to her that she could endow her chosen one with beauty. The princess sincerely wished that Riquet became the most beautiful and amiable prince in the world - and a miracle happened!

True, others argue that the point here is not magic, but love. The princess, admiring the intelligence and loyalty of her admirer, stopped noticing his ugliness. The hump began to give the prince's posture a special importance, the terrible limp turned into a manner of leaning a little to one side, the slanting eyes acquired a captivating languor, and the big red nose seemed mysterious and even heroic.

The king gladly agreed to marry his daughter to such a wise prince, and the next day they played a wedding, for which the smart Rick had everything ready.

E. V. Maksimova

(Histoire des Sevarambes)

Utopian novel (1675-1679)

In the preface to the "History of the Sevarambs", the author notes that this book is not the fruit of a rich imagination, but the truthful notes of Captain Silenus. This is confirmed not only by the testimony of the doctor, to whom the captain, while dying, handed over the main work of his life, but also by the stories of those who in one way or another were connected with the mysterious ship called the Golden Dragon ...

In 1655, Captain Syden sets off on the Golden Dragon to the East Indies, having finally managed to realize his old dream of traveling. At first, the weather is favorable for sailing, but halfway to Batavia, a terrible storm hits the ship. Only thanks to the skill of the team "Golden Dragon" escaped inevitable death. However, it is not possible to reach India: a strong wind carries the ship to an unknown mainland, off the coast of which the ship runs aground.

People on the ship manage to get to land. And although the hope that sooner or later it will be possible to get to inhabited lands is small (the "Golden Dragon" received serious damage), no one despairs. Food is plentiful, there is fresh water, and the climate seems unusually good.

The need to live in completely new conditions forces the castaways to choose a special military form of government in the first place. Siden is elected general, who has already managed to show his courage and ability to lead. Under the command of the captain is about three hundred men and seventy women.

Gradually, the life of a small village, named Sidenberg, begins to improve. People build dwellings, prepare supplies, since game is found in abundance in the forests, and fish in the rivers. But the sudden disappearance of a reconnaissance boat under the command of Maurice, one of the most experienced sailors, disturbs the established calm.

After some time, the missing squad returns, but accompanied by two strange ships. Frightened residents of Sydenberg begin to prepare for defense. Their fear, however, turns out to be in vain: the ships arrived with an offer of peace on behalf of the governor of the city of Sporumbus. As Maurice explains, the lands southeast of Sydenberg are inhabited by people who are not inferior in development to the inhabitants of Europe. Maurice's detachment was received very well by them, and soon, according to local customs, strangers were to be presented to the ruler of Sevaramb, the country to which Sporumb obeys. Then Maurice told about the existence of Sidenberg, and the governor sent his messenger with him, so that he invited the rest of the people of Siden to take advantage of their hospitality.

Sporumb strikes the imagination of Siden: beautiful streets, large square buildings, magnificently cultivated fields, and most importantly - a high level of culture of the local population. Many sporui (inhabitants of Sporumba) know European languages, which allows the captain and his people to communicate freely with them. Although Siden is treated with great respect, he and everyone else has to follow local customs. This, however, does not cause protest, for the laws of Sporumbus seem to them fair. Thus, the misunderstanding that arose due to the fact that many women from Sydenberg had several husbands is settled: the spores, very scrupulous in matters of virtue, suggested that the men choose their wives (polygamy was by no means condemned) from among the inhabitants of Sporumba

Almost immediately after arrival, Captain Siden finds himself in the temple of the Sun, which is worshiped by the locals, to celebrate one of the biggest celebrations in the country - the day when many young men and women enter into a legal marriage to be together all their lives. During the holiday, the captain notices that most of the townspeople, including the governor himself, have one or another physical handicap. It turns out that all defective people from other cities are sent to Sporumbus.

The governor, who received Siden very well, announces that all foreigners must appear before the ruler of Sevaramba, for which it is necessary to leave immediately. The next day, the captain and his men set out on a journey down the river. In the very first city where they stop to rest, they are presented with a striking sight: the public punishment of adulterers - criminals who have violated the laws of decency and chastity, which are considered the basis of society.

Gradually, more and more wonders of this country open before the eyes of Captain Siden. So, in one of the cities he is invited to take part in the hunt for outlandish animals and in fishing, which serves as considerable entertainment for the inhabitants.

Soon the river path ends, and the travelers find themselves in a narrow valley lying between high rocks. Sermodas, the guide, remarks that the capital is a true earthly paradise, but the way to get there is through hell. And when the road turns into a narrow tunnel carved into the rock, the women are seized by panic: they decide that they really have fallen into the underworld. With difficulty he manages to calm them down, and Sermodas, distressed that his joke was so taken, declares that at first he will only take ten people. The women's mistake, however, allowed Siden to stay with the governor of Sevaragoundo, the "gate of Sevaramba".

The ascent "to heaven" followed shortly after the descent "to hell": having crossed the mountain, Captain Siden with his people is very close to the capital. Here Sermodas shows them the regular army of Sevaramba. The troops, consisting not only of men, but also of women, are armed with the most modern weapons. As Sermodas explains, many of the inhabitants of the country have been to Europe and Asia, borrowing all the useful innovations and carefully guarding the secrets of their homeland so that the vices of the inhabitants of other continents do not penetrate into them.

Sevarind is the best city in the country. Its streets are extraordinarily beautiful, square houses - osmazii - are richly decorated, and the Temple of the Sun seems to Siden to be the most beautiful building in the world. The viceroy receives travelers as welcome guests, and, having provided them with everything necessary in order to settle in a new place, asks only one thing: unconditionally obey the laws of the country.

Life in Sevaramba proceeds easily and calmly: the necessary work for the benefit of society does not burden Siden, and he begins to study the language and history of the Sevarambs, starting from their first ruler Sevarias.

The Persian Sevarias was a descendant of the Parsi, who worshiped the sun and fire. Having received an excellent upbringing, at a very young age he showed himself to be a wise and just man. The persecution of enemies forced Sevarias to leave his homeland, and after many misfortunes, he, along with other Parsi, ended up on an unknown mainland. Its inhabitants, the Prestarambs, like the Parsi, revered the Sun as a god. Upon learning of this, Sevarias announced that he had been sent by the great luminary to punish their enemies, which earned him extraordinary respect. The enemies, the strucarambs, were defeated, and Sevarias was elected leader of all the prestarambs. The rest of the peoples, including the Strucarambs, hastened to submit to the "messenger of the Sun."

Having gained power over a large part of the inhabited lands of the continent, Sevarias began to study the customs of the local inhabitants, who lived in family communities, jointly owning all the property. In addition, Sevarias built a temple of the Sun, where he was soon declared viceroy of the country, because, according to him, only the luminary is the only ruler of the earth, and he, Sevarias, is only his viceroy. Everyone was convinced that he was indeed the chosen one of God, and therefore he was greatly revered and obeyed in everything.

Subsequently, Sevarias (the ending "as" strukarambs were added to the names of persons of high rank) showed himself to be a fair and wise ruler of the country named after him Sevaramb. Sevarias decided to maintain the absence of private property and class division of society. In addition, he introduced the obligation to work, destroying idleness, the source of many vices. Thus, the causes of strife, wars and other troubles that darken people's lives were eliminated.

Sevarias reigned for almost forty years, after which he transferred his power to another, chosen by lot: in the transfer of power by inheritance, the wise ruler saw evil for society. Since then, all the viceroys of Sevaramba did everything to increase the welfare of the state, and the people unquestioningly obeyed them, chosen by providence itself.

The laws by which the Sevarambs lived and live allow them to be content with all possible benefits. Each person, having no private property, nonetheless owns all the wealth of the country. Everything they need, the Sevarambs get from government warehouses, and it never occurs to them to profit dishonestly. Since the whole people is divided only into private and public persons, everyone can achieve the highest power by good and reasonable deeds.

The population is mainly engaged in construction and agriculture, but those who have the ability for the arts are given every opportunity to do what they love from childhood. From the age of seven, Sevarambs begin to educate the state. Children are instilled with a desire to work, respect for elders, obedience, and virtue. Upon reaching a certain age, the Sevarambs enter into a legal marriage, considering it their duty to raise "several children for their homeland" and lead a life virtuously and for the benefit of society.

The description of the mores of the Sevarambs ends with the notes of Captain Siden, who lived for sixteen years in this amazing country, the laws and customs of which, in the author's opinion, can serve as a worthy role model.

V. V. Smirnova

(La Princesse de Clèves)

Roman (1678)

The action of the novel takes place in the middle of the XNUMXth century. Madame de Chartres, who lived away from the court for many years after the death of her husband, and her daughter come to Paris. Mademoiselle de Chartres goes to the jeweler to select her jewelry. There she is accidentally met by the Prince of Cleves, the second son of the Duke of Nevers, and falls in love with her at first sight. He really wants to know who this young lady is, and the sister of King Henry II, thanks to the friendship of one of her ladies-in-waiting with Madame de Chartres, the next day introduces him to the young beauty, who first appeared at court and aroused general admiration. Having found out that the nobility of his beloved is not inferior to her beauty, the Prince of Cleves dreams of marrying her, but is afraid that the proud Madame de Chartres will consider him unworthy of her daughter because he is not the eldest son of the duke. The Duke of Nevers does not want his son to marry Mademoiselle de Chartres, which hurts Madame de Chartres, who considers her daughter an enviable match. The family of another contender for the hand of a young lady - the Chevalier de Guise - also does not want to intermarry with her, and Madame de Chartres is trying to find a party for her daughter, "which would elevate her above those who considered themselves superior to her." She chooses the eldest son of the Duke de Montpensier, but because of the intrigues of the king's old mistress, the Duchess de Valantinois, her plans are wrecked. The Duke of Nevers suddenly dies, and the Prince of Cleves soon asks for the hand of Mademoiselle de Chartres. Madame de Chartres, after asking her daughter's opinion and hearing that she does not have a particular inclination for the Prince of Cleves, but respects his dignity and would marry him with less reluctance than anyone else, accepts the prince's proposal, and soon Mademoiselle de Chartres becomes princess of Cleves. Brought up in strict rules, she behaves impeccably, and virtue ensures her peace and universal respect. The Prince of Cleves adores his wife, but feels that she does not return his passionate love. This spoils his happiness.

Henry II sends the Count de Randan to England to see Queen Elizabeth to congratulate her on her accession to the throne. Elizabeth of England, having heard about the glory of the Duke of Nemours, asks the count about him with such ardor that the king, after his report, advises the Duke of Nemours to ask for the hand of the Queen of England. The duke sends his close associate Linierol to England to find out the mood of the queen, and, encouraged by the information received from Linierol, prepares to appear before Elizabeth. Arriving at the court of Henry II to attend the wedding of the Duke of Lorraine, the Duke of Nemours meets the Princess of Cleves at a ball and falls in love with her. She notices his feelings and, upon returning home, tells her mother about the duke with such enthusiasm that Madame de Chartres immediately understands that her daughter is in love, although she herself does not realize this. Protecting her daughter, Madame de Chartres tells her that the Duke of Nemours is rumored to be in love with the Dauphin's wife, Mary Stuart, and advises to visit the Dauphin Queen less often so as not to be involved in love affairs. The Princess of Cleves is ashamed of her penchant for the Duke of Nemours: she should have feelings for a worthy husband, and not for a man who wants to use her to hide his relationship with the Dauphine Queen. Madame de Chartres falls seriously ill. Having lost hope of recovery, she gives orders to her daughter: to retire from the court and faithfully remain faithful to her husband. She assures that leading a virtuous life is not as difficult as it seems - it is much more difficult to endure the misfortunes that a love adventure entails. Madame de Chartres dies. The Princess of Cleves mourns her and decides to avoid the company of the Duke of Nemours. Her husband takes her to the village. The Duke comes to visit the Prince of Cleves, hoping to see the Princess, but she does not accept him.

The Princess of Cleves returns to Paris. It seems to her that her feelings for the Duke of Nemours have faded. The Dauphine Queen informs her that the Duke of Nemours has abandoned his plans to ask for the hand of the Queen of England. Everyone believes that only love for another woman could move him to this. When the Princess of Cleves suggests that the Duke is in love with the Dauphine Queen, she replies that the Duke never showed her any feelings other than secular respect. Apparently, the duke's chosen one does not reciprocate, for his closest friend de Chartres - the uncle of the Princess of Cleves - does not notice any signs of a secret connection. The Princess of Cleves guesses that his behavior is dictated by love for her, and her heart is filled with gratitude and tenderness for the duke, who, out of love for her, neglected the hopes for the English crown. The words, as if accidentally dropped by the duke in a conversation, confirm her guess.

In order not to betray her feelings, the Princess of Cleves diligently avoids the Duke. Mourning gives her reason to lead a solitary life, her sadness also does not surprise anyone: everyone knows how much she was attached to Madame de Chartres.

The Duke of Nemours steals a miniature portrait of the Princess of Cleves. The princess sees this and does not know what to do: if you demand publicly to return the portrait, then everyone will know about his passion, and if you do it face to face, then he can declare his love to her. The princess decides to remain silent and pretend that she did not notice anything.

A letter supposedly lost by the Duke of Nemours falls into the hands of the Dauphine Queen. She gives it to the Princess of Cleves to read it and try to determine who wrote it from the handwriting. In a letter, an unknown lady reproaches her lover for infidelity. The Princess of Cleves is tormented by jealousy. But there was a mistake: in fact, it was not the Duke of Nemours who lost the letter, but Vidame de Chartres. Fearing to lose the favor of the reigning Queen Marie de Medici, who demands complete self-denial from him, Vidame de Chartres asks the Duke of Nemours to recognize himself as the addressee of a love letter. In order not to bring on the reproaches of his beloved on the Duke of Nemours, he gives him an accompanying note, from which it is clear who wrote the message and to whom it is intended. The Duke of Nemours agrees to help Vidam de Chartres, but goes to the Prince of Cleves to consult with him on how best to do this. When the king urgently calls the prince to him, the duke is left alone with the princess of Cleves and shows her a note indicating that he was not involved in the lost love letter.

The Princess of Cleves leaves for the castle of Colomiers. The duke, unable to find a place for himself from longing, goes to his sister, the Duchess de Merkur, whose estate is located next to Colomier. During a walk, he wanders into Colomier and accidentally overhears a conversation between the princess and her husband. The princess confesses to the prince that she is in love and asks for permission to live away from the world. She has done nothing wrong, but she does not want to be tempted. The prince remembers the missing portrait of the princess and assumes that she gave it to him. She explains that she did not give it at all, but was a witness to the theft and remained silent so as not to cause a declaration of love. She does not name the person who awakened such a strong feeling in her, but the duke understands that it is about him. He feels immensely happy and at the same time immensely unhappy.

The Prince of Cleve wants to know who owns his wife's thoughts. By cunning, he manages to find out that she loves the Duke of Nemours.

Amazed by the deed of the princess, the Duke of Nemours tells Vidam de Chartres about him, without naming names. Vidam guesses that the duke has something to do with this story. He himself, in turn, tells his mistress Madame de Martigues "about the extraordinary act of a certain person who confessed to her husband the passion she had for another" and assures her that the subject of this ardent passion is the Duke of Nemours. Madame de Martigues retells this story to the Dauphine Queen, and she to the Princess of Cleves, who begins to suspect her husband of entrusting her secret to one of her friends. She accuses the prince of divulging her secret, and now she is known to everyone, including the duke. The prince swears that he sacredly kept the secret, and the couple cannot understand how their conversation became known.

Two weddings are celebrated at the court at once: the daughter of the king, Princess Elizabeth, with the king of Spain and the sister of the king, Margaret of France, with the Duke of Savoy. The king arranges a tournament for the occasion. In the evening, when the tournament is almost over and everyone is going to disperse, Henry II challenges Count Montgomery to a duel. During the duel, a piece of Count Montgomery's spear hits the king in the eye. The wound is so serious that the king soon dies.

The coronation of Francis II is to take place in Reims, and the whole court is sent there. Learning that the Princess of Cleves will not follow the court, the Duke of Nemours goes to see her before leaving. At the door, he encounters the Duchess of Nevers and Madame de Martigues, who are leaving the princess. He asks the princess to accept him, but she tells through the maid that she felt bad and cannot accept him. Prince of Cleves becomes aware that the Duke of Nemours came to his wife. He asks her to list everyone who visited her that day, and, not hearing the name of the Duke of Nemours, asks her a direct question. The princess explains that she has not seen the duke. The prince suffers from jealousy and says that she has made him the most miserable person in the world. The next day he leaves without seeing his wife, but nevertheless sends her a letter full of sorrow, tenderness and nobility. She answers him with assurances that her behavior has been and will be impeccable.

The Princess of Cleves leaves for Colomiers. The Duke of Nemours, under some pretext, having asked the king for leave to travel to Paris, sets off for Colomiers. The Prince of Cleves suspects the Duke's plans and sends a young nobleman from his retinue to follow him. Having made his way into the garden and approaching the window of the pavilion, the duke sees how the princess is tying bows on a cane that used to belong to him. Then she admires the picture, where he is depicted among other soldiers who took part in the siege of Metz. The Duke takes a few steps, but touches the window frame. The princess turns around at the noise and, noticing it, immediately disappears. The next night, the Duke again comes under the pavilion window, but she does not appear. He visits his sister, Madame de Merceur, who lives next door, and deftly leads the conversation to the fact that his sister herself invites him to accompany her to the Princess of Cleves. The princess makes every effort not to be alone with the duke for a single minute.

The duke returns to Chambord, where the king and court are. The prince's messenger arrives at Chambord even before him and reports to the prince that the duke spent two nights in a row in the garden, and then was in Colomiers with Madame de Merceur. The prince is unable to endure the misfortune that has befallen him, he begins to have a fever. Upon learning of this, the princess hurries to her husband. He meets her with reproaches, because he thinks that she spent two nights with the duke. The princess swears to him that she never thought of cheating on him. The prince is glad that his wife is worthy of the respect he had for her, but he cannot recover from the blow and dies a few days later. Realizing that she is the culprit of her husband's death, the Princess of Cleves feels a burning hatred for herself and for the Duke of Nemours. She bitterly mourns her husband and for the rest of her life intends to do only what would be nice to him if he were alive. Remembering that he expressed fear that after his death she would not marry the Duke of Nemours, she firmly decides never to do this.

The Duke of Nemours reveals to Vidam de Chartres his feelings for his niece and asks him to help him see her. Vidam willingly agrees, for the duke seems to him the most worthy contender for the hand of the princess of Cleves. The duke declares his love for the princess and tells how he learned about her feelings for him, being a witness to her conversation with the prince. The Princess of Cleves does not hide the fact that she loves the Duke, but resolutely refuses to marry him. She considers the duke guilty of the death of her husband and is firmly convinced that marriage to him is contrary to her duty.

The Princess of Cleves leaves for her distant possessions, where she is gravely ill. Having recovered from her illness, she moves to a holy monastery, and neither the queen nor the vidam succeed in convincing her to return to the court. The Duke of Nemours goes to her himself, but the princess refuses to accept him. Part of the year she lives in the monastery, the rest of the time - in her possessions, where she indulges in activities even more pious than in the most strict monasteries. "And her short life will remain an example of unique virtue."

O. E. Grinberg

Tragedy (1667)

The source for this play was the story of Aeneas from the third book of Virgil's Aeneid. The action takes place in ancient times in Epirus, a region in northwestern Greece. After the fall of Troy, the widow of the murdered Hector Andromache becomes a prisoner of Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, Pyrrhus is the king of Epirus, he saves the life of Andromache and her son, which is opposed by other Greek kings - Menelaus, Odysseus, Agamemnon. In addition, Pyrrhus promised to marry the daughter of Menelaus Hermione, but pulls with the wedding and shows signs of attention to Andromache. The kings send an ambassador, the son of Agamemnon Orestes, to Pyrrhus with a request to fulfill their promises - to execute Andromache and her son and marry Hermione. Orestes is in love with Hermione and secretly hopes that Pyrrhus will refuse his promise. Having met with Pyrrhus, he tells him that if the son of Hector survives, then in the future he will begin to avenge his father on the Greeks. Pyrrhus replies that it is not necessary to think so far ahead that the boy is his trophy, and only he can decide the fate of the descendant of Hector, Pyrrhus reproaches the kings for inconsistency and cruelty: if they are so afraid of this child, then why didn’t they kill him right away , during the sack of Troy, when there was a war and everyone was cut down. But in time of peace "cruelty is absurd", and Pyrrhus refuses to stain his hands with blood. As for Hermione, Pyrrhus secretly hopes that Orestes will convince her to return to her father, and then he will breathe more freely, for he is attracted to Andromache.

Andromache appears, and Pyrrhus tells her that the Greeks demand her son's death, but he is ready to refuse them and even start a war over the child if Andromache marries him. However, she refuses - after the death of Hector, she does not need either the brilliance or the glory of the queen, and since it is impossible to save her son, she is ready to die with him.

Meanwhile, the offended Hermione tells her maid that she hates Pyrrhus and wants to destroy his alliance with Andromache, that their sorrows are "her best reward", but she still hesitates and does not know what to do - whether to give preference to Orestes, or to hope for Pyrrhus love.

Orestes appears and tells Hermione about his unquenchable and hopeless love for her. Hermione plays a double game and answers Orestes that she always remembers him and sometimes sighs. She demands that Orestes find out what Pyrrhus decided - to send her to her father or take her as a wife. Orestes hopes that Pyrrhus will refuse Hermione.

Pyrrhus also plays a double game and, when meeting with Orestes, declares that he has changed his mind and is ready to give his son Hector to the Greeks and marry Hermione. He instructs Orestes to notify her of this. He doesn't know what to think. Pyrrhus tells his tutor Phoenix that he has sought the favor of Andromache for too long and risked too much for her and all in vain - in response to only reproaches. He cannot decide what to do.

Meanwhile, Orestes is in despair - he wants to kidnap Hermione and does not listen to the reasonable arguments of his friend Pylades, who advises him to flee from Epirus. Orestes does not want to suffer alone - let Hermione suffer with him, having lost Pyrrhus and the throne. Hermione, forgetting about Orestes, praises the virtues of Pyrrhus and already sees herself as his wife.

Andromache comes to her with a request to persuade Pyrrhus to let her and her son go to a deserted island to hide from people. Hermione replies that nothing depends on her - Andromache herself needs to ask Pyrrhus, because he will not refuse her.

Andromache comes to Pyrrhus and on her knees begs him not to give up her son, but he replies that she herself is to blame for everything, since she does not appreciate his love and patronage. At the last moment, Pyrrhus offers Andromache to choose: the crown or the death of her son. The wedding ceremony has already been scheduled.

Andromache's friend Sefiz tells her that maternal duty is above all and must be yielded. Andromache hesitates - after all, Pyrrhus destroyed her city of Troy, she decides to ask the shadow of Hector for advice.

Andromache later reveals her plan to Sefise. Having learned the will of Hector, she decides to agree to become a Pyrrhic wife, but only until the wedding ceremony is over. As soon as the priest finishes the ceremony and Pyrrhus takes an oath before the altar to become a father to her child, Andromache will be stabbed with a dagger. So she will remain true to her duty to her dead husband and save the life of her son, for Pyrrhus will no longer be able to renounce his oath in the temple. Sefiza, on the other hand, will have to remind Pyrrhus that he swore to love his stepson and educate him.

Hermione, having learned that Pyrrhus has changed his mind and is marrying a Trojan woman, demands that Orestes avenge her disgrace and kill Pyrrhus during a ceremony in the temple. This will earn him her love. Orestes hesitates: he cannot decide to kill the king by stabbing him in the back, because no one in Greece will praise such an act. Orestes is ready to fight "in a direct and honest war." Hermione, on the other hand, demands that Pyrrhus be killed in the temple before the marriage - then her shame will not be disclosed to all the people. If Orestes refuses, then she herself will go to the temple and kill Pyrrhus with a dagger, and then herself - it is better for her to die with him than to remain alive with the cowardly Orestes. Hearing this, Orestes agrees and goes to the temple to commit the murder.

Hermione meets with Pyrrhus and listens to his excuses: he says that he deserved her reproach, but cannot resist passion - "weak-willed and in love", he longs, contrary to reason, to call the wife who not only does not love him, but simply hates. This is the main idea of ​​Racine's play - "to prevent passions in vain, like a thunderstorm." The heroes of Andromache, like many of the playwright's plays, cannot act according to reason and duty, not because they do not want to. They know what their duty is, but they are not free in their actions, since they cannot overcome the passions that have seized them.

Hermione answers Pyrrhus that he came to show off his dishonesty in front of her, that he "honors only arbitrariness" and does not keep his word. She reminds Pyrrha how he killed the old king Priam in Troy and "strangled" his daughter Polyxena - these are the heroes he "became famous for".

Pyrrhus remarks in response that he used to be mistaken in believing that Hermione loves him. But now, after such words, she understands that she wanted to become his wife only out of duty, and not out of love. The easier it will be for her to endure his refusal.

Hearing this, Hermione is furious - didn't she love Pyrrhus? How dare he say that! After all, she sailed to him "from the other side of the world", where more than one hero was looking for her hands, and waited a long time for Pyrrhus to announce her decision to her. Now she threatens him with retribution: the gods will take revenge on him for breaking his promises.

Left alone, Hermione tries to sort out her feelings. She is torn between love and hate, and yet decides that Pyrrhus must die, since he did not get her, because she sacrificed too much for him. If Orestes does not dare to kill, then she herself will commit it, and then she will stab herself. She no longer cares who dies - Orestes or Pyrrhus, as long as she somehow vents her anger.

Orestes appears and tells Hermione about how his squad entered the temple and, after performing the rite, hacked Pyrrhus to death. She, hearing this, becomes furious and curses Orestes. Instead of rejoicing, she accuses him of the heinous murder of a hero. Orestes reminds her that he did everything on her orders. She answers him that he believed the words of a woman in love, whose mind was darkened, that she did not want at all, about which she said that her "heart and mouth were at odds with each other." Orestes had to let her change her mind and not rush with vile revenge on Pyrrhus.

Orestes alone reflects on how he could, forgetting the arguments of reason, commit a vile murder and - for whom? - for the one who, having imposed on him the vile role of a murderer, repaid everything with ingratitude! Orestes despises himself after everything that happened. His friend Pylades appears and urges Orestes to flee from Epirus, for a crowd of enemies wants to kill them. Hermione, it turns out, committed suicide over the corpse of Pyrrhus. With these words, Orestes understands that the gods decided to punish him, that he was born into the world unhappy and now he has to drown in the blood of Pyrrhus, Hermione and his own. He is delirious - it seems to him that it is Pyrrhus, and not Pylades, standing in front of him and Hermione kissing him. Then he sees Erinyes, whose heads are entwined with snakes. These are the goddesses of vengeance who pursue Orestes for the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra. According to the myth, Orestes took revenge on his mother for the murder of his father, Agamemnon. Since then, Erinyes have been haunting him all his life. At the end of the play, Orestes asks the Erinyes to give way to Hermione - let her torture him.

A. P. Shishkin

Tragedy (1669)

The action takes place in ancient Rome in the palace of Emperor Nero. He ascended the throne illegally, thanks to his mother Agrippina. Britannicus, the son of Agrippina's second husband Claudius, was to become emperor, but she managed to bribe the army and the senate and placed her son on the throne. Nero, despite the influence of his highly moral mentors, the warrior Burra and the playwright Seneca, who is sent into exile, is already beginning to show his vile character and shows disrespect for his mother, to whom he owes everything. He makes no secret of his enmity towards Britannicus, seeing him as a rival.

Agrippina foresees that Nero will be a cruel tyrant, that he is deceitful and two-faced. He kidnaps the beloved Britannicus Junia, from the family of Emperor Augustus, and keeps him in his palace. Nero shuns his mother and does not listen to her advice on how to rule Rome. She would like to return to the time when the young Nero was not yet intoxicated with his power, did not know how to please Rome and shifted all the burden of power onto his mother's shoulders. Then the "invisible" Agrippina, hidden behind a curtain, could hear everything that the senators who were invited to the palace said to Caesar, and she knew how to govern the state, and told her son what to do. Now Agrippina accuses Burra of erecting barriers between her and Caesar in order to rule with him. Burr objects to her: he raised the emperor, and not a humble servant who would obey his mother in everything. Agrippina is hurt by the fact that her son rules on her own, and believes that Nero is preventing the marriage of Junia and Britannicus, which she is seeking, and thereby makes her mother understand that her opinion no longer means anything.

Britannicus tells Agrippina that Junia was forcibly brought to the palace by legionaries at night. Agrippina is ready to help Britannicus. He doubts her sincerity, but his mentor Narcissus assures him that Nero offended his mother and she will act with Britannicus at the same time. The main thing, he advises, is to be firm and not complain about fate, because strength is honored in the palace, but they are indifferent to complaints. Britannic in response complains that his father's friends have turned away from him and Nero knows his every step.

In their chambers, Nero with Burr and Narcissus discuss the behavior of Agrippina. The emperor forgives a lot to his mother, who turns Britannicus against him. Nero confesses to Narcissus that he is in love with Junia, and he reports that Caesar has a happy rival - Britannicus. Nero wants to divorce his wife Octavia under the pretext that he has no heir to the throne from her. But he is afraid of the mother, who will raise a fuss if the son rises against the "holiness of Hymen" and wants to break the bonds blessed by her. Narcissus promises to tell Caesar everything he learns from Britannicus.

Nero is about to upset the marriage of Junia and Britannicus. Meeting Junia in the palace, he admires her beauty. Junia says that marrying her to Britannicus is the will of Britannicus' father, the late Emperor Claudius, and Agrippina. Nero retorts her that Agrippina's desire means nothing. He will choose Junia's husband himself. She reminds Caesar that she cannot marry someone who is unequal in blood, because she is from an imperial family. Nero announces to her that he himself will be her husband, for in the whole empire he alone is worthy of such a treasure. Heaven has rejected his alliance with Octavia, and Junia will rightfully take her place. Junia is smitten. Nero demands that Junia show the coldness of Britannicus, otherwise punishment awaits. Nero will oversee their meeting.

Upon meeting Britannicus, Junia begs him to be careful, for the walls have ears. Britannicus does not understand why she is so shy, it seems to him that Junia has forgotten him and is captivated by Nero.

Overhearing their conversation, Nero becomes convinced that Britannicus and Junia love each other. He decides to torture his rival and orders Narcissus to stir up doubts and jealousy in Britannica. Narcissus is ready to do anything for the emperor.

Burr advises Nero not to quarrel with his mother, who has influence in Rome, and in order not to irritate Agrippina, he should stop meeting Junia and leave thoughts of divorce from Octavia. Nero does not want to listen to his mentor and declares that it is not the business of a warrior to judge love - let Burr advise him on how to act in battle. Left alone, Burr reflects on how wayward Nero is, does not listen to any advice, wants everything to be done according to his will. Is it dangerous. Burr decides to consult with Agrippina.

Agrippina accuses Burra that he could not keep the young emperor in check, who removed his mother from the throne, and now also wants to divorce Octavia. Agrippina plots with the help of the troops and Britannicus to restore his power. Burr does not advise her to do this, because no one will listen to Agrippina, and Nero will only become furious. The emperor can be persuaded only by "meekness of speeches."

Britannicus informs Agrippina that he has accomplices in the Senate who are ready to oppose the emperor. But Agrippina does not want the help of the Senate and is going to threaten to force Nero to abandon Junia, and if this does not help, then inform Rome about Caesar's plans.

Britannicus accuses Junia of forgetting him for Nero. Junia begs to believe her and wait for "better days", she warns Britannicus that he is in danger, because Nero overheard their conversation and demanded that Junia reject Britannicus, threatening him with reprisal. Nero appears and demands that Britannicus obey him. He indignantly replies that Caesar has no right to mockery, violence and divorce from his wife, that the Roman people will not approve of the actions of the emperor. Nero believes that the people are silent, and this is the main thing. Junia begs Nero to spare Britannicus, because this is his brother (Britanicus's father adopted Nero), and for the sake of their reconciliation she is ready to become a vestal. The Emperor becomes furious and orders Britannicus to be taken into custody. He blames Agrippina for everything and orders to put guards on her.

Agrippina and Nero meet, and Agrippina delivers her famous monologue about how many atrocities she has committed in order for Nero to become emperor. She bribed the senate, which allowed her marriage to her uncle, Emperor Claudius. Then she begged Claudius to adopt Nero, then, according to her slander, Claudius alienated from himself all those who could help his son Britannicus inherit the throne. When Claudius died, she hid this from Rome, and Burr persuaded the troops to swear allegiance to Nero, and not Britannicus. Then a double message was immediately announced to the people: Claudius was dead, and Nero had become Caesar. The son, instead of gratitude, moved away from his mother and surrounded himself with dissolute youths.

Nero, in response, declares to his mother that she brought him to the throne, probably not in order to rule him and the state. After all, Rome needs a lord, not a mistress, Nero accuses his mother of conspiring against him. Agrippina replies that he has gone mad, that she devoted her whole life only to him. She is ready to die, but warns Caesar that the Roman people will not forgive Nero for this. Agrippina demands that Nero let Britannicus go and not quarrel with him. He verbally promises to fulfill everything.

Upon meeting with Burr, Nero tells him that it is time to put an end to Britannicus, and then it will be easy to tame his mother as well. Burr is horrified, and Nero declares that he is not going to reckon with the opinion of the people and he does not care about blood. Burr urges Caesar not to take the path of evil, for this is a bloody path - the friends of Britannicus will raise their heads and begin to take revenge, a terrible enmity will flare up, and an enemy will appear in every subject of Caesar. It is much nobler to do good. Burr begs Nero on his knees to make peace with Britannicus. He yields.

Narcissus comes to Nero and says that he got a fast-acting poison from the famous poisoner Locusta in Rome to poison Britannicus. Nero hesitates, but Narcissus scares him that Britannicus may find out about the poison and begin to take revenge. Nero replies that he does not want to be branded as a fratricide. Narcissus calls on Caesar to be above good and evil and not to depend on anyone - to do only what he sees fit. Kindness only testifies to the weakness of the ruler, while everyone bows before evil. If Nero poisons his brother and divorces his wife, then no one in Rome will say a word to him. Nero must shut the mouths of his mentors Burru and Seneca and rule himself.

Meanwhile, Britannicus informs Junia that Nero has made peace with him and is convening a feast in honor of this. Britannicus is glad that now there are no barriers between him and Junia. But Junia is alarmed, she anticipates trouble. Nero cannot be trusted, he is a terrible hypocrite, like his entourage. She believes that this feast is just a trap.

Agrippina appears and says that everyone is already waiting for Britannica, and Caesar wants to raise the goblet for their friendship. Agrippina assures Junia that she got everything she wanted from Nero, that he no longer has secrets from his mother and that he is not capable of an evil deed.

Burr runs in and reports that Britannicus is dying, that Nero skillfully hid his plan from everyone and at the feast gave Britannicus a cup of wine, in which Narcissus put poison. Britannicus drank to his friendship with Nero and fell down lifeless. Nero's entourage calmly looked at the emperor, but his gaze was not darkened. Narcissus could not hide his joy. Burr left the room.

Agrippina tells Nero that she knows who poisoned Britannicus. He asks with ostentatious surprise who she is talking about. Agrippina replies - it was he, Nero, who committed the murder. Appeared Narcissus betrays Caesar and declares that there is no need for him to hide his affairs. Agrippina bitterly reproaches Nero for the fact that Caesar chose worthy accomplices for himself and just as worthily began by poisoning his brother. Now it's her turn, apparently. But the death of his mother will not pass him in vain - his conscience will not give rest, new murders will begin, and in the end Nero will fall victim to his own atrocities.

Left alone, Agrippina and Burr say that death awaits them and they are ready for it - Caesar is capable of anything. Agrippina's friend Albina appears and reports that Junia, having learned about the death of Britannicus, rushed to the square to the statue of Augustus and, in front of the people, begged him to allow her to become a vestal and not be disgraced by Nero. The people took her to the temple. Nero did not dare to intervene, but obsequious Narcissus tried to prevent Junia and was killed by the mob. Seeing this, Nero, in an impotent rage, returned to the palace and wanders there. He's up to something. Agrippina and Burr decide to once again appeal to the conscience and prudence of the emperor in order to prevent evil.

A. P. Shishkin

Tragedy (1670)

The source of the tragedy was the biography of Emperor Titus in the book of the Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquill "The Life of the Twelve Caesars". Emperor Titus wants to marry the Palestinian queen Berenice, but Roman law forbids marriage with a non-Roman woman, and the people may not approve of Caesar's decision. The action takes place in the palace of Titus.

Berenice is in love with Antiochus, king of Comagena, a region in Syria annexed to the Roman Empire, who faithfully serves Titus and retains his royal title. He has long been waiting for an opportunity to talk with Berenice and find out what her decision is: if she is ready to become the wife of Titus, then Antiochus will leave Rome. When Antiochus meets her, he admits that he has loved her all five years since he met her, but Berenice answers him that she has always loved only Titus and love is more precious to her than the power and crown of the emperor.

Berenice is talking to her confidante Feinika, and she suggests that it will be difficult for Titus to circumvent the law. But Berenice believes in Titus and his love and waits for the "haughty senate" to come to greet her.

Meanwhile, Titus asks his confidant Paulinus about what they think in Rome about him and Berenice. The emperor is not interested in the opinion of the servile court and nobles - they are always ready to endure any whim of Caesar, as they tolerated and approved of "all the baseness of Nero." Titus is interested in the opinion of the people, and Paulinus answers him that although Berenice is worthy of a crown, no one in the capital "would like to call her empress." None of Titus' predecessors violated the marriage law. And even Julius Caesar, who loved Cleopatra, "could not call an Egyptian his wife." Both the cruel Caligula and the "vile" Nero, "who trampled on everything that people honor from the ages," respected the law and "they did not see the light of a vile marriage." And the former slave Felix, who became the procurator of Judea, was married to one of the sisters of Berenice, and no one in Rome will like the fact that the one whose sister took yesterday’s slave as her husband will ascend the throne. Titus admits that he struggled for a long time with love for Berenice, and now that his father has died, and a heavy burden of power has fallen on his shoulders, Titus must give up himself. The people are following him, and the emperor cannot begin his reign by violating the law, Titus decides to tell Berenice about everything, he is afraid of this conversation.

Berenice worries about her fate - Titus' mourning for her father is over, but the emperor is silent. She believes that Titus loves her. Titus suffers and does not dare to tell Berenice that he must abandon her. Berenice cannot understand what she has done wrong. Maybe he's afraid to break the law? But he himself told her that no law could separate them. Maybe Titus found out about her meeting with Antiochus, and jealousy spoke in him?

Titus learns that Antiochus is going to leave Rome, and is very surprised and annoyed - he needs his old friend, with whom they fought together. Titus informs Antiochus that he must part with Berenice: he is a Caesar who decides the fate of the world, but has no power to give his heart to the one he loves. Rome will agree to recognize only a Roman woman as his wife - "any, pathetic - but only of his blood", and if the emperor does not say goodbye to the "daughter of the East", then "in front of her eyes, the angry people will come to demand her exile." Titus asks Antiochus to inform her of his decision. He wants his friend, along with Berenice, to go to the East and remain good neighbors in their kingdoms.

Antioch does not know what to do - cry or laugh. He hopes that on the way to Judea he will be able to persuade Berenice to marry him after she was rejected by Caesar. Arshak, his friend, supports Antioch - after all, he will be next to Berenice, and Titus is far away.

Antioch tries to talk to Berenice, but does not dare to say directly what awaits her. Feeling something is wrong, Berenice demands frankness, and Antiochus informs her of Titus' decision. She does not want to believe and wants to learn everything herself from the emperor. Antiochus from now on forbids approaching her.

Titus before meeting with Berenice thinks what to do. He is only seven days on the throne after the death of his father, and all his thoughts are not about state affairs, but about love. However, the emperor understands that he does not belong to himself, he is responsible to the people.

Berenice appears and asks him if she was told the truth? Caesar replies that, no matter how difficult such a decision is for him, they will have to part. Berenice reproaches him - he should have told about Roman laws when they first met. It would have been easier for her to accept a refusal. Titus replies to Berenice that he did not know how his fate would turn out, and did not think that he would become emperor. Now he does not live - life is over, now he reigns. Berenice asks what Caesar is afraid of - uprisings in the city, in the country? Titus replies that if the "customs of his father's insult" causes unrest, then he will have to forcefully approve his choice, "and pay for the silence of the people," and it is not known at what cost. Berenice proposes to change the "unrighteous law". But Titus swore an oath to Rome "to observe its law", this is his duty, "there is no other way, and one must follow it unwaveringly." We must keep our word, as our predecessors did. Berenice, in desperation, reproaches Caesar for what he considers the highest duty "to dig her grave." She does not want to remain in Rome "the fun of the hostile and malevolent Romans." She decides to commit suicide. Titus orders his servants to keep an eye on Berenice and prevent her from doing what she has planned.

The news of Caesar's break with the queen spreads throughout the city - "Rome rejoices, every temple is open to the people." Antiochus is in agitation - he sees that Berenice is rushing about "in immeasurable sorrow" and demands a dagger and poison.

Titus meets Berenice again, and she announces to him that she is leaving. She doesn't want to hear people gloating. Titus answers her that he cannot part with her, but he cannot give up the throne, leave the Roman people. If he did so and left with Berenice, then she herself would become ashamed of "a warrior without regiments and a Caesar without a crown." Power and marriage with the queen are incompatible, but the soul of the emperor can no longer endure such torment - he is ready for death if Berenice does not give him an oath that he will not lay hands on himself.

Antiochus appears - he hid his love for the queen from Caesar for a long time, but he cannot hide it anymore. Seeing how they suffer, he is ready to sacrifice his life to the gods for the sake of Caesar and Berenice, so that they will have mercy. Berenice, "cast to shame" by the greatness of the souls of both, seeing such readiness for self-sacrifice of Titus and Antiochus, begs them not to suffer so because of For her, she doesn't deserve it. The queen agrees to live apart and asks Titus to forget about her. She urges Antiochus to forget about love. The memory of all three will remain in the annals as an example of the most tender, fiery and hopeless love.

A. P. Shishkin

Tragedy (1674)

The action takes place in Aulis, in the camp of Agamemnon. The yearning king wakes up the faithful servant of Arkas. He is extremely surprised by the dejected appearance of his master: the descendant of the gods Agamemnon is favored in everything by luck - it is not for nothing that the intrepid warrior Achilles, the most important of the Greek heroes, wants to marry his daughter. Iphigenia will soon arrive with her mother at Aulis, where the marriage ceremony is to take place. The king cries, and Arkas fearfully asks if any misfortune has happened to his children or his wife. Agamemnon in response exclaims that he will not allow the death of his daughter. alas, he made a terrible mistake, but is determined to correct it. When an unprecedented calm fettered the Greek ships in the harbor, the brothers of Atrids turned to the priest Calchas, and he proclaimed the will of the gods: the Greeks must sacrifice a young maiden, in whose veins the blood of Helen flows - the path to Troy will be closed until Iphigenia ascends the altar of Diana . The shocked Agamemnon was ready to fight against the insidious fate and abandon the campaign, but the cunning Ulysses managed to convince him. Pride and vanity overcame parental pity: the king agreed to a terrible sacrifice and, in order to lure Iphigenia and Clytemnestra to Aulis, resorted to deception - he wrote a letter on behalf of Achilles, who at that time went on a campaign against his father's enemies. The hero has already returned, but it is not his anger that frightens the king, but the fact that Iphigenia, in happy ignorance, flies towards her love - to her death. Only the devoted Arkas can prevent trouble: you need to intercept the women on the way and tell them that Achilles wants to postpone the wedding and that Erifila is a prisoner taken from Lesbos. No one should know the true background, otherwise the Achaeans will rebel against the cowardly king, and Clytemnestra will never forgive the plan to give her daughter to the slaughter.

Achilles and Ulysses appear in Agamemnon's tent. The young hero, unaware of the trick with the letter, longs to go down the aisle with his beloved - in addition, he can not wait to punish the arrogant Ilion. Agamemnon reminds him of the inevitable death under the walls of Troy, but Achilles does not want to listen to anything: the parks announced to his mother Thetis that either a long life in obscurity awaits her son, or early death and eternal glory - he chooses the second lot. Ulysses listens with satisfaction to these passionate speeches: Agamemnon was in vain afraid that Achilles would prevent the sacrifice, without which the long-awaited campaign would not take place. Guessing the king's confusion, Ulysses reproaches him for apostasy: at one time, it was Agamemnon who made Elena's suitors swear that they would become her faithful defenders - the Achaeans left their homes, their beloved wives and children only for the sake of the desecrated honor of Menelaus. The king angrily replies that it is easy to talk about the greatness of the soul when someone else's blood is shed - it is unlikely that Ulysses would have shown such steadfastness in relation to his own son Telemachus. Nevertheless, the word will be kept if Iphigenia arrives in Aulis. Perhaps the gods do not want her to die: she could be delayed on the way, or her mother ordered her to stay in Argos. The king stops mid-sentence when he sees his servant Eurybates. He reports that the queen has arrived, although the wedding train has lost its way and wandered in the dark forest for a long time. With Clytemnestra and Iphigenia, the young captive Eri-fila is traveling, who wants to ask the priest Calchas about her fate. The Greek army rejoices, welcoming the family of the beloved king. Agamemnon is horrified - now the daughter is doomed. Ulysses, having guessed about the trick of the king, tries to console him: this is the will of the gods, and mortals cannot grumble at them. But a brilliant victory awaits ahead: Helen will be returned to Menelaus, and Troy will be thrown into dust - and all this thanks to the courage of Agamemnon!

The captive Erifil reveals her soul to her confidante Dorina. Fate haunts her from infancy: she does not know her parents, and it was predicted that the secret of birth would be revealed to her only at the hour of death. But the most difficult test awaits her ahead - this is the wedding of Iphigenia and Achilles. Erifila admits to the astonished Dorina that she fell in love with a hero who took away her freedom and girlish honor - this bloody villain won her heart, and only for him did she go to Aulis. Seeing Agamemnon with her daughter, Erifila steps aside. Iphigenia fawns over her father, trying to understand the reason for his apparent embarrassment and coldness. The king is in a hurry to leave, and Iphigenia shares her anxieties with Erifila: the father is sad, and the groom does not appear in front of his eyes - perhaps he now thinks only about the war. Enraged Clytemnestra enters with a letter in her hand. Achilles' intentions have changed: he proposes to postpone the wedding - such behavior is unworthy of a hero. The king's daughter should not expect mercy from him, so both of them must leave the camp immediately. Erifila cannot hide her joy, and Iphigenia suddenly realizes why the captive was so eager to Aulis - the reason for this is not Calchas at all, but love for Achilles. Now everything became clear - both the dejected appearance of the father, and the absence of the groom. At this moment, Achilles himself appears, and Iphigenia proudly announces to him her immediate departure. Amazed Achilles turns to Eriphile for clarification: he was in such a hurry to see his bride, although Agamemnon insisted that his daughter would not come - why did Iphigenia avoid him and what did Ulysses' vague speeches mean? If someone decides to play a trick on him, he will repay the offender in full. Erifila is struck in the heart: Achilles loves Iphigenia! But not everything is lost yet: the king is clearly afraid for his daughter, the princess is being deceived in some way, they are hiding something from Achilles - perhaps they will still be able to enjoy revenge.

Clytemnestra pours out her grievances to Agamemnon: she and her daughter were already ready to leave, but then an alarmed Achilles appeared and begged them to stay - he swore to take revenge on the despicable slanderers who accused him of betraying Iphigenia. Agamemnon readily admits that in vain he trusted a false rumor. He will personally take his daughter to the altar, but the queen should not show herself in the camp, where everything breathes with a premonition of bloodshed. Clytemnestra is stunned - only a mother should give her daughter into the hands of the groom. Agamemnon is unshakable: if the queen does not want to heed the request, let her obey the order. As soon as the king leaves, happy Achilles and Iphigenia appear. The princess asks her fiancé to grant freedom to Erifile at this joyful hour for both of them, and Achilles readily promises.

Faithful Arkas is instructed to take Iphigenia to the altar. The servant gave a vow to be silent, but he can not stand it and reports about what fate is in store for the princess. Clytemnestra falls at the feet of Achilles, begging to save her daughter. The hero, shocked by the humiliation of the queen, vows to strike anyone who dares to raise a hand against Iphigenia - the king will have to answer for his deceit. Iphigenia begs the groom to subdue his anger: she will never condemn her beloved father and obey his will in everything - of course, he would save her if it were in his power. Achilles cannot hide resentment: is her father, dooming her to death, dearer to her than the one who came to her defense? Iphigenia meekly objects that her beloved is dearer to her than life: she intrepidly met the news of her imminent death, but almost lost her senses when she heard a false rumor about his betrayal. Probably, with her immense love for him, she angered the heavens. Erifila, left alone with Dorina, seethes with rage. How frightened for Iphigenia the intrepid Achilles! She will never forgive her rival for this, and here all means are good: Agamemnon, apparently, has not lost hope of saving his daughter and wants to disobey the gods - the Greeks need to be informed about this blasphemous plan. Thus, she will not only avenge her outraged love, but also save Troy - Achilles will never again stand under the banner of the king.

Clytemnestra sarcastically greets her husband - now she knows what fate he has in store for her daughter. Agamemnon understands that Arkas did not keep his word. Iphigenia tenderly comforts her father: she will not shame her kind and without fear will put her breast under the sacrificial blade - she is afraid only for her loved ones, for her mother and for her fiancé, who do not want to accept such a sacrifice. Clytemnestra announces that she will not give up her daughter and will fight for her like a lioness for her child. If Menelaus is eager to embrace an unfaithful wife, let him pay with his own blood: he also has a daughter - Hermione. Mother takes Iphigenia away, and Achilles bursts into the royal tent. He demands an explanation: a strange, shameful rumor reached his ears - as if Agamemnon had decided to kill his own daughter. The king arrogantly replies that he is not obliged to Achilles with a report and is free to control the fate of his daughter. Achilles can also blame himself for this sacrifice - wasn't he the most eager to the walls of Troy? The young hero exclaims in a rage that he does not want to hear about Troy, who did him no harm - he swore allegiance to Iphigenia, and not to Menelaus at all! Irritated Agamemnon is already ready to doom his daughter to the slaughter - otherwise people may think that he was afraid of Achilles. However, pity prevails over vanity: the king orders his wife and daughter to leave Aulis in the strictest secrecy. Erifila hesitates for a moment, but jealousy turns out to be stronger, and the captive decides to tell Calchas everything.

Iphigenia is back in the Greek camp. All escape routes are closed. Her father forbade her to even think about the groom, but she dreams of seeing him for the last time. Achilles is determined: he orders the bride to follow him - from now on she must obey her husband, not her father. Iphigenia refuses: death frightens her less than dishonor. She vows to hit herself with her own hand - the king's daughter will not dutifully wait for a blow. Mad with grief, Clytemnestra curses Erifila who betrayed them - the night itself did not vomit a more terrible monster! Iphigenia is taken away, and soon Clytemnestra hears thunderous peals - this is Calchas shedding the blood of the gods on the altar! Arkas comes running with the news that Achilles broke through to the altar with his people and posted guards around Iphigenia - now the priest cannot approach her. Agamemnon, unable to look at the death of his daughter, covered his face with a cloak. At any moment a fratricidal massacre could begin.

Ulysses enters, and Clytemnestra cries out in horror - Iphigenia is dead! Ulysses replies that blood has been shed on the altar, but her daughter is alive. When the entire Greek army was ready to rush to Achilles, the priest Calchas suddenly proclaimed a new sign: this time the gods accurately indicated the victim - that Iphigenia, who was born to Elena from Theseus. Driven by her terrible fate, the girl arrived in Aulis under a false name - as a slave and prisoner of Achilles. Then the soldiers lowered their swords: although many felt sorry for Princess Erifila, everyone agreed with the verdict. But Calchas did not manage to hit Elena's daughter: throwing a contemptuous glance at him, she herself pierced her chest with a sword. At the same moment, the immortal Diana appeared on the altar - a clear sign that the prayers of the Achaeans reached heaven. After listening to this story, Clytemnestra offers warm thanks to Achilles.

E. D. Murashkintseva

Tragedy (1676)

Hippolytus, the son of the Athenian king Theseus, goes in search of his father, who has been wandering somewhere for six months. Hippolytus is the son of an Amazon. The new wife of Theseus Phaedra disliked him, as everyone believes, and he wants to leave Athens. Phaedra, on the other hand, is ill with an incomprehensible disease and "craves to die." She talks about her sufferings, which the gods sent her, about the fact that there is a conspiracy around her and they "decided to exterminate her." Fate and the wrath of the gods aroused in her some kind of sinful feeling, which terrifies her herself and which she is afraid to speak openly about. She makes every effort to overcome the dark passion, but in vain. Phaedra thinks about death and waits for it, not wanting to reveal her secret to anyone.

Oenon's nurse fears that the queen's mind is troubled, for Phaedra herself does not know what she is saying. Enona reproaches her that Phaedra wants to offend the gods by interrupting her "life thread", and urges the queen to think about the future of her own children, that the "arrogant Hippolytus" born of the Amazon will quickly take away their power. In response, Phaedra declares that her “sinful life is already too long, but her sin is not in her actions, the heart is to blame for everything - it is the cause of the torment. However, Phaedra refuses to say what her sin is and wants to take her secret to the grave. But she can’t stand it and admits to Oenone that she loves Hippolytus. She is horrified. As soon as Phaedra became Theseus’ wife and saw Hippolytus, her body was tormented by “the fire, the chills.” This is “the fire of the all-powerful Aphrodite”, the goddess of love. Phaedra tried to propitiate the goddess - "she erected a temple, decorated it", made sacrifices, but in vain, neither incense nor blood helped. Then Phaedra began to avoid Hippolytus and play the role of an evil stepmother, forcing her son to leave his father's house. But all in vain.

The maid Panopa reports that news has been received that Phaedra's husband Theseus has died. Therefore, Athens is worried - who should be king: the son of Phaedra or the son of Theseus Hippolytus, born of a captive Amazon? Oenone reminds Phaedra that the burden of power now rests on her and she has no right to die, since then her son will die.

Arikia, a princess from the Athenian royal family of the Pallantes, whom Theseus deprived of power, learns of his death. She is worried about her fate. Theseus kept her captive in a palace in the city of Troezen. Hippolytus is elected ruler of Troezen and Yemen, Arikia's confidante believes that he will free the princess, since Hippolytus is not indifferent to her. Arikia was captivated in Hippolyta by spiritual nobility. Keeping with the illustrious father "in high resemblance, he did not inherit the low features of his father." Theseus, on the other hand, was notorious for seducing many women.

Hippolyte comes to Arikia and announces to her that he is canceling his father's decree on her captivity and giving her freedom. Athens needs a king and the people put forward three candidates: Hippolytus, Arikiy and Phaedra's son. However, Hippolytus, according to the ancient law, if he is not born a Hellenic, cannot own the Athenian throne. Arikia, on the other hand, belongs to an ancient Athenian family and has all the rights to power. And the son of Phaedra will be the king of Crete - so Hippolytus decides, remaining the ruler of Troezen. He decides to go to Athens to convince the people of Arikia's right to the throne. Arikia cannot believe that the son of her enemy is giving her the throne. Hippolyte replies that he had never known what love was before, but when he saw it, he "resigned himself and put on love fetters." He thinks about the princess all the time.

Phaedra, meeting with Hippolytus, says that she is afraid of him: now that Theseus is gone, he can bring down his anger on her and her son, taking revenge for being expelled from Athens. Hippolyte is indignant - he could not act so lowly. Also, the rumor of Theseus' death may be false. Phaedra, unable to control her feelings, says that if Hippolytus had been older when Theseus arrived in Crete, then he too could have performed the same feats - to kill the Minotaur and become a hero, and she, like Ariadne, would have given him a thread so as not to get lost in the Labyrinth, and would link her fate with him. Hippolytus is at a loss, it seems to him that Phaedra is daydreaming, mistaking him for Theseus. Phaedra twists his words and says that she loves not the old Theseus, but the young one, like Hippolyta, loves him, Hippolyta, but does not see her fault in that, since she has no power over herself. She is a victim of divine wrath, it is the gods who sent her love that torments her. Phaedra asks Hippolytus to punish her for her criminal passion and get the sword from its scabbard. Hippolytus flees in horror, no one should know about the terrible secret, even his mentor Teramen.

A messenger comes from Athens to hand Phaedra the reins of government. But the queen does not want power, she does not need honors. She cannot govern a country when her own mind is not under her control, when she is not in control of her feelings. She had already revealed her secret to Hippolyte, and hope for a reciprocal feeling arose in her. Hippolytus is a Scythian by mother, says Enon, savagery is in his blood - "he rejected the female sex, he does not want to know him." However, Phaedra wants to awaken love in "wild as a forest" Hippolyta, no one has yet spoken to him about tenderness. Phaedra asks Oenone to tell Hippolyte that she gives him all power and is ready to give her love.

Oenone returns with the news that Theseus is alive and will soon be in the palace. Phaedra is horrified, for she is afraid that Hippolyte will betray her secret and expose her deceit to her father, saying that her stepmother is dishonoring the royal throne. She thinks of death as salvation, but fears for the fate of her children. Oenone offers to protect Phaedra from dishonor and slander Hippolytus in front of his father, saying that he desired Phaedra. She undertakes to arrange everything herself in order to save the honor of the lady "in defiance of her conscience", for "so that honor is ... spotless for everyone, and it is not a sin to sacrifice virtue."

Phaedra meets with Theseus and tells him that he is offended, that she is not worth his love and tenderness. He asks Hippolytus in bewilderment, but the son replies that his wife can reveal the secret to him. And he himself wants to leave in order to perform the same feats as his father. Theseus is surprised and angry - returning to his home, he finds his relatives in confusion and anxiety. He feels that something terrible is being hidden from him.

Enona slandered Hippolytus, and Theseus believed, remembering how pale, embarrassed and evasive his son was in a conversation with him. He drives Hippolytus away and asks the god of the sea Poseidon, who promised him to fulfill his first will, to punish his son, Hippolytus is so amazed that Phaedra blames him for a criminal passion that he cannot find words to justify - his "tongue has ossified". Although he admits that he loves Arikia, his father does not believe him.

Phaedra tries to persuade Theseus not to harm his son. When he tells her that Hippolytus is allegedly in love with Arikia, Phaedra is shocked and offended that she had a rival. She did not imagine that someone else could awaken love in Hippolyta. The queen sees the only way out for herself - to die. She curses Oenone for vilifying Hippolyte.

Meanwhile, Hippolyte and Arikia decide to flee the country together.

Theseus tries to convince Arikia that Hippolytus is a liar and she listened to him in vain. Arikia answers him that the king cut off the heads of many monsters, but "fate saved one monster from the formidable Theseus" - this is a direct allusion to Phaedra and her passion for Hippolytus. Theseus does not understand the hint, but begins to doubt whether he has learned everything. He wants to interrogate Enona again, but learns that the queen drove her away and she threw herself into the sea. Phaedra herself rushes about in madness. Theseus orders to call his son and prays to Poseidon that he does not fulfill his desire.

However, it's too late - Teramen brings the terrible news that Hippolytus has died. He was riding a chariot along the shore, when suddenly an unprecedented monster appeared from the sea, "a beast with the muzzle of a bull, forehead and horned, and with a body covered with yellowish scales." Everyone rushed to run, and Hippolyte threw a spear at the monster and pierced the scales. The dragon fell under the feet of the horses, and they suffered from fear. Hippolyte could not hold them back, they raced without a road, over the rocks. Suddenly the axis of the chariot broke, the prince got tangled in the reins, and the horses dragged him along the ground strewn with stones. His body turned into a continuous wound, and he died in the arms of Teramen. Before his death, Ippolit said that his father had brought charges against him in vain.

Theseus is horrified, he blames Phaedra for the death of his son. She admits that Hippolyte was innocent, that it was she who "by the will of higher powers ... was ignited by an incestuous irresistible passion." Enon, saving her honor, slandered Hippolyte Enona is now gone, and Phaedra, having removed from innocent suspicion, ends her earthly torment by taking poison.

A. P. Shishkin

Tragedy (1690)

The action takes place in the Kingdom of Judea, in the Temple of Jerusalem. Jehoram, the seventh Davidic king of the Jews, married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, who ruled over the kingdom of Israel. Athaliah, like her parents, is an idolater who persuaded her husband to build a temple to Baal in Jerusalem. Joram soon died of a terrible disease. Having planned to exterminate the entire family of David, Athaliah betrayed to the executioners all the grandchildren of Joram (his children had already died by that time). However, the daughter of Jehoram from another wife, Josabeth, saved the last grandson and the only heir of the kingdom of David, Joash, and hid the high priest Jehodai in the temple with her husband. The boy does not know that he is the king of the Jews, and Jodai (or Yehuda) is preparing him to enter the kingdom, raising him in strictness and respect for the laws. Jehodai is waiting for the moment to reveal a new king to the people, although he has few allies, for everyone is afraid of the wrath of Athaliah, who demands universal worship of Baal. However, Jehodai hopes for the mercy of God, he believes that in any case the Lord will protect the king of the Jews, even if there are crowds of idolaters around with weapons in their hands. The high priest believes in a miracle and tries to convince everyone else of his faith - the commander of Abner, the Levites, the people who do not yet know that the heir to the throne of David, under the name of Eliakim, is hiding in the temple.

One day, during a service, Athaliah unexpectedly entered the temple and saw Eliakim, who, in white robes, served Jodai along with Jehodai's son Zechariah. The appearance of an idolater is considered a desecration, and Jodai demanded that she leave the temple. However, Athaliah noticed the boy and now wants to know who he is, for she had a dream in which her mother predicted her death, and then a youth appeared in the white clothes of the Levites with a dagger, and in Eliakim she suddenly recognizes that youth. The apostate priest Matfan, who became a priest of Baal, says that the boy must be killed, since he is dangerous, for sleep is a heavenly sign, "whoever is suspected is guilty before judgment."

Athaliah wants to take a closer look at the boy, since the child cannot be hypocritical and will tell her who he is, what kind. When they bring Joash, he replies that he is an orphan and the King of Heaven cares for him, that his parents abandoned him. The truthfulness and charm of the child touched Athaliah. She invites him to live in her palace and believe in his God, and not in Baal. She has no heirs, the boy will be like her own son.

Later, Athaliah sends Matthana to Josabeth to say that for the right to pray to their God in the temple of Jodai, the Levites must give her the foundling Eliakim. If they refuse, they will thereby confirm the suspicions and rumors that the child is from a well-born family and is being raised for a hidden purpose.

Josabeth conveys the words of Matthan to Jodai and offers to flee with the child into the wilderness. However, the high priest accuses her of cowardice and decides that it is time to act and Eliakim can no longer be hidden - he must appear in royal attire and a crown. The choir of virgins sings the glory of the Lord. This choir and the Levites are the only protection of the heir to the throne of David, there is no one else in the temple, but Jodai believes that the Lord will give such strength to this army that no one will break them.

In the temple, the ceremony of enthronement is being prepared, Josaveth is trying on the royal crown on Joash (Eliakim). He does not yet understand what the matter is, and believes that he will only help to perform the rite to Jodai, whom he honors as a father. Jehoiada asks if the boy is ready to follow David's example in life, and he replies that he is. Then Jodai kneels before him and proclaims that he honors his new king. Other priests also take an oath of allegiance to him.

A Levite appears and reports that the temple is surrounded by troops. Jodai arranges people to protect the temple and turns to the choir of virgins so that they cry out to the Creator.

Zechariah, the son of Jehodai, tells his sister Shulamita how the Levites are deployed to defend the temple. The priests begged his father to hide at least the ark of the covenant, but he told them that this cowardice did not suit them, for the ark always helped to overthrow the enemy.

The commander Abner appears, whom Athaliah released from prison to say that the priests would be spared if they gave her Eliakim and the treasure that had once been given by David for preservation in the temple. Abner advises to give Athaliah all the valuables and thus save the temple. He himself is ready to go to the execution instead of Eliakim, if this will bring peace and tranquility. The fate of the boy is in the hands of the Lord, and no one knows how the queen will behave - has not God already instilled pity in her heart? Avenir asks Jodai to try to "retract the blow with concessions," and in the meantime he himself will take measures to save the temple and the priests. Jodai reveals the secret of Eliakim to Abner, He is ready to give the queen the treasure and tell her what kind of boy, when she enters the temple without her soldiers - Abner must persuade her to do this. Jehodai instructs the Levite to close the gates of the temple as soon as the queen is inside in order to cut off her way back, and all the other priests will call the people to the rescue. The armed Levites and the king will be hidden behind curtains for the time being.

Athaliah appears and, calling Jodai a rebel, says that she could destroy him and the temple, but by agreement she is ready to take only the treasure and the boy. Jodai is ready to show them to her. The veils are parted, and Jehoiade calls the king of the Jews to appear. Jehoash and the armed Levites exit. Athaliah is horrified, and Jodai tells her that the Lord himself cut off her escape route. Ismail, the head of the priests, enters and reports that the hired soldiers of Athaliah are fleeing - the Lord has instilled fear in their hearts, the people rejoice when they learn that a new king has come to take the throne. Baal is thrown into dust, and the priest Matfan is killed. Athaliah recognizes Joash by the scar from her knife when he was still an infant. Athaliah is ready for death, but in the end she predicts that the hour will come when Joash, like her, will turn away from his God and, having defiled his altar, will avenge her. Joash is horrified and says that it is better for him to die than to become an apostate. Jodai reminds the king of the Jews that there is a God in heaven - a judge of earthly kings and "parents of orphans."

L. P. Shishkin

(Les Caractères)

Satirical Aphorisms (1688)

In the preface to his "Characters", the author admits that the purpose of the book is an attempt to draw attention to the shortcomings of society, "made from nature", with the aim of correcting them.

In each of the 16 eyes, he sets out his "characters" in strict sequence, where he writes the following:

"Everything has already been said." It is extremely difficult to convince others of the infallibility of one's tastes; more often than not, a collection of "nonsense" results.

“Most of all, mediocrity is unbearable in “poetry, music, painting and oratory”.

"There are no great works composed collectively yet."

"Most often people are guided" not by taste, but by predilection.

"Do not miss the opportunity to express a laudable opinion on the merits of the manuscript, and do not build it only on someone else's opinion."

"The author should calmly accept the "evil criticism", and even more so not to cross out the criticized places."

"The high style of a newspaperman is chattering about politics."

"In vain does a writer want to acquire admiring praise for his work. Fools admire. Smart people approve with restraint."

"High style reveals this or that truth, provided that the theme is sustained in a noble tone."

"Criticism is sometimes not so much a science as a craft that requires endurance rather than intelligence."

"It is ungrateful to create a big name, life is coming to an end, and the work has barely begun."

"External simplicity is a wonderful dress for outstanding people."

"It's good to be a man" about whom no one asks if he is famous?

"In every act of a person character is reflected."

"False greatness is arrogant, but is aware of its weakness and shows itself a little."

"A man's opinion of women rarely coincides with the opinion of women."

"Women should be looked at," not paying attention to their hair and shoes.

"There is no sight more beautiful than a beautiful face, and there is no music sweeter than the sound of a beloved voice."

"Women's treachery is useful because "it cures men of jealousy."

"If two women, your friends, quarreled," then you have to choose between them, or lose both.

"Women know how to love more than men," but men are more capable of friendship.

"A man keeps someone else's secret, a woman keeps hers."

"The heart is inflamed suddenly, friendship takes time."

"We love those to whom we do good, and we hate those whom we offend."

"There is no excess more beautiful than the excess of gratitude."

"There is nothing more colorless than the character of a colorless person."

"A smart person is never pushy."

"To be delighted with oneself and one's mind is a misfortune."

"The talent of the interlocutor is distinguished" not by the one who speaks himself, but by the one with whom others willingly speak.

"Do not reject praise - you will be considered rude."

"The father-in-law does not love the son-in-law, the father-in-law loves the daughter-in-law; the mother-in-law loves the son-in-law, the mother-in-law does not love the daughter-in-law: everything in the world is balanced."

"It is easier and more useful to adapt to someone else's temper than to adapt someone else's temper to your own."

"The tendency to ridicule speaks of the poverty of the mind."

"Friends mutually strengthen each other's views and forgive each other's minor shortcomings."

"Don't give advice in secular society, you'll only hurt yourself."

"A dogmatic tone is always the result of deep ignorance."

"Do not try to expose a rich fool to ridicule - all ridicule is on his side."

"The wealth of other people is acquired at the cost of peace, health, honor, conscience - do not envy them."

"In any business, you can get rich by pretending to be honest."

"The one who has been exalted by luck in the game "does not want to know his equals and clings only to nobles."

"It's not surprising that there are so many gambling houses, it's amazing how many people who provide these houses with a livelihood."

"It is unforgivable for a decent person to play, to risk a big loss is too dangerous boyishness."

"The decline of people of judicial and military rank lies in the fact that they measure their expenses not with income, but with their position."

"Metropolitan society is divided into circles," similar to small states: they have their own laws, customs, jargon. But the age of these circles is not long - two years at the most.

"The vanity of city dwellers is more disgusting than the rudeness of commoners."

"You have found a devoted friend if, having ascended, he did not get to know you."

"A high and difficult position is easier to take than to keep."

"It is as dangerous to make promises in court as it is difficult not to make them."

"Insolence is a property of character, a congenital defect."

"Two paths lead to a high position: a trodden straight road and a detour around the path, which is much shorter,"

"Do not expect sincerity, justice, help and constancy from a man who came to the court with the secret intention of exalting himself. "The new minister has many friends and relatives overnight."

"Court life is a serious, cold and intense game. And the luckiest wins it."

"The slave depends only on his master, the ambitious - on everyone who is able to help his exaltation."

"A good wit is a bad man."

"From cunning to cunning is one step, it is worth adding a lie to cunning, and you get cunning."

"The nobles recognize perfection only for themselves, but the only thing that you cannot take away from them is large possessions and a long line of ancestors. They do not want to learn anything - not only the management of the state, but also the management of their home."

"A doorman, a valet, a lackey judge themselves by the nobility and wealth of those they serve."

"Participating in a dubious undertaking is dangerous, even more dangerous to be with a nobleman. He will get out at your expense."

"Courage is a special attitude of mind and heart, which is transmitted from ancestors to descendants."

"Do not rely on the nobles, they rarely take the opportunity to do us good. "They are guided only by the dictates of feeling, succumbing to the first impression."

"It is best to keep silent about the powerful of this world. To speak well is almost always to flatter, to speak badly is dangerous while they are alive, and vile when they are dead."

"The most reasonable thing is to come to terms with the form of government under which you were born."

"The subjects of a despot have no homeland. The thought of it is supplanted by self-interest, ambition, servility."

"A minister or an ambassador is a chameleon. He hides his true disposition and puts on the mask he needs at the moment. All his plans, moral rules, political tricks serve one task - not to deceive himself and deceive others."

"The monarch lacks only one thing - the joys of private life."

"The favorite is always alone, he has no attachments, no friends."

"Everything flourishes in a country where no one makes a distinction between the interests of the state and the sovereign."

"In one respect, people are constant: they are evil, vicious, indifferent to virtue."

"Stoicism is an empty game of the mind, a fiction." The person actually loses his temper, despairs, is forced by a cry.

"Cheaters tend to think that everyone else is like them; they do not go into deception, but they themselves do not deceive others for a long time."

"Stamped paper is a disgrace to mankind: it was invented to remind people that they have made promises, and to convict them when they deny it."

"Life is what people most strive to preserve and cherish least."

"There is no such flaw or bodily imperfection that children would not notice, as soon as they discover it, they take precedence over adults and cease to reckon with them."

"People live too short to learn from their own mistakes."

"Prejudice reduces the greatest man to the level of the most limited commoner."

"Health and wealth, saving a person from bitter experience, make him indifferent; people, themselves dejected by sorrows, are much more compassionate towards their neighbor."

"A man of mediocre mind seems to be carved out of one piece: he is constantly serious, does not know how to joke."

"High positions make great people even greater, insignificant people even more insignificant."

"An old man in love is one of the greatest deformities in nature."

"Finding a vain person who considers himself happy is as difficult as finding a modest person who would consider himself too unhappy."

"The manner of gestures, speech and behavior is often the result of idleness or indifference; a great feeling and a serious matter return a person to his natural appearance."

“The great surprises us, the insignificant repels us, and habit “reconciles with both.”

"The title of comedian was considered shameful among the Romans and honorable among the Greeks. What is the position of actors with us? We look at them like the Romans, and treat them like the Greeks."

"Languages ​​are just a key that opens access to science, but contempt for them casts a shadow on it too."

"You should not judge a person by his face - it only allows you to speculate."

"A person whose mind and abilities are recognized by everyone does not seem ugly, even if he is ugly - no one notices his ugliness."

"A narcissistic person is one in whom fools see an abyss of virtues. This is something between a fool and an impudent person, he has something of both."

"Loquacity is one of the signs of narrow-mindedness."

"The more our neighbors are like us, the more we like them."

"The flatterer is equally low opinion of himself and of others."

"Freedom is not idleness, but the ability to freely dispose of one's time and choose one's occupation." He who does not know how to properly use his time is the first to complain about his lack.

"A lover of rarities does not value what is good or beautiful, but what is unusual and outlandish and he has one."

"A woman who has become fashionable is like that nameless blue flower that grows in the fields, chokes the ears, destroys the crop and takes the place of useful cereals."

"A reasonable man wears what the tailor advises him; to despise fashion is as unreasonable as to follow it too much."

"Even the beautiful ceases to be beautiful when it is out of place."

"The parishioners are charged more for marriages than for baptisms, and baptisms are more expensive than confessions; thus a tax is levied on the sacraments, which, as it were, determines their relative dignity."

"Torture is an amazing invention, which without fail destroys the innocent if he is in poor health, and saves the criminal if he is strong and hardy."

"To the orders made by the dying in wills, people are treated like the words of oracles: everyone understands and interprets them in his own way, according to his own desires and benefits."

"People have never trusted doctors and have always used their services." Until people stop dying, doctors will be showered with ridicule and money."

"Charlatans deceive those who want to be deceived."

"Christian preaching has now become a spectacle," no one thinks about the meaning of God's word, "because preaching has become, first of all, fun, a game of chance, where some compete, while others bet."

"Orators in one respect are like the military: they take more risks than people of other professions, but rise faster."

"How great is the advantage of the living word over the written one."

"Enjoying health, people doubt the existence of God, just as they do not see sin in proximity with a special light morals; as soon as they get sick, they leave their concubine and begin to believe in the creator."

"The impossibility of proving that there is no God convinces me that he exists."

"If the need for anything disappears, the arts, sciences, inventions, mechanics will disappear."

La Bruyère ends the book with the words: "If the reader does not approve of these Characters, I will be surprised; if he approves, I will still be surprised."

R. M. Kirsanova

(Memoires de la vie du comte de Gramont)

Roman (1715)

In the novelized biography of his relative, the Chevalier de Gramont, the author depicts the contemporary manners of the French nobility and the English court of the Restoration era.

The reader meets the hero during military operations in Piedmont, where, thanks to his lively mind, sense of humor and firmness of spirit, he immediately wins universal sympathy. "He was looking for fun and gave it to everyone." A certain Matta, "an example of sincerity and honesty", becomes his friend, and together they set excellent dinners, which gather all the officers of the regiment. However, the money soon runs out, and the friends are racking their brains on how to replenish their funds. Suddenly, Gramont remembers an avid gambler, the wealthy Count Cameran. Friends invite the count to dinner, and then Gramont sits down to play with him. The count loses a huge amount of debt, but the next day he regularly pays, and the "lost well-being" returns to his friends. Now, until the very end of the campaign, fortune favors them, and Gramont even does charity work: he donates money to soldiers crippled in battles.

Having gained glory on the battlefield, the Chevalier de Gramont and Matta go to Turin, overwhelmed by the desire to acquire laurels in the love field. Friends are young, witty, overspending, and therefore they are very kindly received at the court of the Duchess of Savoy. And although Matta's gallantry of the Turin court seems excessive, he relies on a friend for everything. Chevalier chooses for himself a young brunette, Mademoiselle de Saint-Germain, and invites his friend to court the charming blonde Marquise de Senant. The marquise's husband is so rude and disgusting that "it was a sin not to deceive him." Having declared their love, both adventurers immediately dress in the colors of their ladies: Gramont in green, and Matta in blue. Matta, who is new to the courtship ritual, squeezes the hand of the charming marquise too tightly, which causes the wrath of the charmer. However, Matta does not notice this and goes to dinner in a pleasant company. The next day, at the court, where Matta appeared immediately after the hunt, that is, without the flowers of his lady, an explanation takes place: the lady reproaches him for impudence - he almost tore off her arm! Gramont echoes the Marquise: how dare he appear not in blue! By this time, the chevalier notices that Madame de Senant "very favorably" refers to himself, and decides, just in case, not to miss this opportunity, if he suddenly fails with Saint-Germain.

The Marquise de Senant is quite satisfied with the impatient Matta, and in her heart she has long agreed to fulfill all his desires, but he does not want to "put the dragon to sleep", that is, her husband: he is too disgusted with him. Realizing that Matta does not intend to compromise his principles, Madame de Senant ceases to be interested in him. At the same time, the Chevalier de Gramont parted with his beloved, for she flatly refused to cross the line of what was permitted, preferring to get married first, and only then enjoy joy with a friend of the heart. De Gramont and the Marquise de Senant conspire to deceive both husband and friend in order to enjoy love in peace themselves. For this, the Chevalier de Gramont, who has long been on friendly terms with the Marquis de Senant, deftly introduces him to Matta. De Senant invites his friends to dinner, but the Chevalier lets himself be allowed to be late, and while Matta, consuming food in abundance, tries to answer the Senant's abstruse questions, Gramont hurries to the Marquise. However, Mademoiselle de Saint-Germain, who found out about this, wanting to annoy the admirer who turned away from her, also comes to the Marquise and, as a result, takes her out of the house, so that the disappointed Gramont has no choice but to go to dinner with Senant. However, the chevalier does not leave his plan, only now, in order to implement it, he plays a whole performance. Having convinced everyone that Senant and Matta had quarreled, he, allegedly wanting to prevent a duel, persuades both friends to spend the day at home (this request found the Marquis in his country estate), and he rushes to the gentle Madame de Senant, who receives him so "that he fully appreciated her gratitude.

Returning to France, the Chevalier de Gramont brilliantly confirms his reputation: he is dexterous in the game, active and tireless in love, a dangerous rival in matters of the heart, inexhaustible in inventions, imperturbable in victories and defeats. Being a smart man, de Gramont gets to the card table with Cardinal Mazarin and quickly notices that his Eminence is cheating. Using "the talents released to him by nature", the chevalier begins not only to defend himself, but also to attack. So in those cases where the cardinal and the chevalier try to outwit each other, the advantage remains on the side of the chevalier. De Gramont does an excellent job with a variety of assignments. One day, Marshal Turenne, having defeated the Spaniards and lifted the siege from Arras, sends de Gramont as a messenger to the royal court. The dexterous and courageous chevalier bypasses all other couriers who are trying to be the first to deliver the good news, and receives a reward: a kiss from the queen. The king also treats the messenger kindly. And only the cardinal looks sourly: his enemy, Prince Conde, whose death in battle he very much hoped for, is alive and well. Leaving the office, the chevalier, in the presence of numerous courtiers, makes a caustic joke against Mazarin. Of course, informants report this to the cardinal. But "not the most vengeful of ministers" does not accept the glove, but, on the contrary, invites the chevalier to dinner and the game that same evening, assuring that "the queen will make bets for them."

Soon, young Louis marries, and everything changes in the kingdom. "The French idolize their king." The king, dealing with the affairs of the state, does not forget about love interests. It is enough for His Majesty to cast a glance at the court beauty, as he immediately finds a response in her heart, and admirers humbly leave the lucky woman. Chevalier de Gramont, admiring the zeal of the sovereign in matters of government, nevertheless dares to encroach on one of the ladies-in-waiting, a certain Mademoiselle Lamotte-Houdancourt, who has the good fortune to please the king. The maid of honor, preferring the king's love, complains to Louis about de Gramont's importunity. Immediately, the chevalier is denied access to the court, and he, realizing that he has nothing to do in France in the near future, departs for England.

England at this time rejoices on the occasion of the restoration of the monarchy. Charles II, whose young years were spent in exile, is full of nobility, as well as his few adherents from among those who shared his fate with him. His court, brilliant and refined, amazes even Gramont, accustomed to the magnificence of the French court. There is no shortage of charming ladies at the English court, but all of them are far from true pearls - Mademoiselle Hamilton and Mademoiselle Stuart. The Chevalier de Gramont quickly becomes a general favorite: unlike many Frenchmen, he does not refuse local dishes and easily adopts English manners. Having come to the liking of Karl, he is admitted to royal entertainment. Chevalier rarely plays, but in a big way, although, despite the persuasion of friends, he does not try to increase his fortune by playing. The chevalier does not forget about love adventures, caring for several beauties at once. But as soon as he meets Mademoiselle Hamilton, he immediately forgets his other hobbies. For some time, de Gramont was even at a loss: in the case of Mademoiselle Hamilton, neither ordinary gifts nor his usual methods of winning the hearts of court coquettes help; this girl deserves only sincere and serious affection. It has everything: beauty, intelligence, manners. Her feelings are distinguished by extraordinary nobility, and the more the chevalier is convinced of her merits, the more he strives to please her.

Meanwhile, the star of Mademoiselle Stuart rises in the court sky. She gradually ousts the capricious and sensual Countess Castlemaine from the heart of the king, who, being completely sure that her power over the king is unlimited, takes care, first of all, of satisfying her own whims. Lady Castlemaine begins to attend performances by the famous tightrope walker Jacob Hall, whose talent and strength delight the public, and especially the female part of it. Rumor has it that the tightrope walker did not disappoint the countess. While evil tongues gossip about Castlemaine, the king becomes more and more attached to Stewart. The Countess of Castlemaine subsequently married Lord Richmond.

The Chevalier de Gramont does not miss a single entertainment where Mademoiselle Hamilton is. One day, wanting to show off at the royal ball, he orders his valet to deliver him the most fashionable camisole from Paris. The valet, rather shabby, returns on the eve of the ball empty-handed and claims that the suit has sunk in the quicksand of the English coast. Chevalier comes to the ball in an old camisole and tells this story in justification. The King is laughing his ass off. Subsequently, the valet's deceit is revealed: having drunk heavily, he sold the owner's suit for a fabulous price to some provincial Englishman.

Roman Chevalier with Mademoiselle de Gramont develops successfully. It cannot be said that he has no rivals, however, knowing the value of their virtues and at the same time the mind of Mademoiselle Hamilton, he is only worried about how to please his beloved. Friends warn Chevalier: Mademoiselle Hamilton is not one of those who can be seduced, which means that we will talk about marriage. But the position of the chevalier, as well as his fortune, is very modest. The girl has already rejected many brilliant parties, and her family is very picky. But the chevalier is confident in himself: he will marry the chosen one of his heart, make peace with the king, he will make his wife a lady of state, and "with God's help" he will increase his fortune. "And I bet everything will be as I said." Let's just say he was right.

E. V. Morozova

(Les aventures de Telemaque, filsd'Ulysse)

Roman (1699)

The educator of the heir to the throne of the Duke of Burgundy, the grandson of King Louis XIV, Fenelon wrote for his young student a philosophical-utopian novel "The Adventures of Telemachus" about what a real sovereign should be like and how to govern the people and the state.

The novel takes place in ancient times. Telemachus goes in search of his father Ulysses (Odysseus), who did not return home after the victory of the Greeks over the Trojans. During their wanderings, Telemachus and his mentor Mentor are thrown out by a storm on the island of the nymph Calypso, who once visited Ulysses. She invites Telemachus to stay with her and gain immortality. He refuses. To delay him, Calypso asks to tell about his wanderings. Telemachus begins a story about how he visited different countries and saw different kingdoms and kings, and about what a wise sovereign should be in order to intelligently rule the people and not use power to harm himself and others.

Telemachus tells about Egypt, where Sesostris reigns, a wise sovereign who loves the people as his children. Everyone is happy to obey him, to give their lives for him, everyone has one thought - "not to be freed from his power, but to be forever under his power." Sesostris daily receives the complaints of his subjects and administers judgment, but he does it with patience, reason and rightness. Such a king is not afraid of his subjects. However, even the wisest sovereigns are subject to dangers, for "deceit and greed are always at the foot of the throne." Evil and cunning courtiers are ready to please the sovereign for their own benefit, and woe to the king if he becomes "the plaything of evil deceit," if he does not drive "flattery from himself and does not love those who tell him the truth with a bold voice." At the slander of one of these courtiers, Telemachus is sent along with slaves to graze herds of cows.

After the death of Sesostris, Telemachus sails on a Phoenician ship to Phoenicia, where Pygmalion reigns. This is a greedy and envious ruler, from whom there is no benefit to either the people or the state. From stinginess, he is distrustful, suspicious and bloodthirsty, he drives the rich, he is afraid of the poor, everyone hates him. Violent death threatens him both in his "impenetrable halls" and in the midst of all his bodyguards. "The good Sezostris, on the other hand," argues Telemachus, "was safe in the midst of countless people, like a father in a house surrounded by a kind family."

After many adventures, Telemachus finds himself on the island of Crete and learns from his mentor Mentor what laws King Minos established there. Children are taught to live a simple and active lifestyle. Three vices - ingratitude, pretense and avarice - in other places tolerated, are punished in Crete. Splendor and luxury are unknown, everyone works, but no one "hungers for enrichment." "Precious utensils, magnificent robes, gilded houses, sumptuous feasts" are forbidden. Magnificent architecture is not expelled, but "provided for temples dedicated to the Gods." But people do not dare to build themselves houses similar to the dwellings of the immortals.

The king here has full power over his subjects, but he himself is "under the law." His power is unlimited in everything that is directed to the good of the people, but his hands are tied when evil is turned. The laws require that the sovereign's wisdom and meekness contribute to the prosperity of many, and not vice versa - that thousands "feed the pride and luxury of one, themselves groveling in poverty and slavery." The first king is obliged to "precede by his own example in strict moderation, in contempt for luxury, pomp, vanity. He should be distinguished not by the brilliance of wealth and not by the coolness of bliss, but by wisdom, valor, glory. From the outside, he is obliged to be the protector of the kingdom, the leader of the rati; inside - the judge the people and affirm their happiness, enlighten their minds, direct their morals.The gods hand over to him the rod of government not for him, but for the people: all his time, all his labors, all the love of his heart belongs to the people, and he is worthy of power only to the extent that he forgets himself, according to the measure of self-sacrifice for the common good.

The Cretans choose a king from the most intelligent and worthy, and Telemachus becomes one of the contenders for the throne. The wise men ask him a question: who is the most unfortunate of all? He replies that the sovereign is the most unfortunate of all, lulled into imaginary well-being, while the people groan under his yoke. "In blindness, he is especially unhappy: not knowing the disease, he cannot be cured either ... The truth does not reach him through the crowd of caresses." Telemachus is chosen as king, but he refuses and says: “It is up to you to elect as king not the one who judges better than others about the laws, but the one who fulfills them ... Choose for yourself a husband whose laws would be inscribed in his heart, whose whole life was would be the fulfillment of the law."

Telemachus and his mentor manage to escape from the nymph Calypso. They meet at sea with the Phoenicians. And learn from them about the amazing country of Betika. It is believed that "all the amenities of the golden age are still there": the climate is warm, there is plenty of gold and silver, the crop is harvested twice a year. Those people have no money, they do not trade with anyone. Plows and other tools are made of gold and silver. There are no palaces and no luxury, because, as they say, it interferes with life. The inhabitants of Betika have no property - "not dividing the land among themselves, they live in common", they have neither theft nor envy. All property is common and there is plenty of everything. The main thing is to cultivate the land, for it brings "unfalse wealth, true food." They consider it unreasonable to search underground in mines for gold and silver by the sweat of one's brow, since this "can neither bring happiness nor satisfy any true need."

The head of the Phoenician ship promises to land Telemachus on his native Ithaca, but the helmsman goes astray, and the ship enters the city of Salent, where King Idomeneo rules. He made many mistakes during his reign - not caring about the people, he built luxurious palaces. Using his example, Mentor teaches Telemachus how to rule the country, and says that a long-term and lasting peace, as well as "agriculture and the establishment of wise laws" should be the first duty of the ruler. And lust for power and vanity can lead the king to the edge of the abyss. “Power is a cruel test” for talents, Mentor says, “it exposes all weaknesses to their full extent,” because “the supreme rank is like a glass that magnifies objects. Vices in our eyes increase at that high level, where even small deeds entail important implications." There are no sovereigns without shortcomings, therefore it is necessary to "excuse the sovereigns and regret their lot." However, the weaknesses of kings are lost in the multitude of great virtues, if rulers have them.

On Mentor's advice, Idomeneo divides all free people into seven "states" and assigns each one appropriate clothing and inexpensive insignia. In this way, the pernicious passion for luxury is eradicated. Accordingly, moderate food is instituted, for it is shameful to indulge in gluttony. Slaves walk in the same gray clothes. Also forbidden are "languid and voluptuous music" and violent festivities in honor of Bacchus, which "obscure the mind no worse than wine, are impudent and frenzied." Music is allowed only to glorify Gods and heroes, but sculpture and painting, in which there should be nothing low, serve to glorify the memory of great men and deeds.

In addition, Mentor teaches Idomeneus that "wine should never be an ordinary, common drink," that one should "destroy the vines when they multiply too much," for wine is the source of many evils. It should be preserved as a medicine or "as a rarity for solemn days and sacrifices."

Meanwhile, Telemachus, after many adventures and exploits in which the goddess Minerva helped him, concludes from dreams that his father has died. Telemachus descends into the realm of the dead Tartarus. There he sees many sinners: cruel kings, wives who killed their husbands, traitors, liars, "flatterers who praised vice, malicious slanderers who slandered virtue." All of them appear before King Minos, who after death became a judge in the realm of shadows. He determines their punishment. So, for example, kings convicted of abuse of power look in the mirror, where they see all the horrors of their vices. Many kings suffer not for the evil done, but for the lost good, for trusting evil and treacherous people, for the evil done in their name.

Then Telemachus passes through the Champs Elysees, where good kings and heroes enjoy bliss. There he meets his great-grandfather Arcesius, who informs Telemachus that Ulysses is alive and will soon return to Ithaca. Artesius reminds Telemachus that life is fleeting and one must think about the future - prepare a place for oneself "in a happy country of peace", following the path of virtue. Artesius shows Telemachus wise kings, heroes are separated from them by a light cloud, since they "accepted less glory": the reward for courage and feats of arms still cannot be compared with the reward "for a wise, just and beneficial reign."

Among the kings, Telemachus sees Cecrops, an Egyptian, the first king in Athens, a city dedicated to the goddess of wisdom and named after her. From Egypt, from where science came to Greece, Cecrops brought useful laws to Attica, tamed morals, was philanthropic, left "the people in abundance, and his family in poverty, and did not want to transfer power to children, considering others worthy of it."

Triptolemus, another Greek king, blessed for having taught the Greeks the art of cultivating the land, plowing it and fertilizing it, strengthening his kingdom. Telemachus, according to Artesius, should do the same when he reigns - turn the people to agriculture, not tolerate idle people.

Telemachus leaves the kingdom of Pluto and, after new adventures, meets his father Ulysses on an unknown island, but does not recognize him. The goddess Minerva appears to Telemachus and says that he is now worthy to follow in the footsteps of his father and wisely rule the kingdom. She gives Telemachus instructions: “When you are on the throne, strive only for that glory in order to restore the golden age in your kingdom ... Love your people and spare nothing in order to be mutually loved ... Do not forget that the king is on the throne not for his own glory , but for the good of the people ... Fear the Gods, Telemachus! The fear of God is the greatest treasure of the human heart. Justice will come to you with it, and peace of mind, and joy, and pure pleasures, and a happy excess, and unfading glory. "

Telemachus returns to Ithaca and finds his father there.

A. P. Shishkin

Treatise (1729, fully published 1864)

In the preface, the author states that during his lifetime he could not openly express his thoughts about the ways of governing people and about their religions, since this would be fraught with very dangerous and regrettable consequences. The purpose of this work is to expose those absurd delusions, among which everyone had the misfortune to be born and live - the author himself had to support them. This unpleasant duty did not give him any pleasure - as his friends could see, he performed it with great disgust and rather carelessly.

From a young age, the author saw the delusions and abuses from which all the evil in the world comes, and over the years he became even more convinced of the blindness and malice of people, the senselessness of their superstitions, and the injustice of their method of government. Having penetrated the secrets of the cunning politics of ambitious people striving for power and honor, the author easily unraveled the source and origin of superstition and bad government - in addition, it became clear to him why people who are considered smart and educated do not object to such an outrageous order of things.

The source of all evils and all deceptions is in the subtle politics of those who seek to rule over their neighbors or wish to acquire the vain glory of holiness. These people not only skillfully use violence, but also resort to all sorts of tricks to stupefy the people. Abusing the weakness and gullibility of the ignorant and helpless masses of the people, they easily force them to believe in what is beneficial to them, and then reverently accept tyrannical laws. Although at first glance religion and politics are opposite and contradictory in their principles, they get along well with each other as soon as they form an alliance and friendship: they can be compared to two pickpockets working together. Religion supports even the worst government, and the government in turn supports even the most stupid religion.

Every cult and worship of the gods is a delusion, abuse, illusion, deceit and quackery. All decrees and decrees issued in the name and authority of a god or gods are the invention of man, just as are magnificent festivals, sacrifices and other acts of a religious nature performed in honor of idols or gods. All this was invented by cunning and subtle politicians, used and multiplied by false prophets and charlatans, blindly accepted on faith by fools and ignoramuses, enshrined in the laws of sovereigns and powerful people of this world. The truth of all of the above will be proven by clear and intelligible arguments on the basis of eight proofs of the futility and falsity of all religions.

The first proof is based on the fact that all religions are inventions of man. It is impossible to admit their divine origin, for they all contradict one another and condemn each other. Therefore, these various religions cannot be true and stem from the supposedly divine principle of truth. That is why the Roman Catholic adherents of Christ are convinced that there is only one true religion - their own. They consider the following to be the basic tenet of their doctrine and their faith: there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one church, namely the Apostolic Roman Catholic Church, outside of which, they say, there is no salvation. From this we can clearly conclude that all other religions are man-made. They say that a certain Nin, the son of the first king of the Assyrians, was the first to invent these imaginary gods, and this happened around the time of the birth of Isaac, or, according to the chronology of the Jews, in 2001 from the creation of the world. It is said that after the death of his father, Nin set up an idol for him (shortly after that, he received the name of Jupiter), and demanded that everyone worship this idol as a god - thus all kinds of idolatry occurred, which then spread on earth.

The second proof comes from the fact that all religions are based on blind faith - the source of delusions, illusions and deceit. None of the worshipers of Christ can prove by clear, reliable and convincing arguments that his religion is really a God-established religion. That is why they have been arguing among themselves for many centuries on this issue and even pursue each other with fire and sword, each defending their beliefs. The exposure of the false Christian religion will be at the same time a condemnation of all other absurd religions. True Christians believe that faith is the beginning and basis of salvation. However, this insane faith is always blind and is a pernicious source of unrest and eternal schisms among people. Everyone stands up for his religion and its sacred secrets, not out of reason, but out of stubbornness - there is no such atrocity that people would not resort to under the beautiful and plausible pretext of defending the imaginary truth of their religion. But it is impossible to believe that the almighty, all-good and all-wise God, whom the worshipers of Christ themselves call the god of love, peace, mercy, consolation, and so on, would wish to found a religion on such a fatal and pernicious source of turmoil and eternal strife - blind faith is a thousand and a thousand times more pernicious, than the golden apple thrown by the goddess of discord at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, which then became the cause of the death of the city and kingdom of Troy.

The third proof is drawn from the falsity of visions and divine revelations. If in modern times a man would take it into his head to boast of something like that, he would be considered a half-witted fanatic. Where is the appearance of a deity in these clumsy dreams and empty deceptions of the imagination? Imagine this example: several foreigners, for example Germans or Swiss, come to France and, having seen the most beautiful provinces of the kingdom, will announce that God has appeared to them in their country, ordered them to go to France and promised to give them and their descendants all the beautiful lands and estates from the Rhone and the Rhine to the ocean, promised them to enter into an eternal alliance with them and their descendants, to bless all the peoples of the earth in them, and as a sign of his alliance with them he ordered them to circumcise themselves and all male babies born to them and their offspring . Is there anyone who does not laugh at this nonsense and consider these foreigners crazy? But the tales of supposedly holy patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob deserve no more serious treatment than these aforementioned nonsense. And if the three venerable patriarchs told about their visions in our day, they would turn into a universal laughing stock. However, these imaginary revelations expose themselves, for they are given only for the benefit of individuals and one people. It is impossible to believe that a god, supposed to be infinitely good, perfect and just, would commit such an outrageous injustice in relation to other persons and peoples. False covenants expose themselves in three other ways:

1) a vulgar, shameful and ridiculous sign of the imaginary union of God with people;

2) the cruel custom of bloody slaughter of innocent animals and the barbarous command of God to Abraham to sacrifice his own son to him;

3) a clear failure to fulfill the beautiful and generous promises that God, according to Moses, gave to the three named patriarchs. For the Jewish people have never been numerous - on the contrary, they were noticeably inferior in number to other peoples. And the remnants of this miserable nation are now considered the most insignificant and despicable people in the world, having nowhere their own territory and their own state. The Jews do not even own the country, which, as they claim, is promised and given to them by God for all eternity. All this clearly proves that the so-called sacred books were not inspired by God.

The fourth proof follows from the falsity of imaginary promises and prophecies. Christ worshipers argue that only God can reliably foresee and predict the future long before it occurs. They also assure that the future was foretold by the prophets. What were these God's people who allegedly spoke on the inspiration of the holy spirit? They were either fanatics prone to hallucinations, or deceivers who pretended to be prophets in order to more easily lead dark and simple people by the nose. There is a true sign for recognizing false prophets: every prophet whose predictions do not come true, but, on the contrary, turn out to be false, is not a real prophet. For example, the famous Moses promised and prophesied to his people on behalf of God that he would be specially chosen from God, that God would sanctify and bless him above all the peoples of the earth and give him the land of Canaan and neighboring regions as an eternal possession - all these beautiful and tempting promises turned out to be false. The same can be said about the eloquent prophecies of King David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos, Zechariah and all the others.

Fifth proof: a religion that admits, approves, and even permits errors in its doctrine and morality cannot be a divine institution. The Christian religion, and especially its Roman sect, admits, approves and resolves five errors:

1) it teaches that there is only one god, and at the same time obliges to believe that there are three divine persons, each of which is a true god, and this triple and single god has neither a body, nor a form, nor any image whatsoever ;

2) she attributes divinity to Jesus Christ - a mortal man who, even in the depiction of the evangelists and disciples, was just a miserable fanatic, a demon-possessed seducer and an ill-fated hangman;

3) she orders to worship as a god and savior miniature idols made of dough, which are baked between two iron sheets, consecrated and eaten daily;

4) it proclaims that God created Adam and Eve in a state of bodily and spiritual perfection, but then expelled both from paradise and condemned them to all life's hardships, as well as eternal damnation with all their offspring;

5) finally, under pain of eternal damnation, she obliges to believe that God took pity on people and sent them a savior who voluntarily accepted a shameful death on the cross in order to atone for their sins and by shedding his blood to satisfy the justice of God the Father, deeply offended by the disobedience of the first man .

Sixth proof: a religion that tolerates and approves abuses contrary to justice and good government, encouraging even the tyranny of the powerful of the world to the detriment of the people, cannot be true and truly divinely established, for divine laws and regulations must be just and impartial. The Christian religion tolerates and encourages at least five or six such abuses:

1) it sanctifies the enormous inequality between the various states and conditions of people, when some are born only to rule despotically and enjoy all the pleasures of life forever, while others are doomed to be poor, unfortunate and contemptible slaves;

2) it allows the existence of entire categories of people who do not bring real benefit to the world and serve only as a burden to the people - this countless army of bishops, abbots, chaplains and monks amass enormous wealth, snatching from the hands of honest workers what they have earned in the sweat of their faces;

3) it puts up with the unjust appropriation into private ownership of the blessings and riches of the land, which all people would have to own together and use in the same position;

4) it justifies unreasonable, outrageous and insulting distinctions between families - as a result, people in a higher position want to use this advantage and imagine that they have a greater price than everyone else;

5) it establishes the indissolubility of marriage until the death of one of the spouses, which results in an infinite number of unsuccessful marriages in which husbands feel like unhappy martyrs with bad wives or wives feel like unhappy martyrs with bad husbands;

6) finally, the Christian religion sanctifies and supports the most terrible delusion that makes most people completely unhappy for life - we are talking about the almost universal tyranny of the greats of this world. Sovereigns and their first ministers made it their main rule to bring the people to exhaustion, to make them poor and miserable, in order to lead them to greater humility and deprive them of any opportunity to do something against the authorities. The people of France are in a particularly difficult situation, because the last of her kings went further than all others in asserting their absolute power and reduced their subjects to the most extreme degree of poverty. No one shed so much blood, was not responsible for the murder of so many people, did not make widows and orphans shed so many tears, did not ruin and devastate so many cities and provinces, as the late King Louis XIV, nicknamed the Great not for any laudable or glorious deeds, which he never committed, but for the great injustices, seizures, thefts, devastation, ruin and beating of people that happened through his fault everywhere - both on land and at sea.

The seventh proof proceeds from the falsity of the very idea of ​​people about the imaginary existence of God. From the provisions of modern metaphysics, physics and morality, it is quite obvious that there is no supreme being, therefore people completely wrongly and falsely use the name and authority of God to establish and protect the errors of their religion, as well as to maintain the tyrannical domination of their kings. It is quite clear where the original belief in the gods comes from. In the story of the imaginary creation of the world, it is definitely indicated that the god of the Jews and Christians spoke, reasoned, walked and walked around the garden like an ordinary person - it is also said that God created Adam in his own image and likeness. Therefore, it is very likely that the imaginary god was a cunning who wanted to laugh at the innocence and uncouthness of his comrade - Adam, apparently, was a rare razor and a fool, which is why he so easily succumbed to the persuasion of his wife and the sly seduction of the serpent. Unlike the imaginary God, matter indisputably exists, because it is found everywhere, is in everything, everyone can see and feel it. What then is the incomprehensible mystery of creation? The more one thinks about the various properties that one has to endow with a supposed higher being, the more one becomes entangled in a labyrinth of obvious contradictions. The situation is quite different with the system of the natural formation of things from matter itself, therefore it is much easier to recognize it as the very first cause of everything that exists. There is no such force that would create something out of nothing - this means that time, place, space, extension and even matter itself could not be created by an imaginary god.

Eighth proof follows from the falsity of ideas about the immortality of the soul. If the soul, as Christ worshipers claim, were purely spiritual, it would have no body, no parts, no form, no appearance, no extension - therefore, it would not represent anything real, nothing substantial. However, the soul, animating the body, gives it strength and movement, therefore it must have a body and extension, for the essence of being is in this. If we ask what happens to this mobile and subtle matter at the moment of death, we can say without hesitation that it instantly dissipates and dissolves in the air, like a light vapor and a light exhalation - approximately in the same way as the flame of a candle goes out by itself due to the exhaustion of that combustible material on which it feeds. There is another very tangible proof of the materiality and mortality of the human soul: it grows stronger and weaker as the human body grows stronger and weaker - if it were an immortal substance, its strength and power would not depend on the structure and condition of the body.

The author considers the consistency of the previous eight proofs to be his ninth and last proof: according to him, not a single argument and not a single reasoning destroys or refutes each other - on the contrary, they support and confirm each other. This is a sure sign that they all rest on a firm and solid foundation of truth itself, since error in such a matter could not find confirmation for itself in the full agreement of such strong and irresistible arguments.

Addressing in conclusion to all the peoples of the earth, the author calls on people to forget strife, unite and rise up against common enemies - tyranny and superstition. Even in one of the allegedly holy books it is said that God will overthrow the proud princes from the throne and put the humble in their place. If the arrogant parasites are deprived of the abundant nourishing juice delivered by the labors and efforts of the people, they will wither, as grasses and plants wither, the roots of which are unable to absorb the juices of the earth. Likewise, the empty rites of false religions must be got rid of. There is only one true religion - this is the religion of wisdom and purity of morals, honesty and decency, heartfelt sincerity and nobility of soul, determination to finally destroy tyranny and the superstitious cult of the gods, the desire to maintain justice everywhere and protect people's freedom, conscientious work and a comfortable life for all together , mutual love for each other and the indestructible preservation of peace. People will find happiness by following the rules, foundations and precepts of this religion. They will remain miserable and miserable slaves as long as they endure the domination of tyrants and abuses from delusions.

E. D. Murashkintseva

(Le Diable boiteux)

Roman (1707)

"Do you know that you have been sleeping since yesterday morning?" - Entering the room to the student Don Cleophas, one of his friends asked.

Cleophas opened his eyes, and his first thought was that the amazing adventures he had experienced last night were nothing more than a dream. However, very soon he became convinced that what had happened to him was a reality, and he really spent some of the most extraordinary hours in his life in the company of the Lame Demon.

Their acquaintance happened in the following way. During a date with a girlfriend, Don Cleofas was caught by four thugs. They threatened to kill him if he did not marry the lady with whom he was caught. However, the student did not have the slightest intention of marrying this beauty, and he only spent time with her for mutual pleasure. He bravely defended himself, however, when the sword was knocked out of his hands, he was forced to run right along the roofs of the houses. In the darkness, he noticed a light, went there and, slipping through the dormer window, hid in someone's little room in the attic. When he looked around, he discovered that he was most likely in the laboratory of some astrologer - this was indicated by a hanging copper lamp, a book and papers on the table, as well as a compass, globe, flasks and quadrants.

At that moment the student heard a long sigh, which was soon repeated. It turned out that in one of the flasks there was a certain spirit, or rather a demon, as he himself explained to the astonished Cleophas. The demon said that the learned sorcerer had been keeping him locked up by the power of his magic for half a year, and asked for help. To the question of Cleophas, to which category of devils he belongs, a proud answer followed: “I arrange funny marriages - I combine old men with minors, masters with maids, homeless women with gentle lovers who do not have a penny for their souls. I introduced this into the world luxury, debauchery, gambling and chemistry. I am the inventor of merry-go-rounds, dancing, music, comedy and all the latest French fashions. In a word, I am Asmodeus, called the Lame Demon."

The brave young man, struck by such a meeting, treated his new acquaintance with all respect and soon released him from the bottle. Before him appeared a lame freak in a turban with feathers and clothes of white satin. His cloak was painted with numerous frivolous scenes, reproducing what is being done in the world at the suggestion of Asmodeus.

Grateful to his savior, the demon dragged him out of the cramped room, and soon they were at the top of the tower, from where a view of the whole of Madrid opened. Asmodeus explained to his companion that he intended to show him what was happening in the city, and that by the power of the devilish power he would raise all the roofs. Indeed, with one movement of the hand, the demon seemed to have blown away the roofs from all the houses, and, despite the darkness of the night, everything that happened inside the houses and palaces appeared to the student. Countless pictures of life were revealed to him, and his guide explained the details or drew his attention to the most amazing examples of human stories. Dazzling in its diversity, the picture of morals and passions that the student observed that night made him wiser and more experienced for a thousand years. Secret springs were revealed to him, which determined the turns of fate, secret vices, forbidden desires, hidden motives. The most intimate details, the most secret thoughts appeared before Cleofas at a glance with the help of his guide. Mocking, skeptical and at the same time condescending to human weaknesses, the demon turned out to be an excellent commentator on the scenes of a huge human comedy, which he showed the young man that night.

And he began by taking revenge on the same doña, whose student was so suddenly overtaken by bandits. Asmodeus assured Cleophas that the beauty had staged this attack herself, as she planned to marry the student to herself. Cleophas saw that now the swindler was sitting at the table along with the same types who were chasing him and whom she herself had hidden in her house, and eating with them the rich treat sent to them. His indignation knew no bounds, but soon his rage was replaced by laughter. Asmodeus inspired the feasters with disgust for each other, a bloody brawl ensued between them, the neighbors called the police, and now the two surviving fighters, along with the mistress of the house, were behind bars ...

This is one of many examples of how, behind imaginary decency, the repulsive worldly truth was exposed that night, how the cover of hypocrisy flew off human actions, and tragedies turned into comedies. The demon patiently explained to Cleofas that the beauty who admired him had false hair and false teeth. That three young people, with a mournful look, sitting at the bedside of a dying man, are nephews who cannot wait for the death of a wealthy uncle. That the nobleman, who rereads a note from his beloved before going to bed, does not know that this person has ruined him. That another noble gentleman, who is worried about the birth of his precious wife, does not suspect that he owes this event to his servant. The two observers discovered the nightly anxieties of a restless conscience, the secret rendezvous of lovers, crimes, traps and deceptions. The vices that are usually disguised and go into the shadows seemed to come to life before the eyes of the enchanted Cleophas, and he was amazed at how powerful jealousy and arrogance, self-interest and excitement, stinginess and vanity are over human destinies.

In fact, the whole novel is a nighttime conversation between a student and Asmodeus, during which we are told a lot of stories, sometimes simple, sometimes bizarrely incredible. Often these are stories of lovers who are prevented from connecting either by the cruelty and suspicion of their parents, or by the inequality of origin. One of these stories, fortunately, ends with a happy wedding, but many others are sad.

In the first case, the count fell in love with the daughter of a simple nobleman and, not intending to marry her, set out to make the girl his mistress. With the help of lies and the most cunning tricks, he convinced the girl of his love, achieved her favor and began to penetrate her bedroom through the silk stairs. This was helped by a duenna bribed by him, whom the father specially assigned to his daughter in order to monitor her morality. One day, a secret affair was discovered by the father. He wanted to kill the count, and send his daughter to a monastery. However, as already mentioned, the denouement of the story turned out to be happy. The count was imbued with the grief of the girl he had offended, made her an offer and restored family honor. Moreover, he gave his own sister as a wife to the brother of his bride, deciding that love is more important than titles.

But such harmony of hearts is rare. Vice is not always put to shame, and virtue is rewarded. Tragically ended, for example, the story of the beautiful Doña Theodora - and just in this case, the relationship of the three heroes showed an example of generosity, nobility and the ability to sacrifice in the name of friendship! Dona Theodora was equally passionately loved by two devoted friends. She reciprocated one of them. At first, her chosen one wanted to retire so as not to be a rival to a friend, then a friend persuaded him not to give up happiness. Doña Theodora, however, by that time had been kidnapped by a third person, who himself was soon killed in a fight with robbers. After dizzying adventures, captivity, escape, chase and happy rescue, the lovers finally united and got married. Their happiness knew no bounds. However, in the midst of this bliss, a fatal event revealed itself: during the hunt, don Juan fell from his horse, seriously injured his head and died. “Dona Theodora is the lady who, as you see, is struggling in despair in the arms of two women: she will probably soon follow her husband,” the demon concluded imperturbably.

What is it, human nature? What is more in it - pettiness or greatness, meanness or nobility? Trying to figure it out, the inquisitive student tirelessly followed his agile guide. They looked into prison cells, looked at the columns of prisoners returning home, penetrated the secrets of dreams, and even the vaults of the tombs did not serve as an obstacle to them. They discussed the causes of the insanity of those who are imprisoned in insane asylums, as well as those eccentrics who are obsessed with delusions, although they lead a seemingly ordinary life. Some of them were the slave of their stinginess, some of envy, some of swagger, some of the habit of extravagance. “Wherever you look, you see people with damaged brains everywhere,” the demon rightly remarked, continuing that it was as if “all the same people appear in the world, only in different guises.” In other words, human types and vices are unusually tenacious.

During their journey across the rooftops, they noticed a terrible fire raging in one of the palaces. Before him, the owner, a noble citizen, was hurting and weeping - not because his property was burning, but because his only daughter remained in the house. Cleophas, for the only time that night, gave the demon an order to which he had the right as a deliverer: he demanded to save the girl. Thinking for a moment, Asmodeus took the form of Cleofas, rushed into the fire and, under the admiring cries of the crowd, carried the insensible girl. Soon she opened her eyes and was wrapped in the arms of a happy father. Her savior disappeared unnoticed.

Among the stories strung on a single thread of the story, we note only two more. Here is the first one. The son of a village shoemaker became a financier and became very rich. Twenty years later, he returned to his parents, gave his father money and demanded that he quit his job. Another three months have passed. The son was surprised when one day he saw his father in his city, who prayed: "I am dying of idleness! Let me live by my own work again" ... The second case is this. One dishonest man in the forest saw a man burying a treasure under a tree. When the owner of the treasure left, the swindler dug up the money and appropriated it for himself. His life went very well. But somehow he found out that the owner of the treasure was in hardship and want. And now the first felt an irresistible need to help him. And in the end, he came with repentance, confessing that he lived at his expense for many years ...

Yes, man is sinful, weak, pitiful, he is a slave to his passions and habits. But at the same time, he is endowed with the freedom to create his own destiny, unknown to the representative of the evil spirit. And this freedom manifests itself even in the whimsical, unpredictable form of the Lame Demon novel itself. And the demon himself did not enjoy long in the wild - soon the sorcerer discovered his flight and brought him back again. Finally, Asmodeus gave Cleophas advice to marry the beautiful Serafina saved from the fire.

Waking up a day later, the student hurried to the house of a noble citizen and really saw the ashes in his place. He also learned that the owner was looking everywhere for the savior of his daughter and wanted to bless his marriage to Serafina as a token of gratitude. Cleophas came to this family and was enthusiastically received. He fell in love with Serafina at first sight, and she fell in love with him. But after that, he came to her father and, looking down, explained that it was not he who saved Serafina, but the devil. The old man, however, said: "Your confession strengthens me in my intention to give you my daughter: you are her true savior. If you had not asked the Lame Devil to save her from the death that threatens her, he would not have opposed her death."

These words dispelled all doubts. And a few days later the wedding was celebrated with all the splendor appropriate to the occasion.

V. L. Sagalova

Comedy (1709)

After the death of her husband, the young baroness found herself in very difficult circumstances. Therefore, she is forced to encourage the courtship of the unsympathetic and far from her circle businessman Turkare, who is in love with her and promises to marry. It is not entirely clear how far their relationship has gone, but the fact is that the baroness has practically become Turkare's kept woman: he pays her bills, makes expensive gifts and constantly appears at her house. By the way, all the action of the comedy takes place in the baroness's boudoir. The beauty herself has a passion for the young aristocrat Chevalier, who squanders her money without a twinge of conscience. The maid of the Baroness Marina is worried about the extravagance of the hostess and is afraid that Turkare, having learned the truth, will deprive the Baroness of any support.

The play begins with this quarrel between the mistress and the maid. The Baroness recognizes Marina's arguments as correct, promises her to break with the Chevalier, but her determination does not last long. As soon as the footman Chevalier Frontin runs into the boudoir with a tearful letter from the owner, which reports another major loss in cards, the baroness gasps, melts and gives the last - a diamond ring, recently presented to Turkare. "Pawn it and help your master out," she punishes. Marina is in despair from such cowardice. Fortunately, Turcare's servant appears with a new gift - this time the businessman sent a bill for ten thousand ecu, and with it clumsy verses of his own composition. Soon he himself is on a visit, during which he spreads favorably listening to his baroness about his feelings. After his departure, the Chevaliers appear in the boudoir with Frontin. Marina releases a few caustic phrases at them, after which the baroness can not stand it and fires her. She indignantly leaves the house, noticing that she will tell "Mr. Turkare" everything. The Baroness, however, is confident that she can convince Turkare of anything.

She gives the Chevalier a bill so that he can quickly receive money on it and redeem the pawned ring.

Left alone, the quick-witted lackey Frontin philosophically remarks: "Here it is, life! We rob the coquette, the coquette pulls from the farmer, and the tax farmer robs everyone who comes to hand. Circular fraud is fun, and nothing more!"

Since the loss was only an invention and the ring was not pawned anywhere, Frontin quickly returns it to the baroness. This is very useful, as an angry Turkare soon appears in the boudoir. Marina told him how impudently the baroness uses his money and gifts. Enraged, the farmer smashes expensive china and mirrors in the bedroom to smithereens. However, the baroness maintains complete composure and arrogantly parries all reproaches. She attributes the "slander" erected by Marina to the fact that she was expelled from the house. In the end, she shows a whole ring, which is allegedly given to the chevalier, and here Turcaret is already completely disarmed. He mutters apologies, promises to redecorate the bedroom, and again swears his passionate love. In addition, the baroness takes his word from him to change her lackey for Frontin, the servant of the chevalier. By the way, she passes off the latter as her cousin. Such a plan was drawn up in advance, together with the chevalier, in order to more conveniently extort money from the farmer. Marina is replaced by a new pretty maid, Lisette, Frontin's fiancee and, like him, a decent cheat. This couple is persuaded to please the owners more and wait in the wings.

Wanting to make amends, Turkare buys the baroness new sets and mirrors. In addition, he informs her that he has already acquired a plot in order to build a "wonderful mansion" for his beloved. "I will rebuild it at least ten times, but I will make sure that everything is for me," he proudly declares. At this time, another guest appears in the salon - a young marquis, a friend of the Chevalier. This meeting is unpleasant for Turcara - the fact is that he once served as a lackey for the grandfather of the Marquis, and recently shamelessly cheated on his grandson, about which he immediately tells the baroness: "I warn you, this is a real flayer. He values ​​his silver worth its weight in gold." Noticing the ring on the finger of the baroness, the marquis recognizes in it his family ring, which Turkare deftly appropriated for himself. After the departure of the marquis, the farmer clumsily justifies himself, noting that he cannot lend money "for nothing". Then, from a conversation between Turcaret and an assistant, which is conducted right in the baroness's boudoir - she tactfully comes out for such an occasion - it becomes clear that the farmer is engaged in large speculations, takes bribes and distributes warm places through acquaintance. His wealth and influence are very great, but troubles dawned on the horizon: some treasurer, with whom Turcaret was closely connected, went bankrupt. Another trouble reported by the assistant is Madame Turcaret in Paris! But the baroness considers Turkare a widower. All this requires immediate action from Turcare, and he hurries to leave. True, before leaving, the sly Frontin manages to persuade him to buy his own expensive exit for the baroness. As you can see, the new lackey has already begun the duties of extorting large sums from the owner. And, as Lisette rightly notes about Frontin, "judging by the beginning, he will go far."

Two mischievous aristocrats, the chevalier and the marquis, are discussing their heartfelt victories. The marquis tells about a certain countess from the provinces - if not of her first youth and not of dazzling beauty, but of a cheerful disposition and willingly giving him her caresses. The interested chevalier advises his friend to come with this lady in the evening to a dinner party with the baroness. Then follows the scene of yet another extortion of money from Turkare in a way invented by the cunning Frontin. The farmer is openly played, which he does not even suspect. A petty official sent by Frontin, posing as a bailiff, presents a document stating that the baroness allegedly owes ten thousand livres for the obligations of her late husband. The baroness, playing along, portrays first confusion, and then despair. The frustrated Turkare cannot but come to her aid. He drives the "bailiff away", promising to take all the debts on himself. As Turcaret leaves the room, the Baroness tentatively remarks that she is beginning to feel remorse. Lisette warmly reassures her: "First you need to ruin the rich man, and then you can repent. It's worse if you have to repent that you missed such an opportunity!"

Soon the shopkeeper Madame Jacob comes to the salon, recommended by a friend of the baroness. In the meantime, she says that her sister is brought to the rich Turkare, but this "geek" does not help her at all - as, by the way, and his own wife, whom he sent to the province. “This old rooster always ran after every skirt,” the tradeswoman continues. “I don’t know who he got involved with now, but he always has several ladies who rob him and inflate him ... And this blockhead promises to marry everyone.”

The Baroness is astonished by what she has heard. She decides to break with Turkare. "Yes, but not before you ruin it," the prudent Lisette clarifies.

For dinner, the first guests arrive - this is the marquis with a fat "countess", who in fact is none other than Madame Turkare. The simple-hearted countess describes with dignity what a high-society life the eye leads in her province, not noticing the murderous ridicule with which the baroness and the marquis comment on her speeches. Even Lisette does not deny herself the pleasure of inserting a biting word into this chatter, such as: "Yes, this is a real school of chivalry for all Lower Normandy." The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the chevalier. He recognizes in the "countess" a lady that attacked him with her courtesies and even sent her portrait. The Marquis, having learned about this, decides to teach the ungrateful traitor a lesson.

He is avenged in the very near future. First, the saleswoman of the state belt, Jacob, appears in the salon, followed by Turcaret. The whole trinity of the closest relatives falls upon each other with rude abuse - to the delight of the aristocrats present. At this time, the servant reports that Turkare is urgently summoned by companions. Frontin, who then appeared, announces a catastrophe - his owner is taken under arrest, and everything in his house is confiscated and sealed on a tip from creditors. The promissory note for ten thousand ecu issued to the baroness also disappeared, as the chevalier instructed Frontin to take it to the money changer, and the lackey did not have time to do this ... The chevalier was in despair - he was left without funds and the usual source of income. The baroness is also in despair - she is not just ruined, she is also convinced that the chevalier was deceiving her: after all, he convinced that he had the money and he bought the ring with them ... Former lovers part very coldly. Perhaps the marquis and the chevalier will console themselves over dinner at a restaurant where they are going together.

The winner is one efficient Frontin. In the finale, he explains to Lisette how cleverly he deceived everyone. After all, the bearer bill remained with him, and he had already exchanged it. Now he has a decent capital, and he and Lisetta can get married. "You and I will give birth to a bunch of kids," he promises the girl, "and they will be honest people."

However, this benevolent phrase is followed by the last remark of the comedy, very ominous, which is uttered by the same Frontin:

"So, the kingdom of Türkare is over, mine is beginning!"

(Lesage accompanied the comedy with a dialogue between Asmodeus and Don Cleophas, the characters of the Lame Demon, in which they discuss the "Turcare" staged in the French Comedy and the reaction of the audience to this performance. The general opinion, as Asmodeus caustically says, "that everything the characters are implausible and that the author overdid it too much when drawing morals ... ").

V. L. Sagalova

(Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane)

Roman (1715-1735)

"I was struck by the amazing variety of adventures marked in the features of your face," one of the many people with whom fate brought the hero together and whose confession he happened to hear once said to Gil Blas. Yes, the adventures that fell to the lot of Gil Blas from Santillana would really be more than enough for a dozen lives. The novel tells about these adventures - in full accordance with its title. The story is told in the first person - Gil Blas himself confides to the reader his thoughts, feelings and innermost hopes. And we can trace from the inside how he loses his youthful illusions, grows up, matures in the most incredible trials, errs, begins to see clearly and repents, and finally gains peace of mind, wisdom and happiness.

Gil Blas was the only son of a retired military man and servants. His parents married when they were no longer young and soon after the birth of their son they moved from Santillana to the equally small town of Oviedo. They had the most modest income, so the boy had to get a poor education. However, he was helped by an uncle canon and a local doctor. Gil Blas proved to be very capable. He learned to read and write perfectly, learned Latin and Greek, took a fancy to logic and loved to start discussions even with unfamiliar passers-by. Thanks to this, by the age of seventeen, he had earned a reputation in Oviedo as a scientist.

When he was seventeen, his uncle announced that it was time to bring him out into the people. He decided to send his nephew to the University of Salamanca. The uncle gave Gil Blas a few ducats for a journey and a horse. Father and mother added to this instruction "to live as an honest person should, not to get involved in bad deeds and, especially, not to encroach on someone else's good." And Gil Blas went on a journey, hardly hiding his joy.

Smart and knowledgeable in the sciences, the young man was still completely inexperienced in life and too trusting. It is clear that the dangers and traps were not long in coming. At the first inn, on the advice of a cunning owner, he sold his horse for next to nothing. A swindler who sat down with him in a tavern for a few flattering phrases royally treated him, having spent most of the money. Then he got into a wagon to a rogue driver, who suddenly accused the passengers of stealing a hundred pistoles. From fear, they scatter in all directions, and Gil Blas rushes into the forest faster than others. On his way two horsemen grow up. The poor fellow tells them about what happened to him, they listen sympathetically, chuckle and finally say: "Calm down, friend, go with us and do not be afraid of anything. We will take you to a safe place." Gil Blas, not expecting anything bad, sits on a horse behind one of the people he meets. Alas! Very soon, he is captured by forest robbers who were looking for an assistant to their cook ...

So events unfold rapidly from the very first pages and throughout the entire huge novel. The whole "Gil Blas" is an endless chain of adventures, adventures that fall to the hero's lot - despite the fact that he himself does not seem to be looking for them. "I am destined to be the plaything of fortune," he would say many years later about himself. This is so and not so. Because Gil Blas did not just obey the circumstances. He always remained active, thinking, courageous, dexterous, resourceful. And most importantly, perhaps, the quality - he was endowed with a moral sense and in his actions - albeit sometimes unconsciously - he was guided by it.

So, with mortal risk, he got out of robber captivity - and not only fled himself, but also saved a beautiful noblewoman, also captured by thugs. At first, he had to pretend that he was delighted with the life of a robber and dreams of becoming a robber himself. If he had not entered into the trust of the bandits, the escape would have failed. But as a reward, Gil Blas receives gratitude and a generous reward from the marquise dona Mencia he saved. True, this wealth briefly lingered in the hands of Gil Blas and was stolen by the next deceivers - Ambrose and Rafael. And again he finds himself penniless in his pocket, in the face of uncertainty - albeit in an expensive velvet suit, sewn with the money of the marquise ...

In the future, he is destined for an endless series of successes and troubles, ups and downs, wealth and need. The only thing that no one can deprive him of is the life experience that the hero involuntarily accumulates and comprehends, and the feeling of the homeland through which he travels in his wanderings. (This novel, written by a Frenchman, is all permeated with the music of Spanish names and geographical names.)

…On reflection, Gil Blas decides not to go to the University of Salamanca, as he does not want to devote himself to a spiritual career. His further adventures are entirely connected with the service or the search for a suitable place. Since the hero is good-looking, literate, smart and agile, he finds a job quite easily. But he does not stay with any owner for a long time - and every time through no fault of his own. As a result, he gets the opportunity for a variety of experiences and the study of mores - as it should be by the nature of the picaresque novel genre.

By the way, Gil Blas is really a rogue, or rather a charming rogue who can pretend to be a simpleton, and flatter, and cheat. Gradually, he conquers his childish credulity and does not allow himself to be easily fooled, and sometimes he himself embarks on dubious enterprises. alas, the qualities of a rogue are necessary for him, a commoner, a man without a family or tribe, in order to survive in a large and harsh world. Often his desires do not extend further than to have a warm shelter, to eat enough every day and work to the best of his ability, and not to wear out.

One of the jobs that at first seemed to him the height of luck was with Dr. Sangrado. This self-satisfied doctor for all diseases knew only two means - to drink plenty of water and bleed. Without thinking twice, he taught Gil Blas the wisdom and sent him on visits to the sick poorer. "It seems that there have never been so many funerals in Valladolid," the hero cheerfully assessed his own practice. Only many years later, already in adulthood, Gil Blas will remember this dashing youthful experience and be horrified by his own ignorance and arrogance.

Another sinecure stood out to the hero in Madrid, where he got a job as a lackey for a secular dandy, who shamelessly burned his life. This service was reduced to idleness and swagger, and lackey friends quickly knocked out provincial manners from Gilles Blas and taught him the art of talking about nothing and looking down on those around him. "From the former reasonable and sedate young man, I turned into a noisy, frivolous, vulgar heliporter," the hero admitted with horror. The matter ended with the owner falling in a duel - as senseless as his whole life had been.

After that, Gil Blas was sheltered by one of the friends of the late duellist - an actress. The hero plunged into a new environment, which at first fascinated him with bohemian brightness, and then scared him away with empty vanity and outrageous revelry. Despite a comfortable idle existence in the house of a cheerful actress, Gilles Blas once fled from there wherever his eyes looked. Reflecting on his different masters, he sadly admitted: "Some envy, malice and stinginess reign, others have renounced shame ... Enough, I do not want to live anymore among the seven deadly sins."

Thus, slipping away from the temptations of an unrighteous life in time, Gil Blas avoided many dangerous temptations. He did not become - although he could, due to circumstances - neither a robber, nor a charlatan, nor a swindler, nor an idler. He managed to maintain dignity and develop business qualities, so that in the prime of his life he was close to his cherished dream - he received a secretary position from the all-powerful first minister of the Duke of Lerma, gradually became his main confidant and gained access to the innermost secrets of the Madrid court itself. It was here that a moral abyss opened before him, into which he almost stepped. It was here that the most sinister metamorphoses took place in his personality ...

“Before I got to the court,” he notes, “I was naturally compassionate and merciful, but there human weaknesses evaporate, and I became callous of stone. I was also healed of sentimentality in relation to friends and ceased to feel affection for them.” At this time, Gil Blas moved away from his old friend and fellow countryman Fabricio, betrayed those who helped him in difficult times, and surrendered himself to the greed. For huge bribes, he contributed to the seekers of warm places and honorary titles, and then shared the booty with the minister. The cunning servant Sipion endlessly found new petitioners ready to offer money. With equal zeal and cynicism, the hero was engaged in pandering for the crowned heads and the arrangement of his own well-being, looking for a richer bride. The prison in which he found himself one fine day helped him to see clearly: as expected, noble patrons betrayed him with the same ease with which they had previously used his services.

Having miraculously survived after many days of fever, he rethought his life in captivity and felt a previously unfamiliar freedom. Fortunately, Sipion did not leave his master in trouble, but followed him to the fortress and then secured his release. The master and the servant became close friends and, after leaving prison, they settled in a small remote castle, which was presented to Gil Blas by one of his old comrades, Don Alfonso. Strictly judging himself for the past, the hero felt remorse for the long separation from his parents. He managed to visit Oviedo on the eve of his father's death and gave him a rich funeral. Then he began to generously help his mother and uncle.

Gil Blas was destined to survive the death of his young wife and newborn son, and after that another serious illness. Despair almost overwhelmed him, but Sipion managed to persuade his friend to return to Madrid and again serve at court. There was a change of power - the mercenary Duke of Lerma was replaced by an honest minister Olivares. Gil Blas, now indifferent to any palace temptations, managed to prove his worth and feel satisfaction in the field of noble service to the fatherland.

We part with the hero when, having retired from business and remarried, he "leads a delightful life in the circle of dear people." To crown his bliss, heaven deigned to reward him with two children, whose upbringing promises to be the entertainment of his old age ...

V. L. Sagalova

(La vie de Marianne ou les Adventures de Madame de Contesse de***)

Roman (1731-1741)

Marianne, moving away from the world, on the advice of a friend, takes up a pen. True, she is afraid that her mind is unsuitable for writing, and the style is not good enough, but believe me, she is just flirting.

The tragic event that happened when Marianne was no more than two years old leaves an imprint on her whole life. The mail coach is attacked by robbers and all of its passengers are killed except for a small child, Marianne. Judging by the clothes, the girl is the daughter of a young noble couple, but no more accurate information can be found. Thus, the origin of Marianne becomes a mystery. The child is given to the house of the village priest, and his sister, an educated, sensible and truly virtuous woman, brings up Marianne as her own daughter. Marianne is attached to her patrons with all her heart and considers the priest's sister the best person in the world. The girl grows up as a graceful, sweet, obedient child and promises to become a beauty. When Marianne is fifteen years old, circumstances force the priest's sister to go to Paris, and she takes the girl with her. But after a while they receive news of the priest's illness, and soon the one who replaced the poor girl's mother dies. Her instructions will remain in the memory of Marianne for life, and although in the future she will often show imprudence, her soul will forever remain full of virtue and honesty.

So, a fifteen-year-old girl, very pretty, is left alone in Paris and in the whole wide world, without a home and without money. Marianne, in desperation, begs the monk, who made acquaintance with the deceased, to become her leader, and he decides to turn to one respectable man, known for his piety and good deeds. Mr. Klimal, a well-preserved man of about fifty or sixty, very rich, having learned the story of Marianne, is ready to help: send the girl to be trained by a seamstress and pay for the maintenance. Marianne is grateful, but her heart is torn to pieces with shame, she feels unbearable humiliation, being the object of "mercy that does not respect spiritual delicacy." But, after parting with the monk, her benefactor becomes much more amiable, and, despite her inexperience, Marianne feels that something bad is hidden behind this amiability. And so it happens. Very soon she realizes that de Climal is in love with her. Marianne considers it dishonest to encourage his courtship, but accepts gifts, because in addition to virtue and decency, she is naturally endowed with both coquetry and a desire to please, so natural for a pretty woman. She has no choice but to pretend that she is unaware of the ardent feelings of an elderly admirer.

One day, returning from church, Marianne twists her leg and finds herself in the house of a noble young man, the very one with whom they exchanged glances in church that speak so much to the heart. She cannot confess to Valville either her miserable position or her acquaintance with Monsieur de Climal, who turns out to be Valville's uncle and pretends not to know Marianne, although at the sight of her nephew at the feet of her ward she languishes with jealousy. When Marianne returns home, de Climal comes to her. He directly speaks of his love, warns Marianne against being carried away by "young heliporters" and offers her "a small contract for five hundred livres of rent." During this explanation, Valville unexpectedly appears in the room, and now the nephew sees his uncle kneeling before the same Marianne. What can he think of her? Only one. When the young man leaves, throwing a contemptuous look at the innocent girl, she asks de Climal to go with her to her nephew and explain everything to him, and he, discarding the mask of decency, reproaches her with ingratitude, says that from now on he stops his giving , and disappears, fearing a scandal. And Marianne, who has been deprived of all prudence by her offended pride and love for Valville, thinks only of how to make Valville regret the separation and repent of bad thoughts. Only in the morning does she realize the full depth of her plight. Oka tells about all her sorrows to the abbess of the monastery, and during this conversation there is a lady who is imbued with warm sympathy for the girl. She invites the abbess to take Marianne to the monastery boarding school and is going to pay for her maintenance. Marianne, in an enthusiastic impulse, irrigates the benefactor's hand with "the most tender and sweetest tears."

So Marianne finds a new patroness and finds in her a second mother. True kindness, naturalness, generosity, lack of vanity, clarity of thought - this is what makes up the character of a fifty-year-old lady. She admires Marianne and treats her like her own daughter. But soon Marianne, who adores her benefactor, learns that she is none other than Valville's mother, who learned of Marianne's innocence, inflamed with even more passionate love and had already given her a letter to the monastery, disguised as a footman. When Madame de Miran complains that her son began to neglect a rich and noble bride, carried away by some young girl she met by chance, Marianne recognizes herself in the description of the adventurer and without hesitation confesses everything to Madame de Miran, including her love for her son . Madame de Miran asks Marianne for help, she knows that Marianne is worthy of love like no other, that she has everything - "both beauty, and virtue, and intelligence, and a beautiful heart," but society will never forgive a young man of a noble family marrying a girl of unknown origin, who has neither title nor fortune. Marianne, for the love of Madame de Miran, decides to give up Valville's love and begs him to forget about her. But Madame de Miran (who hears this conversation), shocked by the nobility of her pupil, gives her consent to the marriage of her son with Marianne. She is ready to courageously resist the attacks of relatives and protect the happiness of children from the whole world.

Madame de Miran's brother, de Climal, is dying. Before his death, he, full of remorse, admits in the presence of his sister and nephew his guilt before Marianne and leaves her a small fortune.

Marianne still lives in the monastery boarding house, and Madame de Miran introduces her as the daughter of one of her friends, but gradually rumors about the upcoming wedding and the bride’s dubious past spread more and more and reach the ears of Madame de Miran’s numerous and swaggering relatives. Marianne is kidnapped and taken to another convent. The abbess explains that this is an order from above, and Marianne is given a choice: either take a haircut as a nun, or marry another person. That same evening, Marianne is put into a carriage and taken to a house where she meets a man whom she is predicted to be her husband. This is the foster brother of the minister's wife, an unremarkable young man. Then in the minister's office there is a real trial of a girl who has not done anything wrong. Her only crime is beauty and wonderful spiritual qualities that attracted the heart of a young man from a noble family. The minister announces to Marianne that she will not allow her marriage to Valville, and invites her to marry the "glorious fellow" with whom she had just been talking in the garden. But Marianne, with the firmness of despair, declares that her feelings are unchanged, and refuses to marry. At that moment Madame de Miran and Valville appear. Full of noble sacrifice, Marianne's speech, her appearance, manners and devotion to the patroness pull the scales to her side. All those present, even the relatives of Madame de Miran, admire Marianne, and the minister announces that he is not going to interfere in this matter anymore, because no one can prevent "virtue from being kind to the human heart", and returns Marianne to her "mother" .

But Marianne's misfortunes do not end there. A new boarder arrives at the monastery, a girl of noble birth, half English, Mademoiselle Warton. It happens that this sensitive girl faints in the presence of Valville, and this is enough for the windy youth to see in her a new ideal. He stops visiting the sick Marianne and secretly sees Mademoiselle Warton, who falls in love with him. Upon learning of her lover's betrayal, Marianne despairs, and Madame de Miran hopes that her son's blindness will someday pass. Marianne understands that her lover is not so guilty, he just belongs to the type of people for whom "obstacles have an irresistible attractive force", and his mother's consent to his marriage to Marianne ruined everything, and "his love dozed off." Marianne is already known in the world, many admire her, and almost simultaneously she receives two proposals - from a fifty-year-old count, a man of outstanding virtues, and from a young marquis. Self-love, which Marianne considers the main driver of human actions, makes her behave with Valville as if she does not suffer at all, and she wins a brilliant victory: Valville is again at her feet. But Marianne decides not to see him anymore, although she still loves him.

At this, Marianne's notes break off. From individual phrases, for example, when she mentions her social successes or calls herself a countess, it can be understood that there were still many adventures in her life, which, alas, we are not destined to know.

I. A. Moskvina-Tarkhanova

(Lettres Persanes)

Roman (1721)

The action of the novel covers 1711-1720. The epistolary form of the work and additional piquant material from the life of Persian harems, a peculiar construction with exotic details, full of bright wit and caustic irony of description, well-aimed characteristics made it possible for the author to interest the most diverse public, including court circles. During the life of the author, "Persian Letters" went through 12 editions. The novel solves the problems of the state structure, issues of domestic and foreign policy, issues of religion, religious tolerance, a decisive and bold attack on autocratic rule and, in particular, the mediocre and extravagant reign of Louis XIV. The arrows also hit the Vatican, the monks, the ministers, the whole society as a whole are ridiculed.

Uzbek and Rika, the main characters, Persians whose curiosity made them leave their homeland and go on a journey, carry on regular correspondence both with their friends and among themselves. Uzbek in one of the letters to a friend reveals the true reason for his departure. He was introduced to the court in his youth, but this did not spoil him. Exposing vice, preaching the truth and maintaining sincerity, he makes many enemies for himself and decides to leave the court. Under a plausible pretext (the study of Western sciences), with the consent of the Shah, Uzbek leaves the fatherland. There, in Ispahan, he owned a seraglio (palace) with a harem, in which there were the most beautiful women of Persia.

Friends begin their journey from Erzerum, then their path lies in Tokata and Smyrna - lands subject to the Turks. The Turkish empire was living out the last years of its greatness at that time. The pashas, ​​who only get their positions for money, come to the provinces and plunder them like conquered countries, the soldiers are subject exclusively to their whims. Cities are depopulated, villages are devastated, agriculture and trade are in complete decline. While the European peoples are improving every day, they are stagnant in their primitive ignorance. In all the vast expanses of the country, only Smyrna can be considered as a rich and strong city, but Europeans make it so. Concluding the description of Turkey to his friend Rustan, Uzbek writes: "This empire, in less than two centuries, will become the theater of the triumphs of some conqueror."

After a forty-day voyage, our heroes end up in Livorno, one of the flourishing cities in Italy. A Christian city seen for the first time is a great sight for a Mohammedan. The difference in buildings, clothing, main customs, even in the slightest trifle is something extraordinary. Women enjoy more freedom here: they wear only one veil (Persians - four), on any day they are free to go out into the street, accompanied by some old women, their sons-in-law, uncles, nephews can look at them, and husbands almost never take offense at this. . Soon travelers flock to Paris, the capital of the European empire. After a month of life in the capital, Rika will share her impressions with her friend Ibben. Paris, he writes, is as big as Spain, "the houses in it are so high that one can swear that only astrologers live in them." The pace of life in the city is quite different; Parisians run, fly, they would faint from the slow wagons of Asia, from the measured step of camels. Oriental man is completely unsuited for this running around. The French are very fond of theater, comedy - arts unfamiliar to Asians, because by their nature they are more serious. This seriousness of the inhabitants of the East comes from the fact that they communicate little with each other: they see each other only when ceremonial compels them to do so, they are almost unaware of friendship, which is the delight of life here; they stay at home, so every family is isolated. Men in Persia do not have the liveliness of the French, they do not see the spiritual freedom and contentment that are characteristic of all classes in France.

Meanwhile, disturbing news comes from the harem of Uzbek. One of the wives, Zashi, was found alone with a white eunuch, who immediately, on the orders of Uzbek, paid for treachery and infidelity with his head. White and black eunuchs (white eunuchs are not allowed into the harem rooms) are low slaves who blindly fulfill all the desires of women and at the same time force them to unquestioningly obey the laws of the seraglio. Women lead a measured life: they do not play cards, do not spend sleepless nights, do not drink wine and almost never go out into the air, since the seraglio is not suited for pleasure, everything is saturated in it with submission and duty. An Uzbek, telling about these customs to a French acquaintance, hears in response that the Asians are forced to live with slaves, whose heart and mind always feel the humiliation of their position. What can be expected of a man whose whole honor is to guard the wives of another, and who prides himself on the most vile office that exists among people. The slave agrees to endure the tyranny of the stronger sex in order to be able to drive the weaker to despair. "It repels me most of all in your manners, finally free yourself from prejudice," concludes the Frenchman. But Uzbek is unshakable and considers traditions sacred. Rica, in turn, watching the Parisians, in one of the letters to Ibben talks about women's freedom and tends to think that the power of a woman is natural: this is the power of beauty, which nothing can resist, and the tyrannical power of a man is not in all countries extends to women, and the power of beauty is universal. Rika will notice about herself: "My mind is imperceptibly losing what is still Asian in it, and adapting effortlessly to European customs; I have known women only since I have been here: in one month I have studied them more than I could me in the seraglio for thirty years." Rika, sharing her impressions of the peculiarities of the French with Uzbek, also notes that, unlike their compatriots, in whom all the characters are monotonous, since they are forced out (“you don’t see at all what people really are, but you see them only as they are they are forced to be"), in France pretense is an unknown art. Everyone talks, everyone sees each other, everyone listens to each other, the heart is as open as the face. Playfulness is one of the traits of the national character.

The Uzbek talks about the problems of the state structure, because, being in Europe, he has seen many different forms of government, and here it is not the same as in Asia, where the political rules are the same everywhere. Reflecting on which government is the most reasonable, he comes to the conclusion that the perfect one is the one that achieves its goals at the least cost: if the people are as obedient under a soft government as under a strict one, then the first should be preferred. More or less severe punishments imposed by the state do not contribute to greater obedience to the laws. The latter are just as feared in those countries where punishments are moderate, as in those where they are tyrannical and terrible. Imagination adapts itself to the customs of a given country: an eight-day imprisonment or a small fine affects a European brought up in a country with a mild government, as the loss of a hand on an Asiatic. Most European governments are monarchical. This state is violent, and it soon degenerates either into despotism or into a republic. The history and origin of the republics are covered in detail in one of Uzbek's letters. Most Asiatics are unaware of this form of government. The formation of republics took place in Europe, but as for Asia and Africa, they were always oppressed by despotism, with the exception of a few cities of Asia Minor and the Republic of Carthage in Africa. Freedom was created, apparently, for the European peoples, and slavery - for the Asiatic ones.

Uzbek, in one of his last letters, does not hide his disappointment from his trip to France. He saw a people, generous by nature, but gradually corrupted. An unquenchable thirst for wealth and the goal of getting rich through not honest labor, but through the ruin of the sovereign, the state and fellow citizens, arose in all hearts. The clergy does not stop at deals that ruin their gullible flock. So, we see that, as our heroes stay in Europe, the mores of this part of the world begin to seem less surprising and strange to them, and they are amazed at this amazingness and strangeness to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the difference in their characters. On the other hand, as Uzbek's absence from the harem drags on, disorder in the Asiatic seraglio intensifies.

Uzbek is extremely concerned about what is happening in his palace, as the head of the eunuchs reports to him about the unthinkable things happening there. Zeli, going to the mosque, throws off the veil and appears before the people. Zashi is found in bed with one of her slaves - and this is strictly prohibited by law. In the evening, a young man was found in the garden of the seraglio; moreover, the wives spent eight days in the village, in one of the most secluded dachas, along with two men. Soon Uzbek will find out the answer. Roxana, his beloved wife, writes a suicide letter in which she admits that she deceived her husband by bribing eunuchs, and, mocking the jealousy of Uzbek, turned the disgusting seraglio into a place for enjoyment and pleasure. Her lover, the only person who tied Roxanne to life, is gone, therefore, having taken the poison, she follows him. Turning her last words in her life to her husband, Roxana confesses her hatred for him. A rebellious, proud woman writes: "No, I could live in captivity, but I was always free: I replaced your laws with the laws of nature, and my mind always retained independence." Roxana's dying letter to Uzbek in Paris completes the story.

N. B. Vinogradova

(De l'Esprit des lois)

Treatise (1748)

In the preface, the author says that he derives his principles from the very nature of things. The infinite variety of laws and customs is by no means due to the arbitrariness of fantasy: particular cases are subject to general principles, and the history of any people follows from them as a consequence. It is useless to condemn the institutions of this or that country, and only those persons who have received from birth the gift of genius to penetrate the entire organization of the state with one glance have the right to propose changes. The main task is education, for the prejudices inherent in the organs of government were originally the prejudices of the people. If the author could cure people of their prejudices, he would consider himself the happiest of mortals.

Everything has its own laws: the deity has them, and the material world, and the beings of the superhuman mind, and animals, and man. It is the greatest absurdity to assert that the phenomena of the visible world are governed by blind fate. God treats the world as a creator and protector: he creates according to the same laws according to which he protects. Consequently, the work of creation only seems to be an act of arbitrariness, for it presupposes a series of rules as inevitable as the fate of atheists.

All laws are preceded by the laws of nature, arising from the very constitution of the human being. A person in the state of nature feels his weakness, for everything makes him tremble and puts him to flight - therefore the world is the first natural law. With a feeling of weakness, the feeling of one's needs is combined - the desire to get food for oneself is the second natural law. Mutual attraction, inherent in all animals of the same breed, gave rise to the third law - a request addressed by man to man. But people are bound together by threads that animals do not have, which is why the desire to live in society is the fourth natural law.

As soon as people unite in society, they lose consciousness of their weakness - equality disappears, and war begins. Each individual society begins to realize its strength - hence the state of war between peoples. The laws that govern the relationship between them constitute international law. Individuals in every society begin to feel their power - hence the war between citizens. The laws that determine the relationship between them form a civil law. In addition to international law, which applies to all societies, each of them individually is governed by its own laws - together they form the political state of the state. The forces of individual people cannot unite without the unity of their will, which forms the civil state of society.

Law, generally speaking, is human reason, insofar as it governs all the peoples of the earth, and the political and civil laws of each people must be no more than special cases of the application of this reason. These laws are in such close agreement with the properties of the people for which they are established that only in extremely rare cases can the laws of one people be suitable for another people. Laws must be in accordance with the nature and principles of the established government; the physical properties of the country and its climate - cold, hot or temperate; soil quality; the way of life of its peoples - farmers, hunters or shepherds; the degree of freedom allowed by the structure of the state; the religion of the population, its inclinations, wealth, numbers, trade, manners and customs. The totality of all these relations can be called the "spirit of laws."

There are three types of government: republican, monarchical and despotic. In a republic, the supreme power is in the hands of either the whole people or a part of it; under a monarchy, one person governs, but by means of established immutable laws; Despotism is characterized by the fact that everything is driven by the will and arbitrariness of one person outside of any laws and regulations.

If in a republic the supreme power belongs to all the people, then this is a democracy. When the supreme power is in the hands of a part of the people, such a government is called an aristocracy. In a democracy, the people are in some respects the sovereign and in some respects the subjects. He is sovereign only by virtue of the votes by which he expresses his will. The will of the sovereign is the sovereign himself, therefore the laws that determine the right to vote are fundamental for this type of government. In the aristocracy, the supreme power is in the hands of a group of persons: these persons issue laws and force them to be carried out, and the rest of the people are in relation to them the same as subjects in a monarchy in relation to the sovereign. The worst of the aristocracies is that where the part of the people that obeys is in civil slavery to the one that commands: an example is the aristocracy of Poland, where the peasants are slaves of the nobility. Excessive power, given in a republic to one citizen, constitutes a monarchy, and even more than a monarchy. In a monarchy, laws protect the state system or adapt to it, therefore the principle of government restrains the sovereign - in a republic, a citizen who has seized emergency power has much more opportunities to abuse it, since he does not encounter opposition from laws that did not provide for this circumstance.

In a monarchy, the source of all political and civil power is the sovereign himself, but there are also intermediate channels through which power moves. Destroy the prerogatives of the lords, the clergy, the nobility and the cities in the monarchy, and very soon you will have the result of a state either popular or despotic. In despotic states where there are no fundamental laws, there are also no institutions to protect them. This explains the special power that religion usually acquires in these countries: it replaces the continuously functioning protective institution; sometimes the place of religion is taken by customs, which are honored instead of laws.

Each type of government has its own principles: for a republic, virtue is needed, for a monarchy, honor, for a despotic government, fear. It does not need virtue, and honor would be dangerous for it. When the whole nation lives according to some principles, all its constituent parts, i.e., families, live according to the same principles. The laws of education are the first that a person meets in his life. They differ according to the type of government: in monarchies, their subject is honor, in republics, virtue, in despotisms, fear. No government needs the help of education as much as the Republican. Fear in despotic states arises by itself under the influence of threats and punishments. Honor in monarchies finds its support in the passions of man and itself serves as their support. But political virtue is selflessness - a thing always very difficult. This virtue can be defined as love for the laws and the fatherland - love, requiring a constant preference for the public good over the personal, lies at the basis of all private virtues. This love acquires special strength in democracies, for only there the administration of the state is entrusted to every citizen.

In a republic, virtue is a very simple thing: it is love for the republic, it is a feeling, and not a series of information. It is just as accessible to the last person in the state as to the one who occupies the first place in it. Love for the republic in democracy is love for democracy, and love for democracy is love for equality. The laws of such a state should in every possible way support the general desire for equality. In monarchies and in despotic states, no one strives for equality: even the thought of this does not occur to anyone, for everyone there strives for exaltation. People of the lowest position want to get out of it only in order to dominate other people. Since honor is the principle of monarchical government, the laws must support the nobility, which is, so to speak, both the creator and the creator of this honor. Under a despotic government, it is not necessary to have many laws: everything rests on two or three ideas, and new ones are not required. When Charles XII, while in Bendery, met some opposition to his will from the Senate of Sweden, he wrote to the senators that he would send his boot to command them. This boot would command no worse than a despotic sovereign.

The breakdown of every government almost always begins with the breakdown of principles. The principle of democracy disintegrates not only when the spirit of equality is lost, but also when the spirit of equality is carried to the extreme and everyone wants to be equal to those whom he has elected to rule. In this case, the people refuse to recognize the authorities appointed by themselves and want to do everything themselves: to deliberate instead of the senate, govern instead of officials and judge instead of judges. Then there is no room for virtue in the republic. The people want to fulfill the duties of rulers, which means that rulers are no longer respected. The aristocracy suffers damage when the power of the nobility becomes arbitrary: at the same time, there can no longer be virtue either among those who rule or those who are ruled. Monarchies perish when little by little the prerogatives of the estates and the privileges of the cities are abolished. In the first case, they go towards the despotism of all; in the second - to the despotism of one. The principle of monarchy also decays when the highest positions in the state become the last stages of slavery, when dignitaries are deprived of the respect of the people and turned into a pitiful instrument of arbitrariness. The principle of a despotic state is constantly decaying, because it is corrupt by its very nature. When the principles of government are corrupted, the best laws become bad and turn against the state; when the principles are sound, even bad laws produce the same consequences as good ones - the force of the principle conquers everything.

The Republic, by its very nature, requires a small territory, otherwise it will not hold. In a large republic there will be more wealth, and consequently, immoderate desires. The monarchical state should be of medium size: if it were small, it would be formed as a republic; and if it were too extensive, then the first persons of the state, strong in their very position, being far from the sovereign and having their own court, could cease to obey him - they would not be frightened by the threat of too distant and delayed punishment. The vast size of the empire is a prerequisite for despotic rule. It is necessary that the remoteness of the places where the orders of the ruler are sent is balanced by the speed of their execution; that fear should serve as a barrier to the negligence on the part of the rulers of remote regions; that one man be the personification of the law.

Small republics perish from an external enemy, and large ones from an internal ulcer. Republics protect themselves by uniting with each other, while despotic states, for the same purpose, separate and, one might say, isolate themselves from each other. Sacrificing part of their country, they devastate the outskirts and turn them into a desert, as a result of which the core of the state becomes inaccessible. A monarchy never destroys itself, but a medium-sized state can be invaded - so the monarchy has fortresses to protect its borders and armies to protect these fortresses. The smallest piece of land is defended there with great skill, perseverance and courage. Despotic states make invasions against each other - wars are fought only between monarchies.

In every state there are three kinds of power: legislative power, executive power, in charge of international law, and executive power, in charge of civil law. The last power can be called judicial, and the second - simply the executive power of the state. If the legislative and executive powers are united in one person or institution, then there will be no freedom, since it can be feared that this monarch or this senate will create tyrannical laws in order to apply them just as tyrannically. There will be no freedom even if the judiciary is not separated from the legislative and executive. If it is connected with the legislative power, then the life and freedom of the citizen will be in the power of arbitrariness, for the judge will be the legislator. If the judiciary is combined with the executive, then the judge has the opportunity to become an oppressor. Sovereigns who aspired to despotism always began by uniting in their person all the separate authorities. Among the Turks, where these three powers are united in the person of the Sultan, a terrifying despotism reigns. But the British succeeded by means of laws to establish an excellent system of balance of power.

Political slavery depends on the nature of the climate. Excessive heat undermines the strength and vigor of people, and a cold climate gives the mind and body a certain strength, which makes people capable of long, difficult, great and courageous actions. This difference can be observed not only when comparing one people with another, but also when comparing different regions of the same country: the peoples of Northern China are more courageous than the peoples of Southern China; the peoples of South Korea are inferior in this respect to the peoples of North Korea. It should not be surprising that the cowardice of the peoples of a hot climate almost always led them to slavery, while the courage of the peoples of a cold climate preserved their freedom. It must be added that the islanders are more inclined towards freedom than the inhabitants of the continent. Islands are usually small, and there it is more difficult to use one part of the population to oppress another. They are separated from large empires by the sea, which blocks the way for conquerors and prevents them from supporting tyrannical rule, so it is easier for the islanders to keep their laws.

Trade has a great influence on laws, for it heals people from painful prejudices. It can be considered almost a general rule that wherever there are gentle manners, there is also trade, and wherever there is trade, there are gentle manners. Thanks to trade, all peoples learned the customs of other peoples and were able to compare them. This led to beneficial results. But the spirit of trade, while uniting peoples, does not unite individuals. In countries where only the spirit of trade inspires people, all their deeds and even moral virtues become the subject of bargaining. At the same time, the spirit of trade gives rise to a sense of strict justice in people: this feeling is opposite, on the one hand, to the desire for robbery, and on the other hand, to those moral virtues that prompt us not only to pursue our own benefits steadily, but also to sacrifice them for the sake of other people. It may be said that the laws of commerce improve morals for the same reason that they destroy them. Trade corrupts pure morals - Plato spoke about this. At the same time, it polishes and softens barbarian customs, for the complete absence of trade leads to robbery. Some peoples sacrifice commercial interests for the sake of political ones. England has always sacrificed political interests for the interests of her trade. This people, better than any other people in the world, has been able to take advantage of three elements of great importance: religion, trade and freedom. Muscovy would like to give up its despotism - and cannot. Trade, in order to become stable, requires bills of exchange, but bills of exchange are contrary to all the laws of this country. The subjects of the empire, like slaves, do not have the right to travel abroad or send their property there without special permission - therefore, the exchange rate, which makes it possible to transfer money from one country to another, is contrary to the laws of Muscovy, and trade by its nature is contrary to such restrictions. .

Religion has a strong influence on the laws of the country. Even among false religions, one can find those that are most consistent with the goals of the public good - although they do not lead a person to the afterlife bliss, they can contribute a lot to his earthly happiness. If we compare the character of the Christian and Mohammedan religions alone, we must unreservedly accept the first and reject the second, because it is much more obvious that a religion should soften the morals of people than which of them is true. Mohammedan sovereigns constantly sow death around them and themselves die a violent death. Woe to mankind when religion is given by the conqueror. The Mohammedan religion continues to inspire people with the same spirit of extermination that created it. On the contrary, pure despotism is alien to the Christian religion: thanks to the meekness so insistently prescribed by the gospel, it resists indomitable anger, prompting the sovereign to arbitrariness and cruelty. Only the Christian religion prevented despotism from establishing itself in Ethiopia, despite the vastness of this empire and its bad climate - thus the morals and laws of Europe were established inside Africa. When the ill-fated division befell the Christian religion two centuries ago, the peoples of the north adopted Protestantism, while those of the south remained Catholic. The reason for this is that among the northern peoples there is and always will be a spirit of independence and freedom, therefore a religion without a visible head is more in line with the spirit of independence of this climate than one that has a similar head.

The freedom of man consists mainly in not being forced to do things that the law does not prescribe to him. The principles of state law require that every person be subject to the criminal and civil law of the country in which he is. These principles were severely violated by the Spaniards in Peru: Atahualpa's Inca could only be judged on the basis of international law, while they judged him on the basis of state and civil law. But the height of their recklessness was that they condemned him on the basis of the state and civil laws of their country.

The spirit of moderation must be the spirit of the legislator, for the political good, like the moral good, always lies between two limits. For example, for freedom, judicial formalities are necessary, but their number may be so great that they will interfere with the purposes of the very laws that established them: in this case, citizens will lose their freedom and security, the accuser will not be able to prove the charge, and the accused will not be able to acquit himself. When drawing up laws, certain rules must be observed. Their syllable must be compressed. The laws of the twelve tables served as a model of accuracy - the children memorized them. The short stories of Justinian were so verbose that they had to be cut. The style of laws should be simple and not allow for various interpretations. The law of Honorius punished by death the one who bought a freedman as a slave, or caused him anxiety. Such a vague expression should not have been used. The concept of anxiety caused to a person depends entirely on the degree of his impressionability. Laws should not go into subtleties: they are intended for mediocre people and do not contain the art of logic, but the sound concepts of a simple father of a family. When the law does not need exceptions, limitations and modifications, it is best to do without them, since such details entail new details. In no case should laws be given a form that is contrary to the nature of things: for example, in the proscription of the Prince of Orange, Philip II promised five thousand ecu and nobility to those who commit murder - this king simultaneously trampled on the concepts of honor, morality and religion. Finally, a certain purity must be inherent in the laws. Destined to punish human malice, they must themselves possess perfect integrity.

E. D. Murashkintseva

(Lettres de mademoiselle Aïsse à madame Calandrini)

(published 1787)

Aisse's letters are a recognized "little masterpiece" of French prose. The fate of their author is amazing. In the spring of 1698, the French diplomat Count Charles de Ferriol bought a four-year-old Circassian girl, taken prisoner during one of the Turkish raids, for one thousand five hundred livres at the Istanbul slave market. She was said to be from a noble family. In France, little Gaide was baptized and named Charlotte-Elizabeth, but they continued to call Gaide or Aide, which later turned into Aisse. For several years, the girl was brought up in the house of the wife of the diplomat's younger brother - smart, active, domineering Marie-Angelique de Ferriol, nee Guerin de Tansen. But then a diplomat returned to France, treating the young Circassian with paternal tenderness and the ardor of a lover, and Aisse was forced to stay with Ferriol until his death (1722), revolving, however, in a brilliant circle of noble and talented people. Having gained freedom, Aisse never left the house of Madame de Ferriol, which became almost her own, until the end of her life.

In dissolute, immoral Paris, Aisse in 1720 met the celibate knight of the Order of Malta, Blaise-Marie d'Edy (c. 1692-1761), who had taken a vow of celibacy. They are bound for life by a strong and lasting feeling that they keep in deep secrecy. The birth in 1721 of their daughter Selini, who later became Viscountess de Nantia, is surrounded by mystery. In 1726, Aisse met the 58-year-old wife of the eminent and wealthy citizen of Geneva, Julie Calandrini (c. 1668-1754); the firm moral principles of this lady make the deepest impression on the "beautiful Circassian woman", and for the last seven years of her life Aisse has been in correspondence with Mrs. Kalandrini, trusting all her thoughts and feelings to her older friend. Aisse died in 1733 from consumption. The shocked Chevalier d'Edy remained true to his love until the end of his life, raising his daughter in the appropriate spirit. But the name of Aisse was saved from oblivion not by a touching family cult, but by 36 letters discovered after the death of Madame Calandrini and published in Paris in 1787.

In the most refined terms, Aisse describes her feelings for Mrs. Calandrini: “I love you with the most tender love - I love you like your mother, like a sister, daughter, in a word, like you love everyone to whom you owe love. Everything is contained in my feeling for you - respect, admiration and gratitude." Aisse is happy that people around her love her older friend for the wonderful qualities of her soul. After all, usually "valor and merit ... are valued only when a person is also rich; and yet everyone bows his head before true virtues." And yet - "money, money! How much ambition you suppress! How many proud people you do not humble! How many good intentions you turn into smoke!"

Aisse complains about her own financial difficulties, debts and the complete uncertainty of her financial situation in the future, complains about her deteriorating health, describing her suffering in a very naturalistic way ("... after all, health is our main asset; it helps us endure the hardships of life. Sorrows affect him detrimentally ... and do not make us richer. However, there is nothing shameful in poverty when it is a consequence of a virtuous life and the vicissitudes of fate. Every day it becomes more and more clear to me that there is nothing higher than virtue, both on this earth and in the next world") ,

Aisse irritably talks about domestic troubles, about the absurdity and stinginess of Madame de Ferriol and about the rudeness of her dissolute and cynical sister, the brilliant Madame de Tansin. However, "I feel ashamed of my complaints when I see around me so many people who are worth more than me, and much less unhappy." The woman warmly mentions her friends - the sons of Madame de Ferriol, the Count de Pont-de-Velay and the Count d'Argental, as well as the lovely daughter of Madame Calandrini herself, speaks tenderly of her maid, the devoted Sophie, whom she tries to financially provide with all her might.

Describes Aisse and Parisian life, creating a vivid picture of the life and customs of the French aristocracy. Gossip, scandals, intrigues, marriages of convenience (“Ah! What a fertile country you live in - a country where people get married when they are still able to love each other!”), constant adultery, serious illnesses and untimely deaths; a complete decline in morals (for example, the story of a nobleman’s son who became a robber), quarrels and conspiracies at court, wild antics of depraved nobility (“Ms. comedians," characterizes Aisse the lady who was suspected of poisoning the actress Adrienne Lecouvreur), boundless hypocrisy ("Our beautiful ladies indulge in piety, or rather, diligently show it ... all as one began to make themselves a saint ... they quit blushing, which is by no means their does not paint"), the complete lack of rights of ordinary people (the sad story of a poor abbot who is forced to give poison to Lecouvrere; and after the unfortunate one warns the actress, he is put in the Bastille, from where he comes out thanks to the efforts of his father, but then disappears without a trace).

And "everything that happens in this state portends its death. How prudent are all of you that you do not deviate from the rules and laws, but strictly observe them! Hence the purity of morals. And every day I am more and more amazed at the multitude bad deeds, and it is hard to believe that the human heart is capable of this."

Aisse also writes a lot about art, which people of her circle are keenly interested in - about interior decoration, about literature (she mentions several times, for example, about the novelty - "Gulliver's Travels" by J. Swift, cites Rousseau's epigram, attaches to his message the poetic correspondence of the Marquis de la Riviera and Mademoiselle Desulliere), but mainly talks about the theater: new plays and performances, scenery, skill of actors (“An actress playing the role of a lover must show modesty and restraint,” says Aisse. “Passion should be expressed in intonation and sounds of voice. Excessively harsh gestures should be left to men and sorcerers"). But bad morals also reign in the theater: behind-the-scenes intrigues, rivalry between actresses, their scandalous romances with nobles, slander and gossip...

Aisse touches politics several times. The woman is shocked by the frivolous attitude of the nobility to the impending war; "Circassian" sends her friend a copy of the letter of the Marquis de Saint-Oler to Cardinal de Fleury. "The glory of a conqueror is nothing compared to the glory of a peacemaker ... through justice, honesty, confidence, loyalty to one's word, one can achieve more than through the cunning and intrigues of the old policy," the marquis asserts. And Aisse dreams that France will finally find a king and a first minister who truly care about the welfare of their people.

Real life plunges Aisse, a whole and pure nature, into deep sadness. "Circassian" never gets involved in any intrigues; she is “just as little disposed to preach virtues as to support vices”, admires people who have “the most important spiritual qualities” - intelligence and self-esteem, cares about her friends much more than about herself, does not want from anyone to depend on and above all in the world puts the fulfillment of one's own duty. “Nothing will make me forget everything I owe” to Madame de Ferriol, “and my debt to her. I will repay her a hundredfold for all her care for me at the cost of even my own life. But ... what a big difference it is to do something only out of a sense of duty or at the behest of the heart! "There is nothing more difficult than doing your duty towards someone whom you neither love nor respect."

Aisse does not want to deal with "evil and false people - let them swarm in their own dirt. I firmly adhere to my rule - honestly do my duty and not slander anyone." "I have many faults, but I am committed to virtue, I revere it." It is not surprising that libertines and intriguers are afraid of Aisse; most of the acquaintances treat her with respect and love. "My doctor is surprisingly attentive to me; he is my friend ... everyone around is so affectionate with me and so helpful..." everyone ran to my bed to congratulate me."

Improving her health in the countryside and leading an idyllic life in the bosom of nature ("... I live here as if at the end of the world - I work in a vineyard, weave yarn from which I will sew shirts for myself, I hunt birds"), Aisse dreams of getting to her friend - Mrs. Calandrini to Switzerland. "How different your city is from Paris! There you have common sense and good morals, here they have no idea about them." As for the inhabitants of Paris, "there is nothing in them - neither your adamant honesty, nor wisdom, nor kindness, nor justice. All this people have one appearance - the mask now and then falls off them. Honesty is nothing more than a word, which they adorn themselves; they talk about justice, but only in order to condemn their neighbors; under their sweet speeches taunts lurk, their generosity turns into wastefulness, softness of heart - lack of will. All the same, "whom I happened to meet in Geneva, corresponded to my initial ideas of life experience. That's almost the same I was when I entered the world, not knowing bitterness, sorrows and sadness." Now "I would like to learn to be a philosopher, to be indifferent to everything, not to be upset because of anything and try to behave rationally only in order to satisfy myself and you." Aisse sadly acknowledges the corrupting influence of the mores prevailing in society. “She belongs to those persons, spoiled by light and bad examples, who were not lucky enough to escape the nets of debauchery,” the woman writes about her friend Madame de Paraber. “She is cordial, generous, she has a good heart, but she was early plunged into the world of passions, and she had bad mentors." And yet, Aisse sees the root of evil in the weakness of human nature: "... you can behave with dignity even while remaining in the world, and this is even better - the more difficult the task, the greater the merit of fulfilling it." The "Circassian woman" tells with admiration about a certain impoverished nobleman who, having settled in a modest room, spends the morning reading his favorite books, after a simple, hearty dinner, walks along the embankment, does not depend on anyone and is completely happy.

The standard of moral qualities for Aisse is Mrs. Calandrini. “With your tolerance, with your knowledge of the world, which, however, you do not hate, with your ability to forgive, in accordance with the circumstances, having learned about my sins, did not begin to despise me. I seemed to you worthy of compassion and, although guilty, but not fully understanding her guilt. Fortunately, my love passion itself gave rise in me to the desire for virtue. "If the object of my love were not filled with the same virtues as you, my love would be impossible." "My love would die if it were not based on respect."

It is the theme of deep mutual love between Aisse and the Chevalier d'Ely that runs like a red thread through the letters of the "beautiful Circassian". Aissa is tormented by thoughts about the sinfulness of this extramarital affair, the woman is trying with all her might to wrest the vicious passion from her heart. "I will not write about the pangs of conscience that torment me - they are born of my mind; the chevalier and passion for him drown them out." But "if the mind was not powerful to overcome my passion, then this is because only a virtuous person could deceive my heart." Chevalier, on the other hand, loves Aisse so much that they ask her what kind of spell she cast on him. But - "my only spell is my irresistible love for him and the desire to make his life as sweet as possible." “I don’t abuse his feelings. People tend to turn themselves to the advantage of the weakness of another. I don’t know this art. I know one thing: to please the one I love so that only one desire keeps him near me - not to part with me. D'Edi begs Aisse to marry him. But "no matter how happy it would be to be called his wife, I must love the chevalier not for myself, but for his sake ... How would they react in the world to his marriage to a girl without a family without a tribe ... No, his reputation is too dear to me, and in that "At the same time, I am too proud to allow him to commit this stupidity. What a shame would be for me all the talk that would go around about this! And how can I flatter myself with the hope that he will remain unchanged in his feelings for me? He can when to regret that I succumbed to reckless passion, and I will not be able to live, realizing that it is my fault that he is unhappy and that he has stopped loving me.

However - "to cut on the living such a ardent passion and such tender affection, and, moreover, so deserved by him! Add to this my feeling of gratitude to him - no, it's terrible! It's worse than death! But you demand that I overcome myself - I I will try, only I am not sure that I will come out of this with honor and that I will stay alive ... Why is my love not permissible? Why is it sinful? “How I wish that the struggle between my mind and my heart would stop, and I could freely surrender to the joy that only the sight of him gives me. But, alas, this will never happen!” "But my love is irresistible, everything justifies it. It seems to me that it is born of a feeling of gratitude, and I am obliged to maintain the Chevalier's affection for the dear baby. She is the link between us; this is what makes me sometimes see my duty in love for him" .

With great tenderness, Aisse writes about her daughter, who is being brought up in a monastery. The girl is "reasonable, kind, patient" and, not knowing who her mother is, considers the "Circassian" her adored patroness. Chevalier loves his daughter to the point of madness. And yet Aisse is constantly worried about the future of the baby. All these experiences and cruel internal struggle soon completely undermine the fragile health of the unfortunate woman. She quickly melts, plunging her beloved into despair. “Never before has my love for him been so ardent, and I can say that it is no less on his part. He treats me with such anxiety, his excitement is so sincere and so touching that everyone who happens to be witnesses to it tears welling up in my eyes."

And yet, before his death, Aisse breaks with his beloved. "I can't tell you what the sacrifice I've made up my mind costs me; it kills me. But I trust in the Lord - he must give me strength!" Chevalier humbly agrees with the decision of his beloved. "Be happy, my dear Aisse, I don't care how you achieve it - I will put up with any of them, as long as you do not drive me out of your heart ... As long as you allow me to see you, As long as I can flatter myself with the hope that you consider me the most devoted person in the world to you, I don’t need anything else for happiness,” he writes in a letter that Aisse also forwards to Mrs. Calandrini. The “Circassian woman” herself touchingly thanks her elder friend, who made so many efforts to set her on the right path. “The thought of imminent death saddens me less than you think,” Aisse admits. “What is our life? Like no one else, I should have been happy, but I wasn’t. by my own whim. Eternal torments of conscience, sorrows of friends, their remoteness, almost constant illness ... The life I lived was so miserable - did I know even a moment of true joy? I could not be alone with myself: I was afraid of my own thoughts "Remorse of conscience did not leave me from the moment my eyes were opened, and I began to understand my delusions. Why should I fear separation from my soul, if I am sure that the Lord is merciful to me and that from the moment I flesh, will happiness be revealed to me?"

E. B. Maksimova

(La Poucelle d'Orleans)

Poem (1735, publ. 1755)

The action of this satirical poem takes place during the Hundred Years War between France and England (1337-1453). Some of Voltaire's contemporaries said that the author, having ridiculed Joan of Arc, treated her more cruelly than the bishop of the city of Beauvais, who once burned her at the stake. Voltaire, of course, laughed ruthlessly, he showed Jeanne being seduced, portrayed her in the most ambiguous and indecent scenes. But he laughed not at Joan of Arc, not at that girl from the people who, sincerely believing in her patriotic mission, sent down to her by God, led the French to fight the enemy and fearlessly went to the stake, leaving history her noble name and her human dignity. beautiful look.

From the first song, we learn that the French king Charles VII is in love with the beautiful Agnes Sorel. His adviser Bonnot has a castle in a secluded wilderness, somewhere, away from prying eyes, and lovers go. For three months, the king is buried in the bliss of love. Meanwhile, a British prince, the Duke of Bedford, invades France. Driven by the demon of ambition, he is "always on horseback, always armed ... sheds blood, awards pay, sends mother and daughter to the shame of the soldiers." In Orleans, besieged by enemies, a mysterious stranger from heaven, Saint Denis, who dreams of saving France, appears at the council of warriors and wise men. He says "And if Charles wanted to lose honor for the girl and the kingdom with her, I want to change his lot with the hand of a youth who has preserved her virginity." The warriors ridicule him: "to save a fortress through virginity - yes, this is nonsense, sheer absurdity," and the saint goes alone in search of an innocent maiden.

Lorraine gave France to John, she was born here, "alive, dexterous, strong; in clean clothes, with a full and muscular hand, she drags bags ... laughs, works to the fire." St. Denis goes with John to the temple, where the virgin "in admiration puts on a steel vestment ... and raves about glory." John on a donkey, accompanied by a saint, rushes to the king. Along the way, near Orleans, they find themselves in a camp of sleeping, drunken British. John steals from the famous warrior, Jean Chandos, a sword and wide trousers. Arriving at the court, Saint Denis calls on the king to follow this maiden, the future savior of France, who, with the help of the monarch, will drive out a terrible and cruel enemy. Finally, Karl is awakened, cut off from captivating amusements and ready to fight. Together with Joanna, he rushes to Orleans.

The beautiful Agnes, tormented by jealousy, accompanied by Bonnot secretly follows them. At night, in the parking lot, she steals Joanna's clothes (Shandos' trousers and the Amazon's shell) and immediately in this attire is captured by the British, "on top of adversity, it was just Shandos' cavalry platoon." Shandos, who vowed to take revenge on the enemy who stole his armor, upon seeing Agnes, changes his mind, he is seized with passion ...

John, with a large army, gives battle to the British, who are defeated. The French commander Dunois, "flying like lightning, not wounded anywhere, cuts down the English." John and Dunois "are intoxicated, they raced so fast, they fought so wildly with the British that they soon parted with the rest of the army." Lost, the heroes find themselves in the castle of Hermaphrodite. This is a sorcerer whom God created ugly and lustful. He kisses Joan, but in return receives a mighty slap. The offended scoundrel orders the guards to impale both strangers. The monk Griburdon, who unexpectedly appeared, asks for pardon for John, offering his life in return. His request is accepted. Once in hell, visiting Satan, Griburdon told the following. He, who was trying to dishonor John, suddenly saw a donkey descending from heaven and picking up the valiant knight Dunois, who, swinging his sword, attacked Griburdon, the Monk turns into a lovely girl - and Dunois lowers the sword. The driver, who was at the same time with the monk and guarded John, seeing the beauty, rushes to her, releasing the captive. The maiden, once free, grabs the shiny sword forgotten by Dunois and cracks down on the monk. "The virgin saved her honor, and Griburdon, guilty of blasphemy, said" forgive "earthly existence." The donkey, whom Saint Denis inspired to fly to Lombardy, takes Dunois with him, leaving Joanna alone.

So where did the flying donkey of the knight Dunoy go? He finds himself in an amazing temple of Rumor, where he learns about Dorothea sentenced to be burned and rushes to Milan to help her. The executioner is already ready to carry out the order of the inquisitor, but suddenly Dunois appears in the town square and asks the girl to tell everyone about what she is accused of. Dorothea, not holding back her tears, says in response: "Love is the cause of all my sadness." Her lover, la Trimouille, leaving Milan a year ago and going to war, swore his love for her, promised to marry upon his return. Dorothea, secluded, far from the world, endured separation and hid from prying eyes her baby, a child of love. One day her uncle, the archbishop, decided to visit his niece and, despite the dignity and holiness of kinship, began to harass her. The crowd fled to the cries of the resisting Dorothea, and her uncle, hitting her in the face, said: "I excommunicate her from the church and with her the fruit of her adultery ... I curse them, the servant of God. Let the Inquisition judge them severely." So Dorothea found herself at the place of execution. The fearless Dunois struck down the archbishop's warrior with his sword and quickly dealt with his assistants. Suddenly, La Trimouille appears in the square, and the beautiful Dorothea finds herself in his arms. Dunois is going on the road, he hurries to John and the king, arranging with the lover to meet in the palace in a month. During this time, Dorothea wants to make a pilgrimage to Loret, and La Trimouille will accompany her.

Having reached the destination of the journey, the house of the Virgin Mary, the lovers stop for the night and get acquainted with the Englishman d'Arondel. With him is a young mistress, unlike Dorothea in everything. La Trimouille asks the Briton to admit that Dorothea is more beautiful than his lady. The proud Englishman, offended by this, proposes a duel to the Frenchman. The Englishwoman, Judith de Rosamore, watches the duel with interest, while Dorothea turns pale with fear for her chosen one. Suddenly, the robber Martinger kidnaps both beauties and disappears faster than lightning. And meanwhile the duel goes on. Finally, the duelists noticed the absence of ladies. Misfortune unites them, and two new friends go in search of lovers. Martinger has already managed to deliver the captives to his castle, a gloomy crypt. There he offers to share a bed with him. Dorothea burst into tears in response, and Judith agreed. God rewarded her with mighty hands, so, grabbing a sword hanging over the bed of a robber, she cut off his head. The beauties flee from the castle and board the ship, which rushes them to the Fragrant Rock, the haven of lovers. There they meet their valiant knights. "The brave Frenchman and the British hero, having put their dear ones on their saddles, set off along the Orleans road ... but, as you yourself understand, they remained good friends, and neither beauties nor kings could cause strife between them."

And what about our king? When he learned that Agnes had been taken prisoner, he almost lost his mind, but astrologers and sorcerers convinced him that Agnes was faithful to him and she was not in danger. Meanwhile, once in the castle belonging to the confessor of Shandos, she is persecuted by the owner. Shandos' young page, Monrose, comes to her defense. The monk engages the page and is defeated. Monrose falls passionately in love with Agnes. Soon the girl fled to the monastery, but even there she has no peace. A detachment of the British appears in the monastery, who are ordered to capture Agnes. The Britons desecrate the monastery, and Saint Denis, patron of France, instructs John to save the monastery, which is overcome by evil. John "full of courage, full of anger" and strikes the English with a holy spear. And Saint Denis turns to Saint George, the patron of England, with the words: "Why do you stubbornly want war instead of peace and quiet?"

Returned from the wanderings of La Trimoille with Dorothea. Their happiness is overshadowed, because, while protecting Dorothea from the harassment of Shandos, La Trimuille is seriously injured. And again, Dunois comes to the rescue of Dorothea: he challenges Shandos to a duel and kills him. Soon Dunois will have to fight the British, who, having learned about the feast of the French in the Orleans town hall, went on the general offensive and steadfastly hold on in battle. "Charles, Dunois the belligerent and the Maiden fly at the Britons, pale with anger." British troops, fearing an attack, hasten to leave Orleans. In the chaos of horror and disorder, the death of d'Arondel and the fearless Judith Rosamore find themselves. "Daughter of death, merciless war, robbery, which we call heroism!

Thanks to your terrible properties, the earth is in tears, in blood, ruined.

La Trimouille unexpectedly runs into Tirconel, a friend of the late Shandos, who has vowed revenge on his killer. Finding secluded lovers near the graveyard where Shandos was buried, Tyrconel becomes furious. During the duel, the unfortunate Dorothea rushes to La Trimouille, stained with blood, but he, no longer distinguishing anything, answers the Englishman's blow, piercing Dorothea's heart. The merciless Briton stands numb. On Dorothea's chest he finds two portraits. One depicts La Trimouille, the other he recognizes his own features. And he immediately remembers how, in his youth, he left Carminetta, who was waiting for a baby, giving her his portrait. There is no doubt that before him is his daughter. At the cry of the Briton, the people came running, and "if they had not arrived in time, life would probably have died out in Tyrkonel!" He sails to England and, having said goodbye to worldly life, goes to a monastery. John calls for revenge on the English for the death of the knight and Dorothea. But she is destined for another test. Terrible Griburdon and Hermaphrodite, while in hell, come up with a plan to take revenge on the Virgin. At the prompt of Satan, they send a donkey to John, in which a demon has moved in, he must seduce her, "as it was known to this dirty gang that he kept the key under his skirt from the besieged Orleans and from the fate of all of John's France." The gentle insolence of the donkey confuses the Virgin, while Dunois, who was dozing nearby, having heard a speech saturated with sweet poison, wants to know "what kind of Celadon made his way into the bedroom, which was locked tightly." Dunois has long been in love with Joanna, but hides his feelings, waiting for the end of the war. Stunned, Joanna, seeing Dunois, takes control of herself and grabs her spear. Fleeing, the demon flees.

Along the way, he comes up with a cunning plan. Once in Orleans, he inhabits the soul of the wife of the French President Louvet, who is not without reciprocity in love with the great English commander Talbot. The demon inspired the lady to let Talbot and his army into Orleans at nightfall. Madame Louvet makes an appointment with her beloved. The monk Lourdi, sent by Denis to the British, learns about the upcoming meeting and warns the king about it. Charles convenes all the military leaders and, of course, John for advice. A plan has been developed. First, Dunois comes out, "heavy was the long way he went, and is famous in history to this day. Behind him, the troops stretched across the plain towards the city wall." The astonished British, defending themselves from the swords of Joanna and her troops, fall into the hands of Dunois, while Talbot enjoyed meeting his beloved. Not doubting his other victory, he goes out to look at the conquered city. What does he see? “It’s not the Britons who are faithful to him, but the Virgin rushes on a donkey, trembling with anger ... the French are breaking through a secret passage, Tal-bot was shocked and trembled.” Talbot stands heroically to the last. The British are defeated, the jubilant France celebrates the victory.

N. B. Vinogradova

(Le Fanatisme, ou Mahomet la Prophète)

Tragedy (1742)

The plot of this tragedy by Voltaire was based on events from the life of the Arab tribes of Arabia, connected with the spread of Islam and the activities of the religious reformer Mohammed. The author wrote: “I know that Mohammed did not commit such a betrayal as the plot of my tragedy. circumstances in which these people found themselves, and, finally, to show how cruel a malicious deception can reach and what horrors fanaticism can do. Mohammed for me is nothing more than Tartuffe with a weapon in his hands. Voltaire's play takes place in Mecca around 630.

The Sheikh of Mecca, Zopir, learns of the intention of Mohammed, his worst enemy, to conquer the city. The Zopira family was exterminated by Mahomet, so he is very attached to the young Palmyra, whom he captured, whom Mohammed considers his slave and demands her return, since she grew up in Medina, a place already converted to Islam. There he is a ruler and an idol. The girl appreciates Zopyr's kindness and gentleness, but asks him to fulfill the will of the Teacher and return her to Medina. The sheikh refuses, explaining that he does not want to indulge the tyrant who has crept into the trust of Palmyra.

Senator Fanor reports to Zopyr about the appearance in the city of Omar, the commander of Mohammed, with his retinue. Omar, six years earlier, "went on a campaign to defend Mecca, and, pushing back the troops of a traitor and a thief, suddenly went over to him, not being afraid of shame." Now, on behalf of Mohammed, he offers peace, swears that this is not cunning, and as proof he agrees to give the young Seyid as a hostage. Omar comes to negotiate with Zopyr, and the sheikh reminds the envoy who his illustrious lord was ten years ago: "a simple driver, a rogue, a vagabond, an unfaithful husband, an insignificant talker, an unparalleled deceiver." Sentenced by the court to exile for rebellion, he went to live in caves and, eloquently, began to seduce the people. Without denying Mohammed's talent and mind, Zopyr notes his vindictiveness and cruelty: "the East has never known more vindictive tyrants." The military leader, having patiently listened to the sheikh, invites him to name the price for Palmyra and the world. Zopir angrily rejects this proposal, and Omar declares that he will then try to win over the senate to the side of the Prophet.

Seyid and Palmyra, who are in love, are immensely happy to meet again. When the sheikh kidnapped Palmyra, Seid could not find a place for himself from grief, but now his beloved is near and he hopes to free her. Young people believe that Mohammed will unite their two destinies into one. Meanwhile, the Prophet was approaching the gates of ancient Mecca. Omar was able to convince the senate to let into the city one who had been expelled from it by an unrighteous court. He is a tyrant for some, and a hero for others ... Revealing his secret to Omar, Mohammed admits that his calls for peace are a myth, he only wants to benefit from people's faith in a messenger of God who can stop the flames of war. His goal is to conquer Mecca and destroy Zopyr. In addition, Palmyra and Seid, despite their loyalty to Mohammed, are his enemies - so he declares to Omar. The prophet loves Palmyra and, having learned that she preferred a slave to him, he becomes furious and thinks of revenge.

The meeting between Zopyrus and Mohammed took place. The sheikh openly accuses Mohammed: "having infiltrated bribery, and flattery, and deceit, you brought misfortune to all conquered countries, and, having entered the holy city, you dare, villain, to impose on us the lies of your religion!" Mohammed is not at all embarrassed by these speeches and explains to Zopyrus that the people are now ready to worship anyone, as long as a new idol, so his hour has come, Zopyrus should not resist, but voluntarily give up power. Only one circumstance shook the Sheikh's confidence. Mohammed reports that the kidnapped children of Zopyr did not die, they were brought up among the servants of the Prophet. Now their fate depends on the prudence of the father. If Zopir surrenders the city without a fight and announces to the people that only the Koran is the only law, and Mohammed is the prophet of God, then he will gain both children and a son-in-law. But Zopyrus rejects this proposal, not wanting to give the country into slavery.

The merciless Mohammed immediately decides to kill the recalcitrant sheikh. Of all the servants, Omar advises him to choose Seid for this, since he is "a fanatic, devout, insane and blind, reverent in delight before you." In addition, Omar knows the terrible secret of Mohammed: Palmyra and Seid are the children of Zopyr, so the son is sent by the villains to parricide. Mohammed summons Seyid to him and instills in him a command, supposedly coming from Allah: "It is ordered to carry out holy vengeance and strike so that the enemy is destroyed by the blade that God has placed in your right hand." Seid is horrified, but Mohammed bribes him with a promise: "Palmyra's love would be your reward." And the young man gives up. But already holding a sword in his hand, the young man still does not understand why he should kill the helpless and unarmed old man. He sees a sheikh who starts a heartfelt conversation with him, and Seyid is unable to raise his weapon over him. Omar, who secretly observed this scene, demands Seyid immediately to Mohammed. Palmyra, finding Seyid in terrible confusion, asks to reveal the whole truth to her, and the young man tells, begging to help him sort out his torments: “Say the word to me, you are my friend, my good genius! Direct my spirit! And help me raise the sword! Explain why a bloody slaughter is necessary for a good Prophet, a father for all people?" Seid says that, according to the decision of the Prophet, their happiness with Palmyra is a reward for the blood of the unfortunate Zopyr. The girl evades advice, thereby pushing the young man to a fatal step.

Meanwhile, Gersid, one of the servants of Mohammed, who in the past kidnapped the children of Zopir and knows about their fate, appoints a meeting with the sheikh; but it did not take place, since Omar, having guessed the intention of Hersis to reveal the secret, kills him. But Gersid still manages to leave a suicide note and give it to Fanor. At this time, Zopyr goes to pray at the altar and does not skimp on cursing Mohammed. Seyid hurries to interrupt the blasphemous speech, draws his weapon and strikes. Fanor appears. He is horrified that he did not have time to prevent the murder, and tells everyone a fatal secret. Seid falls to his knees with an exclamation: "Give me back my sword! And I, cursing myself ..." Palmyra holds Seid's hand: "Let him not stick into Seid, but into me! I pushed my brother to parricide!" Zopir, mortally wounded, hugs the children: "At the hour of death, fate sent me a daughter and a son! The peaks of troubles and joys of the peak converged." The father looks at his son with hope: "The traitor will not escape execution and shame. I will be avenged."

Omar, seeing Seyid, orders the servants to capture him as the murderer of Zopyr. Only now the young man learns about the insidiousness of the Prophet. The commander hurries to Mohammed and reports on the situation in the city. Zopyrus dies, the angry people, formerly obedient in everything, grumble. Omar offers to calm the crowd with assurances that Zopir accepted death for rejecting Islam, and his cruel killer Seyid will not escape punishment for his deed. Mohammed's troops will soon be in the city - the Prophet can be sure of victory. Mohammed wonders if anyone could have given Seyid the secret of his origin, and the commander reminds him that Hersid, the only initiate, is dead. Omar admits that he poured poison into Seyid's wine, so the hour of his death is near.

Mohammed orders Palmyra to be called to him. He advises the girl to forget about her brother and promises her wealth and luxury. All her misfortunes are already behind, she is free, and he is ready to do everything for her if she is submissive to him. The girl throws with contempt and indignation: "Killer, dishonorable and bloody hypocrite, you dare to tempt me with impure glory?" She is sure that the false prophet will be exposed and retribution is not far off. The people, having learned about the murder of Zopir, take to the streets, besiege the prison, and all the townspeople rise to fight. The rebellion is led by Seid. He shouts in a frenzy that Mohammed is to blame for the death of his father, and the elemental fury of the masses is ready to fall on the villain. Suddenly exhausted from the action of the poison, Seyid staggers and falls in front of the eyes of the crowd. Taking advantage of this, Mohammed declares that it is God who punishes the unfaithful, and so it will be with everyone who encroaches on him, the great Prophet: "Anyone who dares to object to the order - even in thoughts - will be punished immediately. And if the day is for you still shines, it is because I commuted my sentence." But Palmyra exposes Mohammed, saying that her brother is dying from poison, and curses the villain. She calls Mohammed a bloody beast that deprived her of her father, mother, and brother. There is nothing else that would bind her to life, so she leaves after her loved ones. Having said this, the girl throws herself on Seid's sword and dies.

At the sight of the dying Palmyra, Mohammed for a moment succumbs to a feeling of love, but immediately suppresses this impulse of humanity in himself with the words: "I must be God - or the earthly power will collapse." And he succeeds in mastering the crowd, avoiding the exposure that was threatening with the help of a new cynical deception, a false miracle, which again throws the ignorant mass of the inhabitants of Mecca at his feet.

N. B. Vinogradova

(Zadig ou la destinee)

Oriental Tale (1748)

Dedicating his story to the Marquise de Pompadour, whom Voltaire calls the Sultana of Sheraa, the writer himself speaks under the name of the poet Saadi, a classic of Eastern literature. In the work, the author uses elements of the so popular in the XNUMXth century. travel genre, as well as the fantasy of Persian and Arabic fairy tales.

In the time of King Moabdar, there lived in Babylon a young man named Zadig. He was noble, wise, rich, had a pleasant appearance and hoped for the favor of fate. The day of his marriage to Zemira, who was considered the first bride in all of Babylon, had already been appointed. But Orkan, the nephew of one of the ministers, who is in love with Zemira, orders his servants to kidnap her. Zadig saves the girl, while he himself is seriously injured and, according to the doctor, he will have to go blind. Upon learning that Zemira had married Orkan, contemptuously declaring that she could not stand the blind, the poor young man fell unconscious. He was ill for a long time, but the doctor's prediction, fortunately, did not come true. Convinced of the fickleness of a girl brought up at court, Zadig decides to marry a "simple citizen". Azora is his new chosen one, who is destined for a funny test. Cador, Zadig's friend, informs Azora, who has been absent from the house for several days, that her mrk suddenly died and bequeathed him most of her wealth. But Cador is in severe pain, and there is only one cure - to attach the nose of the deceased to the sore spot. Azora, without hesitation, takes a razor, goes to the tomb of her husband and finds him there in good health. Zadig is forced to divorce an infidel.

Zadig seeks consolation from the misfortunes sent to him by fate in philosophy and friendship. In the morning, his library is open to all scholars, and in the evening, a select society gathers in the house. Opposite the house of the young man lives a certain Arimaz, a bilious and pompous envious person. He was annoyed by the clatter of the chariots of the guests who had come to Zadig, and the praise of the latter irritated him even more. One day, he finds in the garden a fragment of a poem composed by Zadig, in which the king is offended. Arimaz runs to the palace and denounces the young man. The king is angry and intends to execute the impudent man, but the young man speaks so elegantly, intelligently and sensibly that the lord changes his anger for mercy, gradually begins to consult with him in all his affairs, and having lost his first minister, he appoints Zadig in his place. His name thunders throughout the state, citizens sing of his justice and admire his talents. Imperceptibly, the youth and grace of the first minister made a strong impression on Queen Astarte. She is beautiful, intelligent, and her friendly disposition, tender speeches and glances, directed at Zadig against her will, kindled a flame in his heart. All the king's slaves are spying on their masters and they soon realized that Astarte was in love and Moabdar was jealous. The envious Arimaz forced his wife to send the king her garter, similar to the garter of the queen. The indignant monarch decided to poison Astarte at night, and at dawn to strangle Zadig. He orders this to the eunuch. At this time, in the king's room there is a dumb, but not deaf dwarf, who is very attached to the queen. He was horrified to hear about the planned murder and depicted an insidious plan on paper. The drawing gets to the queen, she warns Zadig and tells him to run. The young man goes to Egypt. Already approaching the borders of Egypt, he sees a man violently beating a woman. Zadig stands up for the defenseless and saves her, while injuring the offender. But unexpectedly appeared messengers from Babylon take the Egyptian with them. Our hero is at a loss. Meanwhile, according to Egyptian laws, a person who sheds the blood of his neighbor becomes a slave. And Zadig at a public auction is bought by an Arab merchant Setok. Convinced of the remarkable abilities of his new slave, the merchant soon acquires a close friend in his person. Like the king of Babylon, he cannot do without it. And the young man is happy that Setok has no wife.

One day, Zadig learns about a terrible custom in Arabia, where he finds himself with his new master. When a married man died, and his wife wanted to become a saint, she publicly burned herself on the corpse of her husband. This day was a solemn holiday and was called the "bonfire of widowhood." Zadig went to the leaders of the tribe and persuaded them to issue a law allowing widows to burn themselves only after they had spoken alone with some young man. Since then, no woman has burned herself. The priests took up arms against the young man: by repealing this law, he deprived them of their profits, since after the death of the widows, all their jewelry went to the priests.

All this time, Zadig has been haunted by disturbing thoughts about Astarte. From the Arab robber Arbogad, he learns that turmoil reigns in Babylon, Moabdar is killed, Astarte, if alive, then, most likely, fell into the concubines of the Hyrcanian prince. The young man continues his journey and meets a group of slaves, among whom he discovers the Babylonian queen. The joy of lovers knows no bounds. Astarte tells what she had to endure. Faithful Cador on the same night that Zadig disappeared, hid her in a temple inside a colossal statue. The king, suddenly hearing the voice of Astarte from the statue, lost his mind. His madness was the beginning of the turmoil. The robber Arbogad captured Astarte and sold it to merchants, so she ended up as a slave. Zadig, thanks to his resourcefulness, takes away Astarte.

The queen was greeted with enthusiasm in Babylon, the country became calmer and the Babylonians announced that Astarte would marry the one they chose as king, and this would be the bravest and wisest of the candidates. Each of those claiming the throne will have to endure four battles with spears, and then solve the riddles proposed by the magicians. Zadig's armor is white, and the white king wins the first horizontal bar with brilliance. Zadig's enemy, Itobad, tricks him into taking his armor at night, leaving Zadig his green ones. In the arena in the morning, Zadig, dressed in green armor, is showered with insulting ridicule. The young man is in disarray, he is ready to believe that cruel fate rules the world. Wandering along the banks of the Euphrates, full of despair, he meets an angel who gives him hope, insists on his return to Babylon and the continuation of the competition. Zadig easily solves all the riddles of the sages and, to the joyful roar of the crowd, reports that Itobad has stolen his armor. The young man is ready to immediately demonstrate his courage to everyone. And this time he is the winner. Zadig becomes king, husband of Astarte, and he is infinitely happy.

Setok was summoned from Arabia and put in charge of the trade department of Babylon. Faithful friend Kador was awarded according to merit. The little mute dwarf is also not forgotten. Zemira could not forgive herself for believing in Zadig's future blindness, and Azora did not cease to repent of her intention to cut off his nose. The state enjoyed peace, glory and abundance, for justice and love reigned in it.

N. B. Vinogradova

A Philosophical Tale (1752)

The heroes of the story "Micromegas" - natives of the planets Sirius and Saturn, Micromegas, a young man, an inhabitant of the star Sirius, by the age of 450 - on the verge of adolescence - took up anatomical research and wrote a book. The mufti of his country, an idler and an ignoramus, found suspicious, impudent, heretical provisions in this work and began to furiously persecute the scientist. He declared the book banned, and the author was ordered not to appear at court for 800 years. Micromegas was not particularly upset by the fact that he was removed from the court, vegetating in baseness and bustle, and went to travel the planets. He traveled all over the Milky Way and ended up on the planet Saturn. The inhabitants of this country were mere dwarfs in comparison with Micromegas, whose height was 120 feet. He became close to the Saturnians after they stopped being surprised by him. The secretary of the Saturn Academy, a man of great intelligence, skillfully expounding the essence of other people's inventions, made friends with the stranger, who explained to him that the purpose of his journey was to search for knowledge that could enlighten him. “Tell me how many sense organs the people of your planet have,” the traveler asked. - We have seventy-two of them, - answered the academician, - and we constantly complain that this is too little. - We are endowed with about a thousand senses, and yet we always have a concern that we are insignificant and there are beings that surpass us, - Micromegas remarked. - How long do you live? was his next question. - alas, we live very little, only fifteen thousand years. Our existence is nothing more than a point, our age is a moment. As soon as you begin to know the world, how, even before experience comes, death appears. “It’s just like ours,” the giant sighed. “If you were not a philosopher,” he continued, “I would be afraid to upset you by saying that our life is seven hundred times longer than yours; but when death comes, whether you have lived an eternity or one day, it makes absolutely no difference. After telling each other little of what they knew and much of what they did not know, both came to the decision to take a little philosophical journey.

After spending a whole year on Jupiter and learning during this time many interesting secrets that would have been published in print, if not for the gentlemen of the inquisitors, they caught up with Mars. Our friends continued on their way and reached Earth on the northern coast of the Baltic Sea on July 1737, XNUMX. They wanted to get to know the little country they had entered. First they went from north to south. Since the foreigners were moving rather quickly, they went around the whole earth in thirty-six hours. They soon returned to where they came from, passing through the sea, almost imperceptible to their eyes and called the Mediterranean, and through another small pool, the Great Ocean. This ocean was knee-deep to the dwarf, and Micromegas only dipped his heel in it. They argued for a long time whether this planet was habitable. And only when Micromegas, heated up in a dispute, tore his diamond necklace, the Saturnian, bringing several stones to his eyes, discovered that they were magnificent microscopes. With their help, travelers discovered a whale, as well as a ship on board which were scientists returning from an expedition. Micromegas grabbed the ship and deftly placed it on his fingernail. Passengers and crew at that moment considered themselves carried away by a hurricane and thrown onto a rock, panic began. The microscope, which barely made it possible to distinguish between a whale and a ship, was powerless to view such an inconspicuous creature as a man. But Micromegas finally made out some strange figures. These unfamiliar creatures moved, talked. In order to speak, one must think, and if they think, they must have some semblance of a soul. But to attribute a soul to such insects seemed to Micromegas absurd. Meanwhile, they heard that the speech of these boogers is quite reasonable, and this game of nature seemed inexplicable to them. Then the Saturnian, who had a softer voice, with the help of a horn made from a trimmed nail of Micromegas, briefly explained to the earthlings who they were. In turn, he asked if they had always been in such a miserable state, close to non-existence, what they were doing on a planet whose owners, apparently, were whales, were they happy, did they have a soul, and asked many more such questions. . Then the most talkative and courageous of this company, offended by the fact that they doubted the existence of his soul, exclaimed: “Do you imagine, sir, that, having from head to toe a thousand tuazes (toise is about two meters), you can ...” He did not have time to finish the sentence, as the astonished Saturnian interrupted him: "A thousand tuazes! How do you know my height?" - "I have measured you and I can measure your huge satellite," replied the scientist. When the growth of Micromegas was correctly named, our travelers were literally dumbfounded.

Coming to his senses, Micromegas concluded: "You, having so little matter, and being, apparently, quite spiritual, should lead your life in love and peace. I have not seen real happiness anywhere, but here it undoubtedly lives." One of the philosophers objected to him: “We have more matter in us than is needed in order to do much evil. Do you know, for example, that at this very time when I am talking to you, a hundred thousand madmen of our kind wearing hats on their heads , kill or allow themselves to be killed by a hundred thousand other animals that cover their heads with a turban; and that this has been done almost all over the earth since time immemorial. Micromegas, full of indignation, exclaimed that he had a desire to crush this anthill inhabited by miserable killers with three heel bolts. "Don't work," he was told. "They themselves are working hard enough on their own destruction. Besides, it is not necessary to punish everyone, but the inhuman Sidneys who do not come out of their offices, give orders to kill millions of people during the hours of digestion." Then the traveler felt compassion for the small human race, which showed such amazing contrasts. He promised to compose for earthlings an excellent philosophical book that would explain to them the meaning of all things. He really gave them this essay before his departure, and this volume was sent to Paris, to the Academy of Sciences. But when the secretary opened it, he found nothing but blank paper. "I thought so," he said.

N. B. Vinogradova

Tale (1759)

Candide, a pure and sincere young man, is brought up in a poor castle of a poor but vain Westphalian baron along with his son and daughter. Their home tutor, Dr. Pangloss, a homegrown metaphysical philosopher, taught the children that they lived in the best of all possible worlds, where everything had cause and effect and events tend to happy endings.

Candide's misfortunes and his incredible journeys begin when he is expelled from the castle for being infatuated with the baron's beautiful daughter, Cunegonde.

In order not to die of hunger, Candide is recruited into the Bulgarian army, where he is whipped to a pulp. He narrowly escapes death in a terrible battle and flees to Holland. There he meets his philosophy teacher, who is dying of syphilis. He is treated out of mercy, and he conveys the terrible news to Candide about the extermination of the baron's family by the Bulgarians. Candide for the first time questions the optimistic philosophy of his teacher, so shocking is his experienced and terrible news.

Friends sail to Portugal, and as soon as they step ashore, a terrible earthquake begins. Wounded, they fall into the hands of the Inquisition for preaching about the need for free will for man, and the philosopher must be burned at the stake in order to help calm the earthquake. Candida is whipped and left to die in the street. An unfamiliar old woman picks him up, nurses him and invites him to a luxurious palace, where he is met by his beloved Cunegonde. It turned out that she miraculously survived and was resold by the Bulgarians to a wealthy Portuguese Jew, who was forced to share her with the Grand Inquisitor himself. Suddenly, a Jew, the owner of Cunegonde, appears at the door. Candide kills him first, and then the Grand Inquisitor. All three decide to run away, but on the way, a monk steals from Cunegonde the jewels given to her by the Grand Inquisitor. They barely make it to the port and there they board a ship bound for Buenos Aires. There, they first look for the governor to get married, but the governor decides that such a beautiful girl should belong to him, and makes her an offer, which she is not averse to accepting. At the same moment, the old woman sees through the window how the monk who robbed them descends from the ship that has approached the harbor and tries to sell the jewelry to the jeweler, but he recognizes them as the property of the Grand Inquisitor. Already on the gallows, the thief confesses to the theft and describes our heroes in detail. Candide's servant Kakambo persuades him to run away immediately, believing, not without reason, that the women will somehow get out. They go to the possessions of the Jesuits in Paraguay, who in Europe profess Christian kings, and here they are winning land from them. In the so-called father, Colonel, Candide recognizes the baron, brother of Cunegonde. He also miraculously survived after the massacre in the castle and, by a whim of fate, ended up among the Jesuits. Having learned about Candide's desire to marry his sister, the baron tries to kill the low-born insolent, but he himself falls wounded. Candide and Cacambo flee and are captured by wild oreylons, who, thinking that their friends are servants of the Jesuits, are going to eat them. Candide proves that he has just killed the colonel's father, and again escapes death. So life once again confirmed the correctness of Kakambo, who believed that a crime in one world could be beneficial in another.

On the way from the oreylons, Candide and Cacambo, having gone astray, fall into the legendary land of Eldorado, about which wonderful tales circulated in Europe, that gold is valued there no more than sand. El Dorado was surrounded by impregnable rocks, so no one could penetrate there, and the inhabitants themselves never left their country.

Thus, they retained their original moral purity and bliss. Everyone seemed to live in contentment and gaiety; people worked peacefully, there were no prisons or crimes in the country. In prayers, no one begged for blessings from the Almighty, but only thanked Him for what he already had. No one acted under compulsion: there was no tendency to tyranny either in the state or in the characters of the people. When meeting with the monarch of the country, guests usually kissed him on both cheeks. The king persuades Candide to stay in his country, because it is better to live where you like. But friends really wanted to appear rich people in their homeland, and also to connect with Cunegonde. The king, at their request, gives his friends a hundred sheep loaded with gold and gems. An amazing machine takes them over the mountains, and they leave the blessed land, where in fact everything happens for the best, and which they will always regret.

As they move from the borders of El Dorado towards the city of Suriname, all but two of the sheep die. In Suriname, they learn that in Buenos Aires they are still wanted for the murder of the Grand Inquisitor, and Cunegonda has become the governor's favorite concubine. Almost all of his treasures are stolen by a fraudulent merchant, and the judge still punishes him with a fine. After these incidents, the baseness of the human soul once again plunges Candide into horror. Therefore, the young man decides to choose the most unfortunate, offended by fate person as his fellow travelers. As such, he considered Martin, who, after the troubles experienced, became a deep pessimist. Together they sail to France, and on the way Martin convinces Candide that it is in the nature of man to lie, kill and betray his neighbor, and everywhere people are equally unhappy and suffer from injustices.

In Paris, Candide gets acquainted with local customs and customs. Both disappoint him greatly, and Martin only grows stronger in the philosophy of pessimism. Candide is immediately surrounded by scammers, who use flattery and deceit to extract money from him. At the same time, everyone uses the incredible gullibility of the young man, which he retained, despite all the misfortunes. He tells one rogue about his love for the beautiful Cunegonde and his plan to meet her in Venice. In response to his sweet frankness, a trap is set up for Candide, he is threatened with a prison, but, having bribed the guards, his friends are saved on a ship sailing to England. On the English coast, they observe a completely senseless execution of an innocent admiral.

From England, Candide finally ends up in Venice, thinking only of a meeting with the beloved Cunegonde. But there he finds not her, but a new example of human sorrows - a maid from his native castle. Her life leads to prostitution, and Candide wants to help her with money, although the philosopher Martin predicts that nothing will come of it. As a result, they meet her in an even more disastrous state. The realization that suffering is inevitable for everyone makes Candide look for a person who is alien to sadness. One noble Venetian was considered such. But, having visited this person, Candide is convinced that happiness for him is in criticism and dissatisfaction with others, as well as in the denial of any beauty. Finally, he finds his Kakambo in the most miserable position. He tells that, having paid a huge ransom for Cunegonde, they were attacked by pirates, and they sold Cunegonde into service in Constantinople. Even worse, she lost all her beauty. Candide decides that, as a man of honor, he must still find his beloved, and travels to Constantinople. But on the ship, among the slaves, he recognizes Dr. Pangloss and the baron himself stabbed to death. They miraculously escaped death, and fate in difficult ways brought them together as slaves on a ship. Candide immediately ransoms them and gives the rest of the money for Cunegonde, the old woman and a small farm.

Although Cunegonde became very ugly, she insisted on marrying Candide. The small community had no choice but to live and work on a farm. Life was truly painful. Nobody wanted to work, the boredom was terrible, and all that remained was to philosophize endlessly. They argued which was preferable: to subject themselves to as many terrible trials and vicissitudes of fate as those they experienced, or to doom themselves to the terrible boredom of an inactive life. Nobody knew a good answer. Pangloss lost faith in optimism, Martin, on the contrary, became convinced that people everywhere were equally bad, and endured difficulties with humility. But now they meet a man who lives a closed life on his farm and is quite content with his fate. He says that any ambition and pride are disastrous and sinful, and that only labor, for which all people were created, can save from the greatest evil: boredom, vice and need. To work in his garden, not idle talk, so Candide makes a saving decision. The community works hard, and the earth rewards them handsomely. “You need to cultivate your garden,” Candide never tires of reminding them.

A. A. Friedrich

Tale (1767)

On a July evening in 1689, the Abbé de Kerkabon was walking with his sister along the seashore in his little priory in Lower Brittany and meditating on the bitter fate of his brother and his wife, who twenty years ago had sailed from that same coast to Canada and disappeared there forever. At this moment, a ship approaches the bay and disembarks a young man in the clothes of an Indian, who introduces himself as the Innocent, because his English friends called him so for sincerity and unfailing honesty. He impresses the venerable prior with courtesy and sanity, and is invited to dinner at the house, where the Innocent is introduced to the local society. The next day, wanting to thank his hosts for their hospitality, the young man gives them a talisman: portraits of unknown people tied on a cord, in which the prior with excitement recognizes his brother-captain and his wife who disappeared in Canada. The simple-hearted did not know his parents, and he was raised by the Huron Indians. Having found a loving uncle and aunt in the person of the prior and his sister, the young man settles in their house.

First of all, the good prior and his neighbors decide to christen the Innocent. But first it was necessary to enlighten him, since it is impossible to convert an adult person to a new religion without his knowledge. The simple-hearted reads the Bible, and thanks to natural understanding, and also to the fact that his childhood was not burdened with trifles and absurdities, his brains perceived all objects in an undistorted form. Godmother, according to the desire of the Innocent, was invited by the charming Mademoiselle de Saint-Yves, the sister of their neighbor, the abbot. However, the sacrament was suddenly threatened, because the young man was sincerely sure that it was possible to be baptized only in the river, following the example of the characters in the Bible. Uncorrupted by convention, he refused to admit that the fashion for baptism could change. With the help of the lovely Sainte-Yves, the Innocent was still persuaded to be baptized in the font. In a tender conversation that followed the baptism, the Innocent and Mademoiselle de Saint-Yves confess their mutual love, and the young man decides to marry immediately. The good-natured girl had to explain that the rules required permission for the marriage of their relatives, and the Innocent considered this another absurdity: why the happiness of his life should depend on his aunt. But the venerable prior announced to his nephew that, according to divine and human laws, marrying a godmother is a terrible sin. The simple-hearted objected that the Holy Book says nothing about such stupidity, as well as about many other things that he observed in his new homeland. Nor could he understand why a pope living four hundred leagues away and speaking a foreign language should allow him to marry the girl he loved. He swore to marry her on the same day, which he tried to carry out by breaking into her room and invoking her promise and his natural right. They began to prove to him that if there were no contractual relations between people, natural law would turn into natural robbery. We need notaries, priests, witnesses, contracts. The simple-minded object that only dishonest people need such precautions among themselves. They reassure him by saying that it was just honest and enlightened people who came up with the laws, and the better a person is, the more humbly he must obey them in order to set an example for the vicious. At this time, the relatives of Saint-Yves decide to hide her in a monastery in order to marry her to an unloved person, from which the Innocent comes to despair and rage.

In gloomy despondency, the Innocent wanders along the shore, when he suddenly sees a French detachment retreating in panic. It turned out that the English squadron treacherously landed and was going to attack the town. He valiantly rushes at the British, wounds the admiral and inspires the French soldiers to victory. The town was saved, and the Innocent was glorified. In the rapture of battle, he decides to storm the monastery and rescue his bride. He is restrained from this and given advice to go to Versailles to the king, and there to receive a reward for saving the province from the British. After such an honor, no one will be able to prevent him from marrying Mademoiselle de Saint-Yves.

The path of the Innocent to Versailles leads through a small town of Protestants who have just lost all rights after the repeal of the Edict of Nantes and were forcibly converted to Catholicism. The inhabitants leave the city in tears, and the Innocent tries to understand the reason for their misfortunes: why the great king follows the Pope and deprives himself of six hundred thousand loyal citizens to please the Vatican. The simple-hearted is convinced that the intrigues of the Jesuits and unworthy advisers who surrounded the king are to blame. How else could he indulge the pope, his open enemy? The simple-minded promises the inhabitants that, having met the king, he will reveal the truth to him, and having learned the truth, according to the young man, one cannot help but follow it. Unfortunately for him, a disguised Jesuit was present at the table during the conversation, who was a detective with the king's confessor, Father Lachaise, the main persecutor of poor Protestants. The detective scribbled the letter, and the Innocent One arrived at Versailles almost at the same time as this letter.

The naive young man sincerely believed that upon arrival he would immediately be able to see the king, tell him about his merits, get permission to marry Saint-Yves and open his eyes to the position of the Huguenots. But with difficulty, Innocent manages to get an appointment with one court official, who tells him that at best he can buy the rank of lieutenant. The young man is outraged that he still has to pay for the right to risk his life and fight, and promises to complain about the stupid official to the king. The official decides that the Innocent is out of his mind, and does not attach any importance to his words. On this day, Father Lachaise receives letters from his detective and relatives, Mademoiselle Saint-Yves, where the Innocent is called a dangerous troublemaker who incited to burn monasteries and steal girls. At night, the soldiers attack the sleeping young man and, despite his resistance, are taken to the Bastille, where they are thrown into prison to the imprisoned Jansenist philosopher.

The kindest father Gordon, who later brought so much light and comfort to our hero, was imprisoned without trial for refusing to recognize the pope as the unlimited ruler of France. The old man had great knowledge, and the young man had a great desire to acquire knowledge. Their conversations become more instructive and entertaining, while the naivete and common sense of the Innocent confound the old philosopher. He reads historical books, and history seems to him a continuous chain of crimes and misfortunes. After reading "The Search for Truth" by Malebranche, he decides that everything that exists is the wheels of a huge mechanism, the soul of which is God. God was the cause of both sin and grace. the mind of a young man is strengthened, he masters mathematics, physics, geometry, and at every step he expresses quick wits and a sound mind. He writes down his reasoning, which horrifies the old philosopher. Looking at the Innocent, it seems to Gordon that for half a century of his education he only strengthened prejudices, and the naive young man, heeding only one simple voice of nature, was able to come much closer to the truth. Free from deceptive notions, he proclaims the freedom of man as his main right. He condemns the Gordon sect, suffering and persecuted because of disputes not about the truth, but dark delusions, because God has already given all the important truths to people. Gordon understands that he doomed himself to misfortune for the sake of some nonsense, and the Innocent does not find wise those who subject themselves to persecution because of empty scholastic disputes. Thanks to the outpourings of a young man in love, the stern philosopher learned to see in love a noble and tender feeling that can elevate the soul and give rise to virtue.

At this time, the beautiful beloved of the Innocent decides to go to Versailles in search of her beloved. She is let out of the convent to be married off, and slips away on the day of the wedding. Once in the royal residence, the poor beauty, in complete confusion, tries to get an appointment with various high-ranking persons, and finally she manages to find out that the Innocent is imprisoned in the Bastille. The official who revealed this to her says with pity that he does not have the power to do good, and he cannot help her. But here is the assistant of the all-powerful minister, M. de Saint-Poinge, who does both good and evil. The favored Sainte-Yves hurries to Sainte-Poinge, who, fascinated by the beauty of the girl, hints that at the cost of her honor she could cancel the order to arrest the Innocent. Friends also push her for the sake of a sacred duty to sacrifice women's honor. Virtue forces her to fall. At the cost of shame, she frees her lover, but exhausted by the consciousness of her sin, the tender Saint-Yves cannot survive the fall, and, seized with a deadly fever, dies in the arms of the Innocent. At this moment, Saint-Puange himself appears, and in a fit of repentance he swears to make amends for the misfortune caused.

Time softens everything. The simple-hearted became an excellent officer and honored the memory of the beautiful Sainte-Yves until the end of his life.

A. A. Friedrich

(Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescout)

Tale (1731)

The action of the story takes place in the Regency era (1715-1723), when the mores of French society were characterized by extreme liberty. Under the cheerful and frivolous regent Philip of Orleans in France, a reaction immediately began to the "lean" spirit that reigned under the aged king. French society breathed more freely and gave vent to the thirst for life, fun, pleasure. In his work, Abbé Prevost interprets the theme of fatal, all-consuming love.

By the will of the writer, the story is told on behalf of the Chevalier de Grieux. At the age of seventeen, the young man completes a course in philosophical sciences in Amiens. Due to his origin (his parents belong to one of the most noble families of P.), brilliant abilities and attractive appearance, he wins people over and acquires a true devoted friend in the seminary - Tiberzh, who is several years older than our hero. Coming from a poor family, Tiberge is forced to take the clergy and stay in Amiens to study theological sciences. Des Grieux, having passed the exams with honors, was going to return to his father in order to continue his studies at the Academy. But fate decreed otherwise. On the eve of parting with the city and saying goodbye to a friend, the young man meets a beautiful stranger on the street and starts a conversation with her. It turns out that the girl's parents decided to send her to a monastery in order to curb her penchant for pleasure, so she is looking for a way to regain her freedom and will be grateful to someone who will help her with this. Des Grieux is overcome by the charm of a stranger and readily offers his services. After some thought, the young people find no other way but to escape. The plan is simple: they have to deceive the vigilance of the escort assigned to watch Manon Lescaut (that is the name of the stranger), and go straight to Paris, where, at the request of both lovers, the wedding will take place immediately. Tiberzh, initiated into the secret of his friend, does not approve of his intentions and tries to stop de Grieux, but it is too late: the young man is in love and is ready for the most decisive action. Early in the morning, he delivers a carriage to the hotel where Manon is staying, and the fugitives leave the city. The desire to get married was forgotten in Saint-Denis, where the lovers broke the laws of the church and became spouses without any hesitation.

In Paris, our heroes rent furnished rooms, de Grieux, full of passion, and forgot to think about how upset his father was by his absence. But one day, returning home earlier than usual, de Grieux finds out about Manon's betrayal. The well-known tax-farmer, Monsieur de B., who lived next door, is probably not the first time he has paid a visit to the girl in his absence. The shocked young man, barely recovering, hears a knock on the door, opens it and falls into the arms of his father's lackeys, who are ordered to bring the prodigal son home. In the carriage, the poor fellow is lost in conjectures: who betrayed him, how did his father know where he was? At home, his father tells him that Mr. de B ... having made a close acquaintance with Manon and finding out who her lover is, decides to get rid of his rival and in a letter to his father informs about the dissolute lifestyle of the young man, making it clear that drastic measures are needed. Thus Mr. B ... renders Father de Grie a perfidious and selfless service. Cavalier de Grieux loses consciousness from what he heard, and when he wakes up, he begs his father to let him go to Paris to his beloved, since it cannot be that Manon cheated on him and gave her heart to another. But for half a year the young man has to spend under the strict supervision of the servants, while the father, seeing his son in continuous anguish, supplies him with books that help a little to calm the rebellious soul. All the feelings of a lover come down to the alternation of hatred and love, hope and despair - depending on the form in which the image of his beloved is drawn to him. One day, Tiberzh visits a friend, deftly flatters his good disposition and inclines him to the idea of ​​renouncing worldly pleasures and taking the tonsure. Friends go to Paris, and de Grie begins to study theology. He shows extraordinary zeal, and soon he is already congratulated on his future dignity. In Paris, our hero spent about a year, not trying to find out anything about Manon; it was difficult at first, but Tiberzh's constant support and his own reflections contributed to the victory over himself. The last months of study proceeded so calmly that it seemed that a little more - and this captivating and insidious creature would be forever forgotten. But after the exam at the Sorbonne, "covered with glory and showered with congratulations," de Grie unexpectedly visits Manon. The girl was in her eighteenth year, she became even more dazzling in her beauty. She begs to forgive her and return her love, without which life is meaningless. Touching repentance and oaths of fidelity softened the heart of de Grieux, who immediately forgot about his life plans, about the desire for fame, wealth - in a word, about all the blessings worthy of contempt if they are not associated with his beloved.

Our hero again follows Manon, and now Chaillot, a village near Paris, becomes the haven of lovers. For two years of communication with B ... Manon managed to extract from him about sixty thousand francs, on which young people intend to live comfortably for several years. This is the only source of their existence, since the girl is not from a noble family and she has nowhere else to wait for money, de Grie does not rely on her father's support, since he cannot forgive him for his relationship with Manon. Trouble comes suddenly: a house in Chaillot burned down, and a chest with money disappeared during the fire. Poverty is the least of the trials that await de Grieux. Manon cannot be counted on in trouble: she loves luxury and pleasure too much to sacrifice them. Therefore, in order not to lose his beloved, he decides to hide the loss of money from her and borrow it from Tiberzh for the first time. A devoted friend encourages and consoles our hero, insists on a break with Manon and without hesitation, although he himself is not rich, gives de Grie the necessary amount of money.

Manon introduces her lover to his brother, who serves in the king's guard, and M. Lesko persuades de Grieux to try his luck at the gambling table, promising, for his part, to teach him all the necessary tricks and tricks. With all his aversion to deceit, cruel necessity forces the young man to agree. Exceptional dexterity so quickly increased his fortune that after two months a furnished house was rented in Paris and a carefree, magnificent life began. Tiberzh, constantly visiting his friend, tries to reason with him and warn him against new misfortunes, as he is sure that dishonestly acquired wealth will soon disappear without a trace. Tiberzh's fears were not in vain. The servants, from whom income was not hidden, took advantage of the gullibility of the owners and robbed them. The ruin leads the lovers to despair, but the proposal of brother Manon inspires de Grie with even greater horror. He talks about Mr. de G ... M ... an old voluptuary who pays for his pleasures, sparing no money, and Lesko advises his sister to come to his support. But the cunning Manon comes up with a more interesting enrichment option. The old red tape invites the girl to dinner, where he promises to give her half of the annual allowance. The charm asks if she can bring her younger brother to dinner (meaning de Grieux), and, having received consent, rejoices. As soon as at the end of the evening, having already handed over the money, the old man spoke of his love impatience, the girl with her "brother" was blown away like the wind. M. de G... M... realized that he had been duped and had both swindlers arrested.

Des Grieux found himself in the prison of Saint-Lazare, where he suffers terribly from humiliation; for a whole week the young man is unable to think of anything but his dishonor and the disgrace he has brought upon the whole family. Manon's absence, anxiety about her fate, fear of never seeing her again were the main subject of the prisoner's sad thoughts in the future. prisons. With the assistance of Mr. Lesko, our hero is free and begins to look for ways to free his beloved. Pretending to be a foreigner, he asks the gatekeeper of the Shelter about the local order, and also asks to characterize the authorities. Upon learning that the boss has an adult son, de Grie meets with him and, hoping for his support, tells bluntly the whole story of his relationship with Manon. M. de T... is touched by the frankness and sincerity of the stranger, but the only thing he can do for him so far is to give the pleasure of seeing the girl; everything else is out of his control. The joy of meeting lovers who have experienced a three-month separation, their endless tenderness for each other touched the servant of the Shelter, and he wished to help the unfortunate. After consulting with de T. about the details of the escape, de Grieux releases Manon the next day, and the shelter guard remains in his servants.

On the same night, Manon's brother dies. He robbed one of his friends at the card table, and he asked to lend him half of the lost amount. The quarrel that arose on this occasion turned into a fierce quarrel and subsequently into a murder. The young arrive at Chaillot. Des Grieux is preoccupied with finding a way out of lack of money, and in front of Manon he pretends that he is not constrained by means. The young man arrives in Paris and once again asks for money from Tiberzh, And, of course, receives them. From a devoted friend, de Grieux went to Mr. T., who was very pleased with the guest and told him the continuation of the story of Manon's abduction. Everyone was amazed to learn that such a beauty decided to run away with the orphanage minister. But what won't you do for freedom! So de Grieux is beyond suspicion and he has nothing to fear. M. de T., having learned the whereabouts of the lovers, often visits them, and friendship with him grows stronger day by day.

One day, young G. M. arrives in Chaillot, the son of his worst enemy, that old debauchee who imprisoned our heroes. M. de T. assured de Grieux, who was already drawing his sword, that he was a very nice, noble youth. But later de Grieux is convinced of the opposite. G. M. Jr. falls in love with Manon and invites her to leave her lover and live with him in luxury and contentment. The son surpasses the generosity of his father, and, unable to withstand the temptation, Manon surrenders and moves to live with G. M. De T., shocked by the deceit of his friend, advises de Grie to take revenge on him. Our hero asks the guardsmen to arrest G.M. in the evening on the street and keep him until the morning, while he himself indulges in pleasures with Manon in the vacated bed. But the footman who accompanied G. M. informs the old man G. M. about what happened. He immediately turns to the police, and the lovers again find themselves in prison. Father de Grieux seeks the release of his son, and Manon expects either life imprisonment or exile in America. Des Grieux begs his father to do something to reduce the sentence, but is rebuffed. The young man does not care where to live, if only with Manon, and he goes with the exiles to New Orleans. Life in the colony is miserable, but our heroes only here find peace of mind and turn their thoughts to religion. Deciding to get married, they confess to the governor that they used to deceive everyone, introducing themselves as spouses. To this, the governor replies that the girl should marry his nephew, who has long been in love with her. De Grieux wounds his opponent in a duel and, fearing the governor's revenge, flees the city. Manon follows him. On the way, the girl falls ill. Rapid breathing, convulsions, pallor - all testified that the end of her suffering was near. At the moment of death, she speaks of her love for de Grieux.

For three months the young man was bedridden with a serious illness, his disgust for life did not weaken, he constantly called for death. But still, the healing came. Tiberg appears in New Orleans. A devoted friend takes de Grieux to France, where he learns of his father's death. The expected meeting with his brother completes the story.

N. B. Vinogradova

(Les Egarements du coeur et de l'esprit, ou Mémoires de M. de Meilcour)

Roman (1736)

Seventeen-year-old Melkur entered into the world, "possessing everything that is required, so as not to go unnoticed." From his father he inherited a beautiful name, from his mother a great fortune awaited him. The time was peaceful, and Melkur thought of nothing but pleasure. Amidst the hustle and bustle, the young man suffered from heart emptiness and dreamed of experiencing love, of which he had only the most vague idea. Naive and inexperienced, Melkur did not know how love affairs are tied up in the highest circle. On the one hand, he had a rather high opinion of himself, on the other, he believed that only an outstanding person could have success with women, and did not hope to earn their favor. Melkur began to think more and more about his mother's friend the Marquise de Lurce and convinced himself that he was in love with her. Once the marquise was known as a coquette and even an anemone, but later she adopted a strict and virtuous tone, so Melkur, who did not know about her past, considered her impregnable. The marquise easily guessed Melkur's feelings and was ready to answer them, but the timid and respectful young man behaved so hesitantly that she could not do this without risking losing her dignity. Left alone with Melkur, she cast tender glances at him and advised him to keep at ease, but he did not understand the hints, and decency and fear of losing Melkur's respect prevented the marchioness from taking the first decisive step. So more than two months passed. Finally, the marquise got tired of waiting and decided to hurry things up. She began to ask Melkur who he was in love with, but the young man, not hoping for reciprocity, did not want to reveal his secret. The marquise stubbornly sought recognition, and in the end Melkur declared his love to her. The marquise was afraid that too easy a victory would cool the young man's ardor, he was also afraid of insulting her with his harassment. So they, both desiring the same thing, could not come to the cherished goal. Annoyed at the severity of the marquise, Melkur went to the theater, where he saw a girl who struck him with her beauty. The Marquis de Germeil, a young man of pleasant appearance, who enjoyed universal respect, entered the box of a beautiful stranger, and Melkur felt jealous. After that, for two days he looked everywhere for a stranger, went around all the theaters and gardens, but in vain - he did not meet either her or Germeil anywhere.

Although Melkur had not seen the Marquise de Lurce for three days, he did not miss her very much. At first he thought about how he could win one and at the same time not lose the other, but since the invincible virtue of the marchioness made all further attempts hopeless, he, on sound reflection, decided to give his heart to the one that pleased him more. The marquise, seeing that the unlucky admirer did not show his nose and did not resume his attempts to win her heart, was alarmed. She went on a visit to Madame de Melcourt and seized the opportunity to demand an explanation from the young man. The marquise reproached him for avoiding her and rejecting her friendship. Melkur tried to justify himself. Carried away by circumstances, he began to reassure the marquise of his love and asked permission to hope that her heart would someday soften. The marquise, no longer relying on the ingenuity of Melkur, more and more clearly showed him her disposition. The young man should have asked for a date, but shyness and insecurity got in the way. Then the marquise came to his aid and said that tomorrow afternoon she would be at home and could receive him. The next morning, Melkur went to Germeil, hoping to find out something about the stranger, but Germeil had already left the city for several days. Melkur went to the Tuileries Garden, where by chance he met two ladies, one of whom was a beautiful stranger. Melkur managed to overhear the conversation of the ladies, from which he found out that his chosen one liked an unfamiliar young man in the theater. Melkur did not believe that it could be himself, and was tormented by jealousy for the stranger.

In the evening, Melkur went to Madame de Lurce, who waited in vain for him all day. When Melkur saw the marquise, the extinguished feelings flared up in his soul with renewed vigor. The marquise felt her victory. Melkur wanted to hear from her a declaration of love, but there were guests in the house, and he could not talk to her alone. He imagined that he had conquered a heart that had hitherto not known love, and was very proud of himself. Later, reflecting on this first experience, Melkur came to the conclusion that it is more important for a woman to flatter a man's pride than to touch his heart. The guests of the marquise parted, and Melkur lingered, supposedly waiting for a late carriage. Left alone with the Marquise, he felt such an attack of fear, which he had not experienced in his whole life. He was seized with indescribable excitement, his voice trembled, his hands did not obey. The marquise confessed her love to him, and he, in response, fell at her feet and began to assure her of his ardent feelings. He did not understand that she was ready to give herself to him, and was afraid of excessive liberty to push her away from him. The frustrated Marquise had no choice but to ask him to leave.

When Melkur came to his senses and recovered from his embarrassment, he realized the absurdity of his behavior, but it was too late. He decided to be more assertive the next time he met. The next day the Comte de Versaac paid a visit to Melkur's mother. Madame de Melcourt did not like the count and considered his influence harmful to her son. Melkur admired Versace and regarded him as a role model. Versac was an impudent rake, he deceived and ridiculed women, but his charming impudence did not turn them away, but, on the contrary, captivated them. He won many victories and acquired many imitators, but, lacking the charm of Versac, they copied only his shortcomings, adding them to their own. Versac, right from the doorway, began to slander caustically about a variety of people. He did not spare the Marquis de Lurce either, telling Melkur some details of her past life. Melkur felt betrayed. The immaculate goddess was no better than other women. He went to the Marquise "with the intention of repaying her with the most insulting signs of contempt for the absurd notion of her virtue," which she managed to instill in him. Much to his surprise, he saw Versac's carriage in the Marchesa's courtyard. Versace and the marquise talked like best friends, but after his departure, the marquise called him the most dangerous veil, the most nasty gossip and the most dangerous scoundrel at court. Melkur, who no longer believed a single word of the marquise, behaved so cheekily and began to harass her so rudely that she was offended.

While they were sorting things out, the footman announced the arrival of Madame and Mademoiselle de Teville. Melkur had heard the name: Madame de Teville was related to his mother, but lived in the provinces, so he never saw her. What was the surprise of the young man when he recognized Mademoiselle de Teville as his beautiful stranger! It seemed to Melkur that Hortense - that was the name of the girl - reacted to him with indifference and even with disdain. This thought grieved him, but did not cure him of love. When the footman announced the arrival of another guest - Madame de Senange - Melkur paid almost no attention to her, but Madame de Senange was very interested in the youth entering the world. She was one of those philosophical ladies who think they are above prejudice, when in fact they are below all morality. She was not young, but retained the remnants of her former beauty. She immediately took it into her head that she should take care of educating Melkur and "shaping" him - this fashionable expression included many concepts that could not be precisely defined. Melkur, on the other hand, was embarrassed by her cheeky manners and considered her an elderly coquette.

In the evening, Versac appeared, accompanied by the Marquis de Pranzy, whose presence clearly embarrassed the Marquis de Lurce - apparently, Pranzy had once been her lover. Versac took notice of Hortense and tried his best to please her, but the girl remained cold. Versac did everything to turn those present against each other. He whispered to the marquise that Madame de Senange wanted to take possession of the heart of Melkur, and the marquise was tormented by jealousy. At dinner, the guests exhausted their supply of new gossip. When they got up from the table, the Marchioness offered to play cards. Melcour promised to send Madame de Senange the satirical verses she liked, but Versaac said that it would be more courteous not to send, but to bring them, and Melkur had no choice but to promise Madame Senange to deliver them personally. Versac was obviously glad that he had managed to annoy the marchioness. Madame de Lurce asked Melcour to pick her up tomorrow afternoon, so that they could go together to Madame de Teville. Melkur agreed with delight, thinking only of Hortense.

Coming the next day to the Marquise, Melcour, completely disillusioned with her after he learned of her former weakness for Monsieur de Pranzy, behaved with her so indifferently that the Marquise suspected him of a serious passion for Madame de Senange. The Marquise de Lurce denounced his choice and tried to reason with him. Melkur only thought about how he could see Hortense more often. Arriving at Madame de Teville, Melkur spoke to the girl and was ready to believe in her disposition towards him, but then the Marquis de Germeil came, and Melkur began to think that Hortense was in love with the Marquis. Melkur was seized with such melancholy that he turned pale and changed countenance. The marquise attributed Melkur's melancholy expression to thoughts of Madame de Senange, and by incessant conversations about her irritated the young man. Having said dry farewell to the Marquise, Melcour left Madame de Teville and went to Madame de Senange. It was already quite late, and he did not expect to find her at home, which would give him the opportunity to leave the couplets and leave, but Madame de Senange was at home and was very pleased with him. As punishment for her late visit, she ordered him to accompany her and her friend Madame de Montgen to the Tuileries. Melkur made excuses, but Madame de Senanges was so insistent that he had to yield. Madame de Montgen was young, but she seemed so old and withered that it was a pity to look at her. Both ladies vied with each other trying to capture the attention of Melkur and, feeling like rivals, showered each other with barbs. In the Tuileries, all eyes were on Melkur and his companions. Madame de Senange wanted at all costs to prove to everyone that Melkur belonged to her, and not to Madame de Montgen. To top it all off, at the turn of the avenue, Melcour saw the Marquise de Lurce, Madame de Teville, and Hortense coming towards them. He was not pleased that the girl saw him in the company of Madame de Senanges. The Marquise, who was in good control of herself, answered Melkur's awkward bow with a sweet and easy smile.

After the departure of Madame de Senange, Melcour sought out Madame de Lurce and her companions. The marquise began to mock Melkur and describe the quirks and vices of Madame de Senange. Melkur was furious, he began to defend Madame de Senange and extol her virtues, forgetting that not only the Marquis, but also Hortense was listening to him. Convincing both of his love for Madame de Senange, Melkur fell into despondency, for he realized that he himself had closed his way to the heart of the girl. Returning home, he indulged all night in gloomy and fruitless reflections. The next morning they brought him a letter from Madame de Lurce. She notified him that she was leaving for two days in the village and invited him to accompany her. Melkur, determined to break with her, refused: he wrote that he had already bound himself with a promise that he could not break. But it turned out that the Marquise was going to the village with Hortense and her mother, so that Melkur regretted his refusal. During their absence, he did not find a place for himself and was very happy when Versac came to him. Seeing the melancholy disposition of Melkur's spirit, Versaac attributed him to his separation from Madame de Senange, who had left for Versailles for two days. Versac decided to enlighten Melkur and show him the light as it should be seen. He opened the young man's eyes to the falsity and emptiness of secular society and explained that a crime against honor and reason is considered more excusable than a violation of secular decorum, and a lack of intelligence is more excusable than its excess. Versac believed that one should not be afraid to overestimate oneself and underestimate others. It is in vain to believe that only a person with special talents can shine in the light. "Look how I behave when I want to show off: how I behave, how I show off, what nonsense I am talking about!" Versace said. Melkur asked him what good manners were. Versace found it difficult to give a clear definition, because this expression was on everyone's lips, but no one really understood what it meant. According to Versac, good form is nothing more than noble birth and ease in secular tomfoolery. Versace taught Melkur: "As a woman is ashamed to be virtuous, so it is indecent for a man to be learned." The greatest achievement of good manners is secular conversation, completely devoid of thoughts. In conclusion, Versac advised Melkur to pay attention to Madame de Senanges, considering her the most suitable for an inexperienced youth. After parting with him, the young man plunged into thoughts of Hortense. With difficulty waiting for her return from the village, he hurried to her and found out that she and Madame de Teville were in Paris, but had gone away somewhere. His impatience was so great that he rushed to the Marquise de Lurce, deciding that Hortense was probably with her. The Marquise had many guests, but Hortense was not among them.

The marquise met Melkur without a trace of embarrassment and annoyance and spoke to him as if nothing had happened. Her calm benevolence infuriated Melkur, the thought that the Marquise had fallen out of love with him hurt his pride. He noticed that Madame de Lurce often looked at the Marquis de ***, and decided that she had already found a replacement for him in the person of the Marquis. Melkur remained after the departure of the guests and asked the Marquis to give him an hour or two. The young man told her all his grievances, but she behaved so cleverly that he himself felt how ridiculous he was. The marquise said that she sincerely loved Melkur and forgave him the shortcomings of inexperienced youth, believing that he had the purity and sincerity inherent in youth, but she was mistaken in him and now severely punished, Melkur felt a surge of love and tenderness for the marquise. The marquise offered him to be satisfied with friendship, but Melkur did not want to stop halfway. His former respect for the marchioness was revived, and the victory over her virtue seemed incredibly difficult and honorable.

Self-deception lasted a long time, and Melkur did not think about infidelity. But one fine day he felt a spiritual emptiness and returned to thoughts of Hortense. He did not promise Hortense anything, and she did not love him - and yet he felt guilty before her. At the same time, he could not leave the Marchioness. "Reproaches of conscience spoiled my pleasure, pleasure drowned out my repentance - I no longer belonged to myself." Overwhelmed by conflicting feelings, he continued to visit the Marchesa and dream of Hortense.

O. E. Grinberg

(Julie ou la Nouvelle Heloise)

Roman in letters (1761)

"I observed the mores of my time and published these letters," the author writes in the "Preface" to this philosophical and lyrical novel.

Small Swiss town. The educated and sensitive commoner Saint-Preux, like Abelard, falls in love with his student Julia, daughter of the Baron d'Etange. And although the harsh fate of a medieval philosopher does not threaten him, he knows that the baron will never agree to marry his daughter to an unborn person.

Julia responds to Saint-Preux with the same ardent love. However, brought up in strict rules, she does not imagine love without marriage, and marriage - without the consent of her parents. “Take vain power, my friend, leave honor to me. I am ready to become your slave, but to live in innocence, I do not want to gain dominion over you at the cost of my dishonor,” Julia writes to her beloved. "The more I am fascinated by you, the higher my feelings become," he replies to her. Every day, with every letter, Julia becomes more and more attached to Saint-Preux, and he "languishes and burns", the fire flowing through his veins, "nothing can either extinguish or quench."

Clara, Julia's cousin, patronizes lovers. In her presence, Saint-Preux plucks a delightful kiss from Julia's lips, from which he "never be healed." "O Julia, Julia! Is it possible that our union is impossible! Is it possible that our life will flow apart and we are destined for eternal separation?" he exclaims.

Julia learns that her father has chosen her husband - his old friend, Mr. de Volmar, and in desperation calls her lover to her. Saint-Preux persuades the girl to run away with him, but she refuses: her escape will "stab a dagger in her mother's chest" and "grieve the best of fathers." Torn apart by conflicting feelings, Julia, in a fit of passion, becomes Saint-Preux's mistress, and immediately regrets it bitterly. “Not understanding what I was doing, I chose my own death. I forgot about everything, I thought only about my love. I slipped into the abyss of shame, from where there is no return for a girl,” she confides in Clara. Clara comforts her friend, reminding her that her sacrifice has been made on the altar of pure love.

Saint-Preux suffers - from the suffering of Julia. He is offended by the repentance of his beloved. "So I am only worthy of contempt, if you despise yourself for being united with me, if the joy of my life is torment for you?" he asks. Julia finally admits that only "love is the cornerstone of all our lives." "There are no bonds in the world more chaste than the bonds of true love. Only love, its divine fire, can purify our natural inclinations, focusing all thoughts on a beloved subject. The flame of love ennobles and purifies love caresses; decency and decency accompany it even in the bosom of voluptuous bliss, and only she knows how to combine all this with ardent desires, but without violating modesty. Unable to fight the passion any longer, Julia calls on Saint-Preux for a date night.

Dates are repeated, Saint-Preux is happy, he revels in the love of his "unearthly angel." But in society, the impregnable beauty Julia is liked by many men, including the noble English traveler Edward Bomston; my lord constantly praises her. Once, in a male company, Sir Bomston, heated up by wine, speaks especially passionately about Julia, which causes a sharp displeasure of Saint Preux. Julia's lover challenges the Englishman to a duel.

Monsieur d'Orb, who is in love with Clara, tells the lady of his heart about what happened, and she tells Julia. Julia begs her lover to refuse the duel: the Englishman is a dangerous and formidable opponent, besides, in the eyes of society, Saint-Preux has no right to act as Julia's defender, his behavior can cast a shadow on her and reveal their secret. Julia also writes to Sir Edward: she confesses to him that Saint Preux is her lover and she "adores him". If he kills Saint Preux, he will kill two at once, for she "will not live a day" after the death of her lover.

The noble Sir Edward, in front of witnesses, apologizes to Saint Preux. Bomston and Saint Preux become friends. An Englishman with participation refers to the troubles of lovers. Having met Yulia's father in the company, he tries to convince him that marriage ties with the unknown, but talented and noble Saint-Preux in no way infringe on the noble dignity of the d'Etange family. However, the baron is adamant; moreover, he forbids his daughter to see Saint-Preux. In order to avoid a scandal, Sir Edward takes his friend on a trip without even letting him say goodbye to Julia.

Bomston is indignant: the immaculate bonds of love are created by nature itself, and they cannot be sacrificed to social prejudices. "For the sake of universal justice, such excess of power should be eradicated - it is the duty of every person to resist violence, to promote order. And if it depended on me to unite our lovers, against the will of the absurd old man, I would, of course, complete predestination from above, regardless of the opinion of the world " he writes to Clara.

Saint-Preux is in despair; Julia is confused. She envies Clara: her feelings for Monsieur d'Orbu are calm and even, and her father is not going to oppose her daughter's choice.

Saint-Preux parted ways with Sir Edward and went to Paris. From there, he sends Julia lengthy descriptions of the mores of Parisian society, which by no means serve to the honor of the latter. Yielding to the general pursuit of pleasure, Saint-Preux cheats on Julia and writes her a letter of repentance. Julia forgives her lover, but warns him: it is easy to step on the path of debauchery, but it is impossible to leave it.

Unexpectedly, Yulia's mother discovers her daughter's correspondence with her lover. The good Madame d'Etange has nothing against Saint-Prex, but knowing that Julia's father will never give his consent to her daughter's marriage to a "rootless vagabond", she is tormented by remorse that she failed to save her daughter, and soon dies. Julia, considering herself the culprit of her mother's death, dutifully agrees to become Volmar's wife. "The time has come to give up the delusions of youth and deceitful hopes; I will never belong to you," she tells Saint Preux. "Oh love! Is it possible to avenge you for the loss of loved ones!" - exclaims Saint-Preux in a woeful letter to Clara, who has become Madame d'Orb.

Reasonable Clara asks Saint-Prex not to write to Julia anymore: she "married and will make a decent man happy, who wished to unite his fate with her fate." Moreover, Madame d'Orb believes that, having married, Julia saved both lovers - "herself from disgrace, and you, who deprived her of honor, from repentance."

Julia returns to the bosom of virtue. She again sees "all the abomination of sin", a love for prudence awakens in her, she praises her father for having given her under the protection of a worthy spouse, "endowed with a meek disposition and pleasantness." “Mr. de Volmar is about fifty years old. Thanks to a calm, measured life and spiritual serenity, he retained his health and freshness - you can’t even give him forty in appearance ... He has a noble and disposing appearance, his manner is simple and sincere; he speaks little, and his speeches are full deep meaning," Yulia describes her husband. Wolmar loves his wife, but his passion is "smooth and restrained," for he always acts as "reason tells him."

Saint-Preux goes on a voyage around the world, and for several years there is no news of him. Returning, he immediately writes to Clara, announcing his desire to see her and, of course, Julia, for "nowhere in the whole world" he met anyone "who could console a loving heart" ...

The closer Switzerland and the village of Clarens, where Julia now lives, the more worried Saint-Preux. And finally - the long-awaited meeting. Julia, an exemplary wife and mother, introduces her two sons to Saint Preux. Wolmar himself escorts the guest to the apartments allotted to him and, seeing his embarrassment, instructs: “Our friendship begins, here are her dear bonds. Embrace Julia. The more sincere your relationship becomes, the better opinion I will have of you. , behave as if I were with you, or in my presence act as if I were not near you. That is all I ask of you. Saint-Preux begins to comprehend the "sweet charm" of innocent friendships.

The longer Saint-Preux stays in the house of the Wolmars, the more he respects his hosts. Everything in the house breathes virtue; the family lives prosperously, but without luxury, the servants are respectful and devoted to their masters, the workers are diligent thanks to a special system of rewards, in a word, no one is "bored by idleness and idleness" and "the pleasant is combined with the useful." The owners take part in rural festivities, go into all the details of housekeeping, lead a measured lifestyle and pay great attention to healthy eating.

Clara, who lost her husband a few years ago, having listened to the requests of her friend, moves to the Wolmars - Julia has long decided to take up the upbringing of her little daughter. At the same time, Mr. de Volmar offers Saint-Preux to become a mentor to his sons - boys should be raised by a man. After much mental anguish, Saint Preux agrees - he feels that he will be able to justify the trust placed in him. But before embarking on his new duties, he goes to Italy to Sir Edward. Bomston has fallen in love with a former courtesan and is going to marry her, thereby giving up a brilliant prospect for the future. Saint Preux, filled with high moral principles, saves his friend from a fatal step, convincing the girl, for the sake of love for Sir Edward, to reject his proposal and go to the monastery. Duty and virtue triumph.

Wolmar approves of Saint Preux's act, Julia is proud of her former lover and rejoices in the friendship that unites them "as an unprecedented transformation of feelings." “Let us dare to praise ourselves for the fact that we have enough strength not to stray from the straight path,” she writes to Saint Preux.

So, all the heroes are waiting for a quiet and cloudless happiness, passions are driven away, my lord Edward receives an invitation to settle in Claran with his friends. However, the ways of fate are inscrutable. During a walk, the youngest son of Yulia falls into the river, she rushes to his aid and pulls him out, but, having caught a cold, she falls ill and soon dies. In her last hour, she writes to Saint-Preux that her death is a blessing from heaven, for "thus it has delivered us from terrible disasters" - who knows how everything could change if she and Saint-Preux again began to live under one roof. Julia admits that the first feeling, which became the meaning of life for her, only hid in her heart: in the name of duty, she did everything that depended on her will, but in her heart she is not free, and if it belongs to Saint-Pre, then this her torment, not sin. “I thought that I was afraid for you, but, undoubtedly, I was afraid for myself. I have lived happily and virtuously for many years. That’s enough. and my honor will be spared." "I buy the price of life the right to love you with eternal love, in which there is no sin, and the right to say for the last time:" I love you.

E. V. Morozova

(Les Confessions)

(1766-1770, ed. 1782-1789)

"I told the truth. If anyone knows anything contrary to what is told here, he knows only lies and slander."

The author of these lines calls his own birth, which cost the life of his mother, his first misfortune. The child grows, showing the defects inherent in his age; "I was a talker, gourmet, sometimes a liar," Jean-Jacques admits. Separated from his father since childhood, he falls under the guardianship of his uncle, and he gives him up for teaching. From the punishment of a mentor in an eight-year-old boy, an early sensuality awakens, which left an imprint on all his subsequent relationships with the fair sex. "All my life I have lusted and remained silent before the women whom I loved most," the author writes, taking "the first and most painful step in the dark and dirty labyrinth" of his confessions.

The teenager is apprenticed to an engraver; at this time, for the first time, a craving for theft is revealed in him. “In fact, these thefts were very innocent, since everything that I dragged from the owner was used by me to work for him,” Jean-Jacques scolds himself. Simultaneously with addictions, a passion for reading awakens in him, and he reads everything. At sixteen, Jean-Jacques is a young man "restless, dissatisfied with everything and himself, without disposition to his craft."

Suddenly, the young man drops everything and goes on a journey. Fate brings him together with the charming twenty-eight-year-old Madame de Varence, and a relationship develops between them that largely determined the life of Jean-Jacques. Madame de Varence convinces the young man to convert from Protestantism to Catholicism, and he goes to Turin, to a haven for converts. Breaking free after the completion of the ceremony, he leads a carefree life, walks around the city and its environs and falls in love with all pretty women. "Passion has never been so strong and so pure as mine; love has never been more tender, more disinterested," he recalls. When he runs out of money, he becomes a lackey to a certain countess. In her service, Jean-Jacques commits a misdemeanor, which he later regrets all his life: taking a silver ribbon from the mistress, he accuses the young maid of this theft. The girl is kicked out, her reputation is irreparably damaged. The desire to finally confess this sin is one of the reasons that prompted him to write a real confession.

Jean-Jacques' mistress dies; a young man enters a rich family as a secretary. He studies a lot and diligently, and before him opens the way for further promotion. However, the craving for vagrancy overpowers, and he goes back to Switzerland. Having reached his native lands, he comes to Madame de Varence. She happily accepts him, and he settles in her house. Madame de Varence enrolls him in a singing school, where he thoroughly studies music. But the very first concert that young Jean-Jacques dares to give fails miserably. Of course, no one even suspects that time will pass, and the works of today's loser will be performed in the presence of the king, and all the courtiers will sigh and say: "Oh, what magical music!" In the meantime, Jean-Jacques, upset, starts wandering again.

Returning to "mother," as he calls Madame de Varence, Jean-Jacques continues his music lessons. At this time, his final rapprochement with Madame de Varence takes place. Their close relationship encourages this middle-aged woman to take up the secular education of the young man. But everything she does for him in this direction, in his own words, is "lost work."

Madame de Varence's manager dies unexpectedly, and Jean-Jacques unsuccessfully tries to fulfill his duties. Overwhelmed by good intentions, he begins to withhold money from Madame de Varence. However, to his shame, these hiding places are almost always found. Finally, he decides to start working in order to provide "mother" with a piece of bread. Of all the possible activities, he chooses music, and to begin with, he takes money from Madame de Varence for a trip to Paris in order to improve his skills. But life in Paris is not set, and, returning to Madame de Varence, Jean-Jacques becomes seriously ill. After recovery, they, together with "mother", leave for the village. “Here begins a short time of happiness in my life; here come for me peaceful, but fleeting minutes, giving me the right to say that I lived,” the author writes. Rural work alternates with hard work - history, geography, Latin. But despite the thirst for knowledge that overwhelms him, Jean-Jacques falls ill again - now from settled life. At the insistence of Madame de Varence, he goes to Montpellier for treatment, and on the way he becomes the lover of his random fellow traveler ...

Returning, Jean-Jacques finds himself forced out of Madame de Varence's heart by a "tall, colorless blond man" with the manners of a farcical handsome man. Confused and embarrassed, Jean-Jacques, with pain in his heart, gives him his place next to Madame de Varence and from that moment looks at "his dear mother only through the eyes of a real son." Very quickly, the newcomer arranges life in Madame de Varence's house in his own way. Feeling out of place, Jean-Jacques leaves for Lyon and is hired as a tutor.

In the autumn of 1715 he arrives in Paris "with 15 louis in his pocket, the comedy Narcissus and a musical project as a means of subsistence." Unexpectedly, the young man is offered the post of secretary of the embassy in Venice, he agrees and leaves France. In the new place, he likes everything - both the city and work. But the ambassador, unable to come to terms with the plebeian origin of the secretary, begins to survive him and eventually achieves his goal. Returning to Paris, Jean-Jacques is trying to get justice, but he is told that his quarrel with the ambassador is a private matter, because he is just a secretary, and besides, not a subject of France.

Realizing that he cannot achieve justice, Rousseau settles in a quiet hotel and works to complete the opera. At this time, he finds "the only real consolation": he meets Teresa Levasseur. “The similarity of our hearts, the correspondence of our characters soon led to the usual result. She decided that she had found a decent person in me, and she was not mistaken. announced to her that I would never leave her, but I would not marry her either. Love, respect, sincere frankness were the creators of my triumph, "Jean-Jacques describes his meeting with the girl who became his faithful and devoted friend.

Teresa is kind, intelligent, quick-witted, endowed with common sense, but amazingly ignorant. All attempts by Jean-Jacques to develop her mind fail: the girl has not even learned to tell the time by the clock. Nevertheless, her company is enough for Jean-Jacques; without being distracted by vain affairs, he works hard, and soon the opera is ready. But in order to promote her to the stage, it is necessary to have the talents of a court intriguer, and Jean-Jacques does not have them, and he again fails in the musical field.

Life demands its own: now he is obliged to provide food not only for himself, but also for Teresa, and at the same time for her numerous relatives, led by a greedy mother, who is used to living at the expense of her eldest daughter. For the sake of earning money, Jean-Jacques becomes a secretary to a noble nobleman and leaves Paris for a while. When he returns, he discovers Teresa is pregnant. Jean-Jacques learns from the conversations of his companions at the table d'hôte that in France unwanted babies are handed over to an Orphanage; deciding to follow the customs of this country, he persuades Teresa to give the baby. The next year, history repeats itself, and so on for five times. Teresa "obeyed, sighing bitterly." Jean-Jacques sincerely believes that "he chose the best for his children or what he considered as such." However, the author "promised to write a confession, not self-justification."

Jean-Jacques closely converges with Diderot. Like Jean-Jacques, Diderot has "his own Nanette", the only difference is that Teresa is meek and kind, while Nanette is quarrelsome and vicious.

Upon learning that the Dijon Academy announced a competition on the topic "Has the development of the sciences and arts contributed to the corruption or purification of morals?", Jean-Jacques enthusiastically takes up his pen. He shows the finished work to Diderot and receives his sincere approval. Soon the essay is published, a fuss rises around it, Jean-Jacques becomes fashionable. But his reluctance to find a patron earns him a reputation as an eccentric. "I was a man who was sought to look at, and the next day they did not find anything new in him," he notes bitterly.

The need for constant income and failing health prevented him from writing. Nevertheless, he seeks the staging of his opera "The Village Sorcerer", at the premiere of which the court, led by the king, is present. The king likes the opera, and he, wanting to reward the author, appoints him an audience. But Jean-Jacques, wanting to maintain his independence, refuses to meet the king and, therefore, the royal pension. His actions are widely condemned. Even Diderot, while approving in principle an indifferent attitude towards the king, does not consider it possible to refuse a pension. The views of Jean-Jacques and Diderot diverge further and further.

Soon the Dijon Academy announces a new topic: "On the Origin of Inequality Among Men", and Jean-Jacques again passionately takes up the pen. Political clouds begin to gather over the freedom-loving author, he leaves Paris and travels to Switzerland. There he is honored as a champion of freedom. He meets with "mother": she has become impoverished and has fallen. Jean-Jacques realizes that it is his duty to take care of her, but he confesses with shame that the new attachment has driven Madame de Varence out of his heart. Arriving in Geneva, Jean-Jacques returns to the bosom of the Protestant Church and again becomes a full citizen of his native city.

Returning to Paris, Jean-Jacques continues to earn a living by copying music, because he cannot write for the sake of money - "it is too difficult to think nobly when you think in order to live." After all, giving his works to the public, he is sure that he does it for the common good. In 1756, Jean-Jacques leaves Paris and settles in the Hermitage. "The change in me began as soon as I left Paris, as soon as I got rid of the spectacle of the vices of this big city, which caused my resentment," he says.

In the midst of rural dreams, Jean-Jacques is visited by Madame d'Oudeteau, and love flares up in his soul - "the first and only." "This time it was love - love in all its strength and in all its frenzy." Jean-Jacques accompanies Madame d'Oudeteau on walks, ready to faint from her gentle kisses, but their relationship does not cross the boundaries of tender friendship. Madame d'Udeteau served as a prototype for Julia from the New Eloise. The novel was a resounding success, and the author even improved his financial affairs.

Forced to leave the Hermitage, Jean-Jacques moved to Montmorency, where he began to write "Emile". He also continues to work on "Political Regulations"; the result of this hard work is the famous "Social Contract". Many aristocrats begin to seek the favor of Jean-Jacques: Prince de Conti, Duchess of Luxembourg ... But "I did not want to be sent to the pantry, and did not value the table of the nobles much. I would prefer that they leave me alone, without honoring and humiliating ", says the philosopher.

After the publication of The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques feels the number of his enemies - secret and overt - increases dramatically, and he leaves for Geneva. But even there he has no peace: his book was burned, and he himself is threatened with arrest. All of Europe brings down their curses on him, as soon as he is not called: "possessed, possessed, predatory beast, wolf" ... Teresa voluntarily shares the fate of a freedom-loving exile.

In the end, Jean-Jacques settles on the island of Saint-Pierre, located in the middle of Lake Bienne. "In a sense, I said goodbye to the world, intending to shut up on this island until my last days," he writes. Jean-Jacques admires the beauty of the island and its surrounding landscapes; "O nature! O my mother!" he exclaims in delight. Suddenly, he receives an order to leave the island. The question arises: where to go? At first, Berlin was proclaimed the purpose of his trip. But, he writes, "in the third part, if I only have the strength to someday write it, it will be seen why, assuming to go to Berlin, I actually went to England" ...

E. V. Morozova.

(Les Bijoux indiscrets)

Roman (1746)

The action of this work, saturated in accordance with the literary fashion of the era with pseudo-oriental color, takes place in Africa, in the capital of the Congo Empire - Banza, in which Paris is easily guessed with its customs, quirks, and also quite real inhabitants.

Since 1500000003200001 from the Creation of the world, Sultan Mangogul rules in the Congo. When he was born, his father - the glorious Ergebzed - did not call the son of the fairies to the cradle, for most of the sovereigns whose education was entrusted to these female minds turned out to be fools. Ergebzed only ordered the chief haruspex Kodendo to make a horoscope for the baby. But Codendo, who came to the fore solely thanks to the merits of his great-uncle, an excellent cook, could not read the stars and could not predict the fate of a child. The prince's childhood was the most ordinary: even before he learned to speak, he said many beautiful things and at the age of four he provided the material for the whole Mangoguliad, and by the age of twenty he knew how to drink, eat and sleep no worse than any ruler of his age.

Driven by the senseless whim inherent in the greats of this world, old Ergebzed handed over the crown to his son - and he became a brilliant monarch. He won many battles, enlarged the empire, put the finances in order, corrected the laws, even established academies, and did all this - to the amazement of scientists - without knowing a word of Latin. And Mangogul was soft, kind, cheerful, handsome and smart. Many women sought his favor, but for several years the heart of the Sultan was owned by the beautiful young Mirzoza. Gentle lovers never concealed anything from each other and were perfectly happy. But sometimes they get bored. And once Mirzoza, sitting at knitting, said: - You are fed up, sir. But the genius of Kukuf, your relative and friend, will help you to have fun.

And the genius Kukufa, an old hypochondriac, took refuge in seclusion in order to enjoy the improvement of the Great Pagoda. Sewn up in a bag and wrapped with rope, he sleeps on a mat - but it may seem as if he is contemplating ...

At the call of the Sultan, Kukufa flies, holding on to the legs of two large owls, and hands Mangogul a silver ring. If you turn his stone in front of any woman, then the most intimate part of her body, her treasure, will tell about all the adventures of her mistress. Worn on the little finger, the ring makes its owner invisible and takes him anywhere.

Mangogul is delighted and dreams of testing Mirzoza, but does not dare: firstly, he completely trusts her, and secondly, he is afraid, having learned the bitter truth, to lose his beloved and die of grief. Mirzoza also begs not to put her to the test: the beauty is deeply offended by the distrust of the Sultan, which threatens to kill their love.

Vowing to Mirzoza never to test the effect of the ring on her, Mangogul goes to the chambers of the senior sultana Manimonbanda and puts the ring on one of the ladies present there - the charming naughty Alsina, who chats sweetly with her husband-emir, although they have been married for a week and, as usual, can now not even meet. Before the wedding, the charmer managed to convince the emir in love that all the rumors circulating about her were just a vile lie, but now Alsina’s treasure loudly utters how proud she is that her mistress has become an important person, and tells what tricks she had to go to in order to convince ardent emir in his innocence. Here Alsina prudently faints, and the courtiers explain what happened with a fit of hysteria, emanating, so to speak, from the lower region.

This incident made a lot of noise. The speech of Alsina's treasure was published, corrected, supplemented and commented on, Beauty "became famous" throughout the country, which, however, she took with absolute composure. But Mirzoza is sad: the sultan is going to bring confusion to all houses, open the eyes of husbands, lead lovers to despair, destroy women, dishonor girls ... Yes, Mangogul is determined to continue to amuse himself!

The best minds of the Banza Academy of Sciences are fighting over the phenomenon of talking treasures. This phenomenon confuses the adherents of both scientific schools of the Congo - both the whirlwinds, led by the great Olibri, and the attractors, led by the great Chircino. The whirlwind Persiflo, who published treatises on an infinite number of subjects unknown to him, connects the chatter of treasures with the tides of the sea, and the scientist Orkotom believes that treasures have always spoken, but quietly, now, when the freedom of speech has become such that he talks without shame about the most intimate things, the treasures squealed at the top of their voices. Soon the debate of the sages becomes stormy: they move away from the question, lose the thread, find it and lose it again, harden, reach screams, then mutual insults - on which the meeting of the Academy ends.

Clerics declare the chatter of treasures to be the subject of their competence. Brahmin hypocrites, gluttons and libertines, attribute this miracle to the evil spirit Kadabra; in this way they try to hide their own sins - and for this, any hypocritical brahmin will sacrifice all the pagodas and altars. A righteous brahmin in a large mosque proclaims that the chatter of treasures is the punishment that Brahma brought down on a society steeped in vices. Hearing this, people shed tears, resort to prayers and even a little scourging, but they do not change anything in their lives.

True, the women of the Congo tremble: here stupid things always come off the tongue - so what can weave a treasure ?! However, the ladies believe that the chatter of treasures will soon become a custom - do not refuse gallant adventures because of it! Here, one of the many swindlers of Banza, whom poverty has made inventive, is very opportunely - a certain Mr. Eolipil, who lectured on erundism for several years, announces that he invented gags for treasures. These "muzzles" immediately come into vogue, and women part with them only when they are convinced that they do more harm than good.

So, Zelida and Sophia, two hypocritical friends who for 15 years concealed their intrigues with such skill that everyone considered these ladies to be examples of virtue, now in a panic they send for the jeweler Frenicol, after long bargaining they buy the tiniest "muzzles" from him - and soon the whole city laughs at her friends, having learned this story from the maid Zelida and from the jeweler himself. Sophia decides that, having lost her good name, she must at least save her pleasures, and indulges in all serious things, Zelida goes to the monastery out of grief. The poor thing sincerely loved her husband and cheated on him only under the influence of bad morals that reign in the world. After all, beauties are taught from childhood that doing housework and being with your husband means burying yourself alive ...

The "muzzle" did not help the beautiful Zelais either. When the Sultan points his ring at her, her treasure begins to wheeze with stranglehold, and she herself falls unconscious, and the doctor Orkotom, removing the “muzzle” from the unfortunate woman, sees the laced treasure in a state of acute paroxysm. So it turns out that a gag can kill - from chatter no one has died yet. Because the ladies refuse "muzzles" and are now limited to tantrums. "Without lovers and tantrums, one cannot turn in the world at all," one courtier notes on this occasion.

The Sultan arranges 30 trials of the ring - and he just doesn't hear anything! At an intimate dinner at Mirzoza's, the treasure of one lady wearily lists all her lovers, and although the courtiers convince the enraged husband not to be upset because of such nonsense, he locks his wife in a monastery. Following her, the Sultan puts a ring on the treasures of the nuns and finds out how many babies these "virgins" gave birth to. The treasure of the passionate gambler Manilla recalls how many times it paid its owner's gambling debts and got her money for the game, having robbed the old head of the Brahmins and ruined the financier Turcares. the treasures of actresses are sent to places where they have to do something other than singing.

But most of all, the Sultan is shocked by the story of Felisa - not as beautiful as the charming twenty-five-year-old wife of the fifty-year-old emir of Sambuco, a rich and famous commander and diplomat. While he worked for the glory of the Congo, Felisa's treasure swallowed up the glory, career and life of the brave Colonel Zermunzaid, who, indulging in love with Felisa on a campaign, did not notice the approach of the enemy; then more than three thousand people died, Felisa, with a cry of "Woe to the vanquished!" threw herself on the bed, where all night she violently experienced her misfortune in the arms of an enemy general, and then suffered in captivity at the young and ardent emperor of Benin. friend of Sambuco, and then gobbled up the beautiful estate, palace and horses of one minister, cast a shadow on many titles, acquired untold wealth ... But the old husband knows everything and is silent.

But the ancient treasure of the aged Garia, who has already forgotten about the first adventures of her mistress, tells about her second husband, the poor Gascon nobleman Sendor. Poverty won over his aversion to wrinkles and Garia's four favorite dogs. On their wedding night, he was cruelly bitten by dogs and for a long time afterwards he persuaded the old woman to drive the dogs out of the bedroom. Finally, Sendor threw his wife's beloved greyhound out the window, and Garia hated the killer-husband, whom she pulled out of poverty, for the rest of her life.

And in the secluded house of Senator Hippomanes, who, instead of thinking about the fate of the country, indulges in secret debauchery, the treasure of another lady of this nobleman - the puffy Alphana - complains about her hard life: after all, Alphana's mother squandered the entire fortune of the family, and now her daughter has to earn a famous way...

The treasure of the noble lady Erifila fervently calls the actor Orgolya. On a date with a beauty, he picks his nose very sweetly - a very theatrical gesture, admiring connoisseurs - and admires only himself and his talents.

The treasure of lanky, fair-haired, cheeky and dissolute Fanny scolds the illustrious ancestors of her mistress (“The stupid position of a titled treasure!”) And recalls how Fanny suffered for a whole day and a half because no one loves her. "But after all, a lover requires a reciprocal feeling from his beloved - and fidelity to boot!" - Then the young philosopher Amizadar told her and spoke sadly about his dead beloved. Having opened their hearts to each other, they knew the greatest happiness, unknown to less in love and less sincere mortals. But this is not for secular ladies. And although Fanny's treasure is delighted with Amizadar, she herself decides that he and his strange ideals are simply dangerous ...

During the masquerade ball, the Sultan listens to the treasures of the townspeople: some want pleasure, others want money. And after the ball, two officers almost kill each other: Amina, Alibeg's mistress, gave hope to Nasses! But Amina's treasure admits that it gave hope not to Nasses at all, but to his stately footman. How stupid men are! They think that such trifles as ranks and titles can deceive a woman's treasure!

The officers recoil in horror from Amina, and the Sultan listens to the treasure of Cypria, a desiccated person who wants to be considered a blonde. In her youth, she danced in the Moroccan theater; the owner - Megemet Tripadhud brought her to Paris and left, but the courtiers were seduced by the Moroccan, and she earned a lot of money. However, great talent needs a big stage. Cypria worked hard in London, Vienna, Rome, Spain and India, visited Constantinople - but she did not like the country where the treasures are under lock and key, although Muslims are distinguished by the lightness of the French, the ardor of the British, the strength of the Germans, the stamina of the Spaniards and the raid Italian sophistication. Then Kypriya did a good job in the Congo, and becoming good for nothing, she picked up a noble and rich good-natured husband. The treasure traveler talks about his adventures in English, Italian, Spanish and Latin, but the author does not recommend translating these obscenities to ladies.

However, sometimes the Sultan uses the magic ring for good. The ring helps to solve the problem of pensions, about which crowds of widows who lost their husbands during the victorious wars of the Sultan are busy. The treasures of these women report that the fathers of their children are not heroic husbands at all, who were killed not by enemies, but by their wives' lovers, while the widows' pensions will be spent on the maintenance of handsome lackeys and actors ... The ring saves the noble handsome Kersael from the death penalty through castration: his mistress, the beautiful young Fatima, having heard that he was going to leave her for the sake of a dancer, declares out of revenge that he had raped her, Fatima. Having learned the truth, the sultan solemnly puts the villain and her treasure under lock and key - but he rescues the lovely Egle from the distant estate, which was locked there by a jealous husband, the great kravchiy Celebi, who had heard the false slander of her enemies; and she herself, following the advice of good friends, behaved as if she were guilty, for which she spent half a year in the province - and this is worse than death for a court lady.

He tests the sultan and the treasures of the ladies, with whom the court dandies boast of connections - and finds out that among the many lovers of these women there was not one of those who loudly disgrace their names.

After trying the ring, the Sultan begins to strongly doubt the power of the pagodas, the honesty of men and the virtue of women. The treasures of the latter reason like the treasures of mares! And the sultan points the ring at his blue-eyed horse of a golden suit, in anger expelling Zigzag's secretary, who dared to think that he was a servant of the sultan, and not his horse, and forgot that, entering the houses of the greats of this world, you need to leave your convictions outside the threshold . The neighing of a filly, respectfully recorded by another secretary, pundits declare: a) a touching monologue from an ancient Greek tragedy; b) an important piece of Egyptian theology; c) the beginning of the funeral speech at the grave of Hannibal; d) Chinese prayer. And only Gulliver, who returned from the country of horses, easily translates the story full of spelling errors about the love of an old pasha and a little filly, which was previously covered by a great many donkeys.

And Mirzoza philosophizes. She declares the feet to be the dwelling place of the soul in an infant. With age, the soul rises higher and higher - and for many women it remains a treasure for life. It determines the behavior of such persons. But a truly virtuous lady has a soul in her head and in her heart; and only one tenderly loved person attracts such a lady and the call of the heart, and the voice of the treasure. The Sultan refuses to believe that women have a soul at all. With a laugh, he reads to Mirzoza the notes of travelers exhausted by arduous wanderings, whom he sent to a distant island to acquire wisdom. On this island, the priests, when selecting married couples, carefully ensure that the treasures of the bride and groom ideally match in shape, size and temperature, and the most temperamental persons are entrusted with the honorable duty of serving the whole society. “After all, everything in the world is conditional,” says the high priest of the island. “You call crime what we consider virtue…”

Mirzoza is shocked. The Sultan notices that if the beloved was dumber and always listened enthusiastically to him, then this would bring them very close! For the islanders, everyone minds their own business. And in the Congo - everyone is not their own. Although there and here are very funny mods. After all, in the field of fashion, madmen make laws for the smart, and courtesans for honest women ...

However, if the Sultan manages to find these most honest women, he is ready to give Mirzoza a country palace and a lovely porcelain monkey. After all, even dear Egle, offended by her husband, yielded to Almanzor ... But Fricamona, who spent her youth in a monastery, does not even let men enter the doorway, lives surrounded by modest girls and adores her friend Akaris. And another lady, Kallipiga, complains that her beloved Mirolo does not pay attention to her treasure, preferring completely different pleasures. The Sultan is delighted with the virtue of these ladies, but for some reason Mirzoza does not share his enthusiasm.

At leisure, Mangogul, Mirzoza, the elderly courtier Selim and the writer Rikarik - an erudite man, but nonetheless intelligent - argue about literature. Rikarik extols ancient authors, Selim defends modern writers who describe true human feelings. "What do I care about the rules of poetics? If only I liked the book!" he says. “Only the truth can please and touch,” Mirzoza agrees. “But do those pompous performances that are staged in theaters resemble real life ?!”

And at night, Mirzoza dreams of beautiful statues of great writers and thinkers from different eras. The gloomy dogmatists fumigate the statues with incense, which harms the statues a little, and the pygmies spit on them, which does not harm the statues at all. Other pygmies cut off the noses and ears of living heads - they correct the classics ...

Tired of philosophizing, the Sultan also has a dream. Mangogul on a hippogriff rises into a huge building floating in a muddy space, full of old half-naked cripples and freaks with important faces. Balancing on the tip of a needle, an almost naked old man blows soap bubbles. “This is a country of hypotheses,” Plato explains to the Sultan. “And the shreds of fabric on the bodies of philosophers are the remains of Socrates’ clothes ...” Then the Sultan sees a weak child, who before his eyes turns into a mighty giant with a torch in his hand, illuminating the whole world with light. It is an Experience that with one blow destroys the rickety edifice of hypotheses.

Sultan magician Blockulokus, nicknamed the Empty Dream, talks about night visions. It's all about our perception... After all, in reality we take some people for wise men, others for brave men, old fools consider themselves beauties, and scientists publish their nightly nonsense in the form of scientific papers...

While the Sultan is looking for virtuous ladies, the sixty-year-old Selim - handsome, noble, graceful, wise, who in his youth was the favorite of all the fairies, in his old age became famous in the state field and gained universal respect - admits that he has not been able to comprehend women and can only idolize their. As a boy he lost his virginity to his young cousin Amelia; she died in childbirth, and Selim was scolded and sent to travel. In Tunisia he climbed a rope ladder to the wife of a pirate, on the way to Europe he caressed a lovely Portuguese woman during a storm, while her jealous husband stood on the captain's bridge; in Madrid, Selim loved the beautiful Spaniard, but he loved life even more, and therefore fled from the beauty's husband. Selim knew frivolous French women, cold-looking, but ardent and vindictive English women, prim German women, Italian women skilled in caresses. Four years later, Selim returned home fully educated; since he was also interested in serious things, having studied military affairs and dances, he received a high post and began to participate in all the amusements of Prince Ergebzed. In Banza, Selim recognized women of all ages, nations and classes - both dissolute secular ladies, and hypocritical bourgeois women, and nuns, to whom he penetrated, disguised as a novice. And everywhere, instead of sincere feelings, he found only deceit and pretense. At thirty, Selim married for the sake of procreation; the spouses treated each other as befits - coldly and decently. But somehow Selim met the charming Sidalisa - the wife of Colonel Spagi Ostaluk, a nice person, but a terrible freak and jealous. With great difficulty, having completely changed, Selim managed to win the heart of the virtuous Sidaliza, who believed that there could be no love without respect. Selim hid the adored woman in his house, but the jealous husband tracked down the fugitives and pierced his wife's chest with a dagger. Selim killed the scoundrel and mourned his beloved for a long time, but then he realized that there is no eternal grief and for five years now he has been connected with tender feelings with the charming Fulvia. The Sultan hurries to test her treasure - and it turns out that this titled lady, in a passionate desire to acquire an heir, has been given to everyone for ten years. Offended, Selim thinks to retire from the court and become a philosopher, but the Sultan keeps him in the capital, where Selim continues to enjoy universal love.

He tells Mirzoza about the "good old days", the "golden age of the Congo" - the reign of Mangogul's grandfather, Sultan Kanoglu (an allusion to Louis XIV). Yes, there was a lot of brilliance - but what poverty and what lack of rights! But the measure of the greatness of the sovereign is the happiness of his subjects. Kanoglu, on the other hand, turned his associates into puppets, and he himself became a puppet, which was controlled by an old decrepit fairy (a hint of Madame de Maintenon).

Meanwhile, the Sultan is testing the treasure of Zaida - a lady with an impeccable reputation. Both the heart and the treasure of the beauty unanimously speak of love for Zuleiman. True, Zaida is married to the disgusting Kermades ... And yet the Sultan is shaken by the image of the faithful and beautiful Zaida - and Mangogul himself makes an immodest proposal to her, having received a decisive refusal, he returns to the captivating Mirzoza.

And that one, a fan of high principles, completely inappropriate neither for her age, nor for her position, nor for her face, praises pure love based on friendship. Sultan and Selim laugh. There is no love without the call of the flesh! And Selim tells the story of the beautiful young man Gilas. The great idol deprived him of the ability to satisfy passion and predicted that only a woman would heal the unfortunate woman who would not stop loving him, further learning about his misfortune. But all women - even ardent admirers of platonic love, old women and virgin vestals - recoil from Hylas. Only the beautiful Iphis heals him, on which lies the same spell. Hylas expresses his gratitude to her with such ardor that soon he begins to threaten the return of the disease ...

Here comes the news of the death of Sulamek - a bad dancer, who, thanks to the efforts of fans, became the dance teacher of the Sultan, and then with the help of curtsies - and the Grand Vizier, in which position he dozed off for fifteen years. During the brilliant eulogy of the preacher Brrrububu, Mirzoza, who always gets hysterical about lies, falls into lethargy. To check whether the beauty is alive, the sultan points a ring at her, and Mirzoza's treasure declares that, faithful to the sultan to the grave, she is unable to part with her beloved and go to the next world. The awakened favorite is offended by the fact that the sultan broke his promise, but he enthusiastically swears eternal love to her. Having forgiven the sovereign, the favorite still begs him to return the ring to Kukufa and not to disturb either his heart or the whole country anymore. This is what the Sultan does.

E. V. Maksimova

Roman (1760, publ. 1796)

The story is written in the form of the heroine's notes addressed to the Marquis de Croamard, whom she asks for help and for this purpose tells him the story of her misfortunes.

The heroine's name is Maria-Suzanna Simonen. Her father is a lawyer, he has a large fortune. She is not loved in the house, although she surpasses her sisters in beauty and spiritual qualities, and Susanna assumes that she is not Mr. Simonen's daughter. Parents offer Suzanne to become a monk in the monastery of St. Mary on the pretext that they were ruined and would not be able to give her a dowry. Susanna doesn't want to; she was persuaded to stay for two years as a novice, but after the term expires, she still refuses to become a nun. She is imprisoned in a cell; she decides to pretend that she agreed, but in reality she wants to protest publicly on the day of her tonsure; for this purpose, she invites friends and girlfriends to the ceremony and, answering the questions of the priest, refuses to take a vow. A month later, she is taken home; she is locked up, her parents do not want to see her. Father Seraphim (confessor of Susanna and her mother), with the permission of her mother, informs Susanna that she is not the daughter of Mr. Simonen, Mr. Simonen guesses this, so that the mother cannot equate her with legitimate daughters, and the parents want to minimize her part of the inheritance, and therefore she has no choice but to become a monk. The mother agrees to meet her daughter and tells her that her existence reminds her of the heinous betrayal by Susanna's real father, and her hatred for this man extends to Susanna. The mother wants her daughter to atone for her sin, so she saves up a contribution for Susanna to the monastery. He says that after an outburst in the monastery of St. Maria Susanna has nothing to think about her husband. The mother does not want Susanna to bring discord into the house after her death, but she cannot officially deprive Susanna of her inheritance, since for this she needs to confess to her husband.

After this conversation, Susanna decides to become a nun. The Longshan Monastery agrees to take her. Suzanne is brought to the monastery when a certain Madame de Mony has just become abbess there - a kind, intelligent woman who knows the human heart well; she and Susanna instantly take a liking to each other. Meanwhile, Susanna becomes a novice. She often becomes discouraged at the thought of soon becoming a nun, and then runs to the abbess. The abbess has a special gift of consolation; all the nuns come to her in difficult times. She comforts Susanna. But as the day of her tonsure draws near, Susanna is often overcome with such melancholy that the abbess does not know what to do. The gift of consolation leaves her; she can't say anything to Susanna. During the taking of the tonsure, Susanna is in deep prostration, and then does not remember at all what happened that day. In the same year, Mr. Simonen, the abbess and mother of Susanna, died. The gift of consolation returns to the abbess in her last moments; she dies with a premonition of eternal bliss. The mother gives a letter and money to Susanna before she dies; in the letter - a request to the daughter to atone for maternal sin with her good deeds. Instead of Madame de Mony, Sister Christina, a petty, limited woman, becomes the abbess. She is carried away by new religious trends, forces nuns to participate in ridiculous rites, revives methods of repentance that exhaust the flesh, which were canceled by Sister de Mony. Susanna, at every opportunity, praises the former abbess, does not obey the customs restored by Sister Christina, rejects all sectarianism, memorizes the charter so as not to do what is not included in it. With her speeches and actions, she captivates some of the nuns and gains a reputation as a rebel. She cannot be accused of anything; then her life is made unbearable: they forbid everyone to communicate with her, constantly punish her, prevent her from sleeping, praying, stealing things, spoiling the work done by Susanna. Susanna contemplates suicide, but sees that everyone wants it, and leaves this intention. She decides to break the vow. To begin with, she wants to write a detailed note and give it to one of the laity. Susanna takes a lot of paper from the abbess under the pretext that she needs to write a confession, but she suspects that the paper has gone to other records.

Susanna manages to pass the papers to Sister Ursula during her prayer, who treats Susanna in a friendly way; this nun all the time removed, as far as she could, the obstacles put in front of Suzanne by other nuns. Susanna is searched, everywhere they look for these papers; she is interrogated by the abbess and can achieve nothing. Suzanne is thrown into the dungeon and released on the third day. She falls ill, but recovers soon. Meanwhile, the time is approaching when people come to Longchamp to listen to church singing; since Suzanne has a very good voice and musical ability, she sings in the choir and teaches other nuns to sing. Among her students is Ursula. Susanna asks her to forward the notes to some skilled lawyer; Ursula does it. Suzanne is a big hit with the public. Some of the laity get to know her; she meets with Mr. Manuri, who undertook to conduct her case, talks with people who come to her, trying to interest them in her fate and gain patrons. When the community learns about Susanna's desire to break the vow, she is declared cursed by God; you can't even touch it. She is not fed, she asks for food herself, and they give her all kinds of garbage. They mock her in every possible way (they broke her dishes, took furniture and other things out of her cell; at night they make noise in her cell, break glass, pour broken glass under her feet). The nuns believe that Suzanne has been possessed by a demon and report this to the head vicar, Mr. Eber. He arrives and Suzanne manages to defend herself against the accusations. She is equalized in position with the rest of the nuns. Meanwhile, Suzanne's case is lost in court. Suzanne is required to wear a sackcloth for several days, scourging herself, and fasting every other day. She gets sick; sister Ursula takes care of her. Suzanne's life is in danger, but she recovers. Meanwhile, sister Ursula falls seriously ill and dies.

Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Manouri, Suzanne is transferred to the Arpazhon Monastery of St. Eutropia. The abbess of this monastery has an extremely uneven, contradictory character. She never keeps herself at a proper distance: either too close, or too far away; sometimes she allows everything, sometimes she becomes very severe. She is incredibly affectionate towards Suzanne. Suzanne is surprised to take a nun named Teresa; Susanna comes to the conclusion that she is jealous of her abbess. The abbess constantly enthusiastically praises Susanna, her appearance and spiritual qualities, showers Susanna with gifts, releases her from services. Sister Teresa suffers, watches over them; Suzanne can't understand anything. With the advent of Susanna, all the irregularities in the character of the abbess were smoothed out; the community is having a happy time. But Susanna sometimes seems strange to the behavior of the abbess: she often showers Susanna with kisses, hugs her and at the same time becomes very excited; Suzanne, in her innocence, doesn't understand what's going on. One day the abbess comes to Susanna at night. She is shivering, she asks permission to lie under the covers with Suzanne, cuddles up to her, but then there is a knock on the door. It turns out that this is Sister Teresa. The abbess is very angry, Susanna asks to forgive her sister, and the abbess eventually forgives. It's time for confession. The confessor of the community is Father Lemoine. The abbess asks Susanna not to tell him about what happened between her and Susanna, but Father Lemoine himself questions Susanna and finds out everything. He forbids Susanna to allow such caresses and demands to avoid the abbess, for Satan himself is in her. The abbess says that Father Lemoine is wrong, that there is nothing sinful in her love for Suzanne. But Susanna, although being very innocent, does not understand why the abbess's behavior is sinful, she nevertheless decides to establish restraint in their relationship. Meanwhile, at the request of the abbess, the confessor changes, but Suzanne strictly follows the advice of Father Lemoine. The behavior of the abbess becomes quite strange: she walks the corridors at night, constantly watches Susanna, watches her every step, terribly laments and says that she cannot live without Susanna. Happy days in the community are coming to an end; everything is subject to the strictest order. The abbess passes from melancholy to piety, and from it to delirium. Chaos reigns in the monastery. The abbess suffers greatly, asks to pray for her, fasts three times a week, scourging herself. The nuns hated Susanna. She shares her grief with her new confessor, Father Morel; she tells him the story of her life, speaks of her aversion to monasticism. He, too, fully opens up to her; it is revealed that he also hates his position. They often see each other, their mutual sympathy intensifies. Meanwhile, the abbess begins to have a fever and delirium. She sees hell, flames around her, speaks of Suzanne with immense love, idolizing her. She dies a few months later; Soon Sister Teresa also dies.

Susanna is accused of having bewitched the deceased abbess; her sorrows are renewed. The confessor convinces her to run away with him. On the way to Paris, he encroaches on her honor. In Paris, Suzanne lives for two weeks in a brothel. Finally, she escapes from there, and she manages to enter the service of a laundress. The work is hard, the food is bad, but the owners are not bad. The monk who kidnapped her has already been caught; he faces life imprisonment. Her escape is also known everywhere. Mr. Manuri is gone, she has no one to consult with, she lives in constant anxiety. She asks the Marquis de Croimard to help; says that she just needs a place as a servant somewhere in the wilderness, in obscurity, with decent people.

A. A. Friedrich

(Le neveu de Rameau)

Tale-dialogue (1762-1779, published 1823)

The work is written in the form of a dialogue. Its heroes are the narrator (I mean Diderot himself) and the nephew of Jean-Philippe Rameau, the largest representative of classicism in French music of Diderot's time. The narrator first characterizes Rameau's nephew: certifies him as one of "the most bizarre and strange creatures in these parts"; he does not boast of his good qualities and is not ashamed of his bad ones; he leads a disorderly life: today in rags, tomorrow in luxury. But, according to the narrator, when such a person appears in society, he makes people throw off their secular mask and discover their true nature.

Rameau's nephew and the narrator meet by chance in a cafe and strike up a conversation. The theme of genius arises; nephew Ramo believes that geniuses are not needed, since evil always appears in the world through some kind of genius; besides, geniuses expose errors, and nothing is more harmful to peoples than the truth. The narrator objects that if a lie is useful for a short time, then over time it turns out to be harmful, and the truth is useful, and there are two kinds of laws: one is eternal, the other is transient, appearing only due to the blindness of people; a genius may become a victim of this law, but in time dishonor will fall on his judges (the example of Socrates). Rameau's nephew argues that it is better to be an honest merchant and a nice fellow than a genius with a bad character, so in the first case a person can accumulate a large fortune and spend it on the pleasures of oneself and others. The narrator objects that only people living near him suffer from the bad character of a genius, but in the centuries his works make people be better, cultivate high virtues in themselves: of course, it would be better if the genius were as virtuous as he was great, but agree to accept things as they are. Rameau's nephew says that he would like to be a great man, a famous composer; then he would have all the blessings of life and he would enjoy his glory. Then he tells how his patrons drove him away, because once in his life he tried to speak like a sane person, and not like a fool and a fool. The narrator advises him to return to his benefactors and ask for forgiveness, but pride leaps up in Ramo's nephew, and he says that he cannot do this. The narrator suggests that he then lead the life of a beggar; Rameau's nephew replies that he despises himself, because he could live luxuriously, being a hanger-on for the rich, carrying out their delicate assignments, and he does not use his talents. At the same time, with great skill, he plays a whole scene in front of his interlocutor, assigning himself the role of a pimp.

The narrator, outraged by the cynicism of his interlocutor, suggests changing the subject. But before doing this, Rameau manages to play two more scenes: first he portrays a violinist, and then, with no less success, a pianist; after all, he is not only the nephew of the composer Rameau, but also his student and a good musician. They talk about the upbringing of the narrator's daughter: the narrator says that he will teach her dancing, singing and music to a minimum, and the main place will be given to grammar, mythology, history, geography, morality; there will also be some drawing. Rameau's nephew believes that it will be impossible to find good teachers, because they would have to devote their whole lives to the study of these subjects; in his opinion, the most skillful of today's teachers is the one who has more practice; so he, Ramo, coming to class, pretends that he has more lessons than hours in a day. But now, according to him, he gives lessons well, and before he was paid for nothing, but he did not feel remorse, because he took money not honestly earned, but stolen; after all, in society, all classes devour each other (the dancer swindles money from the one who supports her, and the milliners, the baker, etc. swindle money out of her). And here the general rules of morality do not fit, because the general conscience, like the general grammar, allows exceptions to the rules, the so-called "moral idiocy". Rameau's nephew says that if he were rich, he would lead a life full of sensual pleasures, and would take care only of himself; at the same time, he notices that all wealthy people share his point of view. The narrator objects that it is much more pleasant to help the unfortunate, to read a good book and the like; to be happy, you have to be honest.

Rameau replies that, in his opinion, all the so-called virtues are nothing more than vanity. Why defend the fatherland - it is no more, but there are only tyrants and slaves; helping friends means making ungrateful people out of them; and occupying a position in society is worth it only in order to enrich oneself. Virtue is boring, it freezes, it is a very uncomfortable thing; and virtuous people turn out to be hypocrites, cherishing secret vices. It is better for him to make his happiness by his own vices than to distort himself and be hypocritical in order to appear virtuous when this turns his patrons away from him. He tells how he humiliated himself in front of them, how, in order to please his "masters", he and a company of other hangers-on vilified wonderful scientists, philosophers, writers, including Diderot. He demonstrates his ability to take the right poses and say the right words. He says that he reads Theophrastus, La Bruyere and Molière, and draws this conclusion: "Keep your vices that are useful to you, but avoid their characteristic tone and appearance, which can make you ridiculous." To avoid this behavior, you need to know it, and these authors have described it very well. He is funny only when he wants to; there is no better role in the presence of the mighty of this world than the role of a jester. One should be what is profitable; if virtue could lead to wealth, he would be virtuous or pretend to be. Ramo's nephew slanders about his benefactors and says at the same time: "When you decide to live with people like us <...>, you have to expect countless dirty tricks."

However, people who take mercenary, low and treacherous jesters into their homes know perfectly well what they are getting into; all this is provided by a tacit agreement. It is useless to try to correct innate depravity; it is not human law that should punish this kind of error, but nature itself; as proof, Ramo tells a dirty story. Ramo's interlocutor is perplexed why Ramo's nephew reveals his baseness so frankly, without embarrassment. Ramo replies that it is better to be a big criminal than a petty scoundrel, since the former commands a certain respect for the scale of his villainy. He tells a story about a man who informed the Inquisition about his benefactor, a Jew who endlessly trusted him, and also robbed this Jew. The narrator, dejected by this conversation, changes the subject again. It's about music; Rameau makes correct judgments about the superiority of Italian music (Duni, Pergolese) and Italian comic buff opera over French musical classicism (Lulli, Rameau): in Italian opera, according to him, music corresponds to the semantic and emotional movement of speech, speech fits perfectly on music ; and French arias are clumsy, heavy, monotonous, unnatural. Rameau's nephew very cleverly portrays the whole opera house (instruments, dancers, singers), successfully reproduces operatic roles (he generally has great pantomime abilities). He expresses judgments about the shortcomings of French lyric poetry: it is cold, unyielding, it lacks something that could serve as the basis for singing, the word order is too rigid, so the composer does not have the opportunity to dispose of the whole and every part of it.

These judgments are clearly close to those of Diderot himself. Rameau's nephew also says that the Italians (Duni) teach the French how to make music expressive, how to subordinate singing to rhythm, to the rules of recitation. The narrator asks how he, Rameau, being so sensitive to the beauties of music, is so insensitive to the beauties of virtue; Ramo says it's innate ("the paternal molecule was tough and rough"). The conversation turns to Ramo's son: the narrator asks if Ramo wants to try to stop the influence of this molecule; Ramo replies that it is useless. He does not want to teach his son music, as this leads nowhere; he inspires the child that money is everything, and wants to teach his son the easiest ways to be respected, rich and influential. The narrator notes to himself that Rameau is not hypocritical, confessing to the vices inherent in him and others; he is more outspoken and more consistent in his depravity than the others. Rameau's nephew says that the most important thing is not to develop vices in the child that will enrich him, but to inspire him with a sense of proportion, the art of eluding shame; According to Rameau, everything that lives seeks well-being at the expense of the one on whom it depends. But his interlocutor wants to move from the topic of morality to music and asks Rameau why, with his instinct for good music, he did not create anything significant. He replies that nature has so ordered; besides, it is difficult to feel deeply and to rise in spirit when you are moving among empty people and cheap gossip.

Ramo's nephew talks about some of the vicissitudes of his life and concludes that "damned accidents" are in charge of us. He says that only the monarch walks in the whole kingdom, the rest only take poses. The narrator objects that "the king takes a pose before his mistress and before God", and in the world everyone who needs the help of another is forced to "engage in pantomime", that is, to depict various enthusiastic feelings. Only a philosopher does not resort to pantomime, since he does not need anything (he cites Diogenes and the Cynics as an example), Rameau replies that he needs various blessings of life, and let him better be indebted to their benefactors than get them by labor. Then he realizes that it is time for him to go to the opera, and the dialogue ends with his wish for himself to live another forty years.

A. A. Friedrich

(Introduction à la Connaissanse de l'esprit Humain)

Treatise (1746)

Pascal says: "All the rules of decent behavior have long been known, stopping for a little - for the ability to use them."

Any principle is contradictory, any term is interpreted differently. But, having comprehended the person, it is possible to comprehend everything.

Some confuse properties of the mind with properties of character, such as the ability to speak clearly and think confusedly, and think that the mind is contradictory. But the mind is only very diverse.

The mind relies on three main principles: imagination, reflection, memory.

Imagination is the ability to imagine something with the help of images and express your ideas with their help.

Reflection is a gift that allows you to focus on ideas, ponder and combine them. This is the starting point of judgment and evaluation.

Memory is the custodian of the fruits of imagination and reflection. Memory in terms of power must correspond to the mind, otherwise this leads either to the poverty of thought, or to its excessive breadth.

Fertility. Barren minds cannot understand the subject as a whole; fertile minds, but unreasonable ones cannot understand themselves: the ardor of feelings makes their thought work hard, but in a false direction.

Ingenuity is manifested in the speed of the mind. It is not always associated with fertility. There are minds that are quick-witted, but sterile - a mind that is alive in conversation, but dies away at the desk.

Insight is the ability to comprehend phenomena, to go back to their causes and to foresee their consequences. Knowledge and habits improve it.

Clarity is the adornment of prudence, but not everyone with a clear mind is sensible. The prudence and distinctness of the imagination differs from the prudence and distinctness of memory, feeling, and eloquence. Sometimes people have incompatible ideas, which, however, are linked in memory by upbringing or customs. Features of character and customs create differences between people, but also limit their properties to certain limits.

Common sense is reduced to the ability to see any object in its proportion to our nature or position in society; it is the ability to perceive things from their useful side and to evaluate sensibly. To do this, you need to look at everything simply. Reason should prevail over feeling, experience - over reflection.

Depth is the goal of all reflection. A deep mind must hold a thought before the eyes in order to explore it to the end. Ingenuity is always acquired at the price of depth.

Delicacy is a sensitivity that depends on freedom of custom. Subtlety is a kind of wisdom in matters of feeling; happens without delicacy.

Breadth of mind is the ability to assimilate many ideas at the same time without confusing them with each other. Without it, one cannot become a genius.

Influence - an instantaneous transition from one idea to another, which can be mated with the first. These are unexpected twists of the mind. Jokes are superficial creations of intuition.

Good taste is the ability to judge things related to feeling. This is the ability to feel the beautiful nature. The taste of the crowd is never right. Reasons of the mind can change our judgment, but not taste.

About the style and eloquence. Not always the one who thinks well can express his thought in words; but the splendor of the style with the weakness of the idea is uniform nonsense. The nobility of the presentation is given by simplicity, accuracy and naturalness. Some are eloquent in conversation, others are alone with the manuscript. Eloquence enlivens everything: science, business, poetry. Everything obeys him.

About ingenuity. To invent means not to create material for inventions, but to shape it, as an architect does to marble. An example of our search is nature itself.

About talent and intelligence. Talent is inconceivable without activity; it also depends on passions. Talent is a rarity, since it requires a combination of various virtues of the mind and heart. Talent is original, although all the great people followed the patterns: for example, Corneille - Lucan and Seneca. Mind is supposed to denote a combination of prudence, depth, and other qualities, but usually only one of these abilities is called mind - and there are disputes about which one.

About character. Character contains everything that distinguishes our mind and heart; it is made up of contradictions.

Seriousness is a particular feature of character; it has many causes and varieties. There is the seriousness of a calm mind, the seriousness of an ardent or noble mind, the seriousness of a timid person, and many other varieties of it. The seriousness of absent-mindedness shows itself in eccentricities.

Resourcefulness - the ability to use the opportunity in conversations and deeds. It requires ingenuity and experience.

About distraction. There is absent-mindedness, which comes from the fact that the work of the mind is generally slowed down, and sometimes it comes from the fact that the soul is concentrated on one subject.

Locke teaches that all passion originates in pleasure or pain. Since pleasure or pain is caused in different people by different causes, everyone understands different things by good and evil. However, there are two sources of good and evil for us: feelings and reflections. The impressions of the senses are instantaneous and unknowable. The passions generated by thought are based either on the love of being, or they are fed by a sense of their own imperfection. In the first case, gaiety, meekness, moderation in desires occur. In the second, restlessness and melancholy appear. The passions of great men are a combination of both.

La Rochefoucauld says that in love we seek only our own pleasure. But one must distinguish between selfishness and selfishness. Self-love allows you to love yourself outside of the person (in a woman, in fame and in other things), and self-love puts us at the center of the universe. Pride is the result of selfishness.

Ambition is the result of the desire to push the limits of one's personality, it can be both a virtue and a vice.

Glory drowns out our sorrows better than anything else, but this is not virtue or merit, but only a reward for them. Therefore, do not rush to condemn the pursuit of fame. The passion for glory craves external greatness, and the passion for science - greatness from within. The arts depict nature, the sciences depict truth. Knowledge of a reasonable person is not too extensive, but thorough. They must be put into practice: knowledge of the rules of dance will not benefit a person who has never danced. But any talent must be nurtured.

Avarice is the offspring of an absurd mistrust of the circumstances of life; the passion for the game, on the contrary, is born out of an absurd faith in chance.

Fatherly love is no different from self-love, for the child depends on his parents in everything and is connected with them. But children have pride, so children love their fathers less than fathers love their children.

Domestic animals indulge our pride: we imagine that the parrot loves us, appreciates our kindness - and we love him for this superiority over him.

Friendly affection gives rise to the imperfection of our essence, and the imperfection of this very affection leads to its cooling. We suffer from loneliness, but friendship does not fill the void. In youth they make friends more tenderly, in old age - stronger. Low in soul is he who is ashamed of friendship with people who have stained themselves.

About love. It is quite possible and love, free from gross sensuality, but the eye is infrequent. A person falls in love with the image he created, and not with a real woman. In general, in love, the main thing for us is the inner qualities, the soul. Do not confuse love with friendship, because friendship is ruled by reason, and love is ruled by feelings. It is impossible to judge a person by his face, it is much more interesting to see which faces he likes more than others.

Compassion is a feeling in which sadness is mixed with affection. It is selfless, the mind has no power over it.

About hate. Hatred is a deep despondency that turns us away from what caused it - this feeling includes both jealousy and envy.

A person respects everything that he loves, including himself.

The main feelings of a person: desire, discontent, hope, regret, timidity, mockery, confusion, surprise. But they are all weaker than love, ambition and stinginess.

A person cannot control passions in general. it is impossible to calm them, and it is not necessary, because they are the basis and essence of our soul. But it is necessary to fight bad habits, and whether we will overcome them is the will of the Lord.

Good should be considered only that which is beneficial for the whole society, and evil - that which is disastrous for it. The interests of the individual have to be sacrificed. The purpose of laws is to protect the rights of everyone.

Virtue is the preference of the general interest over the personal interest; and selfish interest is the source of all vices. Virtue does not bring happiness to people because they are vicious, and vices do not bring benefits.

The greatness of the soul is the desire to perform great deeds, good or evil. Therefore, other vices do not exclude great virtues, and vice versa.

About courage. There are many varieties of courage: courage in the fight against fate, patience, courage, firmness, and others. But they rarely meet all at once.

Sincerity is fidelity, not knowing suspicions and tricks. Moderation speaks of peace of mind. Prudence is sound forethought. Activity is a manifestation of restless strength, laziness is a calm impotence. Severity is a hatred of pleasures, severity is a hatred of vices. Wisdom is an understanding of the essence of goodness and love for it.

Virtue is goodness and beauty together; for example, medicines are good but not beautiful, and there are many things that are beautiful but not useful.

Mr. Cruise says that beauty is what our mind perceives as a complex but inseparable whole, it is diversity in unity.

A. V. Skobelkin

(Reflexions et Maximes)

Aphorisms (1747)

It is easier to say a new word than to reconcile words already spoken.

Our mind is perceptive rather than consistent, and embraces more than it can comprehend.

If a thought cannot be expressed in simple words, then it is insignificant and must be discarded.

Express a false thought clearly, and she will refute herself.

Constant stinginess in praise is a sure sign of a superficial mind.

Ardent ambition banishes all joy from our lives - it wants to rule with autocracy.

The best support in misfortune is not reason, but courage.

Neither wisdom nor freedom is compatible with weakness.

Reason is not given to correct that which by its very nature is imperfect.

You can't be just without being human.

It is one thing to soften the rules of virtue in the name of its triumph, and another to equate it with vice in order to nullify it.

We don't like to be pitied for our mistakes.

Young people do not know well what beauty is: they only know passion.

As soon as we feel that a person has nothing to respect us for, we begin to almost hate him.

Pleasure teaches the sovereign to feel like a mere human being.

He who demands payment for his honesty most often sells his honor.

A fool is always convinced that no one can fool an intelligent person better than he.

Several blockheads, seated at the table, announce: "Where we are not, there is no good society." And everyone believes them.

Clever people would be completely alone if fools did not rank themselves among them.

It is not easy to appreciate a person the way he wants to.

Let a person who does not have great talents console himself with the same thought as a person who does not have great ranks: one can be higher in heart than both.

Our judgment of others is not as variable as that of ourselves.

Anyone who believes that the poor are always higher than the rich is mistaken.

People are willing to provide services only as long as they feel that it is within their power.

He who is not capable of great accomplishments despises great plans.

A great man undertakes great things because he realizes their greatness, a fool - because he does not understand how difficult they are.

Strength easily takes precedence over cunning.

Excessive prudence is no less pernicious than its opposite: people are of little use to those who are always afraid of being cheated.

Bad people are always shocked by the discovery that good people are capable of wit.

It is rare to express a sound thought to someone who is always trying to be original.

Someone else's wit quickly gets bored.

Bad advice is far more powerful than our own whims.

Reason leads us into deception more often than our nature.

Generosity is not obliged to give an account to prudence about the reasons for its actions.

The conscience of the dying slanders the whole life they have lived.

The thought of death is treacherous: captured by it, we forget to live.

Sometimes you think: life is so short that it is not worth the slightest of my displeasure. But when an annoying guest arrives, I am incapable of being bored patiently for half an hour.

If even foresight cannot make our life happy, then what can we say about carelessness.

Who knows, perhaps the mind owes its most brilliant conquests to the passions.

If people valued glory less, they would not have had either intelligence or its valor. deserve.

People usually torture their neighbors under the pretext that they wish them well.

To punish unnecessarily is to challenge the mercy of God.

No one sympathizes with a fool on the sole ground that he is stupid, and this is perhaps reasonable; but how absurd it is to think that he himself is to blame for his stupidity!

Most disgusting, but also most common is the age-old ingratitude of children towards their parents.

Sometimes our weaknesses bind us to each other no less than the highest virtues.

Hatred overpowers friendship, but gives in to love.

Who is born to submit, he will be submissive on the throne.

Those deprived of power are looking for someone to obey them, because they need protection.

Whoever is able to endure everything, he is given the courage to do everything.

Other insults are better to swallow silently, so as not to cover yourself with dishonor.

We would like to believe that satiety speaks of shortcomings, of the imperfection of what we are fed up with, while in reality it is only a consequence of the exhaustion of our senses, evidence of our weakness.

A person dreams of peace, but he finds joy only in activity, and he cherishes it only.

The insignificant atom called a man is capable of grasping the universe in all its endless changes with one glance.

He who ridicules the propensity for serious things is seriously attached to trifles.

Peculiar talent - peculiar taste. It is by no means always one author belittles another only out of envy.

It is unfair when Deprevost is placed next to Racine: after all, the first succeeded in comedy - a low genre, the second - in tragedy, a high one.

In reasoning, examples should be few; it is necessary not to be distracted by side topics, but immediately state the final conclusion.

the mind of most scientists is like a gluttonous man, but with bad digestion.

Superficial knowledge is always fruitless, and sometimes harmful: it compels you to waste your energy on trifles and only amuses the vanity of fools.

Philosophers blacken human nature; we imagine that we ourselves are so different from the whole human race that, by slandering it, we ourselves remain unstained. Man is now in disfavor with those who think.

Great people, having taught the weak-hearted to think, set them on the path of reflection.

It is not true that equality is a law of nature. Submission and dependence is its supreme law.

The subjects flatter the sovereigns with much more ardor than they listen to this flattery. The thirst to get something is always sharper than the pleasure of what has already been obtained.

A rare person is able, without flinching, to endure the truth or to say it in the eyes.

Even if we are reproached for vanity, all the same, sometimes we just need to hear how great our virtues are.

People rarely come to terms with humiliation: they simply forget about it.

The more modest a person's position in the world, the more impunity his deeds remain and the more imperceptible are his merits.

Inevitability alleviates even such troubles, before which the mind is powerless.

Despair completes not only our failures, but also our weakness.

It is easy to criticize an author, but difficult to evaluate.

Works can be liked, even if something in them is wrong, because there is no correctness in our reasoning, as well as in the reasoning of the author. Our taste is easier to satisfy than our mind.

It is easier to seize the whole earth than to appropriate the smallest talent.

All leaders are eloquent, but they would hardly have succeeded in poetry, for such a high art is incompatible with the vanity that is necessary in politics.

You cannot deceive people for a long time where there is a matter of profit. You can deceive the whole people, but you must be honest with each person individually. Lies are weak by nature - therefore the speakers are sincere, at least in details. Therefore, truth itself is higher and more eloquent than any art.

Unfortunately, a talented person always wants to belittle other talents. Therefore, one should not judge poetry by the statements of a physicist.

It is necessary to praise a person during his lifetime, if he deserves it. It is not dangerous to praise from the heart, it is dangerous to denigrate undeservedly.

Envy does not know how to hide, it attacks the most undeniable virtues. She is blind, irrepressible, insane, rude.

There are no contradictions in nature.

It is assumed that he who serves virtue, obeying reason, is able to exchange it for a useful vice. Yes, it would be so, if vice could be useful - in the opinion of a person who knows how to reason.

If others do not suffer from a person's self-love, it is useful and natural.

We are receptive to friendship, justice, humanity, compassion and reason. Isn't that what virtue is?

Laws, while providing people with peace, diminish their freedom.

No one is ambitious by the dictates of reason and vicious by stupidity.

Our actions are less good and less vicious than our desires.

People reason: "Why know where the truth is when you know where the pleasure is?"

The strength or weakness of our faith depends more on courage than on reason. The one who laughs at signs is no smarter than the one who believes them.

What fear and hope do not convince a person of!

No unbeliever will die in peace if he thinks: "I was mistaken a thousand times, which means I could be mistaken about religion. And now I have neither the strength nor the time to think about it - I'm dying ..."

Faith is the joy of the disadvantaged and the scourge of the fortunate.

Life is short, but that can neither keep us from its joys nor console us from its sorrows.

The world is full of cold minds who, unable to come up with anything themselves, console themselves by rejecting other people's thoughts.

Out of weakness or fear of incurring contempt, people hide their most cherished, ineradicable, and sometimes virtuous inclinations.

The art of liking is the art of deceiving.

We are too inattentive or too preoccupied with ourselves to study each other.

A. V. Skobelkin

(Le Diable amoureux)

Fantastic Tale (1772)

The story is told from the perspective of a young Spanish nobleman who almost fell victim to the devil's machinations. When Don Alvar Maravillas was twenty-five years old, he served as captain of the guard of the King of Naples. The officers often indulged in philosophical conversations, and one day the conversation turned to Kabbalistics: some considered it a serious science, others saw it only as a source for trickery and deception of the gullible. Don Alvar was silent and looked closely at the eldest of his colleagues - the Flemish Soberano. As it turned out, he had power over secret forces. Alvar wished to immediately join this great science, and to the warnings of the teacher frivolously replied that he would tear off the ears of the prince of darkness himself.

Soberano invited the young man to dine with two of his friends. After the meal, the whole company went to the ruins of Portici. In a cave with a vaulted ceiling, the Fleming drew a circle with a cane, inscribed some signs in it, and named the formula of the spell. Then everyone went out, and Don Alvar was left alone. He was not at ease, but he was afraid to pass for an empty fanfaron and therefore fulfilled all the requirements, naming the name of Beelzebub three times. Suddenly, a window opened under the vault, a stream of dazzling light gushed out and a hideous head of a camel with huge ears appeared. Opening its mouth, the ghost asked in Italian: "What do you want?" Don Alvar almost lost his senses at the sound of a terrible voice, but managed to control himself and spoke in such an imperative tone that the devil was embarrassed. Don Alvar ordered him to appear in a more appropriate form - for example, in the form of a dog. Then the camel stretched its neck to the very middle of the cave and spat out a small white spaniel with silky hair on the floor. It was a bitch, and the young man named her Biondetta. By order of Alvar, a rich table was laid. Biondetta first appeared as a virtuoso musician, and then as a charming page. Soberano and his companions could not hide their astonishment and dismay, but the young officer's bold confidence reassured them somewhat. Then a luxurious carriage was brought to the ruins. On the way to Naples, Bernadillo (that was the name of one of Soberano's friends) suggested that Don Alvar had made an amazing deal, for no one had ever been served with such courtesy. The young man said nothing, but felt a vague anxiety and decided to get rid of his page as soon as possible. Here Biondetta began to appeal to a sense of honor: a Spanish nobleman cannot expel even a contemptible courtesan at such a late hour, not to mention the girl who sacrificed everything for him. Don Alvar yielded: refusing the services of an imaginary servant, he undressed and lay down, but the page's face seemed to him everywhere - even on the canopy of the bed. In vain did he remind himself of the ugly phantom - the abomination of the camel only set off the beauty of Biondetta.

From these painful thoughts, the bed gave way, and the young man fell to the floor. When the frightened Biondetta rushed to him, he ordered her not to run around the room barefoot and in one shirt - it would not take long to catch a cold. The next morning, Biondetta confessed that she fell in love with Alvar for the valor shown in the face of a terrible vision, and took on a corporeal form in order to connect with her hero. He is in danger: slanderers want to declare him a necromancer and give him into the hands of a well-known court. Both of them need to escape from Naples, but first he must pronounce the magic formula: accept the service of Biondetta and take her under his protection. Don Alvar muttered the words suggested to him, and the girl exclaimed that she would be the happiest creature in the world. The young man had to come to terms with the fact that the demon took all the travel expenses. On the way to Venice, Don Alvar fell into a kind of stupor and woke up already in the apartments of the best hotel in the city. He went to his mother's banker, who immediately handed him two hundred sequins, which Doña Mencia had sent through Miguel Pimientos, the groom. Alvar opened the letters: the mother complained about her health and filial inattention - but, due to her kindness, she did not say a word about money.

With relief, returning the debt to Biondetta, the young man plunged into the whirlwind of urban entertainment - he tried in every possible way to be away from the source of his temptation. Don Alvar's passion was the game, and everything was going well until his luck betrayed him - he lost to the ground. Biondetta, noticing his distress, offered her services: reluctantly, he took advantage of her knowledge and applied one simple combination, which turned out to be unmistakable. Now Alvar was always with money, but the disturbing feeling returned - he was not sure that he would be able to remove the dangerous spirit from himself. Biondetta constantly stood before his eyes. To distract from thoughts of her, he began to spend time in the company of courtesans, and the most famous of them soon fell madly in love with him. Alvar sincerely tried to respond to this feeling, as he longed to be freed from his secret passion, but everything was in vain - Olympia quickly realized that she had a rival. By order of a jealous courtesan, Alvar's house was placed under surveillance, and then Biondetta received an anonymous threatening letter. Alvar was struck by the extravagance of his mistress: if Olympia knew who she was threatening with death! For reasons unknown to himself, he could never call this creature by its true name. Meanwhile, Biondetta was clearly suffering from Alvar's inattention and poured out her longings in musical improvisations. After listening to her song, Alvar decided to leave immediately, because the obsession was becoming too dangerous. In addition, it seemed to him that Bernadillo, who had once accompanied him to the ruins of Portici, was watching him. The porters carried Alvar's belongings to the gondola, Biondetta followed, and at that moment the masked woman stabbed her with a dagger. The second killer pushed the startled gondolier away with a curse, and Alvar recognized Bernadillo's voice.

Biondetta was bleeding. Beside himself with despair, Alvar cried out for revenge. The surgeon appeared, attracted by the screams. After examining the wounded, he announced that there was no hope. The young man seemed to have lost his mind: the adored Biondetta became the victim of his ridiculous prejudice - he took her for a deceptive ghost and deliberately put her in mortal danger. When the exhausted Alvar finally fell asleep, he dreamed of his mother: as if he were walking with her to the ruins of Portici, and suddenly someone was pushing him into the abyss - it was Biondetta! But then another hand caught him, and he found himself in the arms of his mother. Alvar woke up gasping with terror. Undoubtedly, this terrible dream was the product of a frustrated imagination: now it was no longer possible to doubt that Biondetta was a creature of flesh and blood. Alvar vowed to give her happiness if she did survive.

Three weeks later, Biondetta woke up. Alvar surrounded her with the most tender care. She quickly recovered and blossomed every day. Finally, he dared to ask a question about the terrible vision in the ruins of Portici. Biondetta claimed that this was a trick of the necromancers who plotted to humiliate and enslave Alvar. But the sylphs, salamanders and undines, admiring his courage, decided to support him, and Biondetta appeared before him in the form of a dog. She was allowed to take on a body for the sake of union with the sage - she voluntarily became a woman and found that she had a heart that belonged entirely to her beloved. However, without Alvar's support, she is doomed to become the most miserable creature in the world.

The month passed in rapturous bliss. But when Alvar said that in order to marry he needed to ask for a mother's blessing, Biondetta attacked him with reproaches. The dejected young man decided nevertheless to go to Extremadura. Biondetta overtook him near Turin. According to her, the scoundrel Bernadillo grew bolder after Alvar's departure and accused her of being an evil spirit guilty of kidnapping the captain of the guard of the King of Naples. Everyone turned away in horror from her, and with great difficulty she managed to escape from Venice. Alvar, filled with remorse, nevertheless did not give up the idea of ​​​​visiting his mother. Everything seemed to interfere with this intention: the carriage constantly broke down, the elements raged, horses and mules alternately went berserk, and Biondetta repeated that Alvar wanted to destroy them both. Not far from Estremadura, the young man caught the eye of Berta, the sister of his nurse. This honest peasant woman told him that Doña Mencia was dying, because she could not bear the news of her son's terrible behavior. Despite the protests of Biondetta, Alvar ordered to be driven to Maravillas, but then the axle of the carriage burst again. Fortunately, there was a farm nearby that belonged to the Duke of Medina Sidonia. The tenant Marcoe warmly welcomed the unexpected guests, inviting them to take part in the wedding feast. Alvar entered into a conversation with two gypsies who promised to tell him a lot of interesting things, but Biondetta did everything to prevent this conversation. The inevitable happened at night - the young man, touched by the tears of his beloved, could not free himself from the sweet embrace. The next morning, the happy Biondetta asked not to be called again by a name that does not befit the devil - from now on, Beelzebub is waiting for declarations of love. The shocked Alvar did not put up any resistance, and the enemy of the human race again took possession of him, and then appeared before him in his true form - instead of a pretty face on the pillow, the head of a disgusting camel appeared. With a vile laugh, the monster stuck out an infinitely long tongue and inquired in Italian in a terrible voice: "What do you want?" Alvar, closing his eyes, threw himself face down on the floor. When he woke up, the sun was shining brightly. Farmer Marcoe told him that Biondetta had already left, having paid handsomely for both of them.

Alvar got into the carriage. He was so confused that he could hardly speak. In the castle, his mother joyfully met him - alive and unharmed. The unfortunate young man fell at her feet and, in a fit of repentance, told about everything that had happened to him. Having listened to him with surprise, the mother said that Bertha had long been bedridden with a serious illness. Doña Mencia herself did not even think of sending him money beyond the allowance, and the good groom Pimientos died eight months ago. Finally, the Duke of Medina Sidonia does not have any possessions in those places where Alvar visited. Undoubtedly, the young man was the victim of deceptive visions that enslaved his mind. The priest immediately summoned confirmed that Alvar had escaped the greatest danger that a man could be exposed to. But there is no need to go to the monastery, because the enemy has retreated. Of course, he will try to revive the lovely vision again in his memory - a legal marriage should become an obstacle to this. If the chosen one has heavenly charms and talents, Alvar will never feel the temptation to mistake her for the devil.

E. D. Murashkintseva

(Le Barbier de Seville ou La precation inutile)

Comedy (1775)

On the night street of Seville, in the costume of a modest bachelor, Count Almaviva is waiting for the object of his love to appear in the window. A noble nobleman, tired of court licentiousness, for the first time wants to win the pure, unbiased love of a young noble girl. Therefore, so that the title does not overshadow the person, he hides his name.

The beautiful Rosina lives locked up under the supervision of her old guardian, Dr. Bartolo. It is known that the old man is in love with his ward and her money and is going to keep her in custody until the poor thing marries him. Suddenly, on the same street, a merrily singing Figaro appears and recognizes the Count, his old acquaintance. Promising to keep the count incognito, the rogue Figaro tells his story: having lost his position as a veterinarian due to too loud and dubious literary fame, he tries to establish himself as a writer. But although all of Spain sings his songs, Figaro fails to cope with the competition, and he becomes a traveling barber. Thanks to his incredible wit, as well as worldly sophistication, Figaro perceives sorrows philosophically and with unchanging irony and enchants with his gaiety. Together they decide how to get Rosina out of captivity, who is in love with the count in return. Figaro enters the house of Bartolo, jealous to the point of rage, as a barber and doctor. They think that the count will appear dressed up as a drunken soldier with an appointment to stay in the doctor's house. Figaro himself, meanwhile, will incapacitate Bartolo's servants, using simple medical means.

The blinds open and Rosina appears in the window, as always with the doctor. Allegedly by chance, she drops a sheet of music and a note for her unknown admirer, in which he is asked to sing to reveal his name and rank. The Doctor runs to pick up the paper, but the Count is quicker. To the tune of "Vain Precaution" he sings a serenade where he calls himself the unknown bachelor Lindor. Suspicious Bartolo is sure that the sheet of music was dropped and allegedly blown away by the wind for a reason, and Rosina must be in a conspiracy with a mysterious admirer.

The next day, poor Rosina is languishing and bored, confined in her room, and is trying to think of a way to deliver the letter to "Lindor". Figaro had just "healed" the doctor's household: he bled a maid from her leg, and prescribed sleeping pills and sneezing drugs for the servants. He undertakes to deliver Rosina's letter and in the meantime overhears Bartolo's conversation with Basil, Rosina's music teacher and Bartolo's main ally. According to Figaro, this is a distressed crook, ready to hang himself for a penny. Basile reveals to the doctor that Count Almaviva, who is in love with Rosina, is in Seville and has already established correspondence with her. Bartolo, horrified, asks to arrange his wedding the very next day. Count Basil offers to pour slander in front of Rosina. Basil leaves, and the doctor rushes to Rosina to find out what she could talk about with Figaro. At that moment, the count appears in the form of a cavalryman, pretending to be tipsy. His goal is to identify himself to Rosina, give her a letter and, if possible, stay in the house for the night. Bartolo, with the sharp instinct of a jealous man, guesses what kind of intrigue lies behind this. A funny skirmish takes place between him and the imaginary soldier, during which the count manages to hand the letter to Rosina. The doctor proves to the count that he is freed from the post and kicks him out.

The Count makes another attempt to break into Bartolo's house. He changes into a bachelor's suit and identifies himself as Basil's apprentice, who is kept in bed by a sudden indisposition. The count hopes that Bartolo will immediately offer him to replace Basil and teach Rosina a lesson, but he underestimates the old man's suspicions. Bartolo decides to visit Basil immediately, and in order to deter him, the imaginary bachelor mentions the name of Count Almaviva. Bartolo demands new news, and then the count has to be informed on behalf of Basil that Rosina's correspondence with the count has been discovered, and he is instructed to give the doctor Rosina's intercepted letter. The count is in despair that he is forced to hand over the letter, but there is no other way to earn the old man's trust. He even offers to use this letter when the moment comes to break Rosina's resistance and convince her to marry the doctor. It is enough to lie that Basil's disciple received it from one woman, and then confusion, shame, annoyance can bring her to a desperate act. Bartolo is delighted with this plan and immediately believes that the bastard Basil really sent the count. Under the guise of a singing lesson, Bartolo decides to introduce the imaginary student to Rosina, which is what the count wanted. But they cannot be alone during the lesson, because Bartolo does not want to miss the chance to enjoy the singing of the pupil. Rosina sings a song from "Vain Precaution" and, slightly altering it, turns the song into a love confession to Lindor. The lovers are playing for time to wait for the arrival of Figaro, who will have to distract the doctor.

Finally he comes, and the doctor scolds him for the fact that Figaro crippled his household. Why, for example, was it necessary to put poultices over the eyes of a blind mule? It would be better if Figaro returned the debt to the doctor with interest, to which Figaro swears that he would rather be indebted to Bartolo for life than refuse this debt even for a moment. In response, Bartolo swears that he will not yield in a dispute with an impudent one. Figaro turns his back, saying that he, on the contrary, always yields to him. And in general, he just came to shave the doctor, and not to intrigue, as he deigns to think. Bartolo is in difficulty: on the one hand, it is necessary to shave, on the other hand, Figaro must not be left alone with Rosina, otherwise he will be able to send her a letter again. Then the doctor decides, in violation of all decorum, to shave in the room with Rosina, and send Figaro for the device. The conspirators are delighted, since Figaro has the opportunity to remove the key from the blinds from the bundle. Suddenly, the sound of breaking dishes is heard, and Bartolo, screaming, runs out of the room to save his appliance. The count manages to make an appointment with Rosina in the evening to rescue her from captivity, but he does not have enough time to tell her about the letter given to the doctor. Bartolo returns with Figaro, and at that moment Don Basil enters. Lovers in silent horror that now everything can open up. The doctor asks Basil about his illness and says that his student has already passed everything on. Basil is at a loss, but the count imperceptibly puts his purse into his hand and asks him to be silent and leave. The strong argument of the count convinces Basil, and he, citing ill health, leaves. Everyone takes to the music and shaving with relief. The count declares that before the end of the lesson he must give Rosina the last instructions in the art of singing, leans towards her and explains his dressing in a whisper. But Bartolo sneaks up on the lovers and overhears their conversation. Rosina screams in fright, and the count, witnessing the doctor's wild antics, doubts that with such oddities of his, Señora Rosina will want to marry him. Rosina in anger swears to give her hand and heart to the one who will free her from the jealous old man. Yes, sighs Figaro, the presence of a young woman and advanced age - that's what makes old people go crazy.

Bartolo, furious, runs to Basil to shed light on all this confusion. Basil admits that he has never seen the bachelor, and only the generosity of the gift made him keep silent. The doctor does not understand why it was necessary to take the wallet. But at that moment Basil was bewildered, and in difficult cases gold always seems to be an irrefutable argument. Bartolo decides to make one last effort to possess Rosina. However, Basil does not advise him to do this. In the end, the possession of all kinds of goods - that's not all. To receive pleasure from the possession of them - that is what happiness consists of. To marry a woman who does not love you is to expose yourself to endless hard scenes. Why do violence to her heart? And besides, replies Bartolo, it would be better for her to cry because he is her husband than for him to die because she is not his wife. Therefore, he is going to marry Rosina that night and asks to bring a notary as soon as possible. As for Rosina's stubbornness, the ostensible bachelor, unwittingly, suggested how to use her letter to slander the count. He gives Basil his keys to all the doors and asks him to bring the notary as soon as possible. Poor Rosina, terribly nervous, is waiting for Lindor to appear in the window. Suddenly, the steps of the guardian were heard, Rosina wants to leave and asks the annoying old man to give her peace at least at night, but Bartolo begs him to listen. He shows Rosina's letter to the count, and the poor thing recognizes him. Bartolo lies that as soon as Count Almaviva received the letter, he immediately began to brag about it. It supposedly came to Bartolo from a woman to whom the count presented the letter. And the woman told everything in order to get rid of such a dangerous rival. Rosina was to become the victim of a monstrous plot by the Count, Figaro and a young bachelor, the Count's henchman.

Rosina is shocked that Lindor, it turns out, won it not for himself, but for some Count Almaviva. Rosina, beside herself with humiliation, suggests that the doctor marry her immediately and warns him of the impending kidnapping. Bartolo runs for help, intending to ambush the Count near the house in order to catch him as a robber. The unfortunate offended Rosina is left alone and decides to play a game with Linder to see how low a person can sink. The blinds open, Rosina runs away in fear. The Count is concerned only with whether the modest Rosina will not find his plan to marry immediately too bold. Figaro then advises calling her cruel, and women are very fond of being called cruel. Rosina appears, and the count begs her to share the lot of the poor with him. Rosina replies indignantly that she would consider it happiness to share his bitter fate, if not for the abuse of her love, as well as the meanness of this terrible Count Almaviva, to whom they were going to sell her. The count immediately explains to the girl the essence of the misunderstanding, and she bitterly repents of her gullibility. The count promises her that since she agrees to be his wife, he is not afraid of anything and will teach the vile old man a lesson.

They hear the front door open, but instead of the doctor and guards, Basil and the notary appear. A marriage contract is immediately signed, for which Basil receives a second purse. Bartolo rushes in with a guard, who is immediately embarrassed, having realized that the count is in front of him. But Bartolo refuses to recognize the marriage as valid, citing the rights of a guardian. It is objected to him that, having abused his rights, he lost them, and the resistance to such a respectable union only indicates that he is afraid of responsibility for the poor management of the pupil's affairs. The count promises not to demand anything from him except consent to marriage, and this broke the stubbornness of the stingy old man. Bartolo blames his own negligence for everything, but Figaro is inclined to call it thoughtlessness. However, when youth and love conspire to deceive the old man, all his efforts to prevent them can be called a futile precaution.

A. A. Friedrich

(Le Marriage de Figaro)

Comedy (1784)

The action takes place during one crazy day in the castle of Count Almaviva, whose household manages to weave a dizzying intrigue with weddings, courts, adoptions, jealousy and reconciliation in this short time. The heart of the intrigue is Figaro, the count's housekeeper. This is an incredibly witty and wise man, the closest assistant and adviser to the count in ordinary times, but now he has fallen out of favor. The reason for the count's displeasure is that Figaro decides to marry the charming girl Susanna, the countess's maid, and the wedding should take place on the same day, everything goes fine until Susanna tells about the count's idea: to restore the seigneur's shameful right to the bride's virginity under the threat of upsetting the wedding and deprive them of their dowry. Figaro is shocked by such baseness of his master, who, not having time to appoint him as a house manager, is already going to send him to the embassy in London by courier in order to calmly visit Susanna. Figaro vows to wrap the voluptuous count around his finger, to win Susanna and not to lose her dowry. As the bride says, intrigue and money are his element.

Figaro's wedding is threatened by two more enemies. The old doctor Bartolo, from whom the Count, with the help of the cunning Figaro, kidnapped the bride, found an opportunity, through his housekeeper Marceline, to take revenge on the offenders. Marceline is going to court to force Figaro to fulfill his debt obligation: either return her money, or marry her. The count, of course, will support her in an effort to prevent their wedding, but her own wedding will be arranged thanks to this. Once in love with his wife, the count, three years after his marriage, slightly cooled towards her, but the place of love was taken by furious and blind jealousy, while out of boredom he drags after beauties all over the district. Marceline is head over heels in love with Figaro, which is understandable: he does not know how to get angry, always in a good mood, sees only joy in the present and thinks just as little about the past as about the future. In fact, marrying Marceline is Dr. Bartolo's direct duty. They were supposed to be bound by marriage by a child, the fruit of a forgotten love, stolen by a baby by gypsies.

The Countess, however, does not feel completely abandoned, she has an admirer - the page of His Excellency Cherubino. This is a charming little prankster, going through a difficult period of growing up, already aware of himself as an attractive young man. The change in worldview completely confused the teenager, he takes turns courting all the women in his field of vision and is secretly in love with the countess, his godmother. The frivolous behavior of Cherubino displeases the count, and he wants to send him to his parents. The boy, in desperation, goes to complain to Susanna. But during the conversation, the count enters Susanna's room, and Cherubino hides behind an armchair in horror. The Count is already bluntly offering Susanna money in exchange for a date before the wedding. Suddenly they hear the voice of Basil, a musician and pimp at the count's court, he approaches the door, the count, in fear that he will be caught with Susanna, hides behind the chair where Cherubino is already sitting. The boy runs out and climbs into the chair with his feet, and Susanna covers him with a dress and stands in front of the chair. Basile is looking for the count and at the same time takes the opportunity to persuade Susanna to accept his master's proposal. He hints at the benevolence of many ladies towards Cherubino, including her and the Countess. Seized with jealousy, the count rises from his chair and orders the boy to be sent away immediately, trembling in the meantime under his cover. He pulls off his dress and reveals a little page underneath. The count is sure that Susanna had a date with Cherubino. Furious that he had overheard his delicate conversation with Susanna, he forbids her to marry Figaro. At the same moment, a crowd of smartly dressed villagers appears with Figaro at the head. The cunning man brought the count's vassals to solemnly thank their master for the abolition of the seigneur's right to the bride's virginity. Everyone praises the count's virtue, and he has no choice but to curse Figaro's cunning and confirm his decision. He is also begged to forgive Cherubino, the count agrees, he promotes the young man to the officers of his regiment, with the condition that he immediately leave to serve in distant Catalonia. Cherubino is in despair that he is parting with his godmother, and Figaro advises him to act out the departure, and then quietly return to the castle. In retaliation for Susanna's intransigence, the Count is going to support Marceline in court and thus disrupt Figaro's wedding.

Figaro, meanwhile, decides to act with no less consistency than his Excellency: to moderate his appetites for Susanna, instilling suspicion that his wife is being attacked. Through Basil, the count receives an anonymous note that a certain admirer will seek a meeting with the countess during the ball. The countess is indignant that Figaro is not ashamed to play the honor of a decent woman. But Figaro assures that he will not allow himself this with any woman: he is afraid to hit the mark. Bring the count to a white heat - and he is in their hands. Instead of spending a pleasant time with someone else's wife, he will be forced to follow on the heels of his own, and in the presence of the countess, he will no longer dare to interfere with their marriage. Only Marceline needs to be feared, so Figaro orders Susanna to make an appointment for the count in the evening in the garden. Instead of a girl, Cherubino will go there in her costume. While his Excellency is on the hunt, Susanna and the Countess must change and comb Cherubino, and then Figaro will hide him. Cherubino arrives, they change his clothes, and touching hints slip between him and the countess, speaking of mutual sympathy. Susanna went out to get pins, and at that moment the count returns from hunting ahead of schedule and demands that the countess let him in. It is obvious that he received the note composed by Figaro and is beside himself with rage. If he finds a half-dressed Cherubino, he will shoot him on the spot. The boy hides in the dressing room, and the countess, terrified and dismayed, runs to open the count.

The count, seeing his wife's confusion and hearing a noise in the dressing room, wants to break the door, although the countess assures him that Susanna is changing clothes there. Then the count goes for tools and takes his wife with him. Susanna opens the dressing room, releases Cherubino, barely alive from fear, and takes his place; the boy jumps out of the window. The count returns, and the countess, in desperation, tells him about the page, begging him to spare the child. The Count opens the door and, to his amazement, finds Susanna laughing there. Susanna explains that they presto decided to play a prank on him, and Figaro wrote that note himself. Having mastered herself, the countess reproaches him for coldness, groundless jealousy, unworthy behavior. The stunned count in sincere repentance begs him to forgive.

Figaro appears, the women force him to admit that he is the author of the anonymous letter. Everyone is ready to make peace, when the gardener comes and talks about a man who fell out of the window and crushed all the flower beds. Figaro is in a hurry to make up a story, how, frightened by the count's wrath because of the letter, he jumped out the window, hearing that the count had suddenly interrupted the hunt. But the gardener shows the paper that fell out of the fugitive's pocket. This is an order appointing Cherubino. Fortunately, the countess remembers that the seal was missing on the order, Cherubino told her about it. Figaro manages to get out: Cherubino allegedly transmitted an order through him, on which the count should put a seal. Meanwhile, Marceline appears and the Count sees her as Figaro's instrument of revenge. Marceline demands the trial of Figaro, and the count invites the local court and witnesses. Figaro refuses to marry Marceline because he considers himself of noble rank. True, he does not know his parents, since the gypsies stole him. The nobility of his origin is proved by the sign on his hand in the form of a spatula. At these words, Marceline throws herself on Figaro's neck and declares him her lost child, the son of Dr. Bartolo. The lawsuit is thus resolved by itself, and Figaro, instead of an angry fury, finds a loving mother. Meanwhile, the countess is going to teach the jealous and unfaithful count a lesson and decides to go on a date with him herself. Susanna, under her dictation, writes a note where the count is scheduled to meet in the gazebo in the garden. The count must come to seduce his own wife, and Susanna will receive the promised dowry. Figaro accidentally learns about the appointment, and, not understanding its true meaning, loses his mind from jealousy. He curses his unfortunate fate. In fact, it is not known whose son, stolen by robbers, brought up in their concepts, he suddenly felt disgusted with them and decided to follow an honest path, and everywhere he was pushed aside. He studied chemistry, pharmacy, surgery, was a veterinarian, playwright, writer, essayist; as a result, he became a wandering barber and lived a carefree life.

One fine day, Count Almaviva arrives in Seville, recognizes him, Figaro married him, and now, in gratitude for the fact that he got the count's wife, the count took it into his head to intercept his bride. An intrigue ensues, Figaro is on the verge of death, almost marries his own mother, but at that very time it turns out who his parents are. He saw everything and was disappointed in everything for his difficult life. But he sincerely believed and loved Suzanne, and she so cruelly betrayed him, for the sake of some kind of dowry! Figaro rushes to the place of the supposed rendezvous to catch them red-handed. And now, in a dark corner of the park with two gazebos, the final scene of a crazy day takes place. In hiding, Figaro and the real Susanna are waiting for the dates of the count with "Suzanna": the first one wants revenge, the second - a funny spectacle.

So they overhear a very instructive conversation between the count and the countess. The Count admits that he loves his wife very much, but a thirst for variety pushed him to Susanna. Wives usually think that if they love their husbands, then that's it. They are so helpful, so always helpful, unfailingly and under any circumstances, that one day, to your amazement, instead of feeling bliss again, you begin to feel satiety. Wives just don't know how to keep their husbands attracted. The law of nature makes men seek reciprocity, and it is the job of women to be able to keep them. Figaro is trying to find the conversation in the dark and stumbles upon Susanna, dressed in the dress of the countess. He still recognizes his Susanna and, wanting to teach the count a lesson, plays a scene of seduction. The enraged Count hears the whole conversation and calls the whole house together to publicly denounce the unfaithful wife. Torches are brought, but instead of the Countess with an unknown suitor, Figaro and Susanna are found laughing, while the Countess, meanwhile, leaves the arbor in Susanna's dress. The shocked count for the second time in a day prays to his wife for forgiveness, and the newlyweds receive a wonderful dowry.

A. A. Friedrich

(La mere Coupable)

Play (1792)

Paris, late 1790

From the conversation of Figaro, the valet of the Spanish nobleman, Count Almaviva, and his wife Suzanna, the first maid of the countess, it becomes clear that since the eldest son of the count, a dissolute rake, died in a duel, a black shadow fell on the whole family. The count is always gloomy and gloomy, he hates his youngest son, Leon, and hardly tolerates the countess. Moreover, he is going to exchange all his possessions (to receive land in France by permission of the king, giving away Spanish estates).

Bejars is to blame, a treacherous Irishman who was secretary to the earl when he acted as ambassador. This cunning intriguer "mastered all the family secrets", lured the count from Spain to France, where "everything is upside down" (a revolution is taking place), in the hope of quarreling the count with his wife, marrying their pupil Florestina and taking possession of the count's fortune. Honore Bejars - "a man of low soul, a hypocrite, impeccably pretending to be honest and noble. Figaro calls him "Honoré-Tartuffe" (venerable hypocrite). Bejars masterfully masters the art of sowing discord under the guise of the most devoted friendship and benefiting from it. The whole family is fascinated by him .

But Figaro, a Seville barber who went through a harsh school of life, a man endowed with a sharp mind and strong character, knows the true value of a deceiver and is determined to bring him to clean water. Knowing that Bejars has some inclination towards Suzanne, he tells her to "appease him, refuse him nothing" and report on his every step. To increase Bejars' confidence in Suzanne, Figaro and his wife play out a scene of a violent quarrel in front of him.

What are the plans of the new Tartuffe based on and what are the obstacles to their implementation? The main obstacle is love. The Count still loves his wife, Rosina, and she still has influence over him. And Leon and Florestina love each other, and the countess encourages this affection. This means that it is necessary to remove the countess, finally quarreling with her husband, and make it impossible for Leon and Florestina to marry, and in such a way that everything happens as if without the participation of Béjarts. The Count suspects that the Countess, who has always "reputed to be a woman of high morals, a zealot of piety and therefore enjoyed universal respect," twenty years ago cheated on him with the former page of Count Leon Astorga, nicknamed Cherubino, who "had the audacity to fall in love with the Countess." The count's jealous suspicions are based on the fact that when he was appointed viceroy to Mexico, his wife decided to spend three years of his absence in the seedy castle of Astorga, and nine or ten months after the count's departure, she gave birth to a boy. In the same year, Cherubino died in the war. Leon is very similar to Cherubino and, in addition, surpasses the deceased heir in everything: he is "a model for his peers, he enjoys universal respect," he cannot be reproached for anything. Jealousy for the past and hatred for Leon flared up in the count's soul after the death of his eldest son, because now Leon became the heir to his name and fortune. He is sure that Leon is not his son, but he has no evidence of his wife's infidelity. He decides to secretly replace his portrait on the Countess' bracelet with that of Cherubino and see how the Countess takes it. But Béjars has much more compelling evidence. These are letters from Cherubino (Bejars served with him in the same regiment) to the countess. Bejars himself handed these letters to her and read them many times with the countess. They are stored in a chest with a secret bottom, which he himself ordered for the Countess, along with jewelry. At the request of Bejars, Susanna, remembering Figaro's command not to refuse him anything, brings a casket. When the count replaces one bracelet with another, Béjars, pretending to want to prevent this, as if by accident opens a secret compartment, and the count sees the letters. Now the evidence of treason is in his hands. "Ah, treacherous Rosina! After all, despite all my frivolity, I fed her alone ..." - the count exclaims. He has one letter left, and he asks Bezhars to put the rest in their place.

Left alone, the count reads Rosina's letter to Cherubino and the page's reply on the reverse side. He understands that, unable to control his insane passion, the young page took possession of the countess by force, that the countess deeply repents of her involuntary crime, and that her order not to see her again made the unfortunate Cherubino seek death in battle. The last lines of the page's reply are written in blood and blurred with tears. "No, these are not villains, not monsters - they are just unfortunate madmen," the count admits with pain, but does not change his decision to marry Florestina as a devoted friend of Bejars, giving her a huge dowry. So, the first part of Bezhars' plan is completed, and he immediately proceeds to implement the second. Left alone with Florestina - joyful, having just congratulated her lover on the day of the angel, full of hope for happiness - he announces to her that the count is her father, and Leon is her brother. In a stormy explanation with Leon, who, having learned from Figaro that Florestina was promised by Count Bejars, is ready to grab his sword, Bejars, playing offended dignity, reveals to him the same "secret". The invulnerable hypocrite plays his usual role as a guardian of the common good so perfectly that Leon, with tears of repentance and gratitude, throws himself on his neck and promises not to divulge the "fatal secret". And Bezhars leads the count to a wonderful idea: to give Leon, who is to leave for Malta, Figaro as an escort. He dreams of getting rid of Figaro, because "this cunning beast" stands in his way.

Now the countess remains, who must not only come to terms with the marriage of Bejars to Florestina, but also persuade the girl to this marriage. The Countess, who is accustomed to seeing Bejars as a true friend, complains about her husband's cruelty towards her son. She spent twenty years "in tears and repentance," and now her son is suffering for the sin she committed. Bejars assures the Countess that the secret of Leon's birth is unknown to her husband, that he is so gloomy and wants to remove his son only because he sees love blossoming, which he cannot bless, because Florestina is his daughter. The Countess on her knees thanks God for the unexpected mercy. Now she has something to forgive her husband, Florestina becomes even more dear to her, and her marriage to Bejars seems to be the best way out. Bejars forces the Countess to burn Cherubino's letters so that she does not notice the loss of one of them, while he manages to explain what is happening to the Count, who caught them with the Countess in this strange occupation (he was brought by Figaro, warned by Rosina), which looks like the embodiment of nobility and devotion, and immediately after this, as if by chance, hints to the count that in France people get divorced.

How he triumphs when he is alone! It seems to him that he is already "half Count Almaviva". But one more step is needed. The scoundrel is afraid that the count is still too subject to the influence of his wife to dispose of the state, as Bejars would like. To remove the countess, it is necessary to provoke a major scandal as soon as possible, especially since the count, admired by the "spiritual greatness" with which the countess received the news of the marriage of Florestina and Bezhars, is inclined to reconcile with his wife. Bejars incites Leon to ask his mother to intercede for him before his father. Florestina does not want to marry Bejars at all, but is ready to sacrifice herself for the good of her "brother". Leon has come to terms with the thought that Florestina is lost to him, and tries to love her with brotherly love, but has not come to terms with the injustice that his father shows him.

As Bejars expected, the countess, out of love for her son, starts a conversation with her husband, and he in anger reproaches her for treason, shows a letter that she considered burned, and mentions a bracelet with her portrait. The countess is in such a state of mental confusion that when she sees the portrait of Cherubino, it seems to her that the dead accomplice of sin has come for her from the other world, and she frantically calls for death, accusing herself of a crime against her husband and son. The count bitterly repents of his cruelty, and Leon, who has heard the whole conversation, rushes to his mother and says that he does not need any titles or fortune, he wants to leave the count's house with her. which it turns out that Bezhars deceived everyone.

The main proof of his heinous atrocities lies in the hands of Figaro. Having easily outwitted the silly servant of Bejars, Wilhelm, Figaro forced him to reveal through whom the correspondence of Bejars goes. Several louis for the servant in charge of the post office to open letters written in the handwriting of Honore-Tartuffe, and a tidy sum for the letter itself. But this document completely exposes the scoundrel. There is a general reconciliation, everyone embraces each other. "Both of them are our children!" the Count proclaims enthusiastically, pointing to Leon and Florestina.

When Bejars appears, Figaro, who at the same time managed to save all the master's money from the fraudster, exposes him. Then he announces that Florestina and Leon "by birth and by law cannot be considered relatives," and the touched count calls on the household members "to forgive each other's mistakes and former weaknesses."

I. A. Moskvina-Tarkhanova

(Le Paysan perverti ou les Dangers de la ville)

Roman in letters (1775)

Before the reader - "recent history, compiled on the basis of authentic letters of its participants."

Young Edmond R ***, the son of a wealthy peasant with many children, is taken to the city and placed as an apprentice to the artist, Mr. Parangon. The shyness of a young peasant is called in the city uncouthness, his festive peasant clothes are considered unfashionable, "some works" are considered shameful at all, and the owners never do them themselves, but they force him, because although he is not a servant, he is obedient and complaisant, complains he is in a letter to his elder brother Pierre.

But gradually Edmond gets used to city life. The mistress's cousin, the charming Mademoiselle Manon, who manages the house in the absence of Mrs. Parangon, first humiliates the new student in every possible way, and then begins to openly flirt with him. The maid Tienetta, on the contrary, constantly encourages Edmond. Tienette is the daughter of respectable parents who ran away from home so that she would not be married against her will. Her lover, Monsieur Loiseau, followed her, and now lives here in the city.

Unnoticed, Edmond falls in love with Mademoiselle Manon; he dreams of marrying her. His desire coincides with the plans of Mr. Parangon, for Manon is his mistress and is expecting a child from him. Having given her in marriage to a village simpleton, Mr. Parangon expects to continue to use the girl's favor. Mr. Godet, with whom Parangon introduces Edmond, does everything to speed up the wedding.

Madame Parangon returns; her beauty and charm make an indelible impression on Edmond.

Edmond's sister Yursyul comes to town; Madame Parangon takes her under guardianship and interferes with her aunt, the venerable Madame Kanon. Seeing that Edmond is infatuated with Mademoiselle Manon, Tienetta, on behalf of Madame Parangon, reveals to him the secret of this girl's relationship with Mr. Parangon. "What dens of the city!" Edmond is outraged.

However, his anger quickly passes: he feels that he cannot part with the city, which he both loves and hates. And the beautiful Manon, having renounced her delusions, assures Edmond of the sincerity of her feelings for him and, as proof of her love, transfers to him the full right to dispose of her dowry. Edmond secretly marries Manon, and she goes to a monastery to be relieved of her burden.

Edmond goes to the village to visit his parents. There he casually seduces his cousin Laura. The freethinker and libertine Godet, who has become Edmond's best friend, advises him to take revenge on Mr. Parangon: to console himself with his wife. But Edmond is still in awe of Madame Parangon.

Madame Parangon does not object to Edmond having a "restrained love" for her, for she is sure that she can keep him within the proper boundaries. The "boundless respect" that Edmond has for the "ideal of beauty" - Madame Parangon, gradually turns into love.

Manon has a son, and Mr. Parangon takes him to the village. Edmond confesses that he is married to Manon. Mrs. Parangon forgives her cousin and lavishes affection and attention on her, like Yursyuli and Tienetge. Manon is imbued with the ideals of virtue and does not want to renew the previous relationship with Mr. Parangon. "True happiness lies only in a clear conscience, in a pure heart," she declares. With the assistance of Mrs. Parangon, Tienetta reconciles with her parents and marries Mr. Loizeau. Yursyul, together with Madame Kanon, goes to Paris to improve his upbringing.

Learning that Edmond seduced Laura, Manon writes an angry letter to Godet, accusing him of "corruption" of Edmond, and dies. Before her death, she conjures her husband to beware of friendship with Godet and the charm of her cousin, Madame Parangon.

Mrs. Parangon goes to Paris - to tell Yursyuli about the grief that befell her brother. Edmond is saddened - first by the death of his wife, then - by separation from Madame Parangon. Laura gives birth to Edmond's child - daughter Loretta. "What a sweet name - father! Lucky elder, you will wear it without remorse, for me, natural joys, in their very source, are poisoned by crime! .." - Edmond writes with envy to his brother, who married a modest village girl and expects an addition families

Godet enters into a criminal relationship with Laura and takes her into custody. Taking advantage of the absence of Mrs. Parangon, he introduces Edmond into the society of girls "free from prejudices" and inspires him with dangerous sophisms that plunge him "into the abyss of unbelief and debauchery." Godet admits that he "seduced Edmond", but only because he "wished him happiness." having learned the lessons of his mentor, Edmond, in letters to Madame Parangon, dares to reveal his passion for her. Mrs. Parangon does not love her husband, who is constantly cheating on her, she has been living her life for a long time, but nevertheless she wants to maintain the purity of relations with Edmond: "Let's expel, brother, everything that looks like a relationship of lovers from our relationship. I am your sister ..." She also warns Edmond against the pernicious influence of Godet.

Edmond burns with passion for Madame Parangon. The unfortunate woman, whose heart has long been filled with love for the impudent villager, tries to resist their mutual attraction. "It's easier for me to die than to lose respect for you ..." - she writes to Edmond. Godet cynically advises his ward to master the "charming touchy": in his opinion, victory over her will drive out from his heart an absurd reverence for female virtue and drain his "village drooling"; defeating Lady Parangon, he will become "the most beautiful moth fluttering over the flowers of love." And now the inflamed Edmond commits violence against Mrs. Parangon. For several days, the unfortunate victim is between life and death. When she finally comes to her senses, she irrevocably removes Edmond from herself. At the appointed hour, her daughter, Edme-Colette, is born.

A letter arrives from Mrs. Kanon - Yursyul has been kidnapped! She "did not lose her chastity, but lost her innocence ..." Edmond rushes to Paris, challenges the marquis offender to a duel, wounds him, but, having quenched his thirst for revenge, immediately bandages the wound of his opponent. While Edmond is in hiding, Madame Parangon acts as his intercessor to the family of the Marquis. As a result, the old count promises Edmond his patronage, he is received in society, and the ladies, admiring his beauty, rush to order their portraits from him.

Edmond stays in Paris. At first, he does not like the city for its vanity, but gradually he gets used to the life of the capital and begins to find an inexplicable charm in it. Influencing the mind of Edmond, Godet extinguishes his religious feelings. "A natural man knows no other good than his own benefit and security, he sacrifices everything around him; this is his right; this is the right of all living beings," Godet instructs his young friend.

Yursyuli has a son, the Marquis wants to legitimize him by marrying her even against the will of the family. Yursül rejects his proposal, but agrees to give the baby to the Marquis's parents to be raised. The old count quickly marries his son to a rich heiress.

Former applicants for the hand of Yursyul refuse her, fearing that her adventure will be publicized. Indignant at his sister, Edmond tries to keep her on the path of integrity, but he himself plunges into entertainment, visits available girls of the lowest rank. Godet, who has "some views" on Edmond, reproaches his friend: "a person who has overcome prejudices" should by no means lose his head and indulge in meaningless pleasures.

The kidnapper Yursyuli introduces Edmond to his young wife, and she commissions her portrait to him. They soon become lovers. Godet approves of this connection: a young aristocrat can be useful for Edmond's career.

Yursyul falls in love with a certain Laguasha, "a man without means and without any merit" and runs away from home with him. Having achieved his goal, the villain immediately abandons her. Having tasted the fruits of depravity, Yursyul agrees to become the kept woman of the Marquis, who is still in love with her. Moreover, she asks for the consent of his wife and even offers to share with her the money that her lover bestows. The perverted marquise is delighted with the ingenuity and cynicism of the recent villager. Instructed by Godet, Yursyul becomes an expensive courtesan and seduces her own brother for fun. Edmond is shocked.

Yursyul comes to the extreme point of falling: ruined and disgraced by one of the lovers she rejected, she marries a water carrier. Outraged Edmond kills Laguasha - the main, in his opinion, the culprit of his sister's misfortunes.

Edmond goes down: lives in the attic, visits disgusting brothels. In one of these establishments, he meets Yursyl. The water-carrier abandoned her, she finally sank into the basest debauchery and, in addition, caught a bad disease. On the advice of Godet, Edmond places her in an orphanage.

Finally discouraged, Edmond also wallows in base depravity. With difficulty finding him, Godet tries to cheer him up. "Take up your art again and reconnect with Mrs. Parangon," he advises.

A young courtesan, Zephyra, falls in love with Edmond. By marrying the wealthy old man Trismegistus, she hopes to take advantage of his fortune for the benefit of her lover. Soon Zephyra informs her husband that she is expecting a child from Edmond; Mr. Trismegistus is ready to recognize the future baby. Touched, Zephyra embarks on the path of virtue, and although her soul is filled with love for Edmond, she remains faithful to her noble husband. Wishing well for her former lover, she persuades him to unite with his loving Mrs. Parangon, who recently became a widow. Late: Godet finds a wife for Edmond - a disgusting, but rich old woman, and he, having parted with Laura, marries her no less ugly granddaughter. After marriage, both women make wills in favor of their husbands.

Mrs. Parangon, having found Yursyul, takes her from the shelter. Zephyra has a son; she meets Mrs. Parangon.

Under the guise of treatment, Godet poisons his wife and Edmond's wife. Accused of murder, Edmond and Godet resist the guards who came to arrest them; Edmond inadvertently injures Zephyra.

At the trial, Godet, wanting to save his friend, takes all the blame. He is sentenced to death, and Edmond - to ten years of hard labor and cutting off his hand.

The widowed marquis again offers Yursyuli to marry him in order to legitimize his son. With the approval of Mrs. Parangon, Yursül accepts the offer. Edmond, who has served time, slips away from his friends who are waiting for him and sets off to wander: he visits the graves of his parents, admires his brother's children from afar. Seeing Yursyul in the marquis's carriage, he decides that his sister has again entered the path of vice, and stabs her to death. Upon learning of his tragic mistake, Edmond falls into despair. Rumor has it that he is no longer alive.

Suddenly, in the church of the village where Edmond's brother Pierre lives, a picture appears: a man who looks like the ill-fated Edmond stabs a woman who surprisingly resembles Yursyul. Nearby are two more women resembling Zephyra and Mrs. Parangon. "Who could have brought this picture, if not the Unfortunate One himself?" - asks Pierre.

The daughter of Madame Parangon and the son of Zephyra, by mutual inclination, enter into marriage. Zephyra receives a penitential letter from Edmond: “Revile me, oh all of you who loved me, disdain my feelings! were a consequence of his former licentiousness. Repentant Edmond calls to protect children whose birth was associated with a crime. alas, his warning was too late: two sons had already been born from the incestuous relationship between Edme-Coletta and Zephyren.

Responding to the call of Mrs. Parangon, the crippled Edmond comes to his former lover, and they finally marry.

But Edmond's happiness is short: soon he falls under the wheels of the carriage in which the son of Yursyuli travels with his young wife, and dies in terrible agony. Following him, the inconsolable Mrs. Parangon dies.

“The crime does not go unpunished. Manon, as well as Mr. Parangon, were punished with a painful illness, Godet’s punishment turned out to be even more severe, the right hand of the Almighty punished Yursyul; the highly esteemed person was upset by the person she loved; Edmond himself, rather weak than criminal, received according to his deeds; the marquis and his first wife fell under the blows of the scourge of the destroying angel. God is just."

Struck by a fatal disease, Zephyren dies. Upon learning that her husband was her brother at the same time, Edme-Coletta passes away, entrusting the children to Uncle Pierre.

Fulfilling the last will of Mrs. Parangon and Zephyra, Pierre builds an exemplary village for the descendants of the R *** clan. "Taking into account how detrimental to morality being in the city," the founders of the village forever forbid members of the R *** family from living in the city.

E. V. Morozova

(Paul & Virginie)

Roman (1788)

In the preface, the author writes that he set himself big goals in this small essay. He tried to describe in it the soil and vegetation, not similar to European ones. For too long writers had seated their lovers on the banks of streams under the canopy of beeches, and he decided to give them a place on the coast of the sea, at the foot of the rocks, in the shade of coconut palms. The author wanted to combine the beauty of tropical nature with the moral beauty of a small society. He set himself the task of making evident several great truths, including the one that happiness lies in living in harmony with nature and virtue. The people he writes about actually existed, and in their main events their history is true.

On the eastern slope of the mountain, rising behind Port Louis, on the Island of France (now the island of Mauritius), the ruins of two huts are visible. Once, sitting on a hillock at their foot, the narrator met an old man who told him the story of two families who lived in these places two decades ago.

In 1726, a young man from Normandy, by the name of de Latour, came to this island with his young wife to seek his fortune.

His wife was of an old family, but her family opposed her marriage to a man who was not a nobleman and deprived her of her dowry. Leaving his wife in Port Louis, he sailed to Madagascar to buy some blacks there and return back, but during the journey he fell ill and died. His wife was left a widow, having absolutely nothing but one black woman, and decided to cultivate a piece of land together with a slave and thereby earn her livelihood. For about a year now, a cheerful and kind woman named Margarita has lived in this area. Marguerite was born in Brittany to a simple peasant family and lived happily until she was seduced by a neighbor nobleman. When she carried, he abandoned her, refusing even to provide for the child. Margarita decided to leave her native places and hide her sin away from her homeland. Old Negro Domingo helped her till the land. Madame de Latour was delighted to meet Marguerite, and soon the women became friends. They divided among themselves the area of ​​the basin, which numbered about twenty acres, and built two houses side by side so that they could constantly see each other, talk and help each other. The old man, who lived beyond the mountain, considered himself their neighbor and was godfather first to Marguerite's son, who was named Paul, and then to Madame de Latour's daughter, who was named Virginia. Domingo married a black woman, Madame de Latour Maria, and everyone lived in peace and harmony. Ladies spun yarn from morning to evening, and this work was enough for them to support themselves and their families. They were content with the bare necessities, rarely went into the city and put on their shoes only on Sundays, heading early in the morning to the church of the Pampelmousses.

Paul and Virginia grew up together and were inseparable. Children could neither read nor write, and their whole science consisted in mutual pleasing and helping. Madame de Latour was worried about her daughter: what will happen to Virginia when she grows up, because she has no fortune. Madame de La Tour wrote to a wealthy aunt in France, and at every opportunity wrote again and again, trying to arouse in her good feelings for Virginia, but after a long silence, the old hypocrite finally sent a letter saying that her niece deserved her sad fate. Not wanting to be thought too cruel, the aunt nevertheless asked the governor, Monsieur de Labourdonnais, to take her niece under her protection, but she introduced her so that she only turned the governor against the poor woman. Marguerite consoled Madame de Latour: "Why do we need your relatives! Has the Lord abandoned us? He is our only father."

Virginia was kind as an angel. One day, having fed a runaway slave, she went with her to her master and begged forgiveness for her. Returning from the Black River, where the owner of the fugitive lived, Paul and Virginia got lost and decided to spend the night in the forest. They began to read a prayer; as soon as they finished it, there was a sound of dogs barking. It turned out that this was their dog Fidel, followed by the Negro Domingo. Seeing the anxiety of the two mothers, he gave Fidel a sniff of the old clothes of Paul and Virginia, and the faithful dog immediately rushed in the footsteps of the children.

Paul turned the hollow, where both families lived, into a flowering garden, skillfully planting trees and flowers in it. Each corner of this garden had its own name: the cliff of Friendship Found, the lawn of Heartfelt Concord. The place at the spring under the shade of two coconut trees, planted by happy mothers in honor of the birth of children, was called Virginia's Rest. From time to time Madame de Latour read aloud some touching story from the Old or New Testament. The members of the small society did not philosophize over the holy books, for all their theology, like the theology of nature, was in feeling, and all morality, like the morality of the Gospel, was in action. Both women avoided communication with both rich settlers and the poor, for some are looking for saints, while others are often angry and envious. At the same time, they showed so much courtesy and courtesy, especially towards the poor, that they gradually gained the respect of the rich and the confidence of the poor. Every day was a holiday for two small families, but the most joyful holidays for Paul and Virginia were the name day of their mothers. Virginia baked cakes from wheat flour and treated them to the poor, and the next day arranged a feast for them. Paul and Virginia had no clocks, no calendars, no annals, no historical or philosophical books. They determined the hours by the shade cast by the trees, they recognized the seasons by whether orchards were in bloom or fruit, and they counted the years by the harvests.

But for some time now, Virginia began to be tormented by an unknown ailment. Either unreasonable gaiety, or unreasonable sadness took possession of her. In the presence of Paul, she felt embarrassed, blushed and did not dare to raise her eyes to him. Marguerite spoke with Madame de Latour more and more often about marrying Paul and Virginie, but Madame de Latour believed that the children were too young and too poor. After consulting with the Old Man, the ladies decided to send Paul to India. They wanted him to sell there what is in abundance in the district: unrefined cotton, ebony, gum - and bought several slaves, and upon his return married Virginia, but Paul refused to leave his family and friends for the sake of enrichment.

Meanwhile, a ship arrived from France brought Madame de Latour a letter from her aunt. She finally relented and called her niece to France, and if her health did not allow her to make such a long journey, she ordered Virginia to be sent to her, promising to give the girl a good education. Madame de Latour could not and did not want to set out on her journey. The governor began to persuade her to let Virginia go. Virginia did not want to go, but her mother, followed by her confessor, began to convince her that this was the will of God, and the girl reluctantly agreed. Paul watched with dismay as Virginia prepared to leave. Margarita, seeing her son's sadness, told him that he was just the son of a poor peasant woman and, moreover, illegitimate, therefore, he was not a couple of Virginia, who, on her mother's side, belongs to a rich and noble family. Paul decided that Virginia had lately shunned him out of contempt. But when he spoke to Virginia about the difference in their origins, the girl swore that she was not going of her own free will and would never love or call another young man her brother. Paul wanted to accompany Virginia on the journey, but both mothers and Virginia herself persuaded him to stay. Virginia made a vow to return in order to join her fate with his fate. When Virginia left, Paul asked the Old Man to teach him to read and write so that he could correspond with Virginia. There was no news from Virginia for a long time, and Madame de Latour learned only sideways that her daughter had arrived safely in France.

Finally, after a year and a half, the first letter arrived from Virginia. The girl wrote that she had sent several letters before, but had not received an answer to them, and realized that they had been intercepted: now she took precautions and hoped that her letter would reach its destination. A relative gave her to a boarding school at a large monastery near Paris, where she was taught various sciences, and forbade all communication with the outside world. Virginia missed her loved ones very much. France seemed to her a country of savages, and the girl felt lonely. Paul was very sad and often sat under a papaya planted by Virginia. He dreamed of going to France, serving the king, making a fortune for himself and becoming a noble nobleman, in order to earn the honor of becoming the husband of Virginia. But the Old Man explained to him that his plans were unrealistic and his illegitimate origin would block him from access to higher positions. The old man supported Paul's faith in Virginia's virtue and hope for her soon return. Finally, on the morning of December 1744, XNUMX, a white flag was raised on the Mount of Discovery, which meant that a ship appeared at sea. The pilot, who had sailed from the harbor to identify the ship, returned only in the evening and reported that the ship would anchor in Port Louis the next day in the afternoon, if there was a fair wind. The pilot brought letters, among which was a letter from Virginia. She wrote that her grandmother at first wanted to force her to marry, then disinherited her and finally sent her home, and at a time of the year when travel is especially dangerous. Learning that Virginia was on a ship, everyone hurried to the city. But the weather turned bad, a hurricane came up, and the ship began to sink. Paul wanted to throw himself into the sea to help Virginia or die, but he was restrained by force. The sailors jumped into the water.

Virginia came on deck and held out her arms to her lover. The last sailor left on the ship threw himself at Virginia's feet and begged her to take off her clothes, but she turned away from him with dignity. She held her dress with one hand, pressed the other to her heart, and raised her clear eyes. She seemed like an angel flying to heaven. A wave of water covered her. When the waves carried her body ashore, it turned out that she was clutching a small icon in her hand - a gift from Paul, with which she promised never to part. Virginia was buried near the Pampelmus Church. Paul could not be consoled and died two months after Virginia. Margarita followed a week later. The old man took Madame de Latour to his place, but she outlived Paul and Marguerite only by a month. Before her death, she forgave the heartless relative who doomed Virginia to death. The old woman suffered a severe retribution. She was tormented by remorse and suffered from bouts of hypochondria for several years. Before her death, she tried to disinherit relatives whom she hated, but they put her behind bars like crazy, and guardianship was imposed on her property. She died with enough sanity, to top it all off, to know that she had been robbed and despised by the very people whose opinions she had treasured all her life.

The cape, which the ship could not go around on the eve of the hurricane, was called the Cape of Misfortune, and the bay where the body of Virginia was thrown was called the Bay of the Grave. The fields were buried near Virginia at the foot of the bamboos, nearby are the graves of their tender mothers and faithful servants. The old man was left alone and became like a friend who no longer has friends, a father who has lost his children, a traveler wandering alone on the earth.

Having finished his story, the Old Man retired, shedding tears, and his interlocutor, listening to him, shed more than one tear.

O. E. Grinberg

(Tableau de Paris)

Essays (1781-1788)

The author's preface is devoted to reporting on what Mercier is interested in in Paris - public and private customs, dominant ideas, customs, scandalous luxury, abuses. "I am interested in my contemporary generation and the image of my age, which is much closer to me than the foggy history of the Phoenicians or Egyptians." He considers it necessary to say that he deliberately avoided satire on Paris and Parisians, since satire directed at a specific person does not correct anyone. He hopes a hundred. years later, his observations of the life of all strata of society living in a huge city will merge "with the observations of the century."

Mercier is interested in representatives of various professions: cab drivers and rentiers, milliners and hairdressers, water carriers and abbots, officers and bankers, alms-gatherers and teachers, in a word, everyone who earns a living in various ways and gives others the opportunity to exist. University professors, for example, manage to instill in students an aversion to the sciences, and lawyers, due to unstable laws, do not have the opportunity to think about the outcome of the case, and go in the direction where the client's wallet leads them.

Mercier's sketches are not only urban types and inhabitants, but also a portrait of the city. The best panorama, in his opinion, opens from the tower of the "Cathedral of Our Lady" (Face of the Big City). Among the "paintings" you can find Rue Urs and Rue Huchette, Cité and Saint Louis Island, Sainte-Chapelle and the Church of Saint Genevieve. He paints those places where the whole of Paris gathers for festivities - the Palais Royal and Long Champs. "There are also cheap cocottes, and courtesans, and duchesses, and honest women." Commoners in festive attire mingle with the crowd and stare at all that should be seen on the days of general festivities - beautiful women and carriages. In such places, the author concludes that beauty is not so much a gift of nature as "an innermost part of the soul." Such vices as envy, cruelty, cunning, malice and stinginess always appear in the look and facial expression. That is why, the writer notes, it is so dangerous to pose for a person with a brush in his hand. The artist is more likely to determine the occupation and way of thinking of a person than the famous Lavater, the Zurich professor, who wrote so much about the art of recognizing people by their faces.

The health of the inhabitants depends on the condition of the air and the purity of the water. A number of essays are devoted to those industries, without which the life of a giant city is unthinkable, but it seems that their purpose is to poison Paris with poisonous fumes (fat rendering, Slaughterhouses, noxious air, Veterinary pits). "What can be more important than the health of citizens? The strength of future generations, and therefore the strength of the state itself, does not depend on the care of the city authorities?" - asks the author. Mercier proposes the establishment of a "Sanitation Council" in Paris, and it should not include doctors, who, with their conservatism, are dangerous to the health of Parisians, but chemists, "who have made so many new wonderful discoveries that promise to acquaint us with all the secrets of nature." Doctors, to whom the writer dedicated only one "picture", are not left by attention in other sketches. Mercier argues that doctors continue to practice medicine in the old, rather obscure ways, just to secure more visits and not give anyone an account of their actions. They all act as accomplices when it comes to the council. The Faculty of Medicine, in his opinion, is still filled with the prejudices of the most barbarous times. That is why it is not a doctor that is required to preserve the health of the Parisians, but scientists of other professions.

Mercier refers to the improvement of the living conditions of the townspeople as the closing of the cemetery of the Innocents, which turned out to be in the very center of Paris over the centuries of its existence (since the time of Philsch the Handsome). The author is also occupied with the work of the police, to which rather lengthy (compared to others) sketches are devoted (Composition of the police, Chief of police). Mercier states that having to hold back the multitude of hungry people who see someone wallow in luxury is an incredibly heavy duty. But he could not resist saying: "The police are a bunch of scoundrels" and further: "And out of these disgusting scum of mankind, social order will be born!"

For the student of social mores, the interest in books is natural. Mercier claims that if not all books are printed in Paris, then they are written in this city. Here, in Paris, live those to whom the essay "On half-writers, quarter-writers, mestizos, quadroons, and so on" is dedicated. Such people are published in the Bulletins and Almanacs and call themselves writers. "They loudly condemn arrogant mediocrity, while they themselves are both arrogant and mediocre."

Talking about the corporation of parliamentary Parisian clerks - Bazoches - the author notes that their coat of arms consists of three inkwells, the contents of which flood and destroy everything around. Ironically, the bailiff and the inspired writer share the same tools. No less sarcasm causes the state of modern theater in Mercier, especially when trying to stage tragedies in which the usher tries to portray a Roman senator, dressed in the red robe of a doctor from Molière's comedy. With no less irony, the author speaks of a passion for amateur performances, especially for staging tragedies. Mercier considers the public reading of new literary works to be a new type of performance. Instead of seeking the opinion and advice of a close friend, men of letters strive to publish their work in public, in one way or another competing with members of the French Academy, who have the right to publicly read and listen to public praise in their address. In the 223rd "picture" in a row, the writer regrets the loss of such marvelous spectacles as fireworks, which were released on solemn days - such as St. Jean or the birth of princes. Now, on these days, prisoners are released and poor girls are married off.

Mercier did not lose sight of the little chapel of Saint-Joseph in Montmartre, in which Molière and La Fontaine rest. He talks about religious freedoms, the time for which has finally come in Paris: Voltaire, who had previously been denied burial, received a mass for the repose of his soul. Fanaticism, the author concludes, devours itself. Further, Mercier speaks of political freedoms and public morals, the reason for the fall of which lies in the fact that "beauty and virtue have no price with us if they are not supported by a dowry." From this arose the need for the following "pictures": "Under any name, About some women, Public women, Courtesans, Kept women, Love affairs, About women, About the idol of Paris - about" charming "". No less detailed and vividly reflected in the sketches "Pawnshop, Monopoly, Farming Department, Petty Trade". Attention is also paid to such vices of Paris as "The Beggars, the Needy, the Foundlings, the Places of Confinement and the Detention Units", the basis for the creation of which was the desire to "quickly clear the streets and roads of the poor, so that flagrant poverty would not be seen next to impudent luxury" (picture 285).

The life of high society is criticized in "pictures": "About the court, High-society tone, Secular language." The quirks of high society and court life are reflected in sketches devoted to various details of fashionable toilets, such as "Hats" and "Fake Hair". In his discussion of fashionable headwear, Mercier characterizes the influence of Paris on the tastes of other countries: "And who knows if we will not further expand, as happy winners, our glorious conquests?" (Picture 310). Comparison of the aristocracy with a commoner is not in favor of a lady from high society, who blindly follows all the vagaries of fashion because of class vanity - "Diseases of the eyes, skin inflammation, lice are the result of this exaggerated predilection for a wild hairstyle, which is not parted even during the hours of the night." rest. Meanwhile, the commoner, the peasant woman, does not experience a single one of these troubles.

The author did not ignore such an institution, which, in his opinion, could only arise in Paris - this is the French Academy, which rather hinders the development of the French language and literature than contributes to the development of both writers and readers. The problems of literature are analyzed in the sketches "Apology of writers, Literary quarrels, Fine literature". The last, 357 "picture", completes the work of Mercier and is written as "Reply to the newspaper" Courier de l'Europe "". Comparing all the praises and criticisms, the author addresses his reader with the words: “Do you want to pay me off so that I can be rewarded for all my sleepless nights? Give from your excess to the first suffering, the first unfortunate person you meet. to me".

R. M. Kirsanova

Utopian Romance (1770)

The novel begins with a dedication to the year two thousand four hundred and forty. In the forewarning, the author states that his goal is the general welfare.

The hero (who is also the author) of the novel, tired of a long conversation with an old Englishman who sharply condemns French customs and customs, falls asleep and wakes up at his home in Paris in 672 - in the twenty-fifth century. Since his clothes turn out to be ridiculous, he dresses in a second-hand dress shop, where a passerby meets him on the street.

The hero is surprised at the almost complete absence of carriages, which, according to his companion, are intended only for sick people or especially important people. A man who has become famous in any art complains of a hat with his name, which gives him the right to universal respect for citizens and the opportunity to freely visit the sovereign.

The city amazes with the cleanliness and elegance of the design of public places and buildings, decorated with terraces and climbing plants. Doctors now belong to the most respected category of citizens, and prosperity has reached such a degree that there are no, as unnecessary, shelters for the poor and penitentiary houses. At the same time, a person who has written a book preaching "dangerous principles" must wear a mask until he atones for his guilt, and his correction is not forced and consists in moralizing conversations. Each citizen writes down his thoughts, and by the end of his life he makes a book out of them, which is read at his grave.

Children are taught in French, although the "College of the Four Nations" has been preserved, in which they study Italian, English, German and Spanish. In the once infamous for its "fruitless" disputes, the Sorbonne is engaged in the study of human corpses, in order to find means to reduce human bodily suffering. Aromatic plants with the ability to "thinn thickened blood" are considered a universal remedy; inflammation of the lungs, consumption, dropsy and many previously incurable diseases are cured. Vaccination is one of the newest principles of disease prevention.

All books on theology and jurisprudence are now stored in the cellars of libraries, and in case of danger of war with neighboring peoples, these dangerous books are sent to the enemy. At the same time, lawyers have been retained, and those who have broken the law are either publicly kept in prison or expelled from the country.

The conversation is interrupted by the frequent chimes of the bell announcing the rarest event - execution for murder. Obedience to the law is brought up early: at the age of fourteen, everyone is obliged to rewrite the laws of the country with his own hand and take an oath, renewed every ten years. And yet, sometimes, for edification, the death penalty is carried out: on the square in front of the Palace of Justice, the criminal is brought to the cage with the body of the murdered. The President of the Senate reads out the verdict of the court, the repentant criminal, surrounded by priests, listens to the speech of the Prelate, after which the death sentence, signed by the Sovereign, is brought. At the same cage, the criminal is shot, which is considered the final atonement for guilt, and his name is again entered into the lists of citizens.

The ministers of the church in the state are an example of virtue, their main mission is to comfort the suffering, to prevent bloodshed. In the temple, almost everything is familiar to our hero, but there is no painting and sculpture, the altar is devoid of decorations, the glass dome overlooks the sky, and the prayer is a poetic message coming from the heart. In the rite of communion, the young man examines the celestial bodies through a telescope, then through a microscope they show him the world, even more wondrous, thereby convincing him of the wisdom of the Creator.

Traveling around the city, satellites inspect the square with symbolic figures: kneeling France; England reaching out for Philosophy; drooping head of Germany; Spain, from marble with bloody streaks - which was supposed to depict remorse for unrighteous deeds in the past.

Dinner time was approaching, and the companions find themselves in a house decorated with a coat of arms and a shield. It turned out that in the houses of the nobility it is customary to lay three tables: for the family, strangers and the poor. After dinner, the hero goes to watch a musical tragedy about the life and death of the Toulouse merchant Kalas, who was wheeled for his desire to convert to Catholicism. The guide talks about overcoming prejudices against actors: for example, the Prelate recently asked the Sovereign to grant an embroidered hat to an outstanding actor.

The hero has a dream with fantastic visions that change the course of the events experienced - he finds himself alone without an escort in the royal library, which, instead of once huge rooms, is swept away in a small room. The librarian talks about the changed attitude towards the book: all frivolous or dangerous books were piled into a huge pyramid and burned. However, the main essence of them was previously extracted from the burnt books and set out in small books of 1/12 of a sheet, which make up the current library. The writer who found himself in the library characterizes the current writers as the most revered citizens - pillars of morality and virtue.

After proceeding to the Academy, the companions find themselves in a simple building with seats for academicians, decorated with flags listing the merits of each. One of the academicians present makes a fiery speech condemning the practices of the old Academy of the XNUMXth century. The hero does not dispute the correctness of the speaker, but calls not to judge strictly the past times.

Further, the hero visits the Royal Collection, in which he examines marble statues with inscriptions "To the inventor of the saw", "Inventor of the loophole, gate, block", etc.; rare plants and minerals pass in front of him; entire halls are devoted to optical effects; halls of acoustics, where young warlike heirs to the throne are weaned from aggression, deafening with the sounds of battles.

Not far from the collection is the Academy of Painting, which includes a number of other academies: drawing, painting, sculpture, practical geometry. The walls of the academy are decorated with the works of the greatest masters, mostly on moralistic themes, without bloody battles and voluptuous pleasures of mythological gods. The originality of peoples is conveyed in allegorical form: the envy and vindictiveness of the Italian, the proud striving forward of the Englishman, the contempt for the elements of the German, the chivalry and loftiness of the Frenchman. Artists are now on the payroll of the state, sculptors do not sculpt moneybags and royal servants, they perpetuate only great deeds. Engraving, which teaches citizens virtue and heroism, has become widespread.

The hero returns to the center of the city, where, with a crowd of citizens, he freely enters the throne room. On both sides of the throne are marble plaques with laws engraved on them, indicating the limits of royal power, on the one hand, and the duties of subjects, on the other. The sovereign in a blue cloak listens to the reports of the ministers, and if there is at least one dissatisfied person, even of the lowest origin, he immediately listens publicly.

Delighted by what he saw, the hero asks those present to explain to him the form of government adopted in the state: the power of the king is limited, the legislative power belongs to the Assembly of People's Representatives, the executive power belongs to the Senate, while the king monitors compliance with laws, single-handedly solving only unforeseen and especially complex issues. Thus "the welfare of the state is combined with the welfare of private individuals." The heir to the throne goes a long way of education and only at the age of twenty the king declares him his son. At twenty-two, he can ascend the throne, and at seventy, he relinquishes his "power." Only a citizen of her own country can be his wife.

The women of the country are chaste and modest, they "do not blush, do not sniff tobacco, do not drink liquors."

To explain the essence of the tax system, the hero is led to a crossroads and shown two chests with the inscriptions "Tax to the King" and "Voluntary Contributions", in which citizens "with a satisfied look" put sealed bags of silver coins. When filled, the chests are weighed and transferred to the "Controller of Finance".

In the country, "tobacco, coffee and tea" have been expelled from use, there is only internal trade, mainly agricultural products. Trade with foreign countries is prohibited, and ships are used for astronomical observations.

By evening, the hero's companion offers to dine at the house of one of his friends. The host welcomes guests simply and naturally. Dinner begins with the blessing of the dishes on the table, which is served without any luxury. The food is simple - mostly vegetables and fruits, liquors "as strictly forbidden as arsenic", servants sit at the same table, and everyone serves his own food.

Returning to the living room, the hero pounces on the newspapers, from which it follows that the world has become a community of free states. The spirit of philosophy and enlightenment spread everywhere: Corneille's tragedy Cinna was staged in French in Peking, Voltaire's Mohammed in Constantinople; in the previously closed Japan, the treatise "On Crimes and Punishments" was translated. In the former colonies on the American continent, two powerful empires were created - North and South America, the Indians were restored to their rights, and their ancient culture was revived. Astronomical observations are being made in Morocco, not a single destitute is left on the Papuan land, etc. There are also fundamental changes in Europe: in Russia, the sovereign does not call himself an autocrat; the moral impact of Rome is felt by "the Chinese, the Japanese, the inhabitant of Suriname, Kamchatka"; Scotland and Ireland want to be one with England. France, although not an ideal state, but far ahead of other countries in the progressive movement.

There was no secular news in the newspapers, and the hero, wanting to know the fate of Versailles, makes a trip to the former palace. In its place, he finds only ruins, where he receives explanations from the elder present there: the palace collapsed under the weight of buildings being built on top of each other. All the funds of the kingdom were spent on their construction, and pride was punished. This old man turns out to be King Louis XIV.

At this moment, one of the snakes nesting in the ruins bites the hero on the neck and he wakes up.

R. M. Kirsanova

(Eugenie de Franval)

Novella (1788, publ. 1800)

"To encourage a person to correct morals, showing him the proper path," is the reason that prompted the author to create this woeful story. The rich and noble Franval, corrupted by his upbringing and "new-fangled trends", marries the charming Mademoiselle de Farney. The wife idolizes her husband, he is "amazingly cold-blooded" towards her. Nevertheless, a year later they have a daughter, named Franval Eugenie - "at the same time the ugliest and most beautiful creation of nature."

As soon as the child was born, Franval begins to carry out his vile plan. He separates the baby from its mother and gives it to the women faithful to him to raise. At the age of seven, he hires his daughter teachers and begins to teach her the most diverse sciences and trains her body. Eugenie lives, obeying the schedule thought out by Franval, eats only the dishes chosen by him, communicates only with him. The mother and grandmother are rarely allowed to see the girl. Despite the mother's timid protests, Franval forbids giving her daughter the basics of religious education. On the contrary, he gradually inspires the girl with his own cynical views on religion and morality, and in the end completely subjugates her thoughts and will. Fourteen-year-old Eugenie loves only her "friend", her "brother", as Franval tells her to call herself, and hates her mother, seeing in her only an obstacle standing between her and her father.

And now Franval carries out his vile plan - with the full consent of Eugenie, he makes her his mistress. His system of education is bearing fruit: Eugenie with "indefatigable fervor" indulges in love with his own father. Every night the lovers indulge in criminal passion, but they act so deftly that the beautiful Madame de Franval does not guess anything and still tries with all her might to please her husband; Franval treats her worse and worse.

The beautiful Eugenie begins to attract admirers, and now a certain worthy young man asks for her hand. Madame de Franval conveys his proposal to her daughter, but she refuses and sends her mother to her father for clarification. Hearing from the lips of his wife an offer to marry his daughter, Franval becomes furious and, under the threat of complete separation from his daughter, forbids his wife even to think about Eugenie's marriage. The upset Madame de Franval tells her mother about everything, and she, being more experienced in everyday affairs, begins to suspect evil and herself goes to her son-in-law. But she gets the same answer.

Meanwhile, Franval convinces her daughter that her mother wants to separate them, and together with Eugenie, they decide to find a lover for Madame de Farnay in order to divert her attention from themselves. Their request is ready to be fulfilled by a certain Valmont, a friend of Franval, who does not have "moral prejudices." Wanting to persuade Madame de Franval to love, Valmont tells her that her husband is cheating on her with Eugenie. Not believing his words, Madame de Franval expels Valmont, but seeds of doubt are sown in her soul. Having bribed Eugenie's maid, Madame de Franval the next night is convinced of the veracity of Valmont's words. She begs her daughter and husband to change their minds, but Franval, indifferent to her pleas, throws her down the stairs.

Madame de Franval falls seriously ill, and her mother sends her confessor Clairville to Franval to reassure her son-in-law. Clerville does not reach the goal, and the vindictive Franval orders his servants to seize the priest and imprison him in one of his secluded castles. Then, having decided to compromise his wife without fail, Franval again turns to Valmont for assistance. He asks for his service to show him naked Eugenie. Seeing the young beauty in the appropriate form, Valmont falls in love with her and, instead of seducing Madame de Franval, confesses to her his love for Eugenie. Wanting to break Eugenie's criminal relationship with his father, Valmont offers to kidnap the girl and marry her.

With the consent of Madame de Franval, Valmont takes Eugenie away, but Franval catches up with them and kills Valmont. Then, in order to avoid the punishment of justice, Franval runs to one of his remote castles and takes his wife and daughter with him. Upon learning that Eugenie was kidnapped with the knowledge of his wife, he decides to take revenge on Madame de Franval and instructs his daughter to poison her mother. He himself is forced to flee abroad, for he has been sentenced to death. On the way, robbers attack Franval and take everything he had from him. Wounded and exhausted, Franval meets Clairville: a worthy priest managed to get out of the dungeons of the villain. However, filled with Christian humility, Clairville is ready to help his tormentor. On the way, Franval and Clairville meet a gloomy procession - they bury Madame de Franval and Eugenie. Having poisoned her mother, Eugenie suddenly felt such burning remorse that she died overnight near the cold body of her mother. Throwing himself on his wife's coffin, Franval stabs himself with a dagger. Such is the crime and its "terrible fruits" ...

E. V. Morozova

(Florville et Courval ou le Fatalisme)

Novella (1800)

With this work, the author wants to convince the reader that "only in the darkness of the grave is a person able to find peace," for "the indefatigability of passions" and "the inevitability of fate" "will never give him peace on earth."

Courval, a wealthy gentleman in his fifties, decides to marry a second time. The first wife left him in order to indulge in debauchery, the son followed the example of his mother, and the daughter died in infancy. Friends introduce Courval to Mademoiselle de Florville, a thirty-six-year-old girl who leads an impeccable lifestyle. True, Florville never knew her parents, and no one knows who they are. In early youth she had a love affair, from which a child was born, but the baby then disappeared somewhere. However, such information does not bother Kurval, and, having met the girl, he immediately proposes to her. But Florville demands that Courval first listen to her story and only then seek her hand.

Florville, who is considered by all to be related to the venerable Monsieur de Saint-Praz, was thrown at his door as a baby, and he brought her up as his own child. When Florville was sixteen years old, Monsieur de Saint-Praz, in order not to violate decorum, sent the girl to the provinces to her sister, so that she would look after her. With the approval of Sister Saint-Prat, a person of very free morals, Florville accepted the courtship of the young officer Senval. The ardent Senval was handsome, Florville fell in love with him and finally gave him the flower of her youth. After some time, her son was born, and she hoped that her lover would marry her. But he took the child and disappeared. The inconsolable Florville returned to Paris to Saint-Prat and confessed everything to him. The indulgent Saint-Prat, chiding the girl, sent her to his - this time pious - relative, Madame de Lerens. But even here Florville was in danger. At the request of a friend, Madame de Lerens brought the young Saint-Ange into the house so that "virtuous examples would contribute to the formation of his soul." Saint-Ange fell in love with Florville, although she did not reciprocate. He pursued her everywhere and one night, breaking into her bedroom, forcibly took possession of her. Escaping from his embrace, the enraged Florville stabbed him with her needlework scissors. The blow fell on the heart, and Saint-Ange immediately died.

Madame de Lerens settled the unfortunate consequences of the case. Florville went to Paris to Saint-Prat. In a roadside hotel, she witnessed the murder, and on the basis of her testimony, an elderly woman who stabbed her companion went to the scaffold. In Paris, following the desire of Florville, Saint-Prat helped her to settle at the holy monastery, where she lives now, spending her days in pious studies and prayers.

After listening to the confession of Florville, Courval continues to insist on their marriage, because, in his opinion, Florville is not guilty of her misfortunes.

And now Florville becomes Courval's wife, they are already waiting for an heir, when suddenly the prodigal son of Courval from his first wife appears and tells the story of his misadventures.

After leaving his father, he joined the regiment and soon rose to the rank of officer. In a provincial town, he seduced a certain noble girl, and she gave birth to a child from him. Out of cowardice, he abandoned the girl and fled to Italy, taking his son with him. When his son grew up, he sent him to France to improve his upbringing, where he fell in love with a charming girl. Wishing to "take by force what he was denied" by that virtuous person, his son received a blow in the chest, which became fatal for him. In despair from the death of his son, he went to travel. On the way, he met a criminal sentenced to death, and recognized her as his mother. He obtained a meeting with her, and his mother told him that she had been convicted on the basis of the testimony of a certain noble young lady, who was the only witness to her crime. To top it off, his mother revealed a secret to him: it turns out that he has a sister. When she was born, the mother, wishing that the inheritance would go entirely to her son, deceived her husband, saying that the girl had died, but in fact threw her to a certain Monsieur de Saint-Prat ...

At these words, poor Florville gets up and calls out in horror to Courval's son: "Do you recognize me, Senval, do you recognize in me at the same time your sister, the girl seduced by you, the murderer of your son, the wife of your father and the disgusting creature that brought your mother to the scaffold ... "And rushing to Senval's pistol, she grabs it, shoots herself and falls, covered in blood.

After the death of Florville, Mr. de Courval falls seriously ill, but his son's cares bring him back to life. "But both of them, after so many cruel blows of fate," decide to retire to a monastery.

E. V. Morozova

(Justine ou les Malheurs de la vertu)

Roman (1791)

"People who are inexperienced in the exploit of virtue may consider it advantageous for themselves to indulge in vice, instead of resisting it." Therefore, "it is necessary to imagine the power of examples of unfortunate virtue" capable of leading to good "a corrupted soul, if at least some good principles are preserved in it." The author of the novel is guided by such aspirations, in a gloomy grotesque form, depicting his contemporary customs.

Fate subjects the sisters Justine and Juliette to a severe test: their parents die, and the girls find themselves on the street without a livelihood. The beautiful Juliette embarks on the path of debauchery and quickly turns the latter into a source of income, and her equally charming sister wants to remain virtuous at all costs. A few years later, Juliette, mired in vice and stained with many crimes, including the murder of her husband, illegitimate children and lovers, achieves everything she wanted: she is the Countess de Lorsange, a rich widow, she has a lover, the venerable Monsieur de Corville, who lives with her as with a lawful wife.

One day, while traveling with de Corville, at the inn, Juliette meets a girl who is being taken to Paris to be sentenced to death: the girl is accused of murder, theft and arson. The gentle and sad face of the beauty awakens in the heart of the countess a compassion unknown to her until now, with the permission of the gendarmes, she welcomes the girl and asks her to tell her story. The girl agrees, but refuses to reveal her origins. However, the reader must have guessed that the unfortunate Justine is in front of him, so in the future we will call the girl by her real name.

Finding herself outside the gates of the monastery alone and without money, Justine decides to hire herself as a servant, but soon she is horrified that she can only get a job by sacrificing her virtue. Finally, she is taken into the service of a wealthy usurer. He puts Justine's decency to the test - he forces her to rob a rich neighbor. When she refuses, he accuses her of stealing, and the girl is imprisoned. There she meets the adventuress Dubois and escapes with her from prison.

The robber Dubois forces Justine to join the gang, and when she refuses, she gives her up to be abused by the robbers. Suffering daily moral and physical torment, Justine remains in the gang, but with all her might tries to preserve her virginity. One day the robbers capture a certain St. Florent; Justine, out of philanthropy, helps the captive to escape and herself runs with him. But St. Florent turns out to be a scoundrel: he stuns Justine, rapes her in an unconscious state and leaves her in the forest to her fate.

The tormented Justine inadvertently becomes a witness to the unnatural relationship between the Comte de Brissac and his lackey. Having discovered the girl, the count at first intimidates her half to death, but then changes his anger to mercy and arranges her as a maid to his aunt. Despite his charming appearance, all sorts of vices dwell in the soul of Monsieur de Brissac. In an effort to inspire Justine with the principles of his perverse morality, he orders her to poison her aunt. The frightened Justine tells everything to Madame de Brissac. The old woman is indignant, and the count, realizing that he has been betrayed, lures Justine out of the house, rips off her clothes, poisons her with dogs, and then lets her go on all four sides.

Somehow, Justine gets to the nearest town, finds a doctor, and he heals her wounds. Since Justine is running out of money, she dares to write to the Comte de Brissac, so that he will return her salary. In response, the count reports that his aunt died from poison, Justine is considered the poisoner and the police are looking for her, so it is in her interests to hide somewhere in a secluded place and not bother him anymore. Frustrated, Justine trusts Dr. Rodin, who offers her a job as a maid in his house. The girl agrees.

In addition to healing, Rodin runs a school where boys and girls study together, all of them are charming. Unable to understand what the matter is, Justine begins to question the doctor's daughter Rosalia, with whom she managed to make friends. With horror, Justine learns that the doctor indulges in debauchery both with his students and with his own daughter. Rosalia takes Justine to a secret room, from where she observes the monstrous orgies arranged by Rodin with victims subject to him. Nevertheless, Justine, at the request of Rosalia, remains in the doctor's house and begins to instruct her friend in the Christian faith. Suddenly, Rosalia disappears. Suspecting her father of another monstrous trick, Justine searches the house and finds her friend locked in a secret closet: Rodin decided to kill her daughter by performing some kind of surgical operation on her. Justine arranges for Rosalie to escape, but falls into the doctor's hands herself; Rodin puts a brand on her back and lets go. Justine is horrified - she has already been sentenced, and now she is branded ... She decides to run south, away from the capital.

Justine goes to the monastery, where the miraculous statue of the Holy Virgin is kept, and decides to go and pray. In the monastery, she is met by the abbot Don Severino. The noble appearance and pleasant voice of the abbot inspire confidence, and the girl candidly tells him about her misadventures. Convinced that Justine has no relatives or friends, the monk changes his tone, roughly grabs her and drags her into the depths of the monastery: behind the facade of the holy monastery lies a nest of depravity and vice. Four hermits, led by the abbot, seduce girls whose disappearance does not entail any consequences, force them to participate in orgies and indulge in the most unbridled debauchery, satisfying the perverted voluptuousness of the holy brethren. Depending on the age of the girls, they are divided into four categories, each category has its own color of clothes, its own daily routine, its own classes, its own mentors. The extreme caution of the holy fathers and their high position make them invulnerable. Women who are bored with the monks are released, but, judging by some hints, this freedom means death. It is impossible to escape from the monastery - there are thick bars on the windows, ditches and several rows of barbed hedges around. Nevertheless, the tormented Justine, who almost expired under the rods of the libertines, decides to run away. With a file found by chance, she saws through the window bars, pushes through thorny bushes, rolls into a ditch filled with corpses, and runs in horror into the forest. There she kneels down and offers praises to the Lord. But then two strangers grab her, throw a bag over her head and drag her somewhere.

Justine is brought to the castle of the Comte de Gernand, an elderly debauchee of enormous stature, who becomes excited only at the sight of blood. Justine will have to serve his fourth wife, who is dying from constant bloodletting. The kind-hearted girl agrees to help her unfortunate mistress by delivering a letter to her mother. But alas! Having descended the rope from the window of the castle, she falls directly into the arms of the owner! Now Justine is waiting for punishment - a slow death from blood loss. Suddenly there is a cry: "Lady is dying!", and Justine, taking advantage of the turmoil, runs away from the castle. Escaped from the clutches of the terrible count, she gets to Lyon and decides to spend the night in a hotel. There she is met by St. Florent; he invites her to become a matchmaker with him, who is obliged to supply him with two virgins a day. Justine refuses and hastily leaves the city. On the way, she wants to give alms to a beggar woman, but she beats her, rips out her purse and runs away. Calling on the Lord, Justine moves on. Having met a wounded man, she helps him. Having regained consciousness, Mr. Roland invites her to his castle, promising a place as a maid. Justine believes, and they set off together. As soon as she approaches the gloomy secluded dwelling of Roland, the girl realizes that she has been deceived again. Rolan - the leader of a gang of counterfeiters; first, he makes the unfortunate Justine turn a heavy collar, and then throws her into the dungeon, where he torments her in order to satisfy his desire. The poor thing is put in a coffin, hung up, beaten, thrown on mountains of corpses ...

Gendarmes suddenly arrive; they arrest Roland and take him to Grenoble for trial. The noble judge believes in Justine's innocence and lets her go. The girl leaves the city. At night, a fire breaks out in the hotel where she is staying, and Justine is imprisoned on charges of arson. The unfortunate woman turns to St. Florent for help, he kidnaps her from the dungeon, but only to torture and abuse her. In the morning, St. Florent returns the girl to prison, where she is sentenced to death.

After listening to the unfortunate story, the Countess de Lorzange recognizes Justine, and the sisters sob into each other's arms.

Monsieur de Corville seeks the girl's release and acquittal; Madame de Lorzange takes her to her estate, where Justine can finally live peacefully and happily. But fate decides otherwise: lightning flies through the castle window and kills Justine. Her sister Juliette repents of her past sins and goes to a monastery. We can only shed tears over the unfortunate fate of virtue.

E. V. Morozova

(les liaisons dangereuses)

Roman (1782)

The events described in the letters that make up the outline of the narrative fit into a short period of time: August - December 17 ... But in such a short period of time, from the correspondence of the main characters, we comprehend their life philosophy.

Quite a long relationship connects de Valmont, the main character, with his correspondent, Madame de Merteuil. She is witty, charming and in dealing with the opposite sex is no less experienced than he is. So, at the beginning of the story, from a letter from the Marquise de Merteuil from Paris, addressed to the Viscount de Valmont, who lives in the summer in the castle with Aunt de Rosemond, we learn about the insidious intrigue conceived by her. The Marquise, wanting to take revenge on her lover, Count Zhercourt, who left her, offers Valmont to seduce the future bride of the Count, fifteen-year-old Cecilia Volange, a pupil of the monastery, whose income is sixty thousand livres. But the viscount refuses this tempting offer, as he is carried away by the president de Tourvel and does not intend to stop halfway, since this lady, a virtuous wife, is much more attractive to Valmont and defeating her will bring him incomparably more pleasure than seducing a boarding house.

Madame de Tourvel, modest and pious, having heard of the countless novels of Valmont, from the very beginning accepts the advances of the secular lion with fear and distrust. But the cunning woman-lover still manages to win over the touchy. Finding that the president's servant is following him at the request of his mistress, he uses this to his advantage. Having chosen the right moment, in front of the astonished crowd, among which, of course, there is also a servant, the viscount saves the poor man's family from ruin, generously endowing them with a large sum of money. The shocked servant reports what he saw to his mistress, and Valmont’s calculation turns out to be correct, since on the same evening de Tourvel gives the viscount a gentle look, appreciating his kindness, but nevertheless wondering how debauchery and nobility coexist in him.

The viscount continues the offensive and bombards Madame de Tourvel with letters filled with tenderness and love, while retelling their content with pleasure to the Marquise de Merteuil, who is extremely dissatisfied with this passion of his and strongly advises to leave this extravagant undertaking. But Valmont is already carried away by the pursuit of that intoxication that descends on a person when only two remain in the whole world - he and his love. This state, of course, cannot last forever, but when it comes, it is incomparable to anything. Valmont strives precisely for these sensations - he is a womanizer, he is a libertine, he has many victories on his account, but only because he wants to experience deeper feelings. Starting to drag behind the excessively bashful wife of the judge, the "divine saint" Madame de Tourvel, the viscount does not assume that, ironically, this is exactly the woman he has been looking for all his life.

Meanwhile, we learn the story of young lovers, Cecilia Volange and the Chevalier Dansany, who became involved in the intrigues of Valmont and Merteuil. Danceny, a music teacher who gives Cecilia singing lessons, falls in love with a girl and, not without reason, hopes for reciprocity. The upbringing of the feelings of two young people is watched with interest by the Marquise de Merteuil. Cecilia is fascinated by this woman and in frank conversations confides all her secrets to her, showing the first impulses of an inexperienced heart. The Marquise is interested in the fact that the marriage of Cecilia and the Comte de Gercourt does not take place, so she encourages this suddenly flared feeling in every possible way. It is the Marquise who arranges private meetings for the young, escorting Madame Volange out of the house under various plausible pretexts. But the clever pimp is dissatisfied with the slowness of Danceny, she expects more decisive action from him, so she turns to Valmont with a request to take care of the inexperienced handsome man and teach him the science of love.

In one of the letters, Madame de Merteuil outlines her history and her rules of life. The magnificent de Merteuil is a woman who was able to win her place in the high society of the French monarchy thanks to her appearance, audacity and wit. From a young age, she carefully listens to everything that they want to hide from her. This curiosity taught the marquis the art of pretense, and the true way of her thoughts became only her secret, while people were shown only what was beneficial. After the death of her husband, the widow leaves for the village for a year, and at the end of mourning returns to the capital. First of all, she cares about being known as invincible, but she achieves this in a very original way. The deceiver accepts courtship only from those men who are indifferent to her, therefore it is not difficult for her to resist unfortunate admirers; to numerous lovers, in front of whom the marquise pretends to be modest, she forbids showing attention to her in public, therefore in society she has a reputation as a woman inaccessible and pious.

Madame de Merteuil admits in a letter to Valmont that he was the only one of her hobbies that for a moment gained power over her, but at the moment she enters into a game with de Prevent, a man who publicly announced his intention to conquer the "proud" . The massacre with the insolent followed immediately. A few days later, the marquise, savoring the details with pleasure and celebrating victory, describes this adventure to Valmont. The temptress favorably accepts Prevan's courtship and encourages him by inviting him to her dinner party. After the card game, all the guests go home, Prevan, by agreement with the Marquise, hides on a secret staircase, and at midnight enters her boudoir. As soon as he finds himself in the arms of a charmer, she starts calling with all her might, calling servants to witness. After this scandal, Prevan is dismissed from the unit in which he serves and stripped of his officer's rank, and the Marquise thus does not allow her piety to be doubted.

Valmont meanwhile, wanting to check what impression his departure would make on Madame de Tourvel, leaves the castle for a while. He continues to passionately declare his love, and de Tourvel, upset by the departure of the viscount, realizes that she is in love. She, frightened by her feelings, tries to overcome them, but it turns out to be beyond her power. As soon as Valmont notices a change in his gentle saint, he immediately shows interest in young Volange, paying attention to the fact that she is very pretty and falling in love with her, like Danceny, would be stupid, but not having fun with her is no less stupid. Besides, the little one needs comfort. The Marquise de Merteuil, annoyed by Dunsany's slowness, finds a way to stir him up. She believes that he needs obstacles in love, because happiness lulls him. So she tells Madame Volange about her daughter's correspondence with Danceny and about the dangerous connection between them. The angry mother sends Cecilia from Paris to the castle, and the young people suspect the maid of betrayal. The Marquise asks de Valmont to mediate between the lovers and their adviser. Soon Valmont wins the trust of the inexperienced Cecilia, convincing her of his devotion and friendship. In a letter to the Marquise, our hero-lover describes his next victory. He does not have to think of any ways to seduce Cecilia, he enters the girl's bedroom at night and is not rebuffed. Moreover, soon the marquise in response paints Valmont how good is the ardent lover of Danceny. So, young lovers receive their first sensual lessons in the beds of our main characters, showing their true innocence with its curiosity and bashfulness.

In one of the letters, Valmont complains to the Marquise about Madame de Tourvel. He was sure that she was entirely in his power, but her unexpected departure, which the viscount regards as an escape, confused all his cards. He is at a loss: what fate binds him to this woman, because there are hundreds of others who are hungry for his attention, but now there is neither happiness nor peace, and he has one goal - to possess Madame de Tourvel, whom he hates just as passionately, as he loves. Once at home with a beautiful recluse (since the day she returned to Paris, she has not received anyone), the viscount conquers this touchy. He is at the height of bliss. Vows of eternal love, tears of happiness - all this is described in a letter to the Marquise, whom he reminds of the bet (if he succeeds in seducing de Tourvel, the Marquise will give him a night of love) and is already enthusiastically waiting for the promised reward. For three months he sought Madame de Tourvel, but if his mind was occupied with her, does this mean that his heart was also enslaved? Valmont himself evades the answer, he is frightened of true feelings and leaves his beloved. With this, he inflicts a mortal wound on her, and she hides in a monastery, where two weeks later she dies of grief.

Valmont, having learned from the maid that the lady went to the monastery, again turns to the Marquise with a request for a meeting. But Merteuil spends all his time with Danceny and refuses to accept Valmont. He is offended and declares war on his former friend.

The viscount sends a letter to Dunsany, in which he reminds the young man of the existence of Cecilia, thirsty for attention and love and ready to meet him that night, that is, Dunsany must make a choice between coquetry and love, between pleasure and happiness. Danceny, without warning the Marquis that their nightly date is cancelled, meets with his young lover. The marquise becomes furious, having received a note from Valmont upon awakening: "Well, how do you find the joys of the past night? .." and comes up with a way to take cruel revenge on him. She shows Dunsany's note and convinces him to challenge the viscount to a duel. Valmont dies, but before his death, he opens Danceny's eyes to the Marquise de Merteuil, showing many letters indicating regular correspondence between them. In them, she tells scandalous stories about herself, moreover, in the most shameless way. Dunsany makes no secret of this. Therefore, soon the Marquise has to endure a cruel scene. In the theater, she finds herself alone in her box, although there were always many admirers near her, but after the performance, going out into the foyer, she is booed by the men present; her cup of humiliation overflows when Monsieur de Prevent, who has not appeared anywhere since his adventure, enters the foyer, where everyone greets him joyfully. There is no doubt that both the position and the rank will be returned to him in the future.

The marquise, having been ill with smallpox, turns out to be terribly disfigured, and one of her acquaintances utters a phrase picked up by everyone: "The disease has turned her inside out, and now her soul is on her face." She flees to Holland, taking with her a very large amount of diamonds, which were to be returned to her husband's inheritance. Cecilia Volange, having learned about the death of de Tourvel and Valmont and about the shame of the marquise, goes to the monastery and takes the vow of a novice. Danceny leaves Paris and goes to Malta, where he intends to stay forever and live away from the world.

N. B. Vinogradova

Roman (1686)

Excellent reed hats are made in Himeji!

In a large noisy harbor on the seashore, where rich overseas ships always moored, there lived among distillers a man named Izumi Seijuro, a cheerful, prosperous handsome man who embarked on the path of love pleasures from an early age. City fashionistas overwhelmed him with their feelings, he had accumulated a thousand bundles of amulets with oaths, strands of black female hair were intertwined into a large bundle, love notes were heaped up by a mountain, and donated capes with hieroglyphs unworn piled on the floor. Tired of Seijuro's gifts, he dumped them in the pantry, and wrote on the doors: "Pantry of love." He became close with a hetero named Minagawa and together with her merrily spent life: during the day they closed the shutters and lit lamps, arranged a “country of eternal night” in their house, invited court jesters and amused themselves with their jokes and antics, sang obscene verses to the tune of Buddhist spells, Hetaerae were forced to strip naked and laughed at their embarrassment. Retribution was to be expected for such frivolity. Unexpectedly, Seijuro's father appeared and, seeing what his son was doing, he was terribly angry, and even in the house of love they were dissatisfied with Minagawa's behavior.

The young people became sad, twisted and decided to commit a double suicide, but Seijuro was dragged away in time and sent to the temple, and Minagawa nevertheless committed suicide. Sadness seized everyone, for some time they hoped that they would save her, but then they said: it's all over. Seijuro, living in the temple, did not know anything about what had happened for a long time, and when he found out about the death of Minagawa, he secretly fled from the temple. He found shelter in the house of the rich Kyuemon, and since he did not want to think about love anymore, he began to do excellent business in a rich estate, and in the end the owner entrusted him with all his capital. Kyuemon had a sixteen-year-old daughter, O-Natsu, who was already thinking about love. In beauty, she could be compared with the famous hetero from Shimabara, who instead of the coat of arms wore a living moth on her kimono. Once he gave Seijuro to a maid to alter his old belt, she ripped it open, and there were dozens of old love letters, so passionate! I read and read them to O-Natsu and fell in love with Seijuro. She completely lost her head, that the holiday of Bon, that the New Year, that the singing of the cuckoo, that the snow at dawn - nothing pleased her more. The maids felt sorry for her endlessly, and then they themselves all fell in love with Seijuro. The house seamstress pricked her finger with a needle and wrote a letter of love in blood, another servant carried tea to the shop all the time, although no one there demanded it, the nurse kept shoving the baby into Seijuro's hands. Such attention was both pleasant and annoying to him, he sent all the letters with all sorts of excuses. O-Natsu also sent him passionate messages, and Seijuro fell into disarray, his daughter-in-law stood between them and vigilantly watched, no matter how their love flared up.

In spring, cherries bloom in the mountains, and people with children and wives, dressed up, undressed, rush to admire the beautiful sight, and even show themselves. Barrels of wine were opened, beauties sat in carriages and hid behind curtains, maids drank wine and danced, buffoons performed dances in lion masks. O-Natsu did not appear in public, did not appear at the performance, said she was sick and took cover behind the curtain pulled right there, Seijuro noticed that O-Natsu was alone and slipped to her by a side path. They clasped each other's hands and forgot with joy, only their hearts fluttered in agreement. When Seijuro suddenly appeared from behind the curtain, the buffoons suddenly interrupted the performance, and people were surprised. But the evening haze was already thickening, and everyone dispersed, no one guessed that the performance was rigged, especially the daughter-in-law - after all, she could not see anything further than her nose!

Seijuro decided to steal O-Natsu and run with her to Kyoto, they were in a hurry to seize the boat, which was leaving before sunset. As soon as they sailed in a boat full of all kinds of people - there was a seller, and a soothsayer, and an exorcist, and a gunsmith, they just went out to sea, when one passenger shouted that he had left his letter box in the hotel, and the boat turned back, and on They were already waiting on the bank of Seijuro, seized, tied with ropes and taken to Himeji. Seijuro grieved, feared for his life and feared for O-Natsu's life. Meanwhile, she prayed to the deity in Muro to prolong the days of Seijuro. And then a deity appeared to her at night in a dream and gave her a wonderful teaching: “Listen, girl, everyone here is begging me: either give me money, then a good husband, then kill that one, he is disgusting to me, then give me a straighter, evener nose - that’s all such petty requests, even if someone else wished for something else, but even the deity can’t do everything, doesn’t have power over everything. If only you would obey your parents and get a good husband, otherwise you indulged in love and look at what sufferings you are experiencing now. Your days will be long but Seijuro's days are numbered."

And the next morning it turned out that O-Natsu's father had lost a lot of money, Seijuro was blamed for everything, and he died in the prime of life and strength. And then in the summer they shook up the winter dress and suddenly found that money.

O-Natsu did not know about the death of Seijuro for a long time, but one day the kids began to sing a funny song under her window - and just about the execution of her dear. Her mind was clouded, she ran out into the street and began to run and sing along with the children, so that it took a direct pity to look at her. Her maids, one by one, also went mad. After regaining consciousness, O-Natsu changed her sixteen-year-old dress into a monastic cassock, offered prayers, picked flowers and placed them in front of the altar of the Buddha, read sutras all night by the lamp. The money found in the dress was donated by O-Natsu's father to commemorate Seijuro's soul.

If you need barrels - buy in Tenma!

There is a limit to human life - there is no limit to love. There was one person who knew the frailty of our existence - he made coffins. His wife was unlike a village woman - her skin was white, her gait was light, as if her feet did not touch the ground. From her youth she served as a maid in a manor house, she was quick-witted - she could please the old mistress and please the young one, so that she was soon entrusted with the keys to the storerooms. One day, by autumn, they began to tidy up the house, put down the summer dress, clean and shine the house from top to bottom. They gathered and cleaned the well behind the fence, which they did not pull out of it into the light of day: cabbage leaves with a sewing needle stuck in, a knife, a carnation, a patched bib for children, called on the cooper to put new rivets on the lower hoop of the log house. The cooper began to repair the hoop, but lo and behold, nearby the grandmother was busy in a puddle next to a living lizard, and the grandmother told him that this lizard is called the keeper of the well, and if you catch it and burn it in a bamboo ring, and pour the ashes on the head of the one you love , then she will fall in love with you without memory. And the cooper loved the local maid with the light tread of O-Sen. The grandmother promised the cooper to bewitch his dear, and he caught fire like a fire, promised her three boxes.

And foxes and badgers were operating in Tenma, which instilled fear in the inhabitants, because there is nothing in the world worse than werewolves who take life from people. One dark night, a mischievous old woman who promised to twist the maid ran to the gate of the house where O-Sen served, and spun all sorts of tales, they say, she met a handsome, young, proud man, that he swore to her passionate love for O-Sen, and if she would not marry him, threatened to die, and after the death of everyone in this house to decide. Then the old mistress, frightened, said that if it was so, and such secret love is not uncommon in this world, then let him take O-Sen, if he is a decent man, he can feed his wife and does not gamble. Yes, and the grandmother, having seized the moment, sang O-Sen about the handsome young man, that he does not allow her to pass, everything asks for marriage, and she, unable to bear it, asked the grandmother to arrange a date. We decided that on the eleventh day we would go on a pilgrimage to Ise, and on the way ...

It was time for the bindweeds to bloom, the hostess ordered everything to be prepared for admiring them early in the morning: she laid carpets in the garden for O-Sen, installed special seats on them, put teapots with tea and rice cakes in boxes, prepared capes, wide satin belts, made the lady’s hair, she checked to see if the servants had patches on their clothes, because from the neighboring houses they would also come to admire the flowering. O-Seng, meanwhile, went on a pilgrimage with her grandmother, and they were followed by a worker from the house, who had long had plans for a maid. On the way, as agreed, a cooper joined them, and everything would be fine, but the worker who tagged along was completely out of place. Settled in a hotel for the night. O-Sen and the cooper wanted to talk about matters of the heart, but the worker was on the alert, did not sleep, started talking, but the cooper, as if for sin, had everything in store - clove oil in the sink, and paper napkins, but nothing came of it. All night they built slingshots of love for each other, but both did not succeed. In the morning they sat down four of them on one horse and went to the temples, but only no one thinks about the temples: either the worker will pinch O-Sen by the finger, then the cooper by her barrel, but all secretly and quietly. But in the city, a worker went to a friend, and then things worked out, grandmother O-Sen brought a cooper in a shop at a bento breakfast supplier. The worker returned to the hotel, and O-Seng and his grandmother were gone.

They returned from the pilgrimage separately, but the hostess was still angry, suspected an innocent worker of a bad deed and drove him away. But the worker did not fail, got a job with a rice seller in Kita-hama and married one of the local sluts, lives himself there, O-Sen and forgot to think. As for O-Sen, she could not forget the short love of a cooper in a breakfast shop, she was languishing and longing, her feelings were in turmoil. Then troubles began in the house: lightning struck the roof, then a rooster crowed in the night, then the bottom of a large cauldron fell out. They called in a cunning grandmother, and take her and say that it is the cooper who demands O-Sen to him. It came to the owner and the mistress, and they insisted that O-Sen be given to the cooper. They straightened her dresses, which are due to a married woman, blackened her teeth for beauty, chose an auspicious day, gave her an unpainted chest, baskets, two capes from the master's shoulders, a mosquito net - in a word, a bunch of all kinds of good. And they lived happily, the cooper was industrious, and O-Seng learned a lot, weaving striped fabric and dyeing it purple. And she took care of her husband very lovingly, in the winter she warmed his food, in the summer she fanned him. They had two children. And yet, women are a fickle people, they will watch a play from those that are put on in Dotonbori, and they take everything at face value. Cherries will bloom, wisteria will bloom, looking, and she is already walking with some handsome man, she forgot about thrift, she looks fiercely at her husband. No, this does not happen in noble families, where women are always faithful to their husbands until their death ... although even there sin occasionally happens, and there women take lovers on the side. But you should always be afraid of the wrong path.

Once in the house of the former mistress of O-Sen, a magnificent wake was held, all the neighbors came to help, and O-Sen came, because she was an expert in the housework. She began to beautifully lay out pies and persimmons on a large dish, and then the owner began to get dishes from the top shelf, and he dropped O-Sen on her head, her hair was disheveled, the hostess saw this, she was jealous, she says, hairstyles just don’t fall apart. O-Sen got angry with the hostess for such a slander and decided to take revenge: really lure the host, pull the mistress's nose. She called the owner to her at night, the cooper was fast asleep, his lamp had long gone out, but, hearing a whisper, he woke up and rushed to his lovers. The owner rushed to run in what his mother gave birth, and O-Sen - what was she to do, how to get away from shame: she took a chisel and pierced her chest, her dead body was put to shame. Various songs were composed about her, and her name became known far throughout the country, even to the most distant provinces. Yes, a person cannot escape retribution for bad deeds.

The best calendars are made in the capital!

The first day of the new moon in 1628 is the day of the lucky brush. Everything written on this day will bring good luck, and the second day is the day of the woman-tire, from ancient times they comprehend the science of passion on this day. There lived at that time a beauty, the wife of a calendar maker, her appearance was beautiful, like the first cherries that are about to bloom, her lips resembled scarlet maples in the mountains in autumn, her eyebrows could argue with the crescent of the moon. Many songs were composed about her, there were many fashionistas in the capital, but no one could compare with her. At all the crossroads of the capital, there was only talk about four kings - a company of young rake, sons of wealthy parents. They had fun all day long, indulging in love, not missing a single day, they met the dawn with geishas in Shimabara - a cheerful quarter, in the evening they had fun with actors, they didn’t care with men or women! Once they were sitting in a restaurant and looked at the women passing by, returning from admiring the flowers. But respectable ladies floated in a stretcher behind the curtains, and, unfortunately, their faces could not be seen. And those who ran past on their own two cannot be called beauties, although they are also ugly. And yet they moved the ink pot, brushes, paper and began to write, listing all the advantages: what a neck, what a nose, and what kind of lining on the cape. Suddenly, some pretty lady opens her mouth, and there is not enough tooth, here, of course, one disappointment. One beauty after another scurries past, here is a young one: the lower dress is yellow, then another one - white specks on purple, and the upper one is made of mouse-colored satin with fine sewing - sparrows fly, and hairpins and laces made of paper stripes on a patent-leather hat, but that's bad luck - Small scar on left cheek. Next is the tobacconist, her hair in disarray, her clothes are unsightly, and her features are beautiful, strict, and tenderness for the tobacconist swirled in all the rake in her chest. Next is the simpering woman, brightly dressed up, her hat on four multi-colored laces shifted so as not to cover her face. "Here she is, here she is," the rake shouted, and, lo and behold, three nannies were carrying rosy-cheeked children behind her, well, there was laughter here! Next was a girl on a stretcher, only fourteen years old, her beauty was so conspicuous that it is not necessary to describe her in detail. Servants carry a fashionable hat behind her, and she covers herself with a branch of wisteria. She immediately overshadowed all the beauties that the rake saw today. And she looks like a beautiful flower.

One court calendar maker remained single for a long time, his taste was very picky. And he wanted to find a woman with a high soul and beautiful appearance, he turned to a matchmaker nicknamed Talkative and asked her to marry him a girl with a branch of wisteria, the girl's name was O-San. Taking her as his wife, he did not regret it, she turned out to be an exemplary mistress of a merchant's house, the economy flourished, joy in the house was in full swing. And then the compiler of the calendars was going on the road, O-San's parents were worried about whether their daughter would cope with the housework, and they sent a young guy Moemon, an honest, not chasing fashion, to help her. Somehow, waiting for the approach of winter, Moemon decided to make himself cauterization with moxa to improve his health. The maid Rin had the lightest hand, prepared Rin twisted blades of Chernobyl and began to cauterize Moemon, and in order to soothe the pain, she began to massage his back, and at that moment tenderness for Moemon crept into her heart. But the servant girl did not know how to write, she looked with envy even at the clumsy squiggles that the youngest servant in the house brought out. O-San, having found out about that, suggested that Rin write a letter for her, since there were a few more letters to write. Rin quietly forwarded the letter to Moemon and received a rather offhand reply from him. The young mistress of the house O-San decided to teach the ignoramus a lesson and sent him an eloquent letter, telling him all her sorrows. Indeed, the message touched Moemon, he himself appointed her a date on the fifteenth night. At this point, all the maids began to laugh at him, and the mistress herself decided, dressed in Rin's dress, to play the role of her maid. That will be some fun. We agreed that the maids would hide in the corners, some with a stick, some with a rolling pin, and at the call of O-San they would jump out screaming and attack the unlucky gentleman. But the maids got tired of the shouting and fuss, and all, as one, fell asleep. Moemon crept up to the hostess and, while she was sleeping, threw back the hem of her dress and snuggled up to her. O-San, having woken up, did not remember herself from shame, but there was nothing to do, everything could not be kept secret. And Moemon began to visit her every night. O-San took over all his thoughts, he no longer thought about the maid. That's how I turned imperceptibly from the true path. Even in the old books it is written: "The ways of love are inscrutable." The current fashionistas do not waste time on the temple, but only try to outdo each other with the beauty of their outfits. O-Sato decided to go on a pilgrimage with Moemon, they got into a boat and sailed on Lake Biwa: "Our life is still going on, isn't that what the name of Mount Nagarayama - the Mountain of Long Life, which is visible from here?" These thoughts brought tears to their eyes, and their sleeves became wet. “Just as there was nothing left of the greatness of the Sig’s capital but legend, so it will be with us ...” And they decided to pretend that they had drowned themselves in the lake together, and to hide themselves in the mountains and lead a solitary life in remote places. They left farewell letters to their relatives, attached their talismans - a Buddha figurine, a sword hilt - an iron guard in the form of a dragon with copper decorations twisted into a ball, threw off their clothes and shoes, and threw it all under the coastal willow.

People thought that they had drowned themselves, started crying and screaming, began to look for the bodies, but found nothing. O-San and Moemon wandered in the mountains, it was terrible for them to be among the dead during their lifetime. They lost their way, they were exhausted, O-San was so tired that she was preparing for death. But nevertheless, after long wanderings along steep mountain roads, they went out to people, handed gold to the owner in the tea shop, but he had never seen such money and refused to take it. Moemon found his aunt's house far in the mountains, and spent the night here, O-San was given out as a younger sister, who served in the palace for a long time, but yearned there. The locals marveled at the beauty of the young lady, and the aunt found out that she had money, and decided to marry her to her son. O-San only wept furtively, because the aunt’s son was very frightening in appearance: huge growth, covered in curls, like a Chinese lion, arms and legs like pine trunks, red veins in sparkling eyes, and his name is Zentaro Prowling the Mountains. He was delighted to see the little thing in the capital, and caught fire that evening to celebrate the wedding. They began to prepare for the wedding ceremony: the mother gathered a miserable treat, found bottles of wine with broken necks, arranged a hard bed. It is impossible to imagine O-San's grief, Moemon's confusion! "It was better for us to die in Lake Biwa!" Moemon was about to stab himself with a sword, but O-San dissuaded her, a cunning plan came to her mind. She gave her son a drink, and when he fell asleep on her lap, she and Moemon again fled to the mountains. Wandering along the roads, they came to a mountain temple and fell asleep tired on the threshold. And in a dream they had a vision: the deity of the temple appeared and announced to them that wherever they hide, retribution will overtake them, and therefore it is better for them to take a monastic vow and settle separately, only then will they renounce sinful thoughts and enter the Path of enlightenment. But his lovers did not listen, they decided to continue to tempt fate. Going further along the road, they heard the farewell words of the deity: "Everything in this world is like sand in the wind that whistles between the pines of the Hakodate spit ..."

O-San and Moemon settled in a remote village, and at first everything went well, but then Moemon yearned for the capital and went there, although he had no business there. He walked past the pond and saw the face of the moon in the sky, and another reflection in the water, just like he and O-San, and his sleeve was wet with stupid tears. He reached the busy streets of the capital, wandered along them for a long time, breathing in the familiar air of the comforts and joys of the capital, and inadvertently overheard conversations about himself. Friends praised him for his courage - he seduced such a beauty, and even the owner's wife! - it’s not a pity to pay for this with your life, while others assured that he was a living person, but only hiding somewhere along with O-San. Hearing about this, Moemon rushed to run and went through lanes and courtyards to the outskirts of the city. Then he saw how wandering artists show a performance in the street, he stopped to look. According to the play, one of the heroes kidnapped a girl - and he became very unpleasant. Yes, he also saw the husband of Mrs. O-San among the spectators! Moemon's breath was taken away, he froze, almost slumped with fear, and again rushed to run.

One day during the chrysanthemum festival, a wandering chestnut trader came to the house of the compiler of calendars, he asked about the hostess and marveled that in Tango he saw exactly the same lady, indistinguishable from O-San. The compiler of calendars sent people to a mountain village, they grabbed lovers - and behold: yesterday living people were still wandering, and today it’s just dew at the place of execution in Awadaguchi, just a dream that I had at dawn on the twenty-second day of the ninth month ... And now I’m alive about their memory, people remember even the bright dress of O-San.

Delicious Greens in Edo

In the city everyone is in a hurry to meet the spring, the streets are bustling, the blind are singing their songs: “Give a penny to the blind”, the money changers are shouting out offers to buy, sell, exchange; traders of crayfish, chestnuts yell at the top of their lungs. Passers-by scurry about, knock down, hostesses rush to the shops: the end of the year is a troublesome time. And here is a fire - things are being dragged, shouting, crying, and in the blink of an eye a big rich house turns into ashes.

At that time, the greengrocer Hachibe lived in the city of Edo, and he had an only daughter named O-City. What can you compare it with, if not with a flower, then with a cherry blossom, if not with the moon, then with its pure reflection in the water. When the fire started - and it was not far from the greengrocer's dwelling - in order to avoid misfortune, the whole family moved to the temple, other neighbors ran to the temple, the cry of babies was heard at the altar, women's aprons were lying in front of the Buddha statue, gong and copper plates were adapted instead of a hand wash. But even the Buddha himself treated this condescendingly - there are such moments in people's lives. Among the clothes that the abbot gave to the people, there was one man's dress - black, made of expensive fabric, a coat of arms is gracefully embroidered on it - a paulownia and a branch of a ginkgo tree, and a lining of scarlet silk. And these clothes sunk into the soul of O-City. Who wore it? What graceful noble young man has renounced the world and left this dress here? Saddened O-City, imagining this young man, and thought about the transience of life. Then he and his mother saw a young man who, not far from them, was trying to pull a splinter out of his finger, but all the same. Mother also tried, but her eyes were already old, nothing worked, then she tried O-City and immediately pulled out a splinter, she didn’t want to take her hand away from the young man, but she had to, she just quietly hid the tweezers, but then she caught herself and, returning to the young man , gave the tweezers. And it began with that their mutual feeling.

I asked O-City people and found out that the name of the young man is Kichizaburo, he is a wandering samurai, and by nature he is a gentle and generous person. She wrote him a love letter, and their feelings merged like two streams. Tormented by love, they were just waiting for the right opportunity to put the headboards together. And on the fifteenth night, some people came running with the news that a rice merchant had died and that the body should be burned that same day. All the servants of the temple, all the men rushed to the ceremony, and then there was thunder, at home there were only old grandmothers who had stocked up on peas - let's escape from the thunder. Although O-City was afraid of thunderstorms, she thought that today was the only time she could meet Kichizaburo. By dawn, people finally fell asleep, O-City got up and quietly walked to the exit, it was still dark. Then the old woman ume woke up and whispered that Kichizaburo was sleeping in the cell opposite. How she guessed everything, apparently, she was also naughty in her youth, thought O-City and gave the old woman her beautiful purple belt. Kichizaburo saw O-City, trembled all over, they both loved for the first time, and things did not immediately go smoothly. But there was a clap of thunder, and the first drops of love spilled. They swore eternal love to each other, and then - oh, what a pity! - dawn came.

In the morning, the O-City family returned home, and the connection between the lovers was interrupted. O-City was very sad, but there was nothing to do. One winter in the cold, a boy, a wandering merchant of mushrooms and horse panicles, came to the doorstep, and meanwhile night was approaching, it was cold in the yard, the owners took pity on the boy, let him into the house to warm himself, and so he fell asleep in the hallway. And at night they came running with the news that a neighbor had recovered from her pregnancy, and the owners, barely having time to put their feet in sandals, ran to see the baby. O-City came out to see them off and accidentally glanced at the sleeping man, but this is Kichizaburo! O-City took the young man to her room, rubbed it and warmed it, and then the parents returned. She hid the young man under a pile of dresses, and when the parents fell asleep, they sat down together behind a screen and let's talk, but it was very scary that the adults would hear, then they took paper and ink and began to write words of love to each other - and so on until dawn.

But O-City had no hopes for a new meeting, and then she decided on a crime, remembering that their first date was made possible because of a fire, and the girl decided on a terrible act - she set fire to the house: smoke poured, people ran and screamed , and when they looked closely, they realized that it was O-City's fault for everything. She was taken around the city, exposing the public to shame, and people flocked to stare at her, no one took pity on the unfortunate. She was still beautiful because she continued to love Kichizaburo. Before the execution, she was given a branch of a late-blooming plum in her hands, and, admiring it, she composed the following lines: “A sad world where a person is a guest! / We leave a name in this world / Only the wind that will fly in the spring ... / And this Veps will now fly around … / Oh, Vetka, late in flowering!.." (Translated by E. Pinus)

Only yesterday she was alive, and today neither dust nor ashes are left. Only the wind ruffles the needles of the pines, and some passer-by, having heard the story of O-City, will stop and think.

The whole truth was hidden from Kichizaburo, especially since he was seriously ill. The parents sprinkled the memorial column with sacrificial water, and Kichizaburo, when he finally saw him a hundred days after the death of O-City, set out to take his own life, but the abbot of the temple took away and hid his sword, so that he had only to bite off his tongue or put his head in a noose , i.e., accept an unholy death. Kichizaburo did not dare to do this and, finally, with the blessing of the abbot, he took the tonsure. It was such a pity to shave off the hair of such a handsome man that the bondza twice threw away the razor. He felt sorry for Kichizaburo even more than O-City in the last moments of her life. To be tonsured out of love! Alas! And sadness, and love - everything is mixed up in this world.

Gengobei was a well-known handsome man in those places, he combed his hair in an unusual way, and wore a blade at the belt of exorbitant length. Yes, and he loved only young men, indulged in love day and night, and bypassed weak long-haired creatures. He especially loved one young man of extraordinary beauty, so that it was not a pity to give his life for him. His name was Hachijuro. He looked like half-opened cherry blossoms. One dreary rainy night they retired and indulged in playing the flute, the wind carried the scent of plum blossoms through the window, the bamboo rustled, the night bird cried faintly, the lamp shone dimly. And suddenly the young man turned deathly pale and his breath stopped. Oh God! beautiful Hachijuro passed away! Shouted, cried Gengobei, forgetting that their meeting was secret. People came running, but nothing could be done: neither drugs nor ointments helped. But what to do, they put the body of the young handsome man on fire, then filled the jug with ashes and buried it among the young grasses. Shedding tears, Gengobei indulged in despair at the grave of a friend. Every day he collected fresh flowers to please the deceased with their aroma. So, like a dream, summer days flashed by, autumn approached. Bindweed wrapped around the fence of the old temple, and our life seemed to Gengobei no stronger than dew drops on the petals of the bindweed. And Gengobei decided to leave his native places, and before that he took a monastic vow with all his heart.

In the villages they were preparing for the winter, Gengobei walked through the fields and saw how the peasants were stockpiling deadwood and reeds, knocking out clothes - the sound of rollers could be heard from everywhere. There, in the fields, Gengobei saw a handsome young man, who was looking for birds in the crimson thickets of the bush. The young man was wearing greenish clothes, a purple belt, and a blade with a golden guard on his side. His beauty was soft, radiant, so that he even looked like a woman. Until dusk, he admired the young man, and then came out of the shadows and promised him to catch many, many birds. Dropping his cassock from one shoulder to make it more dexterous, he immediately caught a lot of birds. The young man invited Gengobei to his dwelling, where there were many books, a garden with strange birds, ancient weapons were hung on the walls. The servants brought a rich meal, and at night they exchanged vows. Too soon dawn came, it was necessary to part, because Gengobei was heading to the monastery on a pilgrimage. But as soon as he left the house of a beautiful young man, he completely forgot about pious deeds, he spent only one day in the monastery, prayed hastily and immediately set off on his way back. Having entered the house of the young man, the tired Gengobei fell into a dream, but at night he was awakened by the father of the handsome man. He told Gengobei that the unfortunate young man died immediately after his departure, and until his death he kept talking about some kind of reverend father. Gengobei sank into an unspeakable sadness and stopped cherishing his life altogether. He decided to commit suicide this time. But everything that happened to him, and the sudden death of two young men - all this was retribution for a past life, that's the point!

In life, it is regrettable that the deepest feelings and passions are so mortal, so fleeting, looking, a husband loses a young wife, a mother loses a baby, it seems that there is only one way out - to commit suicide. but, no, tears will dry up and a new passion takes possession of the heart - that's what's sad! The widower directs his thoughts to all sorts of earthly treasures, the inconsolable widow already favorably listens to the speeches of the matchmakers about a new marriage, without even waiting for the prescribed thirty-five days of mourning, slowly rubs herself in, puts on a bright underdress, combs her hair somehow in a special way - so the bride is ready, but how seductive! There is no creature in the world more terrible than a woman! And try to stop her madness - sheds feigned tears.

In one town there lived a girl named O-Man, the moon of the sixteenth night would hide in the clouds at the sight of her, her beauty sparkled so. This girl kindled with tender feelings for Gengobei and overwhelmed him with love messages, and on all marriage proposals; that rained down on her, answered with a refusal. In the end, she had to pretend to be sick, and the languor of love brought her to the point that she began to look like a lunatic. Upon learning that Gengobei had donned a monastic robe, she grieved for a long time, and then decided to see him for the last time in her life and set off on the road. To travel alone, she had to cut off her thick long hair, shave her tonsure on her head, put on long dark clothes. She walked along the mountain paths, walked through the hoarfrost - it was the tenth month according to the lunar calendar. In appearance she was very much like a young novice, but a woman's heart was beating in her chest, and it was difficult for her to cope with it. Finally, high in the mountains, over a deep gorge, she found a hermit's hut, entered, looked around, and on the table was the book "Dress Sleeves on the Night of Love" - ​​a treatise on love between men. She waited and waited for O-Man Gengobei, and then she heard steps, lo and behold, and with the monk, two beautiful young men - the spirits of the departed. O-Man was frightened, but bravely stepped forward and confessed her love for the monk, the spirits of the young men immediately disappeared, and Gengobei began to flirt with O-Man, he did not know that he was a woman. The lovers entwined in a passionate embrace, and Gengobei recoiled in fear. What is it, is it a woman?! But O-Man began to quietly persuade him, and the monk thought: "Love is one, whether to feed it to young men or girls does not matter." So everything in this world was mixed up, but unexpected whims of feelings are not only the destiny of Gengobei.

Gengobei again took on a worldly name, his thick beautiful hair grew back, he parted with black clothes - he changed beyond recognition. He rented a poor hut in the vicinity of Kagoshima, and she became a haven of love. He went to visit his parents' house, because he had no means of subsistence. But the house passed into other hands, the sound of coins in the changer's shop is no longer heard, the parents died a miserable death. Gengobei felt sad, he returned to his beloved, and they already had nothing to talk about at the extinguished cold hearth. So they silently waited for the dawn, and their passion was extinguished. When there was absolutely nothing to eat, they dressed up as wandering actors and began to portray scenes on mountain roads. O-Man and Gengobei have fallen completely, their beauty has faded, and now they could be compared with the purple flowers of wisteria, which droop by themselves. But here, fortunately, her parents found O-Man, all the household rejoiced, they gave their daughter all their property: a house, gold, silver, mountains of Chinese fabrics, corals, and cups of Chinese masters, vessels made of agate, salt shakers in the form of a woman with fish tail, there were no chests - if something breaks, no one will notice. Gengobei was both happy and sad: even if you start patronizing all the actors in the capital and even found your own theater, you still won’t spend such wealth in one life.

The story of the love affairs of a lonely woman

Roman (1686)

Wise men in ancient times said that beauty is a sword that cuts life. The flowers of the heart crumble, and by evening only dry branches remain. It is reckless to die an early death in the abyss of love, but, surely, such madmen will never end!

One day, two young men argued by the river about what they most want in life, one said that most of all he wants the moisture of his love to never dry out, but flow like a full-flowing river. Another objected that he would like to retire to a place where there would be no women at all, but in peace and quiet he would follow the troubles of life. They decided to ask some old woman who had lived a long time, which of them was right, and they found a lonely hermit living high in the mountains in a clean hut with a roof of reeds. The old woman was surprised at their request and decided to tell them for edification all her life.

I am not from a low family, the old woman began to tell, my ancestors were in the service of Emperor Go-Hanazono, but then our family fell into decline and became completely ill, but I was friendly and beautiful in face and ended up in the service of a noble lady close to the court . I served with her for several years and lived freely, without much trouble, among exquisite luxury. I myself came up with an invisible cord to pull my hair together, an intricate pattern for a dress, a new hairstyle. And all the time I heard about love, everyone talked about it in different ways. I also began to receive love messages, but I set them on fire, only the names of the gods written in letters confirming love oaths did not burn. I had many noble admirers, and I gave my heart from the first time to the samurai of the lowest rank, I was so struck by the strength of his feelings in the very first letter. There was no strength to resist passion, we swore to each other, and it was not to break our connection. But the case came out, and I was severely punished, and my dear was executed. And I wanted to part with my life, the silent ghost of my beloved pursued me, but time passed, and everything was forgotten, because I was only thirteen years old, people looked at my sin through their fingers. From a modest bud of love, I turned into a bright yamabushi flower on the edge of a rapid.

There were many dancers, singers, actors in the capital - and all of them at dances and feasts received no more than one silver coin. I really liked the young girls entertaining guests with songs and conversations - maiko. I learned to dance fashionable at that time and became a real dancer, I even appeared occasionally at feasts, but always with a strict mother, so I didn’t look like fluffy maiko at all. Once I liked a rich but ugly lady who was being treated in our area for some kind of illness, and this lady's husband was a hand-written handsome man. Once in their house, where they took me to entertain a bored lady, I quickly got along with her handsome husband and fell in love with him very much, and then I could not part with him. But the case again came out, and I was driven out in disgrace, sent to my native village.

One prince from the Eastern provinces did not have heirs in any way, he was very sad about this and looked everywhere for young concubines, but he could not find anything to his liking: either he looks like a peasant, or there is no pleasant treatment, as is customary in the capital, or can put together poems and guess the correct aroma. The prince had an old man, deaf, blind, lost almost all his teeth, and he wore men's clothes only out of habit - the path of love was closed to him. But he used the power of attorney of the vassal, and they sent him to the capital for a beautiful concubine. He was looking for a girl without the slightest flaw, like an old portrait that the old man always carried with him. The old man examined more than one hundred and seventy girls, but not a single one came to his taste. But when I was finally brought to him from a distant village, it turned out that I looked exactly like a portrait, and some said that I overshadowed the beauty in the portrait. They settled me in the magnificent palace of the prince, day and night they cherished and cherished, entertained and spoiled me. I admired the cherry blossoms of extraordinary beauty, whole performances were played out for me. But I lived as a recluse, and the prince still sat in the state council. To my grief, it turned out that he was deprived of manly strength, drinking pills of love, but still he never penetrated the fence. His vassals decided that the whole trouble was in me, in my indefatigable lust, and persuaded the prince to send me back to my native village. There is nothing sadder in the world than a beloved, devoid of male power.

And then misfortune befell me, my father was in debt and went bankrupt, I had to become a hetero at only sixteen years old. And immediately I became a trendsetter, eclipsed all local dandies with my inventions in terms of fashion. It seemed to me that everyone was burning with passion for me, I made eyes at everyone, and if there was no one nearby, I flirted at worst even with a simple jester. I knew different ways how to make obedient slaves out of men, and those that hetaeras would never think of more stupidly. And unreasonable men always thought that I had a crush on them and untied my wallets. It used to happen that I hear that there is a rich man somewhere, that he is good-looking, and cheerful, and does not spare money, then I will go to him with all my legs, and circle, and not let go, but this rarely happens. But a corrupt hetera cannot love only whomever he wants, and there are always enough dandies in yellow striped dresses and straw sandals on bare feet in the capital. But I, forced to give myself to men for money, still did not give myself to them to the end, and therefore I was known as hard-hearted, obstinate, and the guests eventually all left me. Turning away from annoying men is good when you are in fashion, but when everyone leaves you, you will be glad to anyone - both a servant and a freak. The life of a hetaera is sad!

They lowered me in rank, the servants stopped calling me mistress and bending their backs in front of me. It used to be that twenty days earlier they sent me to rich houses to call me, I managed to go around three or four houses in a fast carriage a day. And now, accompanied only by a small maid, quietly made her way alone in the crowd. What was it like for me, a spoiled, and even high-born young lady, when I was treated like the daughter of a scavenger. What kind of people I did not meet in merry houses, swindler and carouse, that they lowered the last, and remained penniless, and even got into debt. Many of my guests went bankrupt on singers and actresses, but they were middle-aged, respectable people! I started to get sick, my hair thinned out, and besides, pimples the size of a millet seed jumped up behind my ears, the guests didn’t even want to look at me. The hostess did not speak to me, the servants began to push me around, and I sat at the table from the very edge. And no one will think to treat, no one cares! Loons were disgusting to me, good guests did not invite me, sadness took possession of my soul. They sold me to the cheapest merry house, where I became the very last slut. How low I have sunk and what I have not seen! After thirteen years, I got into a boat and, since I had no other shelter, went to my native village. I changed into a man's dress, cut my hair, did a man's hairstyle, hung a dagger on the side, learned to speak in a man's voice. At that time, village bosses often took boys into their service, and with one such I agreed that I would love him for three years for three kanas of silver. This bonza was completely mired in debauchery, and his friends were no better, they violated all the precepts of the Buddha, during the day they wore the clothes of priests, but at night they put on the clothes of secular fashionistas. They kept their mistresses in cells, and secretly locked them up in the dungeons during the day. I was bored with imprisonment, I was completely emaciated, and I was tired of the boss, because I went into this business not for the sake of love, but for the sake of money - it was hard for me. And then an old woman came to me and called herself the old beloved of the rector, told about her unfortunate fate and the cruelty of the boss, threatened to take revenge on her new mistress. I began to think and guess how to escape from the boss, and decided to deceive him, put a thick layer of cotton wool under my clothes and declared myself pregnant. The boss got scared and sent me home, allocating a small fraction of the money.

In the capital, women were highly valued, who were once rulers in noble houses and learned how to handle delicately, who knew how to write courteous and elegant letters on various topics. Parents gave them to train their daughters. And so I decided to also open a school of writing to teach young girls to gracefully express their thoughts. I lived comfortably in my own house, everything was clean in my living rooms, beautiful copybooks with writing samples were on the walls. Soon, clever handsome young men and hetaeras burned with passion found out about me - fame went about me as an unsurpassed writer of love letters, because in merry houses I plunged into the very depths of love and could depict the most ardent passion. I had one gentleman there, in the "village of love", only I truly loved him, when he became impoverished, he could no longer come to me, he only sent letters, and such that I sobbed over them all night, pressing to bare chest. Until now, the words from his letters are burned into my memory as if by fire. Once a customer came to me and asked me to write to the heartless beauty about my love, and I tried, but, drawing the words of passion on paper, I suddenly felt inspired by them and realized that this man was dear to me. And he looked at me more closely and saw that my hair was curly, my mouth was small, and my big toes were bent outward. He forgot his heartless beauty and clung to me with his soul. But it turned out that he was a terrible miser! He treated me to the cheapest fish soup, and was stingy with fabric for a new dress. And besides, he became decrepit within a year, he lost his hearing, so he had to put his hand to his ear, he wrapped himself in wadded dresses, well, and forgot about lovely ladies.

In the old days, very young maids were valued, but now they like the maid to look more impressive, about twenty-five years old, and could accompany the stretcher with the mistress. And although it was very unpleasant for me, I dressed up in a modest maid's dress, tied my hair with a simple lace and began to ask the housekeeper naive questions: "What will be born from the snow?" etc. They considered me very simple and naive, having never seen anything in my life. From everything I blushed and trembled, and the servants, for my inexperience, called me "stupid monkey", in a word, I was known as a complete simpleton. The owner and the mistress at night indulged in love rages, and how my heart went from passion and desire. Once, early in the morning on a holiday, I was cleaning up the altar of the Buddha, when suddenly the owner came there to say the first prayer, and at the sight of a strong young man I tore off my belt. The owner was amazed, but then, in a furious impulse, he rushed to me and knocked down the Buddha statue, dropped the candlestick. Slowly, slowly, I took the owner into my hands and conceived an unkind deed - to exterminate the hostess, and for this I resorted to unlawful methods: charms and demonic spells. But she could not harm the hostess, everything quickly came out, a bad rumor went about me and the owner, and soon they kicked me out of the house. I began to wander like crazy, under the scorching sun through the streets and bridges, resounding the air with crazy cries: "I want a man's love!" and danced like a fit. People on the streets condemned me. A cold breeze blew, and in the cryptomeria grove I suddenly woke up and realized that I was naked, my former mind returned to me. I called trouble on another, but I suffered myself.

I got a job as a maid on parcels in the country house of a noble lady who suffered severely from jealousy - her husband, a handsome man, shamelessly cheated on her. And that lady decided to have a party and invite all her court ladies and maids, and so that everyone would openly tell what was in their hearts, and so that women would be blackened out of envy, and men out of jealousy. Someone found this fun to be strange. They brought a marvelous beauty doll, dressed in a magnificent outfit, and all the women began to pour out their souls in front of her in turn and tell stories about unfaithful husbands and lovers. One I figured out what was going on. The husband of the hostess found himself a beauty in the provinces and gave her his heart, and the hostess ordered to make a doll - an exact copy of that beauty, beat her, tormented her, as if the rival herself fell into her hands. Yes, only once did the doll open its eyes and, spreading its arms, went to the hostess and grabbed her by the hem. As soon as she escaped, and from that time on, she fell ill and began to wither away. The family decided that the whole thing was in the doll, and decided to burn it. They burned it and buried the ashes, but only every night from the garden, from the grave of the doll, groans and cries began to be heard. The people and the prince himself found out about that. They called the maids for interrogation, I had to tell everything. Yes, and the concubine girl was called to the prince, and then I saw her - she was unusually good, and how graceful. With a doll - do not compare. The prince was frightened for the life of a fragile girl and with the words: "How disgusting women are!" sent the girl to her home away from her jealous wife. But he himself stopped visiting the mistress's chambers, and during her lifetime she fell to the fate of a widow. I was so disgusted with everything that I asked for leave to go to Kanagata with the intention of becoming a nun.

In the New Harbor there are ships from distant countries and from the western provinces of Japan, and nuns from the surrounding villages sell their love to sailors and merchants from those ships. Rowing boats scurry back and forth, fellows at the oars, some gray-haired old man at the wheel, and dressed-up nuns-singers in the middle. Nuns click castanets, young nuns with begging bowls beg for change, and then, without any embarrassment in front of people, they go to the ships, and there the visiting guests are waiting for them. The nuns receive a hundred mon coins, or an armful of brushwood, or a bunch of mackerel. Of course, the gutter water is dirty everywhere, but slut nuns are a particularly low trade. I conspired with an old nun who was in charge of this business. I still had traces of my former beauty, and they willingly invited me to the ships, paid, however, little - only three momme per night, but all the same, three of my admirers went bankrupt and went along the roads. I, not caring about what happened to them, continued to sing my songs. Have you, windy revelers, understood how dangerous it is to mess with singers, and even with nuns?

I did not endure such a life for long and took up another craft: I began to comb fashionistas and invent outfits for dandies. You need to have a delicate taste and understand the transience of fashion to do such things. In my new service in the dressing rooms of famous beauties, I received eighty momme silver a year, and a bunch of smart dresses. I entered the service of a rich lady, she was very beautiful in appearance, even I, a woman, was subdued. But she had an inescapable grief in her soul, as a child she lost her hair from an illness and walked in an overlay. The owner did not suspect it, although it was difficult to keep everything a secret. I did not step back from the lady, and by all sorts of tricks I managed to hide her shortcoming from my husband, otherwise the lining would fall from my head - and goodbye love forever! Everything would be fine, but the mistress envied my hair - thick, black, like a raven's wing, and ordered me to cut it first, and when it grew back, to pull it out so that my forehead was bald. I was indignant at such cruelty of the mistress, and she is getting more and more angry, she won’t let me out of the house. And I set out to take revenge: I taught the cat to jump on my hair, and then one day, when the gentleman in our society enjoyed playing the zither, I set the cat on the mistress. The cat jumped on her head, the hairpins fell off, the lining flew off - and the love of the master, which had been burning in his heart for five years, died out in an instant! The master completely cooled off towards her, the hostess plunged into sadness and left for her homeland, but I took the owner into my arms. It was quite easy to do.

But this service soon bored me, and I began to help at weddings in the city of Osaka, where frivolous people live, weddings are arranged too magnificent, not caring about whether they make ends meet. They want to surprise the whole world with a wedding, and then they immediately begin to build a house, the young mistress sews outfits for herself without number. And also receptions after the wedding, and gifts to relatives, so they litter with money without restraint. And there, you look, there was a cry of the first granddaughter: wow, wow! So, bring the newborn a dagger and new dresses. Relatives, friends, healers - gifts, look! - and the wallet is empty. I served at many weddings, and I have already seen enough of human swagger. Only one wedding was modest, but this house is still rich and glorious, and where are the others - bye! went bankrupt and never heard of them again.

I don’t know where myself, I learned how to sew dresses well according to all the old rules, known since the time of Empress Koken. I was glad to change my way of life, to part with the craft of love. I spent the whole day in a circle of women, admiring the irises over the pond, enjoying the sunlight by the window, drinking fragrant reddish tea. Nothing disturbed my heart. But one day the dress of a young man fell into my hands, his satin lining was skillfully painted with love scenes, so passionate that it took my breath away. And my former desires woke up in me. I put aside the needle and thimble, threw away the matter and spent the whole day in dreams, at night my bed seemed to me very lonely. My hardened heart emanated sadness. The past seemed terrible to me, I thought about virtuous women who know only one husband, and after his death they take monastic vows. But the former lust had already awakened in me, and even then a servant came out into the yard that served the samurai and began to urinate, a strong stream washed a hole in the ground. And in that hole all my thoughts about virtue swirled and drowned. I left a rich house, saying I was sick, rented a small house and wrote "Seamstress" on the door. I got into debt, and when the silk merchant's clerk came to collect a debt from me, I stripped naked and gave him my dress - as if I had nothing else. But the clerk was maddened by my beauty, and, hanging an umbrella over the windows, embraced me, and, after all, he managed without the help of matchmakers. He gave up thinking about profit, set off in all serious ways, so that in the service his affairs went very badly. And the sewing master walks and walks everywhere with her box of needles and threads, walks for a long time and collects coins, but she never sews a single little thing. But there is no knot on that thread, it will not last long.

And my old age was already close, and I was sinking lower and lower. For a whole year I worked as a dishwasher, wore coarse dresses, ate only black brown rice. Only twice a year they let me go for a walk in the city, and one day an old servant followed me and on the way confessed to me his love, which he had long cherished in the depths of his heart. We went with him to the visiting house, but, alas, the former sword became a simple kitchen knife, visited the mountain of treasures, but returned ingloriously. I had to run to the fun house in Shimabara and urgently look for some young man, and the younger the better.

I went to many cities and villages and somehow wandered into the town of Sakai, where a maid was needed to make and clean beds in a noble, rich house. I thought that the owner of the house was a strong old man and, perhaps, it would be possible to tidy him up with his hands, lo and behold! - and this is a strong and sharp old woman, and work in her house was in full swing. Moreover, at night I had to appease the old woman: either rub her lower back, then drive away the mosquitoes, otherwise she would begin to amuse herself with me, like a man with a woman. Here it is! What kind of gentlemen in my life was not, what kind of alterations I did not get into.

I got sick of the slut trade, but there was nothing to do, I learned the tricks of the little girls from the tea houses and again went to sell myself. A variety of guests came to me: bosses, clerks, actors, merchants. Both a good guest and a bad one buy a song for a little fun until the ferry comes ashore, and then - sorry, goodbye. I had long conversations with a kind guest, I had hopes for a lasting alliance, and with a nasty guest I counted the boards on the ceiling, thought indifferently about extraneous things. Sometimes a dignitary of the highest rank came to me, with a well-groomed white body, then I found out that he was a minister. Why, tea houses are also different: where they feed only on jellyfish and shells, and where they serve luxurious dishes and treatment accordingly. In low-class houses one has to deal with the uncouth peasant who wets the comb with water from a flower vase, throws nutshells on a tobacco tray, and they flirt with women rudely, with salty jokes. You mumble a song, swallowing the words, and there you just wait for a few silver coins. What a miserable occupation to torment yourself for mere pennies! Besides, the wine made me look ugly, the last remnants of my beauty disappeared, I turned white, blushed, but all the same my skin became like that of a plucked bird. I lost my last hope that some worthy person would be captivated by me and take me to him forever. But I was lucky: a rich man from Kyoto liked me and he took me to his house as a concubine. Apparently, he did not really understand the beauty of women and was seduced by me in the same way as he bought indiscriminately dishes and paintings, a fake of antiquity.

Bath attendants are the lowest category of sluts, they are strong, strong women, their hands are rich, in the evenings they apply white, rouge, antimony and invite passers-by. Oh, passers-by are happy, although they are far from the famous getters, for a good guest they are the same as for a dog - the finest aroma. And the simple bath attendants are happy to please, massaging the lower back, fanning them with cheap fans with crudely painted pictures. Bath attendants are sitting lounging, as long as it is comfortable. But with guests they are delicate, they bring a glass from the side, they don’t rush for a snack, so they will pass for beauties on occasion if there are no others nearby. They sleep on skinny mattresses, three of them under one blanket, and they talk about building a canal, about their native village, and all sorts of talk about different actors there. I, too, fell so low that I became a bath attendant. Alas! One Chinese poet said that love between a man and a woman comes down to embracing each other's ugly bodies.

I fell ill with a bad disease, drank an infusion of the sankirai plant and suffered terribly during the summer season when it rains. The poison rose higher and higher, and the eyes began to fester. At the thought of the misfortune that befell me, worse than which nothing could be imagined, tears welled up in my eyes, I wandered along the street with simple hair, a coarse collar around my neck, unwashed. And on one street one big eccentric kept a shop of fans. He spent his whole life in a cheerful debauchery, he did not acquire a wife and children. Seeing me by chance, he flared up with an unexpected passion for me and wanted to take me to him, but I had nothing, not a basket with a dress, not even a box for combs. I have been blessed with incredible happiness! I sat in a shop among the maids bending paper for fans, and they called me mistress.

I lived in the hall, dressed up and again began to attract the eyes of men. Our shop became fashionable, people came to look at me and bought our fans. I came up with a new style for fans: the beautiful bodies of naked women were visible on them. Things were going great, but my husband became jealous of my customers, quarrels began, and, finally, I was kicked out of the house again. I had to languish without work, then I settled down in a cheap hotel for servants, and then I became a servant to a miser. He walked slowly, with small steps, wrapping his neck and head in a warm cotton scarf. I'll manage somehow, I thought. But it turned out that the man, so frail in appearance, turned out to be a hero in matters of love. He played with me twenty days in a row without a break. I became skinny, bluish-pale, and finally asked for a calculation. And quickly carry away the legs, while alive.

There are many wholesale shops in Osaka, because this city is the country's first commercial port. To entertain guests, they keep young girls with the unpretentious appearance of cooks in the shops. They are dressed up, combed, but even by their walk you can see who they are, because they walk, wiggling their backs, and because they sway like that, they called them "lotus leaves." In low-class dating houses, these girls receive a myriad of guests, they are all greedy and even strive to take something away from a simple apprentice. "Lotus Leaves" amuse themselves with men only for the sake of profit and, as soon as a guest passes the threshold, they pounce on cheap delicacies, and then they hire a stretcher and go to the theater to watch a fashionable play. There they, forgetting about everything, fall in love with actors who, taking on someone else's guise, spend their lives as if in a dream. Such are these "lotus leaves"! And everywhere in the city, both in the east and in the west, one cannot count "lotus leaves" in merry houses, in shops, on the streets - it is even difficult to count how many there are. When these women grow old and get sick, where they disappear - no one can say. They die no one knows where. When they drove me out of the fan shop, I also involuntarily embarked on this path. Carelessly I did business in the owner’s shop, and then I noticed one rich village guest, and one day, when he got drunk drunk, I took paper out of the drawer, rubbed the ink and persuaded him to write an oath that he would not leave me all his life. When the guest overslept, I managed to confuse and intimidate the poor peasant so that he could neither utter a word nor grunt. I kept repeating that I would soon give birth to a son to him, that he should take me home, the guest, in fear, poured out two kanas of silver for me and only paid off.

During the holiday of the autumn equinox, people climb the mountains to admire the sea waves from there, the bell hums, prayers are heard from everywhere, and at this time unsightly women crawl out of the poor shacks, they also want to stare at people. What ugly creatures! True, the "women of darkness" at noon seem to be ghosts. Although they whiten their faces, draw up their eyebrows with mascara, and smear their hair with fragrant oil, they seem all the more miserable. Although I shuddered at the mere mention of these women, "women of darkness", but when I again lost my shelter, I had to, to my shame, turn into such. It's amazing how it is in Osaka, where there are a lot of beauties, men who gladly go to the "women of darkness" in secret rendezvous houses, miserable to the last extreme. But the owners of such houses live quite well, they feed a family of six or seven people, and good wine glasses are prepared for the guests. When a guest arrives, the owner, with a child in his arms, goes to the neighbors to play small sugoroku, the hostess sits down in the annex to cut a dress, and the maid is sent to the shop. Finally, the "woman of darkness" appears: wretched screens, pasted over with an old calendar, are arranged, on the floor - a striped mattress and two wooden headboards. The woman is wearing an embroidered belt with a pattern in the form of peonies, first she ties it in front, as is customary among hetaeras, and then, having heard from the hostess that today she is a modest daughter of a samurai, she urgently ties the belt back. Her sleeves are slit, as if she were young, and she herself must be twenty-five years old. Yes, and she does not shine with upbringing, she begins to tell the guest how she has soared from the heat today. Laughter and more! Their conversation is without any subtleties: "Everything disgusted me, my stomach let me down!"

But a woman who has lost her beauty can sink even lower, all the gods and buddhas have left me, and I fell so low that I became a servant in a village inn. They began to call me just a girl, I wore only cast-offs, life became more and more difficult, although my manners and manners still surprised the provincials. But wrinkles have already appeared on my cheeks, and people love youth more than anything in the world. Even in the most abandoned village people understand love affairs, so I had to leave this inn too, because the guests did not want to invite me. I became a barker in a poor hotel in Matsusaka, with the onset of evening, whitewashed, I appeared, like the goddess Amaterasu from the grotto, on the threshold of the hotel and invited passers-by to spend the night. The owners keep such women in order to lure guests, and they are happy, wrap them in a light, get supplies, wine, and the maid only needs this, because the owner does not pay her money, she lives here for food, but what the guest will give. In such inns, even the old maids do not want to be left behind and offer themselves to the servants of the passers-by, for which they were nicknamed "futase" - "double stream in one channel." But even here I did not get along, even the evening twilight could no longer hide my wrinkles, withered shoulders and chest, and what can I say - my senile disgrace. I went to the port where the ships came and started selling rouge and needles there. But I didn’t aspire to women at all, because my goal was different - I didn’t open my bags and bundles, but sold only seeds, from which the grass of love sprouted thickly.

Finally, my face was thickly covered with furrows of wrinkles, I had nowhere to go, and I returned to the familiar city of Osaka, where I appealed to the compassion of old acquaintances and received the position of steward in the house of love. I put on a special outfit with a light red apron and a wide belt, wrapped a towel around my head, and a stern expression on my face. My duties include keeping an eye on the guests, polishing young girls, dressing up, appeasing, but also checking in on secret tricks with friends. Yes, I just went too far, I was too harsh and picky, and I had to say goodbye to the place of the steward. I had no clothes left, no savings, my years were over sixty-five, although people assured me that I looked forty. When it rained and thunder rumbled, I begged the god of thunder to strike me. To satisfy my hunger, I had to gnaw on fried beans. Moreover, I was tormented by visions, all my unborn ubume children came to me at night, screamed and cried that I was a criminal mother. Oh, how these night ghosts tormented me! After all, I could become a respected mother of a large family clan! I wanted to end my life, but in the morning the ghosts of ubume melted, and I was unable to say goodbye to this world. I began to wander at night and joined the crowds of those women who, in order not to die of hunger, grab men by the sleeves in the dark streets and pray for more dark nights. Among them there were also old women of about seventy. They taught me how to better pick up thin hair and give myself the appearance of a respectable widow, they say, there are always hunters for such. On snowy nights, I wandered over bridges and streets, although I kept telling myself that I had to feed somehow, but still it was hard for me. And there were no blind people to be seen. Everyone strove to lead me to the lantern by the shop. Dawn began to break, bull-drivers, blacksmiths, traveling merchants went to work, but I was too old and ugly, no one looked at me, and I decided to leave this field forever.

I went to the capital and went to pray at the Daiuji temple, which seemed to me the threshold of paradise. My soul was filled with piety. I approached the statues of five hundred arharts, skillfully carved from wood, the disciples of the Buddha, and began to invoke the name of God. And suddenly I noticed that the faces of the arhats reminded me of the physiognomies of my former lovers, and I began to remember everyone in turn, those whom I loved most and whose names I wrote with a brush on my wrists. Many of my former lovers have already turned into smoke on a funeral pyre. I froze in place, recognizing my former lovers, memories of my past sins rising one after another. It seemed that a fiery chariot of hell rumbled in my chest, tears splashed from my eyes, I collapsed to the ground. Oh shameful past! I wanted to commit suicide, but one of my old acquaintances stopped me. He told me to live quietly and righteously and wait for death, she herself would come to me. I took good advice and now I am waiting for death in this hut. Let this story become a confession of past sins, and now a precious lotus flower has blossomed in my soul.

Dramatic Poem (1720)

In the "villages of love", this paradise of love for simpletons, the sea of ​​passion cannot be drained to the bottom. The fun quarter of Sonezaki is always full of merry guests, they bawl songs, grimacing, imitating their favorite actors, dancing and mocking. From all the houses of fun, rollicking music, a cheerful bust of shamisen, can be heard. How can you stay here and not come in. Another miser wants to enter, but is afraid of losing all his money. But the maids drag the guests by force. Such a person will enter the house of fun, and there they will teach him, fool him, fool him, shake his purse. Mombi is especially fun to celebrate here - the holiday of heterosexuals! That's what the guests will enjoy, laugh, and getters just need it, a softened guest is a tattered guest.

Among the flowers of the cheerful quarter, another most beautiful flower appeared - a certain Koharu, she changed her light robe for a festive dress of a hetaera. Her name is strange - Koharu - Small Spring, it portends misfortunes, means that the getter will die in the tenth month of the year and leave only sad memories. Koharu fell in love with the paper merchant Jihei, a nice fellow, but the owner of the house of love vigilantly watches the hetero, does not let her take a step, and another rich merchant, Tahei, wants to ransom the girl and take her far, far away, to Itami. All the rich guests left Kotaru, they say, all because of Jihei, she loves him too much.

Wandering around the merry quarter of a frivolous monk, depicting a bonzo, wearing a clown's cassock, a crowd of people behind him, running, shouting, and he tells all sorts of stories in a clown's manner: about battles, about madmen who committed suicide because of love. He sings to himself about suicides and is not afraid of sin. Koharu listened to him, and then, seeing her enemy Tahei, she quickly disappeared into the tea house. But Tahei caught up with her and, waving a thick purse with gold coins in front of her nose, began to honor both the hard-to-reach Koharu and the miserable merchant Jihei: they say that his merchant is seedy and his family is a little less. Tahei is rich, Tahei is daring, he will outbid everyone, no one can resist him. And Jihei - lost his mind, fell in love with a beauty, but there is no money! All wealth is scraps, shreds, paper garbage, and he himself is an empty pod. So Tahei boasted, and here - look! - at the gate a new guest - an important samurai with two swords, short and long, under the canopy of a hat - black eyes. Tahei immediately backtracked, they say, he is a city dweller, he never wore a sword, and rather run as fast as he could. But the samurai is also dissatisfied, he appeared on a date with the beauty, and she is sad, dull, and you need to take care of her, like a woman in labor, and even the maid carefully examined him by the light of a lantern. And Koharu, bursting into tears, began to ask the samurai which death was easier - from the sword or from the noose. Here is a strange girl! - the samurai thought, and only a number of drinking cups with wine returned him a cheerful mood.

And the whole city of Osaka rumbles, ringing, commotion from all sides, Jihei is in love with the beautiful Koharu, and the owners interfere with them, try to separate them, because such love is a direct loss to a cheerful house, rich guests scatter like leaves in autumn. In an unfortunate moment, their love was born. But the lovers swore to see each other at least once before their death.

At night, Jihei does not sleep, wanders the streets near the tea house, wants to see Koharu, his heart is full of anxiety about her. And now he sees her in the window, she is talking with a samurai guest, her face is thin, sad, pale. The samurai is dissatisfied, it is hard to spend time with a girl in love. He understands that the lovers decided to die together, and he persuades the girl to abandon her intention, offers money - as much as ten gold pieces. But Koharu replies to the guest that it is impossible to help them, she must serve the cruel masters for another five years, and then there are other dangers - some rich man can redeem her. So it's better to die together, because such a life is shameful. But death is terrible, it frightens, and how people will start laughing at her dead, disfigured body. There is also an old mother in a distant village ... Oh, no, not that, don't let me die, good sir. Koharu cries and tears, her soul tormented by opposite desires. Jihei hears all this and becomes furious: "Oh, you venal fox! You vile liar!" and gnashes his teeth. And the hetaera asks and begs the samurai to protect her, save her from the proud Jihei, to help her hide from him. Jihei can't stand it and hits the window with his sword, he didn't reach Koharu's chest, but wounded his heart - she recognized the hand and the blade. The samurai instantly jumped up, grabbed Jihei, tied him up and lashed him with a strong cord to the house. He grabbed Koharu in an armful and disappeared into the back of the house. Jihei was left exposed to shame, like a robber or a vagabond. Tahei appears and begins to vilify the opponent, a fight breaks out between them. Spectators gather, they laugh, shout, tease. A samurai jumps out, Tahei runs away, the samurai takes off his hat - this is the elder brother of Jiro Magoemon. Jiro is horrified: "Shame on me!" Magoemon reassures his brother, you see what your beloved is like, you love her for two years and don’t know her, and I immediately looked into the depths of her black soul. She is a badger, and you have two beautiful children, a big shop, and you only ruin the business because of a corrupt girl. Your wife, and my sister is tormented because of you in vain, and her parents are crying and want to take their daughter home from shame. Now I am not a respected samurai, but a jester in a procession at a festival. Jihei echoes him: my heart almost burst from anger, I devoted myself to this cunning fox for so many years, neglecting my children and wife, and now I bitterly repent. He grabs the vow letters and throws them in Kohare's face, and she throws his messages at him in return. And then some other letter falls out, on it is written: "From Mrs. San, the wife of a paper merchant." Koharu wants to snatch the letter out of the samurai's hands, but the samurai won't give it back and reads the letter calmly. Then he solemnly announces that he will keep this secret, Koharu is grateful to him. Enraged, Jihei hits Koharu, she bursts into tears. The brothers leave. Koharu is crying alone. Whether she is faithful to her lover or not, the secret is contained in a letter from Jihei's wife, but the samurai keeps the secret strictly.

Jihei is dozing in his shop, his wife O-San sets up screens, protecting her husband from the through wind. Around the kids, servants and maids. Magoemon and the mother of two brothers are approaching the shop. Jihei is woken up as soon as possible, and he pretends not to have slept, but, as a merchant should, to check the bills. Magoemon lashes out at Jihei with abuse. The scoundrel, the liar, deceived him, again collided with the beautiful hetero, only for the sake of appearance threw letters to her, and he himself is going to redeem her from a bad house. Jihei refuses, saying that the rich man Tahei wants to ransom her, and not him at all. The wife stands up for her husband, of course, this is not him, but a completely different person, with Tahei, as you know, chickens do not peck money. And Jihei gives his relatives a written vow, in accordance with all the rules on sacred paper, to break forever with Koharu. If he lies, then all the gods will punish him: the Great Brahma, Indra, the four heavenly princes, the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas. Everyone is glad and happy, O-San's wife rejoices: now she has a firm promise from her husband in her hands. The relatives leave, and Jihei falls to the floor, pulls the blanket over himself and sobs. His wife reprimands him, she is tired of being left alone in the nest, like a chatterbox egg. Jihei weeps not from love for Koharu, but from hatred for Tahei, who managed to flatter her and now ransoms her and takes her to his distant village. But Koharu swore to him never to marry a rich man, but rather to commit suicide. At this point, O-San gets scared and starts screaming that he is afraid: Koharu will certainly commit suicide, and punishment for this will fall on O-San. After all, it was O-San who wrote a letter to the hetera and begged her to part with her husband, because the small children would die, and the shop would go bankrupt. And Koharu wrote back: "Although my beloved is dearer to me than life, but I refuse him, obeying an inevitable duty." Yes, we women, having fallen in love once, never change our feelings. Jihei is terribly frightened, he understands that his beloved will certainly end her life. The couple burst into tears, where to get so much money to buy Koharu back. O-San takes out her savings - all she has is four hundred momme. But this is not enough, new outfits, sleeveless jackets, a black kimono with coats of arms are used - things that are dear to O-San's heart, bequeathed, not worn. Let all of them now have nothing to wear, but the main thing is to save Koharu and the good name of Jihei. But, having redeemed Koharu, where to take her, because you have absolutely nowhere to go, exclaims Jihei. You didn't think about yourself how terribly I'm guilty of you. Jihei goes with the servants to pawn the dress, and then his father-in-law comes to meet him - he goes to take home his daughter O-San, because she is treated so badly here. But Jihei swears that he will love his wife and protect her. Relatives quarrel, it turns out that all the dowry is in the mortgage shop, that O-San has nothing. The children wake up and cry, but the ruthless father-in-law leads away the struggling, crying daughter.

The Sonezaki quarter is slumbering, the night watchman's beater is heard, at the tea house the hostess tells the maids to look after Koharu, because she is now someone else's property - the rich man Tahei bought her. This is how the hostess drops the seeds of those fatal news, because of which the lovers will leave this life. Jihei wanders around the tea house, his relatives have come for him, his children are being dragged on their backs, his name is Jihei, but he is buried in the shade of trees. Upon learning that Jihei has left for the capital and Koharu is sleeping peacefully, the relatives leave. Jihei is tormented by heartache at the sight of his frozen children, asks his relatives not to leave their children after his death. Koharu softly opens the door, they are afraid that the steps will creak, stealthily leave the house. Their hands tremble, their hearts tremble. Sneaking out of the yard, Koharu is as happy as New Year's morning. The lovers go to the river.

The escape. Farewell to the twelve bridges.

Lovers rush to their death like leaves in autumn, their souls freeze like the roots of trees that in late autumn burrow deeper into the ground, closer to the underworld. But still they hesitate and linger on their woeful path, when they go under the moon to where they must end their lives. The heart of a person who is ready to die is immersed in darkness, where only a little white frost. That frost that disappears in the morning, as everything in the world disappears. Soon their lives will vanish like a delicate fragrance from Koharu's sleeves. They go along twelve bridges and say goodbye on each - through the Plum Bridge, Pine Bridge, Green Bridge, Cherry Bridge, Demon Bridge, Sacred Sutra Bridge - these are all bridges of farewells, ancient heroes also said goodbye here. The dawn bell will sound soon. Rather, here is a bridge to the island of Heavenly Nets. The lovers say goodbye, they believe that their souls will unite in another world, and they will enter heaven and hell inseparably. Jihei draws his sword and cuts off a lock of his hair, now he is no longer a merchant, not a spouse, but a monk, not burdened by anything earthly. And Koharu cuts off his luxurious black hair with a sword, a heavy knot of hair, as if the knot of all earthly worries, falls to the ground. Crows scream as if the underworld is calling them. They dreamed of dying in one place, but it is impossible, what people will say. It's dawning, the monks sang in the temple, it's dawn. But it is difficult for Jihei to discern the place on his beloved's chest where he must plunge the blade - tears will blur his eyes. His hand is trembling, but Koharu calls on his courage. His sword, cutting off earthly desires, pierces Koharu, she leans back and freezes. Jihei approaches the cliff, he adjusts a strong lace from Koharu's dress, wraps the noose around his neck and throws himself into the sea. In the morning, the fishermen found Jihei, Koharu, caught in the net of death. And tears involuntarily come to the eyes of those who hear this story.

1. In more detail, the principles of construction of this publication are set out in the preface to the volume "Russian Literature of the XNUMXth Century".

Editor: Novikov V.I.

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