Charles de Saint-Évremond

“ The humility and patience of our Saints carry too direct an opposition to those heroical Virtues, that are so necessary for the Theatre. What zeal, what force is there which Heaven does not bestow upon Nearchus and Polieuctes? and what is there wanting on the part of these new Christians, to answer fully the end of these happy gifts? The passion and charms of a young lovely Bride, make not the least impression upon the mind of Polieuctes. ”

“ And if we consider the usual impressions which Tragedy made at Athens in the minds of the Spectators, we may safely affirm, that Plato was more in the right, who prohibited the use of them, than Aristotle who recommended them : for as their Tragedies wholly consisted in excessive motions of Fear and Pity, was not this the direct way to make the Theatre a School of Terror and Pity, where People only learnt to be affrighted at all dangers, and to abandon themselves to despair upon every misfortune. ”

“ It will be a hard matter to persuade me, that a soul accustomed to be terrified for what regards another, has strength enough to support the misfortunes that concern it self. This perhaps was the reason why the Athenians became so susceptible of the impressions of fear; and that this spirit of terror, which the Theatre inspired into them with so much art, became at last but too natural to their Armies. ”

“ So great was their desire to lament, that they represented fewer virtues than misfortunes; lest a Soul rais’d to the admiration of Heroes, should be less inclin’d to pity the Distressed. And in order to imprint these sentiments of Affliction the deeper in their Spectators, they had always upon their Theatre a Chorus of Virgins, or of old Men, who furnish’d them, upon every event, either with their Terrors, or their Tears.
Aristotle was sensible enough what prejudice this might do the Athenians ”

“ But let us put the case, that our Doctors should freely leave all holy matters to the liberty of the Stage : let us likewise take it for granted, that men of the least devotion would hear them with as great an inclination to be edified, as Persons of the profoundest resignation; yet certain it is, that the soundest Doctrines, the most Christian Actions, and the most useful Truths, wou’d produce a kind of Tragedy that wou’d please us the least of any thing in the world.
The spirit of our Religion is directly opposite to that of Tragedy. ”

“ Our Age has, at least, this advantage over theirs, that we are allow’d the liberty to hate Vice and love Virtue. As the Gods occasion’d the greatest crimes on the Theatre of the Antients, these crimes captivated the respect of the Spectators; and the People durst not find fault with those things which were really abominable. When they saw Agamemnon sacrifice his own Daughter, and a Daughter too that was so tenderly belov’d by him, to appease the indignation of the Gods, they only consider’d this barbarous Sacrifice as a pious obedience, and the highest proof of a religious submission. ”

“ The weakest and most fearful Creatures; those Creatures that are naturally inclin’d to fear and to run away, will fiercely encounter what they dread most, to preserve the object of their Love. Love has a certain heat which supplies the defect of Courage in those who want it most! But to confess the truth, our Authors have made as ill an use of this noble Passion, as the Antients did of their Fear and Pity : for if we except eight or ten Plays, where its impulses have been managed to great advantage; we have no Tragedies in which both Lovers and Love are not equally injur’d. ”

“ For, can any thing be so ridiculous, as to form a Science which will infallibly discompose our minds, only to set up another, which does not certainly pretend to cure us? Or to raise a perturbation in our Souls for no other end, than to endeavour afterwards to calm it, by obliging it to reflect upon the dejected condition it has been in? ”

“ Nevertheless, this very subject, which wou’d make one of the finest Sermons in the world, wou’d have made a wretched Tragedy, if the conversation of Paulina and Severus, heightened with other sentiments and other passions, had not preserved that reputation to the Author, which the Christian Virtues of our Martyrs had made him lose.
The Theatre loses all its agreeableness when it pretends to represent sacred things; and sacred things lose a great deal of the religious opinion that is due to them, by being represented upon the Theatre. ”

“ The Gods are wanting to us, and we are wanting to the Gods; and if, in imitation of the Antients, an Author would introduce Angels and Saints upon our Stage, the devouter sort of people would be offended at it, and look on him as a profane person; and the Libertines wou’d certainly think him weak. Our Preachers wou’d by no means suffer a confusion of the Pulpit and Theatre; or that the People should go and learn those matters from the mouth of Comedians, which themselves deliver in their Churches, with authority to the whole People. ”

“ In Virgil, the Gods are not so valuable as the Heroes : in Lucan, the Heroes equal the Gods. To give you my opinion freely, I believe that the Tragedy of the Antients might have suffer’d a happy loss in the banishment of their Gods, their Oracles, and Soothsayers. ”

“ Among a thousand Persons that are present at the Theatre, perhaps there may be six Philosophers who are capable of recovering their former Tranquility, by the assistance of these prudent and useful Meditations : but the multitude will scarce make any such judicious Reflections; and we may be almost assured, that what we see constantly represented on the Theatre, will not fail, at long run, to produce in us a habit of these unhappy motions. ”

“ The Gods and Goddesses amongst the Antients brought about every thing that was great and extraordinary upon the Theatre, either by their Hatred or their Friendship; by their Revenge, or by their Protection; and among so many supernatural things, nothing appear’d fabulous to the People, who believ’d there pass’d a familiar correspondence between Gods and Men. Their Gods, generally speaking, acted by human Passions: their men undertook nothing without the Counsel of their Gods ”

“ If an Actress has the art to weep and bemoan herself after a moving lively manner, we give her our tears, at certain places which demand gravity; and because she pleases best when she seems to be affected, she shall put on grief all along, indifferently. ”

“ If what I have deliver’d is founded on good and solid Reasons, we ought to content our selves with things purely natural, but, at the same time, such as are extraordinary; and in our Heroes to chuse the principal Actions which we may believe possible as human; and which may cause admiration in us, as being rare and of an elevated character. In a word, we shou’d have nothing but what is great, yet still let it be human : in the human, we must carefully avoid mediocrity ”

“ We have an affected Tenderness where we ought to place the noblest sentiments. We bestow a softness on what ought to be most moving; and sometimes, when we mean plainly to express the graces of Nature, we fall into a vicious and mean Simplicity. ”

“ The politick considerations of Felix, as they less affect us, so they make a less impression. Insensible both of Prayers and Menaces, Polieuctes hasa greater desire to die for God, than other men have to live for themselves. ”