Armida & Amadis & Roland. Philippe Quinault
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Without you, what can they attempt?
The one who banished you cannot defend himself
From wishing for your return.
If I must leave you, may I not at least learn
In what regions you are going to choose for your abode?
RENAUD:
Rest does me violence;
Only glory has attraction for me.
I intend to address my steps
To where justice and innocence
Are in need of my arm’s support.
ARTEMIDORUS:
Flee the regions where Armida reigns,
If you wish to live happily.
For the most intrepid heart,
She has dangerous charms.
She’s an implacable enemy;
Avoid her resentment.
May my favorable prayers cause Heaven
To guarantee you against her enchantments.
RENAUD:
Through a happy indifference
My heart is robbed, painlessly, from her power.
I looked at her only with a curious glance.
Is it more troubling to avoid her vengeance,
Than to escape the power of her eyes?
I love freedom; nothing has been able to constrain me
To entangle myself until today.
When one can scorn the charms of love,
What enchantments are to be feared?
(Artemidorus and Renaud leave. Shortly thereafter Hidraot and Armida enter from a different direction.)
HIDRAOT:
Let’s stop here; it’s in this fatal place
That the furor which animates us
Orders the infernal empire
To lead our victim.
ARMIDA:
How slow Hell is in following our orders today!
HIDRAOT:
To complete the charm we must join our voices.
HIDRAOT AND ARMIDA:
Spirits of hate and rage,
Obey us, demons!
Deliver to our wrath
The enemy who outrages us.
Spirits of hate and rage,
Obey us, demons!
ARMIDA:
Frightful demons, hide
Under a pleasant semblance;
Enchant this proud courageous man
With the sweetest charms.
HIDRAOT AND ARMIDA:
Spirits of hate and rage,
Obey us, demons!
(Armida notices Renaud who wanders along the shore of the river.)
ARMIDA:
Our enemy is entangled in the fatal snare.
HIDRAOT:
Our soldiers are hidden in the nearby thicket.
They must all rush upon Renaud.
ARMIDA:
This victim is my share.
Let me sacrifice him; let me have the privilege
Of seeing this superb heart expire under my blows.
(Hidraot and Armida withdraw. Renaud stops to consider the banks of the river and takes off some of his armor to enjoy the breeze.)
RENAUD:
(alone) The more I observe these regions,
The more I admire them.
This river flows slowly,
And it distances itself with regret from such a charming abode.
The most pleasant of rivers and the sweetest of zephyrs,
Perfume the air one breathes hereabouts.
No, I cannot leave such beautiful shores.
A harmonious sound mingles with the noise of the water.
The enchanted birds hush to hear it.
From the charms of sleep I can hardly protect myself.
This green lawn, this fresh shade,
All invite me to relax under this heavy foliage.
(Renaud dozes off on a lawn by the riverbank.)
(A Naiad emerges from the river with a troupe of Naiads; a troupe of shepherds and shepherdesses appear.)
NAIAD:
Happy times where one knows how to please,
How sweet it is to love tenderly!
Why rush into perils
To seek a vain honor, an imaginary renown?
For a deceitful chimera
Must one leave such a charming blessing?
In the happy times where one knows how to please,
How sweet it is to love tenderly!
(The demons under the guise of nymphs, etc. enchant Renaud, and enchain him, during his sleep, with garlands of flowers.)
A SHEPHERDESS:
It’s less astonishing that the new season
Returns without bringing flowers and zephyrs,
Than to see the most beautiful season of our life
Without love and without pleasures.
Let’s leave to youth’s share, tender love.
Wisdom has its time; it comes only too soon.
It’s not wisdom
To be wiser than necessary.
CHORUS:
Ah! what error, what folly
Not to enjoy life.
It’s to games, it’s to love,
That one must give one’s best days.
ARMIDA:
(Entering holding an arrow in her hand)
Finally, he’s in my power.
This fatal enemy, this superb conqueror.
Sleep’s charm delivers him to my vengeance.
I am going to pierce his invincible heart.
Because of him all my captives have left slavery.
Let him experience my rage.
(Armida is going to strike Renaud and cannot carry out the plan she has of taking his life.)
What trouble seizes me! What makes me hesitate?
What is it in his favor that pity wishes to tell me?
Let’s strike—heavens! Who can stop me?
Let’s get it over with—I am shivering!
Let’s avenge ourselves—I’m sighing!