ABSTRACT
In the first scene of Corneille’s Rodogune, princesse des Parthes (1644-45)1, Timagène, who has been in exile from the court demands to know more precisely what has taken place in his absence. He is promptly filled in by Laonice, the queen’s attendant, who gives both Timagène and the audience the background to the material that will shortly unfold on stage.2 So far, so straightforward: the audience settles in, ready to be told what they need to know. From this first scene, Rodogune confidently announces the impending end of secrecy and the promise of revelation.3 The Syrian queen Cléopâtre has twin sons, Antiochus and Séleucus. She has promised that soon she will reveal which of them is the first-born and that she will then transfer power to the heir. That heir will also receive the hand of Rodogune, a captive Parthian princess who was once betrothed to Cléopâtre’s late husband Nicanor who was himself a captive of the neighboring Parthians. In this first scene, Laonice welcomes the end of ignorance that will soon be brought about by the announcement of the rightful heir:
Enfin, ce jour pompeux, cet heureux jour nous luit Qui d’un trouble si long doit dissiper la nuit, Ce grand jour où l’hymen, étouffant la vengeance, Entre le Parthe et nous remet l’intelligence, Affranchit sa princesse, et nous fait pour jamais
1 First produced 1644-45, first published 1647. For stage and publication history see Pierre Corneille, Œuvres completes vol.2 ed. Georges Couton (Paris: Gallimard, 1984), 1268. All references made parenthetically in the text and refer to line numbers of this edition, or page numbers when they refer to prefatorial materials.
