Act I: A Representation at the Hotel de BourgogneScene V
Cyrano, Le Bret.
Cyrano
To Le Bret
Now talk—I listen.
He stands at the buffet, and placing before him first the macaroon
Dinner!…
Then the grapes
Dessert!…
Then the glass of water
Wine!…
He seats himself
So! And now to table!Ah! I was hungry, friend, nay, ravenous!
Eating
You said—?
Le Bret
These fops, would-be belligerent,Will, if you heed them only, turn your head!…Ask people of good sense if you would knowThe effect of your fine insolence—
Cyrano
Finishing his macaroon
Enormous!
Le Bret
The Cardinal…
Cyrano
Radiant
The Cardinal—was there?
Le Bret
Must have thought it…
Cyrano
Original, i’ faith!
Le Bret
But…
Cyrano
He’s an author. ’Twill not fail to please himThat I should mar a brother-author’s play.
Le Bret
You make too many enemies by far!
Cyrano
Eating his grapes
How many think you I have made to-night?
Le Bret
Forty, no less, not counting ladies.
Cyrano
Count!
Le Bret
Montfleury first, the bourgeois, then De Guiche,The Viscount, Baro, the Academy…
Cyrano
Enough! I am o’erjoyed!
Le Bret
But these strange ways,Where will they lead you, at the end? ExplainYour system—come!
Cyrano
I in a labyrinthWas lost—too many different paths to choose;I took…
Le Bret
Which?
Cyrano
Oh! by far the simplest path…Decided to be admirable in all!
Le Bret
Shrugging his shoulders
So be it! But the motive of your hateTo Montfleury—come, tell me!
Cyrano
Rising
This Silenus,Big-bellied, coarse, still deems himself a peril—A danger to the love of lovely ladies,And, while he sputters out his actor’s part,Makes sheep’s eyes at their boxes—goggling frog!I hate him since the evening he presumedTo raise his eyes to hers…Meseemed I sawA slug crawl slavering o’er a flower’s petals!
Le Bret
Stupefied
How now? What? Can it be…?
Cyrano
Laughing bitterly
That I should love?…
Changing his tone, gravely
I love.
Le Bret
And may I know?…You never said…
Cyrano
Come now, bethink you!…The fond hope to beBeloved, e’en by some poor graceless lady,Is, by this nose of mine for aye bereft me;—This lengthy nose which, go where’er I will,Pokes yet a quarter-mile ahead of me;But I may love—and who? ’Tis Fate’s decreeI love the fairest—how were’t otherwise?
Le Bret
The fairest?…
Cyrano
Ay, the fairest of the world,Most brilliant—most refined—most golden-haired!
Le Bret
Who is this lady?
Cyrano
She’s a danger mortal,All unsuspicious—full of charms unconscious,Like a sweet perfumed rose—a snare of nature,Within whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush!He who has seen her smile has known perfection,—Instilling into trifles grace’s essence,Divinity in every careless gesture;Not Venus’ self can mount her conch blown sea-ward,As she can step into her chaise a porteurs,Nor Dian fleet across the woods spring-flowered,Light as my Lady o’er the stones of Paris!…
Le Bret
Sapristi! all is clear!
Cyrano
As spiderwebs!
Le Bret
Your cousin, Madeleine Robin?
Cyrano
Roxane!
Le Bret
Well, but so much the better! Tell her so!She saw your triumph here this very night!
Cyrano
Look well at me—then tell me, with what hopeThis vile protuberance can inspire my heart!I do not lull me with illusions—yetAt times I’m weak: in evening hours dimI enter some fair pleasance, perfumed sweet;With my poor ugly devil of a noseI scent spring’s essence—in the silver raysI see some knight—a lady on his arm,And think ‘To saunter thus ’neath the moonshine,I were fain to have my lady, too, beside!’Thought soars to ecstasy…O sudden fall!—The shadow of my profile on the wall!
Le Bret
Tenderly
My friend!…
Cyrano
My friend, at times ’tis hard, ’tis bitter,To feel my loneliness—my own ill-favor…
Le Bret
Taking his hand
You weep?
Cyrano
No, never! Think, how vilely suitedAdown this nose a tear its passage tracing!I never will, while of myself I’m master,let the divinity of tears—their beautyBe wedded to such common ugly grossness.Nothing more solemn than a tear—sublimer;And I would not by weeping turn to laughterThe grave emotion that a tear engenders!
Le Bret
Never be sad! What’s love?—a chance of Fortune!
Cyrano
Shaking his head
Look I a Caesar to woo Cleopatra?A Tito to aspire to Berenice?
Le Bret
Your courage and your wit!—The little maidWho offered you refreshment even now,Her eyes did not abhor you—you saw well!
Cyrano
Impressed
True!
Le Bret
Well, how then?…I saw Roxane herselfWas death-pale as she watched the duel.
Cyrano
Pale?
Le Bret
Her heart, her fancy, are already caught!Put it to th’ touch!
Cyrano
That she may mock my face?That is the one thing on this earth I fear!
The Porter
Introducing some one to Cyrano
Sir, some one asks for you…
Cyrano
Seeing the duenna
God! her duenna!