Act the Third: Scene XXI
CYPRIAN. Never was I more collected;It is you yourselves are mad.
GOVERNOR. Cyprian, what is all this ferment?
CYPRIAN. Governor of Antioch,Viceroy of great Caesar Decius,Florus, Lelius, my young friends,Whom I valued and respected,Proud nobility, great people,To my words be all attentive:I am Cyprian, I am heOnce so studious, and so learned,I the wonder of the schools,Of the sciences the centre.What I gained from all my studiesWas one doubt, a doubt that neverLeft my wildered mind a moment,Ever troubling and perplexing.I Justina saw, and seeing,To her charms my soul surrendered,And for soft voluptuous VenusLeft the wise and learn'd Minerva.Baffled by Justina's virtue,I, pursuing though rejected,And from one extreme to anotherPassing on as passion led me,To my guest, who from the seaFound my feet a port of shelter,For Justina pledged my soul,Since at once he charmed my sensesAnd my intellect, by givingLove its hopes, and thought its treasures.From that hour, as his discipleLived I in these lonely deserts,And to his laborious teachingI am for a power indebted,By which I can move even mountainsAnd in different places set them:Yet although these mighty wondersI can do to-day, I'm helplessBy the voice of my desireTo draw towards me one fair vestal.And the cause why I am powerlessTo subdue that beauteous virginIs that by a God she's guarded,Whom, now knowing by His blessedGrace bestowed, I come to acknowledgeAs the Infinite, the Eternal.Yes, the great God of the ChristiansI now openly confess here.And though true it is I amStill of hell the slave and servant,Having with my very bloodSigned a certain secret cedule,Yet my blood that blood may blot outIn the martyrdom I'm expecting.If you are a judge, if ChristiansYou pursue with bloody vengeance,I am one: for in these mountainsA grave venerable elderThe first sacrament conferringWith its sacred sign impressed me.This being so, why wait? Your ordersGive unto the bloody headsman,Tell him here to strike this neckAnd from it my head dissever.Try my firmness as you will,For I, resolute and determined,Will endure a thousand deathsSince this truth at last I've learned,That without the great God, whomNow I seek, adore, and reverence,Human glories are but ashes,Dust, smoke, wind, delusive, empty.
GOVERNOR. So absorbed, so lost in wonder,Cyprian, has thy daring left me,That considering modes of tortureI have yet not one selected.Rise. Bestir thee.
FLORUS. As a statueFormed of ice he lies extended
Words in this poem
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- minerva n.
- The goddess of wisdom, of war, of the arts and sciences, of poetry, and of spinning and weaving; -- identified with the Grecian Pallas Athene. [L.]
- vestal a.
- Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth; hence, pure; chaste. [L. Vestalis belonging to Vesta, vestal. See Vesta.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- cedule n.
- A scroll; a writing; a schedule. [F. cédule, fr. L. shedula. See Shedule.]
- martyrdom n.
- The condition of a martyr; the death of a martyr; the suffering of death on account of adherence to the Christian faith, or to any cause. [Martyr + -dom.]
- sacrament n.
- The oath of allegiance taken by Roman soldiers; hence, a sacred ceremony used to impress an obligation; a solemn oath-taking; an oath. [L. sacramentum an oath, a sacred thing, a mystery, a sacrament, fr. sacrare to declare as sacred, sacer sacred: cf. F. sacrament. See Sacred.]
- headsman
- An executioner who cuts off heads.
- dissever v. t.
- To part in two; to sever thoroughly; to sunder; to disunite; to separate; to disperse. [OE. dessevrer; pref. des- (L. dis-) + sevrer to sever, F. sevrer to wean, L. separate to separate. In this word the prefix is intensive. See Dis-, and Sever.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- bestir v. t.
- To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor; -- usually with the reciprocal pronoun.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Third: Scene XXI is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wonder-Working Magician, Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, the Denis Florence MacCarthy translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Act the Third: Scene XXI, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-third-scene-xxi.html, id L26652.
Form and metre
Act the Third: Scene XXI is 80 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA collectedA · madA
- 3 ---------------------AA-B---B----------------------------------C-C---- antioch · decius · friends · respected · people · attentive · he · learned · schools · centre · studies · never · moment · perplexing · seeing · surrendered · venus · minerva · virtue · rejected · another · meA · seaA · shelter · soulB · senses · giving · treasures · discipleB · deserts · teaching · indebted · mountains · them · wonders · helpless · desire · vestal · powerless · virgin · guarded · blessed · acknowledge · eternal · christians · here · am · servant · blood · cedule · out · expecting · christians · vengeance · mountains · elder · conferring · me · orders · headsman · neck · dissever · will · determinedC · deaths · learnedC · whom · reverence · ashes · empty
- 4 -A--A wonder · meA · torture · selected · theeA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| CYPRIAN. Never was I more collected; | 9 | /˘/···˘/˘ |
| It is you yourselves are mad. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| GOVERNOR. Cyprian, what is all this ferment? | 10 | /˘/˘····/˘ |
| CYPRIAN. Governor of Antioch, | 8 | /˘/˘·/˘· |
| Viceroy of great Caesar Decius, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Florus, Lelius, my young friends, | 7 | ······· |
| Whom I valued and respected, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Proud nobility, great people, | 8 | ·˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| To my words be all attentive: | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| I am Cyprian, I am he | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Once so studious, and so learned, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| I the wonder of the schools, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of the sciences the centre. | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| What I gained from all my studies | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Was one doubt, a doubt that never | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Left my wildered mind a moment, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Ever troubling and perplexing. | 9 | /˘/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| I Justina saw, and seeing, | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| To her charms my soul surrendered, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| And for soft voluptuous Venus | 9 | ···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Left the wise and learn'd Minerva. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Baffled by Justina's virtue, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| I, pursuing though rejected, | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| And from one extreme to another | 9 | ···˘/·˘/˘ |
| Passing on as passion led me, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| To my guest, who from the sea | 7 | ······· |
| Found my feet a port of shelter, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For Justina pledged my soul, | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘·· |
| Since at once he charmed my senses | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And my intellect, by giving | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Love its hopes, and thought its treasures. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| From that hour, as his disciple | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Lived I in these lonely deserts, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And to his laborious teaching | 9 | ···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| I am for a power indebted, | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| By which I can move even mountains | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And in different places set them: | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Yet although these mighty wonders | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| I can do to-day, I'm helpless | 8 | ······/˘ |
| By the voice of my desire | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| To draw towards me one fair vestal. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And the cause why I am powerless | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| To subdue that beauteous virgin | 9 | ·˘/·/˘˘/˘ |
| Is that by a God she's guarded, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Whom, now knowing by His blessed | 8 | ··/˘···˘ |
| Grace bestowed, I come to acknowledge | 9 | ·˘/···˘/˘ |
| As the Infinite, the Eternal. | 9 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Yes, the great God of the Christians | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I now openly confess here. | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/· |
| And though true it is I am | 7 | ······· |
| Still of hell the slave and servant, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Having with my very blood | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Signed a certain secret cedule, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Yet my blood that blood may blot out | 8 | ········ |
| In the martyrdom I'm expecting. | 9 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| If you are a judge, if Christians | 8 | ······/˘ |
| You pursue with bloody vengeance, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| I am one: for in these mountains | 8 | ······/˘ |
| A grave venerable elder | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| The first sacrament conferring | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| With its sacred sign impressed me. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| This being so, why wait? Your orders | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Give unto the bloody headsman, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Tell him here to strike this neck | 7 | ······· |
| And from it my head dissever. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Try my firmness as you will, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For I, resolute and determined, | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Will endure a thousand deaths | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Since this truth at last I've learned, | 8 | ·······˘ |
| That without the great God, whom | 7 | ······· |
| Now I seek, adore, and reverence, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘˘ |
| Human glories are but ashes, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Dust, smoke, wind, delusive, empty. | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| GOVERNOR. So absorbed, so lost in wonder, | 10 | /˘·˘/···/˘ |
| Cyprian, has thy daring left me, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| That considering modes of torture | 9 | ·˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| I have yet not one selected. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Rise. Bestir thee. | 4 | ·˘/· |
| FLORUS. As a statue | 6 | ····/· |
| Formed of ice he lies extended | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.