t of virtue which appertains only to you. And if your
renown is not motive sufficient, it is much that a woman once so
well beloved, and the love of whom perhaps is still capable of
touching you, will owe to your great heart the dearest possession
that she owns; remember, in short, that you are Severus. Adieu.
Decide with yourself alone what you ought to do; if you are not
such as I dare hope that you are, then, in order that I may
continue to esteem you, I wish not to know it.

Voltaire, as editor and commentator of Corneille, is freezingly cold. It
is difficult not to feel that at heart he was unfriendly to the great
tragedist's fame. His notes often are remorselessly grammatical. "This
is not French;" "This is not the right word;" "According to the
construction, this should mean so and so--according to the sense, it
must mean so and so;" "This is hardly intelligible;" "It is a pity that
such or such a fault should mar these fine verses;" "An expression for
comedy rather than tragedy,"--are the kind of remarks with which
Voltaire chills the enthusiasm of the reader. It is useless, however, to
deny that the criticisms thus made are many of them just. Corneille does
not belong to the class of the "faultily faultless" writers.

Severus proves equal to Paulina's noble hopes of him. With a great
effort of self-sacrifice, he resolves to intercede for Polyeuctes. This
is shown in an interview between Severus and his faithful attendant
Fabian. Fabian warns him that he appeals for Polyeuctes at his own
peril. Severus loftily replies (and here follows one of the most lauded
passages in the play):--

That advice might be good for some common soul. Though he [the
Emperor Decius] holds in his hands my life and my fortune, I am yet
Severus; and all that mighty power is powerless over my glory, and
powerless over my duty. Here honor compels me, and I will satisfy
it; whether fate afterward show itself propitious or adverse,
perishing glorious I shall perish content.

I will tell thee further, but under confidence, the sect of
Christians is not what it is thought to be. They are hated, why I
know not; and I see Decius unjust only in this regard. From
curiosity I have sought to become acquainted with them. They are
regarded as sorcerers taught from hell; and, in this supposition,
the punishment of death is visited on secret mysteries whic