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Difference between revisions of "L'olimpiade (Pietro Metastasio)"
L'olimpiade (Pietro Metastasio) (view source)
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Lycidas had long been in love with Argene, a Cretan noblewoman, and had secretly promised her marriage. But when his love was discovered, the king, determined not to allow this unequal marriage, persecuted the unfortunate Argene to such an extent that she was forced to abandon her homeland and flee, unknown, to the countryside of Elis, where she lived under the name of Licori and in the dress of a shepherdess, hidden from the resentment of her relatives and the violence of her sovereign. Lycidas was inconsolable because of the flight of his Argene; and after some time, to distract himself from his sadness, he decided to go to Elisand to be present at the solemnity of the Olympic games that, there with the concourse of all Greece, after every fourth year were repeated. | Lycidas had long been in love with Argene, a Cretan noblewoman, and had secretly promised her marriage. But when his love was discovered, the king, determined not to allow this unequal marriage, persecuted the unfortunate Argene to such an extent that she was forced to abandon her homeland and flee, unknown, to the countryside of Elis, where she lived under the name of Licori and in the dress of a shepherdess, hidden from the resentment of her relatives and the violence of her sovereign. Lycidas was inconsolable because of the flight of his Argene; and after some time, to distract himself from his sadness, he decided to go to Elisand to be present at the solemnity of the Olympic games that, there with the concourse of all Greece, after every fourth year were repeated. | ||
He went there, leaving Megacles in Crete, and found that King Clisthenes, who had been elected to preside over the aforesaid games, and therefore had been taken from Sycion to Elis, proposed his own daughter Aristea as a prize for the victor. Lycidas saw her, admired her, and, oblivious of the misfortunes of his first love, he fell passionately in love with her | He went there, leaving Megacles in Crete, and found that King Clisthenes, who had been elected to preside over the aforesaid games, and therefore had been taken from Sycion to Elis, proposed his own daughter Aristea as a prize for the victor. Lycidas saw her, admired her, and, oblivious of the misfortunes of his first love, he fell passionately in love with her: however, despairing of being able to conquer her, because he was not trained in the athletic activities that he had to demonstrate in these games, he imagined how to make up for the lack of experience with artifice. He remembered that his friend had many times been the victor in such contests, and (knowing nothing of Megacles' previous love for Aristea) he resolved to make use of him by having him fight under the pretended name of Lycidas. So Megacles also came to Ilia at the fervent petitions of his friend; but so late was his arrival that already the impatient Lycidas despaired of him. It is from this point that the representation of the present dramatic composition takes its beginning. The end, or rather the main action of the play is the discovery of Philynthus, who was abandoned as a child by his own father Clisthenes because of the warnings of the oracles; and to this end are unwittingly lead the loving yearnings of Aristea, the heroic friendship of Megacles, the inconstancy and fury of Lycidas and the generous mercy of the most faithful Argene. | ||
=== Italian === | === Italian === | ||