- The Birth of Peace
AT 5, 616
Ballet Danced in Stockholm’s Royal Palace on Her Majesty’s Birthday December 19, 1649
Words sung before the ballet
Let us stand here in silence And revere the presence Of the Goddess who rules in these lands:She wants to draw us away from the hazards of war, And, unlike some other Gods, Wants peace to return upon earth. Let us hail that peace As the greatest of her bounties. [End Page 371]
Thanks to her prudence And the secret influenceOf the generous commands that she has given us, We have fought to such advantage617
That large stunned nations have come under our rule And to us now pay homage. But the birth of peace Is the greatest of her bounties.
So let us celebrate that birth And declare in this dance, Where war and peace each display their strength, That Pallas is right in thinking That war, even the best one can have, Strips away much beauty from the earth; And so, bringing us peace Is the greatest of her bounties.
Verses of the ballet
First dancing entry: MARS
I want to make every corner of the earth tremble, And show mortals that no other God Has ever in this world had as much power as I have, Not even he who discharges thunder.His flashes of lightning, his fires, cause only minor fear Whereas my cannons and other machines, My mortars, my pistols, fires and mines, Bring everywhere death along with terror. I crush rocks, flatten mountains, Fill moats, destroy castles, Bloody the seas, burn vessels And litter with corpses the fairest of lands. [End Page 372]
Second dancing entry: FOUR LARGE MEN, two from cavalry, two from infantry, Representing an army corps led by Pallas.
Mars must not credit himself With the top honors of war.618
The sky, the sea, the air and the earth, It is Jupiter’s Daughter Who alone deserves those honors.
It is Pallas, whose prudence Is so tied to valor That excess assurance Never gives her excess ardor. She is wise, vigilant, Courageous, and constant.
So she is in our body The head without which it cannot live; And we make every effort For the honor of escorting her. Without her, that severed body Despised by all would be.
When it pleases her to lead us, All lands to us are open, Nothing can harm us, We can vanquish the universe, And often have the glory Of here bringing victory.
Third dancing entry: PANIC
It is wrongly that Pallas and Mars Boast that in hazardous straits Their power has no match: Mine is much more fearsome. [End Page 373]
They need hard labor, Grand decorum: Gunpowder, horses, and arms, And men who rush to alarms To fight just one battle Which, even though they look good And their breed is godly, They lose often enough.619
But I, who make much less noise I, who am a daughter of the night, Who am cold, pale, and trembling, When I want to bestow terror Upon one million fighting men And trample on their laurels, All I need is a fantasy, A dream, a light shadow That I send into their brain. They then tremble like calves, They turn ashen, they flee And often throw themselves Into evils more to be dreaded Than the ones they think they have avoided.
Fourth dancing entry: Some RUNAWAY SOLDIERS whom panic has led to defect from the army before the battle.
To Ladies:
We have defended ourselves well; But we were sold: Our leaders did nothing of any worth. All fields are littered with corpses, On our side everyone is dead. We have lost the battle.
The enemies are close. We have come running, For the express purpose to defend you. If they come we shall show them [End Page 374] That we have the puissance To punish their impudence.
Dear beauties, fear not That our hearts be missing, Even though you keep them captive. We shall be lionhearted enough, And also most joyful If your own hearts you deign to give us.620
Fifth...