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.

                       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.

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.

                     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                   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...