I Am Louis XIV

The ancient Roman theater in Orange was brightly lit that night, as if returning to the Roman imperial era. Molière ingeniously used a large number of torches for lighting, and hired hundreds of people dressed in robes to disguise themselves as ancient Romans. Look, under the flickering lights, the actors also appear in toga, palla (outerwear), tunica (underwear), with masks on their faces.

As soon as he appeared on the stage, Molière announced loudly that today he would present an ancient Greek satirical comedy to the "Great Caesar".

As soon as the words fell, Prince Conti, who wanted to embarrass Molière, exchanged glances with the people around him—Molière did take a shortcut. When there was no rehearsal and no time to prepare the scenery, music and costumes, there was What could be more appropriate than an ancient Greek play? After all, the plays in ancient Greece and Rome were always performed on the stage by actors wearing masks of "sorrow and joy", "men and women", "old and young", without any set and accompaniment, so the requirements for actors are very high.

But the actors of Guangyao Theater have always maintained their own talents and experience. If they are required by the drama norms of ancient Greece and Rome, their performances will not make too many mistakes.

What's more, Mr. Molière is the leader. Although he is not as energetic and loud as he was when he was young, no one is more skilled and calm than him in how to control and adjust the stage situation-a group of young actors and actresses under his leadership , Even under such crude conditions, he also presented a wonderful performance for the king.

Oh, by the way, as Mr. Molière said, this good show is still dedicated to "the great Caesar". This term has a lot of meaning, after all, the king of France has no right to call himself emperor.

In the history of Europa, the words "Empror" and "King" have always had completely different meanings. From the beginning, a king refers to a feudal king who is both hereditary and autocratic. As for the emperor, the earliest in Latin The text means military commander, so if someone returns to the ancient Roman Empire from modern times and hears someone calling you emperor, don't be too happy too early.

Because the emperor at this time may not be as good as the king.

The emperor during the imperial period refers to the chief senators, consuls, military commanders and tribunes, and high priests authorized by the Senate—not dictators, who would be regarded as betrayal of the Roman Empire, which is a derogatory term , Even in the early Roman Empire, people seldom used the word emperor to refer to the supreme leader, but used "Caesar" and "Augustus" to refer to the emperor of Rome.

The word Caesar naturally comes from the former Julius Caesar, and Augustus refers to Caesar's political successor Gaius Octavian Augustus.

It is quite cunning for Molière to put the name of Caesar on the head of King Louis XIV of France here. If he directly called Louis the emperor and Louis accepted it, it would be against the law and tradition—in In the cognition of Europa and even the British (most of the British are now also former Germanic barbarians), the title of emperor should be inherited from the line of Octavian, which is irrefutable orthodoxy.

After the fall of the Roman Empire at the hands of three barbarians, it split into the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. The Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire perished one after another, but this prevented the descendants of the barbarians from revival. After the coronation of the Pope, the Pope announced him as the "Roman Emperor" and "Augustus"-but with the division of Frank, the crown was tossed, torn and fought for several times, and for a while it fell to the little princes of Italy on the head.

This ridiculous situation lasted until the eleventh century A.D., when Otto, who was born in the East Frankish aristocracy, took over the crown again from the Pope and announced the establishment of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" - a title that lasted until the nineteenth century , but in the thirteenth century, the emperor's crown changed from inheritance to selection by the seven electors, and Habsburg took control of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in this way-although it was only more than a hundred years things.

Then some people may ask, in this case, how can the title of Caesar be favored by the kings? This is also related to the ambitions of the kings-the Roman Empire once spanned the Eurasian continent, and the Holy Roman Empire also owned the present Prussia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and other territories, principalities and territories in a literal sense. kingdom.

It is especially worth mentioning that if someone makes it into a map, they will find that Louis XIV's general strategy is subtly fitting with it—even if it does not belong to France, at least it belongs to the Bourbon family. The jealousy of Leopold I of the Roman Empire was originally the result of the Habsburgs, or the dream of the young king.

Although the theater has a vast area and is only illuminated by torches, everyone knows who to keep an eye on at this time. After the king heard the "Dedicated to Caesar", he really smiled, and then he turned and went to talk to Cologne beside him. The Duke of Nana had a few words with the Crown Prince, and everyone knew in their hearts that there was more than one king sitting in the open-air box decorated with silk curtains today.

Then no one could even concentrate on Molière's performance, except the king and his two sons, as well as his relatives, the Duke of Orleans laughed out loud - Molière deliberately portrayed himself as a The self-defeating "smart slave" made a stumbling and embarrassed look on the limestone stage in the center of the theater. Because he did something wrong and was unwilling to be punished, he made a lot of tricks, but unfortunately, he would always be superior The owner saw through, and finally had to kneel on the ground and beg for forgiveness from the owner.

Presumably, those disgruntled nobles should be more comfortable-at least Prince Conti is no longer so entangled in the throat, and an actor should not make himself appear smarter and braver than the nobles in the Palace of Versailles-although maybe soon, He can reach the sky in one step, but there are always things that the king cannot do.

Louis smiled softly, "I'm going to let him stay in Italy for a while." He said to the Duke of Colonna.

The Duke of Colonna had a good impression of Molière. Although he founded the dance academy together with Beauchamp, dance and drama have never been separated. He also got a lot of useful suggestions and opinions from Mr. Molière , Mr. Molière is a bit frivolous, but he has a child-like pure heart-here is not talking about the real heart of flesh and blood... Mr. Molière may have more affairs than the nobles of the Palace of Versailles combined many.

Moreover, Mr. Molière can be said to have spoken out for Marie Mancini this time. Others were either unable to see into the king's heart, or did not dare to step forward because of various concerns, such as the Duke of Orleans. At that time, the Duke of Colonna was far away. In Naples...

"Don't you need it now?" asked the Duke of Colonna. If Molière went to Italy, in the Tuscany region, he could guarantee his safety would not be threatened by anyone, and Italy, which advocates beauty and art People will welcome him too.

"No," said Louis, "Molière is a smart man." After the Grand Parade, he would give the bold and sensitive artist a little bit of his due reward, which was consolation.

Then he stood up, took off a ring on his hand, tied a ribbon, and threw it to the stage in the center of the theater. Mr. Molière, who had been paying attention to the king, ran over immediately and accurately put the ring worth a thousand mile Fall's ring was in his hand.

This may be the most lucrative reward he has received since he started his acting career, Molière thought in his heart, what he didn't know was that when he returned to his temporary residence in Orange, he would get another surprise —The king asked him to rehearse a new play dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to be performed at the Royal Theater in Paris on the coming Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

That said, he didn't have to worry about being kicked out of Versailles.

—————

In the next few days, M. Molière forwarded the entreaties from the Dutch, the Flanders, and even the Bretons to the Count d'Artagnan. These poor people, they can't easily see people around the king now. The Dutch government-in-exile originally planned to establish a new Netherlands in the Dutch colonies in the American mainland, but this plan was quickly overthrown by the French "king" who was also in the colonies. Army" shattered.

This king's army has almost nothing to do with the mainland of France. From the generals to the soldiers, they are all colonists. General Vauban was not that picky anymore. Anyway, what these soldiers needed was just obsolete firearms, cannons and ships. These days France doesn't care at all, and even thinks they don't know how to deal with them. Abandoning armaments is a sharp weapon that everyone desires in America.

With these weapons and equipment, the French in America beat the Dutch so hard that the Dutch could not find a chance to breathe, and the government-in-exile still wanted to go into exile-here also mention the Indians who had met Louis XIV. It has become a solid ally with the "French King's Army". If it is only the French, the Dutch may still have a chance to take advantage of it, but if you add the aborigines of America... then there is no hope at all. up.

Not long ago, the general of the "King's Army" specially sent back a dilapidated Dutch flag as a gift to the King on his 40th birthday.

So the moderates of Holland finally appeared in front of the people. They made camps and pleaded everywhere, and they only hoped that Louis XIV would treat his defeated opponent with mercy. According to their words, such a prominent, noble and Great king, it is meaningless to pursue a government in exile without an army and people like this.

But everyone remembers that Louis XIV said that Holland no longer existed.

How does a non-existent person make a sound, no one can hear their cries and pleadings-they have already asked an actor, and it can be seen that they are almost desperate.

The problem of Flanders is not so important as that of Holland - you remember the stepped tax proposed and implemented by Louis.

The number of years has come, and some "docile" Flanders have been licensed to pay the same tax as the French. Everyone knows that France only has poll tax. Whether it is a principality or a kingdom, it will make people feel as if they have come to heaven.

And so came a cruel joke—those Flanders who had vowed never to be ruled by a French king regretted it, but the king's will could not be changed forever, and they were doomed to continue to bear heavy burdens (especially Compared with the former), they did not dare to confront the king's army, but plundered and killed their neighbors.

Those Flanders who came to pray were not the perpetrators, but the victims, but this kind of thing is too ironic.

The Bretons came to declare their surrender, Molière didn't know, but D'Artagnan felt it was pity and goodness, these people didn't know that the most terrible punishment was yet to come-the king had decided to Split Brittany into several provinces, then move people from Orleans, or other places into Brittany - if the Bretons still insist on the "I am not French, I am Breton "Bretons" until there are more foreigners in Brittany than the natives... When you are one of the few, you will find that your maverick is definitely not a good thing.

It was true of the Jews, it was true of the Protestants, and of course the Bretons were no exception.

But these have nothing to do with an actor, Mr. Molière. He didn't even apologize to these people for their gifts. He did pass on their words to the king's ears. As for whether the king will change his mind, is he still able to control or Do you know? Anyway, he has been allowed to stay in Versailles, and he also believes that Louis XIV will not forget the people who worked for him, so he can wait with peace of mind.

With such a mood, Mr. Molière began to prepare for the new play requested by the king. During this time, his Guangyao Theater Troupe also followed the route of the Grand Tour to perform in various cities, from Orange to Alvignon, Alvie Needless to say, there are seven respectable popes staying here... As for the legitimacy and rationality, let’s not delve into it for the time being. Anyway, this place can be said to be the "Holy Land" of France.

M. Molière was considering whether he should go and say high mass to Madame Marie Mancini when there was a knock at his door.

A distinguished gentleman said that he would like to meet M. Molière.

Moliere couldn't guess who the other party was at all, but he was just an actor - he didn't think he was so important, maybe he was a nobleman from Marseilles or elsewhere, and he hoped to rely on him to get the minister's recommendation...

Although, what made Molière finally agree was because the other party gave too much...