The Place of the Present: Ronsard, Aubign, and the "Misres de ce Temps" Author(s): Edwin M.

Duval Reviewed work(s): Source: Yale French Studies, No. 80, Baroque Topographies: Literature/History/Philosophy (1991), pp. 13-29 Published by: Yale University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930259 . Accessed: 14/02/2013 10:43
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EDWIN M. DUVAL

The Place ofthe Present: Ronsard, Aubigne,and the "Miseres de ce Temps"

To sixteenth-century Frenchmen theyear1562appeared as thegreatofFrance. No event, withthepossible est turning pointin thehistory in 1420,had everseemedso politiofTroyes ofthe Treaty exception offull-scale civil war on native cally consequentialas the outbreak feudal soil. Andno armedconflict-whether foreign war, power strugofa fight gle,or peasantrevolt-had evermatchedthe horror to the In 1562 the fudeathbetweencompatriots, and brothers. neighbors, ofthenation, eventheexistence seemedto hangin thebalance. ture, ofthecivilwarandits In twoofthebest-known treatments literary "miseres"Pierrede Ronsardand Agrippa attendant d'Aubignegave to the sense ofcrisisuniversally associatedwith powerful expression on theimportance ofthatsingledate 1562.Theircomplete agreement forthe factthatRonsard's is all the moreremarkable Discours des miseresde ce tempsand Aubigne'sLes Tragiquesare such radically from suchradically different different works written perspectives, the in Catholicresponse written and published first beingan immediate the heat ofthe momentin 1562,the seconda Protestant epic elaboratedmuchlaterand overa longperiodoftimebetween1577and the datesof 1616 and 1623. publication is the way each of these two works Just as remarkable, perhaps, in their inherent common undertakdealswithfundamental problems and interpreting a singlehistoricalmoing-those of representing andofforging somefictional from whichtoviewthe ment, perspective In thefollowing alwayselusivepresent. pagesI wouldlike to consider and solve theseproblems how Ronsard and Aubignepresent oftemboththrough poralperspective spatially, imagesofspace and within
? 1991byYale University. YFS 80, BaroqueTopographies, ed. Timothy Hampton,

13

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the actual space oftheirpoems.As I hope to suggest, Les Tragiques constitute a direct response to theDiscoursin thisimportant respect. Byreading it as such,we maybeginto perceive moreclearly theprofoundunityof this great"baroque"work,as well as the natureand and doubleplot. structure meaningofits formal Before1562 Ronsard's poetry radiateda supremeconfidence in the had entered future, founded on the conviction thathistory its final, definitive stage. Now that the dark "Middle Ages" separating enfrom lightened Modernity radiant Antiquity wereoverand gone,civilizationcouldresume itscourseas ifthebarbarian invasions hadnever ofthepresent-thosehumanist occurred. And the accomplishments that revivedand rivaled those of Antiquityaccomplishments in a kind of infinite seemed destinedto live on forever momentof classical stasis. in the "Ode a Michel de L'Hospital" We sense thisattitude clearly ofpoetry from thefirst (1552), whichtraces thehistory prophetic utterto of ode and in the la ances thewriting the de Justice" itself, "Hymne ofjusticefrom the beginning of the (1555),whichtracesthe history ofa newGoldenAge GoldenAgein thereign ofSaturn tothebeginning in thereign thebasicschemeofa return ofHenriII. Bothpoemsfollow to original an intervening andperfection after purity periodofcorrupin thepresent tionand chaos.Andbothendabruptly withuntroubled, infinite The Muses,likeAstraea, vistason thefuture. havereturned to France their for after long,"medieval" exile,thistimetostay good.The new cultureof the present, like the poems through which Ronsard ' is to be aereperennius, morelasting thanbronze. givesit expression, in thepermanence ofthe new GoldenAge This naive confidence on 1 March1562.The was shattered withthemassacre at Vassy forever within weeksofthatevent, withunpreceDiscours,written expresses shocked awareness thatthepresdented Ronsard's urgency new-found, deent is in factan extremely momentand thatanother precarious be imminent. scentintopostclassicalchaos mayalready The statedpurposeoftheDiscoursis to exhort thequeen mother,
1. The edition ofRonsard usedthroughout these pagesis Pierre deRonsard, Oeuvres completes, ed. Paul Laumonier (completed byI. Silver and R. Lebegue), 20 vols.,STFM (Paris:Hachette-Droz-Didier, 1914-75).Works referred to hereare: "Ode a Michelde dela justice"(vol.8,47-72),"Discours L'Hospital" (vol.3, 118-63),"Hymne desmiseres des miseres de ce temps" (vol.11,19-32),"Continuation du discours de ce temps" (vol. 11,35-60), and "Remonstrance au peuplede France" (vol.11,65-106). andLatinintoEnglish aremine. All translations from French

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ofMedici,to save theFrench Catherine shipofstate,whichis at this so battered very moment ("ence temps") byseditious windsthat itis in imminent danger ofsinking (43-50). The queenmustdo thisnotonly hand (48-50) but by imposingher by seizingthe helm with a firm itself authority (51-54 (54 and210) in sucha wayas to quell thestorm and 197-212). Framedby this exhortation to act (25-54 and 197212)-which is itselfframedby parallel passages concernedwith God's providential rolein history (1-24 and 213-36)-the mainbody ofthepoemfulfills thepromise ofits titlebydiscoursing on at length doesnotdescribe in the"miseres de ce temps." Ronsard thesemiseries any detail,ofcourse,because his intended readers are firsthand witin theevents nessesand participants of 1562.His purpose is rather to ofthemoment. themomentousness impress uponhis contemporaries This he does in severalways-once withineach ofthe two separate ofthepoemas a whole. ofthepoem,andyetagainin thestructure parts thepresent The first halfoftheframed moment as poemrepresents a historical focalpointon whichall eyes, arefixed. All pastandfuture, thekings andgenerals ofpasthistory arehorrified tolookfrom beyond thegrave andsee howwe aredestroying withourown uponthepresent handstherealmthey defended withtheir bloodand bequeathed to us as a richinheritance (54-86): Ha quediront les tombes la bassoubs poudreuses De tant devaillans lesamesgenereuses! Roys deDucs,ettant Que diront tant d'hommes guerriers d'une au combat morts lespremiers, Qui sont playe Etpour France ontsouffert tant delabeurs extremes, La voyant destruite aujourd'huy parnousmesmes?
[55-64]

Oh!what willthenoble soulsofall those valiant down kings there below their say, dusty tombs? ... What willall those andwarriors generals say, whodied first inbattle andsuffered so many for hardships France, hertoday seeing destroyed byus? all future Similarly, will look back with horror generations on the ofourtime"andsee howwe havebrought "history downthescepter of France(115-26): de queloeil,6 siecles inconstans! De quelfront, de ce temps! Pourront-ils l'histoire regarder

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de France En lisantque l'honneur, et le sceptre Qui depuissi longage avoitprisaccroissance, Parune Opinionnourrice des combats, est bronche contre bas. Commeune grande roche, [121-26] 6 mutable withwhateyes, look age,will they Withwhatcountenance, of this time,when theyread thatthe honorand the on the history overthe ages, was scepterof France,which had grownevergreater downlike an enormous rockbyan Opinion, mother tumbling brought ofstrife.

Only we of the present-we who are living under the fixedgaze of all past and futuregenerationsat the veryfocal point ofall history-do not see ourselves (87-114): cas que nos yeuxsontsi plainsd'unenue, C'est grand avenue. perte pas nostre Qu'ils ne cognoissent

[87-88]

cannotsee thatourruinis at hand. thatthey Our eyesareso befogged This blindness is all the more scandalous because ancient signs and prophecies (95-106) and recent climatic irregularities(107-14) had predicted that the year 1562-"l'an soixante et deux" (97)-would bringcalamity to the French.All in vain, foreven now thatthe foretold disaster has befallen us, we "see without seeing": si forte, Nous sommesaccablesd'ignorance de sorte Et lies d'un sommeilsi paresseux, ne sentle malheur qui nous poingt, esprit Que nostre mal nous ne le voyons Et voyans nostre point.
[91-94]

immobilized We are weighed bysuch sloth, downbysuch ignorance, ofourownmisfortune, andseeing ourills thatwe do notfeelthepricks we do not see themat all. The year 1562, representedat the center of this panoramic review of past, present,and futureobserversof France,is both the centralpoint known to all times except to itself. and the blind spot of history, The firstpart of the poem ends as Ronsard, having deplored our blindness and exhorted today's historians to record the "monstrous history of our time" for futurereaders to behold (115-20), appears ready to reveal the historyof our own calamity to us. But here at the

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ofthepoema curious Rather thanproceeding happens. midpoint thing as promisedin the historicalmode to narratethe eventsof 1562, to a poetical,fictional mode to narrate the Ronsardshifts abruptly origin and cause oftheseevents. narrative The secondhalfofthepoembeginswitha mythological allegory of"Fama"["Rumor"] transposed directly from Virgil's famous fortheir prein Book IV oftheAeneid (4.173-97).To punishmortals sumptuous curiosity aboutdivinethings (127-30 and 153-54),Jupiter called "Opinion," which confused the sent thema terrible monster minds of theologians with contradictory and passages of Scripture armingbrother then proceededto set Franceat war with herself, in a bloody free-for-all wifeagainst husband overfaith against brother, oftheallegory is obviousandpredictable: our (127-66). The meaning liketheheresy whichitis being results from the civilwar, over fought, of authority individuals. by unauthorized presumptuous arrogation But the use of Virgilian allegory to expressthis idea is itselfhighly a literally epic significant. It bestowsupon the eventsofthepresent WhenRonsard goes on to evokeat last thepandemiclawlessness and iniquity unleashedin France byOpinion(155-96),he does so not as a chronicler ofourtimesbutonceagainin a poeticalmode,in terms oftheIronAgein borrowed thistimefrom Ovid'sfamousdescription D 159-66 and BookI oftheMetamorphoses (1.128-50; cf., especially M 1.142-48, D 175-78 and M 1.129-31, D 182-84 and M 149-50). in the "Hymnede Justice" ofa definitive Contrary to his intimations herelaments, return ofAstraea andtheGoldenAge,Ronsard following Ovid, that Au cielestrevollee, etJustice, etRaison, Etenleur le brigandage, placehelas!regne le sang La force, les cousteaux, etle carnage.
magnitudes

1.129-31 and 149-50] [182-84; cf., Metamorphoses

2. These intimations of an epic dimensionare reinforced by two extended "Homeric" similes, oneplacedattheendofthe"epic"half oftheframed poem(191-96), theother immediately after it at thebeginning oftheconcluding frame (199-212). of Opinion again the following Ronsardtook up the allegory year in the Remonstrance au peuplede France, treating thefigure somewhat differently. HereOpinion pronounces a fine prosopopeia toher"son"Luther andsowstheseedsofwarbyslipping a serpent intothefolds ofLuther's robe.Herwords andgestures imitate exactly thoseby Remonstrance whichAllectostarts thewarfor Latiumin BookVII oftheAeneid(cf., 235-356 andAeneid 7.341-434).

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Studies Yale French alas! andReason have andintheir flown, place, Justice Back toheaven andslaughter. violence, knives, blood, reign pillage,

restored have byhumanism mayalready The GoldenAge so recently into Iron once again. Indeed the only difdegenerated irreparably IronAgeandthenewone is thattheclassical thefirst ference between is replaced whichOvid linkedto Astraea-justice, notionoffilialpiety, whichRonsard linksto justice notionofauthority, bya monarchist's lies vanand reason.Thus thefamoustag "Victaiacetpietas"["piety estl'autorite" is in Ovid (1.149)becomes"Morte ["authority quished"] dead"]in Ronsard (175). It is on this grimnote- "Ainsi la France court en armes divisee, / Depuis que la raisonn'est plus autorisee"(195-96; my emdivided andarmed, sincereasonis runsheadlong, phasis)[ThusFrance the secondhalfof the framed no longersubjectto authority].-that to the frameby exhorting poem ends, allowingRonsardto return her in France ofMedicionceagaintoenddiscord byexerting Catherine "authority" (209-12). andgiveurgency The twoparallelpartsofRonsard's poembuttress to the crucialimportance of call to actionbypointing to its framing ofmutually part "thistime"in a number reinforcing ways.The first andindeeda kindof is a focalpointofhistory showsus thatthepresent ofFrance will eventually be seen to history pivoton whichtheentire thatthe eventsof todayare The secondpartintimates have turned. in nature andequal in magnitude to those similar literally epicevents, andsuggests intertexin theAeneidandtheMetamorphoses, narrated ofa new Ovid thatthey mayevenmarkthebeginning tuallythrough the two partsofthe poem IronAge. But most significantly, perhaps, whateachone separately to imitate, worktogether suggests, spatially, forthe whole poem hingesat the center, highlighting by its central thecritical and epic thepivotalmoment, between history disjunction thatis now. blindspotofhistory, thegap at thecenter witha fullaccountofthe Rather thanfilling a powerful and evenconstitutes, eventsof 1562,the poem contains, whichwe see without arein fact a monition thatthoseevents, seeing, kind of fulcrum, and thatwe in 1562 are perchedon a razor'sedge, ournewly on thebrink oftheabyss.Whether Goldregained teetering orwhether we areto be en Age ofarts, andlaws is to continue, letters, dependson plungedonce again into an IronAge ofgothicdarkness, God, on the Queen, and on us ... now

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Agrippa d'Aubigne grew up obsessed withRonsard. His earliest datable is a short at age sixteen], work,"Versfaitsa seiz' ans" [Lineswritten unabashed poemin thestyleofRonsard expressing envyfor Ronsard's and reputation; his youthful collectionoflove poems,Le poeticgifts Printemps [Spring], written when he was about twenty, riexplicitly vals Ronsard's Amoursand Odes and is inspired, according to the poemsthemselves, bythenieceofRonsard's andhisletters Cassandre; in oldagecontain written recollections ofdistant with proud meetings thegreat master.3 Yetbyreligion, politics, and temperament, was Ronsard's Aubigne opposite,and this oppositionmade his relationto the masterextremely complex.As a bornHuguenotand civil warrior he was condemnedin advanceby the authorofthe Discours,and undoubtedly sharedhis coreligionists' well-documented sentiment that the Discoursanditssequelsremained, evenyearsafter their first publication, extremely powerfuland effective-and therefore satanically pernicious-pieces ofrhetoric. Butas a brilliant poetand longtime emulatorofRonsard, Aubigne, unlikemostofhiscoreligionists, was ableto in kind. respond To a far thanis commonly Les Tragiques are greater degree realized, Aubigne'sdirectProtestant responseto the polemicalpoems of his A crucialaspectofthisresponse andidol,Ronsard. Catholicmentor is thewayAubigneadoptsand transforms Ronsard's unique representationof1562and ofthehistorical in effect, present. Aubigne, appropriates Ronsard's and elaborating oftheDispoem,adopting thestrategy errors ofinterpretation coursin sucha wayas to reveal bothRonsard's and the truemeaningof 1562.4 not Ofcourse, on 1562differs from Ronsard's Aubigne's perspective only ideologicallybut temporally, for having been born the year hisfirst was onlytenin the Ronsard Amours(1552)Aubigne published Les Tracriticalyearof the Discours. By the timehe beganwriting
3. Aubign6 is quotedthroughout thesepagesin thePkiade edition oftheOeuvres, ed. HenriWeber, Jacques Souli6 (Paris:Gallimard, 1969).For Bailb6,and Marguerite references to Ronsard alludedto here, see, in thisedition, "Vers faitsa seiz' Aubign6's ans"(319);Le Printemps: touchant quelques a Diane, 5 (249);and"Lettres L'HMcatombe Le Printemps: 11 (860).See also inthesameedition, poincts de diverses sciences," Odes, 13 (303);Les Tragiques, "Auxlecteurs" (5-6); andMeditations surles pseaumes,"Preface,l'autheur au lecteur" (494). 4. Les Tragiques respond directly andin detailto Ronsard's other polemical poems of1562-63as well,mostnotably totheContinuation du discours, written later in 1562 (cf.,e.g.,Les Tragiques 2.19-20 and Continuation 5-6, and below,note 7). But such thescopeofthepresent considerations lie well beyond study.

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giques theevenmorememorable yearoftheSaintBartholomew's day a datein thehistorical massacre, 1572,was already past.Nevertheless, Les Tragiques deliberately maintain thepivotal importance attributed to theyear1562. by Ronsard The principal in BooksIII,IV,andV, plotofLes Tragiques, narrated takesplace entirely withinthe last moments before the outbreak of ofJustice, civilwarin 1562.Movedbythecomplaints Piety, Peace,and all the angels, by the arrivalin drovesof the souls of martyred of those still living(3.33-122), God Huguenots,and by the prayers andsee withhisowneyeshowa corrupt decidestovisitearth of system his elect (BooksIII and IV). Rejusticeis condemning and executing at whathe has seenbutassuredofthesteadwroth turning to heaven, he allows Satan to put the fastnessunto death of his "witnesses," testbygranting themsuccessin arms, faithful to an evengreater thus in princes andin their tempting themto puttheir faith ownresources rather than in God alone (Book V). The threecentralbooks of Les in an epic mode and from Tragiquesthusnarrate at length, a divine theprecisehistorical perspective, turning pointwhosepivotalnature and epic dimension Ronsard's poemhad onlyhintedat. Les TragiquesmaintainRonsard'sscheme of representation as boththe pivotalyearofhistory well, portraying (1562) and the new from historical present (1577)in a wayimitated directly theDiscours, theschemeso as to giveit an entirely butrecasting different meaning. on This recasting levels: takesplace twice, twoseparate once within of "thistime," and againin thearticulaBook I for therepresentation of 1562. tionoftheepic as a wholefortherepresentation In Book I ("Miseres"), rewrites theDiscours des Aubignein effect of 1577,describing theperspective at great miseresde ce tempsfrom had onlyhintedat. Or rather, he explodesthe lengthwhat Ronsard Discoursbycramming intotheempty a thousand space at thecenter lines of energetic Ronsard's description, replacing pivotal,punctual overthefifteen blindspotwithgruesome sceneswitnessed yearsthat have elapsed since 1562.5 It is as thoughAubignehad answered oftheDiscours: Ronsard's call nearthemidpoint 1'histoire denostre Escrits temps monstrueuse,
thepresent ofMiseres" as beingexactly 5. Aubign6 goesoutofhis wayto establish dateof1562.He states intheprose fifteen years after thecrucial introduction (4)that Les Tragiques werebegunduring thewarsof 1577 ("aux guerres de septante et sept"), and

o toy nonmenteuse historien, quid'ancre

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toutce malheur Racontea nos enfans fatal, nostre mal. Afinqu'en te lisantils pleurent

[115-18]

ink the monstrous 0 historian, you who writewith unadulterated ofthisbaneful history of our time,tell our children thewhole story will weepfor ourwoe. disaster so thatreading you,they Yet as he does this, Aubigne repeats the articulation of Ronsard's poem exactly,forat the midpoint of the book the poet concludes his lurid account of the historical presentto take up a new question: hideuxde nos calamitez, Voilale front des cieuxjustement La vengeance despitez. l'oeil se destourne a ces choses, Commeparforce les causes. les esprits Retournons pouren toucher [1.679-82]6 thevengeance ofa justly Thisis thehideousfaceofourcalamity, angry Let us heaven.Despite itselfthe eye turnsawayfrom these things. direct ourthoughts elsewhere to consider their causes. therefore Thus exactly like the Discours, "Miseres" hinges at the center,dividing into two equal sections, the firstof which is devoted to the catastrophicpresent,the second to the causes ofour presentmiseries. Each section, moreover,contains a directresponse to its corresponding part in Ronsard. The firsthalf of "Miseres" is organized in a manner vaguely reminiscent of Ronsard's play of historical perspectivesin the firsthalf of the Discours: purelysymbolicrepresentations ofFrance (1.97-190 and 1.609-78) frame a "general discours," or survey of all estates and classes of French people fromroyaltyto urban bourgeoisie to rural
insists in twoseparate passages ofBookI thatthemiseries of"today" (1.437,581,1097, 1121)havenowlastedfor"fifteen years" (1.267-69and 1.1042-44). in BookI do in fact The datablescenesdescribed tendtofallwithin thisfifteen-year period:the "tragic story" witnessed bythepoetat Montmoreau thethird during war (1569: 1.367-436), the aftermath of the battle of Montcontour (1569: 1.463-94), duel (1572: 1.1067-78), Aubign6's thedeathoftheCardinal de Lorraine (1574: 1.1005), etc.Onlythegruesome cannibalism case ofmaternal identified (1.495-562)is generally as having at thesiegeofParis(1590).Butsuch bycommentators takenplacemuchlater, actswerealso attested thesiegeofSancerre, during whichoccurred in 1573. 6. Thefirst twolinesquoted here arerepeated almost verbatim attheendofthelong section introduced neartheendofthebook(1.1207-08). Theeffect ofthisechois to here, make the articulation ofthemainbodyof "Miseres" intotwo separate sectionseven moreapparent.

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and back to royalty peasantry (1.191-366 and 1.563-608),which is famine (1.437interrupted at thecenter bya description ofman-made 94) flanked by two unforgettable scenes of individual suffering wrought bystarvation (1.367-436and 1.495-562).Atthefocalpointof and in theblankplace leftat thefocusof thissymmetrical construct, fixedgaze of past and future Aubignelodges the Ronsard's history, of "miseres" concrete imaginable, pormostspecific, representations by death traitsof starving, dyingmothers who eitherare devoured (1.549-60)(1.414-27 and 1.435-36) or devourtheirown children theframe's imageofFrance as an imagesthatreflect general, symbolic devoured mother 1.97-98 and 1.423-24).7 afflicted byherchildren (cf., on thepresent moment as Ronsard haddonebut Thus Aubigne focuses the and in a farmorevividway, from abstract generalto the moving theperiphery as his gaze honesin from to the concrete and particular center ofthepassage. Correspondences betweenthe second halfof "Miseres"and the and direct. like Exactly secondhalfoftheDiscoursare morespecific here froma historicalto an alleRonsard, Aubigneshiftsabruptly goricalmode as he turnsfrom"miseres"to "causes." Exactlylike a mythofsin and divinepunishment. he narrates The two Ronsard, but small differences benarrations are exactlyparallel,moreover, pagan,Virgilian allegory tweenthemarecrucial.In place ofRonsard's a biblical, ofJupiter and Opinion,we find aboutan prophetic allegory Old Testament-style God and the "new scourge"he visitedon a rebelliousnation.To punishFrancefor its pride, and worsuperstition, God senttheFrench two shipofidols (i.e.,its obstinate catholicism), of the "excrements of hell,"distilledinto murderous formed spirits and thenincarnated in twoviciousbodies twobaleful"newcomets," thanthecometsthat towreakevenmorehavocon France bring plague, infernal are none other These than Catherine and war. famine, spirits ofMedici and herhenchman-lover, Charlesthe CardinalofLorraine. In the place of Ronsard's epic Opinion,in otherwords,Aubigne substitutes the dedicateeof Ronsard's Discours.8WhatRonsard had
7. Aubigne's as a "mere symbolic imageofFrance affligee" (97)is itself borrowed in whichendswiththeallegorical part from Ronsard's Continuation du discours, descripas a "poor withdeath"anda "mother tionofFrance womanstricken ofso manykings" a potent, thusgives concrete towhatfor (319-34 andfollowing). Aubign6 reality Ronsard had beenmerely a symbolic, literary device. in Ronsard's 8. The Cardinal ofLorraine doesnotfigure polemical poems, butwas andherooftheHymne to whichAubign6 thededicatee de la Justice also responded in Les Tragiques, mostnotably in BookIII ("La Chambre doree").

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to forthe crisisof 1562provesin retrospect thought was theremedy Ronsardfearedit have been precisely what made 1562 everything at the criticalpivot of French mightbe. Catherinedid intervene herto do-not as a vicarofGod,but had exhorted history as Ronsard ofGod'swrath theFrench, the as thechoseninstrument rather against onceit has served itspurpose intothefire scourge thatGod will throw from one anothershe deci(1.802-04). Insteadof savingthe French ofFrance, notonlyin warbutevenin timeofpeace, matedthenobility of the duel and the Italian thanksto her Machiavellianinvention "pointofhonor"(1.1045-66).Insteadofquellingcivil discord byrecthetwosides she deliberately onciling playedbothsidesagainsteach in the middle(1.755-62 and otherso thatshe mightreignsupreme has been not a return to 1.771-82). The resultof her intervention but fifteen of Iron Ronsard's threatened Golden Age years Age hell, ofthebookthrough an adaptaas suchat themidpoint clearly signaled ofAstraea thathad served tionofthesame Ovidianlineson theflight intervention in petitioning Catherine's at theendoftheDisRonsard 1.149-50 and Discours 175-78 cours(1.692-95; cf.,Metamorphoses and 182-84). PoorRonsard His solutionto the crisisof got his history wrong. 1562 is precisely what precipitated the crisisin the first place; his defender ofthenewGoldenAgewas theprovidential agentofthenew IronAge.Byintervening, Catherine merely fulfilled theimplications oftheschemeRonsard had invented to exhort herto intervene. Ronsard's schemeoftemporal tothe Havingadapted representation newpresent of 1577in "Miseres"to revealthehistorical errors ofthe recaststhatsame schemeonce againon themuch Discours,Aubigne larger scale ofthewhole epic,thistimeto revealthetruemeaning of Ronsard's of 1562.It is a remarkable ifinsufficiently present consideredfactthatthislonghistorical like theDiscours,at its epic hinges, and that the point aroundwhich it turnsis the precisemidpoint, pivotaldate oftheDiscours,1562. The central Book IV ofLes Tragiques ("Feux")is a martyrological to avoidinvidious sampler designed humandistinctions amongGod's elect by including random, representative martyrdoms of every sex, andage (4.19-22 and4.1285-1318).Indeed, estate, thebookfollows no orlogicalsequenceas itwanders from apparent temporal, sociological, to country, in itsdesultory tonationality of country nationality survey Yetdespitethisdeliberate religious sadismand fortitude. principle of evenhanded the book cleaves neatlyinto two distinct randomness,

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anddrawsattention ofexactly sections equal length to (710lineseach), the divisionby means of corresponding introductions placed at the ofeach half: beginning derang Voici marcher parla porte doree, d'Israel dansle cielarboree, L'enseigne Lesvainqueurs de Sion...

[4.1-3]

incolumns the the vicBehold, marching arrayed through golden gate, ofIsrael. ofZion,bearing thebanner tors high Telsfurent de ce siecleen Sionlesagneaux, descouteaux: Armez dela priere etnonpoint despleurs etdeslarmes Voici unautre temps, quand armes. courut auxjustes Israel irrite [4.711-14] ofthis with notwith thelambs Suchwere ageinZion,armed prayer, when anangry Israel left and Behold now another knives. time, weeping arms. torighteous tears torush evenfurther thatthemidpoint The division is highlighted is bythefact precededand followedby strictly parallelmartyrs' speecheswhose of choosingbetweentwo mutually commonthemeis the necessity oraction(cf., alternatives ofbelief exclusive 4.699-706 and especially 4.751-58). Similarparallelsbetweencorresponding passages extend the centerthrough book of Les Tragiques, from thus outward every around itscentral, theentire infusing epicwitha large-scale symmetry pivotalpoint. As thetransition between thetwohalvesofthebook and theepic make plain, the "othertime" introduced at the midpoint is one in to "just arms,"so which "Israel"(i.e., the Protestant elect) resorted thefires ofmartyrdom thattheironsofwar("fers") replaced as ("feux") theprincipal thetruefaith(4.714-15).The pivot means ofdefending around turn is thusclearly which"Feux"andLes Tragiques designated as theprecisemoment at whichthecivilwarsbegan.And indeedthe in random dozensofmartyrdoms mentioned order in thefirst halfof in thesecond thebookall tookplacebefore mentioned 1562;thosefew halfall tookplace after 1562.9Les Tiagiques,like theDiscours,thus
inthe half is that ofAnne duBourg on23 mentioned first 9. Thelatest martyrdom in thesecond half arethose of December The earliest mentioned 1559(4.543-602). Richard deGastine andhisfather anduncle on30 June 1569 (4.719-996).

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Discours.

hingesaroundthecrisisof 1562.Aubigne has givenliterally epic proof a single,criticalmomenton to Ronsard's portions representation whichall history turns. an unrepresentable Butfor Aubigne, thepivotalcrisisis no longer future. The passage blindspotbetween a known pastandan unknown offifteen yearsand divineillumination allow Aubigneto see clearly in perspective and interpret what Ronsardhimselfcould only "see without from within.Contrary to whatRonsard's seeing," spatialrepresentation of a historical turning pointpoisedbetweenhistory and epic suggested, 1562was nota crossroads at whichfree humanaction could determine thefuture courseofFrench the history. Bysituating between"Miseres"and "Jugesame historical turning pointmidway that ment,"between"Princes"and "Vengeances," Aubignesuggests a predetermined moment in a muchlarger, 1562was,on thecontrary, from the ordered symmetrical, divinely scheme,a turning pointfixed of the just and the triumph of the betweenthe suffering beginning vindication of the perwicked in this worldand the eschatological in the next.No human secuted and retribution of the persecutors in 1562,leastofall Catherine of intervention couldhavesavedFrance ofMedici,acting notas a Medici,for1562was theyearthatCatherine in thehandsofa providential free agentbutas an instrument God,was destined from the beginning to drawup the lines betweenthe sheep and the goats,in preparation forChrist'sfinal,definitive judgment. The spaceofAubigne's poemandthespaceofRonsard's poemhighmoment at thecenter, of thesamecritical butbythearrangement light in moaround the succeeds the parts center, Aubigne making pivotal theopposite ofwhatit had meantin the mentof1562meanprecisely

It is not onlyhindsight and the constantly reiterated claim to divine ofhis perspective inspiration thataffords Aubignethe advantage on 1562.Throughout thepoemhe develops thefiction thatwhatallows him to perceive thetruenature, place,and meaning ofboth1562 and thecontemporaneous a is less remove from his subpresent temporal ject than a spatial remove.Takinghis cue once again directly from twoprivileged from thescene Ronsard, Aubigneestablishes placesfar of contemporary eventsfrom whichhe is able to view themclearly. in his turnOvid's famouslines on the IronAge at the Adapting of "Miseres," pivotalmidpoint Aubigne states:"Au ciel estoitbannie en pleurant la justice,/ L'Egliseau sec desert, la verite apres."(1.694-

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in tears, The Churchto the arid 95) [To heavenwas banishedJustice desert, followed byTruth]. might first appear, for These linesarefar moresignificant thanthey maintained throughout the dispersion theydescribeis scrupulously theentire epic.Strictly parallelpassagesin BooksII andIII,in particuof Truthto the desert lar, elaborateat lengthon the banishment of heaven and the banishment Justice to (2.162-82) (3.33-54). More thebasisfor theentire important, thedispersion described hereforms to whichthepoethimself according secondary plotofLes Tragiques, to theirrespective places of followsTruth, the Church,and Justice theseprivileged vantagepointslooks exile outsideFrance,and from for backupontheIronAge ofourtimeto see themand describe them, are. thefirst time,as theytruly before the revolting truthabout In Book II ("Princes"), revealing sonsofCatherine degenerate France's royal house and aboutthethree the circumstances ofMedici in particular, setsforth Aubigneclearly thatallow him to do so (2.1-193).Formanyyearsabject"fear" (2.27the "truth" 37) had prevented himfrom speaking (2.22,23, 25,32, 45, bythe 156,162)abouta court wherevice is concealedandmaintained see also lies ofpoets and courtisans 2:819-62). flattering (2.85-161; he overcamethis fear(2.38-58) when,banishedto the But recently he came upon Truthin her exile, "banished, the court, desertfrom .. . in thedesert" at the wounded andmutilated (2.162-63).Swooning herwhole to his sightofher,he foundthe courageat last to present sheis],he exclaims readers, andthentodie (2.162-93)."La voici"[here intothemost from hisdesert launching triumphantly exile,justbefore oftheroyalcourtimaginable appalling description (2.173). thisindiAt theendofthebook(2.1099-1486), Aubigne completes fableofan ingenuwiththeallegorical narrative rectautobiographical confused and himself ous young manyyearsearlier, man,presumably andVirtue in a viciouscourt. Fortune perplexed byhisfirst experiences himwealthand prestige appearto himin a vision,thefirst promising a lifeofhardship in the at court, the secondtruehonorwon through forAubigne, Virtue wins the debate, abode ofNecessity. presumably ofdamnation from thecourt, endsthebookwithdirewarnings nowfar for all whoremain there. Virtue's was notimmediate, however, victory for thepoettellsus onceagainthat many for in BookVI ("Vengeances") for andreverence kepthimsilentaboutthe years"fear" kingsat court the"courage" andthatonlyrecently he has found towagewar "truth,"

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Nineva"byrevealing against"stinking how God has alwayspunished the powerful persecutors ofhis elect (6.99-140, especially, 119-24). This much of the secondary plot is revealedproleptically in the versePreface thatprecedes theepic.Here theanonymous poet ofLes Tragiques claimstohavewritten hiswork in voluntary exile(3, 12,85), in the desert(168, 169; cf.,30, 104-05, 343), wherehe foundboth of heaven,"and the Church(115-44, 163-68, Truth, the "daughter 187-92).The entire preface is infact predicated on a systematic opposition betweenthe "logis de la verite"["abode of truth"] (120) in the desertand the "logisde la peur"[abodeoffear] (112) in the fastuous courtsofthe Valoiskings.The poet could not have exposedthe real truth ofFranceand their aboutthemiseries causes unlesshe had fled the cravencourtsofprinces, from whichfearhad banishedTruth, to join Truth and theChurchin exilein thedesert 97-132 and337(cf., in direct exiledwiththeChurchand working collab54). Onlythere, oration withTruth herself andpublisha (157-68),couldthepoetwrite workthatrevealsthe truth and "heaven'ssecrets" (362).And indeed thetitlepageoftheoriginal edition ofLes Tragiques identifies itsplace ofpublication as the "dezert"and its author as "L.B.D.D.," "Le Bouc Du Desert"["The DesertGoat"],thusconfirming in advancethepart in BooksII and VI. ofthe secondary plotnarrated The second privileged vantagepoint fromwhich Les Tragiques couldbe written was heaven.Taking up once againthepivotal passage of "Miseres"- "Au ciel estoitbannieen pleurant la justice / L'Eglise au sec desert, la verite apres" BookIII ("La (1.694-95)-Aubigne begins the arrival ofJustice, now a sweating, Chambredoree")by narrating from at the celestialPalace of God (3.33-54). panting fugitive earth, Justice arrives"wounded Exactlylike "banished"Truth,"fugitive" toherplaceofexile(3.34-35 and45-46; cf., andmutilated" 2.162-63). And exactlyas the poet had presented Truthto his readers, Justice in the thirdperson,to God: "La voici" (3.45; cf., presents herself, 2.173). theprincipal is theevent thatsetsin motion This arrival plotofLes narthe end of central But near this Tragiques(see above,p. 20). long ofhis secondary rationAubignetakes up once againthe thread plot thathave allowedhim to knowand to to narrate the circumstances ofthesectionofBookV At theconclusion writewhathe has written. day massacre,the poet ("Fers")devotedto the Saint Bartholomew's in the daysfollowing relateshis own experience August24 1572.For

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sevenhourshis bodylay woundedand senselessat Talcy while his spirit, like Saul-Paul'son theroadto Damascus, ascendedto heaven where it beheld celestial "tableaux" and astral signs that revolve aroundthe axis of the universeand represent all past,present, and from 1Marchand 19December future episodesin theWars ofReligion, 1562(themassacre ofVassy[5.545-84]andthebattleofDreux[5.363theper80])to 1666 (LastJudgment [5.1413-16]).1o Havingseen from ofGod andhis angelsthewholepanoramic ofthecivil spective history to end, Aubigne'sspiritmay rejoinhis body, wars frombeginning on Patmos,to write not only to continuethe fight but, like John whathe has seen in a book ofrevelation (5.1417-26; cf.,Rev 1.9-11 and 22.6-12). This visitis whatallowsAubigne to reveal"heaven's highsecrets" theprincipal plotofGod's (5.1200,1246, 1424),not onlybynarrating rolein the eventsof 1562 and prophecying the eventsof providential all past,present, and thefuture but,moreimportant, byinterpreting ofthelarger schemeofhistory and of future calamitiesin thecontext to heaventhepoetdidnot in thespirit divinejustice.Forbyascending whichto view the insimplyaccede to a divinevantagepointfrom herebelow.He actually visitedtheplace ofexile justicesperpetrated of God banishedfrom thatotherdaughter whereJustice the herself, and from IronAge world, now residesin person, whichshe will not thejustjudgewill come return againuntiltheLastDay,whenChrist to once and forall (cf., Justice God's creatures, again to apportion 3.821-84 and 7.661-1218). Andthusitis thatwe haveLes Tragiques. knowsthevices Aubigne at court ofprinces becausehe,likeRonsard, andsaw spent manyyears could not tell whathe withhis own eyesits secretsins.But Ronsard in and forthatabode of at court, knewbecause he remained writing on the contrary, whichTruthhad been banished. fearfrom Aubigne, in herexileand can now,with Truth fledto thedesert wherehe found herassistance, writein a book whathe has seen. Similarly, Aubigne
to contrast thissectionof "Fers" withthefirst halfoftheDis10 It is interesting as theblindspotofhistory thepresent in Ronsard is represented andthe cours.Whereas in Aubign6 is reprefocalpointofall pastandfuture gazes,theeveradvancing present at whichrising in thevaultofheaven, thezenith, astral sented as theprecise point signs Andwhereas Ronsard's arereplaced byfully comprehensible paintings. contemporaries and to their dead coreligionists arrive are blindto themselves in situation, Aubign6's andfreshly heavento see their owndeaths clearly represented (see,e.g.,5.301-06,691and massacred are entirely 704 and 831-36). Thanksto the tableaux,the martyred andknowthemselves andtheir untothemselves, present present perfectly.

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on thebattlefield knowsthehorrors ofcivilwarbecausehe spent years firsthand. and experienced its tragedies But evenifRonsard had seen whatAubigne has seen,he couldnothaveknownwherejusticelayin the crimesof the presentbecause he remainedin a worldliterally abandoned byJustice. Aubignecan interpret whathe has seen ofthe ofourtimebecausehe onceleft ofmisery thisIronAgeworld miseries and injusticeto findJustice herself exiledin God's own tribunal, his celestial"palais de justice." In short, if the view fromthe desertis what allows Aubigneto andrepresent theTruth aboutthepresent andtheir observe "miseres" heavenis whatallowshimtoperceive andreprecauses,theviewfrom and theJusticeofthosesame "miseres" senttheplace,themeaning, of withinthelarger scheme divinejustice. In its spatialorganization, Les Tragiques mimictheDiscours then, in sucha wayas to make 1562signify ofwhatit theopposite precisely had signified for Andin itsrepresentation ofspaceit authorRonsard. izes its view ofhistory byusingRonsard's own intimations ofa new IronAgetoshowthatRonsard was a prisoner notonlyofhistimebutof in thewrong hisplaceas well.He was quiteliterally placeat thewrong andtherefore couldeither notknowornottellwhatAubigne time, has in thespace ofhis own book. revealed it is precisely in bothhis Paradoxically, becauseRonsard was right oftimeandin his intimations ofa newIronAge spatialrepresentation in 1562 thatAubignecould transform Ronsard's blindspotofhistory intoan epiphanic illumination, andprecisely becauseRonsard's Cathin olic faction victorious 1577andsubsequent was so overwhelmingly into that couldtransform theworst Protestant years Aubigne tragedies a Protestant a decentered Forbynarrating triumph. poet'sown exile and defeat in terms ofthediaspora ofTruth, and Justice, Les Church, created both the textual and the Tragiques space spatialparalaxby whichalone sixteenth-century Frenchmen notonly might apprehend themeaning of 1562 buttheplace oftheir in history. ownpresent

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