Romance — The Cid

Poem by François-René De Chateaubriand Collection Miscellaneous PoemsThemes WarPeriod 19th century

Air of the Follies of Spain[1].

Ready to depart for the African shore,
The Cid, armed, all brilliant with valor,
On the guitar, at the feet of his Chimène,
Sang these verses that honor dictated to him:

Chimène has said: Go fight the Moor;
From this combat above all come back victorious.
Yes, I shall believe that Rodrigue adores me,
If he makes his love yield to honor.
– Give, give both my helmet and my lance!
I want to show that Rodrigue has a heart:
In combats signalizing his valor,
His cry shall be for his lady and honor.

Moor vaunted for your gallantry,
Of your accents my noble song victorious
One day will become the folly of Spain,
For it will depict love with honor.
In the valley of our Andalusia,
The old Christians will recount my valor:
He preferred, they will say, to life
His God, his king, his Chimène and honor.

1.Everyone knows the air of the Follies of Spain. This air was without words, at least there were no words that rendered its grave, religious and chivalric character. I tried to express this character in the romance of the Cid. This romance having spread among the public without my consent, celebrated masters did me the honor of embellishing it with their music. But as I had expressly composed it for the air of the Follies of Spain, there is a stanza that becomes a true galimatias, if it does not relate to my original intention:

… My noble song victorious
One day will become the folly of Spain, etc. . .

Chateaubriand

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