Scripps College - La Semeuse Yearbook (Claremont, CA)

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Farewell to Caesar fincident as in Shawls play, Caesar and Cleopatraj fTlJe wharf at Alexandria. Caesar and Cleopatra 5-land aloof from tlae Cleo. Caes. Cleo Caes. Cleo Caes. lmsqle of embarleingj Thou,lt leave me then. The dawning day brings naught To me but cheerless joy, a sunset dipped In grey despair of termination. Oh love, I-low dare you take from Cleopatra all You brought to her, her lik, her very smiles, And go away against her will? H H 'Tis true, Your woman's fancy, long intrigued by Caesar, That name of mine,-though not by me-has sought Too far for conquest to release with grace. And I, whose honour holds but Rome, whose Rome I-Iolds but my soul, I, the Caesar, fell. I . . . one whose strength must die before your youth. Not for tender spring, the frost of Eillf' I bid thee cease, nor will attend thy words! You speak as he who seeketh selgexcusel H Not selfiexcuse, my love, I wish to clear Those tears, so sweetly shed, from your eyes, By telling you my planf' Wl1at plan? CGreat gods, You will not take me then, away to RomePD H H QNO, my beauty, turn not Pale, thy Caesar, For all his passion, knows thy hearty I would Only bring all Rome for thee to lovef' 24

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cost of a decent burial, for a Worthy cause. The amount neces- sary for any really good funeral would send any deserving young person through college. I was Ruskin's disciple long before I knew it. From Marcel Proust, a Stud in Decadencen Y DAPPIINIE FRASER P R OUST l S total omission of the moral will ftom his reckon- ings, then, and his assumption that man's nature is a series of movements and not a concentric pattern lie at the root of his decadence. Similar ideas have been devastatingly current since the begin- ning of the century. The old Gish in the social orders has gone, and nothing has come to replace it. The old standards have gone, and the old controls. The idea of a sentiment in an in- dividual With which his acts will be consistent has gone, re- placed by the gloomy tenets of naturalism. Faith in God has gone, along wich Raith in oneself: Futility reigns. Proust's success in being the spokesman of a decadent age, in interpreting its weariness, its lack of selflconfidence, is undeni- able.. His characters are amazingly true, although they lack a central spring. I-lis artistic sincerity is passionate, although his message is disillusionment. His failure is the failure of a great writer who accepts his age and interprets it, but fails to transcend it. We cannot forgive his Eiilure, because his very devotion to art is in contradiction to his thesis of fiitility. And our admiration for the perfection of his study of a decadent generation must not hide ftom us the Elct that he immersed himself in its current, and never rose above it. 23

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Cleo. N Cl.ove? Wlxat means the 1nan?D Y-you will return? Cues. Cleo Caes. Cleo Caes Cleo Cass Cleo. H QA11, no, l Pray thee, do 1'1Ot fear me solj My Cleopatra, youth for youth is hound. l leave thy arms quite Hesh for him I love Nearest unto thee. Thou will accept My giH? PM You mean that you will send to me. . Aye, to no one else. .N 'lThe young hero. . ? Mark Anthony! H ulvly love! lvly only Caesar! 'l '4Farewell. Nor do ye tell him tales of Caesar In his clotage. Truly do l know Wliereof I aft. ln Egypt lies my soul, To Rome my bocly goes. . . Think well of me.' fl-le goes.D The fool! As if I needed him. The young Roman! . . Dark he is, they say, nor bald. . . Oh, Caesar goes. I'l1 wave to him l guess. LAURABEL NEVILLE 2 5