Rodogune

Pierre Corneille · 1644 CE · Play · French · Enlightenment

The queen of Syria has twin sons and will not say which was born first, since the elder is king; she offers the crown and the secret to whichever of them kills the Parthian princess their father had meant to marry. Both brothers love her, and she asks each of them for their mother's head in exchange for her hand. Corneille found the dynasty in Appian and said afterwards that this was the play he liked best of his own, for the horror of the fifth act.

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