The play begins with a council of Démons (Demons) during which Pluton (Pluto), furious that Antoine (Anthony) is diverting the souls of the Underworld with his prayers, orders the Démons to capture him, and promises a reward for the one who will succeed. Proserpine (Proserpina), his wife, asks for permission to go alone to seduce the hermit. Antoine recognises her immediately and resists her charms. Pluton then tries a different approach, and pretends to be a beggar caught in a storm. Exposed, he asks Antoine to surrender his soul to him, but the hermit reasserts his faith in God. The Démons then appear suddenly, drag Antoine in a hellish dance and set fire to the tail of his Cochon (Pig). They also destroy his hermitage and tell him that they will transform his faithful companion into a sausage. Antoine is exhausted and begs God, who sends down an Ange (Angel) to rebuild the chapel and turn Pluton into a basket of flowers. During the grand finale, Antoine rises to the sky followed by his Cochon.

String marionette

All audiences

France

Printed

Hell

Revenge

Monk

Temptation

Seduction

Belief

Reward

Joke

Miracle

Religious

Comical

Fantasy

French

Pluto

Devil

Proserpina

Prime Minister

Demon

Sculptor monk

Angel

Song

Avista

Chorus

Apparition of demons

Disguised character (false identity)

Change of head on sight

Dance

Demons dance

Thunderbolt

Off-stage voice

Apotheosis

Ascent to heaven

La Tentation de Saint-Antoine

The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Addressing the Great Saint Bernard Pass directly, the narrator tells the story of the region, from the first hunters to the passage of Bonaparte’s armies. The silence in the peaks of the mountains is broken by the arrival of the first nomadic people, then by the clamour of the wars which have shaped the history of Europe (Hannibal, the Roman emperor; Attila; Marignano). Saint Bernard founded a refuge and a monastic order in the Pass, to rescue lost travellers. The retreat of the Swiss army against Bonaparte’s troops introduces the final tableau, which celebrates Peace and Charity.