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- # Passerat.
## Overview
This subsection, titled "Passerat.", is an extracted text segment from a larger document. It focuses on the French literary adaptations of the Adonis myth, particularly highlighting the contributions of Jean Passerat and Gabriel le Breton. The content spans lines 392-397 of its source file.
## Context
This subsection is part of an [introduction](arke:01KG6S4BKQ53B3KC1BB0SHTW5X) within a document, which itself is contained in the [PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53 collection](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y). It was extracted from the text file [pdf-01KG6Q7Q25RHMFT3SJXPV18VFF.txt](arke:01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA). It follows a previous subsection titled [Melin de St. Gelais.](arke:01KG6S5PG0HZJFVMFE6GHWCQ13) and precedes a scene discussing [Spanish adaptations of the Adonis story](arke:01KG6S5Q0YGMDZP9NN51BGCFP4).
## Contents
The subsection details the history of the Adonis tale in France. It first mentions Melin de St. Gelais's 1547 French rendering of Bion’s *Lament*. The primary focus is on Jean Passerat, a lyrist who penned a 134-line poem in rhyming couplets titled *Adonis, ou la Chasse du Sanglier* before 1574. This poem is described as a simple Ovidian narration covering Adonis's beauty, Venus's infatuation and warnings, Adonis's challenge of the boar, his death, and transformation into a flower. The text then discusses Gabriel le Breton's 1579 tragedy *Adonis*, which used the fable as an allegorical elegy for King Charles IX, who died in 1574. In Le Breton's play, Adonis represents the deceased king, and Venus embodies grief-stricken France, with additional characters like Mars, Diane, Cupidon, L’Ombre d’Adonis, and two shepherds.
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- Passerat.
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- Passerat.
A like story has to be told of the history of the tale in France. It gained its first hold on French readers, when Melin de St. Gelais published in 1547 a beautiful rendering in French of Bion’s *Lament*. This was probably completed ten years earlier, and was constantly reprinted. Before 1574 a graceful lyrist, Jean Passerat, penned a short poem in 134 lines of riming couplets called *Adonis, ou la Chasse du Sanglier*. It is a simple narration on Ovidian lines of Adonis’ beauty, of Venus’ infatuation, of her warnings of the boy against devotion to the chase, of his impetuous challenge of the boar, of his death, and his transformation into a flower.
Subsequently the fable was turned by another French writer to more complex uses. It was made the basis of a tragedy called *Adonis*, by Gabriel le Breton, a Paris lawyer, who published his work in 1579. The play was designed as an allegorical elegy on the death of King Charles IX of France, on May 30, 1574. Adonis represents the dead king, and Venus typifies grief-stricken France. Venus’ lamentations show more tragic power than appears in any contemporary adaptation of the theme. The machinery involves the introduction of characters like Mars, Diane, Cupidon, L’Ombre d’Adonis, and two shepherds, Montan and Sylvain, in addition to the hero and heroine. But the conventional lines of the tale are generally respected, and there are no intricacies of plot.
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- Passerat.