In
Mithridate there is a similarly vital 'Roman' dimension.
Racine subsequently repeats the use of a protagonist as (false) confident in Bajazet and Iphigenie, where Athalide and Eryphile respectively overact and resist their roles, whereas in other tragedies the confident becomes counsellor (Britannicus) or is strategically excluded (
Mithridate).
Part iv turns to Racine's Britannicus, Bajazet, and
Mithridate as illustrating the final ascendancy of more energetic later-born siblings and concludes with a comparison of Tite et Berenice and Berenice, and of the treatment of the two sisters in Thomas Corneille's Ariane and Racine's Phedre.
The sea progressively replaces the palace as a source of tragic menace: it brings back
Mithridate, frustrates the Greeks, imprisons Bajazet, allows Acomat to escape and produces the monster which kills Hippolyte, interestingly, just as he flees from Phedre's palace.
Even admirers of Racine's tragedies have hesitated with
Mithridate. For Francois Mauriac it was 'le moindre de ses chefs-d'oeuvre', and for Raymond Picard 'la tragedie la moins tragique de Racine', while for Marcel Gutwirth the play 'n'est tragique que par le sous-titre', and for Jean Rohou it is 'plus heroico-galant que tragique'.
Theriac Treats Everything
Mithridates, also known as the Mithradates of Pontus the 6th, tried to resist toxins by gradually increasing doses because in the past, oftentimes kings were targets of poisoning schemes.
For millenia, a concoction of leaves, nuts, onions and other ingredients, prepared from a formula discovered in the palace of
Mithridates, were applied to the bites of rabid animals and venomous creatures.
Marius and Sulla, once allies, entered into a tempestuous feud over who was to command the Roman army sent east to suppress the anti-Roman dictator
Mithridates. When the command was awarded to Marius, followers of the two generals clashed in the streets, and Sulla, feeling vulnerable, organized an army of his own and marched on Rome.