Artémire (tragedy)

Artémire, the virtuous wife of the usurper Cassandre, who actually loves the rightful aspirant of Philotas, is persecuted by her husband, and is ultimately saved by his unexpected death.

[1][2]: 408–10 The publishers of the Kehl edition of Voltaire's complete works could not find a synopsis for the play, so their arrangement of the surviving fragments was based on a parody of Artémire listed in the Comédie-Italienne in an act by Dominique, only two days after the premiere.

[5] After being withdrawn from the public theatre, Artémire had seven further performances by request of the Regent's mother Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine.

[8] Although not popular with the theatre-going public, Artémire was sufficiently well-received at court to secure Voltaire's permission to return to Paris, from where he had been banished for offending the Regent.

Two short fragments from the fourth act were first published by Pierre Desfontaines in the appendix to the Bernard edition of La Ligue in Amsterdam in 1724.