Adam Mickiewiczs ‘Forty and Four’: A conjecture

This article attempts to formulate a new interpretation of the mysterious messianic character marked "Forty and Four" from the Vision of Priest Piotr in Adam Mickiewicz's poetic drama Dziady (Forefathers' Eve), Part III. After a review of earlier readings of this crux and its symbolism, the author of the article presents his own proposal, which contextualizes the enigmatic number in three historical frameworks. The first of them is ancient history, and, more specifically, 'Forty four' is seen as a reference to the Ides of March in 44 B.C., the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of conspirators led by Brutus. The other two relevant contexts are the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, and the high tides of modern history culminating in tyrannicide. In effect, the 'Forty four' passage is seen as an affirmation or even a sacralization of tyrannicide, symbolized by not only by inexplicit references to Brutus and the Israelite heroine Judith. It is a theme which reverberates not only in Dziady but also throughout Adam Mickiewicz's work.