Lovers

S矇bastien is fifteen years old and already versed in the medicinal arts when he meets the young nobleman Balthazar de Cr矇on, whose life he saves after the latter is thrown from a horse. De Cr矇on, struck by the boy's beauty as much by his talents as a healer, orders S矇bastien to his manor some months later so he can instruct him in the ways of the court, hoping thus to install him as Louis XV's surgeon. His motives, however, are clouded by his lust for S矇bastien, and after a brief period of restraint Balthazar and S矇bastien loose both their passion and their imaginations. But it is 1749 and their affair scandalizes the French court, bringing the king's wrath down upon them. Balthazar is eventually presented with an ultimatum: repudiate S矇bastien and live, or do not, and die.