Youth Aristia is generally believed to have been born in
Bucharest, the Wallachian capital, in 1800. The date was pushed back to 1797 in some sources, but Aristia's relatives denied that this was accurate. In 1952, folklorist Dimitrios Economides, who conducted interviews with the Aristia family, argued that Costache was born in
Istanbul, capital of the
Ottoman Empire, "around the year 1800". At the time of his birth, Wallachia and
Moldavia (the two
Danubian Principalities) were autonomous entities of the Ottoman realm; Greek cultural dominance and
Hellenization, represented primarily by
Phanariotes, were at their "great acme". Though seen by scholar Petre Gheorghe Bârlea as
Aromanian by origin, Aristia himself noted that, on his paternal side at least, he was a "good Greek". He described his relationship with Wallachia in terms of voluntary assimilation, as advised by his father:
Fii grec și român zdravăn, fii recunoscător ("Be steadfast as a Greek and a Romanian, be thankful"). Immersed in Greek culture, he still had virtually no understanding of written Romanian until 1828. Costache entered Bucharest's Greek School during the reign of
Prince John Caradja, a Phanariote. His teachers there included philologist Constantin Vardalah. Before graduating, Aristia himself was an actor for the open-air venue at
Cișmeaua Roșie. Scholar
Walter Puchner, who dates these events to "the spring and autumn of 1817", questions the accuracy of historical records, noting that they contradict each other on the details; according to memoirist and researcher
Dimitrie Papazoglu,
Cișmeaua was in fact managed by "director Aristias". At that stage, acting in Wallachia was an all-male enterprise, and Aristia appeared as a female lead,
in drag. The
Cișmeaua troupe was sponsored by Caradja's daughter,
Lady Rallou. According to various accounts, she was impressed by Aristia's talent, and reportedly sent him abroad, to the
Kingdom of France, for Aristia to study under
François-Joseph Talma. The details of this claim are disputed. Researcher
Ioan Massoff notes that Aristia was never a member of Talma's acting class, but only a regular spectator to his shows, and after that his imitator. Puchner questions whether this trip ever took place, since "no evidence has surfaced for [Aristia's] stay in Paris." '
Arnauts, under a cross-bearing flag, being massacred by the
Ottoman Army in Bucharest The Aristias rallied to the cause of
Greek nationalism shortly before the
Greek uprising of 1821. Young Aristia joined
Alexander Ypsilantis's secret society, the
Filiki Eteria, which slowly engineered the nationalist expedition in Moldavia and Wallachia. In late 1818 and early 1819, a new Prince,
Alexandros Soutzos, allowed Aristia and his troupe to perform works of
political theater, portraying the "hatred of tyranny and self-sacrifice for the fatherland"—from
La Mort de César and
Mérope, by
Voltaire, to
Iakovakis Rizos Neroulos'
Aspasia. They were met with "frenetic applause, exuberance and overflowing emotions". Soutzos was troubled by this reception, and decided to ban all plays that could be construed as critiques of religion and political affairs. He was ignored by the troupe, who answered more directly to a group of Eterist conspirators; they continued with provocative stagings of plays by Voltaire and
Vittorio Alfieri, until May 1820, by which time local Greeks were in full preparation for the revolution. Aristia awaited the Eterists in Bucharest, which had been occupied by troops loyal to
Tudor Vladimirescu, who led a
parallel uprising of Romanians. In mid March 1821, Greeks in Bucharest, led by
Giorgakis Olympios, pledged to support Ypsilantis rather than Vladimirescu. The event was marked by a large display of Greek nationalism in downtown Bucharest, the details of which were committed to writing by
Constantin D. Aricescu from his interview with Aristia. The actor carried the "flag of liberty", an Eterist symbol showing
Constantine the Great and
Helena, alongside a cross and the slogan "
In this, conquer"; the obverse showed a
phoenix rising from its ashes. The ceremony ended with the banner being planted on the Bellu gate, announced to the crowds as prefiguring the future reconquest of
Byzantium. Reportedly, "the flag that was carried by Mr. Aristia" was later also adopted by
Sava Fochianos, who deserted to Ypsilantis'
Sacred Band alongside the Bucharest garrison. In April–August, Ypsilantis' forces were encircled and crushed by the
Ottoman Army. According to various accounts, Aristia fought alongside the Sacred Band of Wallachia in their
final stand at Drăgășani, side by side with a fellow actor, Spiros Drakoulis. before receiving sanctuary in the
Austrian Empire. He eventually settled in the
Papal States, where he reportedly continued his education and became familiar with Italian theater. Performing in charity shows for destitute children, in or around 1824 he met
Louis Dupré, who drew his portrait. Also at Rome, Aristia met the
Earl of Guilford, and later claimed to have received his quasi-parental protection. According to Ghica, Aristia reserved the title roles for himself, while Smărăndița and
Scarlat Ghica had supporting roles; their costumes were improvised from bed linen and old dresses. Ghica describes his teacher as an "epic" and "fiery" character, noting in passing that Aristia was also promoting the
modern Western fashion, including the
tailcoat, having discarded all
Ottoman clothing after 1822. This period also witnessed the first coordination between Aristia and a Wallachian writer,
Ion Heliade Rădulescu. Inspired by the latter, in 1825 Aristia produced and performed in
Molière's
George Dandin, turning it into an anti-Phanariote manifesto. It remains the only work by Molière ever to be brought on stage in Wallachia, despite many translations of his other plays. Also in 1825, Aristia traveled to
British Corfu, performing in his own Greek rendition of Voltaire's
Mahomet. Sponsored by Guilford, Economides suggests that Aristia had returned to Bucharest in 1827, joining the staff of
Saint Sava College as a teacher of French; One account by
Iosif Hodoșiu suggests that Aristia returned to his activities on the stage during the actual occupation, in the interval following Grigore Ghica's ouster. His "timid attempt" included shows of Alfieri's
Bruto and
Oreste, the latter with
C. A. Rosetti as
Aegisthus (displaying "such natural ferocity that he frightened the public, and even his teacher, Aristia").
Philharmonic Society Aristia's conversion to
Romanian nationalism, or the "ideals of the Romanian national community", is noted by historian Nicolae Isar as being exemplary for a generation of assimilated Greeks. The poet was initially threatened by the overwhelming prestige of French culture, which marginalized Greek influence: he reportedly lost students to the new French school, founded by
Jean Alexandre Vaillant. However, he compensated by exploiting his own French literary background. He is thus credited as a contributor to Heliade's Romanian version of
Mahomet, which appeared in 1831. Despite his acculturation, Aristia continued to publicize the staples of "Eterist dramatic repertoire", which included both
Mahomet and
Lord Byron's
Siege of Corinth. From November 1832, headmaster
Petrache Poenaru employed Aristia to teach French and
Demotic Greek at Saint Sava. He also gave informal classes in drama and had a series of student productions involving Rosetti and
Ioan Emanoil Florescu; during these, Rosetti "revealed himself as a very gifted thespian". Aristia also discovered and promoted a Bucharest-born tragedian, Ioan Tudor Curie. He continued to have an influence on fashion: most students, above all Curie and Costache Mihăileanu, imitated their teacher's every mannerism. Because of Aristia, a generation of actors "trilled and swagged", wore their hair long, and put on "garish" neckties. As reported by Curie himself, it was Aristia who took the initiative in transforming irregular theatrical classes into a more structured drama club: "He was famous artist, a good painter, an architect, a sculptor, a poet. He had great, solid ideas about each and everything. He wanted a classical theater; he proceeded by searching through the libraries of Greek monks, those who were present at Bucharest, for those books showing Arab and Jewish costumes and from these antique models he created the theater's wardrobe, sewing them together himself, out of fine cloth, [and] creating a historically accurate scene". Aristia received encouragement from the
boyar nobility, who had heard of his "performing wonders" as an educator, but also from the Russian Governor-general,
Pavel Kiselyov. Kiselyov visited Aristia to make sure that the gatherings were non-political in content, after which he gave his personal blessing. He organized classes in acting and declamation at the Dramatic School, a branch of the Philharmonic Society. This was the first learning institution for professional acting to exist in the
Balkans. Alumni included three of Wallachia's pioneer actresses, Caliopi Caragiale, Ralița Mihăileanu, and
Eufrosina Popescu, as well as the future playwright
Dimitrie C. Ollănescu-Ascanio. From November 1, 1835, Aristia and his mentor Heliade were editors of its mouthpiece,
Gazeta Teatrului. That year, he also published a textbook on
French grammar, reprinted in 1839 as
Prescurtare de grammatică françozească. It was closely based on
Charles Pierre Chapsal and
François-Joseph-Michel Noël's
Nouvelle Grammaire Française. He followed up with a series of French-language courses, including a
phrase book and a translation of J. Wilm's book of moral tales.
Mahomet was a favorite with the public—Aristia did not appear in it, but served as a
prompter. It was never printed, but served as the basis for a show on December 1, 1836. He prepared, but never managed to print, Molière's
Forced Marriage. In 1837, Aristia also published his version of
Homer's
Iliad, which included his short biography of the author. The published version also featured Aristia's notes, outlining answers to his earliest critics, whom he called "
Thersites". This is sometimes described as the first
Iliad translation into Romanian; some evidence suggests that Moldavia's
Alecu Beldiman had produced another one ca. 1820, around the time when
Iordache Golescu also penned a fragmentary version.
Saul was the Society's other major success: it doubled as a patriotic play, with messages that theatergoers understood to be subversively aimed at occupation by the
Russian Empire. Russian envoys took offense, and the production was suspended. Its noticeable opposition to Alexandru II, and financial setbacks, put an end to the Philharmonic Society during the early months of 1837. Aristia's pupils attempted to take up similar projects, but generally failed to build themselves actual careers. Exceptions included Costache Caragiale, who was able to find employment at
Botoșani in Moldavia, as well as Eufrosina Popescu and Ralița Mihăileanu, Samples of his poetry were taken up in
Mihail Kogălniceanu's review,
Alăuta Românească. At home, the Ghica regime continued to bestow accolades upon the poet. In 1838, he was received into boyardom after being created a
Serdar; in January 1836, he had married the Romanian Lucsița Mărgăritescu. Around that time, Aristia was inhabiting a townhouse to one side of Bucharest's Lutheran Church (Luterană Street), where he also hosted the city's first state-sanctioned girls' school. His father in law,
Serdar Ioan Mărgăritescu, granted the couple a vineyard in the unincorporated neighborhood of
Giulești, and various assets worth 35,000
thaler. Costache and Lucsița's first-born was a son, found dead at the age of three; a daughter, Aristeea Aristia, was born to them in 1842. Curie was recalled to play the lead in
Saul during December 1837, and acted with such pathos that he fainted. Doctors intervened to
draw blood, prompting Heliade to remark that Curie had "shed his blood for the honor of Romanian theater". Although the play could go back into production from January 1838, and also taken up by Caragiale's troupe in Moldavia, Heliade and Aristia's activity was interrupted by major setbacks. As reported by Hodoșiu, "indirect persecutions", showing Alexandru II's mounting jealousy, but also conflicts within the Society itself, again brought Aristia's work to a standstill. The Philharmonic ceased functioning when
Ieronimo Momolo ended their lease on his theater hall. During those months, the conservative schoolteacher
Ioan Maiorescu published a detailed critique of Wallachia's educational system, prompting Aristia to take up its defense. Around that time, Aristia and Curie went on a theatrical tour of the
Kingdom of Greece, where the former set up a Philodramatic Society. Also in 1840, a printing press in Athens put out Aristia's only original work of drama, the tragedy
Αρμόδιος και Ἀριστογείτων ("
Harmodius and Aristogeiton"). Dissatisfied with the Ottonian regime, the author privately confessed that he longed to make his definitive return to Wallachia, "among those good
Dacians". Aristia held his own column in the form of "moralizing tales",
Datoriile omului ("Man's Duties"), sometimes inspired by historical episodes from the times of
Mircea the Elder and
Matei Basarab. These alternated "careful pledges of submission to law and the authorities" with "critical notes against injustice and abuse by those in power." Curie, meanwhile, opted not to return to his homeland, signing for the
French Foreign Legion; he later settled in Moldavia. Those years also witnessed Aristia's enthusiasm for political change in Wallachia: also in 1843, he published
Prințul român ("The Romanian Prince"), which comprises encomiums for
Gheorghe Bibescu, winner of the
recent princely election. This was followed in 1847 by a similar work on
Marițica Bibescu, published as
Doamna Maria ("Lady Maria"). According to historian
Dumitru Popovici, Aristia was aware of how his non-Romanianness clashed with revolutionary ideals; like Caragiale and
Cezar Bolliac, he compensated with "grandiloquent gestures" that would display his affinities with locals. The poet reached his political prominence in June 1848, with the momentary victory of the
Wallachian Revolution. During the original uprising, he agitated among Bucharest's citizens, reciting "revolutionary hymns". Following Bibescu's ouster, the Provisional Government established a National Guard, and organized a contest to select its commander. Papazoglu recalls that Aristia was the first Guard commander, elected by the Bucharest citizenry with an acclamation on the field of Filaret. Other accounts suggest that Aristia presented himself as a candidate, but lost to government favorite
Scarlat Crețulescu, and was only appointed a regular member for one Bucharest's five defense committees. According to Aricescu, Aristia and Nicolae Teologu were supported by the populace, who gathered at Filaret to protest against Crețulescu's selection. This prompted the authorities to censure them with a proclamation against "anarchy"; as read by Aricescu, the document proved that Aristia and Teologu, as Heliade disciples, were less left-wing than Rosetti and other "demagogues", who made up most of the revolutionary cabinet. On July 7 (
Old Style: June 25), Crețulescu resigned, freeing his seat for Aristia. According to Papazoglu, entire sections of the National Guard existed only on paper. Those that did exist comprised regular members of the city
guilds in their work uniforms, who amused the populace with their poor military training. During his period as a revolutionary officer, Aristia himself helped carry out the clampdown on Bibescu loyalists. According to Heliade, the reactionary leader
Ioan Solomon was captured by "Constantin Aristias, a colonel in the national guard, who enjoyed the People's great confidence". Heliade claims that Aristia saved Solomon from a near-lynching, ordering his protective imprisonment at
Cernica. Another target of revolutionary vengeance was
Grigore Lăcusteanu, whose memoirs recall an encounter with "Aristia (hitherto a demented acting coach) and one Apoloni, armed to their teeth, their hats festooned with feathers." Lăcusteanu also claims that he easily tricked Aristia into allowing him to lodge with a friend,
Constantin A. Crețulescu, instead of being moved into an actual prison. Shortly after, Aristia resigned and was replaced with Teologu. He remained enlisted with the Guard, helping its new commander with the reorganization. According to one later record, Aristia also served as a revolutionary
Prefect of
Ilfov County (which included Bucharest).
Învățătorul Satului, directed by the radical
Nicolae Bălcescu from July 1848, employed the poet on its editorial team. Over three issues, it published his unabashed political essay,
Despre libertate ("On Liberty"). In September, the Revolution itself took a more radical turn: at a public rally on September 18 (O. S.: September 6),
Regulamentul Organic and
Arhondologia (the register of
titles and ranks) were publicly burned. Aristia and Bolliac participated in this event and gave "firebrand speeches." As reported by
Colonel Voinescu, the conservative memoirist, the "ridiculous parody" was entirely organized by "a Greek man, namely C. Aristia". Voinescu muses: "What should we call such an act? Which nation has ever set fire to its own laws before even making herself some new ones! but there is some consolation in the knowledge that the chief leader of this display was a Greek."
Imprisonment, deportation, and return The drift into radicalism was finally curbed by a new Ottoman intervention, which ended the Revolution altogether. As leader of the occupation force,
Mehmed Fuad Pasha ordered a roundup of revolutionaries. Aristia was imprisoned at
Cotroceni Monastery, part of a prison population which also included Bălcescu, Bolliac, Rosetti,
Ion C. Brătianu,
Ștefan Golescu,
Iosafat Snagoveanu, and various others; people less implicated in the events, such as
Dimitrie Ghica, were released back into society. On September 24, Fuad and
Constantin Cantacuzino signed an order to banish Aristia and other rebels from Wallachia. The early leg of his deportation journey was a boat trip up the
Danube, alongside his fellow poet-revolutionary
Dimitrie Bolintineanu, as well Bolliac, Snagoveanu, Ștefan Golescu,
Nicolae Golescu,
Alexandru Golescu-Albu, and
Grigore Grădișteanu. Outside
Vidin, Aristia wanted to pass the time by reciting from
Saul, before being struck down by his Turkish guard—unfamiliar with theater, he feared that Aristia had gone insane. According to one account, Aristia was due to be executed alongside other radicals, but got hold of the
firman and was able to modify its text before it reached his would-be executioners. Aristia was finally taken with the other exiles to
Ada Kaleh, some 160 kilometers upstream, where the revolutionaries negotiated crossing into Austrian territory by way of
Semlin—in effect, an escape from custody. Eventually, the group came ashore into a rural part of the
Banat, controlled by local Romanians, who defended the Austrian cause against the breakaway
Hungarian revolutionaries; Snagoveanu was able to persuade the peasants that the new arrivals, though revolutionary exiles, were not friends of the Hungarians, and that they could be granted safe conduct. The second part of the journey took Aristia into
Austrian Transylvania, alongside
Ion Ionescu de la Brad. The latter recalled in 1850: "I had the misfortune of spending 40 days on the Danube with this creature [Aristia], and then on our way to
Brașov we almost wrestled over me jibing at Heliade and the Phanariotes." A committed supporter of Heliade's post-revolutionary faction, Aristia successively lived in Brașov, Paris, Istanbul, and Athens. In February 1849, "Provisional Government members and delegates of the Romanian emigration", including Heliade and Aristia, signed a letter of protest addressed primarily to the
Frankfurt Parliament, asking for an international opposition to Russian intrusion into Wallachian political life. They asserted: "As
tributaries of the Sublime Porte and [in that] autonomous, Romanians, having fulfilled all their obligations toward the Ottoman Court, can now only place themselves under the protections of those powers interested in Turkish independence." Aristia took Heliade's part in his conflict with fellow exile Bălcescu, accusing the latter of having squandered funds collected for the revolutionary cause. A report by
Alexandru Golescu-Arăpilă informs that in May 1850 Aristia was stranded in Vienna, unable to continue his European journeys after a financial "blunder". As noted by the same Arăpilă, such episodes did not prevent Aristia from presenting the financial situation of revolutionary cells in unrealistic terms, and to promise wonders (
monts et merveilles). The poet had refused an offer of naturalization by Greece, and instead was seeking to follow Heliade's example and begin serving the Ottomans; for this reason, he traveled to
Ruschuk. Aristia also made ample efforts to be allowed back into Wallachia—Bibescu's brother,
Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, was by then the country's reigning Prince. By July 1850, Aristia had written several letters to both Știrbei and his Ottoman supervisors asking that he and his wife be forgiven. These letters show that he had buried two children and had one living daughter, Aristeea Aristia, as "my only fortune in this world." Știrbei gave his approval, and on September 13 a decree was issued allowing him and his family to cross the border; they did so in 1851. He now helped establish the prototype
National Theater Bucharest. Together with Costache Caragiale, he participated in the very first production of a play by that institution, on December 31, 1851. For a while in September 1855, the Prince considered making Aristia his State Librarian. Becoming a
Caimacam (Regent) in 1856, after the
Crimean War had put an end to Russian interventions,
Alexandru II Ghica finally awarded him that same office. In 1857–1858, he and
Carol Valștain, as employees of the fledgling Wallachian National Museum, worked to recover and store art bequeathed by
Barbu Iscovescu, a painter and revolutionary figure who had died in exile at
Pera.
Săteanul creștin was followed in 1857 by a first volume from
Plutarch's
Parallel Lives, including a biographical essay by
Dominique Ricard.
Final activities Though resuming his literary activities, Aristia declared himself frustrated in his work as a translator by the lack of a literary standard, including in matters of
Romanian Cyrillic orthography. He considered giving up on this activity. Also in 1857, after being contacted by the
British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS), Aristia began work on a Romanian Bible, for which he took on the signature "K. Aristias". He used the "latest Greek edition", verified against the
Masoretic Text. Three volumes, comprising all text between
Genesis and
Isaiah, was published in 1859 as
Biblia Sacra. In parallel, his
Iliad had reached he
Duchy of Bukovina, acquired by
Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi; in this version, it served to familiarize
Mihai Eminescu, the future poet, with Homer's work. and had by then produced a new one, ultimately published in 1858. Also in 1859, Aristia published his final original work of verse,
Cântare. Written from the point of view of children in an orphanage, it honored the musician and philanthropist Elisa Blaremberg. In 1860, the BFBS ended its contract with Aristia, who was demanding ever-increasing funds, and whose libertine lifestyle was viewed as distasteful by local missionaries. P. Teulescu of the
National Archives employed him as a translator of Greek Wallachian documents from the age of
Constantine Mavrocordatos. As noted by historian
Nicolae Iorga, the activity fit in with Aristia's talents, as "
something he was good at" (Iorga's italics). In 1864, Costache and Lucsița Aristia were living on Stejar Street. They declared themselves "of Hellenic origin, of Romanian birth, [and] of Christian Orthodox religion". His daughter Aristeea married the biologist Dimitrie Ananescu that same year; the younger Alexandrina was from 1871 the wife of Alexandru Radu Vardalah. Following the transformation of Saint Sava, Costache was assigned a chair at the new
University of Bucharest, but resigned in favor of his pupil Epaminonda Francudi. Aristia was largely inactive during the final two decades of his life. In April 1867, he endorsed
Constantin Dimitriade's effort to introduce more rigorous acting through a translation of
Joaquín Bastús' manual,
Tratado de Declamación. It appeared that same year, but proved to be "tedious, complicated, and quickly outdated." One other exception was an 1868 article for
Ateneul Român, where he campaigned for the adaptation of Romanian poetry to classical
hexameters. That same year, Bolliac's newspaper,
Trompetta Carpaților, asked Romanian authorities to sponsor Aristia's complete translation of the
Iliad, including its eventual publication. This stance was being largely ignored by the new cultural mainstream, formed around
Junimea, which favored the shedding of
Latin prosody in favor of more natural patterns. In a February 1876 issue of
Convorbiri Literare,
Junimist Ștefan Vârgolici described some of Aristia's lyrics as "very poorly written and very badly cadenced". The group also promoted a less pretentious version of the
Iliad, as provided by its member,
Ioan D. Caragiani. In May 1876, he received from the Romanian state the
Bene Merenti Medal, First class, at the same time as
Grigore Alexandrescu,
Dora d'Istria, and
Aaron Florian. Beginning that year, the Aristias rented a home on Sfinții Voievozi Street, west of
Podul Mogoșoaiei, where Costache hosted a literary salon. His body was taken for burial at Sfânta Vineri Cemetery. The state treasury provided 1000
lei for his "very austere" funeral. ==Literary work==