faire preuve de pénétration, prove that I had insight

30. je ne vois nullement que ce soit . . . I can see no reason for thinking that it is . . .

Page 112. — ri. voie Vénus en rêve, should dream of Venus.

16. vous avez fait des romans. One of Mérimée’s favorite references to himself. See the Introduction, pages ix-x.

Page 113. — 3. ... oiseaux blancs. According to Virgil (Æneid, XI, 243 ff.) and Ovid ( Metam ., XIV, 455 ff.), Diomed, king of Argos, who had offended Venus by wounding her before T-oy, on returning is driven away from Argos by his unfaithful wife, goes to Italy and conquers the land of the Daunians, where he sees nearly all his companions changed by Venus into birds.

4. cet entretien classique, this conversation on classical themes. Mote Mérimée’s mockery of Peyrehorade’s pseudo-science.

5. manger comme quatre, to eat enough for an army (lit. ‘ for four people ’). Proverbial expression.