SCENE IV
Charlotte, looking at the knife, méditâtes on what she is about to do, She debates whether she heu the right to kill, and concludes that now, the law hamng no force, a private person niay rightly kill the criminal. Even if her act is to make her name infamous, she is ready to commit it, L 1760. Le voilà ! &^c, This is one of the long soliloquies or tirades dear to the French drama.
L 1761. jusçues au. See note on p. 7, 1. 102.
Page 93.
L 1768. À cette alternative. The alternative is statcd in the next Une. * This is the alternative to which we are reduced.'
Page 94.
1. 1788. selon son bras, *according to his strength.' 1. 1797. Le fer d^Harmodius et d* Aristogiton. Thèse were two Athenians who, from a private grievance merely, plotted to murder Hippias and Hipparchus, the sons and successors of Pisistratus, who had made himself ruler of Athens. They killed Hipparchus, but were then seized and put to death. Hippias now became a suspicious and cruel t3rrant, and, after his overthrow, Harmodius and Aristogiton were celebrated as republican martyrs. The allusion to the garlands cornes from the fact that at the festival when Hipparchus was killed, the Athenians carried their weapons wreathed in leaves.
L 1798. Que si, ' but if.' Que si is sometimes used to begin a sentence like the Latin quod si.
L 180S. le mépris bravé, *to defy shame.*
L- 1810. Qu€ Je sauve la France et que je sois flétrie, Danton used almost the same words in a speech.
L 1816. sauf à remployer^ * provîded they use it.*
Page 96. -fl-
1. 1880. aussi connecte the wish expressed in ihe Une with the previous wishes, Que je sauve la France, âr*c, The two linés immediately preceding {A A/ cœurs indifférents, dr»f.) are only an ejaçulation. Aussi applies to puissent trembler, not to malfaiteurs,
L 1822. Ils songeront du moins. At her trial Charlotte was asked why she tried to kill only one of the Jacobins. She replied that she thought, if he were dead, the others would perhaps be afraid.
Stage directions.
en sautant à la corde, 'skipping.'
