Scène I

Page 3 Une 4 — L'ébranlement sied bien : Emotion (fear) is quite proper, ///. is vvell becoming. " When such storms are seen ready to biirst over our heads, even the bravest may hesitate." — Etym., Ebranlement, from ébranler which is derived from the Old French brant, branc, or bran, sword-blade. Hence also the Fr. v. brandir. Cf. English, io bra>idisJi. N.B. — AU substantives ending in -ment (about 756 in number) are masc, with the exception oi jument, mare, {{toxa'LoX. j'ionentitm \tox jugmcniuml, a beast of burden ; properly, the yoked animal, from jungere, to join, and pigum, yoke). In Old French jutnent meant a beast of burden, but now it signifies mare only. Cf. aXo^ov, the animal ivithont reason, which in Modem Greek means horse.—Sied is the third person of the près. Ind. of the rather obsolète v. secir (from Lat. scdere), which is used only in the third person of some tenses, and in the près, part. ; as, près. Ind., il sied, ils siéent ; Imperf., il seyait, ils seyaient ; Future, il siéra, ils siéront ; Conditional, il siérait, ils siéraient ; près. Subj., qu'il siée, qu'ils siéent ; près, part., seyant or séant.

3 7 — S'étonne : Is disturbed. — Etym., Low Lat. Ex-

ionare, compoundedof ^x, and the radical /i?«ar^, seen in at-to7iare, properly, to thunder at, and jiq., to amaze, to astonish. This verb was formerly spelt estonner, and meant also to resound. Cf. Anglo-Saxon stunian, and Engl. to stun,

3 II — Déplaisirs: Griefs, sorrows. — Etym. (Lat, disfUccre \dis, placere']). The subsi. plaisir is the old Inhniiive, and as such is of the masc. gender. Cf. devoir, duty, subst. masc, from

6o HORACE.

the Inf. drooir, to owe [by a moral obligation] ; pouvoir, subst. masc, power, from the Inf. pouvoir, to be able ; savoir, knovvledge, learning, subst. masc. , from the Inf. savoir, to know. The Modem Fr. v. plaire cornes from Lat. placera, by displacement of the Lat. accent (jplacère for placiré). Plâccre, regularly contracted to plac're, becomes plaire.

Page 3 Une 14 — Pour le sexe, for notre sexe.

4 û — Respirer le jour : To live, lit, to breathe the

day. "Respirer le jour" is often used by Corneille, Racine, and other great poets, for vivre, exister. — Etym., Lat. respirare (re, spirare), to takebreath again. — Joitr, formerly jor z.wàjorn, cornes from the Ital. giorno, from Lat. diurmis, diurnal, daily, which in Low Lat. was applied to the length of time called a day.

4 II — This admirable line, says Voltaire, has become proverbial.

4 17 — Ne saurait : Cannot. The,v. savoir (sachant, su, je sais, je sus) has often the meaning of to be able, as, "Vous verrez ce que je sais faire,'* you will see what I can do ; "Je ne saurais faire cela," I cannot do that. — Etym., Lat. sapere, properly to taste, by changing the Lat. accent (sapëre, instead of sapere, ■which became later sapire and savire).

4 21 — In this line the vvord e}t refers to the subst. promesse, included in the v. f ont promis (line 20), and may be translated by " of that promise."

4 23 — Qui suit l'arrêt : Wliich obeys the decree. — Etym., suivre, from Lat. seqicere, for sequi, as in Fr. ail Lat. déponent hâve been replaced by active verbs. Arrêt, formerly arrest, from the verb arrester, spelt now arrêter, from Lat. adrestare, arrestare (ad, re, stare}.

4 28 — Les colonnes d'Hercule : The pillars of Hercules. Mounts Calpe, in Hispania Bœtica (now Gibraltar), and Abyla, in Africa, on the Straits of Gibraltar, were called by the ancicnts "Pillars of Hercules," as, according to tradition, Hercules had ended his travels there. Hère this expression is used fig., and means the extrême limits of the world.

4 35 — Heur : Happiness, good fortune. This word (formerly eiér, aûr, from Lat. aitgurium, which signified fîrst a présage, then good or ill fortune), is to be often found in Corneille ; but towards the end of the seventeenth century it

NOTES. 6i

began to grow obsolète, and now we see it only in compound words, as hon-heiir, mal-heur (spelt bonheur and malheur), heureux, &.C. N.B. — Heure, liour, cornes froni the Lat. hora. Pap-i A Une 36— Se laissant ravir : Yielding. Ravir is used hère ^ ^ for déduire. S'C note, p. 9. 1- 9— lO- Cor-

neille makes amour sometimes masc., but oftener fem. In prose amour is masc. in the sing., and fem. in the plural, unless it means Cupids, Loves, e 8— Eût fait, cllipsis for eût fait le sujet de.

\ g— Tant qu'on ne s'est choqué qu'en de légers com-

bats : As long as they hâve encountered each other only in small fights.— Etym., Combat is the verbal subst. of combattre, from Lat. ciim, and batere, popular form of batuere or battuere, to strike, beat.

I* 10 Jeter à bas, for terrasser, to crush down ; ht. to

throw down.— Etym., Jeter, from 'LzX. jactare, to throw, to ?img.— Bas, from Low Lat. bassus, which in Isidore of Seville, and Papias bas the meaning of curtus, Inimilis.

* 12— Toute Romaine : Thoroughly Roman. The adv. Tout = quite, thoroughly, takes the mark ot the fem. (and plur.) when preceding an adj. or past part, beginning with a consonant or h aspirate.

e 16— Maligne joie : Malignant joy. Voltaire objects to the epithet maligne, and says that Sabina's joy being perfectly natural, Corneille ought to haye written " Quelque secrète joie," . . • Tne masc. of this adj. is malin, from Lat. maligmcs, as the g before w, n, r, and d, disappears in French : e.^., pigmentiim, piment, capsicum ; benignus, bénin, kind, good-natured ; légère^ lire, to read ; Magdahna, Madeleine. But the ^ reappears in the fem. of bénin and malin = bénigne, maligne. G remains also in enseigner, to teach, from insignare, lit. to engrave. Cf. Gr. 7i7vÛ7)cai, and Lat. gnosco=: nosco ; gnascor=nascor ; gnobilis=:nobilis, &c. 5 31 — Egale à, /w- juste, impartial.

c 33— Au milieu de tant d'âpres rigueurs : In the midst of so many severe trials. The préposition de, corresponding to the Lat. genitive, is joined ta such adverbs of quantity as rien, nothing > (nihil), assez, enough (satis), trop, too much

(nimis), moins, less (minus), /6'M,little (parum), beaucoup, much (mullum), plus, more (plus), iant, so much or so many (tantum).

Page 5 liiie 34 — Voltaire observes that as Sabina must not hâte her husband and her children if the Romans are victorious, it would hâve been better to hâve made her say : —

" Mes larmes aux vaincus sans haïr les vainqueurs."

5 35 — In this line, and in the second of page 6, que means

how.

6 12 — Qu'on avait pris journée ^r pris jour, vs'hich is

more correct) : That the day had been fixed. yournée means either the whole of a day, or a battle.

6 16 — In this Une hier is wrongly scanned as a word of

one syllable ; sce line 12. — Etym., Lat. heri, yesterday. — Entretint, y^r elle causa avec : she conversed, spoke with. See note, p. 44, 1. I.

7 I — It w^ould be more correct to say, Essayez sur ce

point de . . .

7 6 — A cacher, for pour cacher, like in Lat. ad celait-

dum.