Scene III
IQ 4 — Fais agir ta constance en ce coup de malheur :
Call your firmness to your help in this sudden misfortune.
19 6 — N’est couvert que d’un peu de nuage : Is but
slightly overcast.
19 8 — Outré d’ennuis : Overwhelmedwith sorrows, woe-
worn. Notice. — Ennui was a much st ronger term in the severrteenth century than it is now. Etym. formerly enui, meaning annoyance, pain, hatred ; Spanish enojo, Old Venetian inodio . In the Giosses of Cassel (Charlemagne’s time) we hâve in odio habui — i.e., I was sick and tiréd of. — Brachet. Outré, past part, of
N outrer , from outre, Ital. oltre. Provençal oltra,
Lat. ultra^ beyond, over ; hence outrer , to exaggerate, to go beyond (what is reasonable or true). Lat. u becomes o in many French
NOTES
words : columba , colombe, a dove ; tnundus , monde, world; plumbum. , plomb, lead ; &c.,
Pï£4 19 //*k g— Bonace : a calm at sea ; frequently used metaphorically in the seventeenth century. In modem French it is spelt bonasse , from Ital. bonaccia , Lat. bonus . <2^0 are termination9
with a “péjorative” sense. C’est un homme bonasse (weak, foolish), et peu respecté dans sa famille.
IQ II — Je n’en saurois douter : I cannot doubt it. Notice
that savoir , in the sense of pouvoir , is used in the conditional only, and with the signification of the présent tense ; the négative is not strengthened.
19 12 — D’accord : Consenting, agreed. Notice. — Je suis
d’accord avec vous, I agréé with you ; D’accord, granted ; J’en demeure d’accord, I grant it ; D’un commun accord, unanimously.
19 14 — Au malheureux moment : At the fatal moment
when . . . Notice. — Que for oàt dans lequel, in which. This use of que for a préposition and a relative pronoun was very common in Corneille’s time ; it is rare now.
19 19 — Impitoyable à ... ; Without pity or mercy
for . . .
19 20— Que tu vas me coûter de pleurs : How many tears
you will cost me. Que stands here for combien . Notice. — Que de monde il y a dans les rues ! what a quantity of people there is in the streets ! Que vous aimez à parler ! how much you like to talk ! Qu’il est grand ! how tall he is !
19 22 — L’a fait naître : Gave rise to it. Notice. — L’esprit
de parti a fait naître de nouveaux troubles, party spirit bred new disturbances ; Nos plus grands plaisirs naissent de nos besoins, our greatest pleasures spring from our wants.
19 24 — Accommoder : Reconcile. Notice. — I can accom-
modate you with two or three, je puis vous en fournir deux ou trois ; There is room enough here to accommodate the whole family, il y a ici de quoi loger toute la famille.
19 26— Fera l’impossible : Literally, will do what is im-
possible ; will do its utmost.
19 28 — De si mortels affronts : Such deadly insults.
19 29 — On fait agir 1 They put into play ; they employ.
84 LE Cl D.
Page 20 Une 7 — Plus que je ne l’espère : Moie lhan T hope for it Notice. — “Ne” in the subordinate clause in obedience to this rule : after comparative of inequality “ ne ” must be used in the subordinate clause when the principal one is neither négative nor interrogative : C’est autre chose que je “ne” pensais. (Autre and autrement implÿ comparison because what is different, for a thing, must hâve something more or less than that thing ) Vous écrivez mieux que vous ne parlez ; Il est plus riche qu’on ne croit.
20 17 — Arrêtent. Notice here the présent instead of the
future ; the présent is much more expressive, and gives a greater idea of Chimène’s influence over Rodrigue than the future would ; she has but to say a word, and her wishes are accomplished.
20 18 — Quel comble à mon ennui : ’Tis the crowning of
my grief ! (how full my cup of woe I) Comble, Lat. cumulus , which signifies a summit in several Mediæval texts.
*0 21 — Au feu qui me l’engage: To the love that binds
him to me.
21 I — Je n’ai plus de souci: I hâve no more anxiety.
Souci, care, a verbal substantive from soucier, Lat. sollicitare (by contraction to soll'citare9 whence Old French solder). Cf. solliciter, to solicit ; Solliciter des suffrages, to canvass.
