SCENE VI
Page 23 line 12 — De votre part : In your name.
23 13— J’ai fait mon pouvoir : I did what I could.
Pouvoir, the infinitive, is used here as a substantive. J’ai fait ce que j’ai pu, j’ai fait mon possible, are synonymous and more usual expressions ; in the latter an adj. is used as a subst.
2 3 24 — Puisqu’il en abuse : Since he abuses my leniency.
En represents not a Word, but the idea, traiter sans violence. Notice that the French abuser never means to insult.
23 25 — Assurez vous de lui : Apprehend him.
.23 27 — Tout bouillant encor de sa querelle : Straight
from his quarrel, boiling over with wrath.
24 7— De grâce : I entreat you.
2j 12 — Qui s’expliquent : Which can be uttered, ex-
pressed, made. The antécédent of qui is submissions, apologies.
24 16— Son bras nourri dans les alarmes : His arm trained
to the périls of war; nursed amid war’s alarums. Corneille, La Fontaine, &c., hâve used the substantive nourriture for éducation . Nourriture passe nature is a proverb which means éducation can alter natural dispositions. Alarmes, in poetry, is taken for war, particularly the dangers of war ; it came in the sixteenth century from the Italian military term ail' arme, which means “aux armes,” to arms ; it was often spelt allarme in the seventeenth century.
24 17 — A la pointe des armes : At the sword’s point, in
lawful fight.
24 18 — Il satisfera î He will give satisfaction. This verb
is seldom used absolutely as it is here. Notice. — Satisfaire aux questions, to ansvver questions ; Satisfaire à la conscription, to dravv for the army.
24 19 — Attendant qu’il Fait su, voici qui répondra
Until he is apprised of it (that you allow him to give satisfaction by a duel), here am I to answer for him. Voici for “vois ci,” “vois fci,” see here (one who will answer for him).
NOTES
Pdgt 24 line 20 — L’âge: Here youth. It is used more frequently in the sense of old âge. Un homme d’un certain âge, an oldish man. Cf . —
She was not old, nor young, nor at the years Which certain people cali a “certain âge,” Which yet the most uncertain âge appears.
— Byron, “ Beppo."
24 23— A de meilleurs objets : Has better things in view
(than such cjuarrels).
24 23 — Est meilleur ménager du : Is more sparing of.
24 24 — Mes soucis les conservent, Comme le chef a soin
des membres qui le servent : My jeaîous care protects them, as the head cares for the limbs, its servants. Chef, Lat. caput , is scarcely used now otherwise than in the sense of chief, principal, head man. Notice. — Sermon divisé en trois chefs, sermon dividedinto three parts ; Chef-d’œuvre, masterpiece ; chef-lieu, chief town.
24 30 — Il a perdu d’honneur : He has dishonoured. No-
tice.—Perdre de réputation, To take away anyone’s character ; perdre here has the sense of priver ; hence perdre de, as priver de.
24 32 — S’attaquer à mon choix . . .: To impugn myown
choice is to challenge me.
25 I — Au reste: Now. Corneille’s lineis the only example
of this sense of “au reste” given by Littré, who oonsiders that it means “parlons d’autre chose. ”
25 2 — Arborer les drapeaux : To hoist the flags. Arborer
(from Lat. arbor, a tree), to raise upright like a tree. Ten ships under the flag of our old enemies.
25 6 — De se plus hasarder : To venture any more, again.
25 13— De plus près : Cf. from afar, de loin.
25 ?\ — Un flux de pleine mer : The rising tide.
25 23 — Mal sûr: Uncertain. Cf. maladroit, awkward ;
malcontent, discontented ; mal-appris, unmannered. Sûr, Old Fr. seur, seür ; Provençal segur ; Span. seguro ; Lat. securus , free from care, hence the French meaning safe, sure. The circumflex points out the contraction, and helps to distinguish this word from sur, upon; Lat. super.
