SCENE III
46 16 — Race : Might perhaps be here translated by
blood of so many sires. . . .
46 17 — De la tienne: Refers to valeur,
46 25 — Vers : We should prefer envers now ; vers is used
for towards, physically speaking, envers in a figurative or moral sense. Il vient vers moi, he cornes towards me ; il s’est mal conduit envers moi, he behaved ill towards me.
Frenchgrammarians, withtheFrench Academy, condemn the use of vers for envers ; but M. Littré very justly remarks that vers having the same etymology as envers , and, above ail, being used for envers by Corneille (1606-1684), Molière (1622-1673), Pascal (1623-1662), Racine (1639-1699), Voltaire (1694-1778), ought not to be condemned, and may be used in the sense of envers when found useful. Vers, Lat. versus, turned ; envers, Lat. in and versus.
47 I — Désormais : Henceforth. Was in Old Fr., dès
ore mais ; dès is a contraction of de-ex ; ore cornes from hora ; mais from magis ; so that dès ore mais is literally from this hour (time) more, from this time forvvard, henceforth. Dès, according to M. Littré, is a contraction of de and ex, as dedans of de and intus . Ore, from Lat. hora ; the Lat. h has been dropped, as in homo, on indef. pronoun ; habere, avoir , etc., the final a has become e as in rosa, rose ; cupa, coupe , cup ; fabula, fable ; tabula, table , &c. Mais, from Lat. magis ; the
French locution “ n’en pouvoir mais,” non fosse magis , means literally not to be able to do any more, to be tired ouc, or powerless.
47 2— Qu'il comble d’épouvante : May it fill with awe ;
combler means to fill up, and in a figurative sense to load, with particuîarly good things ;
NOTES
IOI
combler de caresses, de biens, de bienfaits, etc. , combler d’épouvante, or of any other unpleasant thing, is not frequently used ; we should say now remplir d' épouvante.
Page 47 line 5 — Épargne ma honte : Spare me, spare my modesty.
Notice. — Ne soyez pas honteux, do not be bashful.
47 6 — Elle fait trop de compte : Reckons too high, values
too highly ; elle refers to “ majesté,” which is féminine. Notice. — Her Majesty or his Majesty would be “ Sa Majesté ” for a Queen or a King.
47 15— Ne va point dans l’excès: Is not exceedingly
great.
47 22 — Sollicita mon âme : Pressed me, urged me . • .
47 25 — Brigade, here indefinite : Band, troop.
47 29— J’excuse ta chaleur, etc. : I pardon thy too rasb
vengeance.
47 31 — Crois que dorénavant Chimène a beau parler :
You may be certain that henceforth Chimene will speak in vain. Avoir beau , folio wed by an infinitive, means that what the infinitive expresses is done or suffered in vain. Cf. the English slang expression, “ it is ail very fine.’* Your speaking is ail very fine, vous avez beau parler.
48 5 — Reprenoient de courage, de, governed by tant , the
adverb of quantity at the beginning of the preceding line.
48 7 — Lors, synonym of alors, then ; alors stands for d
lors (à l’heure), at the time ; lors is hardly used now by itself ; lors que> alors , pour lors , dès lors . Notice. — Lors de mon séjour à
Paris, at the time I was staying in Paris.
48 12 — En fait de même : Does the same. We should
prefer now fait de même. In the seventeenth century en was used in several expressions where we should now deem it unnecessary.
48 16 — Obscure clarté : Dim light.
... ... — Point de soldats, etc. An ellipsis for on ne voit
point de soldats , no soldiers. Notice. — Point and pas y commonly joined to the négative to intensify it, are also used negatively before substantives, adjectives, adverbs, &c., oralone, r for the sake of rapidity, the verb and négative being then omitted. Ex. î Qui a fait cela?
who did that ? Pas moi> not I ; for Ce n’est pas moi , etc.
Page 48 line 2*] — Poussons jusques au ciel mille cris éclatants;
Send to the sky loud and repeated cries (rend the sky with. . . ). Mille here is taken in the same sense as the Lat. sexaginta , for an indefinitely large number.
48 29 — Les Maures se confondent : Confusion sets in
among the Moors.
48 31 — Avant que de combattre, avant de . . . avant que ,
are ail three found in our best authors ; the last term is the one least in use now.
48 37— S’oublient, here is taken in a passive sense, are
forgotten.
