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Jean Racine - Esther
Persian kings, the Achemenidae. Susa, Persepolis, and Ecbatana were the principal towns of, Persia, the
biblical "Elam."
18 Note the formal masc. assis.
20 Sion, properly one of the four hills, on which Jerusalem was built, and often used as the name of the
town itself, here stands for the Jewish nation, to which Jerusalem stood in the same relation as Mecca to
the Mohammedans.
23 horreur, a very strong word, because expressing the physical effect of fear (here "religious awe"). Cf.
Latin horridus, horresco, etc.
24 J'ai su. For tense, see App. II, iii. B. Savoir is often elegantly used = "to succeed," especially in this
tense.
37 For this Assuerus, see Introduction, section IV.
29 ressort (lit. that which "comes out again" when pressed in) is any mechanical "spring;" often used
figuratively.
31-34 See Book of Esther, i. 10-22. On the assumption that Assuerus is Darius, Vashti is Atossa,
daughter of Cyrus, and wife, successively, of Cambyses II., Smerdis, and Darius, to the last of whom she
bore Xerxes and Artabazanus.
33-34 Epexegesis, or explanation, of disgrace. Cf. ll. 250-252.
36 offensee, in the correct etymological sense of "wounded." Vashti left an "aching void" in the king's
heart.
39 L'Inde, now usually l'Indus, is generally the river, and rarely India, in Racine's
writings.
40 comparaitre, always used of appearance in answer to official summons.
41 indompte, a classical epithet. Cf. indomitique Dahae, Verg. Aen. VIII. 728. The warlike and
nomadic character of the Scythians increased in the mind their geographical remoteness. The Parthians
are supposed to have sprung from Scythian exiles. The two races occupied the vast regions of
north-western Asia.
45 heureux, like "happy," often = "successful."
49 agite refers of course to il in l. 50.
51 The exquisite taste and modesty of the queen's narrative has been commented upon in Introd. section
IV.
54 ma race et mon pays. We are told (Book of Esther, ii. 5-7) that Mordecai, who had taken Esther for
his daughter, had been carried away from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; whence it follows that Esther,
too, was not only a Jewess by race, but a native of Palestine. The Book of Esther (ii. 20) says she had not
showed "her kindred nor her people."
56 peuple means: 1. "nation;" 2. "mass of common people," in contradistinction to la noblesse; 3.
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