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Jean Racine - Esther
176 pris. Cf. prendre jour avec quelqu'un = "to make an appointment."
182 les restes, very strong when applied to persons.
183 See l. 140, N.
189 Note the agreement of the adverb. - Le feu de = "the fire that inspired . . ."
194 affecte = "claims." The word is very skillfully chosen. It conveys, without the slightest disrespect,
Esther's sense of the arbitrary character of this law.
203 sans [que je puisse] le prévenir. The queen may not even inform the king of her desire to
speak with him.
208 Que dis-je? = "Nay!"
209 sang, a frequent metonymy for race, as in English.
211 Book of Esther, iv. 14: "and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time
as this?"
214 vain - "idle," "useless." Cf. "in vain."
216 ses saints = "his holy ones."
218 d'un enfant, and not d'une enfant, because the statement is general. The next line appeals to
Esther directly, hence the fem. heureuse.
221 peuvent = "can avail."
226 Cf. Isaiah, xl. 17. "All the nations are as nothing before him; they are counted to him less than
nothing."
227 trépas (from trans and low Latin passare) is the passing across the boundary of life.
Cf. our two uses of "trespass."
230 que is here a survival from the very frequent construction which begins with c'est: c'est, sans
doute, que. . .-Éprouver has either an active sense, "to put to the test," or a passive, "to
experience."
232 The addition of bien to vouloir weakens the meaning from strong volition to
condescension. Here: "has deigned." Cf. l. 357. Similarly aimer = "to love," but aimer
bien = "to like."
234 en. See App. V, ii. C.
237 cette grâce, i.e., of being the instrument of our delivery. The statement is of course hypothetical, and
the future is used, instead of the conditional, only for greater directness and force.
238 toute votre race, obviously "thou and thy father's house," Book of Esther, iv. 14.
240 assidus à prier is the order.
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