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Jean Racine - Esther
386 fait and not faite. See App. III.
392 fuit is the present tense because qui le fuit is equivalent to an adjective.
404 The story is that, at the death of Gomates, the candidates to the throne of Persia, unable to settle their
rival claims, agreed that he should be king whose horse should neigh first after sunrise, and that Darius
won the crown through the wit of his servant who led a mare to the appointed spot in advance. See
Herodotus, III. 85-86.
405 idée, by frequent metonymy for esprit.
406 Chaldaea was famous for its astronomers, who had fixed the duration of the year, were acquainted
with the zodiac, and as early as the middle of the fourth century B.C., already possessed astronomical
records extending over 1,900 years. They were also far-famed astrologers, and as such were in great
demand as late as the last years of the Roman empire.
415 eut du ciel. Cf. Gray's Elegy: "He gained from heaven, 'twas all he asked," etc.
419 Striking witness is borne to Haman's high position by the flattery paid him by Hydaspes.
426 Tout révère, for tous révèrent, for metrical reasons. See App. I, Metre.
430 Traiter de = "to call," always with an unfavorable connotation.
444 fragile, of course, must be translated here "broken."
445 salutaire, here "timely."
449 l'artifice. The definite article is used distributively: = "all artifice."
452 Racine heightens the contrast between Haman's past and present fortunes by imagining him to have
been bought for a slave, in boyhood, by a Persian master. This the Bible does not state, although the Rest
of the Book of Esther calls him a Macedonian (xvi, 10), but immediately adds "and as a stranger received
of us."
454 soutiens de ma puissance. Male children were, and still are, indispensable to prosperity in the East,
as the supporters and defenders of the family.
458 atteinte is now usually unfavorable.
459 Mardochée assis, etc. See l. 139, N, for this Latin construction.
462 tandis que. See l. 69, N. Tant que would have been more precise here.
465 est . . . à. The construction is ad sensum, as though sembler had been used.
468 Note the use of aller as a pseudo-auxiliary. Cf. l. 155, N.
469 C'est trop peu d'une telle . . . The de in such forms is due to false analogy with the
construction in which an infinitive in apposition follows c'est, for which see l. 260, N.
477 Il fut. See App. II, ii. B. b.
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