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Jean Racine - Esther
701 qu'on lui fasse entendre = "give him to understand." For dat. lui, see App. III, N.
708 clartés, properly "lights;" the plural being, as often is the case, the concrete manifestation of that
quality of which the singular is the abstract name. Cf. "charity" and "charities."
713 Que vous semble. See App. IV, i. B.
714 devoir is here used as a pseudo-auxiliary; see l. 155, N, - L'emporter, idiomatic for "to win
the day." The substantive, for which the fossilized pronoun le stands, is uncertain. Cf.
l'échapper belle, idiomatic for "to have a narrow escape."
778 Note the force of the tense: "I never [once] admired." See App. II, ii. B. b.
779 Note the difference between avoir envie de and porter envie a.
799 errer is never, while "to err" is always used figuratively.
820 en. See App. V, ii. D.
825 rejoindre = "to join." This prefix re-is more freely used in French than in English. Cf.
recopier = "to copy."
826 See Book of Esther, vi. 13-14, for the few lines on which Racine has built the two strong scenes that
follow. Also i. 6, for the description of the grandeur of this "court of the garden of the king's palace."
832 éclaircir is "to restore to its own brightness;" éclairer is "to throw a light from without upon."
Cf. l. 177.
835 ressentir, from re + sentir. Note the doubling of the "s," in order to preserve
its sound as in sentir. Cf. ressembler, ressource, ressusciter, etc.
aussi cette félicité, i.e., the joy of having been favored as mentioned in l. 834, as well as the pain of the
affront.
836 le mal is of course a reference to ll. 618-622; le bienfait, to l. 702.
838-843 Racine had great experience of court. See Introd. I. - Dévorer, figurative, "to endure in
silence." Cf. dévorer ses larmes = "to restrain one's tears."
841 essuyer, fig. = "to put up with something disagreeable," the figure being taken from wiping up spilt
liquid, as the way to make the best of a mishap. E.g., Il essuya un refus - Ce vaisseau a essuyé une
tempête - Ce général avait essuyé plusieurs défaites.
842 un outrage endure. For this Latin construction, see l. 139, N.
868 exerçant, "wielding," correctly refers to the speaker, Haman, as the king's minister.
872 ma vie exposée, another Latin construction.
874 Que sert. See App. IV, i. A.
881 le peuple. Cf. l. 56, N.
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