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Jean Racine - Esther
Jour means: 1. "day;" 2. "day-light;" 3. any "light,"; physical (as in un abat-jour) or figurative,
e.g., l. 1136; 4. "birth," cf. l. 1277; 5. in plural, "life."
1047 contrée, always = "region."
1050 Here begins a magnificent passage where elevation of language almost reaches inspiration.
1053 qu'on outrage - an adj., "oppressed."
1059 See 2 Kings, xvii. 5-23. Shalmaneser, in 718 B.C., took captive the kingdom of Israel, and
Nebuchadnezzar II., the kingdom of Juda in 606. The captivity of the Jews under the Assyrians lasted 70
years, 606-536 B.C., when they obtained leave from Cyrus to return to Palestine. See Introd., section 4,
Chron. Table.
1062-3 Isaiah xlv. 1-3: "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to
subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates
will not be shut, I will go before thee, and make the rugged places plain: I will break in pieces the doors
of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden
riches of secret places." For the Persian kings of these times, see Introd. section 4. Cyrus reigned about
560-530 B.C.
1068 son temple détruit, another Latin construction. - Nebuchadnezzar II. destroyed the temple of
Jerusalem after his capture of the city in 587 B.C.
1073 sortait, a most instructive use of the imperfect; the narrative pauses in the succession of
events, to lay stress on the happy state now prevailing. See App. II, ii. A.
1075 son fils, Cambyses (reigned 529-522 B.C.).
1077 vous, on the assumption that Ahasuerus is Darius (reigned 521-485 B.C.).
1082 en. See App. V, ii. C.
1086 La Thrace, near enough to Macedonia for the queen's oratorical purposes. Thracia (now N. E.
Roumelia), like Scythia (l. 1096), was then a remote and almost unknown region, whose inhabitants were
all "barbarians."
1096 sqq. Esther is supremely skillful in laying to the king's credit all that can flatter his pride, and
charging all she complains of against this Scythe impitoyable: a name all the more hateful to the
king as Darius had led an army against the Scythians and lost it (513 B.C.), although Esther puts the
expedition in a more flattering light in l. 1116.
1104 Que. See App. IV, i. A.
1123 Saul, first king of the Israelites, was the son of Kish, a Benjamite (I Sam. ix. 1-2), and Mordecai is
also stated (Book of Esther ii. 5) to be the son of Kish, a Benjamite.
1127 Impossible to anticipate more skillfully the retort that Mordecai should have honored the king's
favorite.
1135 convert de votre pourpre makes the offence almost personal to the king.
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