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Jean Racine - Esther
1136 For jour, see l. 1039, N.
1141 achever = "to finish." Tr. "come down in thy fullness."
1146 crédit, see l. 171.
1151 vos ennemis aussitôt massacrés, another Lat. construction. These lines are a very skillful revelation
of Haman's character; he attempts to bribe the queen by the offer of that which would seem most
desirable to himself.
1162 en. See App. V, ii. D.
1168 The king interprets Haman's attitude as an attempt at violence.
1175 repaisse. Cf. Verg. Aen. VIII, 265: nequeunt expleri corda tuendo.
1190 est expiré (on the analogy of est mort), for a expiré, which would be impossible in
classical French poetry. See App. I, Hiatus. The result is more stress on the state, instead of on the action.
1193 Cf. Juvenal, x. 66.
Seianus ducitur unco
Spectandus.
1194 "O king, live forever!"
1196 entends, as very frequently, = "understand." Note a third use: "to understand by one's own words,"
i.e., "to mean."
1213 Je n'ai fait que passer may be translated: "before I had passed by;" lit. "I only passed by," I needed
not to wait, in order to witness the short-lived triumph of the wicked.
1214 surprendre = "to take unawares."
1231 couronnée = "on the throne."
1256 se plaît de, now rather se plaît à.
1264 Cf. Ps. xviii. 9; "he bowed the heavens also, and came down."
1267 Jeune peuple. Cf. l. 56, N. There is also an allusion to the reconstitution of the Jews as a nation,
promised by the king, ll. 1182-1189.
1280 Note that nous is dative. See App. III, N.
APPENDIX I.
FRENCH VERSE.
French verse, as found in the classical writers, consists of lines in which the principal factor is the
number of syllables (loosely called pieds in French, as well as syllabes), and not, as in
English, the number of accents.
METRE.
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