406. Cato reread the dialogue of Plato on the immortality of the soul before he took his own life after his defeat at Thapsus (46 B. C.). 407. An Italian girl whom the poet knew at Naples in 1811. He gives an idealized account of their friendship in Les Confidences.

408. The poet's daughter Léopoldine was drowned with her husband, Charles Vacquerie, Sept. 4, 1843, near Villequier, only a few months after her marriage.

409. Les Châtiments, from which this poem and Ultima Verba are taken, express the poet's hatred for "Napoléon le Petit." Louis Bonaparte, nephew of Napoléon, elected president of the Second Republic in 1848, succeeded in having himself re-elected for ten years in 1851 and became emperor under the name of Napoleon III on December 2, 1852. He had already (January, 1852) banished the members of the republican legislative assembly, among whom was Victor Hugo. Hugo never forgave Napoleon III for overthrowing the Second Republic, refused the amnesty offered by his government and remained in exile at Guernsey until the war of 1870 ended the Second Empire.

410. One of Napoleon's most famous marshals. He was executed by the Bourbons on Dec. 7, 1815.

411. Grouchy, ordered by Napoleon to pursue Blücher along the Meuse, maintained his position there, even when the cannonade of the battle of Waterloo reached his ears, while Blücher with the bulk of his troops marched to the aid of Wellington.

412. Triangular fur cap worn by the light cavalry of Napoleon's guard.

413. Town in East Prussia where Napoleon defeated the Germans and Russians, June 14, 1807.

414. The decisive battle of the Italian campaign in which the Austrians were defeated by Bonaparte and Massena, Jan. 14-15, 1797.

415. The crime of Napoleon I is the overthrow of the First Republic by the coup d'état of the 18th. Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799), which established the Consulate with Napoleon as First Consul. Its expiation, as explained by Hugo in the conclusion of this poem, is the spectacle of the insignificant Napoleon III becoming emperor of France through the prestige attaching to his name.

416. Napoleon III.

417. Name given in the XIV Century to organized bandits, who in times of war were often employed as mercenaries.

418. A famous XVIII Century bandit.

419. Sulla, a Roman dictator (136-78 B. C.) whose proscriptions filled all Italy with terror.

420. Assyria.

421. Zillah, second wife of Lamech and mother of Tubalcain.

422. Poetic license, enfant is regularly feminine when referring to a girl.

423. Enoch, eldest son of Cain.

424. Tubalcain, Jabel and Jubal were descendants of Cain in the sixth generation.

425. Son of Seth, who was the third son of Adam, and brother of Cain and Abel. Cf. Genesis IV, 25.

426. Mountain east of the Dead Sea from which Moses beheld the Promised Land. Deut. XXXII, 49.

427. Pisgah. Deut. XXXIV, 1-3. 428. The Dead Sea.

429. Mt. Peor or more probably Bethpeor, a place near which Moses is supposed to have been buried. Segor is Zoar.

430. Deut. XXXII, 52.

431. Deut. XXXIV, 7. 432. i. e., "halo."

433. Numbers XVIII.

434. Genesis XIII.

435. The Pentateuch, comprising the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

436. "Verge," the rod with which Moses smote the rock to bring forth water.

437. Mountain on which God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush.

438. Exodus IX, 22-23.

439. M. Canat thinks the allusion may be to the pillar of fire which guided the children in the wilderness. (A. de Vigny, Morceaux Choisis.)

440. It was under the leadership of Joshua and not Moses that the Israelites passed through the divided waters of the Jordan. Cf. Joshua III, 13-17.

441. Refers to the passage of the Red Sea.

442. It was Joshua who commanded the Sun to stand still. Cf. Joshua X, 13.

443. Moses was tending the flocks of his brother-in-law Jethro when God spoke to him from the Burning Bush. Cf. Exodus III, 1. 444. Cf. Exodus XIII, 21.

445. A section of Gascony, so named from its vast stretch of sterile moorland.

446. Contrast with this idea the glorification of suffering in Musset's Nuit de Mai.

447. De Vigny has altered the Bible story (cf. Mark XIV, 32-46). He has dramatized it and given to it a significance quite different from that of the Gospel account. Ernest Dupuy (A. de Vigny) suggests that de Vigny may have been inspired also by Mantegna's painting, The Agony in the Garden (National Gallery), which he much admired. The picture shows the sleeping disciples, Jesus kneeling in prayer, and in the background, Judas approaching stealthily and showing the way to the armed multitude behind him.

448. This questioning of the Divine Will by Jesus on the Mount is not in the Bible. The prayer of Jesus on the Mount is a petition for strength and paternal aid in which there is no note of rebellion.

De Vigny has completely denatured the meaning of this scene in order to put into the mouth of Jesus the expression of his own philosophy. 449. "Mission."

450. "Gall and wormwood." Deut. XXIX, 18.

451. "Par les maux. . . par la mort."

452. Refers to the parable of the foolish virgins. Matthew XXV, 1-13.

453. In Les Destinées de Vigny represents mankind in a ceaseless struggle with winged and taloned furies, symbolical of destiny or fatality, minions of a mysterious God whose law to man is: "Faire ce que je veux pour venir où je sais."

454. Cf. Pascal: "Je ne sais qui m'a mis au monde, ni ce que c'est que le monde, ni que moi-même. Je suis dans une ignorance terrible comme je ne sais d'où je viens, aussi je ne sais (Cited by Canat. op. cit.)

de toutes choses. où je vais. . . ."

455. Added by de Vigny in 1862.

456. It is not known whether Eva is a definite person or whether she merely symbolizes womankind.

457. i. e., "humanity," whose life is so brief.

458. False reports of the death of Voltaire were frequently circulated. Cf. Diderot, Neveu de Rameau: "Le bruit court que Voltaire est mort; tant mieux. Et pourquoi tant mieux? C'est qu'il va nous donner quelque bonne folie; c'est son usage, que de mourir une quinzaine auparavant. . . ."

459. Argos is in the Peleponnessus. Ptelion is in Thessaly. Messa is one of the nine cities of Laconia mentioned by Homer, who gives it the epithet "abounding in pigeons" (Iliad II, 502). The Titaresius is a river of Thessaly. Oloosson is a town in Thessaly called "white" by Homer because of its white, argillaceous soil. Camirus is a town in the island of Rhodes.

460. The Muse enumerates further various poetic themes from which the poet may choose: martial poetry, satire, romances of chivalry, pastorals, Tarquin, the Napoleonic legend, etc.

461. In September, 1840, Musset on his way to the château of Angerville, crossed the forest of Fontainebleau, where he had come in 1833 with George Sand before their departure for Italy.

462. Cf. The Divine Comedy, Chant V, 121-123:

Nessun maggior dolore,

Che ricordarsi del tempo felice

Nella miseria. . . .

463. Francesca da Rimini, who loved her brother-in-law Paolo Malatesta, and who was killed with him by her husband.

464. Cf. Diderot, Jacques le Fataliste: "Le premier serment que se firent deux êtres de chair, ce fut au pied d'un rocher qui tombait en poussière; ils attestèrent de leur constance un ciel qui n'est pas un instant le même; tout passait en eux et autour d'eux et ils croyaient leurs cœurs affranchis de vicissitudes. O enfants! toujours enfants!"

465. Shortly after his trip through the forest of Fontainebleau, Musset met George Sand herself in the corridor of the Opéra-Italien at Paris. Returning home, he wrote Le Souvenir (Feb. 15, 1841).

466. Béranger, who did not belong to the romantic group, gained wide renown through his songs, many of which are still popular.

467. A small Norman town. According to an old tradition, Yvetot was constituted a kingdom under the Merovingians and there is evidence that the lords of Yvetot actually bore the title of king during the XV Century.

468. "Agent," "tool"; an inferior who servilely carries out the designs of a tyrant.

469. "Lever le ban": to summon for military service.

470. This popular song was written as a remonstrance to Napoleon after the disastrous retreat from Moscow.

471. "The glory of Napoleon."

472. Napoleon II, king of Rome, born 1811, died at Schoenbrunn, Austria, in 1832. Cf. Rostand's: L'Aiglon.

473. In 1814, Napoleon defeated the Germans under Schwartzenberg and Blücher in Champagne.

474. Napoleon reached Paris after its capitulation. He abdicated April 11, 1814.

475. According to a popular belief, the stars influence the destiny of men and each person has his own star which governs his days and disappears when he dies. The shepherds, passing their night in the open, were thought to be able to read the secrets of the heavens.

476. This famous sonnet probably celebrates Marie MenessierNodier, daughter of Charles Nodier, whose soirées at the Arsenal Library (Le Premier Cénacle) furthered the formation of the Romantic School.

477. "Palais de Justice."

478. In the Iliad, Tartarus is the name of an underground prison in which those who rebelled against Zeus were confined.

479. "Banquet," originally a repast in commemoration of the Last Supper.

480. "Spectre."

481. "Vampire."

482. "Infatuated."

483. "Petticoat," "woman."

484. A town on the southeast coast of Corsica.

485. Mâquis: (maquis or makis) is a name given in Corsica to land covered by a dense growth of scrubby shrubs and trees.

486. A large town in the central part of Corsica.

487. A cartridge belt and portfolio combined.

488. A city on the northeast coast of Corsica.

489. "Were at their wits' end."

490. The Revolution of July 27-29 when Charles X was dethroned and succeeded by Louis-Philippe.

491. Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), a French historical painter of the first rank, leader of the romantic school.

492. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), perhaps the most illustrious of XIX Century French painters.

493. "Genre painting," that is the representation of some phase of common life, such as domestic interiors, rural or village scenes, etc. 494. Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (1803-1860), genre painter, scenes from Scripture history, etc.

495. Xavier Sigalon (1788-1837), French historical painter.

496. Theodore Géricault (1791-1824), painter of the romantic school. His masterpiece, la Méduse, represents a raft at sea on which are grouped the starving survivors of the wreck of la Méduse.

497. Eugene Devéria (1805-1865), French historical painter.

498. Académie des Beaux-Arts, founded in 1795, for painters, sculptors, musicians, etc.

499. This obelisk was brought from Egypt in 1833 and erected on the Place de la Concorde at Paris.

500. A long slender roll that is dipped in a hot liquid.

501. "I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts." Virgil's Æneid, II, 49.

502. Village near Versailles whose surroundings have been painted by Corot.

503. Servin, Schinner and Sommervieux are fictitious personages created by Balzac. Duval-Lecamus (1790-1854) was a French historical painter. Granet (1775-1849), French painter noted for his light effects. Drolling (1752-1817) the elder is known for his genre painting. To give greater impression of reality to the society he is describing, Balzac frequently groups in this manner his own personages and historical characters.

504. Fabre d'Eglantine (1750-1794), in whose play l'Intrigue épistolaire is a painter named Fougères.

505. Jean Baptiste Greuze (1726-1805), celebrated French genre painter.

506. Gabriel Metzu (1615-1669), Dutch painter, especially successful in scenes of tavern and market life.

507. Pierre-Roch Vigneron (1789-1872), genre and portrait painter. 508. Claude Dubufe (1790-1864), French romantic painter.

509. Gerard Dow (1613-1680), Dutch painter. The Woman Sick of the Dropsy, mentioned by Balzac, is his masterpiece.

510. Domenico Zampieri (1581-1641), Italian painter of the XVII Century, who won success by dint of persistent application, as he was not naturally endowed with either imagination or brilliancy.

511. Act vesting the holder of a mortgage with the rights normally held by the wife of the giver of a mortgage or by another person to insure the recovery of his investment.

512. "Dignified leisure." Cicero: De Oratore, I, 1, 1.

513. Slang expressions meaning "jimdandy," "fine," "elegant."

514. "Simple or stupid person."

515. "This looks like a good thing.”

516. i. e., her complexion was the color of mahogany.

517. French funerals are divided into several classes according to the