L. 1._Iliad_, i. 37: 'Hear, thou god that bear'st the silver bow, O
Smintheus.'--CHAPMAN.
L. 3. _cet aveugle_, meaning 'himself,' is a Greek, and also Latin,
idiom. Seneca, writing of himself, uses the phrase _in hoc sene_, which
Montaigne (_Ess._ II. XXXV. translates _en ce vieillard_, followed
by his own translator, Cotton, with: 'in this old fellow.' Corneille,
_Polyeucte_, V. iii: 'C'en est assez: Félix, reprenez ce courroux Et sur
_cet insolent_ i.e. _me_) vengez vos dieux et vous.'
L. 4. _C'est ainsi qu'achevait l'aveugle... Et près des bois marchait._
The inversion is quite usual, but what is less so is the absence of a
subject before _marchait_. Here is, however, another instance of the
same construction from Racine, _Idylle de la Paix_: 'Déjà marchait
devant les étendards Bellone, les cheveux épars et _se flattait_
d'éterniser les guerres'...
L. 6. _S'asseyait._ A very happy _enjambement_. The rhythm also stops as
if for very weariness.
L. 18. _à la prière._ Is this a Latinism, a translation of the Latin _ad
preces_, or an extension of the use of _à=pour_ so common in French? See
note to p. 3, l. 88.