M. Dezeimeris (_Leçons nouvelles et remarques sur le texte de divers
auteurs_, Bordeaux, 1879) has shown how much this poem owed to a Greek
versified romance by Theodoras Prodromus, entitled _The Adventures of
Rhodanthe and Dosicles_. To this very indifferent and cold production he
has traced both the scheme and most characteristic details of Chénier's
_Malade_. We have deemed it unadvisable to crowd our notes with the
numerous passages of the Byzantine writer which have inspired our poet.
Ll. 1-3. This invocation, a litany in form, may have been suggested by
the Orphic hymn to Apollo.