Ll. 14, 15. _Ignorés et contents... notre asile...._ This abridged
construction, with the past participle or the adjective before which
_étant_ is understood, is neat when not equivocal, that is, when the
past participle or the adjective are clearly connected with a noun or
pronoun in the principal clause (_notre_, in the present case). Ayer, §
278, 3.
L. 30. _Le vent...._ Tibul. I. v. 36. A frequent image in Latin writers.
In French many are the variations on this original theme: 'Autant en
emporte le vent' (= so much breath is wasted). 'Ses paroles miellées
S'en étant aux vents envolées,' writes La Fontaine, _Fab._ X. xi, and
Bertin, _Am._ II. i, imitating the passage of Tibullus, has 'Les vents,
hélas! en tourbillons fougueux Sur l'océan ont emporté mes voeux' (a
sentence, by the bye, in which it is difficult to see the logic of 'en
tourbillons fougueux' and 'sur l'océan').
Ll. 33-54. Tibullus, i. 9. 17.
L. 33. _Garde d'être._ For _garde-toi d'être_. In the older language
the pronoun object of reflexive verbs was frequently omitted. A trace of
this ellipsis is still extant with _faire_ followed by a reflexive verb
in the _infinitive_ (_faire taire_ = _faire se taire_). Haase, § 61. We
still say _dépêchons_, _arrêtez_, for _dépêchons-nous_, _arrêtez-vous_.