L. 298. Bailly, _Hist. de l'Astronomie_: 'On ajoute qu'Épicure croyait
que le soleil s'allumait le matin et s'éteignait le soir dans les eaux
de l'Océan.'
Ll. 302. Bailly, _Hist. de l'Astronomie_: 'La poésie, que nous appelons
le langage des Dieux, était jadis la langue consacrée aux merveilles de
la nature.'
Is it not illustrative of the force of habit that Chénier should
denounce the exploitation of Fable and gods by poets in the very
conventional language he might be expected to object to? In reading l.
297 one would think that he purposed to drop Tethys for ever, but then
come Apollo, Calliope, Urania!
L. 307. _Ou si._ A very quaint interrogative turn which one is surprised
to see Voltaire condemn in this line of Corneille: 'Tombé-je dans
l'erreur, _ou si_ j'en vais sortir?' _Heracl._ IV. iv. See LITTRÉ _Si_,
17°.
L. 309. _Il n'est sot traducteur..._ This is a feature of old syntax
still extant in modern French. La Fontaine, in the seventeenth century,
still writes, in accordance with older usage, '_Fille_ se coiffe
volontiers,' _Fabl._ IV. i. 39. We still omit the definite article after
_jamais_: 'Jamais _homme_ ne reçut plus d'hommages.' Haase, § 57.
L. 311. _ambré._ Perfumed with ambergris--in a figurative sense, of
course._... à la glace..._ '_Être à la glace_, LITTRÉ (s.v. 5°), is said
of such productions of the mind as the spectator or the reader, fail to
move him.' 'Si Corneille avait dans le Cid le plan de l'Académie, le Cid
était _à la glace_.' Voltaire, _Lettre d'Argental_, 4 oct. 1760.
L. 313. _d'abord._ Synonyms: _au premier abord_, _de prime abord_, _dès
l'abord_. The original meaning is, 'as soon as you accost him or it,
at the first contact.' _D'abordée_ is thus explained by Cotgrave: 'At
first, at first sight; as soon as they touched, incountred, or came,
together.' A synonymous expression _d'arrivée_, somewhat archaic.