1: plus d'oncle! «I shall be done with being uncle.»
2: Certe, for _certes_, the s being omitted to allow elision and thus
save a syllable.
3: On le verra bientôt. Does this mean: «It (my blood) will soon be
seen»; or, «That (its nobility) will soon be evident»?
4: Dérision! que cet amour boiteux... ait oublié. «What mockery that
this decrepit, bungling love... should have forgotten.»
5: oui, c'en est là, «yes, it has come to that.»
6: comme le tien. A glaring instance of _enjambement_, or the running
over of a clause at the end of a line.
7: J'ai nom Silva. The verb and the noun in this expression and many
similar ones are so closely connected that they may be considered as
forming a verbal expression, and indeed are frequently capable
of conversion into a verb. Here _j'ai nom_ is equivalent to _je
m'appelle_. Compare _trouver moyen, faire honneur, donner conseil_.
8: Le tout, pour être, etc. «I would give all to be», etc.
9: qu'il ne s'use en paroles, «but that it will wear itself out in
mere words.»
10: à l'aile vive et peinte, etc. «with bright and flashing wing and
amorous song.» _Ramag_e originally meant only «boughs», «foliage»,
then also _chant ramage_, «bird-song among the branches».
11: Au coeur on n'a jamais de rides. A fine sentiment, and one of the
many in this Act which win for the chivalrous Don Ruy the reader's
sympathy and respect.
12: prunelle, translate simply «eye».
13: encor. The _e_ is dropped to save a syllable, as the next word
begins with a consonant.
14: que introduces the real subject, _ce suprême effort_, etc.
anticipated by _ce_ in _c'est_, line 25.
15: encor. See note 13.
16: Et de ses derniers ans, etc. «And bears for him half the weight
of his remaining years.»
17: See note 14.
18: à ce propos, «by the way».
19: C'en est fait d'Hernani. «It is all over with Hernani.»
20: écus du roi, «royal crown-pieces».
21: pour l'instant, «at present».
22: Paix et bonheur à vous. This salutation and the answer are
imitations of the Latin greetings between monks.
23: Armillas, a small mountain village in Aragon, near Montalvan,
about half-way between Saragossa and Teruel.
24: tu le pourras voir pendre. The object-pronoun is generally placed
directly before the verb on which it depends, so that this expression
would normally and in prose be _tu pourras le voir pendre_. Such
expressions as this, however, are common in Molière.
25: Del Pilar. «Our Lady of the Pillar»; one of the two cathedrals of
Saragossa, so called because of the legend that St. James, coming into
Spain soon after the crucifixion to preach the gospel, fell asleep;
whereupon the Virgin Mary appeared on a jasper pillar and desired him
to erect a church on that spot. She is said to have come afterwards
to mass in the chapel which was built there, and which is now in the
centre of the cathedral and contains the pillar. This relic is a
favorite object of pilgrimage, as it is believed to cure diseases.
26: au fond du sombre corridor, «at the end of the gloomy aisle».
27: châsse ardente, «blazing shrine».
28: cape, «cope», a sacerdotal cloak reaching from the shoulders to
the feet, open in front, worn by priests celebrating mass.
29: ne te fais faute de rien, «make free use of everything».
30: L'avoir priée to portera bonheur. «It will bring you good luck to
have prayed to her.»
31: carolus d'or, money pieces thus named because first coined under
Charles VIII of France and marked with his name.--(_Matzke_). Compare
_Louis d'or, Napoléon d'or_.
32: Perez ou Diego, meaning «You thought I was nobody in particular»,
these being very common Christian names.
33: Je vais faire armer le château. He means that the presence of
Hernani will attract the king's troops, against whom, by the rules of
hospitality, be feels bound to protect his guest.
34: cent fois moins. Supply _rare_.
35: Grand merci de l'amour sûr, profond et fidèle. Ironical: «Thanks
for such deep, sure, faithful love.»
36: ma patronne, «my patron saint».
37: qui m'outragez, «who insult me».
38: Croire que mon amour, etc. «How could he think that my love had
so short a memory! How could he think that all these inglorious men
could ever reduce a heart into which his name (Hernani's) has entered,
to lesser loves, though nobler in their eyes!»
39: insensé, «madman».
40: Olmedo, a town of 2000 inhabitants, a few miles south of
Valladolid.
41: Alcala. There are several towns of this name. Probably Alcala de
Henares is meant, a city between Madrid and Saragossa.
42: encore un coup, «once more I say».
43: Qu'on m'ait fait pour haïr, depends upon _honteux_, as does also
_de n'avoir pu_, etc. by a double construction.
44: Estramadoure, «Estramadura», formerly a province of Spain, west
of New Castile, on the borders of Portugal.
45: Ne te fais pas d'aimer une religion. «Do not sacrifice yourself
to love», _religion_ being used in the special sense of «sacred
obligation», «point of conscience», and _aimer_ being used
substantively.
46: Que le mien. See note 14.
47: Ne m'en veux pas de fuir. «Be not vexed with me for flying.»
48: mes amis sont morts, meaning her eyes, drowned now in tears.
49: une amour. The plural of _amour_ is indiscriminately masculine
or feminine, in both prose and poetry; but the singular is now only
masculine in prose, and of either gender in poetry.
50: Qu'il en soit ainsi. «So be it!»
51: Ressaye ton harnois. «Put on again thine armor.» _Harnois_
poetical for _harnais_.
52: Fait lever sur mes pas des gibiers de bourreau, «started
gallows-birdsupon my path.»
53: sans pater, without _pater noster_; that is, unconfessed of their
sins.
54: Sforce, «Sforza». This family ruled as dukes of Milan from 1147
to 1535. Galeazzo Maria Sforza, who died in 1476, is probably meant
here, as he was a notorious and wicked tyrant; though possibly the
author is thinking of Giovanni Galeazzo Sforza, lord of Pesaro, the
first husband of Lucretia Borgia.
55: Borgia, Caesar Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, was Cardinal in
1492, murdered his own brother in 1497, was a cruel and bloodthirsty
tyrant in Romagna, and was held two years in captivity in Spain by
Ferdinand the Catholic, finally losing his wicked life in 1507.
56: Luther, born 1483, died 1546, would naturally seem to a
contemporary Spaniard a monster fit to be classed with Caesar Borgia.
57: soeur du festin des sept têtes, «a sister to the banquet of the
seven heads», alluding to the old Spanish story of the Seven Lords of
Lara, a favorite theme with ancient ballad-writers, and upon which two
of Lope de Vega's dramas are based: «Los Siete Infantes de Lara» and
«El Bastardo Mudarra». The seven sons of the Lord of Lara are said to
have been betrayed by their uncle (it is he who is meant in line 16)
to the Moors, who slew them. Their heads were served up at a banquet
to which their father was invited.
58: j'en jure, instead of _je le jure_, being perhaps an elliptical
expression in its origin for _j'en jure la vérité_.
59: qu'elle eût hâte à ce point de reluire à ton poing = _qu'elle eût
tellement hâte de reluire à ton poing, quand nous_, etc.
60: C'est s'y prendre un peu tard, etc. «You are beginning a little
late to play the young man.»
61: Boabdil, the last of the Moorish kings of Granada, driven out by
Ferdinand in 1492.
62: Mahom, an abbreviation of Mahomet; compare the English Mahound.
63: Mais qu'à cela ne tienne. «Why! do not let that hinder you.»
64: Don Silvius. Like the Italians, and indeed with just as good
reason, many great Spanish families are fond of claiming descent from
the heroes of ancient Rome.
65: Toro. A city of 9000 inhabitants between Valladolid and Zamora.
66: Valladolid. A famous city in the former kingdom of Leon, in the
northwest of Spain, famous for its situation, its antiquity, its
memories. Columbus died there, in 1506.
67: Tribut des cent vierges. The reference is to a story told in the
_Romancero general_, to the effect that a hundred virgins were offered
to the Moors as ransom for a prisoner.
68: Ramire. There were several kings by the name of Ramiro in the
history of Aragon.
69: Grand maître de Saint Jacque et de Calatrava. The orders of
knighthood of St. James (Santiago) and of Calatrava were founded for
the purpose of resisting the Moors.
70: Motril. A town on the Mediterranean, south of Granada and east of
Malaga.
71: Antequera. A town of 20,000 inhabitants in Andalusia, between
Ronda and Granada.
72: Suez. The editor can find no place of this name on the map
of Spain. Perry suggests that the author may mean Sueca, south of
Valencia.
73: Nijar. A small town near the Mediterranean coast, a few miles
from Almeria.
74: tient à Silva, «has something to do with the house of Silva», «is
affected by us».
75: Sandoval, Manrique, Lara, Alencastre. Names of great families.
76: Zamet, Arabic Achmed. The present editor (and every other
apparently) is ignorant of any Zamet in legend or history to whom this
could refer.
77: Car vous me la paîriez. «Because you would pay me a price for it,
would you not?» Don Ruy is continuing his own sentence, and alludes to
the head of Hernani.
78: nôtre, instead of _à nous_.
79: grand merci! The English «grammercy» is supposed to come from
this expression, though it has also been said to be a corruption of
«God have mercy!» Translate here: «Many thanks!» ironically.
80: The Duke of Alcala does not figure in the list of _dramatis
personae_, nor does he have a word to utter in the whole play.
81: que vite, «how quickly».
82: mon infante, «my princess».
83: malgré mes voeux, «against my will».
84: contente, imperative.
85: te laisseras-tu faire? «will you yield to me?»
86: see note 56, act IV.