Poésies choisies de André Chénier
II. A Marie-Anne-Charlotte Corday.
L. 11. Vont dirigeant. See note to p. 27, l. 29.
L. 13. Les chars. See note to p. 56, l. 15.
L. 37. rivage. Not in the precise sense 'shore,' but, more vaguely, 'country,' 'place.' Thus F. climat and E. climate (or clime) have had their meaning extended to that of 'region.'
L. 48. Langage d'amour si des dieux. Expressed archaically for langage de l'amour.
L. 60. An allusion to the massacres of prisoners at Versailles in September, 1792.
II. A MARIE-ANNE-CHARLOTTE CORDAY.
L. 6. hymne infâme. Many poems were written on the occasion of Marat's death, among which one by Audouin, a deputy.
L. 9. Dérobe... Robs, frustrates, glorious deeds of their due praise.
Ll. 27-30. Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae, 667.
L. 32. Paros. One of the Cyclades, famed for its white marble (Parian marble).
L. 33. Harmodius... son ami. Harmodius and Aristogiton, who conspired with a few others to murder Hipparchus, younger brother of the tyrant Hippias, and Hipparchus himself, but succeeded in slaying Hipparchus alone. Harmodius was cut down on the spot by the guards, and Aristogiton was soon captured and tortured to death. When Hippias was expelled, Harmodius and Aristogiton became the most popular of Athenian heroes (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
L. 57. Like Dido, when she has resolved to die. Virgil, Aen. iv. 475.