Poésies choisies de André Chénier
V. Hylas.
L. 126. d'âge chancelante. Cf. Aen. iv. 641.
L. 132. L'insensé. In the sense, Becq de Fouquières remarks, not of demens, but of amens, as in Ovid, Am. iii II. 25.
V. HYLAS.
The subject of the poem is taken from Theocritus, Id. xiii., and Virgil, Ecl. vi.
L. 1. Le navire éloquent. Argo, which Malherbe calls 'le navire qui parlait,' Lebrun 'la nef à voix humaine,' and Chénier himself in a fragment (XLIX., p. 118 of the first volume of the edition published in 1874 by G. de Chénier), 'le vaisseau parleur.'
L. 2. Colchos. This Colchos has never had any existence except in the imagination of French poets. It is, in fact, the accusative of Colchi, the Colchians, or inhabitants of Colchis, mistaken for the name of a town.
Ll. 12-14. Et leur onde... un... zéphire, un murmure... 'l'avertit. The verb is in the singular, agreeing with the last subject, as is the constant practice with Chénier. Cf. note to p. 25, l. 74.
L. 14. et soupire. The first editor has corrected this into et l'attire. But the nymph first attracts the attention of the boy and then sighs out her desire (as again on l. 19).
L. 15. jette des fleurs. Jeter is said of plants and trees (E. shoot), whence rejeton (E. shoot).
L. 20. il l'admire couler. See note to p. 8, l, 260.
L. 26. Sur leur sein, dans leurs bras, assis... Elliptical: 'he sitting on their knees,' For this sense of sein see note to p. 24, l. 48.
L. 29. Leurs mains vont caressant. Aller with the gerund of a verb was a periphrase much in vogue in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and meaning nothing more than the verb itself. It is now of rare use, except in poetry (Haase, §70 A). Palsgrave says that 'que je vous yraye devisant' amounts to 'que vous deviseroye,' Littré, however, in his dictionary (s. v. 'aller,' 21), says that it expresses continuity.