Hernani
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Victor Hugo >> Hernani
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31: Bernard. Bernardo del Carpio, a semi-mythical character of the
eighth century, the reputed slayer of Roland at Roncesvalles; he also
was a hero of romance.
32: Faisait agenouiller leur amour aux églises. «Sought for their
love the church's sanction.»
33: Zamora, a small city on the river Duero. Hugo probably alludes to
its falling into the hands of Ferdinand in 1476.
34: carrousels, «tourneys».
35: Or il faut que, «Now, if I go out but for an hour.»
36: Toison d'or. The order of the Golden Fleece was founded at Bruges
in 1429, by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, the husband of Isabella of
Portugal. It numbered originally thirty-one knights, pledged to defend
the faith, as the Argonauts had been pledged to seek the golden
fleece. Saint Simon tells us that this order and that of the Garter
were the only ones compatible with the French order of the Holy Ghost.
The marriage of Philip's grand-daughter to Maximilian of Austria in
1477, transferred the grand-mastership to the house of Hapsburg.
37: Féal, an old word, equivalent to _fidèle_.
38: En ton palais. The preposition _dans_ is regularly used before a
defined noun, that is, a noun with an adjective or adjectival phrase.
But _dans_ would increase the line by one syllable, so that this is a
proper place for the exercise of poetic license.
39: Pour l'aller dire, would, in correct prose, be _pour aller le
dire_, but the same reason and the same permissible license have
prevailed here as in the preceding line.
40: Figuère, Span. _Figueras_, a fortified city in Catalonia, near
the French border.
41: Note, in this scene, the indifference of Don Carlos to the
subject of his grandfather's memory, contrasted with the piety of Don
Ruy Gomez.
42: Aix-la-Chapelle, German _Aachen_, Latin _Aquis granum_. Pronounce
Aix like _ex_. In its minster (_la chapelle_, whence the name)
Charlemagne is buried. It was here that the emperors were crowned, up
to Ferdinand I, who acceded in 1558.
43: Spire, German _Speyer_, celebrated for its cathedral, in which
many of the emperors are buried.
44: Francfort, German _Frankfurt am Main_, where, and not in Aachen,
the election took place.
45: aura ceci présent, «will remember this.»
46: On est bourgeois de Gand, «I am a citizen of Ghent», having been
born there, and hence being eligible to the imperial throne, as Ghent
was in the Empire.
47: Rome est pour moi, meaning that the Pope favored his claims,
which, however, he did not, but endeavored to remain neutral.
48: Cette tête allait bien au vieux corps germanique, «He was a
proper head to the old German body», meaning by _tête_ Maximilian, and
by _corps_ the Empire.
49: Le pape veut ravoir le Sicile. Since 1266, when Charles d'Anjou
was made a vassal of Pope Clement IV. and invested with Sicily and
Naples, the Holy See was considered to have some claim on them; but in
fact these possessions, called the Two Sicilies, had since 1282 been,
in the main, dependencies of the Spanish throne.
50: l'aigle, the imperial eagle, used here figuratively for what it
represented.
51: Qu'avec joie il verrait, «With what joy he would behold»; still
speaking of the late Emperor.
52: Que ferez-vous, mon fils. The supposed thoughts and remarks of
the Pope.
53: Consolez-vous! Don Ruy Gomez is still piously thinking of the
Emperor's death.
54: Sa France très-chrétienne. The kings of France were officially
denominated «Most Christian» and those of Spain «Most Catholic».
55: Ah! la part est pourtant belle, et vaut qu'on s'y tienne. «Ah!
but that is a portion grand enough and worth holding to», meaning that
France was enough for Francis.
56: Au roi Louis. Louis XII (1498-1515), predecessor of Francis I.
57: C'est un victorieux. Francis had since his accession to the
throne of France, in 1515, crossed the Alps, beaten the Swiss at
Marignan (Ital. _Melegnano_), and conquered the territory of Milan. He
did in fact dispute the claims of Charles to the imperial crown, but
by no means victoriously, for he was beaten and taken prisoner at the
battle of Pavia, in 1525. After the treaty of Madrid and his release
he entered into an alliance with Henry the Eighth, of England, and the
Italian states against Charles, and recommenced hostilities. This war,
however, ending in the peace of Cambrai in 1529, gave Italy definitely
into the hands of the Emperor. Francis' unsuccessful wars against
Charles continued until the peace of Crépy, in 1544.
58: Il faudrait tout changer. «Everything would have to be changed»,
meaning that the election of Francis would be contrary to the
constitution of the Empire.
59: La bulle d'or. The Golden Bull (so called because of the pendent
gold seal, _bulla aurea_) was a decree of the Emperor Charles IV,
issued at the diet in Metz, in 1336, determining the choice of
emperors by a majority of the seven electors, whom it designated. The
_bulla aurea_ is still preserved in the «Römer» at Frankfort.
60: A ce compte, seigneur, vous êtes roi d'Espagne! «In that case,
my lord, you are King of Spain!» Don Ruy speaks with suppressed
exultation. The old nobility of Spain, and patriotic Spaniards
generally, looked with reluctance upon Charles' candidacy for the
imperial crown. Robertson, in his «History of the Reign of Charles the
Fifth», says: «The Spaniards were far from viewing the promotion of
their king to the imperial throne with the same satisfaction which he
himself felt. To be deprived of the presence of their sovereign, and
to be subjected to the government of a viceroy and his council, a
species of administration often oppressive and always disagreeable,
were the immediate and necessary consequences of this new dignity. To
see the blood of their countrymen shed in quarrels wherein the nation
had no concern, to behold its treasures wasted in supporting the
splendor of a foreign title, were effects of this event almost as
unavoidable. From all these considerations they concluded that nothing
could have happened more pernicious to the Spanish nation; and the
fortitude and public spirit of their ancestors, who, in the Cortes of
Castile, prohibited Alfonzo the Wise from leaving the kingdom in order
to receive the imperial crown, were often mentioned with the highest
pride, and pronounced to be extremely worthy of imitation at this
juncture.»
61: Je suis bourgeois de Gand. As a native of Ghent he claimed
citizenship in the Empire, Ghent being in Austrian Flanders.
62: On le dit un rude compagnon. «He is said to be a tough customer.»
63: Galice, Galicia, a mountainous province in Spain, just north of
Portugal.
64: J'en aurai raison. «I shall bring him to terms», overcome him.
65: Oui, de ta suite, ô roi! For such lines as this and the next
following Victor Hugo was much ridiculed when the tragedy first
appeared; and indeed a play upon words which involves such cacophony
is a doubtful ornament.
66: J'oubliais en l'aimant ta haine qui me charge. «I was forgetting
in my love of her my hate of you which fills me.»
67: mouton d'or, the golden ram, the decoration worn by members of
the order of the Golden Fleece.
68: prendre, translate «find».
ACT II.
1: Patio, the Spanish name for an open court surrounded by a house.
2: chapeaux rabattus, «with hats pulled down over their eyes.»
3: J'en veux à sa maîtresse, etc. «I am after his mistress, not his
head.»
4: qu'il ait un fils, literally: «let him but have a son by her, and
he'll be king.»
5: fût-on altesse, etc. «even a Royal Majesty cannot get a king by a
countess.»
6: C'est ce que nous disons, etc. «That is what we often say in your
Highness' antechamber.»
7: Cependant que for _pendant que_.
8: mon peuple, «my servants». It is barely possible that the king
means to return Don Sancho's compliment goodnaturedly, but more
probably he says this to show him his place.
9: Poussez au drôle une estocade. «Give the rascal a thrust.»
10: Pendant qu'il reprendra ses esprits sur le grès. «While he is
recovering his senses on the flagstones.»
11: Dont le roi fera bruit. «Of which the king can boast.»
12: Navarre. Since 1512 Upper Navarre has belonged to Spain. Its
capital is Pamplona. Navarre north of the Pyrenees, or Lower Navarre,
has belonged to France since 1589.
13: Murcie, Murcia, formerly a Moorish kingdom, on the eastern coast
of Spain.
14: les Flamands, «the Flemings», inhabitants of the so-called
Spanish Netherlands, of which, in 1512, the Dutch provinces were
incorporated in the Burgundian division of the Empire.
15: l'Inde, «the Indies», meaning all the Spanish possessions in
America and the West Indies.
16: vous en obliez un, alluding to the opening words of Sc. 4 of
Act 1.
17: me monte à sa taille, «lifts me to his height».
18: Observe the change from _vous_ to _te_, to indicate the force
of the insult, the use of the second pers. sing. to persons whom one
would ordinarily address as _vous_ being a common way of expressing
contempt.
19: compagnon, «base fellow».
20: à moi, added merely for emphasis.
21: çà, «there!» probably drawing his sword.
22: fiscal, a Spanish word meaning an officer whose duty it is to
defend the king's civil rights and to prosecute criminals in his name,
«attorney-general».
23: Je vous fais mettre au ban du royaume. «I banish you from the
kingdom.»
24: C'est un port. «It is a haven of refuge.»
25: où ta puissance tombe, «where your hand cannot reach.»
26: altérée, «thirsty».
27: Je le déclare. The «_le_» anticipates lines 17 and 18.
28: traînant au flanc, «bearing in my heart».
29: je veux qu'on m'envie, «worthy of envy».
30: Renoue à d'autres jours, etc. «To some other life attach thy life
which I have spoiled.»
31: ennui, «sorrow».
32: sbires, «officers», from the Italian _sbirri_, «bailiffs»,
«constables».
33: alcades, «wardens», from the Spanish _alcaide_, «jailer» or
«governor of a castle».
34: alerte, from the Italian _all' erta_, «on guard».
ACT III.
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.
ACT IV.
1: Aix la-Chapelle (Aachen) was the old Frankish capital. Charlemagne
held court there and at Engilenheim. He was buried there, A.D. 814,
in «that basilica which it had been the delight of his later years to
erect and adorn with the treasures of ancient art. His tomb under
the dome--where now we see an enormous slab, with the words 'Carolo
Magno'--was inscribed _Magnus atque Orthodoxus Imperator_». (Bryce:
«Holy Roman Empire».) Mr. Bryce adds: «This basilica was built upon
the model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and as
it was the first church of any size that had been erected in those
regions for centuries past, it excited extraordinary interest among
the Franks and Gauls. In many of its features it greatly resembles
the beautiful church of San Vitale, at Ravenna... Over the tomb of
Charles, below the central dome... there hangs a huge chandelier, the
gift of Frederick Barbarossa.»
2: Monsieur l'électeur de Trèves. The Archbishop of Trier stood out
for a long time in favor of Francis I.
3: Où Rodolphe extermina Lothaire. The allusion is not clear.
4: Gotha, the Duke of Gotha, heading the list of nobles opposed to
the election of Charles.
5: croi, instead of _crois_, for the sake of the rhyme with _moi_. It
must be remembered that French rhymes are made for the eye, sometimes,
more than for the ear.
6: Lutzelbourg, the duchy of Luxembourg, sometimes, with the city of
that name, called (in German) Lützelburg.
7: est trop grand de la tête, «is a head too tall», _i.e._, will be
decapitated before he has done.
8: Astorga, a town in the kingdom of Leon, in northwestern Spain.
9: Ont toujours fait doubler la solde du bourreau, probably means
that so many of them have been executed, and such large game too, that
their deaths have enriched the executioner.
10: deux hardis compagnons, «two bold fellows».
11: l'élargir, refers to _drap_ in the next line.
12: Un Saxon hérétique. Frederick, Elector of Saxony, was born in
1463. He was a generous patron of learning, founded in 1502 the
University of Wittenberg, and lent his powerful protection to Luther,
though he never publicly declared himself a Protestant. His declining
the imperial crown on this occasion, in 1519, has been already
mentioned. He died in 1525.
13: Des princes de Hesse. This is a mistake, if Hugo means that a
prince of Hesse was one of the electors, as there were none of that
house until 1803, when Landgrave William IX of Hesse-Cassel became
Elector with the title William I.
14: Dans ma peau de lion emporter comme Hercule. Hugo probably
alludes here to the story of Hercules and the Cercopes, two
mischievous gnomes who annoyed Hercules in his sleep and were captured
by him and given to Omphale. Baumeister (Denkmäler des klassischen
Alterthums, Vol. 1. p. 664) thinks that these impish creatures may
have been monkeys. I can find no statement that Hercules carried them
off in his lion's skin, but he is said to have strung them by their
feet to a pole.
15: Triboulet, a deformed court jester of King Francis I of France,
and the grotesque hero of Hugo's play «Le Roi s'amuse». Translate:
«would be a head shorter than Triboulet himself».
16: Gand, Tolède, Salamanque, Ghent, Toledo, Salamanca.
17: For cacophony this line would be hard to beat. It sounds like
the croaking of frogs; and there is no reason apparent why the author
should indulge in such a hideous eccentricity.
18: sauf, plus tard, à les reprendre, «with the mental reservation
that I _might_ take them back».
19: Vous vous couvrez? The wily Ricardo, hearing the king address him
familiarly with _tu_ (l. 17), which was the form of address from the
kings of Spain to grandees, whom they also called «cousin», puts on
his hat in the king's presence--another privilege of a grandee.
20: Baste, «enough», from the Italian _basta_.
21: Peut-être on voudra d'un César. «Perhaps she will put up with an
emperor.»
22: Ce Corneille Agrippa pourtant en sait bien long! «And yet this
Cornelius Agrippa has great insight!» Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
von Nettesheim, born 1486 at Cologne, died 1535 at Grenoble, was
a celebrated scholar, who filled various offices, of more or less
doubtful character, under the Emperor Maximilian I. and Francis I. He
wrote a satire «De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum», and a work
against witchcraft, «De occulta philosophia», but had the reputation
of being a magician himself.
23: l'abbé Jean Trithème. Johannes Tritheim, born in 1462 at
Trittenheim, near Trier, was a Benedictine monk, who became abbot of
St. James in Würzburg, where he died in 1516. He wrote a number of
semi-historical works, and had a reputation for supernatural wisdom.
24: comte de Limburg. Limburg was a duchy, west of Aachen, now
divided between Belgium and the Netherlands.
25: gardien capitulaire, guardian of the tomb of Charlemagne, by
appointment of the monastic chapter which had it in charge.
26: SCENE II. This is one of the most powerful passages in Victor
Hugo's writings. It would be hard to say to what extent the sentiments
here expressed were his personally. At any rate, it is a grandiloquent
exposition of the imperial idea. As Mr. H.A. Perry remarks, the poet
is evidently thinking, and with intense sympathy, of the aspirations
of Napoleon I. and his ambition to subject the Pope to himself. It
is in this scene that Charles is represented as changing from a
headstrong, frivolous, undisciplined libertine into a grave man made
noble by a sense of responsibility. It may be questioned whether so
sudden a transformation is possible, and certain it is that in the
play the Charles of the preceding part is not the same man as he who
emerges from the tomb of Charlemagne. It is improbable that the mere
heightening of a weak, bad man's ambition would make him good and
great in half an hour. But such contrasts are Hugo's delight.
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