Three Musketeers (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
Page 80
ad It will be, it is, it was (Latin) .
ae Veal roast glazed in its own juices (French).
af In English, pounds; this livre should not be confused with the English pound, which in French is la livre sterling. The value of the French currency varied considerably throughout the ages, and it is replaced by the French franc. At the time of the action in The Three Musketeers, one pistole equaled about 1/11 livres; thus the men’s combined resources come to about 47 pistoles.
ag In act 5 of the play Phédra (1677), by Jean Racine, Hippolytus’ horses seemed to reflect their rider’s sad demeanor. Thus the four friends’ lackeys reflect the sadness and worry of their masters.
ah Claude Schopp indicates that this chapter is entitled “Milady.” (Les Trois mousquetaires/Vingt Ans apres, p. 280; see “For Further Reading”).
ai Servant girl, naturally young, comely, and vivacious (French).
aj Renamed the Place des Vosges; located in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, the Place is one of the landmarks of the neighborhood now known as the Marais.
ak Bassette and lansquenet are card games; passe-dix is a game of dice.
al Epulœ epulorum means “banquet of banquets” (Latin). Lucullus, who as a military leader amassed a great fortune, retired to lead a life of luxury and refinement; he is known for his lavish, copious banquets.
am Moliere’s play L’Avare (The Miser, 1668) ridicules Harpagon, the miser, who has let his wealth destroy his happiness; the word Harpagon has entered the French language to connote a miser or a greedy person.
an Sorceress who, in Homer’s Odyssey, changes Odysseus’ men into swine but is forced by him to change them back to men.
ao Pompous blusterer in the play Don Japhet d ’Arménie, by Paul Scarron (1652).
ap According to legend, the tyrannical ruler of the island of Samos (535-522 B.C.) once threw his royal seal into the sea but found it again in a fish that was served to him.
aq This simple title denoted King Louis XIII’s younger brother, Gaston Jean-Baptiste, duc d’Orléans (1608-1660); as the royal prince, he was next in line for the throne of France until Louis XIII and Anne of Austria gave birth to a son.
ar The Cardinal seems to be suggesting to Milady that she find a willing conspirator to assassinate the Duke of Buckingham. The “same chance as the emperor” is a reference to the assassination of King Henri IV of France in 1610, just before Henri executed his plan to declare war on the Emperor of Austria.
as They are seen in deserted places (Latin).
at The convents of the Magdalenes and Repentant Daughters took in young women from good families who had sinned but repented; once under the order’s care a woman did not have the right to leave. The Musketeers are considering this option for Milady.
au The Luxembourg Palace, today the seat of the French Senate, was completed in 1625 by the architect Salomon de Brosses for the Queen Mother, Marie de Médicis.
av Marion de Lorme and Madame d’Aiguillon were both thought to have been mistresses of Cardinal Richelieu.
aw Messalina, the third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius, was famous for her debaucheries and intrigues; Claudius had her killed when he learned she had secretly married a lover.
ax Angel who fell to temptation; Alfred-Victor de Vigny describes her fall in his long, mystical poem “Eloa, ou la soeur des anges” (“Eloa, or Sister of the Angels,” 1824).
ay Phoenician goddess of fertility and the moon; her cult was widespread in the Middle East. ‡King of Assyria who epitomizes a tyrannical and dissolute ruler; the French Romantic artist Eugène Delacroix depicts him in his painting “The Death of Sardanapalus” (1827).
az In French the title of this chapter is “Un moyen de la tragédie classique.” The word moyen, translated here as “means,” should be understood as a tactic, a line of attack, or an approach taken from classical tragedy.
ba Jewish leader, born c.200 B.C., who led armies that successfully repelled invasions by the Seleucids; he was killed in battle in 160 B.C.