VIII. reste, reste avec nous… – André Chénier

This elegy is imitated from Tibullus, III. vi, with perhaps a few
reminiscences of Propertius, III. xvii.

L. 15. ne trouve plus des armes. Why des armes instead of ne…
plus d’armes? Because, says Ayer (p. 407), the negation does not bear
on the verb, while Haase (§ 119 B., Rem. 1) will have it that it is
in order to mark that the negation falls more on the verb than on the
object. The latter explanation seems to us to be the correct one. The
idea here is: Camille no longer finds in my heart what she was wont to
find there, namely, ‘des armes.’

L. 19. Pleurante. One of those inflected present participles for using
which Chénier was censured by his early critics. Were they aware that
this particular one occurs twice in Racine? ‘Pleurante, après son char
voulez-vous qu’on me voie,’ Androm. IV. v. 54; ‘Que la veuve d’Hector
pleurante à vos genoux,’ ibid. III. iv. 3. Cf. p. 24, l. 61; p. 25,
ll. 70, 89; p. 42, XXIV, l. 1; p. 56, l. 8.

L. 26. le liège tenace. One of those periphrases so much in vogue
in the eighteenth century. Yet, here, there might be an excuse in the
playful tone adopted by the poet. And certainly what follows is in the
same humorously dignified diction.

L. 30. aux pressoirs. See note to p. 16, l. 308.

L. 37. je la voi. See note to p. 17, l. 317.

L. 39. Son nom, sa voix absente errent dans mon oreille. Chénier had
put the verb in the singular, as is his constant practice (see note
to p. 25, l. 74), and the correction was not necessary. This metaphor
Chénier seems to have delighted in. He repeats it in Hermès: ‘Autour
du demi-dieu, les princes immobiles Aux accents de sa voix demeuraient
suspendus, Et l’écoutaient encore quand il ne chantait plus.’ Cf.
Milton, Par. Lost, viii, 1-3.

L. 48, à ses lèvres saisie, snatched from her lips.

L. 58. longtemps. Longuement would be clearer, or lentement, as
below, l. 74.

L. 66. n’aimer plus. With an infinitive, the expletives pas,
point, and plus come immediately after ne: ne plus aimer. Yet
the construction we find here is also to be met with, though not so
frequent: ‘ils s’enveloppaient là-dedans, bien décidés à ne penser
plus.’–MICHELET. Ayer, p. 563; Haase, § 156, Rem, ii.

L. 71, en riant, deriding me.