XXIII. le satyre et la flûte. – André Chénier

L. 1. Toi, de Mopsus ami! Ironical. ‘That thou never wast!’ This
beginning shows that these lines were meant as part of an eclogue: the
subject to be two shepherds disputing the prize of singing. Mopsus is an
excellent singer and poet mentioned in Virgil, Ecl. v. Berecynthus is
a mountain in Phrygia on which the mysteries of Cybele were celebrated.

L. 3. Hyagnis. According to Apuleius, Flor. iii, Hyagnis was the
father and teacher of Marsyas, the flute-player.

L. 4. énervé, emasculate. ‘Semiviro Cybeles cum grege iunxit
iter,’ Martial, iii. 91.

L. 7. dans ce bui. Bui is spelt thus in order to rhyme for the eye
with lui. ‘Buis’ for ‘flute’; a metonymy.

L. 15. des chiens même. In poetry the adjective même often remains
uninflected. ‘Les immortels eux-même en sont persécutés,’ Malherbe, i.
279, 26, Éd. des Grands Écrivains. ‘Un éclat qui le rend respectable
aux dieux même,’ Racine, Esther, II. vii. 678, same edition. Haase,
§ 53, C.

XXIV.

This fragment is taken from the twenty-third idyll of Gessner.

L. 1. errante à travers. This inflected present participle is an
archaism. See Haase, § 91. See also note to p. 25, l. 70, as well as p.
24, l. 61; p. 56, l. 8; p. 62, l. 19.

L. 4. Le pied-de-chèvre. The poets of the Pléiade used the compound
chèvre-pied.

L. 6. leur risée. But only one nymph has been mentioned. It is
understood that she meant to provide sport for her companions.

XXV.

L. 1. L’impur et fier époux. Becq de Fouquières remarks that the
he-goat is frequently designated by a periphrasis in Greek and Latin
literature.

L. 3. averti de, aware of.

XXVI.

This fragment is a translation of the first idyll of Gessner.

XXVII.

L. 6. La source aux pieds d’argent. Cf. ‘La nymphe aux pieds
d’argent,’ p. 59, l. 47. Cf. also Milton’s ‘silver-buskined Nymphs,’
Arcades, 33.