Xxxiii. mnaïs. – André Chénier
A translation of the ninety-eighth epitaph of Leonidas of Tarentum,
Anal. t. i, p. 246 (note of André Chénier). The abbreviation means:
Analecta veterum poetarum, published by Brunck, in three vols.
L. 4. rendez, grant. E. render once had this sense. N.E.D., s.v.
7.
L. 5. Par Cérès. Only women swore by Ceres. Spanheim in
Callimachus, p. 655 (note of André Chénier).
L. 6. légère, slight.
L. 10. Me bêler les accents…. Cf. note to p. 41, l. 28.
L. 16. le sein. Sein is said of a woman, mamelle of an animal. The
word pis (Lat. pectus, E. dug) would be the proper word here.
L. 17. Et sera…. This inversion following the conjunction et was
very frequent in the older language. In the seventeenth century it is
to be met with only, and but seldom, in Malherbe and La Fontaine.
See Haase, § 153 B. André Chénier is right in reviving old forms of
expression when they come in handy. And here it cannot be denied that
there is a gain in solemnity. Cf. note to p. 64, IX, l. 17.
