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».