146 relever. See App. III.
149 tes peuples. Cf. l. 19, and N. to l. 56.
155 This interview is a departure from the Book of Esther, where Mordecai, in accordance with Eastern custom, can do no more than "walk before the court of the women's house" (ii. II).
s'ose avancer is an elegant order for ose s'avancer. The peculiarity is that oser is here used as though it were one of the two auxiliaries _avoir and être, which alone must separate the oblique conjunctives from their governing verb. Cf. ll. 231, 471. We shall find several other such pseudo-auxiliaries.
156 père, figuratively, of course.
160 enfin must be variously translated. It can have the force of: 1. "at length;" 2. "too," at the end of an enumeration; 3. "in short;" 4. "still," or, "after all;" 5. "in the end."
164 c'est fait de . . . = actum est de. . . . See also App. V, ii. D.
166 Devoir means 1. "to owe;" 2. "to have to," "must" expressing either physical necessity (e.g., "You must be tired") or moral obligation; 3. "to be [about] to;" e.g., "I am to be queen of the May."
170 race d'Amalécite, in apposition to Aman, is infinitely more contemptuous than the equally metrical de race amalécite. Tr. "of the brood of Amalek." Cf. Book of Esther, iii. 1, where Haman is stated to be descended from Agag, king of the Amalekites.
171 crèdit:—"personal influence," which Haman has used as a weapon to strike down his foes.