Ratbert, fils de Rodolphe et petit-fils de Charles,
Qui se dit empereur et qui n'est que roi d'Arles.
Arles, which Hugo spells with or without the s according to the exigencies of the metre, was the capital of the kingdom of Provence, one of the kingdoms formed out of the fragments of Charlemagne's empire. It embraced most of S.E. France, and lasted from A.D. 855 to 1032. This kingdom was frequently called le royaume d'Arle. Roy d'Arle is therefore a historical title, but the names Ratbert and Rodolphe, as grandson and son respectively of Charlemagne, are imaginary.
Macchabée. Judas Maccabaeus, the Jewish hero, who freed his country from the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Amadis See note on EVIRADNUS.
Aétius, a Roman general who lived in the fifth century A.D. One of the last heroes and defenders of ancient Rome, he fought Franks, Burgundians, Huns, and succeeded in uniting the German kings of Gaul against Attila, and inflicting a crushing defeat upon him (A. D. 451).
latobrige. The Latobriges were an ancient German tribe who lived in what is now Wurtemberg and Baden.
Platon: the Athenian philosopher Plato, justly placed amongst the poets.
Plaute: Plautus, the Roman writer of comedies, who lived in the second century B.C.
Scaeva Memor, a Roman poet and tragedian of the first century A.D., rescued from oblivion by this line. The three make a bizarre trio; see note on BOOZ ENDORMI.