L. 273. Cf. the well-known line in Les Contemplations: Ce que dit la Bouche d'Ombre:—
Le fauve univers est le forçat de Dieu.
Man is likened to a convict, in that he is undergoing punishment, not in that he deserves it.
Allioth, a star of the first magnitude in the Great Bear.
J'en arrive: 'Tis from there I come.
la pesanteur. Gravity symbolizes the forces which keep man down. Cf..
guèbres, fire-worshippers, i.e. the Persians, who still adhere to the ancient religion of Zoroaster. The word itself is Persian.
Thalès (English Thales), one of the seven wise men of Greece.
L. 317. An allusion to the well-known doctrine of the music of the spheres, enunciated by Plato.
chouette. The owl, as a bird of darkness, was to Hugo suggestive of evil things. Cf. La Confiance.