frisson des roseaux, i.e. a trembling like that of reeds.
Spinosa (English Spinoza) (1632-77), the Jewish philosopher, whose rationalistic views would be evidence to Hugo of his need of faith.
Hobbe. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), the famous English philosopher, is best known by his defence of absolute monarchy. In ethics he held that man is swayed only by the desire for pleasure and the fear of pain. Either of these views would be to Hugo a system of despair.
Erèbe (Erebus) was originally one of the Titans who was cast by Zeus into Tartarus. The word is thus used as a synonym for the lower world, especially those regions where evil deeds are expiated.
fatalité. See note on L. 245.
géhenne. Gehenna was the valley near Jerusalem where crimmals were executed. In the New Testament it is used as a synonym for hell.
Nimrod is again the embodiment of the spirit of war. Aaron typifies ecclesiastical resistance to progress.
Beccaria was an Italian publicist (1738-94) who worked for the reform of the penal law. His principal work was a small volume called Treatise on Crime and Punishment, which was translated into nearly every language in Europe. His opposition to the use of torture, to the infliction of the death penalty, and to arbitrary arrest no doubt appealed specially to Hugo.
Dracon, i.e. Draco, the Athenian legislator, the memory of the excessive severity of whose laws lingers in our adjective draconian.
Empédocle. Empedocles was a Greek philosopher who was born in Sicily about 450 B.C. He is best remembered from the tradition that he threw himself down Etna in despair at his incapacity to solve the problem of its action.