[Ll. 34, 35.] Cf. p. 52, l. 42.
[L. 36.] Cf. p. 52, l. 41.
[L. 39.] dévore. For the verb in the singular see note to p. 25, l. 74.
[L. 40.] Palès. The goddess of shepherds. This mythological allusion strangely mars this fine poem.
[L. 43.] triste et captif. A kind of ablative absolute.
[Ll. 53, 54.] This madrigal winding up this pathetic lyric is in poor taste indeed.
ÏAMBES.
I. HYMNE SUR L'ENTRÉE TRIOMPHALE DES SUISSES DE CHATEAUVIEUX.
[This poem] first appeared in the Journal de Paris, on April 15, 1792, the day of the festival. In 1790 the Swiss Regiment of Chateauvieux at Nancy had mutinied, seized the military chest, and killed heroic young Desilles, captain of the Régiment du Roi, who was attempting to prevent fratricide bloodshed. For these misdeeds they were condemned to the galleys. In 1792 they were amnestied by a decree of the National Assembly, and Collot d'Herbois, at the Club des Jacobins, carried a motion that they should make a triumphal entry into Paris. See Carlyle, French Revol., pt. ii, bk. ii, ch. vi, and bk. vi, ch. x.
Against this disgraceful resolution Chénier rose indignantly in several letters to the editors of the Journal de Paris, in an address to the National Assembly, and in the present poem.