42 In addition to being physician to the king, Théophraste Renaudot (1586-1653) founded the Gazette, one of the first newspapers.
43 Cyrano de Bergerac in fact wrote a tragedy, La Mort d’Agrippine (The Death of Agrippine), performed in 1654 at the Hotel de Bourgogne.
44 Literally, the hide of an enemy general killed by the opposing general (Latin); figuratively, rich booty or spoils gained in battle.
45 Hero of the novel of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616). Don Quixote is an idealist who, among other exploits, fights windmills, believing them to be his enemies.
46 Leguminous herb, used medicinally.
47 A humorous reference, since Sercy was Cyrano de Bergerac’s editor.
48 The reference is to the Mercure français, a literary review founded in 1611 that molded French aesthetic taste.
49 A précieuse, someone who is extremely refined and follows the behavior known as preciosity; see note on p. 12 and discussion in the Introduction.
50 The reference is to the Carte du Tendre (Map of Tenderness) , a map that plotted in allegorical fashion the stations of love and the torturous path leading to it.
51 Large, double-necked lutes. ‡Pierre Gassendi (1592—1655) was a philosopher and libertine, under whom Cyrano de Bergerac studied.
52 Informal, endearing name for de Guiche, whose full name was Antoine de Gramont, duc de Guiche.
53 Diogenes the Cynic (413—323 B.C.), a Greek philosopher, was seen in broad daylight in the marketplace in Athens, carrying a lantern; “I am looking for an honest man,” he said, when questioned.
54 Allusion to the clandestine love between the Duke of Buckingham and Anne of Austria (wife of French King Louis XIII), related in Dumas’s The Three Musketeers.
55 In the Bible, Luke 16:21, Lazarus has only the crumbs from the table of the rich to feed on.
56 References are to Johann Müller Regiomontanus (1436—1476), a German astronomer, and Archytas (428-347 B.C.), a Greek philosopher.
57 In 1640, during the Thirty Years War, the town of Arras in northeastern France was occupied by the Spanish. The historical Cyrano fought and was wounded in this siege.
58 Type of visorless helmet, worn in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
59 Literally, “word” (French), but also a sentence, particularly one combining elegance, wit, and incisiveness.
60 In French, the word for “white plume” is panache; see the Introduction for a discussion of this word.
61 Those who follow an army and sell provisions to the officers and soldiers.
62 Gold (French).
63 Spanish nobleman or gentleman by birth.
64 Sauce for fish or fowl; also a dish of various meats, boiled and served cold.
65 In Homer’s Odyssey, Penelope is the virtuous wife of Ulysses who spends her days weaving a tapestry and her nights undoing it.
66 Based on angelica, an aromatic root with alleged medicinal properties that is also often candied and served as a sweet.
67 Object of devotion, often made of cloth, worn around the neck.
68 Allusion to the tapestry that Penelope, wife of Ulysses, wove day in and day out.
69 Choirmaster.
70 Common title for a newspaper or gazette; for example, the Pall Mall Budget.
71 Old spelling for Sète, a town in southern France on the Mediterranean. ‡Reference to Don Juan of Austria, viceroy of the Netherlands, defeated during the Thirty Years War in 1658 by the great French commander the vicomte deTurenne.
72 Les Fourberies de Scapin (The Cheats of Scapin, 1677), by the great French playwright Molière (1622-1673), contains a line that seems borrowed from Cyrano de Bergerac’s play Le Pédant joué (The Pedant Imitated).
73 In French, Qui fut tout, et qui ne fut rien, which translates literally as “Who was everything, and who was nothing”; that is, he was of no account.
Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac
(Series: # )
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