Erebe (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.
fatalite. See note on l. 245.
gehenne. 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.
Empedocle. 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.
Promethee. Prometheus was the Titan who
stole fire from heaven and gave it to men, for which
Zeus chained him to a rock in the Caucasus. In
legend and poetry he figures as the benefactor and
civilizer of mankind.
pesanteur. See note on l. 305.
l’antique ideal, the ancient visions,
as for instance those of Isaiah and Virgil, of a golden
age.
farouche, i. e. that has never been realized.
L. 473. i. e. leaving the old humanity farther and
farther behind.
buccin. See note on LA CONFIANCE.
blanchissant l’absolu, i.e. lighting
up infinite space.
urne, used as the symbol of Destiny. See
notes on PLEIN CIEL.
L. 117. i.e. entered the immeasurable and infinite.
gehennam, another form of gehenne, closer
to the Hebrew geia Hinnom, the valley of Hinnom.
See note on PLEIN CIEL.
avernes. Avernus was a lake in Campania,
which the popular Roman belief held to be an entrance
to the lower regions. Hence comes averne,
used as a synonvm for hell.
L. 165. See note under PUISSANCE EGALE BONTE.
WORKS OF VICTOR HUGO.
