The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [331]
185.Eloas or Astarte: Dumas may have in mind the poem Eloa ou La Soeur des anges (“Eloa or The Sister of the Angels”) (1823), by Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863), which tells the story of the birth, seduction by Satan, and fall of the female angelic spirit Eloa, who was born of Christ’s teardrop. Astarte (Astaroth, Ishtar) was an ancient Semitic goddess to whom human sacrifices were commonly offered.
186.son of Belial: Belial, Hebrew for “lawless,” is another name for Satan (see 2 Corinthians 6:15).
187.Sardanapalus: A semilegendary Assyrian king notorious for his debauchery, sometimes identified with Ashurbanipal, who ruled ca. 800 B.c.
188.the Arabian fable: The first French translation of the Thousand and One Nights, by the orientalist Antoine Galland (1646–1715), was published in 1704–15.
189.Lucretia…Sextus: The Roman historian Livy (59 b.c.–a.d. 17) tells the story of the rape of Lucretia by Sextus, son of the Roman king Tarquin the Proud. Lucretia, unable to bear the shame, committed suicide. The incident led to the overthrow of the early Roman monarchy and the establishment of the republic in 510 b.c.
190.Prince of Wales: In 1623, Buckingham accompanied Charles to Spain, where the prince sued for the hand of the infanta Maria, younger sister of Anne d’Autriche. The negotiations ended in failure.
191.Judas Maccabaeus: The son of Mattathias Maccabaeus, founder of the Hasmonean line in Israel. He led the successful Jewish resistance against the Seleucid king of Syria, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but fell in battle against Demetrios Soter in 160 b.c.
192.James VI: With the uniting of the two kingdoms in 1603, James VI of Scotland (1567–1625) became James I of England. For some reason, Dumas here prefers the Scottish numbering.
193.the prince de Soubise: See note 149.
194.memoirs: In the Garnier edition, Charles Samaran locates this reference in Richelieu’s Mémoires, vol. VIII, pp. 192–93 (see note 58).
195.Flushing…United Provinces: Flushing is the English name for Vlissingen, a Dutch naval and commercial port on the island of Walcheren, in the mouth of the river Scheldt, province of Zeeland. The United Provinces was the old name for the seven provinces of the Netherlands, which formed a federation against Philip II of Spain and were recognized as independent in 1609.
196.the feast of Saint Louis: Louis IX (1214–70), universally esteemed for his virtue and integrity, is the only French king to have been declared a saint. His feast day is August 24.
197.de Luynes: Honoré d’Albert (1578–1621) was a minor provincial nobleman who became a favorite of Louis XIII and was made duc de Luynes in 1619. In 1617 he had married Marie-Aimée de Rohan-Montbazon, who, after his death in 1621, remarried and went on to become the notorious Mme de Chevreuse (see note 21).
198.M. de Putange…M. Dujart: For M. de Putange, see note 51. Dumas’s “Dujart” is François de Rochechouart, chevalier and then commandeur de Jars, a bitter opponent of Richelieu, sentenced to death for his part in the Chalais conspiracy (see note 17), but pardoned on the scaffold. Richelieu later sent him to the Bastille, from which he was released in 1638. He died in 1676.
199.Saint-Germain: As we know, the little house across from M. d’Estrées’s pavillion was in Saint-Cloud, not Saint-Germain. Since Mme Bonacieux does not bat an eye, the mistake is probably Dumas’s.
200.Lazarists: The congregation of Priests of the Mission, founded in 1625 by St. Vincent de Paul (1581–1660), known as Lazarists because their center was in the Collège de Saint-Lazare in Paris.