la légende des siecles

The following are a few typical instances of its use:—
'L'aube vermeille.' (Les Feuilles d'Automne: Madame, autour de vous.)
'Les cônes vermeils' (du palais dans les nuages). (Ibid.: Soleils Couchants.)
'Les beaux rosiers vermeils.' (Les Quatre Vents: L'Immense Étre.)
'Les astres vermeils.' (Ibid.: La Nuit.)
'Aux soirs d'été qu'embrase une clarté vermeille.' (Dieu L'Ange.)
'Les plats bordés de fleurs sont en vermeil: (Eviradnus.)
'Et, vermeille,
Mahaud, en même temps que l'aurore, s'éveille.' (Ibid.)
The word seems to be used without any definite suggestion of colour in such phrases as
'des espaces vermeils' (Plein Ciel), 'quand le satyre fut sur la cime vermeille' (Le
Satyre), 'des arbres vermeils' (of trees lit up by the setting sun) (Le Crapaud).
The word is used with a bold extension of meaning in Les Voix Intérieures: A Eugène,
where the appetite of boyhood is called 'l'appétit vermeil.'
dromon, mediaeval warship, worked by oars and sail, the ancestor of the galley. The
word is also used, as apparently here, for merchantmen.
Béarnais, inhabitant of Béarn, the province in the Pyrenees from which Henri IV came.
Turcs. This is of course a mistake for Saracens or Moors. The word occurs in the
original poem, Jubinal copied it, and Hugo copied Jubinal. The original, it maybe noted,
had 'trente mille Turcs,' Jubinal cut them down to 'vingt mille.' Hugo's 'vingt mille' is
another detail which shows that his poem is based on Jubinal's adaptation.
preux. The Old French adjective meant 'valiant.' At the present time the word is only
used in the phrase preux chevalier. Preux as a noun is rare, but de Vigny has
'Charlemagne et ses preux.'
je ne farde guère: I speak without affectation. Farder used absolutely in this way is rare.
rendus: knocked up, overdone.
arbalètes, crossbows.
L. 80, For the metaphor compare the Chanson in Les Châtiments, Livre VII
Berlin, Vienne étaient ses maîtresses;
Il les forçait,