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Délos. Tradition says that Delos in the Aegean Sea was once a wandering is<strong>la</strong>nd, and<br />
that Zeus fastened it down that it might be a home for Latona, who was about to give<br />
birth to Apollo and Diana.<br />
Leibniz (English Leibnitz), the German mathematician, chemist, and philosopher (1646-<br />
1716).<br />
Fulton, the American inventor (1765-1815), who was one of the first mechanicians to<br />
construct a steamboat.<br />
Képler. The German Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the founders of modern astronomy.<br />
These three men are chosen as typical embodiments of the spirit of progress.<br />
Simoun. See note on PLEINE MER.<br />
mistral. In the South of France the north-east wind is so called.<br />
Sous le renversement de l'urne. The urn is the symbol of that 'Fatalité' which to Hugo<br />
was the dark shadow over human life. Cf. LA TROMPETTE,<br />
Andromeda, Orion, and the Pleia<strong>des</strong> are well-known constel<strong>la</strong>tions. Arcturus is a star of<br />
the first magnitude in Bootes.<br />
The Scorpion and the Archer are next each other in the heavens. The lines express in a<br />
somewhat bizarre manner the effect of the outpouring of life on the stars.<br />
Aldebaran, a reddish star of the first magnitude in the constel<strong>la</strong>tion of Taurus.<br />
Céphée. Cepheus is the name of a constel<strong>la</strong>tion, as also is Perseus.<br />
<strong>des</strong> espaces vermeils. See note on AYMERILLOT.<br />
L. 232. Zoroastre. Zoroaster was the founder of the Persian religion. He was a great<br />
observer of the stars.<br />
L. 245. Fatalité. In Victor Hugo the word denotes, not so much <strong>des</strong>tiny, as the feeling or<br />
the doctrine that man is the helpless victim of an unseen and cruel power. It is a gloom<br />
which overhangs human life, from which in the progress of the ages man will be<br />
delivered. Compare La Vision d'où sortit ce livre, where the spirit of 'Fatalité' is<br />
associated with paganism and contrasted with the spirit of religion. In Dieu again<br />
'Fatalité' is one of the three sombre deities of paganism, the other two being Venus, the<br />
god<strong>des</strong>s of pleasure, and Hecate, the god<strong>des</strong>s of death. Cf. also the following lines from<br />
La Fin de Satan, put into the mouth of man's evil angel:—<br />
Je suis Lilith-Isis, l'âme noire du monde.<br />
Tremble! l'être inconnu, funeste, illimité,<br />
Que l'homme en frémissant nomme Fatalité,
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