548 faire valoir, lit. = "to make to have its full value;" hence, "to set off." Tr. "to show off." _Nous_ is indirect obj.--_Intéressés_, is the opposite of "disinterested." 549 Note that the French says: "there are none who _do_," instead of "there is none who _does_," a plural due to the plural denotation of _en_. 551 Et might well have preceded this second clause, which is parallel to that in l. 550. 553 ["While they are only] too ready . . ." 553-554 Que l'injure échappe à ma vengeance plutôt qu'un si rare bienfait [échappe] à ma reconnaissance.--L'injure = "wrong" here; often = "insult." 555 Supply: "if this service went unrewarded." Cf. Verg. Aen. I, 48-49. 558 Que. See App. IV, ii. A. 563 Et = "Then."--_D'autant moins_ goes closely with following _que_. 569 Que. See App. IV, ii. C. 579 Conseils = "counsels," not "councils." 583-584 An instance of dramatic "irony," by which the poet makes words to be spoken, of which the spectator already knows the untruth. 587 gage is the same word as "wage." Here = "reward." Cf. "the wages of sin is death." 593 Note que, not _à quoi_. 596 This line explains _en vain_ of l. 595.--_Pour vous régler sur eux_ . . . = "that you should be guided by their practice."--_Près de_, here "in comparison with," more usually "auprès de," in accordance with the tendency to use compound forms for secondary meanings. Cf. _mouvoir_ and _émouvoir_; _perdu_ and _éperdu_. 597 neveux, classical for "posterity." For _servir de_, see l. 259, N. 600-612 The construction is: ( _que ce mortel . . . fût mené_; _j'e voudrais_ ( _que, pour comble . . ., un seigneur . . . ( guidât . . . et criât . . ._ 603 orné refers to _coursier_. 604 dans has the force of "through the streets of." 605 comble from Latin _cumulus_, the "heap" that tops a full measure. Hence its connotation is generally, though not always, favorable. E.g., _Combler de faveurs.--Le comble de l'ingratitude est de haïr ses bienfaiteurs.--Le voleur, poursuivi, se réfugia dans les combles du château.--Au comble de la misère_. 607 enfin, see l. 160, N. 614 This line explains ingenuously enough the reason for the statement in l. 613. 616 il refers to preceding _ce_. 619 prétends = "mean." 622 fais--"see." 625-628 The apodosis begins with _Plus j'assure_. . . . 630 en. See App. V, ii. C. 633 sans être attendue = "unsummoned." 635 Je me meurs. _Se mourir_ is either more elevated in style than _mourir_, or = "to die slowly." 637 suis-je pas? The omission of _ne_, the one real negative particle, is only possible as a poetical license, and is rightly very rare.--_Frère_, a classical strong form for "friend."