The vision of a ship in the sky. What is it? It is man, who has burst the bonds that held him to earth and risen into the clouds. It is matter soaring through the heavens. First lyrical passage. The passage of the ship through the sky. Description of the life in the ship; the absence of arms; the feeling of power and joy. Description of the ship's movement. Second lyrical passage. The voyage amongst the stars. Whither will man go? He has thrown off his oid nature, his past history is buried, he aspires to immortality. Third lyrical passage. Is man to reach Heaven without death? No, man must remain man, but the weight has been taken from his feet. War has vanished; man is good and just. Fourth lyrical passage. The ship is moving towards Virtue, Knowledge, Right, Reason, Brotherhood, Justice and Love, and is carrying with it man, who will find liberty and unity in the light. _La Fable_, i.e. the myth of Aeolus. _Eole_. Aeolus was the god of the Winds, which he kept fastened up in a bag. _fausse clef_, skeleton key. _fatal_, 'charged with destiny.' _pesanteur_. Not 'weight' but 'the force of gravity'. _Nadir_ is the point in the heavens which would be reached if a line were drawn through the centre of the earth and carried on till it reached the sky. But here it seems to be used loosely for any distant point in the heavens. The meaning is that from a remote distance the round earth, as it came into view beneath the ship, would have the appearance of a dusky comet. _aéroscaphe_. A word once proposed, but never widely accepted, as a designation for an airship. It is derived from the Greek _aer_ (air) and _skaphe_ (a vessel). _humaine_, i.e. made by man. _treuil_, 'windlass.' _moufle_, 'block.' _moteur_, 'driving power.' L. 171. i.e. by mathematics and poetry, that is by reason and imagination combined. _Euler_ was a Swiss geometrician (1707-83) who made great contributions to mathematics and mechanics. _Délos_. Tradition says that Delos in the Aegean Sea was once a wandering island, and that Zeus fastened it down that it might be a home for Latona, who was about to give birth to Apollo and Diana. _Leibniz_ (English Leibnitz), the German mathematician, chemist, and philosopher (1646-1716). _Fulton_, the American inventor (1765-1815), who was one of the first mechanicians to construct a steamboat. _Képler_. The German Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the founders of modern astronomy. These three men are chosen as typical embodiments of the spirit of progress. _Simoun_. See note on PLEINE MER. _mistral_. In the South of France the north-east wind is so called. _Sous le renversement de l'urne_. The urn is the symbol of that 'Fatalité' which to Hugo was the dark shadow over human life. Cf. LA TROMPETTE. Andromeda, Orion, and the Pleiades are well-known constellations. Arcturus is a star of the first magnitude in Bootes.