god
Jupiter
also: Юпитер, Zeus (Greek equivalent)
The supreme god of the Roman pantheon, king of gods and men; invoked here ironically as a stock comparison to puff up a self-styled 'unrecognized' nobody.
Reading notes
- To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 23 February 1888. Moscow. §3 Quod licet bovi, non licet Iovi
"What is permitted to the ox is not permitted to Jove" -- a Latin proverbial tag, glossed by Chekhov himself in the original as a Latin phrase; he applies it wryly to Pleshcheev, arguing that the sickliness excusable in a delicate literary type like himself is unbecoming in Pleshcheev's more robust build.