achoppement de brute

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on May 19, 2012 at 9:31am

 

I think he is talking about  the slouching (or lumbering) gait (achopement) of savages (brutes).

Alternatively  you could say their brutal ungainliness .

 

His (Flaubert's) character  is comparing ,I think, without knowing the full  context a barbarian (=not Roman) people to  animals (or at least  unsophisticated people) by way of their physical comportment.

 

However I never came across the phrase before so I could be mistaken. 

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