FR: se plaindre de ce que

[wster]

From Montesquieu:

Vous vous plaignez, dit-il aux inquisiteurs, de ce que l’empereur du Japon fait brûler à petit feu tous les chrétiensqui sont dans ses États....

I am having a bit of trouble understanding ce que here. How should one think of this?

1) As the relative pronoun ce_que?

2) Or as two parts ce + que = this + that?; ie is ce an independent demonstrative? You complain, he said to the inquisitors, of this that the emperor.. Of course in English we would just translate it as You complain... that the emperor... But the fact that plaindre takes a de complicates things I guess.

Can anybody shed some light?

Thanks in advance.

 

[atcheque]

Hello wster,

In French, we say "se plaindre de quelque chose".
In this sentence, qqch = ce (ceci, cela), then "que" introduces the "complex" cela which is a whole sentence itself (proposition relative) :
1- Vous vous plaigniez de cela
2- que l'empereur ...