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attributed to Homer. Psicarpax (Greek spelling, Psicharpax) means bread-stealer; Méridarpax, one who steals pieces.

34 13 au plus fort: = au plus vite, as fast as possible.

34 14 tant soldat que capitaine : = soldat aussi bien que capitaine.

34 30 jonchée: strewing; supply de cadavres.

35 5 esquivent: this verb is always reflexive in modern French. FABLE 41. La Fontaine, livre iv, fable 7. Æsop, 365.

35 10 chiens de bateleurs: jugglers' dogs; that is, trained dogs.

35 11 en cet équipage: with that outfit.

35 16 Pline: usually known as Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23–79), a celebrated Roman writer, who perished in the eruption of Vesuvius that overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii in the year 79. His great work is Historia Naturalis.

35 19 ressemblance: supply à un homme, or entre les singes et les hommes.

35 20 lui pensa devoir: for pensa lui devoir, almost owed to him; that is, came near being saved by him.

35 24 ce chanteur: Arion, who, to avoid death at the hands of the sailors, threw himself into the sea, and, according to the legend, was carried to land by a dolphin.

36 2 un mien cousin: obsolete for un de mes cousins. — juge-maire : chief justice (Latin judex major).

364 Pirée: Piraus, the port of Athens.

36 11 il est := il y a.

36 12 Vaugirard: formerly a village near Paris; now a part of the city. 36 13 au plus dru: as hard as they can; compare au plus fort, 34 13. 36 16 le magot considéré: see 4 21.

FABLE 42. La Fontaine, livre iv, fable 18. Æsop, 103.

36 21 à moins . . . unie: unless it is united; lit. "unless by being united." We should have expected a plural noun in the first part of the sentence, since union is possible only where there is more than one force. 36 22 l'esclave de Phrygie: Æsop.

36 23 du mien: something of my own. A considerable portion of the fable is La Fontaine's own invention.

36 26 Phèdre: Phædrus; see Introduction.

36 30 prêt de := près de, which is found in some editions; translate on the point of. In modern French we should have prêt à.

37 5 Je le donne aux plus forts: I give it to the stronger (to do). It would require a stronger man to break the bundle. Le refers to some indefinite antecedent, such as ouvrage.

379 un seul : see 24 23.

37 11 peut supply faire.

37 17 prêt: see 36 30.

37 23 fort mêlé d'affaires: badly encumbered, embarrassed. Fort mêlé is lit. "very much mixed up," "entangled."

FABLE 43. La Fontaine, livre ii, fable 10. Æsop, 322; Faerno, 6. 389 se faisant prier: lit. causing himself to be urged. He went only as fast as he was made to go.

38 10 portait les bouteilles: a popular expression, meaning to walk slowly or carefully, as if one were carrying something very fragile.

38 12 vaux: the plural of val, "valley." The singular is used only in poetry and in proper names; the plural only in the phrase par monts, par

vaux.

38 18 en faire à sa tête: have his own way; lit. "do about it according to his head.”

38 25 épongier: sponge-bearer; a word of La Fontaine's creation. 38 26 dessus := sur.

38 29 d'autant: as much; that is, one as much as the other.

38 30 firent ... raison: faire raison à is an expression used especially in drinking, and means to keep up with.

397 ait: subjunctive depending on an impersonal verb.

FABLE 44. La Fontaine, livre iv, fable 21. Phædrus, ii, 8.

39 17 à toutes fins: in any event; lit. "for all ends" or "purposes." 39 23 cors: this means the points of the horns, while ramure means antlers. Some editions have corps.

39 26 de Cérès: here = des champs. Ceres was the goddess of agriculture.

39 28 Cela va bien: very good, so far.

39 29 mais quoi: but wait!· - l'homme aux cent yeux: that is, the man who sees everything. There is here an allusion to the Argus of mythology. 407 Que coûte-t-il: how much trouble is it? lit. "what does it cost?" 40 8 saurait: see 13 26.

40 13 Ses larmes, etc.: deer are said to shed tears when wounded. See Hamlet, iii, 2, 282. Clément, in discussing this passage, says: "Ce qui est vrai, c'est que le cerf a deux cavités assez profondes au-dessous de chaque œil, nommées larmiers, contenant une humeur qui parfois suinte et ressemble à des larmes."

40 15 dont: at which. — s'éjouit: obsolete for se réjouit.

40 16 Phèdre: the words of Phædrus are dominum videre plurimum in rebus suis.

40 17 Il n'est que : = il n'y a que, there is nothing like.

40 18 j'y mettrais: I should add.

FABLE 45. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 3. Æsop, 422.

40 20 de terre: earthen, or earthenware.

40 22 ferait que sage: = ferait sagement. Que sage is an obsolete expression = ce que ferait un sage.

40 24 il... peu: supply pour le briser.

40 26 débris: breaking, destruction.

In modern French the word

means remnant, fragment, and is usually found only in the plural.

40 30 tienne := retienne; subjunctive after a general negation. 41 5 entre deux := entre vous deux.

419 droit: straightway.

41 10 à trois pieds: old-fashioned pots or kettles, intended to stand on the hearth, usually had three legs or feet.

41 11 clopin-clopant: hobbling along: lit. " lame-limping."

41 13 treuvent: old form for trouvent.

41 15 que: when.

41 17 avecque: see 24 2.

41 18 ou bien: see 16 23.

FABLE 46. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 3. Æsop, 28; Babrius, 6.

41 27 Tout fait nombre: every one counts.

41 28 chère: = bonne chère.

423 au plus: translate after demi-bouchée.

42 6, 7 cher, chercher: for the rhyme, see 32 20. In the seventeenth century the final of such infinitives was frequently pronounced in poetry.

42 9 rien qui vaille: nothing worth mentioning. Vaille from valoir. For the mood, see 40 30.

42 11 faites: play, act; compare 17 23.

42 12 vous avez beau dire: say what you will. Avoir beau always means to do a thing in vain.

42 13 dès ce soir : this very evening. Dès is added merely for emphasis. 42 14 Un... l'auras: the French equivalent for "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Compare 33 6, 7.

FABLE 47. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 5.

Æsop, 46.

42 18 sentant... lieue: you could smell his foxiness for three miles; lit. "smacking of a fox at a league's distance." He was the foxiest kind of a fox.

42 23 pareils equals, companions (in misery). "Misery loves company." 42 27 se: dative; for or from one's self; leave untranslated.

43 3 Prétendre ôter la queue: to try to abolish tails.

FABLE 48. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 15. Æsop, 127; Faerno, 95. 43 6 en de certains climats: de would be omitted in modern French. 43 14 profitez-en: profit by it, by this occurrence.

43 15 La meute en fait curée: the pack tears him to pieces. Curée is the part of the animal given to the dogs; here, prey, or booty.

43 16 pleurer: see 40 13.- à sa mort arrivés: who had come up to (witness) his death.

FABLE 49. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 16. Æsop, 86; Phædrus, iv, 8. 43 22 pour tout potage: as his sole food. Pour tout potage is a familiar expression, meaning pour toute chose; compare 10 4.

43 26 Tu... toi: you are tackling (something) harder than yourself. 44 2 le quart d'une obole: the smallest particle; for obole, see 13 19. FABLE 50. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 17. Phædrus, i, 9.

44 11 se: goes with moquer.

44 21 fort: shelter, hiding-place. This meaning is older than that of "fortification." - met les chiens en défaut: puts the dogs at fault; throws them off the scent.

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44 22 Brifaut: Glutton; Miraut (line 25): Sharp-eye; Rustaut (line 27): Boor, - names of dogs.

45 5 la: object of garantir.

sauront: see 13 26.

FABLE 51. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 19. Abstemius, 95.

45 11 furent du dessein: were in the project; took part in it.

45 14 à son ordinaire: in his usual way.

45 22 trompette: here masculine; note the difference between le trompette and la trompette.

FABLE 52. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 20. Æsop, 311; Avianus, 9; Abstemius, 49.

469 Dindenaut: a shepherd in Rabelais's Gargantua, who praised his sheep extravagantly when he wanted to sell them. — qu'eux leur ours: = = qu'ils prisaient leur ours.

46 10 leur, à leur compte: theirs, in their opinion. - celui: refers to compte. They reckoned without the bear.

46 16 d'intérêts: about damages. They might have claimed damages from the bear for causing the failure of the contract.

46 28 sent: smells bad.

471 seulement: the line would mean the same if this word were omitted. 475 serre: properly, the claw of a bird; griffe or patte would be proper here.

47 7 que: see 27 21.

FABLE 53. La Fontaine, livre v, fable 21. Æsop, 336; Avianus, 5. A very old and widely distributed fable. Animals in disguise appear frequently in the folklore of various nations.

47 10 vertu: here used with the sense of the Latin virtus, "courage." 47 14 Martin: for Martin-bâton; see 26 20.

FABLE 54. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 2. Æsop, 114; Babrius, 92. 47 24 soupçonnait: supply d'être.

47 27 que: see 15 1. — que je me fasse raison: that I may avenge myself; get even with him.

48 2 de tribut: as tribute.

48 3 par chaque mois: chaque mois is the ordinary expression; par was probably added to fill out the line.

487 d'esquiver: see 9 19 and 35 5.

489 puisse subjunctive in adjective clause of purpose.

48 11 que... doigt: which one touches with his fingers; that is, which is really close at hand, imminent.

48 12 tel: a certain one, many a one; translate as if it read tel dit qu'il le cherchait.

FABLE 55. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 3. Babrius, 18.

48 18 l'écharpe d'Iris: the scarf of Iris, the rainbow. Iris was the messenger of the gods; for the rhyme Iris, avertis, see 8 15. Iris, however, is also pronounced iri in poetry.

48 19 rend . . . avertis : = avertit.

48 21 douteux : changeable. Virgil, Georgics, i, 115, uses the expression incertis mensibus.— affaire: reason.

48 26 saurai: see 18 26.

48 27 qu'il n'est bouton := qu'il n'y a pas de bouton. tienne: for the mood, see 40 30.

48 29 L'ébattement . . . en: the fun of it.

49 2 à qui: as to who; the preposition relates to the whole of the clause following.

495 à gage: hired; lit. "for wages." Clément says: "Il soufflait, comme si on l'avait payé pour cela." In this sense, however, gage is always used in the plural. The poet probably had in mind the gageure that had been made.

49 9 qui n'en peut mais: which can do nothing about it, which cannot help it. Mais (Latin magis) has retained its original meaning in this phrase alone.

49 15 eut beau: see 42 12.

49 22 encor(e): even then.

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