FABLE 56. La Fontaine, livre ii, fable 13. Æsop, 72.

501 Parmi . .

...

sommes among us people who are on the earth.

50 5 les siens: his followers, disciples.

506 qu'est-ce, que: what is it but. — parmi l'antiquité : = parmi les

anciens.

50 10 ni

ni: or. The idea is that one can call them neither chance nor luck nor fate; hence the negatives ni . . . ni. 50 20 nous . . .

good things.

incapables: to make us incapable of taking pleasure in

50 21 prévenus: foretold, and so enjoyed by anticipation; an exceptional use of the word.

50 22 devant := avant.

50 31 en quoi . . . univers: what correspondence is there between this motion, ever constant, with which this universe moves, and an everchanging fate?- répond: here correspond.

=

512 souffleurs: alchemists; lit. "blowers," because they were constantly blowing the fires of their furnaces.

514 Je m'emporte un peu trop: I am going a little too far, making too long a story.

515 spéculateur: astrologer. The word originally meant explorer, investigator (Latin speculator). This spéculateur is called astrologue in the first line.

51 8 cependant: in modern French, pendant.

FABLE 57. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 10. Æsop, 420.

51 10 Rien ne sert de courir: running (that is, speed) is useless.

51 13 êtes-vous sage: are you in your right mind?

...

51 15, 16 il . . . ellébore: equivalent to saying “you are crazy,” because hellebore was used by the ancients to cure madness.

51 20 Savoir quoi: to know what (the stakes were).

51 23 j'entends: I mean.

51 24 calendes: here = calendes grecques, "Greek calends." Since the Greeks did not count time by "calends," renvoyer aux calendes grecques meant "to put off indefinitely," and then " to deceive, lead astray.” 51 25 arpenter: to measure; here, to measure by leaps and hence "to fly over."

51 29 train de sénateur: Roman senators

dignity.

were noted for their

51 31 elle... lenteur: she hastens deliberately. This is an adaptation of a Latin proverb, Festina lente, which is itself taken from the Greek. The English equivalent is "The more haste, the less speed."

521 Lui: instead of il, because separated from the verb; lui is also

emphatic.

522 tient à peu de gloire: esteems lightly. There is n't much "glory" in the race for him because he expects to win it so easily.

52 3 il y va de son honneur: it concerns his honor; his honor demands it of him.

52 10 avais-je pas: see 4 8.

52 12 Moi l'emporter: I, win! The idea of my winning! L'emporter means to prevail; the l (for le) being used in an indefinite sense, like English it in "Come, and trip it, as you go" (Milton, L'Allegro).

FABLE 58. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 13. Æsop, 97; Phædrus, iv, 18.

52 15 peu sage: foolish. This line might be freely rendered "Whose charity equaled his simplicity (or stupidity)."

52 17 à l'entour: in modern French, autour.

=

than.

53 6 insecte: here reptile. Calling a serpent insecte would not be regarded as a blunder in La Fontaine's time. Furetière in his Dictionnaire (1690) says: “On a aussi appelé insectes les animaux qui vivent après qu'ils sont coupés en plusieurs parties

serpents, vipères, etc."

53 10 il n'en est point: il n'y en a point.

53 11 meure: for the mood, see 40 30.

comme les

FABLE 59. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 14. Æsop, 246; Horace, Epistles, i, 1, 73-75.

53 12 De par le roi: in the name of the king, the customary beginning

of a royal proclamation; par is here a corruption of part.

53 14 fut fait savoir: it was made known; before fut supply il.

53 19 foi: see 2 7, latter part of note.

53 24 gardant la maison: staying at home.

53 27 s'en vont: here =vont.

53 28 regardent: are turned towards; lit. "look at."

FABLE 60. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 16. Æsop, 177; Babrius, 77.

54 13 devant que: in modern French, avant de.

54 16 fit une pétarade: kicked up his heels.

54 17 tant que: until.

54 20 voiture: load; an improper use of the word; voiture may mean a wagon-load, but not a donkey's load.

54 21 par-dessus encor: in addition also. Encor is redundant.

FABLE 61. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 18. Avianus, 32; Faerno, 91. 54 22 phaéton: driver; an allusion to Phaethon, the charioteer of the sun.

54 25 Basse-Bretagne : Lower Brittany, in the extreme western part of France. Its roads were few and bad, and in La Fontaine's time it was regarded as being very much out of the way. — Quimper-Corentin is the chief town of this region.

55 4 jure de son mieux: swears his best. Jurer comme un chartier, like English "swear like a trooper," is a proverbial expression.

55 11 la machine ronde: see 7 27.

55 17 achoppement: obstacle; the word is obsolete except in the expression pierre d'achoppement, stumbling-block, lit. "stone of stumbling." 55 21, 22 me, moi: ethical datives; omit in translating. Note also the position of me; the second of two imperatives may have its object in front.

55 23 Or bien: well, now. -vas: see 20 13.

FABLE 62. La Fontaine, livre iii, fable 1. A prose version of this fable is found in Racan's Vie de Malherbe (see page 56, line 6). It is also found in Faerno and in the Facetia of Poggio (1380-1459), where La Fontaine probably saw it.

The letters A M. D. M. under the title stand for A Monsieur de Maucroix. Concerning this friend of La Fontaine and the circumstances which led to the writing of this fable, see Introduction, page ix.

55 28 droit d'aînesse: privilege of the oldest. Greece was the pioneer in art, science, and literature.

56 3 feinte invention, imagination.

56 6 Racan (1580-1670), Malherbe (1555-1628): celebrated French poets.

567 Horace: the Roman poet.

568 Apollon: Apollo, the god of poetry. — pour mieux dire: to speak more truly.

56 10 pensers := pensées. In old French the infinitive was frequently used as a noun, but in La Fontaine's time this usage was confined to poetry.

56 14 fuir: escape; compare Latin nil te fugit," you know everything." 56 17 province: in French, usually a part of the country remote from the larger towns or cities.

56 22 les miens: see 15 4.

56 30 vous: see 4 21.

56 33 de rire s'éclata: in modern French, éclata de rire.

57 4 détaler: = marcher.

57 9 tant que as loud as; lit. "as much as."

57 10 que: see 27 21. The merchant thinks the boy should not have I waited to be told to dismount.

57 18 fait le veau: plays the calf; that is, is as lazy as a calf, takes his ease.

57 19 Il n'est plus de veaux: one is no longer a calf.

57 25 n'en peut plus: see 7 24.

57 30 tout le monde et son père: a proverbial expression; compare English "everybody and his wife."

58 3 Qui... lasser: translate as if it read qui (des deux) est fait pour se lasser, l'âne ou le maître?

58 4 de le faire enchâsser: to have him put in a case (because they were so careful of him).

586 Nicolas: supply fait. There is here an allusion to a popular song, as follows:

58 10, 11 que . . . blâme, loue, dise: que meaning whether is regularly followed by the subjunctive.

58 12 faire à ma tête: see 38 18.

58 13 vous: here refers to Racan. - Mars: = la guerre; see page 56, line 18.

FABLE 63. La Fontaine, livre vii, fable 1.

Many regard this fable as La Fontaine's masterpiece. A similar fable frequently occurs in the Latin sermons of the Middle Ages and even as late as the sixteenth century. It is found also in the collections of Haudent and of Guéroult, from one of which La Fontaine probably took it. In the older versions the fable was directed against those priests who were severe on the faults of the poor but lenient with the nobles, while La Fontaine's is aimed at the courts of justice.

58 21 Achéron: the underworld, the region of the dead. Ch in this word may be pronounced either k or sh.

58 30 plus d'amour: plus is negative when there is no verb; here = il n'y avait plus.

59 4, 5 Que... se sacrifie : let... sacrifice himself.

595 traits: shafts, darts; here used to designate the instrument of punishment.

59 29 d'applaudir: see 9 19.

59 31 du... puissances: translate after line 32.

601 au dire de chacun: according to the saying of every one; by all

accounts.

60 8 cria haro sur: raised a cry against.· - haro: a word of uncertain origin, used only in this phrase.

60 11 d'où:= de qui or duquel.

60 15 le translate as the object of voir.

60 17 cour: court (of justice).· - blanc ou noir: innocent or guilty. FABLE 64. La Fontaine, livre vi, fable 9. Phædrus, i, 12.

60 22 jambes de fuseaux: spindle-legs.

60 23 objet: image; obsolete in this sense.

60 28 Tout en parlant: grammatically these words would refer to limier, whereas the sense requires them to be referred to cerf.

61 5 Il se dédit: he takes back his words; lit. "he unsays himself." 616 tous les ans: the antlers of a stag fall and are renewed every year.

FABLE 65. La Fontaine, livre vii, fable 4. A similar fable is found in Æsop and in Haudent, but the heron appears in neither.

.61 14 onde: see 20 4.

61 17 en eût fait son profit: could have taken advantage of it. 61 20 que: see page 39, line 26.

61 21 de régime: by rule, referring to his diet. hours.

- à ses heures: at fixed

= = quelque chose de meilleur.

61 25 mieux: used substantively, 61 27 le rat du bon Horace: "tangentis male singula dente superbo," Hor., Sat. ii, 6, 87. La Fontaine here again confuses rats and mice. Horace could only have referred to mice, since there were no rats in Europe in his day. Black rats are first heard of in Europe in the thirteenth century (some say not till the sixteenth); the first brown rats arrived early in the eighteenth; both came from Asia. See also Fable 14. 61 28 que je fasse: before this supply some such expression as croit-on ?

62 2 aux dieux ne plaise: the gods forbid; lit. "may it not please the gods"; compare 2 14.

62 9 Compare the sentiment of this line with 3 5.

62 11 à peu près votre compte: pretty nearly what you want.