iterative; cf. 'recréer,' 'rhabiller,' 'revoir,' 'ravoir.' The difference is well illustrated in 'répartir' and 'repartir.'

5 Guêpe. Lat. vespa.' Cf. gâter,' Lat. 'vastare;' 'gaîne,' Lat. 'vagina;' 'gué," Lat. 'vadum.'

9 Tanoak-bark,' 'tan.'

Abeille. Lat. ‘apicula ’(used by Pliny); diminutive of ‘apis;' paraphrased above by 'mouche à miel;' i.q. 'musca ad mel' (sc. conficiendum ').

II Enseignes. Lat. 'insignia.' For gender, cf. note on 1. I. 13 Enquête. Eng. 'inquest,' but in wider sense. The root is O. Fr. 'quérir,' Lat. quærere,' which survives in so many compound verbs, 'acquérir,' &c.

14 Here literally 'swarm of ants.' 'Fourmi,' Lat. 'formica.' But the word is commonly applied to any swarm or concourse of people, and therefore implies from the context, 'crowd of witnesses.'

15 Le-en.

Construe this point.'

16 De grâce. Cf. Eng. 'for pity's sake!' implying petition. 19, 20After the suit has now been dragging on (cf. 'pendente lite') for nearly six months, here we are no more advanced than on the first day.'

21 Désormais. Cf. Dedication, 1. 10. 22 Lécher (Ger. 'lecken') l'ours. Proverbial for 'tourner et retourner une affaire'='getting things into shape,' 'settling preliminaries.' The uncouth bear's cub is supposed to want an extra amount of parental licking to make it presentable! For this, cf. Rabelais, iii. 42.

23 Contredit. At law a formal reply, 'rejoinder.' Cf. phrase sans contredit' for what is unanswerable.

Interlocutoire. Legal term 'injunction,' staying proceedings without yet giving a final verdict; calling for proof or evidence of part, before judgment is given on the whole case; so verb 'interloquer.' But 'interlocuteur' 'speaker' in any dialogue. 24 Fatras. Derivative of Lat. 'fartus' ('farcio'), Fr. 'farci' 'stuffed;' implies 'mass of rubbish;' here 'gibberish' of legal terms.

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Grimoires fantastic nonsense such as wizards utter. Cf. Eng. 'grammarye,' as in Ingoldsby Legends.

Usually

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'substance,' 'property.'

29 Avoir. 'moyens,' 'capacity,' 'talent.'

Here

30 Partie might be either 'party' to the suit—either ‘litigant.' Here 'leurs parties' = 'their opponents,' 'rivals.'

31 Plût à Dieu. Whence the Eng. ungrammatical phrase,

'would to God!'

34 Frais. Cf. xviii. 1.

35 Au lieu que. Literally 'instead that;' always construe 'whereas.'

Gruger implies the crunching of its victim by a beast of prey. 36 Miner 'creuser une mine,' 'undermine;' therefore, 'ex

haust the patience.' 38 Ecaille.

Of Ger. origin = Eng. 'shell,' and 'scale.'

FABLE XXII.

ÆSOP, 179. Arundo et Oliva.

i.e. 'quer

I Chêne. O. Fr. 'chesne,' late Lat. 'casnus; cinus.' Notice that names of trees, like expressions of time-as 'jour,' Lat. 'diurnum ;' 'soir,' Lat. 'serum'- come mostly from Lat. adjectives. So 'faîne,' from Lat. 'faginus;' 'frêne,' from Lat. 'fraxinus,' which is already both substantive and adjective. Notice also that the word 'arbre' and names of trees are masculine in French, though feminine in Latin; but fruits are feminine.

Roseau. Diminutive from Ger. root 'Rauss' 'branch.' Distinguish 'rosée' =‘dew,' participle of old verb ‘roser;' Lat. 'rosare.' Cf. 'arroser;' and again, 'rose,' Lat. ‘rosa. 2 Avoir sujet. So 'avoir lieu.'

-

3 Roitelet = 'petit roi.' This smallest of birds apparently socalled in irony. So Ger. 'Zaunkönig '= 'king of the hedgerow.' Lat. 'regulus,' and Gr. Baoillokos, tell the same story.

4 D'aventure. Now 'par hasard.' Cf. Eng. 'peradventure.' 5 Fait rider'ruffles ;' 'ride,' 'a wrinkle.'

7 Cependant que. Now 'pendant que,' for conjunction. ‘Cependant' only adverb.

II Encor si = 'even so, as it is, if.' Final 'e' of 'encore' dropped by poetical licence to save a syllable.

À l'abri.

Cf. verb abriter.'

16 Good periphrasis for 'les marais, les lacs, la mer,' 'any watery expanse.

18 Arbuste. Lat. 'arbustum,' 'shrub,' designates the 'roseau so far as it is less than 'arbre.'

19 Part de. So 'vient de,' "naît de;' i.e. 'springs from,' 'is prompted by.'

Naturel. Used substantively (1) of 'character, nature 'caractère naturel;' and (2) for 'natives' of some savage land. Quittez; i.e. 'put by,' 'banish.'

Ce. Render such.

19 Souci. Substantive formed from 'soucier,' Lat. 'sollicitare,' whence later also the pedantic doublet 'solliciter.' Cf. 'apprendre' and 'appréhender,' from same Lat. word.

20 Redoutable. Verbal adjective of 'redouter,' 'to dread;' therefore formidable.'

25 Furie. Lat. 'furia.' 'Fureur,' Lat. 'furor,' in poetry

almost synonymous. Strictly 'furie' is more a personification than a feeling, and at least implies violent personal conduct. 27 i.e. to which the north had ever yet given birth;' attributing maternity to the north. 'Flancs ='womb.'

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Eul portés. Subjunctive pluperfect, as depending on a superlative.

31 Celui de qui. Variety for 'dont,' the more to personify the oak. 31, 32 Imitated from Virgil, Georgic ii. 292

66

Quantum vertice ad auras

Aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit."

La Fontaine, like most Frenchmen of any education, is familiar not only with the stories of Plutarch, but with the text of Virgil and Horace.

This Fable is admirably dramatized, and rich in poetic amplification.

LIVRE II.

FABLE I.

PHÆDR. IV. 7. Phædrus. More a prologue than a fable.

I Quand. With conditional = 'if' (Germ. 'wenn'), as in the familiar elliptical phrase 'quand même’=‘even if it were so ;' i.e. at all hazards.'

3 Mensonge Lat. ' mendacium;' here 'fiction.'

4 Vers. Lat. 'versus,' singular, 'a line of poetry;' therefore 'les vers' 'poetry.' Not to be confounded with 'ver,' Lat. ' vermis.' Note the special use of the diminutive 'verset,' for a 'verse' in a chapter of the Bible.

8 i.e. 'qu'un plus savant le fasse.' Optative.

9 They now speak in French instead of Greek and Latin. So Phædrus says, "Et in cothurnis prodit Æsopus novis."

II Plus avant. Literally 'more in front'='farther.' Aristotle laid down that the dramatis persona of fable should be limited to animals, excluding on the one hand 'men,' on the other the 'vegetable world.' But neither Æsop nor Phædrus kept strictly to any such rule. Cf. Introduction, pp. II, 12.

17 i.e. something more genuine.' In this Fable, La Fontaine justifies his style and subject against critics who would condemn its puerile tone. In his preface he had referred to the authority of Plato, who in his ideal Republic gave a place to Æsop, but banished Homer, the author of martial Epic. Here he owns that had he the highest poetic gifts, he would deliberately devote them to Fable, and silences criticism by high-flown specimens of what he might have written in the Heroic or Epic style (1. 18–31), and again in the Idyllic or Pastoral style (1. 39-45).

22 Mettre à bout='reduce to extremities.'

24 Artifice. Lat. 'artificium,' 'ingenuity.'

28 Escadrons. 'Squadrons,' usually of cavalry = Lat. ‘turmæ.' 'Escadre,' feminine = 'squadron' of ships.

33 Gr. Teplodos, 'a rounded or complete sentence.'

Période is only strictly masculine in the figurative sense of 'apogee,' 'highest point attained.' 'Cet art est à son période.' But many authors use it masculine for 'indefinite period of time.' 35 Gr. ἡ φάλαγξ.

36 i.e. further removed from reality and experience.'

37 Cajoler. O. Fr. 'cageoler' ('cage')= 'to sing like a caged bird; thence to entice by flattery.'

38 Sied. Lat. 'sedet,' from old verb 'seoir' ('sedere'); now only extant as impersonal verb, it sits well on,' 'becomes,' 'suits,' especially of manners, conduct. Cf. 'cela vous va bien,' of clothes fitting well.

39 Baisser. From 'bas.' Cf. 'hausser,' from 'haut.'

D'un ton. Genitive of measure.' Literally 'let us drop by one tone;' i.e. 'let us try a lower key.'

40 De ses soins depends on témoins.' A good instance of the inverted genitive, inherited from the Latin, so frequent in French poetry.

50 Pour le mieux (here a substantive) = 'for their improvement.' Fonte. 'The casting;' i.e. the foundry.' Cf. verb 'fondre' (Lat. 'fundere'). Cf. fer de fonte'=' cast iron.' 'Recast these lines in better form.' Cf. Horace, Ars Poetica, 1. 441

"Et male tornatos incudi reddere versus.

Boileau, Art Poétique

"Vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage."

55 Critics, becoming hypercritical, destroy their own enjoy. ment. They dwell, not on the many great beauties, but on the few slight imperfections.

FABLE II.

1 Rodilardus (Lat. 'rodere lardum')='qui ronge le lard.' Name borrowed from Rabelais. For such mock-heroic names

of unheroic animals, cf. Homer's Barpaxouvoμaxía.

2 Déconfiture. Stronger than 'déroute.' Eng. 'discomfiture.' 4 Dedans. Now usually adverb; here = preposition dans.' As preposition, 'dedans' generally means 'inside' = Lat. 'intus.' 5 Son. Not 'leur,' because the definite 'le peu' is treated as a singular collective.

6 Soul. Substantive, 'one's fill.' O. Fr. 'saoul,' from Lat. 'satullus' (used by Varro), diminutive of 'satur.'

7 La gent. The singular (now little used) retains the gender of the Lat. 'gens.' The plural, long fluctuating between masculine sense and feminine derivation, now follows an arbitrary

rule the epithet is only feminine if it precedes, and if there is no other epithet of ambiguous gender intervening. 'De bonnes gens,' but 'De tels braves gens.'

9 Or. From Lat. 'hora.' Originally 'the present time,' 'the nonce;' now always starts a new paragraph or subject, like Eng. 'now.'

Au haut; sc. 'over house-tops.'

II Faire le sabbat. No notion of rest, but of a mad holiday. The phrase is taken from the revelry and devilry of the legendary "witches' sabbath."

12 Le demeurant 'le reste,' but rather more formal word. Tenir chapitre. Literally, said of cathedral clergy or cloistered monks. Lat. capitulum.' So in Eng. ‘chapter' and ‘capitular.' 14 Dès l'abord = 'from the very outset ;' now more often simply 'd'abord' or 'tout d'abord.'

Doyen. Lat. 'decanus,' Eng. 'dean,' but with wider sense of 'president' or 'chairman' of any council or assembly.

15 Elliptical phrase for 'plutôt plus tôt que plus tard''the sooner the better.'

16 Grelot = 'any small bell,' as on horses' harness. Hence verb 'grelotter'=' to shiver.' From this Fable comes the proverb, "To bell the cat." Cf. in Sir W. Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, chap. 22, the daring Archibald 'Bell-the-Cat." 19 Y; i.e. to meet the case. 21 Chose; i.e. 'nulle chose.' You would now say 'Rien,' which is from Lat. 'rem,' in O. Fr. 'chose,' and has only become negative by association, like 'aucun,' 'jamais.' 23 Je vas. Cf. I. x. 13.

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24 The first refusal is, I won't,' and the second, 'I can't.' 26 Néant. From scholastic Lat. 'nec-entem,' old word for 'rien.' From it are derived 'anéantir'=' to annihilate,' 'neanmoins' Lat. nihilominus,' and 'fainéant;' i.q. 'lazybones.'

28 Voire. Lat. verè;' literally 'vraiment,' =‘même, qui plus est.' Used, like Lat. 'immo,' to introduce a stronger case or statement, 'nay more,' 'actually.'

30 Foisonner. From 'foison' (Lat. 'fusionem'); in Eng. 'pro-fusion.' Cf. adverb 'à foison' = 'in abundance.

FABLE III.

PHÆDR. I. 10. Lupus et Vulpes, judice Simio.

Par-devant. Cf. 'par-devers,' formal term; implies in the presence of' recognized authority, king or judge. So 'comparaître' means a more formal appearance than 'paraître.' 4 Il fut plaidé. Impersonal passive.

6 The very goddess of justice could scarcely decide so knotty a point. It was a case for divine intervention.