Le Berger et la Mer.

 

Du rapport d’un troupeau, dont il vivait sans soins,
Se contenta longtemps un voisin d’Amphitrite :
Si sa fortune était petite,
Elle était sûre tout au moins.
À la fin, les trésors déchargés sur la plage
Le tentèrent si bien qu’il vendit son troupeau,
Trafiqua de l’argent, le mit entier sur l’eau.
Cet argent périt par naufrage.
Son maître fut réduit à garder les Brebis,
Non plus Berger en chef comme il était jadis,
Quand ses propres Moutons paissaient sur le rivage :
Celui qui s’était vu Coridon ou Tircis
Fut Pierrot, et rien davantage.
Au bout de quelque temps il fit quelques profits,
Racheta des bêtes à laine ;
Et comme un jour les vents, retenant leur haleine,
Laissaient paisiblement aborder les vaisseaux :
Vous voulez de l’argent, ô Mesdames les Eaux,
Dit-il ; adressez-vous, je vous prie, à quelque autre :
Ma foi! vous n’aurez pas le nôtre. »
Ceci n’est pas un conte à plaisir inventé.
Je me sers de la vérité
Pour montrer, par expérience,
Qu’un sou, quand il est assuré,
Vaut mieux que cinq en espérance ;
Qu’il se faut contenter de sa condition ;
Qu’aux conseils de la Mer et de l’Ambition
Nous devons fermer les oreilles.
Pour un qui s’en louera, dix mille s’en plaindront.
La Mer promet monts et merveilles ;
Fiez-vous-y, les vents et les voleurs viendront.

The Shepherd and the Sea. (3)

 

A shepherd, neighbour to the sea,
Lived with his flock contentedly.
His fortune, though but small,
Was safe within his call.
At last some stranded kegs of gold
Him tempted, and his flock he sold,
Turn'd merchant, and the ocean's waves
Bore all his treasure--to its caves.
Brought back to keeping sheep once more,
But not chief shepherd, as before,
When sheep were his that grazed the shore,
He who, as Corydon or Thyrsis,
Might once have shone in pastoral verses,
Bedeck'd with rhyme and metre,
Was nothing now but Peter.
But time and toil redeem'd in full
Those harmless creatures rich in wool;
And as the lulling winds, one day,
The vessels wafted with a gentle motion,
'Want you,' he cried, 'more money, Madam Ocean?
Address yourself to some one else, I pray;
You shall not get it out of me!
I know too well your treachery.'

This tale's no fiction, but a fact,
Which, by experience back'd,
Proves that a single penny,
At present held, and certain,
Is worth five times as many,
Of Hope's, beyond the curtain;
That one should be content with his condition,
And shut his ears to counsels of ambition,
More faithless than the wreck-strown sea, and which
Doth thousands beggar where it makes one rich,--
Inspires the hope of wealth, in glorious forms,
And blasts the same with piracy and storms.

[3] Aesop.

Il Pastore e il Mare.

 

Un Pastor sen vivea felicemente
del suo gregge da un pezzo in riva al mare,
e s'anco non avea da scialacquare,
di quel poco vivea sicuramente.

Ma la vista di tanti bei tesori,
che ogni giorno sbarcavan sulla sponda,
tanto accese il suo cor, che a sé maggiori
fortune procacciar volle sull'onda.

Vende il bel gregge, e tolti i capitali,
in breve se li vide andare in fondo,
e chi prima parea padron del mondo,
tornò servo a guardar capre e maiali.

Se prima egli era un Tirsi, un Melibeo,
poco dopo restò Bartolomeo;
pur seppe tanto bene operar poi
che in pochi anni rifece i cenci suoi.

Rifatti i cenci, quando dalle sponde
di nuovo il mar col suo splendor l'alletta,
- Signor mar, - il Pastore gli risponde, -
tu vorresti il denar, ma aspetta, aspetta!

Questo racconto è fatto per mostrare
che un soldo in tasca ne val cento al vento,
l'ambizïon, terribil come il mare,
coglie l'uomo e la barca a tradimento.

Non ti fidar! per uno che si fida
alzano i mille disperate strida;
fortuna ti promette mari e monti,
ma come i venti i disastri son pronti.