La Discorde.

 

La Déesse Discorde ayant brouillé les Dieux,
Et fait un grand procès là-haut pour une pomme,
On la fit déloger des Cieux.
Chez l'Animal qu'on appelle Homme
On la reçut à bras ouverts,
Elle et Que-si-que-non, son frère,
Avecque Tien-et-mien son père.
Elle nous fit l'honneur en ce bas Univers
De préférer notre Hémisphère
A celui des mortels qui nous sont opposés ;
Gens grossiers, peu civilisés,
Et qui, se mariant sans Prêtre et sans Notaire,
De la Discorde n'ont que faire.
Pour la faire trouver aux lieux où le besoin
Demandait qu'elle fût présente,
La Renommée avait le soin
De l'avertir ; et l'autre diligente
Courait vite aux débats et prévenait la Paix,
Faisait d'une étincelle un feu long à s'éteindre.
La Renommée enfin commença de se plaindre
Que l'on ne lui trouvait jamais
De demeure fixe et certaine.
Bien souvent l'on perdait à la chercher sa peine.
Il fallait donc qu'elle eût un séjour affecté,
Un séjour d'où l'on pût en toutes les familles
L'envoyer à jour arrêté.
Comme il n'était alors aucun Couvent de Filles,
On y trouva difficulté.
L'Auberge enfin de l'Hyménée
Lui fut pour maison assignée.

Discord.

 

The goddess Discord, having made, on high,
Among the gods a general grapple,
And thence a lawsuit, for an apple,
Was turn'd out, bag and baggage, from the sky.
The animal call'd man, with open arms,
Received the goddess of such naughty charms,--
Herself and Whether-or-no, her brother,
With Thine-and-mine, her stingy mother.
In this, the lower universe,
Our hemisphere she chose to curse:
For reasons good she did not please
To visit our antipodes--
Folks rude and savage like the beasts,
Who, wedding-free from forms and priests,
In simple tent or leafy bower,
Make little work for such a power.
That she might know exactly where
Her direful aid was in demand,
Renown flew courier through the land,
Reporting each dispute with care;
Then she, outrunning Peace, was quickly there;
And if she found a spark of ire,
Was sure to blow it to a fire.
At length, Renown got out of patience
At random hurrying o'er the nations,
And, not without good reason, thought
A goddess, like her mistress, ought
To have some fix'd and certain home,
To which her customers might come;
For now they often search'd in vain.
With due location, it was plain
She might accomplish vastly more,
And more in season than before.
To find, howe'er, the right facilities,
Was harder, then, than now it is;
For then there were no nunneries.

So, Hymen's inn at last assign'd,
Thence lodged the goddess to her mind.[25]

[25] La Fontaine, gentle reader, does not mean to say that Discord lodges with all married people, but that the foul fiend is never better satisfied than when she can find such accommodation.--Translator.

La Discordia.

 

La dea Discordia si tirò lo sdegno
dei Numi tutti per cagion di un pomo.
Discacciata dal ciel, scese nel regno
dell'animal che prende il nome d'Uomo,
dove fu tosto a braccia aperte accolta
in un con suo fratel Che-sì-che-no,
e con suo padre Roba-data-e-tolta.

Scelse il nostro emisfer per sua dimora,
ché l'altro, giù, agli antipodi,
è così rozzo ancora,
che la gente vi nasce e si marita
senza imbrogli di preti e di notari,
che son della Discordia i segretari.

La Fama messaggiera a lei si presta
per mandarla ove il caso la richiede,
e la Discordia lesta,
destando incendio dove son scintille,
va per città, per ville,
ed alla Pace rapida precede.

Alfin la Fama, che si sente stanca
di cercar questa pazza irrequïeta,
che va di qua e di là senza una mèta,
per poterla trovare all'occorrenza
le consigliò di eleggere
in qualche luogo stabil residenza,
dove potrebbe sulla tarda notte
mandarla ad alloggiare
chi volesse un momento respirare.

In casa d'Imeneo,
vale a dire di gente maritata
(non v'eran chiostri femminili allora),
fu Discordia per sorte ricovrata,
e vi rimane ancora.