A Monseigneur le Dauphin(1).

 

   Je chante(2) les héros dont Esope(3) est le père,
Troupe de qui l'histoire, encor que(4) mensongère,
Contient des vérités qui servent de leçons.
Tout parle en mon ouvrage, et même(5) les poissons:
Ce qu'ils disent s'adresse à tous tant que nous sommes;
Je me sers(5) d'animaux pour instruire les hommes.
Illustre rejeton(6) d'un prince(7) aimé des cieux,
Sur qui le monde entier a maintenant les yeux,
Et qui faisant fléchir les plus superbes têtes,
Comptera désormais ses jours par ses conquêtes,
Quelque autre te dira d'une plus forte voix
Les faits de tes aïeux(8) et les vertus des rois.
Je vais t'entretenir de moindres aventures,
Te tracer en ces vers de légères peintures;
Et si de t'agréer(9) je n'emporte le prix,
J'aurai du moins l'honneur de l'avoir entrepris

 

 

To Monseigneur The Dauphin.[1].

 

I sing the heroes of old Aesop's line,
Whose tale, though false when strictly we define,
Containeth truths it were not ill to teach.
With me all natures use the gift of speech;
Yea, in my work, the very fishes preach,
And to our human selves their sermons suit.
'Tis thus, to come at man, I use the brute.

Son of a Prince the favourite of the skies,
On whom the world entire hath fix'd its eyes,
Who hence shall count his conquests by his days,
And gather from the proudest lips his praise,
A louder voice than mine must tell in song
What virtues to thy kingly line belong.
I seek thine ear to gain by lighter themes,
Slight pictures, deck'd in magic nature's beams;
And if to please thee shall not be my pride,
I'll gain at least the praise of having tried.

[1] This dedication prefaced La Fontaine's first collection of his Fables, which comprised Books I. to VI., published in 1668. The Dauphin was Louis, the only son of Louis XIV. and Marie-Thérèse of Austria. He was born at Fontainebleau in 1661, and died at Meudon in 1712, before his father, the "Grand Monarque," had ceased to reign. The Dauphin being but a child, between six and seven years old, at the time of this dedication, La Fontaine's act may be viewed rather as an offering to the King, than to the child himself. See the Translator's Preface.

Al delfino di Francia.

 

Canto gli Eroi progenie alma d'Esopo
di cui l'istoria, anco se falsa, in fondo
di verità nasconde alti concetti.
Tutto parla nel mio novo poema,
il can, la volpe e fin parlano i pesci;
ma ciò che l'uno all'altro gli animali
dicon fra lor, di te, lettor, si dice.

O figlio illustre di Gran Re, sul quale
guarda benigno il ciel, guarda la terra,
d'un Re che cento baldanzose teste
abbassando, fra poco i giorni suoi
col nome segnerà delle vittorie,
altri canti con voce epica e grande
degli avi i fasti e le virtù dei prenci;
di piccole vicende il picciol quadro
io per te pingerò dentro i miei versi.
Che se all'impresa fia negato il dono
di piacer al tuo cor, dolce Signore,
almen conforti il povero poeta
quel d'averla tentata umile premio.