At this reproach the idle buzz Fell to the silence of the grave, Or moonstruck sea without a wave, And every eye and ear awoke To drink the words the patriot spoke. This feather stick in Fable's cap. We're all Athenians, mayhap; And I, for one, confess the sin; For, while I write this moral here, If one should tell that tale so queer Ycleped, I think, "The Ass's Skin,"[9] I should not mind my work a pin. The world is old, they say; I don't deny it;-- But, infant still In taste and will, Whoe'er would teach, must gratify it.[10] [4] _M. De Barillon._--Ambassador to the Court of St. James.--Translator. M. De Barillon was a great friend of La Fontaine, and also of other literary lights of the time. [5] _And lull this war to sleep._--The parliament of England was determined that, in case Louis XIV. did not make peace with the allies, Charles II. should join them to make war on France.--Translator. [6] _An orator._--Demades.--Translator. [7] _That beast of many heads._--Horace, speaking of the Roman people, said, "Bellua multorum est capitum."--_Epist. I., Book I._, 76.--Translator. [8] _Philip._--Philip of Macedon, then at war with the Greeks. [9] "The Ass's Skin,"--an old French nursery tale so called. [10] La Fontaine's views on "the power of fables" are further given in Fable I., Book II.; Fable I., Book III.; Fable I., Book V.; Fable I., Book VI; the Introduction to Book VII., and Fable I., Book IX. V.--THE MAN AND THE FLEA.[11] Impertinent, we tease and weary Heaven With prayers which would insult mere mortals even. 'Twould seem that not a god in all the skies From our affairs must ever turn his eyes, And that the smallest of our race Could hardly eat, or wash his face, Without, like Greece and Troy for ten years' space, Embroiling all Olympus in the case. A flea some blockhead's shoulder bit, And then his clothes refused to quit. 'O Hercules,' he cried, 'you ought to purge This world of this far worse than hydra scourge! O Jupiter, what are your bolts about, They do not put these foes of mine to rout?' To crush a flea, this fellow's fingers under, The gods must lend the fool their club and thunder! [11] Aesop. VI.--THE WOMEN AND THE SECRET.[12] There's nothing like a secret weighs; Too heavy 'tis for women tender; And, for this matter, in my days, I've seen some men of female gender.