Prevod

(The delicacy and charm of fine literature do not please those who devote themselves to ponderous, tasteless learning.) I have a subject for a fable that might do very well... but there are days when the muse is not quite in the mood. That is what ails mine today; and I offer the subject to anyone whose 5 imagination is livelier than mine; for the art of making fables requires that the labor lie hidden in the verse, and that does not happen whenever one wishes. A little Beetle, then, shall be 10 the hero of this fortunate fable, for a lowly, humble hero suits it best. Of this insect they tell a curious thing: though it feeds on every kind of filth, it never nibbles at the petals of the rose. 15 Here the author, with all his energy, will explain, as best God helps him, that extraordinary aversion. He must rack his brains until they sweat to insert, afterward, an admonition 20 that lets us grasp what all this alludes to; and, as his judgment may direct, he may lavish circumlocutions and fine flourishes, provided his concluding moral says: just as the queen of flowers 25 displeases the filthy Beetle, so too do Gothic scholars find displeasing every charming and delicate invention.