Prevod
(To attack dead authors, but not living ones, is not only cowardice but treachery.) Cowards and traitors are Those critics who wait Until poor authors are dead Before attacking them, For alive they would answer back. 5 A little tale to this purpose My grandmother used to tell. They say one day a convent Was entered by an Owl... I lie, For it cannot have been by day; 10 It must have been when the sun Was long past its setting... At any rate, she came upon A lamp or a lantern (It makes no difference here). 15 And turning her back upon it, She exclaimed in these words: "Lamp, with what delight I would suck up your oil, If only your light did not hurt me! 20 "But since I cannot now, For you are burning brightly, If I find you out another time, I shall lose my fear of you And feast to my heart's content." 25 Though the critics I speak of May curse me for it, To give them an unpleasant moment, Here, in another fable, I mean to draw their portrait. 30 Now, as a Ragpicker Was rummaging through a rubbish heap, Two kinsmen of Cerberus Barked at him (as they will When they scent such men). 35 A greyhound said to them: "Leave that rascal alone: He knows how to skin a dog When he finds it dead, But runs from it while it lives." 40
