Described in five dialogues,
For four speakers,
With three considerations,
On two subjects.
To the only protector of the Muses.
The celebrated Michel of Castelnuovo.
Lord of Mauvissière, Concressault, and Joinville,
Knight of the Order of the Most Christian King and
Member of His Privy Council.
Captain of 50 soldiers,
Governor General of St Dizier,
and Ambassador to Her Majesty the Queen of England.
The universal meaning is revealed in the preface.
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If by the dog-tooth of satire you’re gored,
The fault is your own, you barbarous cur;
In vain do you show me your cudgel and sword,
If you cannot refrain from insult or slur.
Because you crossed wrongly in my right of way,
I flay your hide, and disclose your deceit;
And if I fall to the ground, as I may,
In diamond will your shame be writ.
Go not naked to take honey from the bee,
Bite not, if you cannot tell stones from bread;
Do not sow thorns with unshod feet;
Despise not, O fly, the spider’s web;
If you’re a mouse, shun frogs instead;
Flee from the foxes, you race of hens.
And believe the Gospel word,
Whose zeal we all have heard:
He who the seeds of error doth sow,
Reaps penitence from the meadows we mow.3