Les Regrets/14

XIII. 'If I climb to the Palace, I find only pride '

Les Regrets ~ XIV written by Joachim Du Bellay translated by A. S. Kline

XV. 'How is it, Mauny, that the more one tries'

Les Regrets - XIV. ‘Veux-tu savoir, Duthier, quelle chose c’est Rome?’.

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XIV

"Duthier: would you know what this Rome is?,"
 
Duthier: would you know what this Rome is?
Rome is a public scaffold to all the Earth;
A scene, a theatre, where there’s no dearth
Of what proceeds from man’s activities.
 
Here’s the play of Fate: just as she may wish
To cast us down or make us men of worth,
Here each will show, regardless of his birth,
As he is, with the name the crowd makes his.

Here of false and true, the news is brought,
Here the courtesans make love, hold court,
Here ambition and finesse are rife,
 
Here freedom makes the humble audacious,
Here idleness renders the good man vicious,
Here the vile wretch repeats the facts of life.