Poet și critic poet|and|critic Poet and critic

—„Ce știu nu vreau să țin secret— what|I know|not|I want|to|I keep|secret —"What I know I do not want to keep secret—

Te rog să lași în pace muza, you|I ask|to|you leave|in|peace|muse Please leave the muse alone,

Căci tu ești cel mai prost poet for|you|you are|the|most|bad|poet For you are the worst poet"

În Siracuza. in|Syracuse In Syracuse.

Troheii șchiopi și iambii duri; the trochees|lame|and|the iambs|hard The lame trochees and the hard iambs;

Și nici nu știi măcar să-i furi!” and|not even|not|you know|at least|||steal And you don't even know how to steal them!

Dar n-a sfârșit, căci Dionis, but|||finished|for|Dionysus But it hasn't ended, for Dionysus,

Ca un al doilea Ajax mitic, as|a|second|second|Ajax|mythical Like a second mythical Ajax,

A râs de furie și-a-nchis he has|laughed|at|anger||| He laughed in anger and closed

În turn pe critic. in|tower|at|critic In the tower on the critic.

P-un biet Omer îl poți nega; ||poor|Omer|him|you can|deny You can deny a poor Omer;

Dar când e prinț, e altceva. but|when|he is|prince|it is|something else But when he is a prince, it's different.

Orice poet, ca rege-i prost; any|poet|as|king|he is|foolish Any poet, like a king, is foolish;

Dar ca poet e orice rege but|as|poet|he is|any|king But as a poet, any king

Un geniu cum puțini au fost! a|genius|like|few|they have|been Is a genius like few have been!

Deci să-nțelege so|| So let's understand

De ce murind fu Nero trist, of|what|dying|he was|Nero|sad Why Nero was sad when he died,

Nu ca-mpărat, ci ca artist. not|as||||artist Not as an emperor, but as an artist.

Și bietul critic, otrăvit and|poor|critic|poisoned And the poor critic, poisoned

D-ale slujbașilor insulte, ||servants|insults Of the servants' insults,

Trei părți din zi era silit three|parts|of|day|he was|forced Three parts of the day he was forced

Mereu s-asculte always|| Always to listen

Toți iambii despre cari a zis all|iambs|about|which|he has|said To all the iambs about which he spoke

Că-s cei mai proști din câți s-au scris. ||the ones|more|stupid|from|how many|||written That they are the dumbest of all that have been written.

Din zori de zi un sclav îi sta from|dawns|of|day|a|slave|to them|was standing From dawn a slave stood by them

La cap, citind până-ndeseară; at|head|reading||tonight Reading until late;

Așa și ieri, și azi așa so|and|yesterday|and|today|like this So it was yesterday, and so it is today.

Și mâine iară. and|tomorrow|again And tomorrow again.

Și tot tavanul era scris and|all|ceiling|was|written And the whole ceiling was written

Cu versuri d-a lui Dionis. with|lyrics|||Dionis| With verses of his Dionis.

Dar după ce-a trecut un an, but|after|||passed|a|year But after a year had passed,

Slujbașul vine și-l vestește the servant|comes|||announces The servant comes and announces to him

Că-l iartă nobilul tiran, ||forgives|the noble|tyrant That the noble tyrant forgives him,

Și că-l poftește and|||invites And that he invites him

Să meargă la palat curând. to|go|to|palace|soon To go to the palace soon.

Poetul l-a primit râzând. the poet|||received|laughing The poet received him laughing.

—„Am versuri iar! I have|verses|again —"I have verses again! Un nou volum, a|new|volume A new volume,

Și laude-mi spun toți Zoilii. and|||they say|all|Zoilus And all the Zoils praise me."

Să vezi! to|see You'll see! Eu cred că fac acum I|believe|that|I make|now I think I'm doing it now

Mai buni dactilii. more|good|typists Better typing.

N-am nici un vers pocit și rău, ||any|a|verse|twisted|and|bad I don't have any twisted and bad verse,

Și-aș vrea s-aud cuvântul tău!” and|I would|want||hear|word|your And I would like to hear your word!

Și de pe sul, cu mult avânt, and|from|on|scroll|with|much|enthusiasm And from the scroll, with great fervor,

Ies odele, încet, cu-ncetul. come out|the odes|slowly|| The odes come out, slowly, gently.

Olimpic și cu glasul sfânt Olympic|and|with|voice|holy Olympic and with a holy voice

Citea poetul. he was reading|the poet The poet was reading.

Curtenii, transportați, răspund: the courtiers|transported|they respond The courtiers, transported, respond:

—„Ce-artistic, ah! how|| —"How artistic, ah!" și ce profund!” and how profound!”

—„Și tu ce zici? and|you|what|you say —"And what do you say?" M-am îndreptat?” ||turned "Did I straighten up?"

Polixen, tremurându-i pașii, Polixen|trembling||steps Polixen, his steps trembling,

Spre ușă pleacă, resignat, towards|door|he leaves|resigned Leaves towards the door, resigned,

Privind slujbașii: looking|the servants Looking at the servants:

—„E cheia temniții la voi? is|the key|of the prison|to|you —"Is the key to the prison with you?"

Haid', duceți-mă înapoi!” come on|||back Come on, take me back!"