The Two Persians

Fable by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian Period 18th century

This poor reason of which man is so jealous
is but a pale torch that casts around us
a sad and feeble light;
beyond it is night: the rash mortal
who seeks to penetrate it walks without knowing where.
But not to profit from this supreme benefit,
to extinguish one’s mind, and blind oneself,
is another excess, no less mad.
In Persia there were once two brothers,
worshiping the sun, following the ancient law.
One of them, wavering in his faith,
esteeming nothing but his chimeras,
claimed to meditate, to know, to fathom
the sublime essence of his god;
and from morning to evening, in order to attain it,
his eye ever fixed on the star he incenses,
he sought to explain the secret of its fires.
The poor philosopher lost both his eyes there;
and from then on he denied the sun’s existence.
The other was credulous and bigoted;
terrified by his brother’s fate,
he saw in it the too common abuse of the mind,
and put all his efforts into becoming a fool.
One succeeds at everything; the poor solitary
had little way to go,
he was soon content with himself.
But, for fear of offending the star that lights us
by casting toward it indiscreet looks,
he made a hole beneath the earth,
and condemned his eyes never to see it.
Humans, poor humans, enjoy the benefits
of a god whom reason vainly seeks to understand,
but who is seen everywhere, but who speaks to our hearts.
Without wishing to guess what cannot be learned,
without rejecting the gifts his hand knows how to bestow,
let us employ our minds to become better.
Our virtues are the worthiest homage to the Most High,
and the just man alone is wise.

Florian

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/fable-the-two-persians-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/