Candide — Chapter 13 in French
By Voltaire
Comment Candide fut obligé de quitter la belle Cunégonde et la vieille femme How Candide Was Obliged to Leave the Fair Cunegund and the Old Woman
La belle Cunégonde, ayant entendu l’histoire de la vieille, lui fit toutes les politesses qu’on devait à une personne de son rang et de son mérite. The fair Cunegund, being thus made acquainted with the history of the old woman’s life and adventures, paid her all the respect and civility due to a person of her rank and merit. Elle accepta la proposition ; elle engagea tous les passagers, l’un après l’autre, à lui conter leurs aventures. Candide et elle avouèrent que la vieille avait raison. She very readily came into her proposal of engaging every one of the passengers to relate their adventures in their turns, and was at length, as well as Candide, compelled to acknowledge that the old woman was in the right.
« C’est bien dommage, disait Candide, que le sage Pangloss ait été pendu contre la coutume dans un auto-da-fé ; il nous dirait des choses admirables sur le mal physique et sur le mal moral qui couvrent la terre et la mer, et je me sentirais assez de force pour oser lui faire respectueusement quelques objections. “It is a thousand pities,” said Candide, “that the sage Pangloss should have been hanged contrary to the custom of an auto-da-fé, for he would have read us a most admirable lecture on the moral and physical evil which overspreads the earth and sea; and I think I should have courage enough to presume to offer (with all due respect) some few objections.”
On aborda dans Buénos-Ayres. Cunégonde, le capitaine Candide, et la vieille, allèrent chez le gouverneur don Fernando d’Ibaraa, y Figueora, y Mascarenes, y Lampourdos, y Souza. While everyone was reciting his adventures, the ship continued her way, and at length arrived at Buenos Ayres, where Cunegund, Captain Candide, and the old woman, landed and went to wait upon the Governor Don Fernando d’Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenas y Lampourdos y Souza. Ce seigneur avait une fierté convenable à un homme qui portait tant de noms. This nobleman carried himself with a haughtiness suitable to a person who bore so many names. Il parlait aux hommes avec le dédain le plus noble, portant le nez si haut, élevant si impitoyablement la voix, prenant un ton si imposant, affectant une démarche si altière, que tous ceux qui le saluaient étaient tentés de le battre. He spoke with the most noble disdain to every one, carried his nose so high, strained his voice to such a pitch, assumed so imperious an air, and stalked with so much loftiness and pride, that every one who had the honour of conversing with him was violently tempted to bastinade his Excellency. Il aimait les femmes à la fureur. Cunégonde lui parut ce qu’il avait jamais vu de plus beau. He was immoderately fond of women, and Cunegund appeared in his eyes a paragon of beauty. La première chose qu’il fit fut de demander si elle n’était point la femme du capitaine. The first thing he did was to ask her if she was the captain’s wife. L’air dont il fit cette question alarma Candide : il n’osa pas dire qu’elle était sa femme, parce qu’en effet elle ne l’était point ; il n’osait pas dire que c’était sa sœur, parce qu’elle ne l’était pas non plus ; et quoique ce mensonge officieux eût été autrefois très à la mode chez les anciens, et qu’il pût être utile aux modernes, son âme était trop pure pour trahir la vérité. The air with which he made this demand alarmed Candide; he did not dare to say he was married to her, because, indeed, he was not; neither durst he say she was his sister, because she was not that either: and though a lie of this nature proved of great service to one of the ancients, and might possibly be useful to some of the moderns, yet the purity of his heart would not permit him to violate the truth.