Don Quixote — Chapter 126 in French
By Miguel de Cervantes
Comme les choses humaines ne sont point éternelles, qu’elles vont toujours en déclinant de leur origine à leur fin dernière, spécialement les vies des hommes, et comme Don Quichotte n’avait reçu du Ciel aucun privilège pour arrêter le cours de la sienne, sa fin et son trépas arrivèrent quand il y pensait le moins. As nothing that is man's can last for ever, but all tends ever downwards from its beginning to its end, and above all man's life, and as Don Quixote's enjoyed no special dispensation from heaven to stay its course, its end and close came when he least looked for it. Soit par la mélancolie que lui causait le sentiment de sa défaite, soit par la disposition du Ciel qui en ordonnait ainsi, il fut pris d’une fièvre obstinée, qui le retint au lit six jours entiers, pendant lesquels il fut visité mainte et mainte fois par le curé, le bachelier, le barbier, ses amis, ayant toujours à son chevet Sancho Panza, son fidèle écuyer. For-whether it was of the dejection the thought of his defeat produced, or of heaven's will that so ordered it--a fever settled upon him and kept him in his bed for six days, during which he was often visited by his friends the curate, the bachelor, and the barber, while his good squire Sancho Panza never quitted his bedside. J’ai déjà composé une églogue qui fera pâlir toutes celles de Sannazar ; et j’ai acheté de mon propre argent, près d’un berger de Quintanar, deux fameux dogues pour garder le troupeau, l’un appelé Barcino, l’autre Butron. They, persuaded that it was grief at finding himself vanquished, and the object of his heart, the liberation and disenchantment of Dulcinea, unattained, that kept him in this state, strove by all the means in their power to cheer him up; the bachelor bidding him take heart and get up to begin his pastoral life, for which he himself, he said, had already composed an eclogue that would take the shine out of all Sannazaro had ever written, and had bought with his own money two famous dogs to guard the flock, one called Barcino and the other Butron, which a herdsman of Quintanar had sold him.
» Avec tout cela, Don Quichotte n’en restait pas moins plongé dans la tristesse. But for all this Don Quixote could not shake off his sadness. Ses amis appelèrent le médecin, qui lui tâta le pouls, n’en fut pas fort satisfait, et dit : « De toute façon, il faut penser au salut de l’âme, car celui du corps est en danger. His friends called in the doctor, who felt his pulse and was not very well satisfied with it, and said that in any case it would be well for him to attend to the health of his soul, as that of his body was in a bad way. » Don Quichotte entendit cet arrêt d’un esprit calme et résigné. Mais il n’en fut pas de même de sa gouvernante, de sa nièce et de son écuyer, lesquels se prirent à pleurer amèrement, comme s’ils eussent eu déjà son cadavre devant les yeux. Don Quixote heard this calmly; but not so his housekeeper, his niece, and his squire, who fell weeping bitterly, as if they had him lying dead before them. L’avis du médecin fut que des sujets de tristesse et d’affliction cachée le conduisaient au trépas. The doctor's opinion was that melancholy and depression were bringing him to his end. Don Quichotte demanda qu’on le laissât seul, voulant dormir un peu. Don Quixote begged them to leave him to himself, as he had a wish to sleep a little. Tout le monde s’éloigna, et il dormit, comme on dit, tout d’une haleine, plus de six heures durant, tellement, que la nièce et la gouvernante crurent qu’il passerait dans ce sommeil. They obeyed, and he slept at one stretch, as the saying is, more than six hours, so that the housekeeper and niece thought he was going to sleep for ever. Il s’éveilla au bout de ce temps, et, poussant un grand cri, il s’écria : « Béni soit Dieu tout-puissant, à qui je dois un si grand bienfait ! But at the end of that time he woke up, and in a loud voice exclaimed, "Blessed be Almighty God, who has shown me such goodness. Enfin, sa miséricorde est infinie, et les péchés des hommes ne l’éloignent ni ne la diminuent. In truth his mercies are boundless, and the sins of men can neither limit them nor keep them back!"
La nièce avait écouté attentivement les propos de son oncle, qui lui parurent, plus raisonnables que ceux qu’il avait coutume de tenir, au moins depuis sa maladie. « Qu’est-ce que dit votre grâce, seigneur ? The niece listened with attention to her uncle's words, and they struck her as more coherent than what usually fell from him, at least during his illness, so she asked, "What are you saying, senor? Y a-t-il eu quelque chose d'étrange ? Has anything strange occurred? Quels sont ces miséricordes et ces péchés des hommes dont vous parlez ? What mercies or what sins of men are you talking of?"
répondit Don Quichotte, sont celles dont Dieu vient à l’instant même de me combler, Dieu, comme je l’ai dit, que n’ont point retenu mes péchés. "The mercies, niece," said Don Quixote, "are those that God has this moment shown me, and with him, as I said, my sins are no impediment to them. J’ai la raison libre et claire, dégagée des ombres épaisses de l’ignorance dont l’avait enveloppée l’insipide et continuelle lecture des exécrables livres de chevalerie. My reason is now free and clear, rid of the dark shadows of ignorance that my unhappy constant study of those detestable books of chivalry cast over it. Je reconnais maintenant leurs extravagances et leurs séductions trompeuses. Tout ce que je regrette, c’est d’être désabusé si tard qu’il ne me reste plus le temps de prendre ma revanche, en lisant d’autres livres qui soient la lumière de l’âme. Now I see through their absurdities and deceptions, and it only grieves me that this destruction of my illusions has come so late that it leaves me no time to make some amends by reading other books that might be a light to my soul. à l’article de la mort, et je voudrais mourir de telle sorte qu’on en conclût que ma vie n’a pas été si mauvaise que je dusse laisser la réputation de fou. Je le fus, il est vrai ; mais je ne voudrais pas donner par ma mort la preuve de cette vérité. Niece, I feel myself at the point of death, and I would fain meet it in such a way as to show that my life has not been so ill that I should leave behind me the name of a madman; for though I have been one, I would not that the fact should be made plainer at my death. Appelle, ma chère amie, appelle mes bons amis le curé, le bachelier Samson Carrasco, et maître Nicolas le barbier ; je veux me confesser et faire mon testament. Call in to me, my dear, my good friends the curate, the bachelor Samson Carrasco, and Master Nicholas the barber, for I wish to confess and make my will." » La nièce n’eut pas à prendre cette peine, car ils entrèrent tous trois à point nommé. But his niece was saved the trouble by the entrance of the three. À peine Don Quichotte les eut-il aperçus, qu’il continua : « Félicitez-moi, mes bons seigneurs, de ce que je ne suis plus Don Quichotte de la Manche, mais Alonzo Quijano, que des mœurs simples et régulières ont fait surnommer le Bon. The instant Don Quixote saw them he exclaimed, "Good news for you, good sirs, that I am no longer Don Quixote of La Mancha, but Alonso Quixano, whose way of life won for him the name of Good. Je suis à présent ennemi d’Amadis de Gaule et de la multitude infinie des gens de son lignage ; j’ai pris en haine toutes les histoires profanes de la chevalerie errante ; je reconnais ma sottise, et le péril où m’a jeté leur lecture ; enfin, par la miséricorde de Dieu, achetant l’expérience à mes dépens, je les déteste et les abhorre. Now am I the enemy of Amadis of Gaul and of the whole countless troop of his descendants; odious to me now are all the profane stories of knight-errantry; now I perceive my folly, and the peril into which reading them brought me; now, by God's mercy schooled into my right senses, I loathe them."