FROM THE TRANSLATOR

...not only in respect to the rhyme, which he observed everywhere with great precision: a manner of writing that had been unknown in the French language until that time. De Marolles also believes that a poem by Favereau can be found within the works of Ronsard, which he gives the name Dithyrambus original: Dithyrambus; a passionate, wild choral hymn or poem, often dedicated to Bacchus, and which was written for the funeral of the goat of the tragic poet Stefanus Jodelle Étienne Jodelle (1532–1573); the "goat" refers to a famous occasion where Jodelle was presented with a goat as a prize for his play, which he then led in a mock-ancient procession. In his judgment, this is not the least of Favereau’s poems. The others were not printed, as the author was content to show them only to his friends, as were the sonnets original: Klinkdichten written for each plate in this book. In these, he described the fables contained within the images. He intended to write a specific discourse for each one, in which he wanted to demonstrate that the most beautiful mysteries of natural philosophy original: Natuurkunde and the art of painting lay hidden beneath the meaning of the ancient fables; especially when they are understood in the manner he had them engraved by Diepenbeek, Bloemaert, and some other of the most excellent masters of that time, after he had those plates printed on much larger sheets and placed in a gallery. Thus ends the eulogy by De Marolles, with which we shall take our leave of Favereau.

Even more praise is deserved by De Marolles, to whom belongs the honor of having brought this excellent and useful work into the world; for which reason it is only right that we also give the reader a short account of the life of this famous man. Michael de Marolles, Abbot of Villeloin and Bourgerais, was a nobleman from the province of Touraine, a son of Claudius de Marolles, Lord of Marolles, Rochere, Brevil, and Noisai. Claude made himself famous through the profession of arms, particularly in that duel with Marivaut in the year 1589, outside the gates of Paris. At that time, in defense of the League The Catholic League, which opposed the Protestant King Henry III and later Henry IV during the French Wars of Religion, which had allied itself against the Royalists, he went outside the besieged city to fight with lance and pistol against Marivaut, who had arrived on the battlefield too early out of impatience regarding the King’s murder. He had sent a trumpeter to challenge De Marolles, who, hearing of his impatience, gave this prophetic answer: that Marivaut was making great haste indeed to reach his end. And certainly, De Marolles was a true prophet: for in the first charge, he struck Marivaut through the visor into the eye, so that the point of the iron penetrated the skull original: bekkeneel, and he gave up the ghost a quarter of an hour later. As he died, he cried out that he considered himself happy to be defeated, since he could not survive his King with any pleasure. As a sign of his triumph, De Marolles took the sword and the horse of the defeated man and was brought, to the great sorrow of the Royalists, amidst the sound of kettledrums and trumpets, into Paris...