Simonides Preserved by the Gods

Name: Simonides Preserved by the Gods
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

Simonides composes a lyric panegyric for a wrestler whose lineage and reputation offer little material for praise. After saying all he can of the man, he devotes two-thirds of the poem to Castor and Pollux, celebrated as examples for wrestlers. The agreed payment is a talent, but the wrestler pays only one-third and tells Simonides that the gods praised in the poem may provide the rest. He nevertheless invites the poet to a feast with his relatives and closest friends. During the feast, two urgent visitors summon Simonides outside. They are Leda’s twins, Castor and Pollux, who repay his praise by warning him that the wrestler’s house is about to collapse. Soon after Simonides escapes, its supports fail; the ceiling crashes down, destroying the feast, injuring many, and breaking the wrestler’s thighs. Fame spreads the report of the miracle, and Simonides thereafter becomes too respected to be slighted. His poetry earns him abundant payment from people eager to have their ancestry celebrated. The poem concludes that gods and godlike men should be praised, that the Muse may properly sell the fruits of her labor, and that those who use poetic art while refusing generous payment abuse it. Great men gain honor by honoring poetry.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Narrative Poetry, Moral Poetry · 938 words

First lines

Three sorts there are, as Malherbe[1] says, / Which one can never overpraise -- / The gods, the ladies, and the king; / And I, for one, endorse the thing. / The heart, praise tickles and entices; / Of fair one's smile, it oft the price is. / See how the gods sometimes repay it. / Simonides -- the ancients say it -- / Once undertook, in poem lyric, / To write a wrestler's panegyric; / Which, ere he had proceeded far in, / He found his subject somewhat barren. / No ancestors of great renown; / His sire of some unnoted town; / Himself as little known to fame, / The wrestler's praise was rather tame. / The poet, having made the most of / Whate'er his hero had to boast of, / Digress'd, by choice that was not all luck's, / To Castor and his brother Pollux; / Whose bright career was subject ample, / For wrestlers, sure, a good example. / Our poet fatten'd on their story, / Gave every fight its place and glory, / Till of his panegyric words / These deities had got two-thirds. / All done, the poet's fee / A talent was to be. / But when he comes his bill to settle, / The wrestler, with a spice of mettle, / Pays down a third, and tells the poet, / 'The balance they may pay who owe it. / The gods than I are rather debtors / To such a pious man of letters. / But still I shall be greatly pleased / To have your presence at my feast, / Among a knot of guests select, / My kin, and friends I most respect. ' / More fond of character than coffer, / Simonides accepts the offer. / While at the feast the party sit, / And wine provokes the flow of wit, / It is announced that at the gate / Two men, in haste that cannot wait, / Would see the bard. He leaves the table, / No loss at all to 'ts noisy gabble. / The men were Leda's twins, who knew / What to a poet's praise was due, / And, thanking, paid him by foretelling / The downfall of the wrestler's dwelling. / From which ill-fated pile, indeed, / No sooner was the poet freed, / Than, props and pillars failing, / Which held aloft the ceiling / So splendid o'er them, / It downward loudly crash'd, / The plates and flagons dash'd, / And men who bore them; / And, what was worse, / Full vengeance for the man of verse, / A timber broke the wrestler's thighs, / And wounded many otherwise. / The gossip Fame, of course, took care / Abroad to publish this affair. / 'A miracle! ' the public cried, delighted. / No more could god-beloved bard be slighted. / His verse now brought him more than double, / With neither duns, nor care, nor trouble. / Whoe'er laid claim to noble birth / Must buy his ancestors a slice, / Resolved no nobleman on earth / Should overgo him in the price. / From which these serious lessons flow: -- / Fail not your praises to bestow / On gods and godlike men. Again, / To sell the product of her pain / Is not degrading to the Muse. / Indeed, her art they do abuse, / Who think her wares to use, / And yet a liberal pay refuse. / Whate'er the great confer upon her, / They're honour'd by it while they honour. / Of old, Olympus and Parnassus / In friendship heaved their sky-crown'd masses.[2]

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Genres

Fable — The poem is a moral narrative in which divine intervention rewards Simonides and punishes an ungenerous patron, ending with explicit lessons about praise, artistic labor, and payment.
Narrative Poetry — It tells a complete story in verse, with characters, dialogue, a feast, a warning, catastrophe, and a concluding outcome.
Moral Poetry — Its closing stanzas directly state ethical and practical teachings: honor the gods, value poets, and pay artists fairly for their work.
Mythological Poetry — The plot relies on Greco-Roman mythological figures, especially Castor and Pollux, who appear as divine protectors of the poet.

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Simonides Preserved by the Gods is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1668 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Narrative Poetry, Moral Poetry, Mythological Poetry, Satirical Poetry
Length: 938 words
Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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