Explore "Education" by Jean de La Fontaine on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Lapluck and Caesar brothers were, descended / From dogs by Fame the most commended, / Who falling, in their puppyhood, / To different masters anciently, / One dwelt and hunted in the boundless wood; / From thieves the other kept a kitchen free. / At first, each had another name; / But, by their bringing up, it came, / While one improved upon his nature, / The other grew a sordid creature, / Till, by some scullion called Lapluck, / The name ungracious ever stuck. / To high exploits his brother grew, / Put many a stag at bay, and tore / Full many a trophy from the boar; / In short, him first, of all his crew, / The world as Caesar knew; / And care was had, lest, by a baser mate, / His noble blood should e'er degenerate. / Not so with his neglected brother; / He made whatever came a mother; / And, by the laws of population, / His race became a countless nation -- / The common turnspits throughout France -- / Where danger is, they don't advance -- / Precisely the antipodes / Of what we call the Caesars, these!
Oft falls the son below his sire's estate: / Through want of care all things degenerate. / For lack of nursing Nature and her gifts. / What crowds from gods become mere kitchen-thrifts!