Note 448 — Chapter VI · RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE (Continued)
George Herbert Ely translation
Lavardin also touched the chords of feeling, and was thereupon congratulated by Ronsard in a sonnet: he translated for the princess a dialogue by Mark Antony Natta, on the Nature of God. He acknowledges that in reality the subject seems to him inaccessible, whether one takes the wings of an eagle or descends into the depths: in the end he thinks that the incomprehensible had better be left to faith. But he dedicates this work to Margaret in excellent verse:
A quel plus propre autel pourrions-nous présenter Le sujet immortel de ce précieux livre? ... O perle, ô Marguerite, O beau fleuron royal, vostre sang très chrestien, Et toutes les vertus dont vostre grâce hérite ... Nous font foy ... Que des enfans de Dieu vous serez le soutien.
[To what more seemly altar could we bring The immortal subject of this precious book? O pearl, O Margaret, Fair queenly gem, thy purest Christian ray And all the virtues by thy grace possest To us attest God’s children all will find in thee their stay.]