CLIO
BY
ANATOLE FRANCE
FROM THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE
IN AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
EDITED BY JAMES LEWIS MAY
AND BERNARD MIALL«
A TRANSLATION BY WINIFRED STEPHENS
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
MCMXXII
TO
EMILE ZOLA
NOTE BY THE EDITORS
The Château de Vaux le Vicomte is a translation of thetext of a sumptuously illustrated volume descriptive of thiswonderful monument of human frailty and ambition, publishedin 1888 by Lemercier et Cie with plates by Rodolphe Pfnor.Although the text has not been published apart from theplates in France, it seemed only fitting to include atranslation of The Château de Vaux le Vicomte in acomplete edition of Monsieur Anatole France's works.
CONTENTS
CLIO
THE BARD OF KYME
KOMM OF THE ATREBATES
FARINATA DEGLI UBERTI
THE KING DRINKS
"LA MUIRON"
THE CHÂTEAU DE VAUX-LE-VICOMTE
PREFACE
NICOLAS FOUCQUET
THE CHÂTEAU DE VAUX
[To this English translation of Clio we added 12 platesby Mucha, who illustrated the French 1900 edition, which is also availableat Project Gutenberg.—Transcribers' Note.]
CLIO
THE BARD OF KYME
Along the hill-side he came, following a path which skirted the sea.His forehead was bare, deeply furrowed and bound by a fillet of redwool. The sea-breeze blew his white locks over his temples and pressedthe fleece of a snow-white beard against his chin. His tunic and hisfeet were the colour of the roads which he had trodden for so manyyears. A roughly made lyre hung at his side. He was known as the AgedOne, and also as the Bard. Yet another name was given him by thechildren to whom he taught poetry and music, and many called him theBlind One, because his eyes, dim with age, were overhung by swollenlids, reddened by the smoke of the hearths beside which he was wontto sit when he sang. But his was no eternal night, and he was saidto see things invisible to other men. For three generations he hadbeen wandering ceaselessly to and fro. And now, having sung all dayto a King of Ægea, he was returning to his home, the roof of whichhe could already see smoking in the distance; for now, after walkingall night without a halt for fear of being overtaken by the heat ofthe day, in the clear light of the dawn he could see the white Kyme,his birthplace. With hi