The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: them. But on the foregone conclusion that we were both of us idiots,
the master always went through them under a rooted prejudice, and even
kept them to read to be laughed at by our schoolfellows.
I remember one afternoon, at the end of the lesson, which lasted from
two till four, the master took possession of a page of translation by
Lambert. The passage began with /Caius Gracchus, vir nobilis/; Lambert
had construed this by "Caius Gracchus had a noble heart."
"Where do you find 'heart' in /nobilis/?" said the Father sharply.
And there was a roar of laughter, while Lambert looked at the master
in some bewilderment.
"What would Madame la Baronne de Stael say if she could know that you
Louis Lambert |