“_Quid dicis, doctissime?_” he asked me, rubbing his hands. “Let us see
whether we shall agree on the meaning of this _cave amantem_!”
“Why,” I said, “there are two possible meanings. You can translate,
‛Beware of him who loves thee; distrust lovers.’ But, in this sense I
do not know whether _cave amantem_ would be good Latinity. Looking to
the lady’s diabolical expression, I am more inclined to think that the
artist meant to warn the beholder against this terrible beauty. So I
would translate, ‛Beware for thyself, if _she_ loves thee.’”
“Humph!” said M. de Peyrehorade. “Yes, that is an admissible rendering:
but you will not be offended if I prefer the first translation, which,
however, I shall develop. You know who the lover of Venus was, do you
not?”
“There are several.”
“Yes; but the first is Vulcan. Was the meaning not intended to be
‛Despite all thy beauty, thy disdainful air, thou shalt have a
blacksmith, an ugly lameter for lover?’ A profound moral, sir, for
coquettes!”