by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
That thou art blam'd shall not be thy...
Language: English
That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater being woo'd of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.
Thou hast passed by the ambush of young days
Either not assail'd, or victor being charg'd;
Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise,
To tie up envy, evermore enlarg'd,
If some suspect of ill mask'd not thy show,
Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst owe.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 70 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LXX", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 70, first published 1857
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 110
Que tu sois blâmé, ce n'est pas un...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Que tu sois blâmé, ce n'est pas un défaut chez toi, car la supériorité a toujours été la cible de la calomnie. La beauté a pour ornement le soupçon, ce corbeau qui vole dans l'air le plus pur du ciel. Pourvu qu'il soit réel, la calomnie ne fait que rendre plus évident un mérite que le temps consacre ; car le ver du mal aime les plus suaves bourgeons, et tu lui présentes un printemps pur et sans tache. Tu as traversé les embûches de la jeunesse ; tu en as évité les attaques ou les a supportées en vainqueur. Pourtant l'éloge qui te revient ne peut t'appartenir au point d'enchaîner l'envie qui va grandissant toujours. Si le soupçon de la malveillance ne masquait pas ta splendeur, tu posséderais seul le royaume des cœurs.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 70, first published 1857 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 70
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 132