Comme un qui prend une coupe,
Seul honneur de son trésor,
Et de rang verse à [sa]1 troupe,
Du vin qui rit dedans l'or:
Ainsi versant la rousée,
Dont ma langue est arrousée
Sus la race des Valoys,
En son doux nectar j'abreuve,
Le plus grand Roy qui se treuve
Soit en armes ou en loix.

P. Cléreau sets lines 1-8

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Cléreau, Lassus: "la"

Submitter's note: This is the famous opening of Ronsard’s first Pindaric ode (to Henri II), a direct imitation of Pindar’s 7th Olympic ode

Text Authorship:

• by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585) [author's text not yet checked 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 Pierre Cléreau (c1515 - 1569), "Comme un qui prend une coupe", lines 1-8. [ sung text checked 1 time]
• by Roland de Lassus (1532 - 1594), "Comme un qui prend une coupe" [ sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 57

As one who takes a cup
Sole distinguished piece of his treasure
And in turn pours out for his followers
Wine which laughs within the gold;
So pouring out the dew
With which my tongue is bedewed
Upon the race of Valois,
In its sweet nectar I salute
The greatest king there is,
Both in war and in lawgiving.