Or Cerberus himself pronounce
A leash of languages at once.
It was difficult to do justice in the translation to the metaphor of Cerberus, by translating leash of languages: This, however, is very happily effected by a parallel witticism:
Ce qui pouvoit bien faire accroire
Quand il parloit à l’auditoire,
D’entendre encore le bruit mortel
De trois ouvriers de Babel,
Ou Cerbere aux ames errantes
Japper trois langues différentes.
The wit of the following passage is completely transfused, perhaps even heightened in the translation: