XLIX. LA VIEILLE ET LES DEUX SERVANTES. ^sop's

fable 110.

Line 2. les sœurs flandières, 'the Fates' or Parcœ, daughters of

Nox and Erebus, or, according to some other poets , of

Jupiter and Themis. They were three in number, namely

Notes. 105

. Clotho, who presided over the moment, in which a mortal was born, and held a distaff in her hand; Lachesis who spun the thread of our existence; and Atropos who eut this same thread. Les sœurs filandières, literally means 'the spinning sisters'.

Line 3. au prix de, more commonly auprès de.

6. Thétis, a sea deity not to be confounded with Thetys the mother of Achilles, as bas been donc in some French éditions of La Fontaine.

Phœbus, a name of A polio typifying the brightness of the sun.