> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# A Wondrous Marble Once a Sculptor Bought for Carving
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/chudesnyi-mramor-priobrel-odin-skulptor-dlia-izvaiania/
- Published: 2025-08-12T18:55:21.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T09:15:53.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Books

A wondrous marble once a sculptor bought  
For carving.  
"Whether I make a god, or a table,  
Or a vessel for washing, —  
It shall be a god! Let the sovereign  
Hold thunderbolts in his hands!  
Fall to the dust, you mortals, —  
Behold the master of the universe!"  
So marvellously did the sculptor's hand  
Carve the image of the deity  
That only speech was lacking to it,  
In the opinion of the majority.  
And, they say, scarcely had the Carver  
Finished his great labour,  
Than before his creation the creator  
Was the first to bow his head.  
With the artist the poet is subject  
To the same weakness:  
He dreads the wrath and the vengeance  
Of gods that he himself has summoned into the world!  
Are not children just such,  
In their innocent weaknesses,  
Fearing most of all in the world  
To rouse the anger of their doll?  
The mind follows the heart freely:  
And so in former times  
The wave of paganism spread  
Among all peoples everywhere.  
Each cherishes his own chimera  
With the deep tenderness of a father,  
Pygmalion loved Venus,  
The creation of his chisel.  
We all, as far as our strength allows,  
Grant life to our own dream;  
We love falsehood with mad ardour,  
And toward truth we are colder than ice.

*Literal translation*

**Jean de La Fontaine, "The Sculptor and the Statue of Jupiter"**