Maucroix, another of his friends, who cultivated poetry with success,
also contributed to confirm his taste for the ancient models. His great
delight, however, was to read Plato and Plutarch, which he did only
through translations. The copies which he used are said to bear his
manuscript notes on almost every page, and these notes are the maxims
which are to be found in his fables. Returning from this study of the
ancients, he read the moderns with more discrimination. His favourites,
besides Malherbe, were Corneille, Rabelais, and Marot. In Italian, he
read Ariosto, Boccaccio, and Machiavel. In 1654 he published his first
work, a translation of the _Eunuch_ of Terence. It met with no
success. But this does not seem at all to have disturbed its author. He
cultivated verse-making with as much ardour and good-humour as ever; and
his verses soon began to be admired in the circle of his friends. No man
had ever more devoted friends. Verses that have cost thought are not
relished without thought. When a genius appears, it takes some little
time for the world to educate itself to a knowledge of the fact. By one
of his friends, La Fontaine was introduced to Fouquet, the minister of
finance, a man of great power, and who rivalled his sovereign in wealth
and luxury. It was his pride to be the patron of literary men, and he was
pleased to make La Fontaine his poet, settling on him a pension of one
thousand francs per annum, on condition that he should produce a piece in
verse each quarter,--a condition which was exactly complied with till the
fall of the minister.

Fouquet was a most splendid villain, and positively, though perhaps not
comparatively, deserved to fall. But it was enough for La Fontaine that
Fouquet had done him a kindness. He took the part of the disgraced
minister, without counting the cost. His "Elegy to the nymphs of Vaux"
was a shield to the fallen man, and turned popular hatred into sympathy.
The good-hearted poet rejoiced exceedingly in its success. _Bon-homme_