---
title: "Fables · Fabulae"
author: "Phaedrus"
translator: "Christopher Smart"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/
cite: "Phaedrus, tr. Christopher Smart, Fables · Fabulae. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/"
---

# Fables · Fabulae

*Phaedrus, tr. Christopher Smart*

Aesop’s fables in Latin verse: the fox and the grapes, the wolf and the lamb.

> Latin: ed. Lucian Mueller, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0975.phi001, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Christopher Smart, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0975.phi001.perseus-eng1). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Book I](https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/1.md)
2. [Book II](https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/2.md)
3. [Book III](https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/3.md)
4. [Book IV](https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/4.md)
5. [Book V](https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/5.md)

## 1. Book I

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/1/#p-N

[¶0] WHAT from the founder Esop fell,
In neat familiar verse I tell:
Twofold's the genius of the page,
To make you smile and make you sage.
But if the critics we displease,
By wrangling brutes and talking trees,
Let them remember, ere they blame,
We're working neither sin nor shame;
'Tis but a play to form the youth
By fiction, in the cause of truth.

> Latin: Aesopus auctor quam materiam repperit,
Hanc ego polivi versibus senariis.
Duplex libelli dos est: quod risum movet
Et quod prudenti vitam consilio monet.
Calumniari si quis autem voluerit,
Quod arbores loquantur, non tantum ferae,
Fictis iocari nos meminerit fabulis.

[¶1] BY thirst incited; to the brook
The Wolf and Lamb themselves betook.
The Wolf high up the current drank,
The Lamb far lower down the bank.
Then, bent his ravenous maw to cram,
The Wolf took umbrage at the Lamb.
"How dare you trouble all the flood,
And mingle my good drink with mud?"
"Sir," says the Lambkin, sore afraid,
"How should I act, as you upbraid?
The thing you mention cannot be,
The stream descends from you to me."
Abash'd by facts, says he, " I know
'Tis now exact six months ago
You strove my honest fame to blot"-
"Six months ago, sir, I was not."
"Then 'twas th' old ram thy sire," he cried,
And so he tore him, till he died.
To those this fable I address
Who are determined to oppress,
And trump up any false pretence,
But they will injure innocence.

> Latin: Ad rivum eundem lupus et agnus venerant
Siti compulsi; superior stabat lupus
Longeque inferior agnus. Tunc fauce improba
Latro incitatus iurgii causam intulit.
Cur, inquit, turbulentam fecisti mihi
Aquam bibenti? Laniger contra timens:
Qui possum, quaeso, facere, quod quereris, lupe?
A te decurrit ad meos haustus liquor.
Repulsus ille veritatis viribus:
Ante hos sex menses male, ait, dixisti mihi.
Respondit agnus: Equidem natus non eram.
Pater hercle tuus, ille inquit, male dixit mihi.
Atque ita correptum lacerat iniusta nece.
Haec propter illos scripta est homines fabula,
Qui fictis causis innocentes opprimunt.

[¶2] With equal laws when Athens throve,
The petulance of freedom drove
Their state to license, which overthrew
Those just restraints of old they knew.
Hence, as a factious discontent
Through every rank and order went,
Pisistratus the tyrant form'd
A party, and the fort he storm'd:
Which yoke, while all bemoaned in grief
(Not that he was a cruel chief,
But they unused to be controlled)
Then Esop thus his fable told:
The Frogs, a freeborn people made,
From out their marsh with clamor pray'd
That Jove a monarch would assign
With power their manners to refine.
The sovereign smiled, and on their bog
Bent his petitioners a log,
Which, as it dash'd upon the place,
At first alarm'd the tim'rous race.
But ere it long had lain to cool,
One slily peep'd out of the pool,
And finding it a king in jest,
He boldly summoned all the rest.
Now, void of fear, the tribe advance,
And on the timber leap'd and danced,
And having let their fury loose,
In gross affronts and rank abuse,
Of Jove they sought another king,
For useless was this wooden thing.
Then he a water-snake empower'd,
Who one by one their race devoured.
They try to make escape in vain,
Nor, dumb through fear, can they complain.
By stealth they Mercury depute,
That Jove would once more hear their suit,
And send their sinking state to save;
But he in wrath this answer gave:
"You scorn'd the good king that you had,
And therefore you shall bear the bad."
Ye likewise, 0 Athenian friends,
Convinced to what impatience tends,
Though slavery be no common curse,
Be still, for fear of worse and worse.

> Latin: Athenae cum florerent aequis legibus,
Procax libertas civitatem miscuit
Frenumque solvit pristinum licentia.
Hic conspiratis factionum partibus
Arcem tyrannus occupat Pisistratus.
Cum tristem servitutem flerent Attici,
(Non quia crudelis ille, sed quoniam gravis
Omnino insuetis), onus et coepissent queri,
Aesopus talem tum fabellam rettulit.
Ranae vagantes liberis paludibus
Clamore magno regem petiere a Iove,
Qui dissolutos mores vi compesceret.
Pater deorum risit atque illis dedit
Parvum tigillum, missum quod subito vadi
Motu sonoque terruit pavidum genus.
Hoc mersum limo cum iaceret diutius,
Forte una tacite profert e stagno caput
Et explorato rege cunctas evocat.
Illae timore posito certatim adnatant
Lignumque supera turba petulans insilit.
Quod cum inquinassent omni contumelia,
Alium rogantes regem misere ad Iovem,
Inutilis quoniam esset qui fuerat datus.
Tum misit illis hydrum, qui dente aspero
Corripere coepit singulas. Frustra necem
Fugitant inertes, vocem praecludit metus.
Furtim igitur dant Mercurio mandata ad Iovem,
Afflictis ut succurrat. Tunc contra deus:
Quia noluistis vestrum ferre inquit bonum,
Malum perferte. — Vos quoque, o cives, ait,
Hoc sustinete, maius ne veniat malum.

[¶3] Lest any one himself should plume,
And on his neighbour's worth presume;
But still let Nature's garb prevail-
Esop has left this little tale:
A Daw, ambitious and absurd,
Pick'd up the quills of Juno's bird;
And, with the gorgeous spoil adorn'd,
All his own sable brethren scorn'd,
And join'd the peacocks-who in scoff
Stripp'd the bold thief; and drove him off
The Daw, thus roughly handled, went
To his own kind in discontent:
But they in turn contemn the spark,
And brand with many a shameful mark.
Then one he formerly disdain'd,
"Had you," said he, "at home remain'd—
Content with Nature's ways and will,
You had not felt the peacock's bill;
Nor 'mongst the birds of your own dress
Had been deserted in distress."

> Latin: Ne gloriari libeat alienis bonis
Suoque potius habitu vitam degere,
Aesopus nobis hoc exemplum prodidit.
Tumens inani graculus superbia,
Pennas pavoni quae deciderant sustulit
Seque exornavit. Deinde contemnens suos
Se inmiscuit pavonum formoso gregi.
Illi inpudenti pennas eripiunt avi
Fugantque rostris. Male mulcatus graculus
Redire maerens coepit ad proprium genus;
A quo repulsus tristem sustinuit notam.
Tum quidam ex illis, quos prius despexerat:
Contentus nostris si fuisses sedibus
Et quod natura dederat voluisses pati,
Nec illam expertus esses contumeliam
Nec hanc repulsam tua sentiret calamitas.

[¶4] The churl that wants another's fare
Deserves at least to lose his share.
As through the stream a Dog convey'd
A piece of meat, he spied his shade
In the clear mirror of the flood,
And thinking it was flesh and blood,
Snapp'd to deprive him of the treat:-
But mark the glutton's self-defeat,
Miss'd both another's and his own,
Both shade and substance, beef and bone.

> Latin: Amittit merito proprium qui alienum adpetit.
Canis per flumen carnem cum ferret natans,
Lympharum in speculo vidit simulacrum suum,
Aliamque praedam ab altero ferri putans
Eripere voluit; verum decepta aviditas
Et quem tenebat ore dimisit cibum,
Nec quem petebat potuit adeo adtingere.

[¶5] A partnership with men in power
We cannot build upon an hour.
This Fable proves the fact too true:
An Heifer, Goat, and harmless Ewe,
Were with the Lion as allies,
To raise in desert woods supplies.
There, when they jointly had the luck
To take a most enormous buck,
The Lion first the parts disposed,
And then his royal will disclosed.
" The first, as Lion hight, I crave;
The next you yield to me, as brave;
The third is my peculiar due,
As being stronger far than you;
The fourth you likewise will renounce,
For him that touches, I shall trounce."
Thus rank unrighteousness and force
Seized all the prey without remorse.

> Latin: Numquam est fidelis cum potente societas:
Testatur haec fabella propositum meum.
Vacca et capella et patiens ovis iniuriae
Socii fuere cum leone in saltibus.
Hi cum cepissent cervum vasti corporis,
Sic est locutus, partibus factis, leo:
Ego primam tollo, †nominor quia leo;
Secundam, quia sum fortis, tribuetis mihi;
Tum, quia plus valeo, me sequetur tertia;
Malo afficietur si quis quartam tetigerit.
Sic totam praedam sola improbitas abstulit.

[¶6] When Esop saw, with inward grief,
The nuptials of a neighboring thief,
He thus his narrative begun:
Of old 'twas rumor'd that the Sun
Would take a wife: with hideous cries
The quer'lous Frogs alarm'd the skies.
Moved at their murmurs, Jove inquired
What was the thing that they desired?
When thus a tenant of the lake,
In terror, for his brethren spake:
"Ev'n now one Sun too much is found,
And dries up all the pools around,
Till we thy creatures perish here;
But oh, how dreadfully severe,
Should he at length be made a sire,
And propagate a race of fire!"

> Latin: Vicini furis celebres vidit nuptias
Aesopus et continuo narrare incipit:
Uxorem quondam Sol cum vellet ducere,
Clamorem ranae sustulere ad sidera.
Convicio permotus quaerit Iuppiter
Causam querelae. Quaedam tum stagni incola:
Nunc inquit omnes unus exurit lacus
Cogitque miseras arida sede emori.
Quidnam futurum est, si crearit liberos?

[¶7] A Fox beheld a Mask- "0 rare
The headpiece, if but brains were there!"
This holds-whene'er the Fates dispense
Pomp, pow'r, and everything but sense.

> Latin: Personam tragicam forte vulpes viderat:
O quanta species, inquit, cerebrum non habet!
Hoc illis dictum est, quibus honorem et gloriam
Fortuna tribuit, sensum communem abstulit.

[¶8] Who for his merit seeks a price
From men of violence and vice,
Is twice a fool-first so declared,
As for the worthless he has cared;
Then after all, his honest aim
Must end in punishment and shame.
A bone the Wolf devoured in haste,
Stuck in his greedy throat so fast,
That, tortured with the pain, he roar'd,
And ev'ry beast around implored,
That who a remedy could find
Should have a premium to his mind.
A Crane was wrought upon to trust
His oath at length-and down she thrust
Her neck into his throat impure,
And so perform'd a desp'rate cure.
At which, when she desired her fee,
"You base, ungrateful minx," says he,
"Whom I so kind forbore to kill,
And now, forsooth, you'd bring your bill!"

> Latin: Qui pretium meriti ab improbis desiderat,
Bis peccat: primum quoniam indignos adiuvat;
Impune abire deinde quia iam non potest.
Os devoratum fauce cum haereret lupi,
Magno dolore victus coepit singulos
Illicere pretio, ut illud extraherent malum.
Tandem persuasa est iure iurando gruis,
Gulaeque credens colli longitudinem,
Periculosam fecit medicinam lupo.
Pro quo cum pactum flagitaret praemium:
Ingrata es inquit ore quae nostro caput
Incolume abstuleris et mercedem postules.

[¶9] Still to give cautions, as a friend,
And not one's own affairs attend,
Is but impertinent and vain,
As these few verses will explain.
A Sparrow taunted at a Hare
Caught by an eagle high in air,
And screaming loud—"Where now," says she,
" Is your renown'd velocity?
Why loiter'd your much boasted speed?"
Just as she spake, an hungry glede
Did on th' injurious railer fall,
Nor could her cries avail at all.
The Hare, with its expiring breath,
Thus said: " See comfort ev'n in death!
She that derided my distress
Must now deplore her own no less."

> Latin: Sibi non cavere et aliis consilium dare
Stultum esse paucis ostendemus versibus.
Oppressum ab aquila, fletus edentem graves,
Leporem obiurgabat passer: Ubi pernicitas
Nota inquit illa est? Quid ita cessarunt pedes?
Dum loquitur, ipsum accipiter necopinum rapit
Questuque vano clamitantem interficit.
Lepus semianimus mortis in solacio:
Qui modo securus nostra irridebas mala,
Simili querela fata deploras tua.

[¶10] Whoe'er by practice indiscreet
Has pass'd for a notorious cheat,
Will shortly find his credit fail,
Though he speak truth, says Esop's tale.
The Wolf the Fox for theft arraigned;
The Fox her innocence maintained:
The Ape, as umpire, takes his seat;
Each pleads his cause with skill and heat.
Then thus the Ape, with aspect grave,
The sentence from the hustings gave:
"For you, Sir Wolf, I do descry
That all your losses are a lie-
And you, with negatives so stout,
0 Fox! have stolen the goods no doubt."

> Latin: Quicumque turpi fraude semel innotuit,
Etiam si verum dicit, amittit fidem.
Hoc attestatur brevis Aesopi fabula.
Lupus arguebat vulpem furti crimine;
Negabat illa se esse culpae proximam.
Tunc iudex inter illos sedit simius.
Uterque causam cum perorassent suam,
Dixisse fertur simius sententiam:
Tu non videris perdidisse quod petis;
Te credo surripuisse quod pulchre negas.

[¶11] A coward, full of pompous speech,
The ignorant may overreach;
But is the laughing-stock of those
Who know how far his valor goes.
Once on a time it came to pass,
The Lion hunted with the Ass,
Whom hiding in the thickest shade
He there proposed should lend him aid,
By trumpeting so strange a bray,
That all the beasts he should dismay,
And drive them o'er the desert heath
Into the lurking Lion's teeth.
Proud of the task, the long-ear'd loon
Struck up such an outrageous tune,
That 'twas a miracle to hear-
The beasts forsake their haunts with fear,
And in the Lion's fangs expired:
Who, being now with slaughter tired,
Call'd out the Ass, whose noise he stops.
The Ass, parading from the copse,
Cried out with most conceited scoff,
"How did my music-piece go off?
So well-were not thy courage known,
Their terror had been all my own!"

> Latin: Virtutis expers, verbis iactans gloriam,
Ignotos fallit, notis est derisui.
Venari asello comite cum vellet leo,
Contexit illum frutice et admonuit simul,
Ut insueta voce terreret feras,
Fugientes ipse exciperet. Hic auritulus
Clamorem subito totis tollit viribus
Novoque turbat bestias miraculo.
Quae dum paventes exitus notos petunt,
Leonis affliguntur horrendo impetu.
Qui postquam caede fessus est, asinum evocat
Iubetque vocem premere. Tunc ille insolens:
Qualis videtur opera tibi vocis meae?
Insignis inquit sic ut, nisi nossem tuum
Animum genusque, simili fugissem metu.

[¶12] FULL often what you now despise
Proves better than the things you prize;
Let Esop's narrative decide:
A Stag beheld, with conscious pride,
(As at the fountain-head he stood)
His image in the silver flood,
And there extols his branching horns,
While his poor spindle-shanks he scorns-
But, lo! he hears the hunter's cries,
And, frightened, o'er the champaign flies—
His swiftness baffles the pursuit:
At length a wood receives the brute,
And by his horns entangled there,
The pack began his flesh to tear:
Then dying thus he wail'd his fate:
"Unhappy me! and wise too late!
How useful what I did disdain!
How grievous that which made me vain!

> Latin: Laudatis utiliora quae contempseris
Saepe inveniri haec asserit narratio.
Ad fontem cervus, cum bibisset, restitit
Et in liquore vidit effigiem suam.
Ibi dum ramosa mirans laudat cornua
Crurumque nimiam tenuitatem vituperat,
Venantum subito vocibus conterritus
Per campum fugere coepit et cursu levi
Canes elusit. Silva tum excepit ferum,
In qua retentis impeditus cornibus
Lacerari coepit morsibus saevis canum.
Tunc moriens edidisse vocem hanc dicitur:
O me infelicem! qui nunc demum intellego
Utilia mihi quam fuerint quae despexeram,
Et quae laudaram quantum luctus habuerint.

[¶13] His folly in repentance ends,
Who, to a flatt'ring knave attends.
A Crow, her hanger to appease,
Had from a window stolen some cheese,
And sitting on a lofty pine
In state, was just about to dine.
This, when a Fox observed below,
He thus harangued the foolish Crow:
" Lady, how beauteous to the view
Those glossy plumes of sable hue!
Thy features how divinely fair!
With what a shape, and what an air!
Could you but frame your voice to sing,
You'd have no rival on the wing.'
But she, now willing to display
Her talents in the vocal way,
Let go the cheese of luscious taste,
Which Renard seized with greedy haste.
The grudging dupe now sees at last
That for her folly she must fast.

> Latin: Qui se laudari gaudet verbis subdolis,
Fere dat poenas turpi paenitentia.
Cum de fenestra corvus raptum caseum
Comesse vellet, celsa residens arbore,
Vulpes hunc vidit, deinde sic coepit loqui:
O qui tuarum, corve, pennarum est nitor!
Quantum decoris corpore et vultu geris!
Si vocem haberes, nulla prior ales foret.
At ille stultus, dum vult vocem ostendere,
Emisit ore caseum, quem celeriter
Dolosa vulpes avidis rapuit dentibus.
Tunc demum ingemuit corvi deceptus stupor.
[Hac re probatur quantum ingenium valet;]
[Virtute semper praevalet sapientia.]

[¶14] A bankrupt Cobbler, poor and lean,
(No bungler e'er was half so mean)
Went to a foreign place, and there
Began his med'cines to prepare;
But one of more especial note
He call'd his sovereign antidote;
And by his technical bombast
Contrived to raise a name at last.
It happen'd that the king was sick,
Who, willing to detect the trick,
Call'd for some water in an ewer,
Poison in which he feign'd to pour
The antidote was likewise mix'd;
He then upon th' empiric fix'd
To take the medicated cup,
And, for a premium, drink it up
The quack, through dread of death, confessed
That he was of no skill possessed;
But all this great and glorious job
Was made of nonsense and the mob.
Then did the king his peers convoke,
And thus unto th' assembly spoke:
" My lords and gentlemen, I rate
Your folly as inordinate,
Who trust your heads into his hand,
Where no one had his heels japann'd."—
This story their attention craves
Whose weakness is the prey of knaves.

> Latin: Malus cum sutor inopia deperditus
Medicinam ignoto facere coepisset loco
Et venditaret falso antidotum nomine,
Verbosis acquisivit sibi famam strophis.
Hic cum iaceret morbo confectus gravi
Rex urbis, eius experiendi gratia
Scyphum poposcit: fusa dein simulans aqua
Miscere illius antidoto se toxicum,
Ebibere iussit ipsum posito praemio.
Timore mortis ille tum confessus est
Non artis ulla medicum se prudentia,
Verum stupore vulgi factum nobilem.
Rex advocata contione haec addidit:
Quantae putatis esse vos dementiae,
Qui capita vestra non dubitatis credere,
Cui calceandos nemo commisit pedes?
Hoc pertinere vere ad illos dixerim,
Quorum stultitia quaestus impudentiae est.

[¶15] In all the changes of a state,
The poor are the most fortunate,
Who, save the name of him they call
Their king, can find no odds at all.
The truth of this you now may read-
A fearful old man in a mead,
While leading of his Ass about,
Was startled at the sudden shout
Of enemies approaching nigh.
He then advised the Ass to fly,
"Lest we be taken in the place:"
But loth at all to mend his pace,
"Pray, will the conqueror," quoth Jack,
"With double panniers load my back?"
"No," says the man. "If that's the thing,"
Cries he, "I care not who is king."

> Latin: In principatu commutando saepius
Nil praeter domini mores mutant pauperes.
Id esse verum parva haec fabella indicat.
Asellum in prato timidus pascebat senex.
Is hostium clamore subito territus
Suadebat asino fugere, ne possent capi.
At ille lentus: Quaeso, num binas mihi
Clitellas impositurum victorem putas?
Senex negavit. Ergo quid refert mea
Cui serviam clitellas cum portem meas?

[¶16] When one rogue would another get
For surety in a case of debt,
'Tis not the thing t' accept the terms,
But dread th' event-the tale affirms.
A Stag approached the Sheep, to treat
For one good bushel of her wheat.
"The honest Wolf will give his bond."
At which, beginning to despond,
"The Wolf (cries she) 's a vagrant bite,
And you are quickly out of sight;
Where shall I find or him or you
Upon the day the debt is due?"

> Latin: Fraudator homines cum advocat sponsum improbos,
Non rem expedire, sed mala videre expetit.
Ovem rogabat cervus modium tritici
Lupo sponsore. At illa praemetuens dolum:
Rapere atque abire semper assuevit lupus,
Tu de conspectu fugere veloci impetu;
Ubi vos requiram cum dies advenerit?

[¶17] Liars are liable to rue
The mischief they 're so prone to do.
The Sheep a Dog unjustly dunn'd
One loaf directly to refund,
Which he the Dog to the said Sheep
Had given in confidence to keep.
The Wolf was summoned, and he swore
It was not one, but ten or more.
The Sheep was therefore cast at law
To pay for things she never saw.
But, lo! ere many days ensued,
Dead in a ditch the Wolf she view'd:
"This, this," she cried, "is Heaven's decree
Of justice on a wretch like thee."

> Latin: Solent mendaces luere poenas malefici.
Calumniator ab ove cum peteret canis,
Quem commendasse panem se contenderet,
Lupus citatus testis non unum modo
Deberi dixit, verum affirmavit decem.
Ovis damnata falso testimonio
Quod non debebat solvit. Post paucos dies
Bidens iacentem in fovea conspexit lupum:
Haec inquit merces fraudis a superis datur.

[¶18] Not here translated.
Bad men have speeches smooth and fair,
Of which, that we should be aware,
And such designing villains thwart,
The underwritten lines exhort.
A Bitch besought one of her kin
For room to put her Puppies in:
She, loth to say her neighbour nay,
Directly lent both hole and hay.
But asking to be repossessed,
For longer time the former press'd,
Until her Puppies gathered strength,
Which second lease expired at length;
And when, abused at such a rate,
The lender grew importunate,
"The place," quoth she, " I will resign
When you 're a match for me and mine.'

> Latin: Nemo libenter recolit qui laesit locum.
Instante partu mulier actis mensibus
Humi iacebat flebilis gemitus ciens.
Vir est hortatus, corpus lecto reciperet,
Onus naturae melius quo deponeret.
Minime, inquit, illo posse confido loco
Malum finiri, quo conceptum est initio.
Habent insidias hominis blanditiae mali:
Quas ut vitemus versus subiecti monent.
Canis parturiens cum rogasset alteram,
Ut fetum in eius tugurio deponeret,
Facile impetravit: dein reposcenti locum
Preces admovit, tempus exorans breve,
Dum firmiores posset catulos ducere.
Hoc quoque consumpto flagitari validius
Cubile coepit. Si mihi et turbae meae
Par inquit esse potueris, cedam loco.

[¶19] A stupid plan that fools project,
Not only will not take effect,
ut proves destructive in the end
To those that bungle and pretend.
Some hungry Dogs beheld an hide
Deep sunk beneath the crystal tide,
Which, that they might extract for food,
They strove to drink up all the flood;
But bursten in the desp'rate deed,
They perish'd, ere they could succeed.

> Latin: Stultum consilium non modo effectu caret,
Sed ad perniciem quoque mortalis devocat.
Corium depressum in fluvio viderunt canes.
Id ut comesse extractum possent facilius,
Aquam coepere ebibere: sed rupti prius
Periere quam quod petierant contingerent.

[¶20] Whoever, to his honor's cost,
His pristine dignity has lost,
Is the fool's jest and coward's scorn,
When once deserted and forlorn.
With years enfeebled and decay'd,
A Lion gasping hard was laid:
Then came, with furious tusk, a boar,
To vindicate his wrongs of yore:
The hull was next in hostile spite,
With goring horn his foe to smite:
At length the ass himself, secure
That now impunity was sure,
His blow too insolently deals,
And kicks his forehead with his heel.
Then thus the Lion, as he died:
"'Twas hard to bear the brave," he cried;
But to be trampled on by thee
Is Nature's last indignity;
And thou, 0 despicable thing,
Giv'st death at least a double sting."

> Latin: Quicumque amisit dignitatem pristinam,
Ignavis etiam iocus est in casu gravi.
Defectus annis et desertus viribus
Leo cum iaceret spiritum extremum trahens,
Aper fulmineis venit ad eum dentibus
Et vindicavit ictu veterem iniuriam.
Infestis taurus mox confodit cornibus
Hostile corpus. Asinus, ut vidit ferum
Impune laedi, calcibus frontem extudit.
At ille exspirans: Fortis indigne tuli
Mihi insultare: te, naturae dedecus,
Quod ferre certe cogor bis videor mori.

[¶21] A Weasel, by a person caught,
And willing to get off; besought
The man to spare. "Be not severe
On him that keeps your pantry clear
"This were," says he, "a work of price,
Of those intolerable mice."
If done entirely for my sake,
And good had been the plea you make:
But since, with all these pains and care,
You seize yourself the dainty fare
On which those vermin used to fall,
And then devour the mice and all,
Urge not a benefit in vain."
This said, the miscreant was slain.
The satire here those chaps will own,
Who, useful to themselves alone,
And bustling for a private end,
Would boast the merit of a friend.

> Latin: Mustela ab homine prensa cum instantem necem
Effugere vellet: Parce, quaeso inquit mihi,
Quae tibi molestis muribus purgo domum.
Respondit ille: Faceres si causa mea,
Gratum esset et dedissem veniam supplici.
Nunc quia laboras ut fruaris reliquiis,
Quas sunt rosuri, simul et ipsos devores,
Noli imputare vanum beneficium mihi.
Atque ita locutus improbam leto dedit.
Hoc in se dictum debent illi agnoscere,
Quorum privata servit utilitas sibi,
Et meritum inane iactant imprudentibus.

[¶22] A Man that's gen'rous all at once
May dupe a novice or a dunce;
But to no purpose are the snares
He for the knowing ones prepares.
When late at night a felon tried
To bribe a Dog with food, he cried,
"What ho! do you attempt to stop
The mouth of him that guards the shop?
You're mightily mistaken, sir,
For this strange kindness is a spur,
To make me double all my din,
Lest such a scoundrel should come in."

> Latin: Repente liberalis stultis gratus est,
Verum peritis irritos tendit dolos.
Nocturnus cum fur panem misisset cani,
Obiecto temptans an cibo posset capi:
Heus inquit linguam vis meam praecludere,
Ne latrem pro re domini? Multum falleris.
Namque ista subita me iubet benignitas
Vigilare, facias ne mea culpa lucrum.

[¶23] When poor men to expenses run,
And ape their betters, they 're undone.
An Ox the Frog a-grazing view'd,
And envying his magnitude,
She puffs her wrinkled skin, and tries
To vie with his enormous size:
Then asks her young to own at least
That she was bigger than the beast.
They answer, No. With might and main
She swells and strains, and swells again.
"Now for it, who has got the day?"
The Ox is larger still, they say.
At length, with more and more ado,
She raged and puffed, and burst in two.

> Latin: Inops, potentem dum vult imitari, perit.
In prato quondam rana conspexit bovem
Et tacta invidia tantae magnitudinis
Rugosam inflavit pellem: tum natos suos
Interrogavit, an bove esset latior.
Illi negarunt. Rursus intendit cutem
Maiore nisu et simili quaesivit modo,
Quis maior esset. Illi dixerunt bovem.
Novissime indignata dum vult validius
Inflare sese, rupto iacuit corpore.

[¶24] Who give bad precepts to the wise,
And cautious men with guile advise,
Not only lose their toil and time,
But slip into sarcastic rhyme.
The dogs that are about the Nile,
Through terror of the Crocodile,
Are therefore said to drink and run.
It happen'd on a day, that one,
As scamp'ring by the river side,
Was by the Crocodile espied:
"Sir, at your leisure drink, nor fear
The least design or treach'ry here."
"That," says the Dog, "ma'm, would I do
With all my heart, and thank you too,
But as you can on dog's flesh dine,
You shall not taste a bit of mine."

> Latin: Consilia qui dant prava cautis hominibus,
Et perdunt operam et deridentur turpiter.
Canes currentes bibere in Nilo flumine,
A corcodilis ne rapiantur, traditum est.
Igitur cum currens bibere coepisset canis,
Sic corcodilus: Quamlibet lambe otio;
Noli vereri. At ille: Facerem mehercule,
Nisi esse scirem carnis te cupidum meae.

[¶25] One should do injury to none;
But he that has th' assault begun,
Ought, says the fabulist, to find
The dread of being served in kind,
A Fox, to sup within his cave
The Stork an invitation gave,
Where, in a shallow dish, was pour'd
Some broth, which he himself devoured;
While the poor hungry Stork was fain
Inevitably to abstain.
The Stork, in turn, the Fox invites,
And brings her liver and her lights
Ina ta 11 flagon, finely minced,
And thrusting in her beak, convinced
The Fox that he in grief must fast,
While she enjoy'd the rich repast.
Then, as in vain he lick'd the neck,
The Stork was heard her guest to check, -
' That every one the fruits should bear
Of their example, is but fair."

> Latin: Nulli nocendum: si quis vero laeserit,
Multandum simili iure fabella admonet.
Vulpes ad cenam dicitur ciconiam
Prior invitasse et illi in patina liquidam
Posuisse sorbitionem, quam nullo modo
Gustare esuriens potuerit ciconia.
Quae vulpem cum revocasset, intrito cibo
Plenam lagonam posuit: huic rostrum inserens
Satiatur ipsa et torquet convivam fame.
Quae cum lagonae collum frustra lamberet,
Peregrinam sic locutam volucrem accepimus:
Sua quisque exempla debet aequo animo pati.

[¶26] A Dog, while scratching up the ground,
'Mongst human bones a treasure found;
But as his sacrilege was great,
To covet riches was his fate,
And punishment of his offence;
He therefore never stirr'd from thence,
But both in hunger and the cold,
With anxious care he watch'd the gold,
Till wholly negligent of food,
A ling'ring death at length ensued.
Upon his corse a Vulture stood,
And thus descanted:-" It is good,
O Dog, that there thou liest bereaved
Who in the highway wast conceived,
And on a scurvy dunghill bred,
Hadst royal riches in thy head."

> Latin: [Haec res avaris esse conveniens potest]
[Et qui humiles nati dici locupletes student.]
Humana effodiens ossa thesaurum canis
Invenit, et violarat quia Manes deos,
Iniecta est illi divitiarum cupiditas,
Poenas ut sanctae Religioni penderet.
Itaque, aurum dum custodit oblitus cibi,
Fame est consumptus; quem stans vulturius super
Fertur locutus: O canis, merito iaces,
Qui concupisti subito regales opes,
Trivio conceptus, educatus stercore.

[¶27] Howe'er exalted in your sphere,
There's something from the mean to fear
For, if their property you wrong,
The poor's revenge is quick and strong
When on a time an Eagle stole
The cubs from out a Fox's hole,
And bore them to her young away,
That they might feast upon the prey
The dam pursues the winged thief,
And deprecates so great a grief;
But safe upon the lofty tree,
The Eagle scorn'd the Fox's plea.
With that the Fox perceived at hand
An altar, whence she snatched a brand,
And compassing with flames the wood,
Put her in terror for her brood.
She therefore, lest her house should burn,
Submissive did the cubs return.

> Latin: Quamvis sublimes debent humiles metuere,
Vindicta docili quia patet sollertiae.
Vulpinos catulos aquila quondam sustulit
Nidoque posuit pullis, escam ut carperent.
Hanc persecuta mater orare incipit,
Ne tantum miserae luctum importaret sibi.
Contempsit illa, tuta quippe ipso loco.
Vulpes ab ara rapuit ardentem facem
Totamque flammis arborem circumdedit,
Hosti dolorem damno miscens sanguinis.
Aquila ut periclo mortis eriperet suos
Incolumes natos supplex vulpi tradidit.

[¶28] Not here translated
Men of low life are in distress
When great ones enmity profess.
There was a Bull-fight in the fen,
A Frog cried out in trouble then,
"Oh, what perdition on our race!"
"How," says another, "can the case
Be quite so desp'rate as you've said?
For they're contending who is head,
And lead a life from us disjoin'd,
Of sep'rate station, diverse kind."-
" But he, who worsted shall retire,
Will come into this lowland mire,
And with his hoof dash out our brains
Wherefore their rage to us pertains."
He that would have the wicked reign,
Instead of help will find his bane.
The Doves had oft escaped the Kite,
By their celerity of flight;
The ruffian then to coz'nage stoop'd,
And thus the tim'rous race he duped:
"Why do you lead a life of fear,
Rather than my proposals hear?
Elect me for your king, and I
Will all your race indemnify."
They foolishly the Kite believed,
Who having now the pow'r received,
Began upon the Doves to prey,
And exercise tyrannic sway.
"Justly," says one who yet remain'd,
" We die the death ourselves ordained."

> Latin: Plerumque stulti risum dum captant levem,
Gravi destringunt alios contumelia
Et sibi nocivum concitant periculum.
Asellus apro cum fuisset obvius:
Salve inquit frater. Ille indignans repudiat
Officium et quaerit, cur sic mentiri velit.
Asinus demisso pene: Similem si negas
Tibi me esse, certe simile est hoc rostro tuo.
Aper, cum vellet facere generosum impetum,
Repressit iram et: Facilis vindicta est mihi,
Sed inquinari nolo ignavo sanguine.
Humiles laborant ubi potentes dissident.
Rana in palude pugnam taurorum intuens:
Heu quanta nobis instat pernicies! ait.
Interrogata ab alia cur hoc diceret,
De principatu cum illi certarent gregis
Longeque ab ipsis degerent vitam boves:
Est statio separata ac diversum genus;
Expulsus regno nemoris qui profugerit,
Paludis in secreta veniet latibula
Et proculcatas obteret duro pede.
Ita caput ad nostrum furor illorum pertinet.
Qui se committit homini tutandum improbo,
Auxilia dum requirit, exitium invenit.
Columbae saepe cum fugissent miluum
Et celeritate pennae vitassent necem,
Consilium raptor vertit ad fallaciam
Et genus inerme tali decepit dolo:
Quare sollicitum potius aevum ducitis,
Quam regem me creatis icto foedere,
Qui vos ab omni tutas praestem iniuria?
Illae credentes tradunt sese miluo;
Qui regnum adeptus coepit vesci singulas
Et exercere imperium saevis unguibus.
Tunc de reliquis una: Merito plectimur.

## 2. Book II

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/2/#p-N

[¶0] THE way of writing Esop chose,
Sound doctrine by example shows;
For nothing by these tales is meant
So much as that the bad repent;
And by the pattern that is set,
Due diligence itself should whet.
Wherefore, whatever arch conceit
You in our narratives shall meet
(If with the critic's ear it take,
And for some special purpose make),
Aspires by real use to fame,
Rather than from an author's name.
In fact, with all the care I can,
I shall abide my Esop's plan:
But if at times I intersperse
My own materials in the verse,
That sweet variety may please
The fancy, and attention ease;
Receive it in a friendly way;
Which grace I purpose to repay
By this consciousness of my song;
Whose praises, lest they be too long,
Attend, why you should stint the sneak,
But give the modest, ere they seek.

> Latin: Exemplis continetur Aesopi genus;
Nec aliud quicquam per fabellas quaeritur
Quam corrigatur error ut mortalium
Acuatque sese diligens industria.
Quicumque fuerit ergo narrandi iocus,
Dum capiat aurem et servet propositum suum,
Re commendatur, non auctoris nomine.
Equidem omni cura morem servabo senis;
Sed si libuerit aliquid interponere,
Dictorum sensus ut delectet varietas,
Bonas in partes, lector, accipias velim,
Ita si rependet illi brevitas gratiam.
Cuius verbosa ne sit commendatio,
Attende, cur negare cupidis debeas,
Modestis etiam offerre quod non petierint.

[¶1] A Lion on the carcass stood
Of a young heifer in the wood;
A robber that was passing there,
Came up, and ask'd him for a share.
"A share," says he, "you should receive,
But that you seldom ask our leave
For things so handily removed."
At which the ruffian was reproved.
It happen'd that the selfsame day
A modest pilgrim came that way,
And when he saw the Lion, fled:
Says he, " There is no cause of dread,
In gentle tone-take you the chine,
Which to your merit I assign."-
Then having parted what he slew,
To favour his approach withdrew.
A great example, worthy praise,
But not much copied now-a-days!
For churls have coffers that o'erflow,
And sheepish worth is poor and low.

> Latin: Super iuvencum stabat deiectum leo.
Praedator intervenit partem postulans.
Darem inquit nisi soleres per te sumere:
Et improbum reiecit. Forte innoxius
Viator est deductus in eundem locum
Feroque viso rettulit retro pedem.
Cui placidus ille: Non est quod timeas ait;
Et, quae debetur pars tuae modestiae,
Audacter tolle. Tunc diviso tergore
Silvas petivit, homini ut accessum daret.
Exemplum egregium prorsus et laudabile;
Verum est aviditas dives et pauper pudor.

[¶2] Fondling or fondled-any how-
(Examples of all times allow)
That men by women must be fleeced.
A dame, whose years were well increased,
But skill'd t' affect a youthful mien,
Was a staid husband's empress queen;
Who yet sequestered halt his heart
For a young damsel, brisk and smart.
They, while each wanted to attach
Themselves to him, and seem his match,
Began to tamper with his hair.
He, pleased with their officious care,
Was on a sudden made a coot;
For the young strumpet, branch and root,
Stripp'd of the hoary hairs his crown,
E'en as th' old cat grubb'd up the brown.

> Latin: A feminis utcumque spoliari viros,
Ament, amentur, nempe exemplis discimus.
Aetatis mediae quendam mulier non rudis
Tenebat annos celans elegantia,
Animosque eiusdem pulchra iuvenis ceperat.
Ambae, videri dum volunt illi pares,
Capillos homini legere coepere invicem.
Qui se putaret fingi cura mulierum,
Calvus repente factus est; nam funditus
Canos puella, nigros anus evellerat.

[¶3] Torn by a Cur, a man was led
To throw the snappish thief some bread
Dipt in the blood, which, he was told,
Had been a remedy of old.
Then Esop thus: - "Forbear to show
A pack of dogs the thing you do,
Lest they should soon devour us quite,
When thus rewarded as they bite."
One wicked miscreant's success
Makes many more the trade profess.

> Latin: Laceratus quidam morsu vehementis canis
Tinctum cruore panem misit malefico,
Audierat esse quod remedium vulneris.
Tunc sic Aesopus: Noli coram pluribus
Hoc facere canibus, ne nos vivos devorent,
Cum scierint esse tale culpae praemium.
Successus improborum plures allicit.

[¶4] An Eagle built upon an oak
A Cat and kittens had bespoke
A hole about the middle bough;
And underneath a woodland Sow
Had placed her pigs upon the ground.
Then treacherous Puss a method found
To overthrow, for her own good,
The peace of this chance neighbourhood
First to the Eagle she ascends-
" Perdition on your head impends,
And, far too probable, on mine;
For you observe that grubbing Swine
Still works the tree to overset,
Us and our young with ease to get."
Thus having filled the Eagle's pate
With consternation very great,
Down creeps she to the Sow below;
" The Eagle is your deadly foe,
And is determined not to spare
Your pigs, when you shall take the air.
Here too a terror being spread,
By what this tattling gossip said,
She slily to her kittens stole,
And rested snug within her hole.
Sneaking from thence with silent treai
By night her family she fed,
But look'd out sharply all the day,
Affecting terror and dismay.
The Eagle lest the tree should fall,
Keeps to the boughs, nor stirs at all;
And anxious for her grunting race,
The Sow is loth to quit her place.
In short, they and their young ones starve
And leave a prey for Puss to carve.
Hence warn'd ye credulous and young,
Be cautious of a double tongue.

> Latin: Aquila in sublimi quercu nidum fecerat;
Feles cavernam nancta in media pepererat;
Sus nemoris cultrix fetum ad imam posuerat.
Tum fortuitum feles contubernium
Fraude et scelesta sic evertit malitia.
Ad nidum scandit volucris: Pernicies ait
Tibi paratur, forsan et miserae mihi;
Nam fodere terram quod vides cotidie
Aprum insidiosum, quercum vult evertere,
Ut nostram in plano facile progeniem opprimat.
Terrore offuso et perturbatis sensibus
Derepit ad cubile setosae suis:
Magno inquit in periclo sunt nati tui;
Nam, simul exieris pastum cum tenero grege,
Aquila est parata rapere porcellos tibi.
Hunc quoque timore postquam complevit locum,
Dolosa tuto condidit sese cavo.
Inde evagata noctu suspenso pede,
Ubi esca se replevit et prolem suam,
Pavorem simulans prospicit toto die.
Ruinam metuens aquila ramis desidet;
Aper rapinam vitans non prodit foras.
Quid multa? Inedia sunt consumpti cum suis
Felisque catulis largam praebuerunt dapem.
Quantum homo bilinguis saepe concinnet mali,
Documentum habere stulta credulitas potest.

[¶5] There is in town a certain set
Of mortals, ever in a sweat,
Who idly bustling here and there,
Have never any time to spare,
While upon nothing they discuss
With heat, and most outrageous fuss,
Plague to themselves, and to the rest
A most intolerable pest.
I will correct this stupid clan
Of busy-bodies, if I can,
By a true story; lend an ear,
'Tis worth a trifler's time to hear.
Tiberius Caesar, in his way
To Naples, on a certain day
Came to his own Misenian seat,
(Of old Lucullus's retreat,)
Which from the mountain top surveys
Two seas, by looking different ways.
Here a shrewd slave began to cringe
With dapper coat and sash of fringe,
And, as his master walk'd between
The trees upon the tufted green,
Finding the weather very hot,
Officiates with his wat'ring-pot;
And still attending through the glade,
Is ostentatious of his aid.
Caesar turns to another row,
Where neither sun nor rain could go;
He, for the nearest cut he knows,
Is still before with pot and rose.
Caesar observes him twist and shift,
And understands the fellow's drift;
" Here, you sir," says th' imperial lord
The bustler, hoping a reward,
Runs skipping up. The chief in jest
Thus the poor jackanapes address'd
"As here is no great matter done,
Small is the premium you have won:
The cuffs that make a servant free,
Are for a better man than thee."

> Latin: Est ardalionum quaedam Romae natio,
Trepide concursans, occupata in otio,
Gratis anhelans, multa agendo nihil agens,
Sibi molesta et aliis odiosissima.
Hanc emendare, si tamen possum, volo
Vera fabella: pretium est operae attendere.
Caesar Tiberius cum petens Neapolim
In Misenensem villam venisset suam,
Quae monte summo posita Luculli manu
Prospectat Siculum et perspicit Tuscum mare:
Ex alticinctis unus atriensibus,
Cui tunica ab umeris linteo Pelusio
Erat destricta, cirris dependentibus,
Perambulante laeta domino viridia,
Alveolo coepit ligneo conspargere
Humum aestuantem, come officium iactitans,
Sed deridetur. Inde notis flexibus
Praecurrit alium in xystum, sedans pulverem.
Agnoscit hominem Caesar remque intellegit.
Id ut putavit esse nescio quid boni:
Heus! inquit dominus. Ille enimvero assilit,
Donationis alacer certae gaudio.
Tum sic iocata est tanta maiestas ducis:
Non multum egisti et opera nequiquam perit:
Multo maioris alapae mecum veneunt.

[¶6] No soul can warrant life or right,
Secure from men of lawless might;
But if a knave's advice assist,
'Gainst fraud and force what can exist?
An Eagle on a Tortoise fell,
And mounting bore him by the shell:
She with her house her body screens,
Nor can be hurt by any means.
A Carrion Crow came by that way,
" You've got," says she, " a luscious prey;
But soon its weight will make you rue,
Unless I show you what to do."
The captor promising a share,
She bids her from the upper air
To dash the shell against a rock,
Which would be sever'd by the shock.
The Eagle follows her behest,
Then feasts on turtle with his guest.
Thus she, whom Nature made so strong,
And safe against external wrong,
No match for force, and its allies,
To cruel death a victim dies.

> Latin: Contra potentes nemo est munitus satis;
Si vero accessit consiliator maleficus,
Vis et nequitia quicquid oppugnant, ruit.
Aquila in sublime sustulit testudinem.
Quae cum abdidisset cornea corpus domo
Nec ullo pacto laedi posset condita,
Venit per auras cornix et propter volans:
Opimam sane praedam rapuisti unguibus;
Sed nisi monstraro quid sit faciendum tibi,
Gravi nequiquam te lassabit pondere.
Promissa parte suadet, ut scopulum super
Altis ab astris duram illidat corticem,
Qua comminuta facile vescatur cibo.
Inducta verbis aquila, monitis paruit,
Simul et magistrae large divisit dapem.
Sic tuta quae naturae fuerat munere,
Impar duabus occidit tristi nece.

[¶7] Two laden Mules were on the road-
A charge of money was bestowed
Upon the one, the other bore
Some sacks of barley. He before.
Proud of his freight, begun to swell,
Stretch'd out his neck, and shook his bell
The poor one, with an easy pace,
Came on behind a little space,
When on a sudden, from the wood
A gang of thieves before them stood;
And, while the muleteers engage,
Wound the poor creature in their rage
Eager they seize the golden prize,
But the vile barley-bags despise.
The plunder'd mule was all forlorn,
The other thank'd them for their scorn:
" 'Tis now my turn the head to toss,
Sustaining neither wound nor loss."
The low estate's from peril clear,
But wealthy men have much to fear.

> Latin: Muli gravati sarcinis ibant duo:
Unus ferebat fiscos cum pecunia,
Alter tumentes multo saccos hordeo.
Ille onere dives celsa cervice eminens
Clarumque collo iactans tintinnabulum,
Comes quieto sequitur et placido gradu.
Subito latrones ex insidiis advolant
Interque caedem ferro mulum sauciant,
Diripiunt nummos, neglegunt vile hordeum.
Spoliatus igitur casus cum fleret suos:
Equidem inquit alter me contemptum gaudeo;
Nam nil amisi nec sum laesus vulnere.
Hoc argumento tuta est hominum tenuitas;
Magnae periclo sunt opes obnoxiae.

[¶8] A Stag unharbour'd by the hounds
Forth from his woodland covert bounds,
And blind with terror, at th' alarm
Of death, makes to a neighboring farm;
There snug conceals him in some straw,
Which in an ox's stall he saw.
"Wretch that thou art!" a bullock cried,
"That com'st within this place to hide;
By trusting man you are undone,
And into sure destruction run."
But he with suppliant voice replies:
" Do you but wink with both your eyes,
I soon shall my occasions shape,
To make from hence a fair escape."
The day is spent, the night succeeds,
The herdsman comes, the cattle feeds,
But nothing sees-then to and fro
Time after time the servants go;
Yet not a soul perceives the case.
The steward passes by the place,
Himself no wiser than the rest.
The joyful Stag his thanks addressed
To all the Oxen, that he there
Had found a refuge in despair.
"We wish you well," an Ox returned,
"But for your life are still concern'd,
For if old Argus come, no doubt,
His hundred eyes will find you out."
Scarce had the speaker made an end,
When from the supper of a friend
The master enters at the door,
And, seeing that the steers were poor
Of late, advances to the rack.
"Why were the fellow's hands so slack?
Here's hardly any straw at all,
Brush down those cobwebs from the wall
Pray how much labour would it ask?"
While thus he undertakes the task,
To dust, and rummage by degrees,
The Stag's exalted horns he sees:
Then calling all his folks around,
He lays him breathless on the ground.
The master, as the tale declares,
Looks sharpest to his own affairs
A STATUE of great cost and fame
Th' Athenians raised to Esop's name,
Him setting on th' the eternal base,
Whom servile rank could not disgrace;
That they might teach to all makind
The way to honor's unconfined,
That glory's due to rising worth,
And not alone to pomp and birth.
Since then another seized the post
Lest I priority should boast,
This pow'r and praise was yet my own,
That he should not excel alone:
Nor is this Envy's jealous ire,
But Emulation's genuine fire.
And if Rome should approve my piece,
She'll soon have more to rival Greece.
But should th' invidious town declare
Against my plodding over-care,
They cannot take away, nor hurt
Th' internal conscience of desert.
If these my studies reach their aim,
And, reader, your attention claim,
If your perception fully weighs
The drift of these my labour'd lays;
Then such success precludes complaint.
But if the Picture which I paint
Should happen to attract their sight,
Whom luckless Nature brought to light,
Who scorn the labours of a man,
And when they carp do all they can;
Yet must this fatal cause to mourn
With all its bitterness be borne,
Till fortune be ashamed of days,
When genius fails, and int'rest sways.

> Latin: Cervus nemorosis excitatus latibulis,
Ut venatorum effugeret instantem necem,
Caeco timore proximam villam petit
Et opportuno se bovili condidit.
Hic bos latenti: Quidnam voluisti tibi,
Infelix, ultro qui ad necem cucurreris
Hominumque tecto spiritum commiseris?
At ille supplex: Vos modo inquit parcite;
Occasione rursus erumpam data.
Spatium diei noctis excipiunt vices.
Frondem bubulcus affert, nil ideo videt.
Eunt subinde et redeunt omnes rustici,
Nemo animadvertit: transit etiam vilicus,
Nec ille quicquam sentit. Tum gaudens ferus
Bubus quietis agere coepit gratias,
Hospitium adverso quod praestiterint tempore.
Respondit unus: Salvum te cupimus quidem;
Sed ille, qui oculos centum habet, si venerit,
Magno in periclo vita vertetur tua.
Haec inter ipse dominus a cena redit
Et quia corruptos viderat nuper boves,
Accedit ad praesepe: Cur frondis parum est,
Stramenta desunt? Tollere haec aranea
Quantum est laboris? Dum scrutatur singula,
Cervi quoque alta conspicatur cornua;
Quem convocata iubet occidi familia
Praedamque tollit. Haec significat fabula
Dominum videre plurimum in rebus suis.
Aesopi ingenio statuam posuere Attici
Servumque collocarunt aeterna in basi,
Patere honoris scirent ut cuncti viam
Nec generi tribui, sed virtuti gloriam.
Quoniam occuparat alter ne primus foret,
Ne solus esset studui; quod superfuit:
Nec haec invidia, verum est aemulatio.
Quod si labori faverit Latium meo,
Plures habebit, quos opponat Graeciae.
Si livor obtrectare curam voluerit,
Non tamen eripiet laudis conscientiam.
Si nostrum studium ad aures pervenit tuas
Et arte fictas animus sentit fabulas,
Omnem querelam submovet felicitas.
Sin autem doctus illis occurrit labor,
Sinistra quos in lucem natura extulit
Nec quicquam possunt nisi meliores carpere,
Fatale exitium corde durato feram,
Donec fortunam criminis pudeat sui.

## 3. Book III

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/3/#p-N

[¶0] THE tales of Phaedrus would you read,
O Eutychus, you must be freed
From business, that the mind unbent
May take the author's full intent.
You urge that this poetic turn
Of mine is not of such concern,
As with your time to interfere
A moment's space: 'tis therefore clear
For those essays you have no call,
Which suit not your affairs at all
A time may come, perhaps you'll say,
That I shall make a holiday,
And have my vacant thoughts at large,
The student's office to discharge-
And can you such vile stuff peruse,
Rather than serve domestic views,
Return the visits of a friend,
Or with your wife your leisure spend,
Relax your mind, your limbs relieve,
And for new toil new strength receive?
From wordly cares you must estrange
Your thoughts, and feel a perfect change,
If to Parnassus you repair,
And seek for your admission there,
Me-(whom a Grecian mother bore
On Hill Pierian, where of yore
Mnemosyne in love divine
Brought forth to Jove the tuneful Nine.
Though sprung where genius reign'd with art
I grubb'd up av'rice from my heart,
And rather for applause than pay,
Embrace the literary way)
Yet as a writer and a wit,
With some abatements they admit.
What is his case then, do you think,
Who toils for wealth nor sleeps a wink.
Preferring to the pleasing pain
Of composition sordid gain?
But hap what will (as Sinon said,
When to king Priam he was led),
I book the third shall now fulfil,
With Aesop for my master still;
Which book I dedicate to you,
As both to worth and honour due
Pleased, if you read-if not, content
As conscious of a sure event,
That these my fables shall remain,
And after-ages entertain.
In a few words I now propose
To point from whence the Fable rose.
A servitude was all along
Exposed to most oppressive wrong,
The suff'rer therefore did not dare
His heart's true dictates to declare;
But couch'd his meaning in the veil
Of many an allegoric tale,
And jesting with a moral aim,
Eluded all offence and blame.
This is the path that I pursue,
Inventing more than AEsop knew;
And certain topics by-the-by,
To my own hindrence did I try.
But was there any of mankind,
Besides Sejanus, so inclined,
Who was alone to work my fall,
Informer, witness, judge and all;
I would confess the slander true,
And own such hardships were my due;
Nor would I fly, my grief to ease,
To such poor lenitives as these.
If any through suspicion errs,
And to himself alone refers,
What was design'd for thousands more
He 'll show too plainly, where he's sore
Yet ev'n from such I crave excuse,
For (far from personal abuse)
My verse in gen'ral would put down
True life and manners of the town.
But here, perhaps, some one will ask
Why I, forsooth, embraced this task?
If Esop, though a Phrygian, rose,
And ev'n derived from Scythian snows;
If Anacharsis could devise
By wit to gain th' immortal prize;
Shall I, who to learn'd Greece belong,
Neglect her honour and her song,
And by dull sloth myself disgrace?
Since we can reckon up in Thrace,
The authors that have sweetest sung,
Where Linus from Apollo sprung;
And he whose mother was a muse,
Whose voice could tenderness infuse
To solid rocks, strange monsters quell'd,
And Hebrus in his course withheld.
Envy, stand clear, or thou shalt rue
Th' attack, for glory is my due.
Thus having wrought upon your ear,
I beg that you would be sincere,
And in the poet's cause avow
That candor, all the world allow.

> Latin: Phaedri libellos legere si desideras,
Vaces oportet, Eutyche, a negotiis,
Ut liber animus sentiat vim carminis.
Verum inquis tanti non est ingenium tuum,
Momentum ut horae pereat officiis meis.
Non ergo causa est manibus id tangi tuis,
Quod occupatis auribus non convenit.
Fortasse dices: Aliquae venient feriae,
Quae me soluto pectore ad studium vocent.
Legesne, quaeso, potius viles nenias,
Impendas curam quam rei domesticae,
Reddas amicis tempora, uxori vaces,
Animum relaxes, otium des corpori,
Ut assuetam fortius praestes vicem?
Mutandum tibi propositum est ut vitae genus,
Intrare si Musarum limen cogitas.
Ego, quem Pierio mater enixa est iugo,
In quo tonanti sancta Mnemosyne Iovi
Fecunda novies artium peperit chorum,
Quamvis in ipsa paene natus sim schola
Curamque habendi penitus corde eraserim
Et laude invicta vitam in hanc incubuerim,
Fastidiose tamen in coetum recipior.
Quid credis illi accidere, qui magnas opes
Exaggerare quaerit omni vigilia,
Docto labori dulce praeponens lucrum?
Sed iam quodcumque fuerit, ut dixit Sinon,
Ad regem cum Dardaniae perductus foret,
Librum exarabo tertium Aesopi stilo,
Honori et meritis dedicans illum tuis.
Quem si leges, laetabor; sin autem minus,
Habebunt certe quo se oblectent posteri.
Nunc fabularum cur sit inventum genus,
Brevi docebo. Servitus obnoxia,
Quia quae volebat non audebat dicere,
Affectus proprios in fabellas transtulit
Calumniamque fictis elusit iocis.
Ego porro illius semita feci viam,
Et cogitavi plura quam reliquerat,
In calamitatem deligens quaedam meam.
Quod si accusator alius Seiano foret,
Si testis alius, iudex alius denique,
Dignum faterer esse me tantis malis,
Nec his dolorem delenirem remediis.
Suspicione si quis errabit sua
Et rapiet ad se quod erit commune omnium,
Stulte nudabit animi conscientiam.
Huic excusatum me velim nihilo minus:
Neque enim notare singulos mens est mihi,
Verum ipsam vitam et mores hominum ostendere.
Rem me professum dicet fors aliquis gravem.
Si Phryx Aesopus potuit, Anacharsis Scytha
Aeternam famam condere ingenio suo:
Ego, litteratae qui sum propior Graeciae,
Cur somno inerti deseram patriae decus?
Threissa cum gens numeret auctores suos,
Linoque Apollo sit parens, Musa Orpheo,
Qui saxa cantu movit et domuit feras
Hebrique tenuit impetus dulci mora.
Ergo hinc abesto, livor, ne frustra gemas,
Quoniam mihi sollemnis debetur gloria.
Induxi te ad legendum; sincerum mihi
Candore noto reddas iudicium peto.

[¶1] An ancient dame a firkin sees,
In which the rich Falernian lees
Send from the nobly tinctured shell
A rare and most delicious smell!
There when a season she had clung
With greedy nostrils to the bung,
"O spirit exquisitely sweet!"
She cried, "how perfectly complete
Were you of old, and at the best,
When ev'n your dregs have such a zest!"
They'll see the drift of this my rhyme,
Who knew the author in his prime.

> Latin: Anus iacere vidit epotam amphoram,
Adhuc Falerna faece ex testa nobili
Odorem quae iucundum late spargeret.
Hunc postquam totis avida traxit naribus:
O suavis anima! quale te dicam bonum
Antehac fuisse, tales cum sint reliquiae?
Hoc quo pertineat, dicet qui me noverit.

[¶2] Their scorn comes home to them again
Who treat the wretched with disdain.
A careless Panther long ago
Fell in a pit, which overthrow
The Shepherds all around alarm'd;
When some themselves with cudgels arm'd;
Others threw stones upon its head;
But some in pity sent her bread,
As death was not the creature's due.
The night came on - the hostile crew
Went home, not doubting in the way
To find the Panther dead next day.
But she, recovering of her strength,
Sprang from the pit and fled at length.
But rushing in a little space
From forth her den upon the place,
She tears the flock, the Shepherd slays,
And all the region round dismays.
Then they began to be afraid
Who spared the beast and lent their aid;
They reck not of the loss, but make
Their pray'r for life, when thus she spake:
"I well remember them that threw
The stones, and well remember you
Who gave me bread—desist to fear,
For 'twas the oppressor brought me here."

> Latin: Solet a despectis par referri gratia.
Panthera imprudens olim in foveam decidit.
Videre agrestes: alii fustes congerunt,
Alii onerant saxis; quidam contra miseriti
Periturae quippe, quamvis nemo laederet,
Misere panem ut sustineret spiritum.
Nox insecuta est: abeunt securi domum,
Quasi inventuri mortuam postridie.
At illa, vires ut refecit languidas,
Veloci saltu fovea sese liberat
Et in cubile concito properat gradu.
Paucis diebus interpositis provolat,
Pecus trucidat, ipsos pastores necat,
Et cuncta vastans saevit irato impetu.
Tum sibi timentes, qui ferae pepercerant,
Damnum haud recusant, tantum pro vita rogant.
At illa: Memini qui me saxo petierit,
Qui panem dederit; vos timere absistite;
Illis revertor hostis, qui me laeserunt.

[¶3] Not here translated.
A certain person, as he stood
Within the shambles buying food,
Amongst the other kitchen fare
Beheld an Ape suspended there;
And asking how 'twould taste, when dress'd,
The butcher shook his head in jest;
"If for such prog your fancy is,
Judge of the flavour by the phiz."
This speech was not so true as keen,
For I in life have often seen
Good features with a wicked heart,
And plainness acting virtue's part.
Fools from success perdition meet.
An idle wretch about the street
At Esop threw a stone in rage.
" So much the better," quoth the sage,
And gives three farthings for the job;
" I've no more money in my fob;
But if you 'll follow my advice,
More shall be levied in a trice."
It happen'd that the selfsame hour
Came by a man of wealth and pow'r.
" There, throw your pellet at my lord,
And you shall have a sure reward!"
The fellow did as he was told;
But mark the downfall of the bold;
His hopes are baulk'd, and, lo! he gains
A rope and gibbet for his pains.'

> Latin: Usu peritus hariolo vel doctior
Vulgo esse fertur, causa sed non dicitur,
Notescet quae nunc primum fabella mea.
Habenti cuidam pecora pepererunt oves
Agnos humano capite. Monstro territus
Ad consulendos currit maerens hariolos.
Hic pertinere ad domini respondet caput
Et avertendum victima periculum.
Ille autem affirmat coniugem esse adulteram
Et insitivos significari liberos,
Sed expiari posse maiore hostia.
Quid multa? Variis dissident sententiis
Hominisque curam cura maiore aggravant.
Aesopus ibi stans, naris emunctae senex,
Natura numquam verba cui potuit dare:
Si procurare vis ostentum, rustice,
Uxores inquit da tuis pastoribus.
Pendere ad lanium quidam vidit simium,
Inter reliquas merces atque obsonia;
Quaesivit quidnam saperet. Tum lanius iocans:
Quale inquit caput est, talis praestatur sapor.
Ridicule magis hoc dictum quam vere aestimo;
Quando et formosos saepe inveni pessimos,
Et turpi facie multos cognovi optimos.
Successus ad perniciem multos devocat.
Aesopo quidam petulans lapidem impegerat.
Tanto inquit melior! Assem deinde illi dedit,
Sic prosecutus: Plus non habeo mehercules,
Sed unde accipere possis monstrabo tibi.
Venit ecce dives et potens: huic similiter
Impinge lapidem et dignum accipies praemium.
Persuasus ille fecit quod monitus fuit;
Sed spes fefellit impudentem audaciam:
Comprensus namque poenas persolvit cruce.

[¶4] A Fly that sat upon the beam
Rated the Mule: " Why, sure you dream?
" Pray get on faster with the cart
Or I shall sting you till you smart!"
She answers: " All this talk I hear
With small attention, but must fear
Him who upon the box sustains
The pliant whip, and holds the reins.
Cease then your pertness-for I know
When to give back, and when to go."
This tale derides the talking crew,
Whose empty threats are all they do.

> Latin: Musca in temone sedit et mulam increpans:
Quam tarda es! inquit non vis citius progredi?
Vide ne dolone collum compungam tibi.
Respondit illa: Verbis non moveor tuis;
Sed istum timeo sella qui prima sedens
Iugum flagello temperat lento meum
Et ora frenis continet spumantibus.
Quapropter aufer frivolam insolentiam;
Nam et ubi tricandum et ubi sit currendum scio.
Hac derideri fabula merito potest,
Qui sine virtute vanas exercet minas.

[¶5] I will, as briefly as I may,
The sweets of liberty display.
A Wolf half famish'd, chanced to see
A Dog, as fat as dog could be:
For one day meeting on the road,
They mutual compliments bestowed:
" Prithee," says Isgrim, faint and weak,
"How came you so well fed and sleek?
I starve, though stronger of the two."
" It will be just as well with you,"
The Dog quite cool and frank replied,
"If with my master you'll abide."
"For what?" "Why merely to attend,
And from night thieves the door defend."
" I gladly will accept the post,
What! shall I bear with snow and frost
And all this rough inclement plight,
Rather than have a home at night,
And feed on plenty at my ease?"
" Come, then, with me "-the Wolf agrees.
But as they went the mark he found,
Where the Dog's collar had been bound:
"What's this, my friend?" "Why, nothing." "Nay,
Be more explicit, sir, I pray."
" I'm somewhat fierce and apt to bite,
Therefore they hold me pretty tight,
That in the day-time I may sleep,
And night by night my vigils keep.
At eveningtide they let me out,
And then I freely walk about:
Bread comes without a care of mine.
I from my master's table dine;
The servants throw me many a scrap,
With choice of pot-liquor to lap;
So, I've my bellyful, you find."
"But can you go where you've a mind?"
"Not always, to be flat and plain."
"Then, Dog, enjoy your post again,
For to remain this servile thing,
Old Isgrim would not be a king."

> Latin: Quam dulcis sit libertas, breviter proloquar.
Cani perpasto macie confectus lupus
Forte occucurrit. Dein salutati invicem
Ut restiterunt: Unde sic, quaeso, nites?
Aut quo cibo fecisti tantum corporis?
Ego, qui sum longe fortior, pereo fame.
Canis simpliciter: Eadem est condicio tibi,
Praestare domino si par officium potes.
Quod? inquit ille. Custos ut sis liminis,
A furibus tuearis et noctu domum.
Ego vero sum paratus: nunc patior nives
Imbresque in silvis asperam vitam trahens:
Quanto est facilius mihi sub tecto vivere,
Et otiosum largo satiari cibo?
Veni ergo mecum. Dum procedunt, aspicit
Lupus a catena collum detritum cani.
Unde hoc, amice? Nihil est. Dic sodes tamen.
Quia videor acer, alligant me interdiu,
Luce ut quiescam et vigilem, nox cum venerit:
Crepusculo solutus, qua visum est, vagor.
Affertur ultro panis; de mensa sua
Dat ossa dominus; frusta iactat familia
Et, quod fastidit quisque, pulmentarium.
Sic sine labore venter impletur meus.
Age, si quo abire est animus, est licentia?
Non plane est inquit. Fruere, quae laudas, canis:
Regnare nolo, liber ut non sim mihi.

[¶6] Warn'd by our council, oft beware,
And look into yourself with care.
There was a certain father had
A homely girl and comely lad.
These being at their childish play
Within their mother's room one day,
A looking-glass was in the chair,
And they beheld their faces there.
The boy grows prouder as he looks;
The girl is in a rage, nor brooks
Her boasting brother's jests and sneers,
Affronted at each word she hears:
Then to her father down she flies,
Arid urges all she can devise
Against the boy, who could presume
To meddle in a lady's room.
At which, embracing each in turn,
With most affectionate concern,
" My dears," he says, " ye may not pass
A day without this useful glass;
You, lest you spoil a pretty face,
By doing things to your disgrace;
You, by good conduct to correct
Your form, and beautify defect."

> Latin: Praecepto monitus saepe te considera.
Habebat quidam filiam turpissimam
Idemque insignem pulchra facie filium.
Hi, speculum in cathedra matris ut positum fuit,
Pueriliter ludentes forte inspexerunt.
Hic se formosum iactat: illa irascitur
Nec gloriantis sustinet fratris iocos,
Accipiens, quid enim? cuncta in contumeliam.
Ergo ad patrem decurrit laesura invicem
Magnaque invidia criminatur filium,
Vir natus quod rem feminarum tetigerit.
Amplexus ille utrumque et carpens oscula
Dulcemque in ambos caritatem partiens:
Cotidie inquit speculo vos uti volo:
Tu formam ne corrumpas nequitiae malis;
Tu faciem ut istam moribus vincas bonis.

[¶7] Though common be the name of friend,
Few can to faithfulness pretend,
That Socrates (whose cruel case,
I'd freely for his fame embrace,
And living any envy bear
To leave my character so fair)
Was building of a little cot,
When some one, standing on the spot,
Ask'd, as the folks are apt to do,
" How comes so great a man as you
Content with such a little hole?"-
"I wish," says he, "with all my soul
That this same little house I build
Was with true friends completely fill'd."

> Latin: Vulgare amici nomen, sed rara est fides.
Cum parvas aedes sibi fundasset Socrates,
(Cuius non fugio mortem, si famam assequar,
Et cedo invidiae, dummodo absolvar cinis),
Ex populo sic nescio quis, ut fieri solet:
Quaeso, tam angustam talis vir ponis domum?
Utinam inquit veris hanc amicis impleam!.

[¶8] 'Tis frequently of bad event
To give or to withhold assent.
Two cases will th' affair explain-
The good Hippolytus was slain;
In that his stepdame credit found,
And Troy was levell d with the ground;
Because Cassandra's prescious care
Sought, but obtain'd no credence there.
The facts should then be very strong,
Lest the weak judge determine wrong:
But that I may not make too free
With fabulous antiquity,
I now a curious tale shall tell,
Which I myself remember well.
An honest man, that loved his wife,
Was introducing into life
A son upon the man's estate.
One day a servant (whom, of late,
He with his freedom had endu'd)
Took him aside, and being shrewd,
Supposed that he might be his heir
When he'd divulged the whole affair.
Much did he lie against the youth,
But more against the matron's truth:
And hinted that, which worst of all
Was sure a lover's heart to gall,
The visits of a lusty rake,
And honour of his house at stake.
He at this scandal taking heat,
Pretends a journey to his seat;
But stopp'd at hand, while it was light,
Where, on a sudden, and by night,
He to his wife's apartment sped,
Where she had put the lad to bed,
As watchful of his youthful bloom.
While now they're running to the room,
And seek a light in haste, the sire,
No longer stifling of his ire,
Flies to the couch, where grouping round,
A head, but newly shaved, he found;
Then, as alone, he vengeance breath'd,
The sword within his bosom sheath'd-
The candle entering, when he spied
The bleeding youth, and by his side
The spotless dame, who being fast
Asleep, knew nothing that had pass'd,
Instant in utmost grief involved,
He vengeance for himself resolved;
And on that very weapon flew,
Which his too cred'lous fury drew.
Th' accusers take the woman straight,
And drag to the centumvirate;
Th' ill-natured world directly built
A strong suspicion of her guilts,
As she th' estate was to enjoy-
The lawyers all their skill employ;
And a great spirit those exert
Who most her innocence assert.
The judges then to Caesar pray'd
That he would lend his special aid;
Who, as they acted upon oath,
Declared themselves extremely loth
To close this intricate affair
He, taking then himself the chair,
The clouds of calumny displaced.
And Truth up to her fountain traced.
" Let the freedman to vengeance go,
The cause of all this scene of woe:
For the poor widow, thus undone,
Deprived of husband and of son,
To pity has a greater plea
Than condemnation, I decree-
But if the man, with caution due,
Had rather blamed than listen'd to
The vile accuser, and his lie
Had strictly search'd with Reason's eye,
This desp'rate guilt he had not known,
Nor branch and root his house o'erthrown."
Nor wholly scorn, nor yet attend
Too much at what the tatlers vend,
Because there's many a sad neglect.
Where you have little to suspect;
And treacherous persons will attaint
Men, against whom there's no complaint.
Hence simple folks too may be taught
How to form judgments as they ought,
And not see with another's glass;
For things are come to such a pass,
That love and hate work diff'rent ways
As int'rest or ambition sways.
Them you may know, in them confide,
Whom by experience you have tried.
Thus have I made a long amends
For that brief style which some offends.

> Latin: Periculosum est credere et non credere.
Utriusque exemplum breviter exponam rei.
Hippolytus obiit, quia novercae creditum est;
Cassandrae quia non creditum, ruit Ilium.
Ergo exploranda est veritas multum, prius
Quam stulta prave iudicet sententia.
Sed fabulosa ne vetustate elevem,
Narrabo tibi memoria quod factum est mea.
Maritus quidam cum diligeret coniugem
Togamque puram iam pararet filio,
Seductus in secretum a liberto est suo,
Sperante heredem suffici se proximum.
Qui cum de puero multa mentitus foret
Et plura de flagitiis castae mulieris,
Adiecit id, quod sentiebat maxime
Doliturum amanti, ventitare adulterum
Stuproque turpi pollui famam domus.
Incensus ille falso uxoris crimine
Simulavit iter ad villam clamque in oppido
Subsedit: deinde noctu subito ianuam
Intravit, recta cubiculum uxoris petens,
In quo dormire mater natum iusserat,
Aetatem adultam servans diligentius.
Dum quaerunt lumen, dum concursant familia,
Irae furentis impetum non sustinens
Ad lectum vadit, temptat in tenebris caput.
Ut sentit tonsum, gladio pectus transigit,
Nihil respiciens, dum dolorem vindicet.
Lucerna allata, simul aspexit filium
Sanctamque uxorem dormientem cubiculo,
Sopita primo quae nil somno senserat;
Repraesentavit in se poenam facinoris
Et ferro incubuit, quod credulitas strinxerat.
Accusatores postularunt mulierem
Romamque pertraxerunt ad centumviros.
Maligna insontem deprimit suspicio,
Quod bona possideat. Stant patroni fortiter
Causam tuentes innocentis feminae.
A Divo Augusto tunc petierunt iudices,
Ut adiuvaret iuris iurandi fidem,
Quod ipsos error implicuisset criminis.
Qui postquam tenebras dispulit calumniae
Certumque fontem veritatis repperit:
Luat inquit poenas causa libertus mali;
Namque orbam nato simul et privatam viro
Miserandam potius quam damnandam existimo.
Quod si delata perscrutatus crimina
Paterfamilias esset, si mendacium
Subtiliter limasset, a radicibus
Non evertisset scelere funesto domum.
Nil spernat auris, nec tamen credat statim.
Quandoquidem et illi peccant, quos minime putes,
Et qui non peccant, impugnantur fraudibus.
Hoc admonere simplices etiam potest,
Opinione alterius ne quid ponderent:
Ambitio namque dissidens mortalium
Aut gratiae subscribit aut odio suo.
Erit ille notus quem per te cognoveris.
Haec exsecutus sum propterea pluribus
Brevitate nimia quoniam quosdam offendimus.

[¶9] Not here translated.
A Cock, while scratching all around,
A Pearl upon the dunghill found:
"O splendid thing in foul disgrace,
Had there been any in the place
That saw and knew thy worth when sold,
Ere this thou hadst been set in gold.
But I, who rather would have got
A corn of barley, heed thee not;
No service can there render'd be
From me to you, and you to me."
I write this tale to them alone
To whom in vain my pearls are thrown.

> Latin: Eunuchus litigabat cum quodam improbo,
Qui super obscena dicta et petulans iurgium
Damnum insectatus est amissi corporis.
En ait hoc unum est, cur laborem validius,
Integritatis testes quia desunt mihi.
Sed quid fortunae, stulte, delictum arguis?
Id demum est homini turpe, quod meruit pati.
In sterquilino pullus gallinaceus
Dum quaerit escam, margaritam repperit.
Iaces indigno quanta res inquit loco!
Hoc si quis pretii cupidus vidisset tui,
Olim redisses ad splendorem pristinum.
Ego quod te inveni, potior cui multo est cibus,
Nec tibi prodesse nec mihi quicquam potest.
Hoc illis narro, qui me non intellegunt.

[¶10] Up in a lofty oak the Bees
Had made their honey-combs: but these
The Drones asserted they had wrought.
Then to the bar the cause was brought
Before the wasp, a learned chief,
Who well might argue either brief,
As of a middle nature made.
He therefore to both parties said:
"You're not dissimilar in size,
And each with each your color vies,
That there's a doubt concerning both:
But, lest I err, upon my oath,
'Hives for yourselves directly choose,
And in the wax the work infuse,
That, from the flavor and the form,
We may point out the genuine swarm."
The Drones refuse, the Bees agree-
Then thus did Justice Wasp decree:
" Who can, and who cannot, is plain,
So take, ye Bees, your combs again."
This narrative had been suppress'd
Had not the Drones refused the test.

> Latin: Apes in alta fecerant quercu favos:
Hos fuci inertes esse dicebant suos.
Lis ad forum deducta est, vespa iudice.
Quae genus utrumque nosset cum pulcherrime,
Legem duabus hanc proposuit partibus:
Non inconveniens corpus et par est color,
In dubium plane res ut merito venerit.
Sed ne religio peccet imprudens mea,
Alvos accipite et ceris opus infundite,
Ut ex sapore mellis et forma favi,
De quis nunc agitur, auctor horum appareat.
Fuci recusant: apibus condicio placet.
Tunc illa talem protulit sententiam:
Apertum est quis non possit et quis fecerit.
Quapropter apibus fructum restituo suum.
Hanc praeterissem fabulam silentio,
Si pactam fuci non recusassent fidem.

[¶11] As Esop was with boys at play,
And had his nuts as well as they,
A grave Athenian, passing by,
Cast on the sage a scornful eye,
As on a dotard quite bereaved:
Which, when the moralist perceived,
(Rather himself a wit profess'd
Than the poor subject of a jest)
Into the public way he flung
A bow that he had just unstrung:
There solve, thou conjurer," he cries,
"The problem, that before thee lies."
The people throng; he racks his brain,
Nor can the thing enjoin'd explain.
At last he gives it up-the seer
Thus then in triumph made it clear:
" As the tough bow exerts its spring,
A constant tension breaks the string;
But if 'tis let at seasons loose,
You may depend upon its use."
Thus recreative sports and play
Are good upon a holiday,
And with more spirit they'll pursue
The studies which they shall renew.

> Latin: Puerorum in turba quidam ludentem Atticus
Aesopum nucibus cum vidisset, restitit
Et quasi delirum risit. Quod sensit simul
Derisor potius quam deridendus senex,
Arcum retensum posuit in media via:
Heus! inquit sapiens, expedi quid fecerim.
Concurrit populus. Ille se torquet diu
Nec quaestionis positae causam intellegit.
Novissime succumbit. Tum victor sophus:
Cito rumpes arcum semper si tensum habueris;
At si laxaris, cum voles erit utilis.
Sic lusus animo debent aliquando dari,
Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat tibi.

[¶12] A Dog bespoke a sucking Lamb,
That used a she-goat as her dam,
" You little fool, why, how you baa!
This goat is not your own mamma:"
Then pointed to a distant mead,
Where several sheep were put to feed.
" I ask not," says the Lamb, "for her
Who had me first at Nature's spur,
And bore me for a time about,
Then, like a fardel, threw me out;
But her that is content to bilk
Her own dear kids, to give me milk."
" Yet she that yean'd you sure," says Tray,
" Should be preferr'd"—I tell thee nay—
Whence could she know that what she hid
Was black or white?-but grant she did—
I being thus a male begot
'Twas no great favor, since my lot
Was hour by hour, throughout my life,
To dread the butcher and his knife.
Why should I therefore give my voice
For her who had no pow'r or choice
In my production, and not cleave
To her so ready to relieve,
When she beheld me left alone,
And has such sweet indulgence shown?"
Kind deeds parental love proclaim
Not mere necessity and name.

> Latin: Inter capellas agno balanti canis:
Stulte, inquit erras; non est hic mater tua;
Ovesque segregatas ostendit procul.
Non illam quaero, quae, cum libitum est, concipit,
Dein portat onus ignotum certis mensibus,
Novissime prolapsam effundit sarcinam;
Verum illam, quae me nutrit admoto ubere
Fraudatque natos lacte, ne desit mihi.
Tamen illa est potior quae te peperit. Non ita est.
Unde illa scivit niger an albus nascerer?
Age porro: parere si voluisset feminam,
Quid profecisset, cum crearer masculus?
Beneficium sane magnum natali dedit,
Ut exspectarem lanium in horas singulas!
Cuius potestas nulla in gignendo fuit,
Cur hac sit potior quae iacentis miserita est
Dulcemque sponte praestat benevolentiam?
Facit parentes bonitas, non necessitas.
His demonstrare voluit auctor versibus
Obsistere homines legibus, meritis capi.

[¶13] Those who will not the forms obey
To be obliging in their way,
Must often punishment abide
For their ill-nature, and their pride.
A Grasshopper, in rank ill-will,
Was very loud and very shrill
Against a sapient Owl's repose,
Who was compelled by day to doze
Within a hollow oak's retreat,
As wont by night to quest for meat—
She is desired to hold her peace.
But at the word her cries increase;
Again requested to abate
Her noise, she's more importunate.
The Owl perceiving no redress,
And that her words were less and less
Accounted of, no longer pray'd,
But thus an artifice essay'd:
" Since 'tis impossible to nod,
While harping like the Delphian god,
You charm our ears, stead of a nap,
A batch of nectar will I tap,
Which lately from Minerva came;
Now if you do not scorn the same,
Together let us bumpers ply."
The Grasshopper, extremely dry,
And, finding she had hit the key
That gain'd applause, approach'd with glee;
At which the Owl upon her flew,
And quick the trembling vixen slew.
Thus by her death she was adjudged
To give what in her life she grudged.

> Latin: Humanitati qui se non accommodat,
Plerumque poenas oppetit superbiae.
Cicada acerbum noctuae convicium
Faciebat, solitae victum in tenebris quaerere
Cavoque ramo capere somnum interdiu.
Rogata est ut taceret. Multo validius
Clamare occepit. Rursus admota prece
Accensa magis est. Noctua ut vidit sibi
Nullum esse auxilium et verba contemni sua,
Hac est aggressa garrulam fallacia:
Dormire quia me non sinunt cantus tui,
Sonare citharam quos putes Apollinis,
Potare est animus nectar, quod Pallas mihi
Nuper donavit; si non fastidis, veni;
Una bibamus. Illa, quae arebat siti,
Simul cognovit vocem laudari suam,
Cupide advolavit. Noctua egressa e cavo
Trepidantem consectata est et leto dedit.
Sic viva quod negarat tribuit mortua.

[¶14] The gods took certain trees (th' affair
Was some time since) into their care.
The oak was best approved by Jove,
The myrtle by the queen of love;
The god of music and the day
Vouchsafed to patronise the bay;
The pine Cybele chanced to please,
And the tall poplar Hercules.
Minerva upon this inquired
Why they all barren trees admired?
" The cause," says Jupiter, "is plain,
Lest we give honour up for gain."
" Let every one their fancy suit,
I choose the olive for its fruit."
The sire of gods and men replies,
" Daughter, thou shalt be reckon'd wise
By all the world, and justly too;
For whatsover things we do,
If not a life of useful days,
How vain is all pretence to praise!"
Whate'er experiments you try,
Have some advantage in your eye.

> Latin: Olim quas vellent esse in tutela sua,
Divi legerunt arbores. Quercus Iovi
Et myrtus Veneri placuit, Phoebo laurea,
Pinus Cybebae, populus celsa Herculi.
Minerva admirans, quare steriles sumerent
Interrogavit. Causam dixit Iuppiter:
Honorem fructu ne videamur vendere.
At mehercules narrabit quod quis voluerit,
Oliva nobis propter fructum est gratior.
Tunc sic deorum genitor atque hominum sator:
O nata, merito sapiens dicere omnibus!
Nisi utile est quod facimus, stulta est gloria.
Nihil agere quod non prosit fabella admonet.

[¶15] Her favorite bird to Juno came,
And was in dudgeon at the dame,
That she had not attuned her throat
With Philomela's matchless note;
" She is the wonder of all ears;
But when I speak the audience sneers
The goddess to the bird replied,
(Willing to have him pacified,)
" You are above the rest endued
With beauty and with magnitude;
Your neck the emerald's gloss outvie?,
And what a blaze of gemmeous dies
Shines from the plumage of your tail!"
" All this dumb show will not avail,"
Cries he, "if I'm surpass'd in voice."
" The fates entirely have the choice
Of all the lots-fair form is yours;
The eagle's strength his prey secures;
The nightingale can sing an ode;
The crow and raven may forebode:
All these in sheer contentment crave
No other voice than Nature gave."
By affectation be not sway'd,
Where Nature has not lent her aid;
Nor to that flattering hope attend,
Which must in disappointment end.

> Latin: Pavo ad Iunonem venit, indigne ferens
Cantus luscinii quod sibi non tribuerit;
Illum esse cunctis avibus admirabilem,
Se derideri simul ac vocem miserit.
Tunc consolandi gratia dixit dea:
Sed forma vincis, vincis magnitudine;
Nitor smaragdi collo praefulget tuo
Pictisque plumis gemmeam caudam explicas.
Quo mi inquit mutam speciem, si vincor sono?
Fatorum arbitrio partes sunt vobis datae:
Tibi forma, vires aquilae, luscinio melos,
Augurium corvo, laeva cornici omina,
Omnesque propriis sunt contentae dotibus.
Noli affectare quod tibi non est datum,
Delusa ne spes ad querelam reccidat.

[¶16] Esop (no other slave at hand)
Received himself his lord's command
An early supper to provide.
From house to house he therefore tried
To beg the favor of a light;
At length he hit upon the right.
But as when first he sallied out
He made his tour quite round about,
On his return he took a race
Directly, cross the market-place:
When thus a talkative buffoon,
" Esop, what means this light at noon?'
He answer'd briefly, as he ran,
"Fellow, I'm looking for a man."
Now if this jackanapes had weighed
The true intent of what was said,
He'd found that Esop had no sense
Of manhood in impertinence.

> Latin: Aesopus domino solus cum esset familia,
Parare cenam iussus est maturius.
Ignem ergo quaerens aliquot lustravit domus,
Tandemque invenit ubi lucernam accenderet.
Tum circumeunti fuerat quod iter longius
Effecit brevius: namque recta per forum
Coepit redire. Et quidam e turba garrulus:
Aesope, medio sole quid cum lumine?
Hominem inquit quaero, et abiit festinans domum.
Hoc si molestus ille ad animum rettulit,
Sensit profecto se hominem non visum seni,
Intempestive qui occupato alluserit.

[¶17] Not here translated
Not here translated
The luckless wretch that's born to woe
Must all his life affliction know-
And harder still, his cruel fate
Will on his very ashes wait,
Cybele's priests, in quest of bread,
An Ass about the village led,
With things for sale from door to door;
Till work'd and beaten more and more,
At length, when the poor creature died,
They made them drums out of his hide.
Then question'd "how it came to pass
They thus could serve ther darling Ass?"
The answer was, " He thought of peace
In death, and that his toils would cease;
But see his mis'ry knows no bounds,
Still with our blows his back resounds."
To you, who 've graver things bespoke,
This seems no better than a joke,
And light for mere amusement made;
Yet still we drive the scribbling trade,
And from the pen our pleasure find,
When we've no greater things to mind.
Yet if you look with care intense,
These tales your toil shall recompense;
Appearance is not always true,
And thousands err by such a view.
'Tis a choice spirit that has pried
Where clean contrivance chose to hide;
That this is not at random said,
I shall produce upon this head
A fable of an arch device,
About the Weasel and the Mice.
A Weasel, worn with years, and lame,
That could not overtake its game,
Now with the nimble Mice to deal,
Disguised herself with barley meal;
Then negligent her limbs she spread
In a sly nook, and lay for dead.
A Mouse that thought she there might feed,
Leapt up, and perish'd in the deed;
A second in like manner died;
A third, and sundry more beside:
Then comes the brindled Mouse, a chap
That oft escaped both snare and trap,
And seeing how the trick was played,
Thus to his crafty foe he said:-
"So may'st thou prosper day and night,
As thou art not an errant bite."
An hungry Fox with fierce attack
Sprang on a Vine, but tumbled back,
Nor could attain the point in view,
So near the sky the bunches grew.
As he went off, "They're scurvy stuff,"
Says he, "and not half ripe enough—
And I 've more rev'rence for my tripes
Than to torment them with the gripes."
For those this tale is very pat
Who lessen what they can't come at.
A Wild-Boar wallow'd in the flood,
And troubled all the stream with mud,
Just where a horse to drink repair'd-
He therefore having war declared,
Sought man's alliance for the fight,
And bore upon his back the knight;
Who being skill'd his darts to throw,
Despatched the Wild-Boar at a blow.
Then to the steed the victor said,
" I'm glad you came to me for aid,
For taught how useful you can be,
I've got at once a spoil and thee."
On which the fields he made him quit,
To feel the spur and champ the bit.
Then he his sorrow thus express'd:
"I needs must have my wrongs redress'd,
And making tyrant man the judge,
Must all my life become a drudge."
This tale the passionate may warn,
To bear with any kind of scorn;
And rather all complaint withdraw
Than either go to war or law.

> Latin: Supersunt mihi quae scribam, sed parco sciens,
Primum ne videar esse tibi molestior,
Distringit quem multarum rerum varietas;
Dein si quis eadem forte conari velit,
Habere ut possit aliquid operis residui:
Quamvis materiae tanta abundet copia,
Labori faber ut desit, non fabro labor.
Brevitati nostrae praemium ut reddas peto
Quod es pollicitus: exhibe vocis fidem.
Nam vita morti propior est cotidie,
Et hoc minus perveniet ad me muneris,
Quo plus consumet temporis dilatio.
Si cito rem perages, usus fiet longior:
Fruar diutius, si celerius coepero.
Languentis aevi dum sunt aliquae reliquiae,
Auxilio locus est: olim senio debilem
Frustra adiuvare bonitas nitetur tua,
Cum iam desierit esse beneficium utile
Et mors vicina flagitabit debitum.
Stultum admovere tibi preces existimo,
Proclivis ultro cum sit misericordia.
Saepe impetravit veniam confessus reus:
Quanto innocenti iustius debet dari?
Tuae sunt partes; fuerunt aliorum prius,
Dein simili gyro venient aliorum vices.
Decerne quod religio, quod patitur fides,
Et graviter me tutare iudicio tuo.
Excedit animus quem proposuit terminum;
Sed difficulter continetur spiritus,
Integritatis qui sincerae conscius
A noxiorum premitur insolentiis.
Qui sint, requires; apparebunt tempore.
Ego, quondam legi quam puer sententiam,
Palam muttire plebeio piaculum est,
Dum sanitas constabit, pulchre meminero.
Cum destinassem operis habere terminum
In hoc, ut aliis esset materiae satis,
Consilium tacito corde damnavi meum.
Nam si quis talis etiam tituli est appetens,
Quo pacto divinabit quidnam omiserim,
Ut illud ipsum cupiat famae tradere,
Sua cuique cum sit animi cogitatio
Colorque proprius? Ergo non levitas mihi,
Sed certa ratio causam scribendi dedit.
Quare, Particulo, quoniam caperis fabulis,
(Quas Aesopias, non Aesopi, nomino,
Quia paucas ille ostendit, ego plures fero,
Usus vetusto genere, sed rebus novis),
Quartum libellum, cum vacarit, perleges.
Hunc obtrectare si volet malignitas,
Imitari dum non possit, obtrectet licet.
Mihi parta laus est quod tu, quod similes tui
Vestras in chartas verba transfertis mea,
Dignumque longa iudicatis memoria.
Illitteratum plausum nec desidero.
Qui natus est infelix, non vitam modo
Tristem decurrit, verum post obitum quoque
Persequitur illum dura fati miseria.
Galli Cybebes circum in quaestus ducere
Asinum solebant baiulantem sarcinas.
Is cum labore et plagis esset mortuus,
Detracta pelle sibi fecerunt tympana.
Rogati mox a quodam, delicio suo
Quidnam fecissent, hoc locuti sunt modo:
Putabat se post mortem securum fore;
Ecce aliae plagae congeruntur mortuo.
Ioculare tibi videtur, et sane levi,
Dum nihil habemus maius, calamo ludimus.
Sed diligenter intuere has nenias:
Quantam sub titulis utilitatem reperies!
Non semper ea sunt quae videntur; decipit
Frons prima multos: rara mens intellegit
Quod interiore condidit cura angulo.
Hoc ne locutus sine mercede existimer,
Fabellam adiciam de mustela et muribus.
Mustela cum annis et senecta debilis
Mures veloces non valeret assequi,
Involvit se farina et obscuro loco
Abiecit neglegenter. Mus escam putans
Assiluit et compressus occubuit neci.
Alter similiter, deinde perit et tertius.
Mox venit aliquot saeculis retorridus
Qui saepe laqueos et muscipula effugerat;
Proculque insidias cernens hostis callidi:
Sic valeas inquit ut farina es quae iaces!
Fame coacta vulpes alta in vinea
Uvam appetebat summis saliens viribus;
Quam tangere ut non potuit, discedens ait:
Nondum matura est; nolo acerbam sumere.
Qui facere quae non possunt verbis elevant,
Ascribere hoc debebunt exemplum sibi.
Equus sedare solitus quo fuerat sitim,
Dum sese aper volutat turbavit vadum.
Hinc orta lis est. Sonipes iratus fero
Auxilium petiit hominis, quem dorso levans
Rediit ad hostem. Iactis hunc telis eques
Postquam interfecit, sic locutus traditur:
Laetor tulisse auxilium me precibus tuis,
Nam praedam cepi et didici quam sis utilis.
Atque ita coegit frenos invitum pati.
Tum maestus ille: Parvae vindictam rei
Dum quaero demens, servitutem repperi.
Haec iracundos admonebit fabula
Impune potius laedi quam dedi alteri.

## 4. Book IV

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/4/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/4/#p-N

[¶0] That one man sometimes is more shrewd
Than a stupendous multitude,
To after-times I shall rehearse
In my concise familiar verse.
A certain man on his decease,
Left his three girls so much a-piece:
The first was beautiful and frail,
With eyes still hunting for the male;
The second giv'n to spin and card,
A country housewife working hard;
The third but very ill to pass,
A homely slut, that loved her glas.
The dying man had left his wife
Executrix, and for her life
Sole tenant, if she should fulfil
These strange provisos of his will:
" That she should give th' estate in fee
In equal portions to the three;
But in such sort, that this bequest
Should not be holden or possess'd;
Then soon as they should be bereav'n
Of all the substance that was giv'n,
They must for their good mother's ease
Make up an hundred sesterces."
This spread through Athens in a trice;
The prudent widow takes advice.
But not a lawyer could unfold
How they should neither have nor hold
The very things that they were left.
Besides, when once they were bereft,
How they from nothing should confer
The money that was due to her.
When a long time was spent in vain,
And no one could the will explain,
She left the counsellors unfeed,
And thus of her own self decreed:
The minstrels, trinkets, plate, and dres,
She gave the Lady to possess.
Then Mrs. Notable she stocks
With all the fields, the kine and flocks:
The workmen, farm, with a supply
Of all the tools of husbandry.
Last, to the Guzzler she consigns
The cellar stored with good old wine,
A handsome house to see a friend,
With pleasant gardens at the end.
Thus as she strove th' affair to close,
By giving each the things they chose,
And those that knew them every one
Highly applauded what was done
Esop arose, and thus address'd
The crowd that to his presence pressed:
"O that the dead could yet perceive!
How would the prudent father grieve,
That all th' Athenians had not skill
Enough to understand his will!
Then at their joint request he solved
That error, which had all involved.
" The gardens, house, and wine vaults too,
Give to the spinster as her due;
The clothes, the jewels, and such ware,
Be all the tippling lady's share;
The fields, the barns, and flocks of sheep,
Give the gay courtesan to keep.
Not one will bear the very touch
Of things that thwart their tastes so much '
The slut to fill her cellar straight
Her wardrobe will evacuate;
The lady soon will sell her farms,
For garments to set off her charms;
But she that loves the flocks and kine
Will alienate her stores of wine,
Her rustic genius to employ.
Thus none their portions shall enjoy,
And from the money each has made
Their mother shall be duly paid."
Thus one man by his wit disclosed
The point that had so many posed.

> Latin: Plus esse in uno saepe quam in turba boni,
Narratione posteris tradam brevi.
Quidam decedens tres reliquit filias:
Unam formosam et oculis venantem viros;
At alteram lanificam et frugi rusticam;
Devotam vino tertiam et turpissimam.
Harum autem matrem fecit heredem senex
Sub condicione totam ut fortunam tribus
Aequaliter distribuat, sed tali modo:
Ni data possideant aut fruantur; tum: simul
Habere res desierint, quas acceperint,
Centena matri conferant sestertia.
Athenas rumor implet. Mater sedula
Iuris peritos consulit; nemo expedit
Quo pacto non possideant, quod fuerit datum,
Fructumve capiant; deinde quae tulerint nihil,
Quanam ratione conferant pecuniam.
Postquam consumpta est temporis longi mora,
Nec testamenti potuit sensus colligi,
Fidem advocavit iure neglecto parens.
Seponit moechae vestem, mundum muliebrem,
Lavationem argenteam, eunuchos, glabros;
Lanificae agellos, pecora, villam, operarios,
Boves, iumenta et instrumentum rusticum;
Potrici plenam antiquis apothecam cadis,
Domum politam et delicatos hortulos.
Sic destinata dare cum vellet singulis
Et approbaret populus, qui illas noverat,
Aesopus media subito in turba constitit:
O si maneret condito sensus patri,
Quam graviter ferret, quod voluntatem suam
Interpretari non potuissent Attici!
Rogatus deinde solvit errorem omnium:
Domum et ornamenta cum venustis hortulis
Et vina vetera date lanificae rusticae;
Vestem, uniones, pedisequos et cetera
Illi assignate vitam quae luxu trahit;
Agros, buvile et pecora cum pastoribus
Donate moechae. Nulla poterit perpeti,
Ut moribus quid teneat alienum suis.
Deformis cultum vendet ut vinum paret;
Agros abiciet moecha ut ornatum gerat;
At illa gaudens pecore et lanae dedita
Quacumque summa tradet luxuriae domum.
Sic nulla possidebit quod fuerit datum,
Et dictam matri conferent pecuniam
Ex pretio rerum quas vendiderint singulae.
Ita quod multorum fugit imprudentiam
Unius hominis repperit sollertia.

[¶1] The routed Mice upon a day
Fled from the Weasels in array;
But in the hurry of the flight,
What with their weakness and their fright
Each scarce could get into his cave:
Howe'er, at last their lives they save.
But their commanders (who had tied
Horns to their heads in martial pride,
Which as a signal they design'd
For non-commission'd mice to mind)
Stick in the entrance as they go,
And there are taken by the foe,
Who, greedy of the victim, gluts
With mouse-flesh his ungodly guts.
Each great and national distress
Must chiefly mighty men oppress;
While folks subordinate and poor
Are by their littleness secure.

> Latin: Cum victi mures mustelarum exercitu
(Historia quorum et in tabernis pingitur)
Fugerent et artos circum trepidarent cavos,
Aegre recepti tamen evaserunt necem.
Duces eorum, qui capitibus cornua
Suis ligarant, ut conspicuum in proelio
Haberent signum quod sequerentur milites,
Haesere in portis suntque capti ab hostibus;
Quos immolatos victor avidis dentibus
Capacis alvi mersit tartareo specu.
Quemcumque populum tristis eventus premit,
Periclitatur magnitudo principum;
Minuta plebes facili praesidio latet.

[¶2] Thou that against my tales inveigh'st,
As much too pleasant for thy taste;
Egregious critic, cease to scoff
While for a time I play you off,
And strive to soothe your puny rage.
As Esop comes upon the stage,
And dress'd entirely new in Rome,
Thus enters with the tragic plume.-
" O that the fair Thessalian pine
Had never felt the wrath divine,
And fearless of the axe's wound,
Had still the Pelian mountain crown'd!
That Argus by Palladian aid
Had ne'er the adventurous vessel made;
In which at first, without dismay,
Death's bold professors won their way,
In which th' inhospitable main
Was first laid open for the bane
Of Grecians and barbarians too.
Which made the proud AEetas rue,
And whence Medea's crimes to nought
The house and reign of Pelias brought.
She-while in various forms she tries
Her furious spirit to disguise,
At one place in her flight bestow'd
Her brother's limbs upon the road;
And at another could betray
The daughters their own sire to slay.
How think you now?-What arrant trash
And our assertions much too rash!-
Since prior to th' AEgean fleet
Did Minos piracy defeat,
And made adventures on the sea.
How then shall you and I agree?
Since, stern as Cato's self, you hate
All tales alike, both small and great.
Plague not too much the man of parts;
For he that does it surely smarts.-
This threat is to the fools, that squeam
At every thing of good esteem;
And that they may to taste pretend,
Ev'n heaven itself will discommend.

> Latin: Tu qui, nasute, scripta destringis mea
Et hoc iocorum legere fastidis genus,
Parva libellum sustine patientia,
Severitatem frontis dum placo tuae
Et in cothurnis prodit Aesopus novis.
Utinam nec umquam Pelii nemoris iugo
Pinus bipenni concidisset Thessala,
Nec ad professae mortis audacem viam
Fabricasset Argus opere Palladio ratem,
Inhospitalis prima quae ponti sinus
Patefecit in perniciem Graium et barbarum!
Namque et superbi luget Aeetae domus,
Et regna Peliae scelere Medeae iacent,
Quae saevum ingenium variis involvens modis
Illic per artus fratris explicuit fugam,
Hic caede patris Peliadum infecit manus.
Quid tibi videtur? Hoc quoque insulsum est ait
Falsoque dictum; longe quia vetustior
Aegaea Minos classe perdomuit freta
Iustoque vindicavit exemplo impetum.
Quid ergo possum facere tibi, lector Cato,
Si nec fabellae te iuvant nec fabulae?
Noli molestus esse omnino litteris,
Maiorem exhibeant ne tibi molestiam.
Hoc illis dictum est, qui stultitia nauseant
Et ut putentur sapere caelum vituperant.

[¶3] He that a greater biter bites,
His folly on himself requites,
As we shall manifest forthwith.-
There was a hovel of a smith,
Where a poor Viper chanced to steal,
And being greedy of a meal,
When she had seized upon a file,
Was answer'd in this rugged style:
" Why do you think, 0 stupid snake!
On me your usual meal to make,
Who've sharper teeth than thine by far,
And can corrode an iron bar?"

> Latin: Mordaciorem qui improbo dente appetit
Hoc argumento se describi sentiat.
In officinam fabri venit vipera.
Haec cum temptaret si qua res esset cibi,
Limam momordit. Illa contra contumax:
Quid me inquit stulta, dente captas laedere,
Omne assuevi ferrum quae corrodere?

[¶4] A crafty knave will make escape,
When once he gets into a scrape,
Still meditating self-defence,
At any other man's expense.
A Fox by some disaster fell
Into a deep and fenced well:
A thirsty Goat came down in haste,
And ask'd about the water's taste,
If it was plentiful and sweet?
At which the Fox, in rank deceit,
" So great the solace of the run,
I thought I never should have done.
Be quick, my friend, your sorrows drown,"
This said, the silly Goat comes down.
The subtle Fox herself avails,
And by his horns the mound she scales,
And leaves the Goat in all the mire,
To gratify his heart's desire.

> Latin: Homo in periclum simul ac venit callidus,
Reperire effugium quaerit alterius malo.
Cum decidisset vulpes in puteum inscia
Et altiore clauderetur margine,
Devenit hircus sitiens in eundem locum;
Simul rogavit esset an dulcis liquor
Et copiosus. Illa fraudem moliens:
Descende, amice; tanta bonitas est aquae
Voluptas ut satiari non possit mea.
Immisit se barbatus. Tum vulpecula
Evasit puteo nixa celsis cornibus,
Hircumque clauso liquit haerentem vado.

[¶5] Great Jove, in his paternal care,
Has giv'n a man two Bags to bear;
That which his own default contains
Behind his back unseen remains;
But that which others' vice attests
Swags full in view before our breasts.
Hence we're inevitably blind,
Relating to the Bag behind;
But when our neighbours misdemean,
Our censures are exceeding keen.

> Latin: Peras imposuit Iuppiter nobis duas:
Propriis repletam vitiis post tergum dedit,
Alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem.
Hac re videre nostra mala non possumus;
Alii simul delinquunt, censores sumus.

[¶6] A villain to Jove's altar came
To light his candle in the flame,
And robb'd the god in dead of night,
By his own consecrated light:
Then thus an awful voice was sent,
As with the sacrilege he went:
"Though all this gold and silver plate
As gifts of evil men I hate;
And their removal from the fane
Can cause the Deity no pain;
Yet, caitiff, at th' appointed time
Thy life shall answer for thy crime.
But, for the future, lest this blaLe,
At which the pious pray and praise,
Should guide the wicked, I decree
That no such intercourse there be."
Hence to this day all men decline
To light their candle at the shrine;
Nor from a candle e'er presume
The holy light to re-illume.
How many things are here contained,
By him alone can be explain'd
Who could this useful tale invent.
In the first place, herein is meant,
That they are often most your foes
Who from your fost'ring hand arose.
Next, that the harden'd villain's fate
Is not from wrath precipitate,
But rather at a destined hour.
Lastly, we're charg'd with all our pow'r,
To keep ourselves, by care intense,
From all connexions with offence.

> Latin: Lucernam fur accendit ex ara Iovis
Ipsumque compilavit ad lumen suum.
Onustus qui sacrilegio cum discederet,
Repente vocem sancta misit Religio:
Malorum quamvis ista fuerint munera
Mihique invisa, ut non offendar surripi,
Tamen, sceleste, spiritu culpam lues,
Olim cum ascriptus venerit poenae dies.
Sed ne ignis noster facinori praeluceat,
Per quem verendos excolit pietas deos,
Veto esse tale luminis commercium.
Itaque hodie nec lucernam de flamma deum
Nec de lucerna fas est accendi sacrum.
Quot res contineat hoc argumentum utiles,
Non explicabit alius quam qui repperit.
Significat primo saepe quos ipse alueris,
Tibi inveniri maxime contrarios;
Secundum ostendit scelera non ira deum,
Fatorum dicto sed puniri tempore;
Novissime interdicit ne cum malefico
Usum bonus consociet ullius rei.

[¶7] Wealth by the brave is justly scorn'd,
Since men are from the truth suborn'd,
And a full chest perverts their ways
From giving or deserving praise.
When Hercules, for matchless worth,
Was taken up to heav'n from earth,
As in their turns to all the crowd
Of gratulating gods he bow'd,
When Plutus, Fortune's son, he spies,
He from his face averts his eyes.
Jove ask'd the cause of this disgust:
"I hate him, as he is unjust,
To wicked men the most inclined,
And grand corrupter of mankind."

> Latin: Opes invisae merito sunt forti viro,
Quia dives arca veram laudem intercipit.
Caelo receptus propter virtutem Hercules
Cum gratulantes persalutasset deos,
Veniente Pluto, qui Fortunae est filius,
Avertit oculos. Causam quaesivit pater.
Odi inquit illum, quia malis amicus est
Simulque obiecto cuncta corrumpit lucro.

[¶8] Not here translated Not here translated Not here translated
When the She-Goats from Jove obtain'd
A beard, th' indignant Males complain'd,
That females by this near approach
Would on their gravity encroach.
"Suffer, my sapient friends," says he,
"Their eminence in this degree,
And bear their beard's most graceful length,
As they can never have your strength."
Warn'd by this little tale, agree
With men in gen'ral form'd like thee
While you by virtue still exceed,
And in the spirit take the lead.
On hearing a poor man lament
His worldly thoughts in discontent,
Esop this tale began to write,
For consolation and delight.
The ship by furious tempests tossed,
The Mariners gave all for lost;
But midst their tears and dread, the scene
Is changed at once, and all serene.
The wind is fair, the vessel speeds,
The Sailors' boisterous joy exceeds:
The Pilot then, by peril wise,
Was prompted to philosophise.
"'Tis right to put a due restraint
On joy, and to retard complaint,
Because alternate hope and fright
Make up our lives of black and white."

> Latin: Utilius homini nihil est quam recte loqui:
Probanda cunctis est quidem sententia,
Sed ad perniciem solet agi sinceritas.
Cum se ferarum regem fecissit leo
Et aequitatis vellet famam consequi,
A pristina deflexit consuetudine
Atque inter illas tenui contentus cibo
Sancta incorrupta iura reddebat fide.
Postquam labare coepit paenitentia,
…
…
A fictione veretri linguam mulieris.
Affinitatem traxit inde obscenitas.
Rogavit alter, tribadas et molles mares
Quae ratio procreasset. Exposuit senex:
Idem Prometheus, auctor vulgi fictilis
Qui simul offendit ad fortunam frangitur,
Naturae partis veste quas celat pudor,
Cum separatim toto finxisset die,
Aptare mox ut posset corporibus suis,
Ad cenam est invitatus subito a Libero.
Ubi irrigatus multo venas nectare,
Sero domum est reversus titubanti pede.
Tum semisomno corde et errore ebrio
Applicuit virginale generi masculo
Et masculina membra applicuit feminis.
Ita nunc libido pravo fruitur gaudio.
Barbam capellae cum impetrassent ab Iove,
Hirci maerentes indignari coeperunt
Quod dignitatem feminae aequassent suam.
Sinite inquit illas gloria vana frui
Et usurpare vestri ornatum muneris,
Pares dum non sint vestrae fortitudinis.
Hoc argumentum monet ut sustineas tibi
Habitu esse similes qui sint virtute impares.
Cum de fortunis quidam quereretur suis,
Aesopus finxit consolandi gratia:
Vexata saevis navis tempestatibus,
Inter vectorum lacrimas et mortis metum
Faciem ad serenam subito ut mutatur dies,
Ferri secundis tuta coepit flatibus
Nimiaque nautas hilaritate extollere.
Factus periclis tum gubernator sophus:
Parce gaudere oportet et sensim queri,
Totam aeque vitam miscet dolor et gaudium.

[¶9] Not here translated
He, that malicious men relieves,
His folly in a season grieves.
A Man, against himself humane,
Took up an Adder, that had lain
And stiffen'd in the frosty air,
And in his bosom placed with care,
Where she with speed recovering breath,
Her benefactor stung to death.
Another Adder near the place,
On asking why she was so base,
Was told, " 'Tis others to dissuade
From giving wickedness their aid."
A Fox was throwing up the soil,
And while with his assiduous toil
He burrow'd deep into the ground,
A Dragon in his den he found,
A-watching hidden treasure there,
Whom seeing, Renard speaks him fair:
" First, for your pardon I apply
For breaking on your privacy;
Then, as you very plainly see
That gold is of no use to me,
Your gentle leave let me obtain
To ask you, what can be the gain
Of all this care, and what the fruit,
That you should not with sleep recruit
Your spirits, but your life consume
Thus in an everlasting gloom?"
"'Tis not my profit here to stay,"
He cries; " but I must Jove obey."
"What! will you therefore nothing take
Yourself, nor others welcome make?"
"Ev'n so the fates decree." - "Then, sir,
Have patience, whilst I do aver
That he who like affections knows
Is born with all the gods his foes.
Since to that place you needs must speed,
Where all your ancestors precede,
Why in the blindness of your heart
Do you torment your noble part?"
All this to thee do I indite,
Thou grudging churl, thy heir's delight,
Who robb'st the gods of incense due,
Thyself of food and raiment too;
Who hear'st the harp with sullen mien,
To whom the piper gives the spleen;
Who'rt full of heavy groans and sighs
When in their price provisions rise;
Who with thy frauds heaven's patience tire
To make thy heap a little higher,
And, lest death thank thee, in thy will
Hast tax'd the undertaker's bill.

> Latin: Canes legatos olim misere ad Iovem
Melioris vitae tempus oratum suae,
Ut sese eriperet hominum contumeliis,
Furfuribus sibi consparsum quod panem darent
Fimoque turpi maximam explerent famem.
Profecti sunt legati non celeri pede.
Dum naribus scrutantur escam in stercore,
Citati non respondent. Vix tandem invenit
Eos Mercurius et turbatos attrahit.
Tum vero vultum magni ut viderunt Iovis,
Totam timentes concacarunt regiam;
Propulsi vero fustibus vadunt foras.
Vetat dimitti magnus illos Iuppiter.
Mirati sibi legatos non revertier,
Turpe aestimantes aliquid commissum a suis,
Post aliquod tempus alios ascribi iubent.
Rumor legatos superiores prodidit.
Timentes rursus aliquid ne simile accidat,
Odore canibus anum, sed multo, replent.
Mandata dantur et dimittuntur statim.
Adeunt. Rogantes aditum continuo impetrant.
Consedit genitor tum deorum maximus
Quassatque fulmen: tremere coepere omnia.
Canes, confusus subito quod fuerat fragor,
Repente odorem mixtum cum merdis cacant.
Reclamant omnes vindicandam iniuriam.
Sic est locutus ante poenam Iuppiter:
Legatos non est regis non dimittere,
Nec est difficile poenas culpae imponere;
Sed hoc feretis pro iudicio praemium:
Non veto dimitti, verum cruciari fame,
Ne ventrem continere non possint suum.
Illi autem qui miserunt vos tam futtiles
Numquam carebunt hominis contumelia.
Ita nunc legatos exspectant et posteri
Novum et venire qui videt culum olfacit.
Qui fert malis auxilium post tempus dolet.
Gelu rigentem quidam colubram sustulit
Sinuque fovit contra se ipse misericors:
Namque ut refecta est necuit hominem protinus.
Hanc alia cum rogaret causam facinoris,
Respondit: Ne quis discat prodesse improbis.
Vulpes, cubile fodiens, dum terram eruit
Agitque pluris altius cuniculos,
Pervenit ad draconis speluncam ultimam,
Custodiebat qui thesauros abditos.
Hunc simul aspexit: Oro ut imprudentiae
Des primum veniam; deinde si pulchre vides,
Quam non conveniens aurum sit vitae meae,
Respondeas clementer. Quem fructum capis
Hoc ex labore, quodve tantum est praemium
Ut careas somno et aevum in tenebris exigas?
Nullum inquit ille verum hoc ab summo mihi
Iove attributum est. Ergo nec sumis tibi
Nec ulli donas quicquam? Sic fatis placet.
Nolo irascaris, libere si dixero:
Dis est iratis natus, qui est similis tibi.
Abiturus illuc, quo priores abierunt,
Quid mente caeca miserum torques spiritum?
Tibi dico, avare, gaudium heredis tui,
Qui ture superos, ipsum te fraudas cibo,
Qui tristis audis musicum citharae sonum,
Quem tibiarum macerat iucunditas,
Obsoniorum pretia cui gemitum exprimunt,
Qui dum quadrantes aggeras patrimonio
Caelum fatigas sordido periurio,
Qui circumcidis omnem impensam funeri
Libitina ne quid de tuo faciat lucri.

[¶10] What certain envious hearts intend
I very clearly comprehend,
Let them dissemble e'er so much.-.
When they perceive the master's touch,
And find 'tis likely to endure,
They'll say 'tis Esop to be sure-
But what appears of mean design,
At any rate they'll vouch for mine.
These in a word I would refute:
Whether of great or no repute,
What sprung from Esop's fertile thought
This hand has to perfection brought;
But waiving things to our distaste,
Let's to the destined period haste.

> Latin: Quid iudicare cogitet livor modo,
Licet dissimulet, pulchre tamen intellego.
Quicquid putabit esse dignum memoria,
Aesopi dicet; si quid minus arriserit,
A me contendet fictum quovis pignore.
Quem volo refelli iam nunc responso meo:
Sive hoc ineptum sive laudandum est opus,
Invenit ille, nostra perfecit manus.
Sed exsequamur coepti propositum ordinem.

[¶11] A man, whose learned worth is known,
Has always riches of his own.
Simonides, who was the head
Of lyric bards, yet wrote for bread,
His circuit took through every town
In Asia of the first renown,
The praise of heroes to rehearse,
Who gave him money for his verse.
When by this trade much wealth was earn'd,
Homewards by shipping he return'd
(A Cean born, as some suppose):
On board he went, a tempest rose,
Which shook th' old ship to that degree,
She founder'd soon as out at sea.
Some purses, some their jewels tie
About them for a sure supply;
But one more curious, ask'd the seer,
"Poet, have you got nothing here?"
"My all," says he, "is what I am."-
On this some few for safety swam
(For most o'erburden'd by their goods,
Were smother'd in the whelming floods).
The spoilers came, the wealth demand,
And leave them naked on the strand.
It happen'd for the shipwreck'd crew
An ancient city was in view,
By name Clazomena, in which
There lived a scholar learned and rich,
Who often read, his cares to ease,
The verses of Simonides,
And was a vast admirer grown
Of this great poet, though unknown.
Him by his converse when he traced,
He with much heartiness embraced,
And soon equipp'd the bard anew,
With servants, clothes, and money too
The rest benevolence implored,
With case depicted on a board:
Which when Simonides espied,
"I plainly told you all," he cried,
"That all my wealth was in myself;
As for your chattels and your pelf.
On which ye did so much depend,
They're come to nothing in the end."

> Latin: Homo doctus in se semper divitias habet.
Simonides, qui scripsit egregium melos,
Quo paupertatem sustineret facilius,
Circum ire coepit urbes Asiae nobiles,
Mercede accepta laudem victorum canens.
Hoc genere quaestus postquam locuples factus est,
Redire in patriam voluit cursu pelagio;
Erat autem, ut aiunt, natus in Cia insula:
Ascendit navem, quam tempestas horrida
Simul et vetustas medio dissolvit mari.
Hi zonas, illi res pretiosas colligunt,
Subsidium vitae. Quidam curiosior:
Simonide, tu ex opibus nil sumis tuis?
Mecum inquit mea sunt cuncta. Tunc pauci enatant,
Quia plures onere degravati perierant.
Praedones adsunt, rapiunt, quod quisque extulit,
Nudos relinquunt. Forte Clazomenae prope
Antiqua fuit urbs, quam petierunt naufragi.
Hic litterarum quidam studio deditus,
Simonidis qui saepe versus legerat
Eratque absentis admirator maximus,
Sermone ab ipso cognitum cupidissime
Ad se recepit; veste, nummis, familia
Hominem exornavit. Ceteri tabulam suam
Portant rogantes victum. Quos casu obvios
Simonides ut vidit: Dixi, inquit, mea
Mecum esse cuncta; vos quod rapuistis perit.

[¶12] The Mountain labor'd, groaning loud,
On which a num'rous gaping crowd
Of noodles came to see the sight,
When, lo! a mouse was brought to light!
This tale 's for men of swagg'ring cast,
Whose threats, voluminous and vast,
With all their verse and all their prose,
Can make but little on 't, God knows.

> Latin: Mons parturibat, gemitus immanes ciens,
Eratque in terris maxima exspectatio.
At ille murem peperit. †Hoc scriptum est tibi,
Qui, magna cum minaris, extricas nihil.

[¶13] An Ant and Fly had sharp dispute
Which creature was of most repute;
When thus began the flaunting Fly:
"Are you so laudible as I?
I, ere the sacrifice is carved,
Precede the gods; first come, first served—
Before the altar take my place,
And in all temples show my face,
Whene'er I please I set me down
Upon the head that wears a crown.
I with impunity can taste
The kiss of matrons fair and chaste,
And pleasure without labor claim-
Say, trollop, canst thou do the same?"
"The feasts of gods are glorious fare,
No doubt, to those who're welcome there;
But not for such detested things.-
You talk of matron's lips and kings;
I, who with wakeful care and pains
Against the winter hoard my grains,
Thee feeding upon ordure view.-
The altars you frequent, 'tis true;
But still are driv'n away from thence,
And elsewhere, as of much offence.
A life of toil you will not lead,
And so have nothing when you need.
Besides all this, you talk with pride
Of things that modesty should hide.
You plague me here, while days increase,
But when the winter comes you cease.
Me, when the cold thy life bereaves,
A plenteous magazine receives.
I think I need no more advance
To cure you of your arrogance."
The tenor of this tale infers
Two very diff'rent characters;
Of men self-praised and falsely vain,
And men of real worth in grain.

> Latin: Nihil agere quod non prosit fabella admonet.
Formica et musca contendebant acriter
Quae pluris esset. Musca sic coepit prior:
Conferre nostris tu potes te laudibus?
Moror inter aras, templa perlustro omnia,
Ubi immolatur, exta praegusto deum.
In capite regis sedeo cum visum est mihi,
Et matronarum casta delibo oscula.
Laboro nihil atque optimis rebus fruor.
Quid horum simile tibi contingit, rustica?
Est gloriosus sane convictus deum,
Sed illi qui invitatur, non qui invisus est.
Aras frequentas? nempe abigeris, quom venis.
Reges commemoras et matronarum oscula?
Super etiam iactas tegere quod debet pudor.
Nihil laboras? ideo, cum opus est, nil habes.
Ego granum in hiemem cum studiose congero,
Te circa murum pasci video stercore.
Aestate me lacessis; cum bruma est siles.
Mori contractam cum te cogunt frigora,
Me copiosa recipit incolumem domus.
Satis profecto rettudi superbiam.
Fabella talis hominum discernit notas
Eorum qui se falsis ornant laudibus,
Et quorum virtus exhibet solidum decus.

[¶14] Th' attention letters can engage,
Ev'n from a base degenerate age,
I've shown before; and now shall show
Their lustre in another view,
And tell a memorable tale,
How much they can with heav'n prevail,
Simonides, the very same
We lately had a call to name,
Agreed for such a sum to blaze
A certain famous champion's praise.
He therefore a retirement sought,
But found the theme on which he wrote
So scanty, he was forced to use
Th' accustomed license of the muse,
And introduced and praise bestow'd
On Leda's sons to raise his ode;
With these the rather making free,
As heroes in the same degree.
He warranted his work, and yet
Could but one third of payment get.
Upon demanding all the due,
" Let them," says he, "pay t' other two,
Who take two places in the song;
But lest you think I do you wrong
And part in dudgeon-I invite
Your company to sup this night,
For then my friends and kin I see,
'Mongst which I choose to reckon thee."
Choused and chagrined, yet shunning blame,
He promised, set the hour, and came;
As fearful lest a favour spurn'd
Should to an open breach be turn'd.
The splendid banquet shone with plate,
And preparations full of state
Made the glad house with clamors roar-
When on a sudden at the door
Two youths, with sweat and dust besmear'd,
Above the human form appear'd,
And charged forthwith a little scout
To bid Simonides come out,
That 'twas his interest not to stay.-
The slave, in trouble and dismay,
Roused from his seat the feasting bard,
Who scarce had stirr'd a single yard
Before the room at once fell in,
And crushed the champion and his kin.
No youths before the door are found.-
The thing soon spread the country round;
And when each circumstance was weighed,
They knew the gods that visit made,
And saved the poet's life in lieu
Of those two-thirds which yet were due.

> Latin: Quantum valerent inter homines litterae,
Dixi superius: quantus nunc illis honos
A superis sit tributus tradam memoriae.
Simonides idem ille de quo rettuli,
Victori laudem cuidam pyctae ut scriberet
Certo conduxit pretio, secretum petit.
Exigua cum frenaret materia impetum,
Usus poeta moris est licentia
Atque interposuit gemina Ledae sidera,
Auctoritatem similis referens gloriae.
Opus approbavit; sed mercedis tertiam
Accepit partem. Cum reliquum posceret:
Illi inquit reddent quorum sunt laudis duae.
Verum ut ne irate te dimissum sentiant,
Ad cenam mihi promitte; cognatos volo
Hodie invitare, quorum es in numero mihi.
Fraudatus quamvis et dolens iniuria,
Ne male dimissam gratiam corrumperet,
Promisit. Rediit hora dicta, recubuit.
Splendebat hilare poculis convivium,
Magno apparatu laeta resonabat domus,
Repente duo cum iuvenes sparsi pulvere,
Sudore multo diffluentes corpora,
Humanam supra formam, cuidam servulo
Mandant ut ad se provocet Simonidem;
Illius interesse, ne faciat moram.
Homo perturbatus excitat Simonidem.
Unum promorat vix pedem triclinio,
Ruina camerae subito oppressit ceteros;
Nec ulli iuvenes sunt reperti ad ianuam.
Ut est vulgatus ordo narratae rei,
Omnes scierunt numinum praesentiam
Vati dedisse vitam mercedis loco.

[¶15] I yet have stock in hand to spare,
And could write on-but will forbear-
First, lest I tire a friend, whose state
And avocations are so great:
And then, if other pens should try
This morals cheme as well as I,
They may have something to pursue:—
Yet if the spacious field we view,
More men are wanting for the plan,
Rather than matter for the man.
Now for that prize I make my plea
You promised to my brevity.
Keep your kind word; for life, my friend,
Is daily nearer to its end;
And I shall share your love the less
The longer you your hand repress:
The sooner you the boon insure,
The more the tenure must endure;
And if I quick possession take,
The greater profit must I make,
While yet declining age subsists,
A room for friendly aid exists.
Anon with tasteless years grown weak,
In vain benevolence will seek
To do me good-when Death at hand
Shall come and urge his last demand.
'Tis folly, you'll be apt to say,
A thousand times to beg and pray
Of one with so much worth and sense,
Whose gen'rous bounty is propense.
If e'er a miscreant succeeds,
By fair confession of his deeds,
An innocent offender's case
Is far more worthy of your grace.
You for example sake begin,
Then others to the lure you'll win,
And in rotation more and more
Will soon communicate their stoic.
Consider in your mind how far
At stake your word and honour are;
And let your closing the debate
By what I may congratulate.
I have been guilty of excess
Beyond my thought in this address
But 'tis not easy to refrain
A spirit work'd up to disdain
By wretches insolent and vile,
With a clear conscience all the while.
You'll ask me, sir, at whom I hint-
In time they may appear in print.
But give me leave to cite a phrase
I met with in my boyish days.
"'Tis dangerous for the mean and low
Too plain their grievances to show."
This is advice I shall retain
While life and sanity remain.
WHEN I resolved my hand to stay
For this, that others might have play,
On reconsidering of my part
I soon recanted in my heart:
For if a rival should arise,
How can he possibly devise
The things that I have let alone,
Since each man's fancy is his own,
And likewise colouring of the piece?"-
It was not therefore mere caprice,
But strong reflection made me write:
Wherefore since you in tales delight,
Which I, in justice, after all,
Not Esop's, but Esopian call;
Since he invented but a few;
I more, and some entirely new,
Keeping indeed the ancient style,
With fresh materials all the while.
As at your leisure you peruse
The fourth collection of my muse,
That you may not be at a stand,
A fifth shall shortly come to hand;
'Gainst which, if as against the rest,
Malignant cavillers protest,
Let them carp on, and make it plain
They carp at what they can't attain.
My fame's secure, since I can show
How men of eminence like you
My little book transcribe and quote,
As like to live of classic note.
It is th' ambition of my pen
To win th' applause of learned men.
If Esop's name at any time
I bring into this measured rhyme,
To whom I've paid whate'er I owe,
Let all men by these presents know.
I with th' old fabulist make free,
To strengthen my authority.
As certain sculptors of the age,
The more attention to engage,
And raise their price, the curious please,
By forging of Praxiteles;
And in like manner they purloin
A Myro to their silver coin.
'Tis thus our fables we can smoke,
As pictures for their age bespoke:
For biting envy, in disgust
To new improvements, favors rust;
But now a tale comes in of course,
Which these assertions will enforce.
Demetrius, who was justly call'd
The tyrant, got himself install'd,
And held o'er Athens impious sway.
The crowd, as ever is the way,
Came, eager rushing far and wide,
And, "Fortunate event!" they cried.
The nobles came, the throne address'd'
The hand by which they were oppress'd
They meekly kiss'd, with inward stings
Of anguish for the face of things.
The idlers also, with the tribe
Of those who to themselves prescribe
Their ease and pleasure, in the end
Came sneaking, lest they should offend.
Amongst this troop Menander hies,
So famous for his comedies
(Him, though he was not known by sight,
The tyrant read with great delight,
Struck with the genius of the bard.)
In flowing robes bedaub'd with nard,
And saunt'ring tread he came along,
Whom, at the bottom of the throng,
When Phalereus beheld, he said:
" How dares that fribble show his head
In this our presence?" he was told-
" It is Menander you behold."
Then, changed at once from fierce to bland,
He call'd, and took him by the hand.
Two men equipp'd were on their way;
One fearful; one without dismay,
An able fencer. As they went,
A robber came with black intent;
Demanding, upon pain of death,
Their gold and silver in a breath.
At which the man of spirit drew,
And instantly disarm'd and slew
The Thief, his honor to maintain.
Soon as the rogue was fairly slain,
The tim'rous chap began to puff,
And drew his sword, and stripp'd in buff-
"Leave me alone with him! stand back!
I'll teach him whom he should attack."
Then he who fought, " I wish, my friend,
But now you'd had such words to lend;
I might have been confirm'd the more,
Supposing truth to all you swore;
Then put your weapon in the sheath,
And keep your tongue within your teeth,
Though you may play an actor's part
On them who do not know your heart,
I, who have seen this very day
How lustily you ran away,
Experience when one comes to blows
How far your resolution goes."
This narrative to those I tell
Who stand their ground when all is well;
But in the hour of pressing need
Abash'd, most shamefully recede.

> Latin: Adhuc supersunt multa quae possim loqui,
Et copiosa abundat rerum varietas;
Sed temperatae suaves sunt argutiae,
Immodicae offendunt. Quare, vir sanctissime,
Particulo, chartis nomen victurum meis
Latinis dum manebit pretium litteris,
Si non ingenium, certe brevitatem approba,
Quae commendari tanto debet iustius
Quanto poetae sunt molesti validius.
Aesopi nomen sicubi interposuero,
Cui reddidi iam pridem quicquid debui,
Auctoritatis esse scito gratia:
Ut quidam artifices nostro faciunt saeculo,
Qui pretium operibus maius inveniunt novis,
Si marmori ascripserunt Praxitelen suo,
Trito Myronem argento, tabulae Zeuxidem.
Adeo fucatae plus vetustati favet
Invidia mordax quam bonis praesentibus.
Sed iam ad fabellam talis exempli feror.
Demetrius qui dictus est Phalereus,
Athenas occupavit imperio improbo.
Ut mos est vulgi, passim et certatim ruit,
"Feliciter!" succlamans. Ipsi principes
Illam osculantur, qua sunt oppressi, manum,
Tacite gementes tristem fortunae vicem.
Quin etiam resides et sequentes otium,
Ni defuisse noceat, repunt ultimi;
In quis Menander, nobilis comoediis
Quas, ipsum ignorans, legerat Demetrius
Et admiratus fuerat ingenium viri,
Unguento delibutus, vestitu fluens,
Veniebat gressu delicato et languido.
Hunc ubi tyrannus vidit extremo agmine:
Quisnam cinaedus ille in conspectum meum
Audet venire? Responderunt proximi:
Hic est Menander scriptor. Mutatus statim:
Homo inquit fieri non potest formosior.
Duo cum incidissent in latronem milites,
Unus profugit, alter autem restitit
Et vindicavit sese forti dextera.
Latrone exciso timidus accurrit comes
Stringitque gladium, dein reiecta paenula:
Cedo inquit illum; iam curabo sentiat,
Quos attentarit. Tunc, qui depugnaverat:
Vellem istis verbis saltem adiuvisses modo;
Constantior fuissem vera existimans.
Nunc conde ferrum et linguam pariter futtilem.
Ut possis alios ignorantes fallere,
Ego qui sum expertus quantis fugias viribus,
Scio quam virtuti non sit credendum tuae.
Illi assignari debet haec narratio
Qui re secunda fortis est, dubia fugax.

## 5. Book V

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/5/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/phaedrus-fables/5/#p-N

[¶0] As on his head she chanced to sit,
A Man's bald pate a Gadfly bit;
He, prompt to crush the little foe,
Dealt on himself a grievous blow:
At which the Fly, deriding said,
" You that would strike an insect dead
For one slight sting, in wrath so strict,
What punishment will you inflict
Upon yourself, who was so blunt
To do yourself this gross affront?"-
"0," says the party, "as for me,
I with myself can soon agree.
The spirit of th' intention's all;
But thou, detested cannibal!
Blood-sucker! to have thee secured
More would I gladly have endured."
What by this moral tale is meant
Is-those who wrong not with intent
Are venial; but to those that do
Severity, I think, is due.

> Latin: Calvi momordit musca nudatum caput;
Quam opprimere captans alapam sibi duxit gravem.
Tunc illa irridens: Punctum volucris parvulae
Voluisti morte ulcisci; quid facies tibi,
Iniuriae qui addideris contumeliam?
Respondit: Mecum facile redeo in gratiam,
Quia non fuisse mentem laedendi scio.
Sed te, contempti generis animal improbum,
Quae delectaris bibere humanum sanguinem,
Optem necare vel maiore incommodo.
†Hoc argumentum veniam ei dari docet
Qui casu peccat. Nam qui consilio est nocens,
Illum esse quamvis dignum poena iudico.

[¶1] A certain Man, when he had made
A sacrifice, for special aid
To Hercules, and killed a swine,
Did for his Ass's share assign
All the remainder of the corn;
But he, rejecting it with scorn,
Thus said: "I gladly would partake-
But apprehend that life's at stake;
For he you fatted up and fed
With store of this, is stuck and dead."
Struck with the import of this tale,
I have succeeded to prevail
Upon my passions, and abstain,
From peril of immod'rate gain.
But, you will say, those that have come
Unjustly by a handsome sum,
Upon the pillage still subsist-
Why, if we reckon up the list,
You'll find by far the major part
Have been conducted in the cart:
Temerity for some may do,
But many more their rashness rue.

> Latin: Quidam immolasset verrem cum sancto Herculi,
Cui pro salute votum debebat sua,
Asello iussit reliquias poni hordei.
Quas aspernatus ille sic locutus est:
Libenter istum prorsus appeterem cibum,
Nisi, qui nutritus illo est, iugulatus foret.
Huius respectu fabulae deterritus
Periculosum semper vitavi lucrum.
Sed dicis: Qui rapuere divitias, habent.
Numeremus agedum qui deprensi perierunt:
Maiorem turbam punitorum reperies.
Paucis temeritas est bono, multis malo.

[¶2] In ev'ry age, in each profession,
Men err the most by prepossession;
But when the thing is clearly shown,
Is fairly urged, and fully known,
We soon applaud what we deride.
And penitence succeeds to pride.
A certain noble, on a day,
Having a mind to show away,
Invited by reward the mimes
And play'rs and tumblers of the times,
And built a large commodious stage
For the choice spirits of the age:
But, above all, amongst the rest
There came a genius who profess'd
To have a curious trick in store
That never was performed before.
Through all the town this soon got air,
And the whole house was like a fair;
But soon his entry as he made,
Without a prompter or parade,
'Twas all expectance and suspense,
And silence gagg'd the audience.
He, stooping down and looking big,
So wondrous well took off a pig,
All swore 'twas serious, and no joke,
For that, or underneath his cloak
He had concealed some grunting elf,
Or was a real hog himself
A search was made-no pig was found-
With thund'ring claps the seats resound,
And pit, and box, and gall'ries roar
With—" O rare! bravo!" and "encore."
Old Roger Grouse, a country clown,
Who yet knew something of the town,
Beheld the mimic of his whim,
And on the morrow challenged him
Declaring to each beau and belle
That he this grunter would excel.
The morrow came-the crowd was greater—
But prejudice and rank ill-nature
Usurp'd the minds of men and wenches,
Who came to hiss and break the benches.
The mimic took his usual station,
And squeak'd with general approbation;
Again "Encore! encore!" they cry-
" 'Tis quite the thing, 'tis very high."
Old Grouse conceal'd, amidst this racket,
A real pig beneath his jacket-
Then forth he came, and with his nail
He pinch'd the urchin by the tail.
The tortured pig, from out his throat,
Produced the genuine nat'ral note.
All bellow'd out 'twas very sad!
Sure never stuff was half so bad.
" That like a pig!" each cried in scoff;
"Pshaw! nonsense! blockhead! off! off! off!"
The mimic was extoll'd, and Grouse
Was hiss'd, and catcall'd from the house.
" Soft ye, a word before I go,"
Quoth honest Hodge; and stooping low,
Produced the pig, and thus aloud
Bespoke the stupid partial crowd:
"Behold, and learn from this poor cratur,
How much you critics know of natur!"
As yet my muse is not to seek,
But can from fresh materials speak;
And our poetic fountain springs
With rich variety of things.
But you're for sallies short and sweet;
Long tales their purposes defeat.
Wherefore, thou worthiest, best of men,
Particulo, for whom my pen
Immortal honour will insure,
Long as a rev'rence shall endure
For Roman learning-if this strain
Cannot your approbation gain,
Yet, yet my brevity admire,
Which may the more to praise aspire,
The more our poets now-a-days
Are tedious in their lifeless lays.

> Latin: Pravo favore labi mortales solent
Et, pro iudicio dum stant erroris sui,
Ad paenitendum rebus manifestis agi.
Facturus ludos dives quidam nobilis
Proposito cunctos invitavit praemio
Quam quisque posset ut novitatem ostenderet.
Venere artifices laudis ad certamina;
Quos inter scurra, notus urbano sale,
Habere dixit se genus spectaculi
Quod in theatro numquam prolatum foret.
Dispersus rumor civitatem concitat.
Paulo ante vacua turbam deficiunt loca.
In scaena vero postquam solus constitit
Sine apparatu, nullis adiutoribus,
Silentium ipsa fecit exspectatio.
Ille in sinum repente demisit caput
Et sic porcelli vocem est imitatus sua,
Verum ut subesse pallio contenderent
Et excuti iuberent. Quo facto simul
Nihil est repertum, multis onerant lancibus
Hominemque plausu prosequuntur maximo.
Hoc vidit fieri rusticus: Non mehercules
Me vincet inquit, et statim professus est
Idem facturum melius se postridie.
Fit turba maior. Iam favor mentes tenet
Et derisuri, non spectaturi sedent.
Uterque prodit. Scurra degrunnit prior
Movetque plausus et clamores suscitat.
Tunc simulans sese vestimentis rusticus
Porcellum obtegere (quod faciebat scilicet,
Sed, in priore quia nil compererant, latens)
Pervellit aurem vero, quem celaverat,
Et cum dolore vocem naturae exprimit.
Acclamat populus scurram multo similius
Imitatum, et cogit rusticum trudi foras.
At ille profert ipsum porcellum e sinu,
Turpemque aperto pignore errorem probans:
En hic declarat quales sitis iudices!

[¶3] As on his way a Bald-pate went,
He found a comb by accident;
Another, with a head as bare,
Pursued, and hollow'd for a share.
The first produced the prize, and cried,
" Good Providence was on our side;
But by the strange caprice of Fate,
We 're to no purpose fortunate;
And, as the proverb says, have found
A hobnail, for a hundred pound."
They by this tale may be relieved
Whose sanguine hopes have been deceived.

> Latin: Invenit calvus forte in trivio pectinem.
Accessit alter aeque defectus pilis.
Heia! inquit in commune quodcumque est lucri!
Ostendit ille praedam et adiecit simul:
Superum voluntas favit; sed fato invido
Carbonem, ut aiunt, pro thesauro invenimus.
Quem spes delusit, huic querela convenit.

[¶4] A little, friv'lous, abject mind,
Pleased with the rabble, puff'd with wind,
When once, as fast as pride presumes,
Itself with vanity it plumes,
Is by fond lightness brought with ease
To any ridicule you please.
One Prince, a piper to the play,
Was rather noted in his way,
As call'd upon to show his art,
Whene'er Bathyllus did his part,
He being at a certain fair,
(I do not well remember where,)
While they pull'd down the booth in haste,
Not taking heed, his leg displaced,
He from the scaffold fell so hard-
(Would he his pipes had rather marr'd!
Though they, poor fellow! were to him
As dear almost as life and limb).
Borne by the kind officious crowd,
Home he's conducted, groaning loud.
Some months elapsed before he found
Himself recover'd of his wound:
Meantime, according to their way,
The droll frequenters of the play
Had a great miss of him, whose touch
The dancers' spirits raised so much.
A certain man of high renown
Was just preparing for the town
Some games the mob to entertain,
When Prince began to walk again;
Whom, what with bribes and pray'rs, his grace?
Prevail'd upon to show his face
In this performance, by all means-
And while he waits behind the scenes,
A rumour through the house is spread,
By certain, that "the piper's dead."
Others cried out, "The man is here,
And will immediately appear."
The curtain draws, the lightnings flash,
The gods speak out their usual trash.
An ode, not to the Piper known,
Was to the chorus leader shown,
Which he was order'd to repeat,
And which was closed with this conceit—
"Receive with joy, O loyal Rome,
Thy Prince just rescued from his tomb."
They all at once stand up and clap,
At which my most facetious chap
Kisses his hand, and scrapes and bows
To his good patrons in the house.
First the equestrian order smoke
The fool's mistake, and high in joke,
Command the song to be encored;
Which ended, flat upon the board
The Piper falls, the knights acclaim;
The people think that Prince's aim
Is for a crown of bays at least.
Now all the seats perceived the jest,
And with his bandage white as snow,
White frock, white pumps, a perfect beauty
Proud of the feats he had achieved,
And these high honours he received,
With one unanimous huzza,
Poor Prince was kick'd out of the play.

> Latin: Ubi vanus animus aura captus frivola
Arripuit insolentem sibi fiduciam,
Facile ad derisum stulta levitas ducitur.
Princeps tibicen notior paulo fuit,
Operam Bathyllo solitus in scaena dare.
Is forte ludis (non satis memini quibus)
Dum pegma rapitur, concidit casu gravi
Nec opinans, et sinistram fregit tibiam,
Duas cum dextras maluisset perdere.
Inter manus sublatus et multum gemens
Domum refertur. Aliquot menses transeunt,
Ad sanitatem dum venit curatio.
Ut spectatorum mos est et lepidum genus,
Desiderari coepit, cuius flatibus
Solebat excitari saltantis vigor.
Erat facturus ludos quidam nobilis,
Et incipiebat a se Princeps ingredi:
Reducem tum adducit prece, pretio ut tantummodo
Ipso ludorum ostenderet sese die.
Qui simul advenit, rumor de tibicine
Fremit in theatro. Quidam affirmant mortuum,
Quidam in conspectum proditurum sine mora.
Aulaeo misso, devolutis tonitribus
Di sunt locuti more translaticio.
Tunc chorus ignotum modo reducto canticum
Insonuit, cuius haec fuit sententia:
Laetare, incolumis Roma, salvo principe!
In plausus consurrectum est. Iactat basia
Tibicen: gratulari fautores putat.
Equester ordo stultum errorem intellegit
Magnoque risu canticum repeti iubet.
Iteratur illud. Homo meus se in pulpito
Totum prosternit. Plaudit illudens eques.
Rogare populus hunc coronam existimat.
Ut vero cuneis notuit res omnibus,
Princeps, ligato crure nivea fascia,
Niveisque tunicis, niveis etiam calceis,
Superbiens honore divinae domus,
Ab universis capite est protrusus foras.

[¶5] Bald, naked, of a human shape,
With fleet wings ready to escape,
Upon a razor's edge his toes,
And lock that on his forehead grows-
Him hold, when seized, for goodness' sake
For Jove himself cannot retake
The fugitive when once he's gone.
The picture that we here have drawn
Is Opportunity so brief.-
The ancients, in a bas-relief,
Thus made an effigy of Time,
That every one might use their prime;
Nor e'er impede, by dull delay,
Th' effectual business of to-day.

> Latin: Cursu volucri, pendens in novacula,
Calvus, comosa fronte, nudo corpore,
(Quem si occuparis, teneas; elapsum semel
Non ipse possit Iuppiter reprehendere),
Occasionem rerum significat brevem.
Effectus impediret ne segnis mora,
Finxere antiqui talem effigiem Temporis.

[¶6] A Bull was struggling to secure
His passage at a narrow door,
And scarce could reach the rack of hay,
His horns so much were in his way.
A Calf officious, fain would show
How he might twist himself and go.
"Hold thou thy prate; all this," says he,
Ere thou wert calved was known to me."
He, that a wiser man by half
Would teach, may think himself this Calf.

> Latin: Angusto in aditu taurus luctans cornibus
Cum vix intrare posset ad praesepia,
Monstrabat vitulus quo se pacto plecteret.
Tace inquit ante hoc novi quam tu natus es.
Qui doctiorem emendat sibi dici putet.

[¶7] A Dog, that time and often tried,
His master always satisfied;
And whensoever he assail'd,
Against the forest-beasts prevail'd
Both by activity and strength,,
Through years began to flag at length
One day, when hounded at a boar,
His ear he seized, as heretofore;
But with his teeth, decay'd and old,
Could not succeed to keep his hold.
A t which the huntsman, much concern'd,
The vet'ran huff'd, who thus return'd:
" My resolution and my aim,
Though not my strength, are still the same;
For what I am if I am chid,
Praise what I was, and what I did."
Philetus, you the drift perceive
Of this, with which I take my leave.

> Latin: Adversus omnes fortis veloces feras
Canis cum domino semper fecisset satis,
Languere coepit annis ingravantibus.
Aliquando obiectus hispidi pugnae suis
Arripuit aurem, sed cariosis dentibus
Praedam dimisit. Hic tunc venator dolens
Canem obiurgabat. Cui latrans contra senex:
Non te destituit animus, sed vires meae.
Quod fuimus laudas, si iam damnas quod sumus.
Hoc cur, Philete, scripserim, pulchre vides.
Vulpem rogabat partem caudae simius,
Contegere honeste posset ut nudas nates;
Cui sic maligna: Longior fiat licet,
Tamen illam citius per lutum et spinas traham,
Quam parvam quamvis partem impertiar tibi.
Arbitrio si natura finxisset meo
Genus mortale, longe foret instructius:
Nam cuncta nobis attribuisset commoda,
Quaecumque indulgens Fortuna animali dedit:
Elephanti vires, et leonis impetum,
Cornicis aevum, gloriam tauri trucis,
Equi velocis placidam mansuetudinem,
Et adesset homini sua tamen sollertia.
Nimirum in caelo secum ridet Iuppiter,
Haec qui negavit magno consilio homini,
Ne sceptrum mundi raperet nostra audacia.
Ergo contenti munere invicti Iovis
Fatalis annos decurramus temporis,
Nec plus conemur quam sinit mortalitas.
Mercurium hospitio mulieres olim duae
Illiberali et sordido receperant:
Quarum una in cunis parvum habebat filium,
Quaestus placebat alteri meretricius.
Ergo ut referret gratiam officiis parem,
Abiturus et iam limen excedens ait:
Deum videtis; tribuam vobis protinus
Quod quaeque optarit. Mater suppliciter rogat
Barbatum ut videat natum quam primum suum;
Moecha ut sequatur sese quicquid tetigerit.
Volat Mercurius, intro redeunt mulieres.
Barbatus infans ecce vagitus ciet.
Id forte meretrix cum rideret validius,
Nares replentur umore, ut fieri solet.
Emungere igitur se volens prendit manu
Traxitque ad terram nasi longitudinem,
Et aliam ridens ipsa ridenda exstitit.
Olim Prometheus saeculi figulus novi
Cura subtili Veritatem fecerat,
Ut iura posset inter homines reddere.
Subito accersitus nuntio magni Iovis
Commendat officinam fallaci Dolo,
In disciplinam nuper quem receperat.
Hic studio accensus, facie simulacrum pari,
Una statura, simile et membris omnibus,
Dum tempus habuit, callida finxit manu.
Quod prope iam totum mire cum positum foret,
Lutum ad faciendos illi defecit pedes.
Redit magister; quo festinanter Dolus
Metu turbatus in suo sedit loco.
Mirans Prometheus tantam similitudinem,
Propriae videri voluit artis gloriam.
Igitur fornaci pariter duo signa intulit;
Quibus percoctis atque infuso spiritu,
Modesto gressu sancta incessit Veritas;
At trunca species haesit in vestigio.
Tunc falsa imago atque operis furtivi labor
Mendacium appellatum est; quod negantibus
Pedes habere facile et ipse assentio.
Ixion quod versari narratur rota,
Volubilem Fortunam iactari docet.
Adversus altos Sisyphus montes agit
Saxum labore summo, quod de vertice
Sudore semper irrito revolvitur,
Ostendit hominum sine fine esse miserias.
Quod stans in amne Tantalus medio sitit,
Avari describuntur, quos circumfluit
Usus bonorum, sed nil possunt tangere.
Urnis scelestas Danaides portant aquas,
Pertusa nec complere possunt dolia;
Immo luxuriae quicquid dederis perfluet.
Novem porrectus Tityos est per iugera,
Tristi renatum suggerens poenae iecur;
Quo quis maiorem possidet terrae locum,
Hoc demonstratur cura graviore affici.
Consulto involvit veritatem antiquitas,
Ut sapiens intellegeret, erraret rudis.
Utilius nobis quid sit dic, Phoebe, obsecro,
Qui Delphos et formosum Parnasum incolis.
Quid hoc? sacratae vatis horrescunt comae,
Tripodes moventur, mugit adytis Religio,
Tremuntque lauri et ipse pallescit dies.
Voces resolvit icta Python numine:
Audite, gentes, Delii monitus dei:
Pietatem colite; vota superis reddite;
Patriam, parentes, natos, castas coniuges
Defendite armis, hostem ferro pellite;
Amicos sublevate; miseris parcite;
Bonis favete, subdolis ite obviam;
Delicta vindicate; †cohibete impios;
Punite turpi thalamos qui violant stupro;
Malos cavete; nulli nimium credite.
Haec elocuta concidit virgo furens:
Furens profecto, nam quae dixit perdidit.
Aesopo quidam scripta recitarat mala,
In quis inepte multum se iactaverat.
Scire ergo cupiens quidnam sentiret senex,
Numquid tibi inquit visus sum superbior?
Haud vana nobis ingeni fiducia est.
Confectus ille pessimo volumine:
Ego inquit quod te laudas vehementer probo,
Namque hoc ab alio numquam continget tibi.
Magni Pompei miles vasti corporis
Fracte loquendo et ambulando molliter
Famam cinaedi traxerat certissimam.
Hic insidiatus nocte iumentis ducis,
Cum veste et auro et magno argenti pondere
Avertit mulos. Factum rumor dissipat;
Arguitur miles, rapitur in praetorium.
Tum Magnus: Quid ais? tune me, commilito,
Spoliare es ausus? Ille continuo exscreat
Sibi in sinistram et sputum digitis dissipat.
Sic, imperator, oculi exstillescant mei,
Si vidi aut tetigi. Tum vir animi simplicis
Id dedecus castrorum propelli iubet,
Nec cadere in illum credit tantam audaciam.
Breve tempus intercessit, et fidens manu
Unum e Romanis provocabat barbarus.
Sibi quisque metuit; primi mussitant duces.
Tandem cinaedus habitu, sed Mars viribus,
Adit sedentem pro tribunali ducem,
Et voce molli: Licet? Enimvero eici
Virum ut in re atroci Magnus stomachans imperat.
Tum quidam senior ex amicis principis:
Hunc ego committi satius fortunae arbitror,
In quo iactura levis est, quam fortem virum,
Qui casu victus temeritatis te arguat.
Assensit Magnus et permisit militi
Prodire contra; qui mirante exercitu,
Dicto celerius hostis abscidit caput
Victorque rediit. His tunc Pompeius super:
Corona, miles, equidem te dono libens,
Quia vindicasti laudem Romani imperi;
Sed exstillescant oculi sic inquit mei,
Turpe illud imitans ius iurandum militis,
Nisi tu abstulisti sarcinas nuper meas.
Cum castitatem Iuno laudaret suam,
Iucunditatis causam haud depellit Venus,
Nullamque ut affirmaret esse illi parem,
Interrogasse sic gallinam dicitur:
Dic sodes quanto possis satiari cibo.
Respondit illa: Quicquid dederis, satis erit,
Sic ut concedas pedibus aliquid scalpere.
Ne scalpas inquit satis est modius tritici?
Plane, immo nimium est, sed permittes scalpere?
Ex toto, ne quid scalpas, quid desideras?
Tum denique illa fassa est naturae malum:
Licet horreum mi pateat, ego scalpam tamen.
Risisse Iuno dicitur Veneris iocos,
Quia per gallinam denotarit feminas.
Paterfamilias saevum habebat filium.
Hic e conspectu cum patris recesserat,
Verberibus servos afficiebat plurimis
Et exercebat fervidam adulescentiam.
Aesopus ergo narrat hoc breviter seni:
Quidam iuvenco vetulum adiungebat bovem.
Is cum refugiens impari collo iugum
Aetatis excusaret vires languidas:
Non est quod timeas, inquit illi rusticus;
Non ut labores dico, sed ut istum domes,
Qui calce et cornu multos reddit debiles.
Et tu nisi istum tecum assidue detines
Feroxque ingenium comprimis clementia,
Vide ne querela maior accrescat domus.
Atrocitati mansuetudo est remedium.
Victorem forte gymnici certaminis
Iactantiorem cum vidisset Phryx sophus,
Interrogavit an plus adversarius
Valuisset eius. Ille: Ne istud dixeris;
Multo fuere vires maiores meae.
Quod inquit ergo, stulte, meruisti decus,
Minus valentem si vicisti fortior?
Ferendus esses, forte si te diceres
Superasse, melior qui fuisset viribus.
Asinus iacentem vidit in prato lyram.
Accessit et temptavit chordas ungula;
Sonuere tactae. Bella res sed mehercules
Male cessit inquit artis quia sum nescius.
Si repperisset aliquis hanc prudentior,
Divinis aures oblectasset cantibus.
Sic saepe ingenia calamitate intercidunt.
Per aliquot annos quaedam dilectum virum
Amisit et sarcophago corpus condidit;
A quo revelli nullo cum posset modo
Et in sepulcro lugens vitam degeret,
Claram assecuta est famam castae virginis.
Interea fanum qui compilarant Iovis,
Cruci suffixi luerunt poenas numini.
Horum reliquias ne quis posset tollere,
Custodes dantur milites cadaverum
Monumentum iuxta mulier quo se incluserat.
Aliquando sitiens unus de custodibus
Aquam rogavit media nocte ancillulam,
Quae forte dominae tunc assistebat suae
Dormitum eunti; namque lucubraverat
Et usque in serum vigilias perduxerat.
Paulum reclusis foribus miles prospicit
Videtque et aegram et facie pulchra feminam.
Corruptus animus ilico succenditur
Et uritur impudentis sensim cupiditas.
Sollers acumen mille causas invenit,
Per quas videre possit illam saepius.
Cotidiana capta consuetudine
Paulatim facta est advenae submissior;
Mox artior revinxit animum copula.
Hic dum consumit noctes custos diligens,
Desideratum est corpus ex una cruce.
Turbatus miles factum exponit mulieri.
At sancta mulier: Non est quod timeas, ait,
Virique corpus tradit figendum cruci,
Ne subeat ille poenas neglegentiae.
Sic turpitudo laudis obsedit locum.
Unam expetebant virginem iuvenes duo;
Vicit locuples genus et formam pauperis.
Ut nuptiarum dictus advenit dies,
Amans dolorem quia non poterat perpeti,
Maerens propinquos contulit se in hortulos,
Quos ultra paulo villa splendida divitis
Erat acceptura virginem e matris sinu,
Parum ampla in urbe visa quod fuerat domus.
Pompa explicatur, turba concurrit frequens,
Et coniugalem praebet Hymenaeus facem.
Asellus autem, qui solebat pauperi
Quaestum referre, stabat portae in limine.
Illum puellae casu conducunt suae,
Viae labores teneros ne laedant pedes.
Repente caelum, Veneris misericordia,
Ventis movetur, intonat mundi fragor
Noctemque densis horridam nimbis parat:
Lux rapitur oculis et simul vis grandinis
Effusa trepidos passim comites dissipat,
Sibi quemque cogens petere praesidium fuga.
Asellus notum proximum tectum subit
Et voce magna sese venisse indicat.
Procurrunt pueri, pulchram aspiciunt virginem
Et admirantur: deinde domino nuntiant.
Inter sodales ille paucos accubans
Amorem crebris avocabat poculis.
Ubi nuntiatum est, recreatus gaudiis
Hortante Baccho et Venere, dulces perficit
Aequalitatis inter plausus nuptias.
Quaerunt parentes per praeconem filiam;
Novus maritus coniuge amissa dolet.
Quid esset actum postquam populo innotuit,
Omnes favorem comprobarunt caelitum.
Aesopus turpi cum serviret feminae,
Quae se expingendo totum intricaret diem,
Vestem, uniones, aurum, argentum sumeret,
Nec inveniret digito qui se tangeret:
Licetne paucis? inquit—Dicas.—Censeo,
Quidvis efficies, cultum si deposueris.—
Adeone per me videor tibi meliuscula?—
Immo, nisi dederis, sponda cessabit tua.
—At non cessabunt latera respondit tua,
Et obiurgari iussit servum garrulum.
Post paulo armillam tollit fur argenteam.
Eam non apparere ut dictum est mulieri,
Furore plena vocat omnes et verbera
Proponit gravia, verum si non dixerint.
Aliis minare inquit me non falles, era;
Flagris sum caesus, verum quia dixi modo.
Feles habebat gallus lecticarios.
Hunc gloriosum vulpes ut vidit vehi,
Sic est locuta: Moneo praecaveas dolum;
Istorum vultus namque si consideras,
Praedam portare iudices, non sarcinam. …
Postquam esurire coepit societas fera,
Discerpsit dominum et fecit partes facinoris.
Premente partu scrofa cum gemeret iacens,
Accurrit lupus et obstetricis partibus
Se posse fungi dixit, promittens opem.
Quae vero nosset pectoris fraudem improbi,
Suspectum officium repudiavit malefici
Et: Satis est inquit si recedis longius.
Quod si perfidiae se commisisset lupi,
Pari dolore fata deflesset sua.
Servus profugiens dominum naturae asperae,
Aesopo occurrit notus e vicinia.
Quid tu confusus?—Dicam tibi clare, pater,
Hoc namque es dignus appellari nomine,
Tuto querela quia apud te deponitur.
Plagae supersunt, desunt mihi cibaria;
Subinde ad villam mittor sine viatico.
Domi si cenat, totis persto noctibus,
Sive est vocatus, iaceo ad lucem in semita.
Emerui libertatem, canus servio.
Ullius essem culpae mihi si conscius,
Aequo animo ferrem; numquam sum factus satur
Et super infelix saevum patior dominium.
Has propter causas et quas longum est promere,
Abire destinavi quo tulerint pedes.
Ergo inquit audi: cum mali nil feceris,
Haec experiris, ut refers, incommoda;
Quid si peccaris? quae te passurum putas?
Tali consilio est a fuga deterritus.
Equum ex quadriga multis palmis nobilem
Abegit quidam et in pistrinum vendidit.
Productus ad bibendum cum foret a molis,
In circum aequales ire conspexit suos,
Ut grata ludis redderent certamina.
Lacrimis obortis: Ite felices ait;
Celebrate sine me cursu sollemnem diem;
Ego quo scelesta furis attraxit manus,
Ibi sorte tristi fata deflebo mea.
Si quando in silvis urso desunt copiae,
Scopulosum ad littus currit et prendens petram
Pilosa crura sensim demittit vado;
Quorum inter villos simul haeserunt canceres,
In terram abripiens excutit praedam maris
Escaque fruitur passim collecta vafer.
Ergo etiam stultis acuit ingenium fames.
Quidam per agros devium carpens iter
Ave exaudivit et moratus paululum,
Adesse ut vidit neminem, cepit gradum.
Iterum salutat idem ex occulto sonus.
Voce hospitali confirmatus restitit,
Ut quisquis esset par officium reciperet.
Cum circumspectans errore haesisset diu
Et perdidisset tempus aliquot milium,
Ostendit sese corvus et supervolans
Ave usque ingessit. Tum se lusum intellegens:
At male tibi sit inquit ales pessime,
Qui festinantis sic detinuisti pedes.
Pastor capellae cornu baculo fregerat:
Rogare coepit ne se domino proderet.
Quamvis indigne laesa, reticebo tamen;
Sed res clamabit ipsa quid deliqueris.
Serpens lacertam forte aversam prenderat;
Quam devorare patula cum vellet gula,
Arripuit illa prope iacentem surculum,
Et pertinaci morsu transversum tenens,
Avidum sollerti rictum frenavit mora.
Praedam dimisit ore serpens irritam.
Odiosa cornix super ovem consederat;
Quam dorso cum tulisset invita et diu:
Hoc inquit si dentato fecisses cani,
Poenas dedisses. Illa contra pessima:
Despicio inermes, eadem cedo fortibus;
Scio quem lacessam, cui dolosa blandiar;
Ideo senectam mille in annos prorogo.
Cum servus nequam Socrati malediceret,
Uxorem domini qui corrupisset sui,
Idque ille sciret notum circumstantibus:
Places tibi inquit quia cui non debes places;
Sed non impune, quia cui debes non places.
Cum venatorem celeri pede fugeret lepus
Et a bubulco visus veprem irreperet:
Per superos oro perque spes omnes tuas,
Ne me indices, bubulce; nihil umquam mali
Huic agro feci. Et rusticus: Ne timueris;
Late securus. Iamque venator sequens:
Quaeso, bubulce, numquid huc venit lepus?
Venit, sed abiit hac ad laevam; et dexteram
Demonstrat nutu partem. Venator citus
Non intellexit seque e conspectu abstulit.
Tunc sic bubulcus: Ecquid est gratum tibi,
Quod te celavi? Linguae prorsus non nego
Habere atque agere maximas me gratias;
Verum oculis ut priveris opto perfidis.
Cum blandiretur iuveni meretrix perfida,
Et ille laesus multis saepe iniuriis
Tamen praeberet sese facilem mulieri,
Sic insidiatrix: Omnes muneribus licet
Contendant, ego te plurimi facio tamen.
Iuvenis recordans quotiens deceptus foret:
Libenter, inquit, mea lux, hanc vocem audio,
Non quod fidelis, sed quod iucunda est mihi.
Canes effugere cum iam non possit fiber,
(Graeci loquaces quem dixerunt castorem
Et indiderunt bestiae nomen dei,
Illi qui iactant se verborum copia),
Abripere morsu fertur testiculos sibi,
Quia propter illos sentiat sese peti.
Divina quod ratione fieri non negem;
Venator namque simul invenit remedium,
Omittit ipsum persequi et vocat canes.
Hoc si praestare possent homines, ut suo
Vellent carere, tuti posthac viverent;
Haud quisquam insidias nudo faceret corpori.
Papilio vespam praetervolitans viderat.
O sortem iniquam! dum vivebant corpora,
Quorum ex reliquiis animam nos accepimus,
Ego eloquens in pace, fortis proeliis,
Arte omni princeps inter aequales fui.
En cuncta: levitas putris et volito cinis!
Tu qui fuisti mulus clitellarius,
Quemcumque visum est laedis infixo aculeo.
Et vespa dignam moribus vocem edidit:
Non qui fuerimus, sed qui nunc simus vide.
Avis quam dicunt terraneolam rustici,
In terra nidum quia componit scilicet,
Forte occucurrit improbae vulpeculae;
Qua visa, pennis altius se sustulit.
Salve inquit illa cur me fugisti, obsecro?
Quasi non abunde sit mihi in prato cibus,
Grilli, scarabaei, locustarum copia:
Nihil est quod metuas: ego te multum diligo
Propter quietos mores et vitam probam.
Respondit contra: Tu quidem bene praedicas;
In campo non sum, sed par sub divo tibi.
Quin sequere: salutem tibi non committo meam.
Hoc qualecumque est Musa quod ludit mea,
Nequitia pariter laudat et frugalitas,
Sed haec simpliciter; illa tacite irascitur.