Anonymus Neveleti: ANONYMUS NEVELETI

Vt iuuet et prosit, conatur pagina presens:
Dulcius arrident seria picta iocis.
Ortulus iste parit fructum cum flore, fauorem
Flos et fructus emunt: hic sapit, ille nitet.
Si fructus plus flore placet, fructum lege.

That it may help and profit, the present page strives:
The serious smile more sweetly when painted with jests.
This little garden brings forth fruit with flower, favor;
The flower and the fruit purchase favor: this one has savor, that one shines.
If the fruit pleases more than the flower, choose the fruit.

si flos
Plus fructu, florem. si duo, carpe duo.
Ne mihi torpentem sopiret inhercia sensum,
In quo peruigilet, mens mea mouit opus.

if the flower
more than the fruit, the flower. if both, pluck both.
lest inertia should lull my torpid sense to sleep,
in which it might keep vigil, my mind set the work in motion.

Vt messis precium de uili surgat agello,
Verbula sicca, deus, implue rore tuo.
Verborum leuitas morum fert pondus honestum,
Et nucleum celat arida testa bonum.

That the price of the harvest may rise from a cheap little field,
so, God, rain down with your dew upon my dry little words.
The levity of words bears the honest weight of morals,
and the arid shell hides a good kernel.

1. De gallo et iaspide

1. On the cock and the jasper

Dum rigido fodit ore fimum, dum queritat escam,
Dum stupet inuenta iaspide gallus, ait:
"Res uili preciosa loco natique nitoris,
Hac in sorde iacens nil mihi messis habes.
Si tibi nunc esset qui debuit esse repertor,
Quem limus sepelit, uiueret arte nitor.
Nec tibi conuenio, nec tu mihi, nec tibi prosum,
Nec mihi tu prodes, plus amo cara minus."
Tu gallo stolidum, tu iaspide pulcra sophie
Dona notes.

While with a rigid beak he digs the dung, while he seeks food,
while the cock, amazed at the jasper discovered, says:
"A precious thing in a cheap place and of native luster,
lying in this filth, you have no harvest for me.
If you now had the finder who ought to have been yours,
the brilliance which the slime buries would live by art.
Nor do I suit you, nor you me; nor do I profit you,
nor do you profit me; I love more the cheaper, the dear less."
Do you note for the cock the stolid gifts, for the jasper the fair gifts of wisdom

stolido nil sapit ista seges.

to the stolid man, that crop savors of nothing.

2. De lupo et agno

2. On the wolf and the lamb

Est lupus, est agnus. sitit hic, sitit ille. fluentum
Limite non uno querit uterque siti.

There is a wolf, there is a lamb. this one thirsts, that one thirsts. the flowing stream
each seeks by more than one path, from thirst.

In summo bibit amne lupus, bibit agnus in imo.
Hunc timor inpugnat uerba monente lupo:
"Rupisti potumque michi riuoque decorem."
Agnus utrumque negat se racione tuens:
Nec tibi nec riuo nocui. nam prona supinum
Nescit iter nec adhuc unda nitore caret.

At the top of the river the wolf drinks, the lamb drinks at the bottom.
Fear assails him, the wolf prompting with words:
"You have broken my drink and the stream’s grace."
The lamb denies both, defending himself by reason:
I have harmed neither you nor the stream. For a downward
path knows not an upward one, nor does the wave as yet lack brightness.

Sic iterum tonat ore lupus: Michi dampna minaris.
Non minor, agnus ait. Cui lupus: Immo facis.

Thus again the wolf thunders with his mouth: You threaten damages to me.
I do not threaten, says the lamb. To whom the wolf: Nay rather, you do.

Fecit idem tuus ante pater sex mensibus actis.
Cum bene patrisses, crimine patris obi.
Agnus ad hec: Tanto non uixi tempore.

Your father did the same six months ago.
Since you take after your father well, undergo the crime of your father.
The lamb to this: I have not lived for so long a time.

Predo
Sic tonat: An loqueris, furcifer? huncque uorat.
Sic nocet innocuo nocuus, causamque nocendi
Inuenit.

Brigand
Thus he thunders: Do you speak, gallows-bird? and he devours him.
Thus the harmful man harms the harmless, and he finds a cause for harming
it.

Hii regnant qualibet urbe lupi.

These wolves reign in any city.

3. De mur[e] et rana

3. On the mous[e] and the frog

Muris iter rumpente lacu uenit obuia muri
Rana loquax et opem pacta nocere cupit.
Omne genus pestis superat mens dissona uerbis,
Cum sentes animi florida lingua polit.
Rana sibi murem filo confederat.

With the lake breaking the mouse’s journey, there comes to meet the mouse
a loquacious Frog, and, having pledged aid, she desires to harm.
A mind dissonant with its words surpasses every kind of pest,
when a florid tongue polishes the thorns of the spirit.
The Frog, with a thread, confederated the Mouse to herself.

audet
Nectere fune pedem, rumpere fraude fidem.
Pes coit ergo pedi, sed mens a mente recedit.
Ecce natant.

she dares
To bind the foot with a rope, to break faith by fraud.
Thus foot joins to foot, but mind recedes from mind.
Behold, they swim.

trahitur ille, sed illa trahit.
Mergitur ut secum murem demergat. amico
Naufragium faciens naufragat ipsa fides.

he is dragged, but she drags.
She is submerged so that she may sink the mouse with her. to a friend
Shipwreck making, faith itself is shipwrecked.

Rana studet mergi, sed mus emergit et obstat
Naufragio. uires suggerit ipse timor.
Miluus adest, miserumque truci rapit ungue duellum.

The frog strives to sink, but the mouse rises up and opposes the shipwreck.
Fear itself supplies strength.
A kite is at hand, and with cruel talon snatches the wretched duel.

Hic iacet, ambo iacent, uiscera trita fluunt.
Sic pereant, qui se prodesse fatentur et obsunt.
Discat in auctorem pena redire suum.

Here he lies, both lie, the bruised viscera flow.
Thus let them perish, who profess themselves to profit and yet do harm.
Let the penalty learn to return upon its own author.

4. De cane et oue

4. Of the dog and the sheep

In causam canis urget ouem. sedet arbiter, audit.
Reddat ouis panem uult canis, illa negat.

Into a lawsuit the dog urges the sheep. the arbiter sits, listens.
The dog wants the sheep to render back the bread, she refuses.

Pro cane stat miluus, stat uultur, stat lupus. instant,
Panem quem pepegit reddere, reddat ouis.
Reddere non debet, nec habet quid reddere possit.

For the dog stands the kite, stands the vulture, stands the wolf. They press,
Let the sheep render the bread which she bargained to render.
She ought not to render, nor does she have anything she could render.

Et tamen ut reddat, arbiter instat oui.
Ergo suum, licet instet hyemps, peruendit amictum,
Et boream patitur uellere nuda suo.
Sepe fidem falso mendicat inharcia teste,
Sepe dolet pietas criminis arte capi.

And yet, that she may render it, the arbiter presses the sheep.
Therefore her own cloak, although winter presses, she sells off,
and she suffers Boreas, stripped naked of her own fleece.
Often credence begs, with a false witness suborned,
often piety grieves to be caught by the art of crime.

5. De cane carnem ferente

5. On the dog carrying meat

Nat canis. ore gerit carnem, caro porrigit umbram.
Vmbra coheret aquis.

The dog swims. With its mouth it bears flesh, the flesh extends a shadow.
The shadow clings to the waters.

has canis urget aquas.
Spem carnis plus carne cupit, plus fenore signum
Fenoris. os aperit, sic caro spesque perit.

the dog urges these waters.
He desires the hope of flesh more than the flesh, the sign of usury more than the sign of Usury,
He opens his mouth; thus both the flesh and the hope perish.

Non igitur debent pro uanis certa relinqui.
Non sua si quis auet, mox caret ipse suis.

Therefore, the sure things ought not to be relinquished for vain things.
If anyone covets what is not his own, soon he himself is without his own.

6. De oue et capra et iuuenca et leone

6. On the sheep and the she-goat and the heifer and the lion

Vt racione pari fortune munera sumant,
Sumunt fedus ouis capra iuuenca leo.
Ceruus adest. ceruum rapiunt.

That, by equal reason, they may take Fortune’s gifts,
the sheep, the goat, the heifer, and the lion enter into a covenant.
A stag appears. They seize the stag.

leo sic ait: Heres
Prime partis ero. nam michi primus honor.
Et michi defendit partem uis prima secundam,
Et michi dat maior tercia iura labor.

the lion thus says: heir
I shall be of the first part; for the foremost honor is mine.
And primal force defends for me the second part,
And greater labor grants me the rights of the third.

Et pars quarta meum, nisi sit mea, rumpit amorem.
Publica solus habet forcior, ima premens.
Ne fortem societ fragilis, uult fabula presens.

And the fourth part—unless it be mine—breaks my love.
The stronger, pressing the lowest, alone holds the public property.
The present fable wills that the fragile not associate with the strong.

Nam fragili fidus nesciet esse potens.

For the potent will not know how to be faithful to the fragile.

7. De fure uxorem ducente

7. On a thief taking a wife

Femina dum nubit furi, uicinia gaudet.
Vir bonus et prudens talia uerba mouet:
Sol pepigit sponsam. Iouis aurem terra querelis
Perculit et causam, cur foret egra, dedit.

While a woman weds a thief, the vicinity rejoices.
A good and prudent man utters such words:
The Sun has betrothed the bride. The Earth struck Jove’s ear with complaints
and gave the cause why she was ailing.

Sole necor solo. quid erit, si creuerit alter?
Quid paciar?

By the sun I am slain, on the soil. what will happen, if another should arise?
What shall I suffer?

quid aget tanta caloris hyemps?
Hic prohibet sermo letum prebere fauorem,
Qui mala fecerunt uel mala facta parant.

What will a winter of such heat do?
This discourse prohibits death from proffering favor,
to those who have done evils or are preparing evil deeds.

8. De lupo et grue

8. On the wolf and the crane

Arta lupum cruciat uia gutturis osse retento.
Mendicat medicam multa daturus opem.
Grus promissa petit de faucibus osse reuulso.

The narrow way of the gullet torments the wolf, with a bone retained.
He begs for medical aid, about to give much.
The crane seeks the promised reward, the bone having been torn out from the jaws.

Cui lupus: An uiuis munere tuta meo.
Nonne tuum potui morsu precidere collum?
Ergo tibi munus sit tua uita meum.

To whom the wolf: Are you alive, safe by my gift?
Could I not have cut off your neck with a bite?
Therefore let your life be my gift to you.

Nil prodest prodesse malis. mens praua malorum
Inmemor accepti non timet esse boni.

It profits nothing to be of profit to the wicked. The depraved mind of the wicked,
unmindful of the good received, does not fear to be evil.

9. De duabus canibus

9. On two female dogs

De partu querulam uerborum nectare plenam
Pro cane mota canis suscepit ede canem.
Hec abit, illa manet. hec cursitat, illa quiescit.

About birth, a querulous one, full of the nectar of words,
a dog, moved on behalf of a dog, received a dog into the house.
Hec goes away, that one remains. hec runs about, that one rests.

Huic tandem a partu rumpitur illa quies.
Illa redit reddique sua iura precatur.
Obserat hec aurem nec minus aure domum.

To this one at length, from the birth, that quiet is broken.
That one returns and prays that her rights be returned.
This one bolts her ear, and no less the house with gold.

Plus prece posse minas putat. hec plus bella duobus.
Nescit posse minas plus prece, bella minis.

She thinks menaces can more than prayer; this one [holds] wars more for two.
She does not know that menaces can more with prayer, and wars with menaces.

Cum dolor hanc armet, plus matrem filius armat;
Cedit sola gregi, causaque iusta perit.
Non satis est tutum mellitis credere uerbis.
Ex hoc melle solet pestis amara sequi.

When grief arms her, the son arms the mother more;
She alone cedes to the crowd, and the just cause perishes.
It is not safe enough to credit honeyed words.
From this honey a bitter pest is wont to follow.

10. De rustico et colubro

10. On the rustic and the coluber

Dum niue candet humus, glacies dum sopit aquarum
Cursus, in colubrum turbida seuit hyemps.
Hunc uidet, hunc reficit hominis clemencia. uentum
Temperat huic tecto, temperat igne gelu.

While the ground gleams with snow, while ice lulls the courses of the waters
the turbid winter rages upon the serpent.
He sees him; the clemency of a man restores him. The wind
he tempers for him with a roof, he tempers the frost with fire.

Ore serit uirus coluber, sic toxicat edem.
Hospes ait colubro: Non rediturus abi.
Non exit coluber nec uult exire, sed heret
Amplectensque uirum sibila dira mouet.

With its mouth the snake sows poison; thus it poisons the dwelling.
The host says to the snake: Go away, not to return.
The snake does not go out nor does it wish to go out, but clings,
and embracing the man it sets dire hisses in motion.

Reddere gaudet homo nequam pro melle uenenum,
Pro fructu penam, pro pietate dolum.

A wicked man delights to render venom in place of honey,
a penalty for fruit, deceit for piety.

11. De asino et apro

11. On the ass and the boar

Audet asellus aprum risu temptare proteruo,
Audet inhers forti dicere: Frater aue.
Vibrat aper pro uoce caput. nam uerba superbit
Reddere, sed dentem uix tenet ira trucem.

The little ass dares to provoke the boar with insolent laughter,
the inert one dares to say to the strong: Brother, hail.
The boar shakes his head in place of a voice; for he disdains to render words,
but with wrath he scarcely holds his fierce tusk.

Sus tamen ista mouet: Vilem dens nobilis escam
Spernit. desidia tutus es ipse tua.
Non debet stolido ledi prudencia risu,
Nec stolidus doctum debet adire iocis.

Yet the boar is moved by these things: the noble tooth spurns cheap food
He spurns it. by your own sloth you are safe yourself.
Prudence ought not to be injured by a stolid man’s laugh,
nor ought the stolid to approach the learned with jests.

12. De mure urbano et rustico

12. On the urban mouse and the rustic mouse

Rusticus urbanum mus murem suscipit ede,
Commodat ad mensam, mensaque mente minor.
In mensa tenui satis est inmensa uoluntas.
Nobilitat uiles frons generosa dapes.

A rustic mouse receives the urban mouse in his house,
He accommodates him at the table, and the table is lesser than the mind.
On a slender table there is enough: an immense goodwill.
A generous brow ennobles vile viands.

Facto fine cibis urbanum rusticus audit.
Vrbani socius tendit in urbis opes.
Ecce penu subeunt, inseruit amicus amico,
Inuigilat mense, fercula mensa gerit.

With the foods finished, the rustic heeds the urban.
The urban’s companion makes for the city’s opulence.
Behold, they go into the pantry; the friend has provided for his friend,
he keeps vigil over the meal, the table bears dishes.

Emendat conditque cibos clemencia uultus,
Conuiuam saciat plus dape frontis honor.
Ecce sere clauis immurmurat, hostia latrant.
Ambo timent, fugiunt ambo, nec ambo latent.

The clemency of the countenance amends and seasons the foods,
the honor of the brow satisfies the guest more than the feast.
Behold, late the key murmurs in the bolt, the doors bark.
Both fear, both flee, nor do both hide.

Hic latet, hic latebras cursu mendicat inepto.
Assuitur muro reptile muris honus.
Blanda penu clauso parcit fortuna timori.

Here he hides; here he begs for hiding-places by inept running.
He is stitched to the wall, a creeping burden upon the mice.
Kindly Fortune, with the pantry shut, spares fear.

Ille tamen febrit, teste tremore timet.
Exit qui latuit, timidum sic lenit amicum:
Gaude, carpe cibos, hec sapit esca fauum.
Fatur qui timuit: Latet hoc in melle uenenum,
Fellitumque metu non puto dulce bonum.

Yet he is feverish; with tremor as witness, he fears.
He who hid goes out; thus he soothes his timid friend:
Rejoice, seize the victuals; this bait savors of honeycomb.
Speaks the one who feared: there lies venom in this honey,
and out of fear I do not deem a gall-tainted sweet to be a good.

Quam timor obnubit, non est sincera uoluptas.
Non est sollicito dulcis in ore fauus.
Rodere malo fabam, quam cura perpete rodi,
Degenerare cibos cura diurna facit.

What fear overclouds, there is no sincere pleasure.
A honeycomb is not sweet in the mouth for the anxious.
I prefer to gnaw a bean than to be gnawed by perpetual care,
Daily care makes foods degenerate.

Hijs opibus gaude, qui gaudes turbine mentis.
Pauperiem ditet pax opulenta michi.
Hec bona solus habe, que sunt tibi dulcia soli.

Rejoice in these riches, you who rejoice in the whirlwind of the mind.
May opulent peace enrich poverty for me.
Keep these goods to yourself alone, which are sweet to you alone.

Det precium dapibus uita quieta meis.
Finit uerba, redit. preponit tuta timendis,
Et quia summa timet, tucius ima petit.

Let a quiet life give worth to my banquets.
He finishes his words, he returns. He puts the safe before the things to be feared,
And because he fears the heights, he more safely seeks the depths.

Pauperies si leta uenit, tutissima res est.
Tristior inmensas pauperat usus opes.

If poverty comes cheerful, it is the safest thing.
A sadder usage impoverishes immense wealth.

13. De uulpe et aquila

13. On the fox and the eagle

Dum uulpes aquilam pro rapta prole perungit
Melle precum, predam reddere nescit auis.
Preda gemit nidique timet cibus esse gulosi,
Sed redimit natos utilis arte parens.
Arboreum zonat stipulis et uimine truncum,
In stipulam docto dirigit ore facem.

While the fox anoints the eagle on behalf of her snatched offspring
with the honey of prayers, the bird does not know how to return the prey.
The prey groans and fears to be the food of the gluttonous nest,
but the resourceful parent redeems her young by skill.
She girds the arboreal trunk with straws and with withy,
at the straw she directs a torch with her trained mouth.

In pullos aquile coniurat copia fumi.
Hunc tamen et uulpem prouida pacat auis.
Non sit qui studeat, quia maior, obesse minori,
Cum bene maiori possit obesse minor.

A copiousness of fume conspires against the eagle’s chicks.
Yet the provident bird pacifies both this and the fox.
Let there not be one who strives, because he is greater, to harm the lesser,
Since the lesser can well harm the greater.

14. De aquila et testudine

14. On the eagle and the tortoise

Pes aquile, predo testudinis, aera findit.
Hanc sua conca tegit, cornua longa latent.
Hoc monitu cornix aquilam premunit ineptum:
Fers onus.

The foot of the eagle, predator of the tortoise, cleaves the air.
This one is covered by its own shell; the long horns lie hidden.
With this admonition the crow forewarns the inept eagle:
You bear a burden.

at fiat utile, crede michi.
Quod geris in conca, cibus est. tibi surripit illum
Conca cibum.

but let it be useful, believe me.
What you carry in the shell is food. it steals that from you—
the shell steals the food.

concam frange cibusque cadet.
Vt concam lanies, pro uiribus utere sensu.
Hanc, si celsa cadat, saxea franget humus.

Break the shell and the food will fall.
So that you may rend the shell, use sense in proportion to your strength.
This, if it should fall from on high, the stony ground will break it.

De se stultus homo subuersus turbine lingue
Corruit et fortes ista procella rapit.

By his own self, the foolish man, subverted by the whirlwind of his tongue,
falls, and this squall snatches away even the strong.

15. De uulpe et coruo

15. On the fox and the crow

Vulpe gerente famem coruum gerit arbor et escam
Ore gerens coruus uulpe loquente silet.
Corue decore decens, cingnum candore parentas.
Si cantu placeas, plus aue quaque places.

With the fox bearing hunger, a tree bears the crow and the food
The crow, bearing it in his mouth, is silent while the fox speaks.
O crow, comely in decor, you rival a swan in candor.
If you should please by song, you would please more than any bird.

Credit auis picteque placent preludia lingue.
Dum canit ut placeat, caseus ore cadit.
Hoc fruitur uulpes, insurgunt tedia coruo.

The bird trusts, and the preludes of the painted tongue please.
While it sings so as to please, the cheese falls from its mouth.
The fox enjoys this; tedium rises for the crow.

Asperat in medio dampna dolore pudor.
Fellitum patitur risum, quem mellit inanis
Gloria. uera parit tedia falsus honor.

Shame, in the midst, exasperates the losses with pain.
He endures a gall-bitter laugh, which vain Glory honey-sweetens.
True tedium is begotten by false honor.

16. De leone et apro et tauro et asello

16. On the lion and the boar and the bull and the little ass

Irretit miserum grauitas annosa leonem,
Inglaciat corpus corque senile gelu.
Instat aper, pensat ueteri pro uulnere uulnus.
Frontis eum telo taurus utroque fodit.

Ensnares the wretched lion, age-old gravity,
Ices over the body and the senile heart, frost.
Presses on the boar, weighs out a wound for an old wound.
With the weapon of the forehead the bull stabs him with both.

Seuit asellus inhers et frontem calce sigillat.
Hec solo gemitu uindicat acta leo.
Omnia que uici, me uincunt omnia.

The inert ass rages and with a heel-kick seals the forehead.
The lion avenges these acts only with a groan.
All that I have conquered, all things conquer me.

dormit
Vis mea, dormit honor, dormit honoris opus.
Cui nocui, nocet ille michi, multisque peperci,
Qui michi non parcunt, pro pietate nocent.
Hunc timeat casum, qui se non fulsit amico,
Nec dare uult felix, quam miser optat opem.

sleeps
My power sleeps, honor sleeps, the work of honor sleeps.
Whom I harmed, he harms me; and many I spared,
Those who do not spare me, instead of piety, do harm.
Let him fear this downfall, who did not support himself by a friend,
Nor does the fortunate man wish to give the aid which the wretched man longs for.

17. De asino et catulo et domino

17. On the ass and the puppy and the master

Murmuris et caude studio testatus amorem
Nunc lingua catulus, nunc pede palpat herum.
Gaudet herus comitque canem comitemque ciborum
Efficit. alludit turba ministra cani.

By murmuring and zeal of tail attesting his love
now with his tongue, now with his foot the puppy pats his master.
The master rejoices and accompanies the dog, and makes him a companion at meals
He makes it so. The ministering throng plays with the dog.

Arte pari similesque cibos similemque fauorem
Lucrari cupiens inquit asellus inhers:
Me catulo prefert uite nitor, utile tergum,
Nec placeo fructu, sed placet ille ioco.
Ludam. lude places.

Desiring by equal art to gain similar foods and similar favor,
the inert little ass says:
The support of life prefers me to the puppy—my useful back—,
I do not please by fruit/profit, but that one pleases by jest.
I will play. Play, and you please.

sic ludit tempore uiso,
Vt ludo placeat, ludit et instat hero.
Blandiri putat ore tonans, humerisque priorum
Pressis mole pedum se putat esse pium.
Clamat herus.

thus he plays when the moment is seen,
To please by play, he plays and presses upon the master.
He thinks to flatter, thundering with his mouth, and the shoulders of those in front
With the shoulders pressed by the mass of his feet, he thinks himself to be pious.
The master shouts.

uult clamor opem. subit ordo clientum.
Multa domat multo uerbere claua reum.

A clamor calls for help. A rank of clients comes up.
The club subdues the accused in many ways, with many blows.

Quod natura negat, nemo feliciter audet.
Displicet inprudens, unde placere putat.

What nature denies, no one dares successfully.
The imprudent displeases where he thinks to please.

18. De leone et mure

18. On the lion and the mouse

Frigida sopito blanditur silua leoni.
Cursitat hic murum ludere prompta cohors.
Pressus mure leo murem rapit.

The frigid forest blandishes the sleeping lion.
Here the prompt cohort runs about to play with the mouse.
Pressed by the mouse, the lion snatches the mouse.

ille precatur,
Ille precem librat, supplicat ira preci.
Hec tamen ante mouet animo: Quid mure perempto
Laudis emes? summos uincere parua pudet.

he entreats,
He weighs the prayer, anger supplicates to the prayer.
Yet this first he turns over in mind: What with the mouse slain
Praise will you purchase? it is shameful for small things to conquer the highest.

Si nece dignetur murem leo, nonne leoni
Dedecus et muri ceperit esse decus?
Si uincat minimum summus, sic uincere uinci est.
Vincere posse decet, uincere crimen habet.

If the lion deigns to put the mouse to death, will it not have begun to be a disgrace for the lion and a glory for the mouse?
If the highest vanquishes the least, thus to conquer is to be conquered.
To be able to conquer befits; to conquer has the character of a crime.

Sit tamen esse decus, sit laus sic uincere, laus hec
Et decus hoc minimo fiet ab hoste minus.
De precio uicti pendet uictoria. uictor
Tantus erit, uicti gloria quanta fuit.

Let it nevertheless be an honor, let it be praise to conquer thus; this praise
And this honor will be made less by so small an enemy.
From the price of the conquered hangs victory. victor
will be as great as the glory of the conquered was.

Mus abit et grates reddit, si reddere possit
Spondet opem. solus fit mora parua dies.
Nam leo rete subit nec prodest uiribus uti,
Sed prodest querulo murmure dampna loqui.

The mouse departs and renders thanks, if he can render them
He pledges aid. alone a small delay becomes a day.
For the lion goes under a net, nor does it avail to use his forces,
But it avails to speak his damages with a querulous murmur.

Mus redit, hunc reperit, cernit loca, uincula rodit,
Hac ope pensat opem. sic leo tutus abit.
Rem potuit tantam minimi prudencia dentis,
Cui leo dans ueniam se dedit ipse sibi.

The mouse returns, finds him, discerns the places, gnaws the bonds,
By this aid he recompenses the aid. thus the lion goes away safe.
So great a thing the prudence of the tiniest tooth could accomplish,
To whom, the lion, granting pardon, gave himself back to himself.

Tu qui summa potes, ne despice parua potentem.
Nam prodesse potest, si quis obesse nequit.

You who can the highest things, do not despise the powerful though small.
For one may be able to be of use, if he cannot do harm.

19. De miluo egrotante

19. On the ailing kite

Morbi mole iacet miluus matremque precatur,
Vt superis pro se det sacra detque preces.
Mater ait: Mi nate, deos et sacra deorum
Lesisti. recolunt inpia facta dei.

Weighed down by the mass of sickness the kite lies, and he prays to his mother,
that she might give to the supernal gods sacred rites and give prayers on his behalf.
The mother says: My son, the gods and the sacred rites of the gods
you have injured. they recollect impious deeds.

Criminis ultores pensant pro crimine penam.
Cum sacra turbares, pena timenda fuit.
Te cogit timor esse pium, te pena fidelem.

Avengers of the crime weigh out the penalty for the crime.
When you were disturbing the sacred rites, a penalty to be feared was due.
Fear compels you to be pious, punishment compels you to be faithful.

Hic timor, hec pietas cum nece sera uenit.
Qui maculat uitam, mundas cur incolit aras?
Quem sua facta premunt, cur aliena leuant?

This fear, this piety comes late with death.
He who maculates life, why does he frequent pure altars?
He whom his own deeds press down, why do others’ deeds lift up?

20. De hyrundine aues monente

20. On the swallow admonishing the birds

Vt linum pariat de lini semine semen
Nutrit humus, sed aues tangit hyrundo metu.
Hic ager, hoc semen nobis mala uincla minatur,
Vellite pro nostris semina sparsa malis.
Turba fugit sanos monitus uanosque timores
Arguit.

As the soil nourishes the seed, so that from flax-seed seed is begotten
it touches the birds with fear, the swallow.
This field, this seed threatens us with evil fetters,
Pluck up the seeds scattered for our harms.
The crowd flees sound admonitions and calls the fears vain
it asserts.

exit humo semen et herba uiret.
Rursus hyrundo monet instare pericula. rident
Rursus aues.

the seed goes forth from the soil, and the herb greens.
Again the swallow admonishes that perils are imminent. they laugh
Again, the birds.

Hominem placat hyrundo sibi,
Cumque uiris habitans cantu blanditur amico.
Nam preuisa minus ledere tela solent.
Iam metitur linum, iam fiunt recia, iam uir
Fallit aues, iam se conscia culpat auis.

The swallow wins the man over to itself,
and, dwelling with men, flatters with friendly song.
For weapons foreseen are wont to wound less.
Now the flax is harvested, now nets are made, now the man
deceives the birds, now the knowing bird blames itself.

Vtile consilium qui spernit, inutile sumit.
Qui nimis est tutus, recia iure subit.

He who spurns useful counsel takes up the useless.
He who is over-secure, by right goes beneath the nets.

21a. [Qualiter Attici elegerunt sibi regem]

21a. [How the Athenians elected a king for themselves]

Fabula nata sequi mores et pingere uitam,
Tangit quod fugias quodue sequaris iter.
Rege carens nec regis inops, sine rege nec exlex,
Absque iugo gessit attica terra iugum.
Libertas errore carens se sponte coegit
Et pudor ob legem forcior ense fit.

A fable, born to follow morals and to paint life,
touches what you should flee and what path you should follow.
Lacking a king yet not bereft of a king, without a king yet not lawless,
Without a yoke the attic land bore a yoke.
Liberty, free of error, compelled itself of its own accord,
And modesty, on account of law, becomes stronger than the sword.

Ne libitum faceret, regem plebs libera fecit,
Et que non potuit pellere iussa tulit.
Rex cepit lenire truces, punire nocentes,
Queque leuanda leuans, queque premenda premens.
Hos honerat nouitas.

Lest it do as it pleased, the free plebs made a king,
and what it could not drive away, it bore as decrees.
The king began to soften the truculent, to punish the guilty,
alleviating what ought to be alleviated, and pressing what ought to be pressed.
Novelty honors these.

ciues in lege nouelli,
Quod leuiter possent, uix potuere pati.
Vrbem triste iugum querula ceruice ferentem
Esopus tetigit, consona uerba mouens:

citizens under the law of a new ruler,
What they could lightly bear, they could scarcely endure.
The city, bearing a sad yoke with a querulous neck,
Aesop addressed, moving consonant words:

21b. De ranis a Ioue querentibus regem

21b. On the frogs complaining to Jove for a king

Cum nichil auderet ludentes ledere ranas,
Supplicuere Ioui, ne sine rege forent.
Iupiter huic uoto risum dedit. Ausa secundas
Rana preces subitum sensit in amne sonum.

Since no one dared to injure the frogs as they played,
they supplicated Jove, that they might not be without a king.
Jupiter granted a laugh to this vow. Having dared second
prayers, the frog sensed a sudden sound in the river.

Nam Ioue dante trabem, trabis ictu flumine moto,
Demersit subitus guttura rauca timor.
Placito rediere metu, uidere tigillum,
Stando procul regem pertimuere suum.
Vt nouere trabem per se non posse moueri,
Pro duce fecerunt tercia uota Ioui.

For, Jove having given a beam, at the beam’s blow, the river being set in motion,
sudden fear plunged their hoarse throats.
With fear appeased they returned, they saw a little beam,
standing at a distance they thoroughly feared their own king.
When they learned the beam could not move by itself,
for a leader they made third vows to Jove.

Ira iouem mouit, regem dedit, intulit ydrum.
Ydrus hiante gula cepit obire lacum.
Clamitat ecce lacus: Morimur, pie Iupiter, audi,
Jupiter, exaudi!

Wrath moved jove, he gave a king, he brought in a hydra.
The hydra, with gaping gullet, began to go over the lake.
Behold, the lake cries out: We are dying, pious Jupiter, hear,
Jupiter, hearken!

Iupiter, affer opem!
Nos sepelit uenter, nostri sumus esca tyranni.
Aufer cedis opus, redde quietis opes.

Jupiter, bring help!
The belly entombs us; we are the tyrant’s food.
Remove the work of slaughter, restore the resources of quiet.

Ille refert: Emptum longa prece ferte magistrum.
Vindicet eternus ocia spreta metus.
Omne boni precium nimio uilescit in usu,
Fitque mali gustu dulcius omne bonum.

He replies: Bring a master bought with long prayer.
Let eternal fear vindicate leisure that has been scorned.
The price of every good grows cheap by excessive use,
and every good becomes sweeter by the taste of evil.

Si quis habet quod habere decet, sit letus habendo.
Alterius non sit. qui suus esse potest.

If anyone has what it is decent to have, let him be glad by having it.
Let him not be another’s, who can be his own.

22. De accipitre et columbis

22. On the hawk and the doves

Accipitrem milui pulsurum bella columbe
Accipiunt regem. rex magis hoste nocet.
Incipiunt de rege queri, quod sanius esset
Milui bella pati, quam sine Marte mori.

The doves accept as king a hawk about to drive off the kite’s wars
They accept as king. the king harms more than the enemy.
They begin to complain about the king, that it would be sounder
to suffer the kite’s wars, than to die without Mars.

Si quid agas, prudenter agas et respice finem.
Ferre minora uolo, ne grauiora feram.

If you do anything, do it prudently and look to the end.
I am willing to endure lesser things, lest I bear graver ones.

23. De fure et cane

23. On the thief and the dog

Fure uocante canem pretenso munere panis,
Spreto pane mouet talia uerba canis:
Vt sileam, tua dona uolunt, furtisque laborant
Esse locum. panem si fero, cuncta feres.
Fert munus mea dampna tuum, latet hamus in esca.

With the thief calling the dog with the proffered gift of bread,
With the bread spurned, the dog utters such words:
That I be silent, your gifts desire, and labor that there be room for thefts;
if I carry the bread, you will carry off everything.
Your gift bears my losses; a hook lies hidden in the bait.

Me priuare cibo cogitat ipse cibus.
Non amo nocturnum panem plus pane diurno,
Aduena plus noto non placet hostis hero.
Non rapiet nox una michi bona mille dierum,
Nolo semper egens esse, semelque satur.

The food itself thinks to deprive me of food.
I do not love nocturnal bread more than diurnal bread,
A newcomer enemy does not please the master more than the known one.
One night will not snatch from me the good things of a thousand days,
I do not wish to be always needy, and once sated.

Latratu tua furta loquar, nisi sponte recedas.
Hic silet, ille manet. hic tonat, ille fugit.

With barking I will speak of your thefts, unless you recede of your own accord.
This one is silent, that one remains. this one thunders, that one flees.

Si tibi quid detur, cur detur respice. si des,
Cui des, ipse nota, teque, gulose, doma.

If anything be given to you, look back at why it is given; if you give,
to whom you give, yourself note, and, glutton, tame yourself.

24. De lupo et sue

24. Of the wolf and the sow

Vult lupus ut pariat maturum sucula fetum,
Seque noui curam spondet habere gregis.
Sus ait: Hac cura careas, michi nolo ministres.
Horrent obsequium uiscera nostra tuum.

The wolf wants the little sow to bear a mature litter,
and he pledges to take upon himself the care of the new herd.
The sow says: Be without this care; I do not want you to minister to me.
Our viscera bristle at your obsequious service.

I procul ut tutos liceat michi fundere fetus.
I procul et pietas hec erit apta michi.
Pro natis natura iubet timuisse parentem.

Go far away, so that it may be permitted to me to bring forth safe offspring.
Go far away, and this piety will be apt for me.
For the sake of the children, nature bids the parent to have feared.

Fine dato uerbis hic abit, illa parit.
Tempore non omni non omnibus omnia credas.
Qui misere credit, creditur esse miser.

With the end given to words, he goes away; she gives birth.
Not at every time, not to everyone, should you credit everything.
He who believes wretchedly is believed to be wretched.

25. De terra parturiente murem

25. On the earth giving birth to a mouse

Terra tumet. tumor ille gemit gemituque fatetur
Partum. pene perit sexus uterque metu.

The earth swells. That tumor groans and by its groan confesses
the birth. Almost both sexes perish with fear.

Cum tumeat tellus, monstrat se monstra daturam.
Horrent et trepidant et prope stare cauent.
In risum timor ille redit, nam turgida murem
Terra parit.

When the earth swells, it shows itself about to give birth to monsters.
They shudder and tremble, and they beware to stand close.
That fear returns into laughter, for the turgid Earth
gives birth to a mouse.

iocus est quod timor ante fuit.
Sepe minus faciunt homines, qui magna minantur.
Sepe gerit nimios causa pusilla metus.

What before was fear is a joke.
Often men who threaten great things do less.
Often a petty cause carries excessive fear.

26. De agno et lupo

26. On the lamb and the wolf

Cum grege barbato dum ludit iunior agnus,
Tendit in hunc menti dissona uerba lupus:
Cur olidam munda sequeris plus matre capellam?
Lac tibi preberet dulcius ipsa parens.
Est prope, festina, matrem pete, munera matris
Lac bibe.

While the younger lamb plays with the bearded herd,
the wolf directs toward him words discordant to his mind:
Why do you follow the reeking she-goat rather than your clean mother?
Your mother herself would offer milk sweeter for you.
She is near; make haste, seek your mother, a mother's gifts
Drink the milk.

nam seruat ubera plena tibi.
Agnus ad hec: Pia capra michi lac dulce propinat,
Me uice matris alit, me uice matris amat.
Non michi, sed domino prodest me uiuere.

for she keeps her udders full for you.
The lamb to this: The pious she‑goat proffers to me sweet milk,
she nourishes me in the stead of a mother, she loves me in the stead of a mother.
It profits not me, but the master, that I live.

uiuo
Vt metat in tergo uellera multa meo.
Ergo michi prestat nutriri lacte caprino,
Quam lac matris habens mergar in ore tuo.
Omnes uincit opes securam ducere uitam.

i live
So that he may harvest many fleeces on my back.
Therefore it is better for me to be nourished with caprine milk,
Than, having my mother’s milk, I be submerged in your mouth.
Leading a secure life conquers all wealth.

Pauperius nichil est, quam miser usus opum.
Nil melius sano monitu, nil peius iniquo.
Consilium sequitur certa ruina malum.

Nothing is poorer than the wretched use of wealth.
Nothing is better than sound monition, nothing worse than an iniquitous one.
Sure ruin follows bad counsel.

27. De cane uetulo

27. On the old dog

Armauit natura canem pede, dente, iuuenta.
Hinc leuis, hinc mordax, fortis et inde fuit.
Tot bona furatur senium, nam robore priuat
Corpus, dente genas, et leuitate pedes.

Nature armed the dog with foot, with tooth, with youth.
Hence light, hence mordacious, and thence strong he was.
So many goods senility filches, for it deprives
the body of strength, the cheeks of tooth, and the feet of lightness.

Hic leporem prendit, fauces lepus exit inhermes.
Elumbem domini uerberat ira canem.
Reddit uerba canis: Dum me pia pertulit etas,
Nulla meum potuit fallere preda pedem.

Here he seizes a hare; the hare escapes the jaws unharmed.
The master's ire thrashes the weak-loined dog.
The dog replies with words: While a kindly age bore me,
no prey could elude my foot.

Defendit senii culpam laus ampla iuuente.
Pro sene qui cecidit, facta priora uigent.
Nullus amor durat, nisi fructus seruet amorem.

Ample praise in youth defends the fault of old age.
In place of the old man who has fallen, earlier deeds thrive.
No love endures, unless the fruit preserves love.

Quilibet est tanti, munera quanta facit.
Magnus eram, dum magna dedi. nunc muscidus annis
Vileo, de ueteri mencio nulla bono.

Each man is worth as much as the gifts he gives.
I was great, while I gave great things. now, musty with years
I am held of low value; of former good there is no mention.

Si laudas quod eram, quod sum culpare proteruum est.
Si iuuenem recipis, pellere turpe senem est.
Se misere seruire sciat, qui seruit iniquo.

If you praise what I was, to blame what I am is insolent.
If you receive the young man, it is shameful to drive out the old man.
Let him know he serves miserably who serves an iniquitous man.

Parcere subiectis nescit iniquus homo.

An iniquitous man does not know how to spare the subjected.

28. De leporibus et ranis

28. On hares and frogs

Silua sonat, fugiunt lepores, palus obuiat, herent.
Fit mora, respiciunt ante retroque, timent.
Dum librant in mente metus, se mergere pacti,
Se metui et ranas stagna subire uident.

The forest sounds, the hares flee, a marsh meets them; they stick.
There is a delay; they look before and behind; they fear.
While they balance fears in mind, having agreed to plunge themselves,
they see that they are feared, and that the frogs go under the stagnant pools.

Vnus ait: Sperare licet. non sola timoris
Turba sumus. uano rana timore latet.

One says: It is permitted to hope. We are not the only crowd of fear.
The frog hides in vain fear.

Spem decet amplecti. spes est uia prima salutis.
Sepe facit metui non metuenda metus.

It befits to embrace hope. Hope is the first way of salvation.
Often fear makes the not-to-be-feared feared.

Corporis est leuitas et mentis inhercia nobis.
Ista fuge causam suggerit, illa fugam.
Sic metuat quicunque timet, ne mole timoris
Spe careat.

There is in us a levity of body and an inertia of mind.
The inertia suggests the cause of flight, the levity the flight.
Thus let whoever fears fear, lest by the mass of fear
he lack hope.

grauis est spe fugiente timor.
Speret qui metuit. morituros uiuere uidi
Spe duce, uicturos spe moriente mori.

grave is fear with hope fleeing.
Let him hope who fears. I have seen those about to die live
With Hope as leader, those about to conquer die as hope is dying.

29. De lupo et edo

29. Of the wolf and the kid

Capra cibum querens, edum commendat ouili,
Hunc illi solida seruat ouile sera.
Natum cauta parens monitu premunit amico,
Vt lateat, nec sit in sua dampna uagus.
Hic latet.

A she-goat, seeking food, commends the kid to the sheepfold,
A solid bolt of the sheepfold keeps this one safe for her.
The cautious parent pre-arms the offspring by a friendly monition,
That he may lie hidden, and not be wandering to his own harm.
Here he hides.

ecce lupus mouet hostia, uoce capellam
Exprimit, ut pateant hostia clausa petit.
Sta procul, edus ait, caprizas gutture falso.
Cum bene caprizes, te procul esse uolo.

behold, the wolf moves the doors; with his voice a she-goat
He imitates, and he asks that the closed doors be opened.
Stand far off, says the kid, you caprine-bleat with a false throat.
When you caprine-bleat well, I want you to be far away.

Quod mea sis mater, mentitur ymago loquendi.
Rimula, qua uideo, te docet esse lupum.
Insita natorum cordi doctrina parentum
Cum pariat fructum, spreta nocere solet.

That you are my mother, the image of speech lies.
The little crevice, by which I see, teaches that you are a wolf.
The doctrine of parents, implanted in the heart of the offspring,
when it bears fruit, if spurned, is wont to harm.

30. De rustico et angue

30. On the rustic and the snake

Rustica mensa diu nutritum nouerat anguem.
Humanam potuit anguis amare manum,
Gracia longa uiri subitam mutatur in iram,
Ira per anguineum dirigit arma caput.
Vulneris auctor eget, se uulnere credit egenum.

A rustic table had long been familiar with a long‑nourished snake.
The snake could love a human hand,
The man’s long grace is changed into sudden anger,
Anger directs arms against the serpentine head.
The author of the wound is in want; he believes himself needy because of the wound.

Angui pro uenia supplicat. anguis ait:
Non ero securus, dum sit tibi tanta securis,
Dum cutis hec memorat uulnera scripta sibi.
Qui me lesit, item ledet, si ledere possit.

He supplicates the snake for pardon. the snake says:
I shall not be secure, while such a great axe is yours,
while this skin recalls the wounds written upon itself.
He who injured me will likewise injure, if he can injure.

Expedit infido non iterare fidem.
Sed si te piguit sceleris, scelus omne remitto.
Nam gemitus ueniam uulnere cordis emit.

It is expedient not to iterate trust to the faithless.
But if you have regretted the crime, I remit every crime.
For a groan purchases pardon by the wound of the heart.

Qui primo nocuit, uult posse nocere secundo.
Que dedit infidus mella, uenena puto.

He who harmed at first wants to be able to harm a second time.
The honeys which the perfidious man gave, I deem poisons.

31. De ceruo et oue et lupo

31. Of the stag and the sheep and the wolf

Ceruus oui presente lupo sic intonat: Amplum
Vas tritici debes reddere, redde michi.
Sic iubet esse lupus, paret timor ista iubenti.
Namque die fixo debita spondet ouis.

The stag to the sheep, with the wolf present, thus thunders: A Large
Vessel of wheat you must render; render it to me.
Thus the wolf orders it to be; fear obeys the one commanding these things.
For indeed, on a fixed day, the sheep pledges its debts.

Fit mora. ceruus ouem uexat de federe. ceruo
Inquit ouis: Non stant federa facta metu.

There is a delay. the stag vexes the sheep about the pact. to the stag
Says the sheep: Pacts made under duress do not stand.

Me decuit cogente lupo quecunque fateri.
Me decuit fraudem pellere fraude pari.
Cum timor in promptu sedeat, promissa timoris
Arent.

It was fitting for me, with the wolf compelling, to confess whatever;
it was fitting for me to repel fraud with equal fraud.
When fear sits in prompt readiness, the promises of fear
dry up.

nil fidei uerba timentis habent.

the words of one who fears have nothing of faith.

32. De caluo et musca

32. On the bald man and the fly

Musca premit caluum. muscam uult cedere caluus.
Vt muscam feriat, se ferit.

A fly presses upon the bald man. the bald man wants the fly to yield.
In order to strike the fly, he strikes himself.

illa ridet.
Caluus ait: Te parca iubet uicina iocari.
Si ferior, rides.

she laughs.
The bald man says: A neighboring Fate bids you to jest.
If I am struck, you laugh.

si feriare, cades.
Sospes ero decies ictus, semel icta peribis.
Est mea prompta michi gracia, surda tibi.

if you should be struck, you will fall.
I shall be safe and sound, struck ten times; once struck, you will perish.
My grace is prompt for me, deaf to you.

Iure potest ledi ludens, ut ledat. in illum,
Vnde breuis cepit lesio, magna redit.

Rightly can one playing be injured, so that he may injure. against him,
Whence a brief lesion began, a great one returns.

33. De uulpe et ciconia

33. On the fox and the stork

Vulpe uocante uenit, speratque ciconia cenam.
Fallit auem liquidus uulpe iocante cibus.
Cum bibat ista cibos, solum bibit illa dolorem.

At the fox’s calling the stork comes, and hopes for a dinner.
The liquid food, with the fox jesting, deceives the bird.
While the former drinks down the fare, the latter drinks only grief.

Hic dolor in uulpem fabricat arma doli.
Sunt pauci mora parua dies, auis inquit: Hhabemus
Fercula que sapiunt. dulcis amica, ueni.

This grief forges against the fox the arms of guile.
After a brief delay of a few days, the bird says: We have
dishes that have savor. sweet friend, come.

Hec uenit. hec uase uitreo bona fercula condit,
At solam recipit formula uasis auem.
Laudat opes oculo uasis nitor.

She comes. she sets good courses in a vase of glass,
But the form of the vase admits only the bird.
She praises with her eye the opulence, the vase’s splendor.

has negat ori
Formula. sic geminat uisus odorque famem.
Sic uulpes ieiuna redit, sic fallitur audens
Fallere, sic telo leditur ipsa suo.

The Form denies these to the mouth.
Thus sight and smell double the hunger.
Thus the hungry fox returns, thus is deceived the one daring
to Deceive, thus she herself is wounded by her own weapon.

Quod tibi non faceres, alii fecisse cauebis.
Vulnera ne facias, que potes ipse pati.

What you would not do to yourself, you will beware of having done to another.
Do not inflict wounds which you yourself could suffer.

34. De lupo et capite

34. Of the wolf and the head

Dum legit arua lupus, reperit caput arte superbum.
Hoc beat humanis ars preciosa genis.
Hoc lupus alterno uoluit pede, uerba resoluit:
O sine uoce genas, o sine mente caput!

While the wolf gleaned the fields, he found a head proud with art.
This the precious art beatifies for human cheeks.
This the wolf rolled with an alternate foot, and unloosed words:
O cheeks without a voice, O head without a mind!

Fuscat et extinguit cordis caligo nitorem
Corporis, est animi solus in orbe nitor."

The gloom of the heart darkens and extinguishes the splendor of the body;
the only splendor in the world is that of the spirit."

35. De graculo et pauone

35. On the jackdaw and the peacock

Graculus inuento picti pauonis amictu,
Se polit et socias ferre superbit aues.
Quem fore pauonem pauonis penna fatetur,
Pauonum generi non timet ire comes.
Pauo dolum sentit, falsi pauonis honorem
Increpat et domitam uerbere nudat auem.

The jackdaw, having found the vesture of a painted peacock,
preens himself and proudly bears himself to surpass his fellow birds.
He confesses, by a peacock’s feather, that he would be a peacock;
he does not fear to go as a companion to the genus of peacocks.
The peacock perceives the trick; the honor of the false peacock
he reproves, and with a lash strips the subdued bird bare.

Nuda latet, sociosque fugit, minuique pudorem
Sic putat. hanc duro corripit ore comes:
Ascensor nimius nimium ruit. aptus in imis
Est locus.

Naked she lies hidden, and flees her companions, and thus she thinks to lessen her shame
Thus she thinks. her companion seizes her with a hard beak:
An over-eager ascender rushes down too much. apt is the place in the lowest places.
There is a fitting place in the lowest.

hec leuis est, illa ruina grauis.
Qui plus posse putat sua quam natura ministrat,
Posse suum superans, se minus esse potest.
Si tibi nota satis nature meta fuisset,
Non uilis nec inops nec sine ueste fores.

this is light, that ruin is heavy.
he who thinks he can more than his nature ministers,
surpassing his own power, can be less.
if the limit of nature had been known to you well enough,
you would not be base nor destitute nor without a garment.

Cui sua non sapiunt, alieni sedulus auceps
Qui non est rapiens, desinit esse quod est.

For whom his own things have no savor, a sedulous fowler of another’s;
He who is not rapacious ceases to be what he is.

36. De mula et musca

36. On the mule and the fly

Mula rapit cursum, nam mulam mulio cogit.
Mule Musca nocet uulnere siue minis:
Cur pede sopito cursum tempusque moraris?
Te premo, te pungo.

The mule hastens its course, for the muleteer drives the mule.
Mule, the Fly harms with a wound or with menaces:
Why, with your foot asleep, do you delay the course and the time?
I press you, I prick you.

pessima, curre leuis.
Mula refert: Quia magna sonas, uis magna uideri.
Nec tua facta nocent, nec tua uerba michi.

most wicked one, run, light one.
The Mule replies: Because you sound great things, you wish to seem great.
Neither your deeds harm, nor your words, me.

Nec te sustineo, sed eum, quem sustinet axis,
Qui mea frena tenet, qui mea terga ferit.
Audet in audacem timidus, fortique minatur
Debilis, audendi dum uidet esse locum.

Nor do I support you, but him whom the axle supports,
Who holds my reins, who strikes my back.
The timid dares against the audacious, and he menaces the strong,
Feeble, so long as he sees there is room for audacity.

37. De musca et formica

37. On the fly and the ant

Musca mouens lites formicam uoce fatigat,
Se titulis ornat turpiter ipsa suis:
Torpes mersa cauis, leuitas michi queritur alis.
Dat tibi fossa domum, nobilis aula michi.
Delicie sunt grana tue, me regia nutrit
Mensa.

The fly, stirring quarrels, wearies the ant with her voice,
she shamefully adorns herself with her own titles:
You grow torpid, plunged in hollows; levity is mine by my wings.
A ditch gives you a home, a noble hall to me.
Your grains are delicacies; a regal table nourishes me.

bibis fecem, sed bibo lene merum.
Quod bibis, a limo sugis. michi suggerit aurum,
Quod bibo.

you drink the dregs, but I drink smooth mere wine.
What you drink, you suck from slime. To me, what I drink supplies gold,
What I drink.

saxa premis, regia serta premo.
Sede, cibis, potu, thalamo cum regibus utor,
Regine teneris oscula figo genis.
Non minus urentes mittit formica sagittas,
Et sua non modicum spicula fellis habent:
Ludo mersa cauis, nescit tua penna quietem.

stones you press, I press royal garlands.
In seat, in foods, in drink, in the bedchamber I enjoy with kings,
I fix kisses on the tender cheeks of the queen.
No less burning arrows the ant sends,
And its darts have no small share of gall:
Sunk in play in hollows, your wing knows not rest.

Sunt michi pauca satis, sunt tibi multa parum.
Me letam uidet esse cauus, te regia tristem.
Plus michi grana placent, quam tibi regis opes.

Few things are enough for me; many things are too little for you.
The cavern sees me to be glad, the royal palace you to be sad.
Grains please me more than the king’s opulence pleases you.

Venatur michi farra labor, tibi fercula furtum.
Hec michi pax mellit, toxicat illa timor.
Mundo farre fruor, tu fedas omnia tactu.

Labor hunts spelt for me, for you the courses are theft.
This peace mellifies for me, that fear toxicates.
I enjoy pure grain, you defile all things by touch.

Cum nulli noceam, cuilibet una noces.
Est mea parcendi speculum, tua uita nocendi.
Sunt mea que carpo, non nisi rapta uoras.

While I harm no one, you alone harm anyone.
Mine is a mirror of sparing; your life is of harming.
What I pluck is mine; you devour nothing but what is snatched.

Vt comedas, uiuis. comedo, ne uiuere cessem.
Me nichil infestat, te fugat omnis homo.

So that you may eat, you live. I eat, lest I cease to live.
Nothing infests me, every man puts you to flight.

Vnde petis uitam, rapitur tibi uita. palato
Dulcia uina bibens, fel necis acre bibis.
Si negat ala tibi uentoso uicta flabello,
Aut nece uinceris, aut semiuiua iaces.

Whence you seek life, life is snatched from you. with the palate
drinking sweet wines, you drink the acrid gall of killing.
If your wing, conquered by a windy fan, denies you,
either you are vanquished by death, or you lie half-alive.

Si potes estiui dono durare fauoris,
Cetera si parcant, non tibi parcit hyemps.
Dulcia pro dulci, pro turpi turpia reddi
Verba solent. odium lingua fidemque parit.

If you can endure by the gift of estival favor,
If the rest should spare, winter does not spare you.
Sweet things for sweet, for turpid, turpid are wont to be rendered
Words are wont. hatred and faith the tongue begets.

38. De lupo et uulpe

38. Of the wolf and the fox

Respondere lupo de furti labe tenetur
Vulpes. causa uocat. hic petit, illa negat.

The fox is held to answer to the wolf for the stain of theft;
the case is called: this one petitions, that one denies.

Simius est iudex. docti non errat acumen
Iudicis, archanum mentis in ore legit.
Iudicium figit: Poscis, quod poscere fraus est,
Visque fidem de re, quam negat ipsa fides.

The monkey is judge. the acumen of the learned judge does not err
Of the judge, he reads the arcanum of the mind on the face.
He fixes judgment: You demand what it is a fraud to demand,
And you want faith about the matter, which faith itself denies.

Tu bene furta negas, te uite purior usus
Liberat. Hanc litem pax domat. ira cadit.

You rightly deny the thefts; a purer use of life liberates you.
Peace tames this litigation. Ire falls.

Simplicitas ueri fraus estque puerpara falsi.
Esse solent uite consona uerba sue.
Sordibus inbuti nequeunt dimittere sordes.

The simplicity of truth is a fraud and the midwife of falsehood.
Words are wont to be consonant with their own life.
Those imbued with filth cannot cast off their filth.

Fallere qui didicit, fallere semper amat.

He who has learned to deceive, always loves to deceive.

39. De rustico et mustela

39. On the rustic and the weasel

Preda uiri predo murum mustela precatur:
Da ueniam, debes parcere, parce michi.
Quod caret hoste domus, quod abest a sorde, fatetur
Esse meum, pro me te rogat, ergo faue.
Seruicio me redde tuo, michi redde laboris
Premia.

Prey of the man, plunderer of mice, the weasel beseeches:
Grant pardon, you ought to spare; spare me.
That the house lacks an enemy, that it is free from filth, acknowledges
to be my doing; it asks you on my behalf; therefore favor me.
Render me to your service; render to me the rewards of my labor
Rewards.

pro dono sit mea uita michi.
Ille refert: Operum debetur gracia menti,
Non operi. gratum mens bona reddit opus.

let my life be to me a gift.
He replies: The grace of works is owed to the mind,
Not to the work. a good mind renders the work pleasing.

Nemo, licet prosit, nisi uult prodesse, meretur.
Nam prodesse potest hostis obesse uolens.
Cum michi prodesses, michi non prodesse uolebas.

No one, though he may be of profit, merits unless he wills to be of profit.
For even an enemy, wishing to harm, can be of profit.
When you were being of profit to me, you did not wish to profit me.

Hostibus ipsa meis et meus hostis eras.
Non michi monstra necans, sed eras tibi prouida soli.
Sic panem poteras rodere sola meum.

You yourself were on my enemies’ side, and you were my enemy.
Not killing monsters for me, but you were provident for yourself alone.
Thus you could gnaw my bread alone.

Pane meo pinguis michi da pinguedinis usum,
Dampnis penso necem, digna perire peri.
Nil honorat factum, nisi facti sola uoluntas.
Non operis fructum, sed noto mentis opus.

Fat on my bread, grant to me the use of fatness,
For the losses I weigh out death; worthy to perish, perish.
Nothing honors a deed, unless only the will of the deed.
Not the fruit of the work do I note, but I note the work of the mind.

40. De rana et boue

40. On the frog and the ox

Equari uult rana boui, tumet ergo. tumenti
Natus ait: Cessa, pre boue tota nichil.
Rana dolet meliusque tumet.

The frog wants to be made equal to the ox, therefore she swells. To the swelling one
the Son says: Cease; before the ox you are totally nothing.
The Frog grieves and swells all the more.

premit ille tumentem:
Vincere non poteris, uicta crepare potes.
Tercius iratam uexat tumor. illa tumoris
Copia findit eam.

he presses the swelling one:
You will not be able to conquer; defeated you can crack.
A third swelling vexes the irate one. The abundance of swelling
splits her.

guttura rupta patent.
Cum maiore minor conferri desinat et se
Consulat et uires temperet ipse suas.

the throat, ruptured, gapes open.
When the lesser should cease to be compared with the greater, and
consult himself and temper his own powers.

41. De pastore et leone

41. On the shepherd and the lion

Sollicitus prede currit leo. spina leonem
Vulnerat, offendit in pede mersa pedem.
Fit mora de cursu.

Solicitous for prey the lion runs. a thorn wounds the lion,
embedded in the foot it offends the foot.
A delay is made from the course.

leuitas inprouida lapsum
Sepe facit, leso stat pede turba pedum.
Vix egrum sinit ire dolor, saniemque fatetur.
Maior idem loquitur uulneris ipse color.

Improvident levity a lapse
often makes, with the foot injured the crowd of feet stands still.
Pain scarcely allows the sick one to go, and confesses the sanies.
Likewise, the very color itself speaks more of the wound.

Cum ledit miseros fortuna, medetur eisdem.
Hoc est, cur medicum plaga leonis habet.
Nam leo pastorem reperit, pastorque leoni
Pro dape tendit oues.

When Fortune injures the wretched, she heals the same.
This is the reason why the lion’s wound has a physician.
For the lion finds a shepherd, and the shepherd to the lion
proffers sheep for a meal.

respuit ille dapes.
Supplicat et plagam tenso pede monstrat et illi
Orat opem. pastor uulnera soluit acu.

he spurns the viands.
he supplicates and shows the wound with a stretched foot to him, and he prays for aid.
the shepherd unbinds the wounds with a needle.

Exit cum sanie dolor et res causa doloris.
Hic blando medicam circuit ore manum.
Sospes abit meritique notas in corde sigillat.

The pain goes out with the sanies, and the thing, the cause of the pain.
Here, with a blandishing mouth, he circles the healing hand.
Safe, he departs and seals in his heart the signs of the favor.

Tempore deleri gracia firma nequit.
Hic leo uincla subit. Romane gloria prede
Hunc habet et multas miscet harena feras.

A firm gratitude cannot be erased by time.
Here the lion undergoes chains. The glory of Roman prey
holds him, and the arena mixes many wild beasts.

Ecce necis penam pastori culpa propinat,
Clauditur in mediis et datur esca feris.
Hunc leo presentit, petit hunc. timet ille, timenti
Hec fera blanditur.

Behold, guilt proffers to the shepherd the penalty of death,
He is enclosed in the midst and is given as food to the wild beasts.
The lion senses him beforehand—seeks him. He fears; to the fearful man
This beast fawns.

sperat,abitque timor.
Nil feritatis habens ludit fera, cauda resultat,
Dum fera mansuescit, se negat esse feram.
Hunc tenet, hunc lingit, pensatque salute salutem.

he hopes,and fear goes away.
Having nothing of ferocity the beast plays, the tail rebounds,
While the beast grows tame, it denies that it is a beast.
It holds him, it licks him, and compensates safety with safety.

Nulla sinit fieri uulnera, nulla facit.
Roma stupet parcitque uiro parcitque leoni.
Hic redit in siluas et redit ille domum.

It allows no wounds to be made, it makes none.
Rome is stupefied and spares the man and spares the lion.
This one returns to the woods and that one returns home.

Non debet meritum turpis delere uetustas.
Accepti memores nos decet esse boni.

Base antiquity ought not to delete merit.
It befits us to be mindful of the good received.

42. De leone et equo

42. On the lion and the horse

Tondet equs pratum, petit hunc leo. causa leonem
Hec mouet, ut fiat esca leonis equs.
Inquit equo: Mi frater, aue, fruor arte medendi,
Et comes et medicus sum tibi.

The horse trims the meadow; the lion seeks him. This cause moves the lion
that the horse may become the lion’s food.
He says to the horse: My brother, hail, I am skilled in the art of healing,
and I am both companion and physician to you.

paret equs.
Sentit enim fraudem et fraudi fraude resistit,
Mente prius texens recia fraudis ait:
Quesitus placidusque uenis, te temporis offert
Gracia, te rogitat pes michi sente grauis.
Hic fauet, instat equo.

the horse obeys.
For he perceives the fraud and resists the fraud with fraud,
first weaving in his mind the nets of fraud, he says:
You come sought-for and placid; the favor of the moment offers you,
my foot, heavy with a briar, begs for you.
Here he assents, he presses upon the horse.

subiecto uertice calcem
Inprimit et sopit membra leonis equs.
Vix fugit ille sopor, uix audet uita reuerti,
Vix leo colla mouens respicit. hostis abest.

with lowered head he imprints his heel
And the horse presses and plunges the lion’s limbs into sopor.
Hardly does that sopor flee, hardly does life dare to revert,
Hardly moving his neck, the lion looks back. the enemy is absent.

Se leo sic dampnat: Pacior pro crimine penam,
Nam gessi speciem pacis et hostis eram.
Quod non es, non esse uelis. quod es, esse fatere.

Thus the lion condemns himself: I suffer the penalty for the crime,
For I bore the appearance of peace and I was an enemy.
What you are not, do not wish to be; what you are, confess to be.

Est male quod non est, qui negat esse quod est.

What is not is evil, he who denies that what is, is.

43. De equo et asino

43. On the horse and the ass

Gaudet equs faleris, freno, sellaque superbit,
Ista quidem uestit aureus arma decor.
Obstat asellus equo. uicus premit artus asellum,
Vexat honus, tardat natus eundo labor.

The horse rejoices in trappings, in the bridle, and is proud upon the saddle,
that golden adornment indeed clothes that gear.
The little ass stands in the way of the horse. the lane presses the little ass’s limbs,
the burden vexes, the labor born of going delays.

Quod sibi claudit iter, sonipes inclamat asello:
Occurris domino, uilis aselle, tuo.
Vix tibi do ueniam de tanti crimine fastus,
Cui uia danda fuit libera, dignus eram.
Supplicat ille minis, nutatque timore silendo
Tucior et surda preterit aure minas.

Because he shuts off the way for him, the steed cries out to the little ass:
“You run into your lord, cheap little donkey, your own master.
I scarcely grant you pardon for so great a crime of arrogance—
to whom a free road ought to have been given: I was worthy.”
He supplicates under threats, and nods with fear by keeping silent;
safer, he passes by the threats with a deaf ear.

Summus equi declinat honor. dum uincere certat,
Vincitur et cursum uiscera rupta negant.
Priuatur faleris, freno priuatur honesto.

The horse’s highest honor declines. while he strives to conquer,
he is conquered, and ruptured viscera deny the course.
He is deprived of trappings; he is deprived of the honorable bridle.

Hunc premit assiduo reda cruenta iugo,
Huic tergum macies acuit, labor ulcerat armos.
Hunc uidet, inque iocis audet asellus inhers:
Dic, sodes, ubi sella nitens, ubi nobile frenum?
Cur est hec macies, cur fugit ille nitor?

A blood-stained carriage presses this one with an assiduous yoke,
To this one leanness sharpens the back, labor ulcerates the shoulders.
The inert little ass sees him, and dares in jests:
Say, please, where is the shining saddle, where the noble bridle?
Why is this leanness, why has that luster fled?

Cur manet hic gemitus, cur illa superbia fugit?
Vindicat elatos iusta ruina gradus.
Stare diu nec uis nec honor nec forma nec etas
Sufficit, in mundo plus tamen ista placent.

Why does this groaning remain, why does that pride flee?
A just ruin vindicates the lofty ranks.
To stand long neither force nor honor nor form nor age
Suffices; yet in the world these things are more pleasing.

Viue diu, sed uiue miser, sociosque minores
Disce pati. risum det tua uita michi.
Pennatis ne crede bonis, te nulla potestas
In miseros armet.

Live long, but live wretched, and learn to endure lesser associates
Let your life give me laughter.
Do not trust in winged goods; let no power
arm you against the wretched.

nam miser esse potes.

for you can be miserable.

44. De quadrupedibus et auibus

44. On quadrupeds and birds

Quadrupedes pugnant auibus, uictoria nutat.
Spes honerata metu uexat utrumque gregem.
Linquit aues que sumit auis de uespere nomen
Nec timet oppositi castra iuuare chori.

Quadrupeds fight the birds, victory wavers.
Hope, burdened with fear, vexes both flocks.
The bird that takes its name from evening leaves the birds
nor does it fear to aid the camp of the opposing chorus.

Armat aues aquile uirtus et uiribus inplet
Et monitu. torpet altera turba metu.
Amplexatur aues ulnis uictoria letis,
Pro titulo penam transfuga sumat auis.

The eagle’s virtue arms the birds and fills them with strength
and with monition. The other troop is torpid with fear.
Victory embraces the birds with joyful arms,
let the deserter-bird take a penalty as a title.

Vellere nuda suo pro plumis uellera uestit,
Edictumque subit, ne nisi nocte uolet.
Non bonus est ciuis, qui prefert ciuibus hostem.
Vtiliter seruit nemo duobus heris.

Naked of her own fleece, instead of plumes she clothes herself with fleeces,
and she submits to an edict, that she may fly only at night.
He is not a good citizen who prefers the enemy to the citizens.
No one serves usefully two masters.

45. De filomena et accipitre

45. On the nightingale and the hawk

Dum filomena sedet, studium mouet oris amenum
Sic sibi, sic nido uisa placere suo.
Inpetit accipiter nidum. pro pignore mater
Supplicat.

While Philomela sits, she moves the pleasant study of her mouth
thus to herself, thus she seemed to please her own nest.
A hawk assails the nest. For her offspring the mother
supplicates.

alter ait: Plus prece carmen amo.
Nec prece nec precio, sed ameno flectere cantu
Me potes. Ille silet, dulcius illa canit.

the other says: I love song more than prayer.
Neither by prayer nor by price, but with a charming chant you can bend me.
He is silent, she sings more sweetly.

Mente gemit, licet ore canat, mens eius acescit,
Cuius mellifluum manat ab ore melos.
Inpia fatur auis: Sordet modus iste canoris,
Et laniat natum, matre uidente, suum.
Mater obit, nec obire potest.

She groans in mind, though she sing with the mouth; her mind sours,
whose mellifluous melody flows from her mouth.
The impious bird speaks: This mode of canorous song is sordid,
and he rends his own offspring, the mother looking on.
The mother dies, nor can she die.

sic uiuit, ut ipsam
Vincat uita necem, plus nece cladis habens.
Cor matris patitur plus nati corpore. corpus
Rodit auis rostro, cor fodit ense dolor.

thus she lives, such that life vanquishes death itself, having more calamity than death.
The mother's heart suffers more than the son's body. the body
the bird gnaws with its beak; pain pierces the heart with a sword.

Vestigat sua pena scelus. nam fraudibus uso
Aucupe fraudosam uiscus inescat auem.
Fine malo claudi mala uita meretur iniquus.

Its own penalty tracks the crime. for, using frauds,
the fowler baits the fraud-beguiled bird with birdlime.
With an evil end, the iniquitous man merits that his evil life be closed.

Qua capit insontes, se dolet arte capi.

By the art with which he captures the innocent, he laments that he himself is captured.

46. De lupo et uulpe

46. On the wolf and the fox

Ditat preda lupum, ducit lupus ocia longo
Fausta cibo. uulpes inuidet, ista mouet:
Frater, aue. miror cur tanto tempore mecum
Non fueris.

Booty enriches the wolf; the wolf, favored with food, leads leisure for a long time
Auspicious. The fox envies; she stirs this up:
Brother, hail. I marvel why for so great a time with me
You have not been.

nequeo non memor esse tui.
Ille refert: Pro me uigilet tua cura, precari
Numina non cessas, ne mea uita ruat.
Fraude tamen munita uenis, falsoque uenenum
Melle tegis.

I cannot but be mindful of you.
He replies: May your care keep vigil for me; you do not cease to pray
to the numina, lest my life be ruined.
Yet you come fortified with fraud, and with false honey you cloak
the venom.

dolor est copia nostra tibi.
Extorquere paras aliquid, furtumque minaris,
Sed mea furtiuam respuit esca gulam.
Spreta redit, spretam stimulat dolor, apta dolori
Fraus subit, ad pecorum transuolat illa ducem.

Our abundance is a grief to you.
You prepare to extort something, and you menace theft,
But my bait rejects the thievish gullet.
Spurned, she returns; grief goads the spurned one, apt to grief—
Fraud creeps in, and she flies across to the leader of the herd.

Hunc monet hijs uerbis: Tua gracia muneris instar
Sit michi, namque lupum dat mea cura tibi.
Hostem perde tuum. tuto iacet hostis in antro.

He admonishes him with these words: Your grace, in the likeness of a gift,
let it be to me, for my care gives the wolf to you.
Destroy your enemy. Safely the enemy lies in the cave.

Vir fauet. antra petit, hic necat ense lupum.
Ista lupi consumit opes, sed floret ad horam
Vita nocens.

The man favors. he seeks the caves, here he kills the wolf with a sword.
That consumes the wolf’s resources, but for an hour the Nocent Life flourishes.

Vulpes casse retenta gemit:
Cur nocui? nocet ecce michi nocuisse nociuo.
Iure cado, cuius concidit arte lupus.

The fox, retained in the trap, groans:
Why did I harm? Behold, it is noxious to me to have harmed the noxious one.
I fall justly, I, by whose art the wolf fell.

Viuere de rapto uitam rapit. inuidus instans
Alterius dampnis, in sua dampna redit.

To live on rapine snatches away life. The invidious man, pressing on another’s damage,
returns to damage of his own.

47. De ceruo tibiis, et cornibus

47. On the deer’s tibiae, and horns

Fons nitet argento similis. sitis arida ceruum
Huc rapit, haurit aquas, se speculatur aquis.
Hunc beat, hunc mulcet ramose gloria frontis.

The fountain shines, similar to silver. arid thirst the stag
hither carries; he draws the waters, he gazes at himself in the waters.
Him the ramose glory of his forehead gladdens, him it soothes.

Hunc premit, hunc ledit tibia macra pedum.
Ecce canes, tonat ira canum. timet ille, timenti
Fit fuga.

Him the lean tibia of the feet presses, him it injures.
Behold the dogs; the wrath of the dogs thunders. He fears; for the one fearing
it becomes flight.

culpati cruris adorat opem.
Silue claustra subit, cornu retinente moratur,
Crure neci raptum cornua longa necant.
Spernere quod prosit et amare quod obsit ineptum est.

he adores the help of the leg he had blamed.
He enters the barriers of the forest; with the horn holding him back, he is delayed,
His long horns kill him, carried off by his leg for death.
To spurn what may profit and to love what may harm is inept.

Prodest quod fugimus, et quod amamus obest.

What we flee profits, and what we love harms.

48. De uiro et uxore

48. On the husband and wife

Dum uir et uxor amant, uxorem priuat amato
Parca uiro, nec eam priuat amore uiri.
Coniugis amplectens tumulum pro coniuge uexat
Vngue genas, oculos fletibus, ora sono.
Hanc iuuat ipse dolor, nequit hac de sede reuelli
Grandine seu tenebris seu prece siue minis.

While husband and wife love, the Parca deprives the wife of her beloved husband,
and she does not deprive her of the love of the husband.
Embracing her consort’s tomb in place of the consort, she vexes
with her nail her cheeks, with tears her eyes, with sound her mouth.
The pain itself helps her; she cannot be torn away from this seat
by hail or by darkness or by prayer or by threats.

Ecce reum dampnat iudex, crux horrida punit.
In cruce custodit tempore noctis eques.
Hic sitit, ad tumulum uocat hunc et clamor et ignis,
Orat aque munus.

Behold, the judge condemns the accused; the horrid cross punishes.
At the cross a knight keeps guard in the time of night.
Here he thirsts; to the tomb both clamor and fire call this man,
he prays for the gift of water.

hec dat et ille bibit.
Egrum nectareis audet cor inungere uerbis,
Hunc uocat ad primum cura timoris opus.
Sed redit et dulces monitus intexat amaro
Cordi.

she gives this and he drinks.
the heart dares to anoint the sick man with nectareous words,
care of fear calls him to the first work.
but she returns and weaves sweet admonitions into the bitter
heart.

uicta subit castra doloris amor.
Vir metuens furi furem, suspendia furis
Visit, sed uiduam tactus amore petit.
Hanc ligat amplexu fructumque ligurit amoris.

Love, conquered, enters the camp of sorrow.
A man, dreading a thief as a thief does, visits the thief’s hanging, but, touched by love, seeks the widow.
He binds her with an embrace, and he licks up the fruit of love.

Hinc redit ad furem, sed loca fure carent.
Hic dolet, hoc questu dolor hic instigat amicam:
Non bene seruato fure, timore premor.
Rex michi seruandum dederat, me regius ensis
Terret, et extorrem me iubet esse timor."
Hec ait: Inueni, que spem tibi suscitet, artem.

From here he returns to the thief, but the places lack the thief.
Here he grieves; with this complaint this pain instigates his lady-friend:
With the thief not well kept, I am pressed by fear.
The king had given him to me to be kept; the royal sword
terrifies me, and fear bids me to be an exile."
She says this: I have found an art which may arouse hope for you.

Vir meus inplebit in cruce furis honus.
Ipsa uiri bustum reserat, pro fure cathenat
Ipsa uirum, restem subligat ipsa uiro.
Huic merito succumbit eques.

My husband will make up the thief’s burden upon the cross.
She herself unbars her husband’s tomb; in place of the thief she herself chains
the man; she herself ties the rope beneath to the man.
To her the knight, deservedly, yields.

succumbit amori
Illa nouo, ligat hos firmus amore thorus.
Sola premit uiuosque metu penaque sepultos
Femina. femineum nil bene finit opus.

he succumbs to love
She to a new one, the firm marriage-bed binds these with love.
Alone she oppresses the living and the buried with fear and punishment
Woman. no feminine work finishes well.

49. De iuuene et Thayde

49. On the young man and Thais

Arte sua Thays iuuenes irretit, amorem
Fingit, et ex ficto fructus amore uenit.
A multis fert multa procis, ex omnibus unum
Eligit, huic ueri spondet amoris opes.
Sum tua, sisque meus, cupio.

By her art Thais ensnares youths, she feigns love,
and from feigned love there comes the fruit.
From many suitors she bears many things; out of all she chooses one,
for him she pledges the wealth of true love.
I am yours, and be mine, I desire.

plus omnibus unum
Te uolo, sed nolo munus habere tuum.
Percipit ille dolos et reddit qualia sumpsit:
Sis mea, simque tuus. nos decet equs amor.

more than all others, one
You I want, but I do not wish to have your gift.
He perceives the wiles and returns such as he had taken:
Be mine, and let me be yours. A fair, equal love befits us.

Viuere non uellem, nisi mecum uiuere uelles.
Tu michi sola salus, tu michi sola quies.
Sed falli timeo, quia me tua lingua fefellit,
Preteriti racio scire futura facit.

I would not wish to live, unless you were willing to live with me.
You are my sole salvation, you are my sole quiet.
But I fear to be deceived, because your tongue has deceived me,
The reasoning of the past makes one know the future.

Vitat auis taxum, quam gustu teste probauit.
Fallere uult hodie, si qua fefellit heri.
Thayda si quis amat, sua, non se, credat amari.

The bird avoids the yew, which it has proved—with taste as witness.
She wants to deceive today, if she deceived at all yesterday.
If anyone loves Thais, let him believe that his goods, not himself, are loved.

Thays amore caret, munus amantis amat.

Thays lacks love; she loves the lover's gift.

50. De patre et filio

50. On the father and the son

Est pater, huic natus. hic patri cedere nescit,
Nam fugienda facit et facienda fugit.
Mens uaga discurrit et menti consonat etas:
Mentis et etatis turbine frena fugit.

There is a father; to him a son is born. this one does not know how to yield to the father,
For he does what should be fled and flees what should be done.
The wandering mind runs about, and age is consonant with the mind:
And in the whirlwind of mind and of age he escapes the reins.

Ira senis punit pro nati crimine seruos,
Instruit ista senem fabula nota seni.
Cauta bouem uitulumque manus supponit aratro.
Hic subit, ille iugum pellit.

An old man’s ire punishes the servants for the son’s crime,
This tale, familiar to the old man, instructs the old man.
A cautious hand puts beneath the plow the ox and the calf.
This one goes under; that one drives off the yoke.

arator ait:
Gaude, letus ara, tu quem domat usus arandi.
A boue maiore discat arare minor.
Non placet, ut sudes, sed des exempla minori,
Qui pede, qui cornu pugnat abire iugo.

the ploughman says:
Rejoice; plow gladly, you whom the practice of plowing tames.
Let the lesser learn to plow from the greater ox.
It is not pleasing that you should sweat, but that you should give examples to the younger,
who fights with hoof, who with horn, to get away from the yoke.

Sic domat indomitum domitoque boue cautus arator,
Sic ueterem sequitur iunior ille bouem.
Proficit exempli merito cautela docendi,
Maiorique sua credat in arte minor.

Thus the cautious plowman subdues the untamed with a tamed ox,
thus the junior follows that veteran ox.
The caution of teaching by example makes progress deservedly,
and let the lesser trust the greater in his own art.

51. De uipera et de lima

51. On the viper and the file

Vipera fabrilem dapis anxia tendit in edem,
Incipit hec limam rodere, lima loqui:
Nescis posse meum, que sit mea gloria nescis.
Dente meo pateris, non ego dente tuo.
In tenuem ferrum forti molo dente farinam,
Et cadit attritu dura farina meo.

The viper, anxious for a smith’s viand, makes for the house;
she begins to gnaw the file, the file begins to speak:
You do not know my power; you do not know what my glory is.
You suffer from my tooth; I do not from your tooth.
I mill iron into fine flour with my strong tooth,
and hard flour falls by my attrition.

Ferrea parcenti castigo tubera morsu,
Aspera plano, seco longa, foranda foro.
Deliras igitur, cum dente minaris inhermi.
Rideo, quod ferior.

I chastise iron swellings with a sparing bite,
I plane the rough, I cut the long, I bore what is to be bored.
You rave, therefore, when you threaten with an unarmed tooth.
I laugh, because I am fiercer.

uulnera ferre gemis.
Fortem fortis amet, nam fortem forcior angit.
Maiori timeat obuius ire minor.

you groan to bear wounds.
let the brave love the brave, for the braver distresses the brave.
let the lesser fear to go to meet the greater.

52. De lupis et ouibus

52. On wolves and sheep

Pugna lupis opponit oues, ouiumque satelles
Est canis, est ueruex. hac ope fidit ouis.
Palma diu dormit, desperat turba luporum,
Et simulans fedus federe temptat ouem.

The fight sets sheep against wolves, and the attendant of the sheep
is the dog, is the wether. With this aid the sheep trusts.
The palm of victory sleeps for a long time, the pack of wolves despairs,
and, feigning a pact, with a pact it tries the sheep.

Fedus utrumque fides iurato numine fulsit,
Id lupus, id simplex obside firmat ouis,
Datque lupis male sana canes, recipitque luporum
Pignora. nec metuit nec sua dampna uidet.
Dum natura iubet natos ululare lupinos,
Turba lupina furit, federa rupta querens.

Faith, with a sworn numen, has upheld the pact on both sides,
the wolf confirms it, the simple sheep confirms it, with a hostage,
and, ill-advised, she gives the dogs to the wolves, and receives the wolves’
pledges. She neither fears nor sees her own losses.
While nature bids the wolfish whelps to howl,
the wolfish crowd rages, complaining that the pacts are broken.

Ergo pecus tutoris egens in uiscera mergit.
Preside nuda suo sic tumulatur ouis.
Tutorem retinere suum tutissima res est.

Therefore the flock, in need of a tutor, plunges into the bowels.
Thus the sheep, bare of its own protector, is entombed.
To retain one’s own tutor is the safest thing.

Nam si tutor abest, hostis obesse potest.

For if the tutor is absent, the enemy can harm.

53. De uiro et securi

53. On the man and the axe

Quo teneatur, eget nil ausa secare securis.
Armat eam lucus, uir rogat. ille facit.

It needs something by which it may be held; the axe has dared to cut nothing.
The grove arms her; the man asks. That one does it.

Vir nemus inpugnat lassans in cede securim.
Arboris omne genus una ruina trahit.
Lucus ait: Pereo.

A man assails the grove, wearing out the axe in the felling.
One ruin draws along every kind of tree.
The grove says: I perish.

michimet sum causa pericli,
Me necat ex dono rustica dextra meo.
Vnde perire queas, hostem munire caueto.
Qui dat quo pereat, quem iuuat hoste perit.

to myself i am the cause of peril,
the rustic right hand kills me by my own gift.
beware to fortify an enemy with that whereby you may be able to perish.
he who gives that by which he will perish, by the enemy whom he helps he perishes.

54. De cane et lupo

54. On the dog and the wolf

Cum cane silua lupum sociat. Lupus inquit: Amena
Pelle nites, in te copia sancta patet.
Pro uerbis dat uerba canis: Me ditat herilis
Gracia, cum domino me cibat ipsa domus.

With the dog the forest associates the wolf. The wolf says: Pleasant,
you shine with a Pelt; in you a sacred plenty lies open.
In return for words the dog gives words: The Master's Grace enriches me,
and along with my lord the house itself feeds me.

Nocte uigil fures latratu nuncio, tutam
Seruo domum. michi dat culmus in edo thorum.
Hec mouet ore lupus: Cupio me uiuere tecum,
Communem capiant ocia nostra cibum.

At night I keep vigil, I announce thieves by my barking; I keep the house safe.
The straw gives me a couch in the house.
The wolf utters this with his mouth: I desire to live with you; let our leisure take food in common.

Reddit uerba canis: Cupio te uiuere mecum.
Vna dabit nobis mensa manusque cibum.
Ille fauet sequiturque canem, gutturque caninum
Respicit et querit: Cur cecidere pili?

The dog returns words: I desire you to live with me.
One table and hand will give us food.
He favors and follows the dog, and he looks at the canine throat
and asks: Why have the hairs fallen?

Inquit: Ne ualeam morsu peccare diurno,
Vincla diurna fero, nocte iubente uagor.
Reddet uerba lupus: Non est michi copia tanti,
Vt fieri seruus uentris amore uelim.
Dicior est liber mendicus diuite seruo.

He says: Lest I be able to sin by a daytime bite,
I bear daytime bonds; at night's bidding I wander.
The wolf replies: It is not worth so much to me,
that I should wish to become a slave for love of the belly.
A free mendicant is richer than a wealthy slave.

Servuus habet nec se nec nec sua, liber habet.
Libertas, predulce bonum, bona cetera condit.
Qua nisi conditur, nil sapit esca michi.

A slave has neither himself nor his own; the free man has them.
Liberty, a very-sweet good, seasons the other goods.
Without which, unless it be seasoned by it, food has no savor for me.

Libertas animi cibus est et uera uoluptas.
Qua qui diues erit, dicior esse nequit.
Nolo uelle meum pro turpi uendere lucro.

Liberty of mind is food and true delight.
Whereby he who is rich cannot be richer.
I do not wish to sell my will for base lucre.

Has qui uendit opes, hic agit ut sit inops.
Non bene pro toto libertas uenditur auro,
Hoc celeste bonum preterit orbis opes.

He who sells these riches, he acts so as to be indigent.
Liberty is not well sold for all the gold,
This celestial good surpasses the world’s opulence.

55. De uentre et membris

55. On the belly and the members

Incusant auidi pes et manus ocia uentris:
Omnia solus habes lucra, labore cares.
Nos labor edomuit, te fouit inhercia. sorbes
Omnia, que nostri cura laboris emit.

The avid foot and hand accuse the idleness of the belly:
you alone have all the profits; you are without labor.
Labor has subdued us; inertia has cherished you. you slurp
all things which the care of our labor has bought.

Disce pati famis acre iugum, uel disce labori
Cedere, teque tui cura laboris alat.
Sic uentri seruire negant. se uenter inanem
Comperit, orat opem, nil dat auara manus.

Learn to endure the sharp yoke of famine, or learn to yield to labor,
and let the care of your own labor nourish you.
Thus they refuse to serve the belly. When the belly discovers itself empty,
it begs for aid; the avaricious hand gives nothing.

Ille preces iterat, iterum fugit illa precantem.
In stomachi fundo torpet obitque calor,
Victa fame natura fugit, uis arida fauces
Obserat et solitum non sinat ire cibum.
Vult epulas dare sera manus, sed corporis egri
Perdita non reparans machina tota perit.

He reiterates his prayers; again she flees the suppliant.
In the depth of the stomach the heat grows torpid and dies,
Nature, conquered by hunger, flees; arid force bars the throat
and does not allow the customary food to go.
The tardy hand wishes to give banquets, but the machine of the ailing body
not repairing what has been lost, wholly perishes.

Nemo sibi satis est. eget omnis amicus amico.
Si non uis alii parcere, parce tibi.

No one is sufficient for himself. Every friend is in need of a friend.
If you do not wish to spare another, spare yourself.

56. De simia et uulpe

56. On the ape and the fox

Simia de turpi queritur nate. porrigit aures
Vulpes, non recipit mente, sed aure preces.
Simia sic fatur: Natis ut michi dedecus ornem,
Sufficeret caude pars michi parua tue.

The ape complains about an ugly offspring. extends her ears
Fox, she does not receive the prayers in mind, but by ear.
The ape thus speaks: that I may adorn for myself the disgrace of my offspring,
a small part of your tail would suffice for me.

Quid prodest nimia campos insculpere cauda?
Quod michi prodesset, est tibi pondus inhers.
Illa refert: Nimio dampnas de pondere caudam.

What profit is there to insculp the fields with an over-large tail?
That which would profit me is to you an inert weight.
She replies: You damn the tail for its excessive weight.

Est breuis estque leuis. hec duo dampna queror.
Malo uerrat humum, quam sit tibi causa decoris,
Quam tegat inmundas res bene munda nates.

It is short and it is light: these two damages I complain of.
I would rather it sweep the ground, than be for you a cause of decor,
than that it cover unclean things—your well-clean buttocks.

Id nimium nimioque minus ditaret egenum,
Quod nimium minimo credis, auare, minus.

That would enrich a needy man too much, and by far too much be less—
what you, miser, reckon as less than the very minimum.

57. De institore et asino

57. On the peddler and the ass

Dum fora festinus lucro petit, instat asello
Institor et pressum pondere fuste premit.
Ille necem sperat nece promittente quietem,
Sed nece completa uiuere pena potest.
Nam cum bella facit et tympana pellis aselli,
Hic lassatur et hec pulsa tonante manu.

While, hastening, the huckster seeks the fora for lucre, he presses upon the little ass
and, pressed by the burden, he presses him with a club.
He hopes for death, with death promising quiet,
but, death accomplished, he can live as a penalty.
For when wars make their timpani and the hide of the little ass makes them,
here he is wearied alive, and this, struck by a thundering hand, is too.

Cui sua uita nocet, caueat sibi rumpere uitam.
Non nece, sed meriti iure quiescit homo.

He whose own life harms him, let him beware of breaking his life himself.
Not by violent death, but by the right of merit does a man find rest.

58. De ceruo

58. On the stag

Motus uoce canum ceruus fugit, auia silue
Deserit, arua tenet, claustra bouina subit.
Bos ait: Aut luci tenebras aut equora campi
Tucius intrares, hinc piger, inde leuis.
Huc ueniet custosque boum stabulique magister.

Moved by the voice of the hounds, the stag flees, the trackless parts of the wood
he deserts, he holds to the fields, he enters the bovine enclosures.
The ox says: Either the darkness of the grove or the level expanses of the plain
you would enter more safely, here sluggish, there light.
Hither will come the guardian of the cattle and the master of the stable.

Si duo uel tantum te uidet alter, obis.
Ceruus ait: Michi uestra necem clemencia demat.
Condite me latebris, dum iuuet umbra fugam.

If two, or even only one other, sees you, you die.
The stag says: May your clemency remove my death from me.
Hide me in hiding-places, while the shade helps my flight.

Hunc tumulat fenum. Presepe reuisit arator,
Frondibus et feno munit alitque boues.
Hic redit ac ceruus uitasse pericula gaudet,
Bobus agit grates.

The hay mounds him over. The ploughman revisits the manger,
and with foliage and hay he fortifies and nourishes the oxen.
Here he returns, and the stag rejoices to have avoided dangers,
he gives thanks to the oxen.

E quibus unus ait:
Est leue, uitare cecum. si uenerit Argus,
Argum si poteris fallere, uictor eris.
Centum fert oculos.

One of them says:
It is light, to avoid the blind. if Argus comes,
Argus, if you can deceive him, you will be victor.
He bears a hundred eyes.

cui se debere fatentur
Et domus et serui totaque iura loci.
Res tua te reperit Argum, res altera cecum.
Qui tibi dormitat scit uigilare sibi.

to whom both the house and the servants and all the rights of the place confess that they owe themselves
And the house and the servants and all the rights of the place confess that they owe themselves.
Your affair finds you an Argus, another’s affair, blind.
He who dozes for you knows to keep vigil for himself.

Hic silet. Argus init stabulum bobusqe ministrat.
Plus equo tenues uiderat esse boues.

Here he is silent. Argus enters the stable and ministers to the cattle.
He had seen the oxen to be thinner than the horse.

Dum munit presepe cibo, dum fulgurat ira,
Ausa uidere diem cornua longa uidet.
Quid latet hic? quid, ait, uideo?

While he fortifies the manger with food, while his anger flashes,
having dared to behold the day, he sees long horns.
“What lies hidden here? What do I see?” he says.

sentitque latentem,
Et bona fortune munera letus habet.
Exulis est non esse suum, uigilare potentis,
Stertere seruorum, uelle iuuare pii.

and he senses the latent one,
And, glad, he holds the good gifts of fortune.
It is the exile’s not to be his own, to keep vigil for the powerful,
To snore is for servants, to will to help is for the pious.

59. De iudeo et pincerna

59. On the jew and the cupbearer

Fert iudeus opes, sed honus fert pectore maius.
Intus adurit eum cura, laborque foris.
Ergo metu dampni sibi munere regis amorem
Firmat, ut accepto preduce tutus eat.

The Jew bears wealth, but he bears an onus greater in his breast.
Within, care sears him, and labor without.
Therefore, from fear of loss he strengthens for himself favor by the king’s gift,
so that, with a guide received, he may go safe.

Regius hunc pincerna regit, cor cuius adurit
Auri dira sitis, qui parat ense nefas.
Silua patet, subeunt. Iudeus in ore sequentis
Cor notat: Ipse sequar, inquit.

The royal cupbearer directs this man, whose heart the dire thirst of gold burns,
who prepares a nefarious deed with the sword.
The forest lies open; they go in. The Jew marks, on the face of the one following,
the heart: “I myself will follow,” he says.

at ille negat
Et gladium nudans: Nemo sciet, inquit, obito.
Ille refert : Scelus hoc ista loquetur auis.
Prosilit a dumo perdix.

but he refuses
And, unsheathing the sword: No one will know, he says, once you are dead.
He replies : This crime that bird there will tell.
A partridge leaps out from the thornbush.

hanc indice signat.
Alter ait : Scelus hoc ista loquetur auis?
Et rapit ense caput et opes petit et scrobe funus
Celat.

he marks this one with his index finger.
The other says : Will that bird speak of this crime?
And with the sword he snatches the head and seeks the wealth, and the corpse in a pit
he conceals.

agit celeres annus in orbe rotas.
Perdices domini cene pincerna ministrat,
Ridet et a risu uix uacat ille suo.
Rex audire sitit . hic differt dicere causam.

the year drives swift wheels in the orb.
The cupbearer serves partridges for the lord’s dinner,
He laughs, and scarcely is he vacant from his own laughter.
The king thirsts to hear . this one defers to say the cause.

Fit locus, ambo sedent. hic petit, ille refert.
Rex dolet et leto mentitur gaudia uultu.

Room is made, both sit. This one asks, that one replies.
The king grieves and feigns joys with a glad visage.

Regis consilium consiliumque sedet.
Pincernam crucis esse reum sentencia prodit,
Crux punit meritum iure fauente cruci.
Vt perimas quenquam, nullum tibi swadeat aurum.

The king’s council sits, and counsel too is settled.
The sentence proclaims the cupbearer to be guilty to the cross,
The cross punishes the deserved desert, with Right favoring the cross.
Let no gold persuade you to make anyone perish.

Nam decus et uitam mesta ruina rapit.

For mournful ruin snatches away honor and life.

60. De ciue et equite

60. On the citizen and the equestrian

Ciuis, eques sub rege uigent. hic prelia regis,
Hic dispensat opes. hic uir et ille senex.

The citizen, the equestrian thrive under the king. this one fights the king’s battles,
This one dispenses wealth. this one a man and that one an old man.

Inuidie perflata genis innata doloris
Flammis fax iuuenem torret honore senis.
Regis in aure truces figit de ciue susurras.
Est tibi non pastor, sed lupus ille senex.

Blown across the cheeks by Envy, with innate flames of dolor,
the torch sears the youth at the honor of the old man.
He fixes grim whispers about the citizen in the king’s ear.
For you he is not a shepherd, but that elder is a wolf.

Ditant furta senem, creuit sua copia furtis,
Est sua de censu gaza recisa tuo.
Firmabo mea uerba manu, sua furta fateri
Hunc faciam. bello iudice uerus ero.

Thefts enrich the old man; his abundance has grown by thefts,
his treasure has been cut out of your revenue.
I will confirm my words by my hand; I shall make
this man confess his thefts. With combat as judge I shall be true.

Cum moueant obiecta senem, plus debilis etas
Hunc mouet et senii crimine uisus hebes.
Parcunt iura seni, si pro sene pugnat amicus
Cui nullius odor fenoris arma probat.
Mendicat pugilem, sed abest qui pugnet amicus.

When the charges move the old man, yet his more feeble age moves him more,
and his vision, dull with the charge of senility.
The laws spare the old man, if a friend fights for the old man
whose arms the odor of no usury approves.
He begs for a champion, but the friend who would fight is absent.

Nam refugit uiso turbine falsus amor.
Dum fortuna tonat, fugitiuos terret amicos,
Et quis amet, quis non, sola procella docet.
Cena trahit ciuem, differt nox una duellum,
Sollicitat mentem iusta querela senis:
Quos meritis emi, multos michi fecit amicos
Longa dies, cunctos abstulit hora breuis.

For at the sight of the whirlwind false love flees.
While Fortune thunders, it frightens friends into flight,
and who loves, who does not, the tempest alone teaches.
Dinner draws the citizen, a single night defers the duel,
the just complaint of the old man solicits the mind:
Those whom by merits I bought, a long day made many friends for me—
a brief hour has taken all away.

De tot amicorum populo non restitit unus,
Quamque dedi multis, nemo repensat opem.
Rebar pace frui, mea paci congruit etas.
Sed mea turbauit gaudia liuor edax.

Out of so great a populace of friends not a single one stood his ground,
and the help which I gave to many, no one recompenses.
I thought to enjoy peace; my age is congruent with peace.
But devouring envy has disturbed my joys.

Hosti multa meo palmam pepigere. tepesco,
Ille calet. careo uiribus, ille uiget.

Many things have secured the palm for my enemy; I grow tepid,
He is hot. I lack strength, he thrives.

Arma parum noui, se totum prebuit armis.
Est michi uisus hebes, uisus acutus ei.
Nil michi prebet opem nisi iuste gracia cause.
De fragili queritur preside causa potens.

I know arms too little; he has given himself wholly to arms.
My vision is dull, his vision keen.
Nothing offers me aid except the just grace of the cause.
The potent cause complains of a fragile president.

Corporis eclipsim timet alti copia cordis,
Nam fragili peccat mens animosa manu.
Si turpes nitide mendax infamia uite
Infigit maculas, quid nituisse iuuat?
Desperat lugetque senex.

The copiousness of a lofty heart fears an eclipse of the body,
For the spirited mind sins with a fragile hand.
If the mendacious infamy of life neatly infixes foul stains
it fixes stains, what does it avail to have shone?
The old man despairs and laments.

hunc lenit arator,
Qui senis arua nouat, annua lucra ferens.
Me stimulat pietas pro te perferre duellum,
Est michi pro domino dextra parata meo.
Ecce dies oritur, locus est tempusque duello.

the plowman lenifies him,
who renovates the old man’s fields, bringing yearly lucre.
Piety stimulates me to carry through a duel for you,
my right hand stands prepared for my lord.
Behold, the day arises; it is the place and the time for the duel.

Stant pugiles. inhiant mente manuque sibi.
Est equiti fedum, quod stet, quod pugnat, arator,
Seque putat uictum, ni cito uincat eum.

The pugilists stand. they gape in mind and hand for themselves.
It is foul for the horseman to stand still, while the plowman fights,
And he thinks himself conquered, unless he quickly conquers him.

Nil de se retinet uirtus oblita futuri,
Dextera corporeas prodiga fundit opes.
Ictus ipse suos steriles expendit in usus,
Et feriens hostem se magis ipse ferit.
Sed proprie uirtutis opes abscondit arator,
Dum locus expense detur et hora sue.

Virtue, forgetful of the future, retains nothing of itself,
the right hand, prodigal, pours out corporeal wealth.
He himself expends his blows to sterile uses,
and striking the foe, he strikes himself the more.
But properly the ploughman hides the resources of virtue,
while a place for outlay and his own hour are given.

Aut motu fallit aut armis temperat ictus,
Predicitque minas frontis utrumque iubar.
Dormitans uigilat et cessans cogitat ictus,
Et metuens audet dextra notatque locum.
Hec mora non artis racio, sed culpa timoris
Creditur.

Either he deceives by motion or tempers the blows with arms,
and both beams of the brow predict the menaces.
Dozing he keeps vigil, and ceasing he cogitates the blows,
and, fearing, he dares, and with his right hand marks the place.
This delay is believed not the reason of art, but the fault of fear.

arte fruens esse uidetur inhers.
Gaudet eques uicisse putans, spernitque bubulcum,
Sudoremque suum tergit ab ore suo.
Ecce moram nescit, equitem speculata morantem
In cubiti nodum rustica claua ferit.

enjoying the art, he appears inert.
The horseman rejoices, thinking he has conquered, and he scorns the plowman,
and wipes his sweat from his face.
Behold, it knows no delay, having watched the delaying horseman
the rustic club strikes the knot of the elbow.

Huius plaga loci tocius corporis aufert
Robur. cedit eques seque cadente sedet.
O noua simplicitas!

A blow to this spot takes away the strength of the whole body.
The horseman yields and, himself falling, sits.
O new simplicity!

sedet ipse uocatque sedentem,
Et nisi surgat eques, surgere uelle negat.
Surge, bubulcus ait. Cui miles: Surgere nolo.

he himself sits and calls the one sitting,
And, unless the horseman should rise, he says he is unwilling to rise.
Rise,' says the cowherd. To whom the soldier: 'I do not wish to rise.'

Alter ait: Sedeas, meque sedere licet.
Turba stupet. Prefectus adest, equitique moranti
Imperat, ut surgat aut superatus eat.

Another says: Sit, and it is permitted for me to sit.
The crowd is stupefied. The Prefect arrives, and to the tarrying knight
he gives the order to rise, or to go off overcome.

Heret eques. Prefectus ait: Te uicit arator.
Pugna cadit.

The horseman hesitates. The Prefect says: The plowman has vanquished you.
The fight is decided.

Regi panditur ordo rei.
Rex ait: Incisum nodo, prefecte, duellum,
Dedecus explanet ille uel ille suum.
Pugna redit, milesque sedet uelut ante sedebat.

To the king the order of the matter is laid open.
The king says: The duel is cut by a knot, Prefect,
Let this man or that explain his own disgrace.
The fight returns, and the soldier sits as he was sitting before.

Surge, bubulcus ait. Non uolo, reddit eques.
Cultor ait: Dum stare negas, ego stare negabo.

Get up, says the oxherd. I do not wish to, the horseman replies.
The cultivator says: While you refuse to stand, I will refuse to stand.

Surgere si temptas, surgere promptus ero.
Ambo sedent, ridet populus, presesque bubulco
Intonat: Aut pugnes aut fuge. tempus abit.

If you attempt to rise, I will be prompt to rise.
Both sit, the populace laughs, and the prefect to the cowherd
Thunders: Either fight or flee. Time passes.

Cultor ait: Surgat. caderet, si surgere uellet.
Percute, preses ait, percute, surget eques.

The cultivator says: Let him rise. He would fall, if he wished to rise.
Strike, the president says, strike, the horseman will rise.

Te decet aut illum uicti sibi ponere nomen.
Hoc michi non ponam nomen, arator ait.
Surgo, surge, miser!

It befits you or that man to put upon himself the name of the vanquished.
'I will not put this name upon myself,' says the ploughman.
I rise; rise, wretch!

nam turpe ferire sedentem
Est michi, sitque tibi turpe sedendo mori.
Sic ait et timidum mulcet. rogat ille furentem:
Parce precor.

for it is shameful to strike one sitting
It is shameful to me, and let it be shameful to you, to die by sitting.
Thus he says and soothes the timid one. that one begs the raging man:
Spare, I pray.

uincor. supplico. uictor abi.

i am vanquished. i supplicate. victor, depart.

Leta nouat fortuna senem. senis unicus heres
Scribitur et dignas intrat arator opes.
Ius superat uires, sors aspera monstrat amicum.

Glad Fortune renews the old man. the old man’s sole heir
Is inscribed, and the ploughman enters worthy opulence.
Right overcomes forces; harsh lot demonstrates a friend.

Plus confert odio gracia, fraude fides.

Grace confers more than hatred, faith than fraud.

Fine fruor uersu gemino quod cogitat omnis
Fabula declarat datque quod intus habet.

In fine I enjoy the twin verse, what everyone thinks
the fable declares and gives what it has within.