Paulus Diaconus: Fabulae

Aegrum fama fuit quondam iacuisse leonem
paeneque supremos iam tenuisse dies.
Iste feras dum rumor adit maestissimus omnes,
regem namque suum intoleranda pati,
concurrunt flentes cunctae medicosque vocantes,
ne careant tanto principis auxilio.
Hic aderant bubali, magni quoque corporis uri,
asper adest taurus, affuerantque boves,
discolor et pardus necnon pariter platocervus,
hic sonipes pariter hoc comitatus iter.

It was the report that once a sick lion had lain,
and had almost already held his last days.
While this most mournful rumor reaches all the wild beasts,
for their king was suffering things unbearable,
they all run together weeping and calling for physicians,
lest they lack so great a help of their prince.
Here were present buffaloes, and aurochs of mighty body as well,
the rough bull is present, and oxen were there too,
the varicolored pard and likewise the broad‑antlered stag,
here the thunder‑footed steed likewise accompanied this journey.

His nec defuerant monstrantes cornua cervi,
capreolique simul, caprigenumque pecus;
dentibus hic aper est fulgentibus, asper et ursus
unguibus haud sectis, hic lepus atque lupus.
Huc veniunt linces, huc confluxere bidentes,
iungunturque canes atque simul catuli.
Vulpis sola tamen turmis non affuit istis,
nec dignata suum visere nam dominum.

Nor were stags, showing their antlers, lacking among these,
and roebucks as well, and the caprine herd;
here is a boar with gleaming teeth, and a rough bear
with claws not cut; here a hare and a wolf.
Hither come lynxes, hither there has flowed together the two‑toothed sheep,
and dogs are joined, and together the whelps.
The fox alone, however, was not present to these throngs,
nor did she deign to visit her lord.

Has tunc ante alios voces emittere fertur
ursus et has iterum sic iterare minas:
"O rex magne, potens, princeps invicte ferarum,
auribus haec placidis suscipe verba tuis,
Audiat atque cohors tota haec quae subdita magno,
o rex iuste, tuo noscitur imperio.
Quae tam dira fuit vulpi dementia quaeve
tantillam potuit ira subisse feram,
ut regem, quem cuncta sibi plebs subdita visit,
hunc haec sola quidem non adiisse velit?
Magna est ista quidem vulpis protervia mentis,
atque decet magnis subdier illa malis."
Haec dum dicta refert ursus, rex omnibus inquit:
"Iam moritura cito dilacerata cadat!"
Tunc plebs tota simul voces ad sidera tollit:
"Istum iudicium principis atque bonum!"
Hoc vulpi innotuit, se quae in plurima vertit,
atque diu notos praeparat ipsa dolos:
indumenta pedum multa et conscissa requirit
inponensque humeris regia castra petit.

It is reported that then before the others the bear emitted these voices and thus to repeat these threats:
“O great king, powerful, unconquered prince of the beasts,
receive these words with your placid ears,
And let also the whole cohort hear these things, which is known to be subject to your great—O just king—authority.
What so dire dementia was in the fox, or what anger could have entered so tiny a wild-beast,
that the king, whom all the plebs subject to him visits,
this one alone should indeed have been unwilling to approach?
Great indeed is that petulance of mind of the fox,
and it befits that she be subjected to great evils.”
While the bear is reporting these words, the king says before all:
“Now, about to die, let her quickly fall, lacerated!”
Then the whole populace together raises voices to the stars:
“This judgment of the prince—and good!”
This became known to the fox, who turns herself to very many devices,
and for a long time she herself prepares her well-known deceits:
she seeks many and torn garments of the feet,
and placing them upon her shoulders she makes for the royal camp.

Quam rex dum vidit, placato pectore risit,
exspectatque diu quid malefida velit.
Cumque ante ora ducum staret, sic rex prior inquit:
"Quid moritura feres, quae lanianda venis?"
Illa diu trepidans, timidoque in pectore versans
haec subiecta refert praecogitata cito:
"Rex pie, rex clemens, rex invictissime noster,
accipe nunc animo quae tibi dicta fero.
Haec, dum namque vias terrarum lustro per omnes
indumenta scidi ob studium medici,
Qui posset regis magno succurrere morbo,
atque tuis magnam demere maestitiam.

When the king saw her, with placated breast he smiled,
and long he waits to see what the faithless one may want.
And when she stood before the faces of the leaders, thus the king first said:
“What will you bring, destined to die, you who come to be lacerated?”
She, long trembling, and turning over in her timid breast,
reports quickly these premeditated things, in a submissive tone:
“Pious king, clement king, our most invincible king,
receive now in your spirit the words which I bear to you.
These: for while I survey the roads of the lands on every side,
I shredded garments on account of zeal for a physician,
who could succor the great disease of the king,
and remove great sadness from you.”

Tandem praecipuum medicum vix inveniebam,
sed tibi, rex, vereor dicere quae docuit."
Rex quoque ait: "Si vera refers, dulcissima vulpis,
dic mihi, quid citius dixerit hic medicus."
Vulpis ad haec ursi non immemor improba dixit:
"Cautius haec famulae suscipe verba tuae.
Ursino si te possum circumdare tergo,
non mora, languor abit sanaque vita redit."
Continuo iussu domini distenditur ursus
a sociis propriis detrahiturque cutis.
Qua cum gestirent obducere pelle leonem,
aufugit penitus languidus ille dolor.

At last I could hardly find a preeminent physician,
but to you, king, I fear to say what he taught."
The king also said: "If you report true things, sweetest fox,
tell me, what this physician said, quickly."
The shameless fox, not unmindful of the bear, said to these things:
"More cautiously receive these words of your handmaid.
If I can surround you with a bear’s back (hide),
without delay, the languor departs and a sound life returns."
Immediately, at the master’s order, the bear is stretched out
and by his own comrades the skin is drawn off.
When they were eager to cover the lion with this pelt,
that languishing pain fled utterly away.

At cum post ursum vulpis sic corpore nudum
viderat, haec laetis dicta refert animis:
"Quis dedit, urse pater, capite hanc gestare tyaram,
et manicas vestris quis dedit has manibus?"
Servulus ecce tuus depromit hos tibi versus.
Fabula quid possit ista, require valens.

But when, after the bear, the fox had thus seen him naked in body,
she reports these words with glad spirits:
"Who, father bear, has given to wear upon the head this tiara,
and who has given these sleeves to your hands?"
Behold, your little servant draws forth these verses for you.
Inquire, O mighty one, what this fable can effect.

II. Vitellus et ciconia.

2. The calf and the stork.

Quaerebat maerens matrem per prata vitellus.
Cruribus huic longis obvia venit avis,
dicit "Io frater, cur tristis pectore mugis,
vel cur turbatus florida rura teris?"
Cui sic respondit: "Soror, est iam tertia nunc lux,
quod lac non tetigi et famulentus eo."
Verba refert ales: "Ne cures talia, demens;
nam quia non suxi, tertius annus abit."
Ad quam indignatus fertur dixisse vitellus:
"Quo sis pasta cibo, en tua crura docent."

Sorrowing, a calf was seeking his mother through the meadows.
To him a bird with long shanks came to meet him,
she says, "Io, brother, why do you low, sad at heart,
or why, troubled, do you tread the flowery fields?"
To her he thus replied: "Sister, now it is already the third day,
that I have not touched milk, and I go famished."
The winged one returns these words: "Do not care about such things, foolish one;
for since I have not sucked, a third year passes."
At which, indignant, the calf is said to have said:
"By what food you have been fed, lo, your shanks teach."

III. Pulix et podagra.

3. The Flea and Gout.

Temporibus priscis pulix lacerasse potentes
dicitur atque inopes dira podagra viros.
Sed pulix noctu ditis dum carperet artus,
protinus adlato lumine captus erat.
Altera dum plantis sese occultaret egeni,
stare nequibat egens, fessa erat illa satis.

In former times the flea is said to have lacerated the powerful,
and dire podagra the needy men.
But while the flea by night was plucking at the rich man’s limbs,
straightway, with a light brought, it was seized.
While the other hid herself in the soles of the poor man,
the poor man could not stand; she was wearisome enough.

Sic quoque consumpti fatis agebantur amaris,
ille timore necis, illa labore viae.
Convenere simul, referunt sua damna vicissim
et placet alterne has agitare vices.
Divitis interea gressus lacerare podagra,
at pulix stratum coepit, egene, tuum;
hinc vacat et recubat.

Thus too, consumed by fates, they were driven by bitter lots,
he by fear of death, she by the toil of the road.
They came together at once, they report their losses in turn,
and it pleases them to ply these turns alternately.
Meanwhile gout to lacerate the rich man’s steps,
but the flea began, O needy one, your couch;
from here it has leisure and lies back.

Requies tibi magna, podagra, est.
Tu, pulix, tutus viscera fessa comes.

Great repose is yours, gout.
You, flea, are a safe companion to weary viscera.