Phaedrus: FABVLARVM AESOPIARVM LIBRI QVINQVE

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

Aesop the author discovered such material as he did,
this I have polished in senarian verses.
The little book has a double endowment: that it moves laughter
and that it admonishes the life of the prudent with counsel.
If anyone, however, should wish to calumniate,
on the ground that trees speak, not only wild beasts,
let him remember that we jest with feigned fables.

I. Lupus et Agnus

1. The Wolf and the Lamb

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

To the same stream the wolf and the lamb had come,
compelled by thirst. In the higher place stood the wolf,
and far lower the lamb. Then, with an impudent throat,
the brigand, incited, brought a cause for quarrel;
'Why,' he says, 'have you made the water turbid for me
as I drink?' The wool-bearer, fearful, in reply:
'How can I, I beg, do what you complain of, wolf?
The liquid runs down from you to my draughts.'
He, repelled by the forces of truth,
said, 'Six months before this you spoke ill to me.'
The lamb answered, 'Indeed, I was not yet born.'
'By Hercules, your father,' he says, 'spoke ill to me';
and so he seizes him and tears him to pieces by an unjust killing.
This fable was written on account of those men
who, with fictitious causes, oppress the innocent.

II. Ranae Regem Petunt

2. The Frogs Ask for a King

Athenae cum florerent aequis legibus,
procax libertas civitatem miscuit,
frenumque solvit pristinum licentia.
Hic conspiratis factionum partibus
arcem tyrannus occupat Pisistratus.
Cum tristem servitutem flerent Attici,
non quia crudelis ille, sed quoniam grave
omne insuetis onus, et coepissent queri,
Aesopus talem tum fabellam rettulit.
'Ranae, vagantes liberis paludibus,
clamore magno regem petiere ab Iove,
qui dissolutos mores vi compesceret.
Pater deorum risit atque illis dedit
parvum tigillum, missum quod subito vadi
motu sonoque terruit pavidum genus.
Hoc mersum limo cum iaceret diutius,
forte una tacite profert e stagno caput,
et explorato rege cunctas evocat.
Illae timore posito certatim adnatant,
lignumque supra turba petulans insilit.
Quod cum inquinassent omni contumelia,
alium rogantes regem misere ad Iovem,
inutilis quoniam esset qui fuerat datus.
Tum misit illis hydrum, qui dente aspero
corripere coepit singulas. Frustra necem
fugitant inertes; vocem praecludit metus.
Furtim igitur dant Mercurio mandata ad Iovem,
adflictis ut succurrat. Tunc contra Tonans
"Quia noluistis vestrum ferre" inquit "bonum,
malum perferte". Vos quoque, o cives,' ait
'hoc sustinete, maius ne veniat, malum'.

When Athens flourished under equal laws,
impudent liberty threw the state into turmoil,
and license loosed the former bridle.
Here, the parts of the factions having conspired,
the tyrant Pisistratus seizes the citadel.
When the Athenians wept over sad servitude,
not because he was cruel, but because
every burden is heavy to the unaccustomed, and they had begun to complain,
Aesop then recounted such a little fable.
'The frogs, wandering in free marshes,
with a great clamor sought a king from Jove,
who would restrain by force their dissolute manners.
The Father of the gods laughed and gave them
a small little beam, which, having been sent suddenly into the ford,
by its movement and sound terrified the fearful race.
When this, sunk in the mud, was lying for a longer time,
by chance one quietly lifts her head from the pool,
and, the king explored, calls all out.
They, with fear set aside, swim up in rivalry,
and the wanton crowd leaps upon the wood.
And when they had befouled it with every contumely,
asking another king they sent to Jove,
since he who had been given was useless.
Then he sent them a water-serpent, who with harsh tooth
began to seize them one by one. In vain the shiftless
try to flee death; fear shuts their voice.
Secretly therefore they give Mercury a commission to Jove,
that he might help the afflicted. Then in reply the Thunderer:
"Because you were unwilling to bear your good," he says, "bear evil."
You also, O citizens,' he says,
'endure this, lest a greater evil come.'

III. Graculus Superbus et Pavo

3. The Proud Jackdaw and the Peacock

Ne gloriari libeat alienis bonis,
suoque potius habitu vitam degere,
Aesopus nobis hoc exemplum prodidit.
Tumens inani graculus superbia
pinnas, pavoni quae deciderant, sustulit,
seque exornavit. Deinde, contemnens suos
immiscet se ut pavonum formoso gregi
illi impudenti pinnas eripiunt avi,
fugantque rostris. Male mulcatus graculus
redire maerens coepit ad proprium genus,
a quo repulsus tristem sustinuit notam.
Tum quidam ex illis quos prius despexerat
'Contentus nostris si fuisses sedibus
et quod Natura dederat voluisses pati,
nec illam expertus esses contumeliam
nec hanc repulsam tua sentiret calamitas'.

Lest it be pleasing to glory in another’s goods,
and rather to pass life in one’s own habit, Aesop has handed down to us this example.
Swelling with empty pride, a jackdaw
picked up feathers that had fallen from a peacock,
and adorned himself. Then, despising his own,
he mingles with the beautiful flock of peacocks;
they tear the feathers from the impudent bird,
and drive him off with their beaks. Ill-handled, the jackdaw,
mourning, began to return to his own kind,
by whom, repulsed, he sustained a sad stigma.
Then one of those whom he had earlier looked down on said:
'If you had been content with our seats,
and had been willing to suffer what Nature had given,
you would have experienced neither that contumely,
nor would your calamity be feeling this repulse.'

IV. Canis per Fluvium Carnem Ferens

4. The Dog Bearing Flesh across the River

Amittit merito proprium qui alienum adpetit.
Canis, per fluvium carnem cum ferret, natans
lympharum in speculo vidit simulacrum suum,
aliamque praedam ab altero ferri putans
eripere voluit; verum decepta aviditas
et quem tenebat ore dimisit cibum,
nec quem petebat adeo potuit tangere.

He deservedly loses what is his own who seeks what is another’s.
The dog, when he was carrying meat through a river, swimming,
in the mirror of the waters saw his own image,
and, thinking that another prey was being carried by another,
wished to snatch it away; but his greed, deceived,
let go from his mouth the food which he was holding,
nor could he so much as touch what he was seeking.

V. Canis et Capella, Ovis et Leo

5. The Dog and the She-Goat, the Sheep, and the Lion

Numquam est fidelis cum potente societas.
Testatur haec fabella propositum meum.
Vacca et capella et patiens ovis iniuriae
socii fuere cum leone in saltibus.
Hi cum cepissent cervum vasti corporis,
sic est locutus partibus factis leo:
'Ego primam tollo nomine hoc quia rex cluo;
secundam, quia sum consors, tribuetis mihi;
tum, quia plus valeo, me sequetur tertia;
malo adficietur si quis quartam tetigerit'.
Sic totam praedam sola improbitas abstulit.

Never is association with the potent faithful.
This little fable attests my purpose.
A cow and a she-goat and an ewe patient of injury
were associates with the lion in the wilds.
When they had seized a stag of vast body,
thus spoke the lion, the parts having been made:
'I take the first by this title, because I am reputed king;
the second, because I am a consort, you will assign to me;
then, because I am worth more, the third will follow me;
he will be afflicted with harm if anyone touches the fourth.'
Thus improbity alone carried off the entire prey.

VI. Ranae ad Solem

6. Frogs to the Sun

Vicini furis celebres vidit nuptias
Aesopus, et continuo narrare incipit -
Uxorem quondam Sol cum vellet ducere,
clamorem ranae sustulere ad sidera.
Convicio permotus quaerit Iuppiter
causam querellae. Quaedam tum stagni incola
'Nunc' inquit 'omnes unus exurit lacus,
cogitque miseras arida sede emori.
Quidnam futurum est si crearit liberos?'

Aesop saw the celebrated nuptials of a neighboring thief,
and immediately begins to narrate -
Once upon a time, when the Sun wished to take a wife,
the frogs raised a clamor to the stars.
Moved by the outcry Jupiter inquires
the cause of the complaint. Then a certain inhabitant of the pool
said, 'Now one burns up all the lakes,
and forces the wretched to die on a dry seat.
What, pray, will come to be if he creates children?'

VII. Vulpes ad Personam Tragicam

7. The Fox to the Tragic Mask

Personam tragicam forte vulpes viderat;
quam postquam huc illuc semel atque iterum verterat,
'O quanta species' inquit 'cerebrum non habet!'
Hoc illis dictum est quibus honorem et gloriam
Fortuna tribuit, sensum communem abstulit.

By chance a fox had seen a tragic mask;
which, after she had turned this way and that once and again,
she said, 'Oh how great the appearance—yet it has no brain!'
This was said about those to whom Fortune has granted honor and glory,
but has taken away common sense.

VIII. Lupus et Gruis

8. The Wolf and the Crane

Qui pretium meriti ab improbis desiderat,
bis peccat: primum quoniam indignos adiuvat,
impune abire deinde quia iam non potest.
Os devoratum fauce cum haereret lupi,
magno dolore victus coepit singulos
inlicere pretio ut illud extraherent malum.
Tandem persuasa est iureiurando gruis,
gulae quae credens colli longitudinem
periculosam fecit medicinam lupo.
Pro quo cum pactum flagitaret praemium,
'Ingrata es' inquit 'ore quae nostro caput
incolume abstuleris et mercedem postules'.

He who desires the price of merit from the wicked
sins twice: first, since he helps the unworthy,
then because he can no longer get away unpunished.
When a devoured bone was sticking in the wolf’s throat,
overcome by great pain he began to entice individuals
for a price, so that they might extract that evil.
At last the crane, persuaded by an oath,
trusting for the gullet the length of her neck,
made a dangerous medicine for the wolf.
When she then demanded the agreed-upon reward for this,
“You are ungrateful,” he said, “you who from our mouth have withdrawn your head
unharmed, and you demand a fee.”

IX. Passer ad Leporem Consiliator

9. Sparrow Counselor to the Hare

Sibi non cavere et aliis consilium dare
stultum esse paucis ostendamus versibus.
Oppressum ab aquila, fletus edentem graves,
leporem obiurgabat passer 'Ubi pernicitas
nota' inquit 'illa est? Quid ita cessarunt pedes?'
Dum loquitur, ipsum accipiter necopinum rapit
questuque vano clamitantem interficit.
Lepus semianimus 'Mortis en solacium:
qui modo securus nostra inridebas mala,
simili querella fata deploras tua'.

Let us show in a few verses that it is foolish not to beware for oneself and to give counsel to others.
Oppressed by an eagle, pouring forth heavy tears,
the sparrow was scolding the hare: 'Where is that noted swiftness?' he says; 'Why have your feet thus tarried?'
While he is speaking, a hawk snatches him unexpectedly
and kills him as he cries out with vain complaint.
The half-alive hare says: 'Lo, a solace of death:
you who just now, secure, were mocking our misfortunes,
with a similar complaint you deplore your own fates.'

X. Lupus et Vulpes Iudice Simio

10. The Wolf and the Fox, the Ape as Judge

Quicumque turpi fraude semel innotuit,
etiam si verum dicit, amittit fidem.
Hoc adtestatur brevis Aesopi fabula.
Lupus arguebat vulpem furti crimine;
negabat illa se esse culpae proximam.
Tunc iudex inter illos sedit simius.
Uterque causam cum perorassent suam,
dixisse fertur simius sententiam:
'Tu non videris perdidisse quos petis;
te credo subripuisse quod pulchre negas'.

Whoever has once become known for base fraud,
even if he speaks the truth, loses credence.
This a brief fable of Aesop attests.
A wolf was accusing a fox with the crime of theft;
she denied that she was culpable.
Then a monkey sat as judge between them.
When each had fully perorated his case,
the monkey is said to have pronounced the sentence:
'You do not seem to have lost what you seek;
I believe you yourself pilfered what you so nicely deny'.

XI. Asinus et Leo Venantes

11. The Ass and the Lion Hunting

Virtutis expers, verbis iactans gloriam,
ignotos fallit, notis est derisui.
Venari asello comite cum vellet leo,
contexit illum frutice et admonuit simul
ut insueta voce terreret feras,
fugientes ipse exciperet. Hic auritulus
clamorem subito totis tollit viribus,
novoque turbat bestias miraculo:
quae, dum paventes exitus notos petunt,
leonis adfliguntur horrendo impetu.
Qui postquam caede fessus est, asinum evocat,
iubetque vocem premere. Tunc ille insolens
'Qualis videtur opera tibi vocis meae?'
'Insignis' inquit 'sic ut, nisi nossem tuum
animum genusque, simili fugissem metu'.

Bereft of virtue, vaunting glory in words, he deceives the unknown; to those who know him he is for derision.
When the lion wished to hunt with a little ass as companion,
he covered him with shrubbery and at the same time admonished him
to terrify the wild beasts with an unusual voice,
and he himself would intercept them as they fled. Then the long‑eared little one
suddenly lifts a clamor with all his strength,
and by the novel marvel throws the beasts into confusion:
who, while panic‑stricken they seek familiar exits,
are struck down by the lion’s horrendous onrush.
After he is wearied by the slaughter, he calls the ass
and orders him to suppress his voice. Then he, insolent,
“How does the work of my voice seem to you?”
“Notable,” he says, “so much so that, unless I knew your spirit
and your stock, I would have fled in similar fear.”

XII. Cervus ad Fontem

12. The Stag at the Spring

Laudatis utiliora quae contempseris,
saepe inveniri testis haec narratio est.
Ad fontem cervus, cum bibisset, restitit,
et in liquore vidit effigiem suam.
Ibi dum ramosa mirans laudat cornua
crurumque nimiam tenuitatem vituperat,
venantum subito vocibus conterritus,
per campum fugere coepit, et cursu levi
canes elusit. Silva tum excepit ferum;
in qua retentis impeditus cornibus
lacerari coepit morsibus saevis canum.
Tum moriens edidisse vocem hanc dicitur:
'O me infelicem, qui nunc demum intellego,
utilia mihi quam fuerint quae despexeram,
et, quae laudaram, quantum luctus habuerint'.

More useful than the praised are the things you have despised,
this narration is witness that this is often found.
At a spring a stag, when he had drunk, stood still,
and in the liquid he saw his own effigy.
There, while, admiring, he praises his branching horns
and censures the excessive tenuity of his legs,
suddenly terror-struck by the voices of the hunters,
through the plain he began to flee, and with light course
he eluded the dogs. Then the forest received the wild beast;
in which, his horns being held back, impeded,
he began to be torn by the savage bites of the dogs.
Then, dying, he is said to have uttered this utterance:
'O unhappy me, who only now understand,
how useful to me those things I had looked down on had been,
and how much grief those things I had praised have had'.

XIII. Vulpes et Corvus

13. The Fox and the Crow

Quae se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis,
serae dant poenas turpi paenitentia.
Cum de fenestra corvus raptum caseum
comesse vellet, celsa residens arbore,
vulpes invidit, deinde sic coepit loqui:
'O qui tuarum, corve, pinnarum est nitor!
Quantum decoris corpore et vultu geris!
Si vocem haberes, nulla prior ales foret'.
At ille, dum etiam vocem vult ostendere,
lato ore emisit caseum; quem celeriter
dolosa vulpes avidis rapuit dentibus.
Tum demum ingemuit corvi deceptus stupor.

Those who rejoice to be praised by subdolous words pay the penalty too late, with shameful penitence.
While from a window a crow, having snatched cheese, wanted to eat it, sitting on a lofty tree,
the fox envied, then thus began to speak:
'O, what splendor there is of your feathers, crow!
How much decor you bear in body and countenance!
If you had a voice, no bird would be prior'.
But he, while he also wishes to display his voice,
with wide mouth emitted the cheese; which swiftly
the deceitful fox snatched with avid teeth.
Then at last the crow, deceived, groaned in stupor.

XIV. Ex Sutore Medicus

14. From a Cobbler, a Physician

Malus cum sutor inopia deperditus
medicinam ignoto facere coepisset loco
et venditaret falso antidotum nomine,
verbosis adquisivit sibi famam strophis.
Hic cum iaceret morbo confectus gravi
rex urbis, eius experiendi gratia
scyphum poposcit: fusa dein simulans aqua
illius se miscere antidoto toxicum,
combibere iussit ipsum, posito praemio.
Timore mortis ille tum confessus est,
non artis ulla medicum se prudentia,
verum stupore vulgi, factum nobilem.
Rex advocata contione haec edidit:
'Quantae putatis esse vos dementiae,
qui capita vestra non dubitatis credere,
cui calceandos nemo commisit pedes?'
Hoc pertinere vere ad illos dixerim,
quorum stultitia quaestus impudentiae est.

A wicked cobbler, ruined by indigence,
had begun to practice medicine in an unknown place,
and to vend under the false name “antidote” a remedy;
with verbose stratagems he acquired for himself a reputation.
When the king of the city lay prostrate, worn out by a grave disease,
for the sake of testing him he asked for a goblet: then, pouring water and pretending
that he was mixing poison with that man’s antidote,
he ordered the man himself to drink it down, a reward having been set.
Through fear of death he then confessed
that he was not a physician by any prudence of art,
but, made notable by the stupor of the crowd.
The king, an assembly having been called, issued these words:
'Of how great madness do you judge yourselves to be,
you who do not hesitate to entrust your very heads
to one to whom no one has entrusted feet to be shod?'
This I would truly say pertains to those
whose stupidity is the profit of impudence.

XV. Asinus ad Senem Pastorem

15. The Ass to the Old Shepherd

In principatu commutando civium
nil praeter domini nomen mutant pauperes.
Id esse verum, parva haec fabella indicat.
Asellum in prato timidus pascebat senex.
Is hostium clamore subito territus
suadebat asino fugere, ne possent capi.
At ille lentus 'Quaeso, num binas mihi
clitellas impositurum victorem putas?'
Senex negavit. 'Ergo, quid refert mea
cui serviam, clitellas dum portem unicas?'

In the principate being changed over the citizens,
the poor change nothing except the master’s name.
That this is true, this small little fable indicates.
A timid old man was pasturing a little ass in a meadow.
He, suddenly terrified by the clamor of enemies,
was advising the donkey to flee, lest they might be captured.
But he, slow, said: 'Pray, do you think the victor
will put two packsaddles on me?'
The old man said no. 'Therefore, what difference is it to me
whom I serve, so long as I carry a single packsaddle?'

XVI. Ovis Cervus et Lupus

16. Sheep Stag and Wolf

Fraudator homines cum advocat sponsum improbos,
non rem expedire, sed malum ordiri expetit.
Ovem rogabat cervus modium tritici,
lupo sponsore. At illa, praemetuens dolum,
'Rapere atque abire semper adsuevit lupus;
tu de conspectu fugere veloci impetu.
Ubi vos requiram, cum dies advenerit?'

When a defrauder calls in wicked men as surety,
he seeks not to expedite the affair, but to set evil in motion.
A stag was asking the sheep for a modius of wheat,
with the wolf as sponsor. But she, anticipating a trick,
'The wolf has always been accustomed to snatch and be gone;
you to flee from sight with swift impetus.
Where am I to look for you two, when the due day has arrived?'

XVII. Ovis Canis et Lupus

XVII. The Sheep, the Dog, and the Wolf

Solent mendaces luere poenas malefici.
Calumniator ab ove cum peteret canis,
quem commendasse panem se contenderet,
lupus, citatus testis, non unum modo
deberi dixit, verum adfirmavit decem.
Ovis, damnata falso testimonio,
quod non debebat, solvit. Post paucos dies
bidens iacentem in fovea prospexit lupum.
'Haec' inquit 'merces fraudis a superis datur'.

Liars are wont to pay the penalties for their malefice.
When the dog, a calumniator, was demanding from the sheep—maintaining that he had entrusted bread (to her)—
the wolf, cited as a witness, said that not one only
was owed, but affirmed ten.
The sheep, condemned by false testimony,
paid what she did not owe. After a few days
the sheep caught sight of the wolf lying in a pit.
“This,” she says, “is the wage of fraud given by the gods above.”

XVIII. Mulier Parturiens

18. The Woman in Labor

Nemo libenter recolit qui laesit locum.
Instante partu mulier actis mensibus
humi iacebat, flebilis gemitus ciens.
Vir est hortatus, corpus lecto reciperet,
onus naturae melius quo deponeret.
'Minime' inquit 'illo posse confido loco
malum finiri quo conceptum est initio'.

No one gladly revisits the place where he was injured.
With childbirth imminent, the woman, the months having been completed,
was lying on the ground, summoning tearful groans.
The husband urged that she take herself back to the bed,
where she would better lay down the burden of nature.
'By no means,' she says, 'do I trust that the evil can be ended in that place
in which it was conceived at the beginning'.

XIX. Canis Parturiens

19. A Bitch in Labor

Habent insidias hominis blanditiae mali;
quas ut vitemus, versus subiecti monent.
Canis parturiens cum rogasset alteram,
ut fetum in eius tugurio deponeret,
facile impetravit. Dein reposcenti locum
preces admovit, tempus exorans breve,
dum firmiores catulos posset ducere.
Hoc quoque consumpto flagitari validius
cubile coepit. 'Si mihi et turbae meae
par' inquit 'esse potueris, cedam loco'.

The blandishments of an evil man have snares; which, that we may avoid them, the verses set below warn.
A dog in labor, when she had asked another that she might deposit her offspring in her hut, easily obtained it.
Then, when the place was being asked back, she applied entreaties, imploring a brief time, until she might be able to lead away her puppies when stronger.
When this too had been consumed, she began to be more vigorously pressed for the lair.
'If you will be able to be a match for me and my crowd,' she said, 'I will yield the place'.

XX. Canes Famelici

20. Famished Dogs

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

A foolish counsel not only lacks effect,
but also summons mortals to perdition.
The dogs saw a hide sunk in the river.
So that they might more easily eat it once drawn out,
they began to drink the water up; but, burst beforehand,
they perished before they could attain what they had sought.

XXI. Leo Senex, Aper, Taurus et Asinus

21. The Old Lion, the Boar, the Bull, and the Ass

Quicumque amisit dignitatem pristinam,
ignavis etiam iocus est in casu gravi.
Defectus annis et desertus viribus
leo cum iaceret spiritum extremum trahens,
aper fulmineis spumans venit dentibus,
et vindicavit ictu veterem iniuriam.
Infestis taurus mox confodit cornibus
hostile corpus. Asinus, ut vidit ferum
impune laedi, calcibus frontem extudit.
At ille exspirans 'Fortis indigne tuli
mihi insultare: Te, Naturae dedecus,
quod ferre certe cogor bis videor mori'.

Whoever has lost his pristine dignity,
is even a jest to cowards in a grave downfall.
Worn out by years and deserted by strength,
when the lion lay drawing his last breath,
a boar, foaming, came with lightning-like tusks,
and with a stroke avenged an old injury.
Soon a bull, with hostile horns, pierced
the hostile body. The ass, when he saw the wild beast
harmed with impunity, with his heels smashed the forehead.
But he, expiring, said: “As a brave one, I have indignantly borne
that you insult me: you, a disgrace of Nature;
because I am surely compelled to bear this, I seem to die twice.”

XXII. Mustela et Homo

22. Weasel and Man

Mustela ab homine prensa, cum instantem necem
effugere vellet, 'Parce, quaeso', inquit 'mihi,
quae tibi molestis muribus purgo domum'.
Respondit ille 'Faceres si causa mea,
gratum esset et dedissem veniam supplici.
Nunc quia laboras ut fruaris reliquiis,
quas sunt rosuri, simul et ipsos devores,
noli imputare vanum beneficium mihi'.
Atque ita locutus improbam leto dedit.
Hoc in se dictum debent illi agnoscere,
quorum privata servit utilitas sibi,
et meritum inane iactant imprudentibus.

A weasel, seized by a man, when she wished to escape impending death,
said, “Spare me, I beg, I who purge your house for you of troublesome mice.”
He replied, “If you did it for my sake, it would be welcome, and I would have granted pardon to a suppliant.
Now, since you labor so that you may enjoy the leavings
which they are about to gnaw, and at the same time devour them as well,
do not impute to me an empty benefaction.”
And thus having spoken, he consigned the wicked creature to death.
Those ought to recognize this as said against themselves,
whose private service serves their own utility,
and who vaunt empty merit to the imprudent.

XXIII. Canis Fidelis

23. The Faithful Dog

Repente liberalis stultis gratus est,
verum peritis inritos tendit dolos.
Nocturnus cum fur panem misisset cani,
obiecto temptans an cibo posset capi,
'Heus', inquit 'linguam vis meam praecludere,
ne latrem pro re domini? Multum falleris.
Namque ista subita me iubet benignitas
vigilare, facias ne mea culpa lucrum'.

Suddenly liberality is pleasing to fools,
but to the experienced it proffers ineffectual wiles.
When a nocturnal thief had thrown bread to the dog,
testing with the object whether he could be taken by the food,
'Hey,' he says, 'you wish to preclude my tongue,
lest I bark for my master's property? You are much mistaken.
For this sudden benignity bids me
keep vigil, lest you make profit through my fault'.

XXIV. Rana Rupta et Bos

24. The Burst Frog and the Ox

Inops, potentem dum vult imitari, perit.
In prato quondam rana conspexit bovem,
et tacta invidia tantae magnitudinis
rugosam inflavit pellem. Tum natos suos
interrogavit an bove esset latior.
Illi negarunt. Rursus intendit cutem
maiore nisu, et simili quaesivit modo,
quis maior esset.

The indigent one, while she wants to imitate the potent, perishes.
In a meadow once a frog caught sight of an ox,
and, touched with envy of so great magnitude,
she inflated her wrinkled skin. Then her offspring
she asked whether she was broader than the ox.
They said no. Again she stretched her skin
with greater endeavor, and in a similar mode she asked,
who was greater.

Illi dixerunt 'bovem'.
Novissime indignata, dum vult validius
inflare sese, rupto iacuit corpore.

They said 'the ox'.
At last, indignant, while she wanted to inflate herself more vigorously,
with her body ruptured, she lay there.

XXV. Canes et Corcodilli

25. Dogs and Crocodiles

Consilia qui dant prava cautis hominibus
et perdunt operam et deridentur turpiter.
Canes currentes bibere in Nilo flumine,
a corcodillis ne rapiantur, traditum est.
Igitur cum currens bibere coepisset canis,
sic corcodillus 'Quamlibet lambe otio,
noli vereri'. At ille 'Facerem mehercules,
nisi esse scirem carnis te cupidum meae'.

Those who give crooked counsels to cautious men both waste their effort and are disgracefully derided.
Dogs running are said to drink in the river Nile, lest they be snatched by crocodiles.
Therefore, when a dog had begun to drink while running, thus the crocodile: 'Lap as much as you please at leisure,
do not fear.' But he: 'I would do it, by Hercules, if I did not know you to be desirous of my flesh.'

XXVI. Vulpes et Ciconia

26. Fox and Stork

Nulli nocendum: si quis vero laeserit,
multandum simili iure fabella admonet.
Ad cenam vulpes dicitur ciconiam
prior invitasse, et liquidam in patulo marmore
posuisse sorbitionem, quam nullo modo
gustare esuriens potuerit ciconia.
Quae, vulpem cum revocasset, intrito cibo
plenam lagonam posuit; huic rostrum inserens
satiatur ipsa et torquet convivam fame.
Quae cum lagonae collum frustra lamberet,
peregrinam sic locutam volucrem accepimus:
'Sua quisque exempla debet aequo animo pati'.

No one must be harmed: but if anyone has indeed injured,
the little fable admonishes that he must be mulcted by a similar law.
To dinner the fox is said first to have invited the stork,
and to have set liquid soup on broad marble,
a slurping-portion which in no way
the hungry stork could taste.
She, when she had called the fox back, with mashed food
set down a full flagon; inserting her beak into this
she satisfies herself and torments her dining companion with hunger.
When he licked the neck of the flagon in vain,
we have received that the peregrine bird spoke thus:
'Each person ought to suffer his own examples with an even mind'.

XXVII. Canis et Thesaurus et Vulturius

27. The Dog and the Treasure and the Vulture

Haec res avaris esse conveniens potest,
et qui, humiles nati, dici locupletes student.
Humana effodiens ossa thesaurum canis
invenit, et, violarat quia Manes deos,
iniecta est illi divitiarum cupiditas,
poenas ut sanctae religioni penderet.
Itaque, aurum dum custodit oblitus cibi,
fame est consumptus. Quem stans vulturius super
fertur locutus 'O canis, merito iaces,
qui concupisti subito regales opes,
trivio conceptus, educatus stercore'.

This affair can be fitting for the avaricious,
and for those who, humble-born, strive to be called opulent.
A dog, digging up human bones, found a treasure,
and, because he had violated the Manes gods,
cupidity for riches was instilled in him,
that he might pay penalties to holy religion.
And so, while he guards the gold, forgetful of food,
he is consumed by hunger. Over him, a vulture standing above
is said to have spoken: 'O dog, deservedly you lie,
you who suddenly coveted regal wealth,
conceived at a crossroads, brought up in dung.'

XXVIII. Vulpes et Aquila

28. The Fox and the Eagle

Quamvis sublimes debent humiles metuere,
vindicta docili quia patet sollertiae.
Vulpinos catulos aquila quondam sustulit,
nidoque posuit pullis escam ut carperent.
Hanc persecuta mater orare incipit,
ne tantum miserae luctum importaret sibi.
Contempsit illa, tuta quippe ipso loco.
Vulpes ab ara rapuit ardentem facem,
totamque flammis arborem circumdedit,
hosti dolorem damno miscens sanguinis.
Aquila, ut periclo mortis eriperet suos,
incolumes natos supplex vulpi reddidit.

Although the exalted ought to fear the humble,
since vindictive retribution lies open to docile ingenuity.
Once an eagle carried off fox-cubs,
and placed them in her nest as meat for her chicks to tear.
Their mother, having pursued her, begins to beg,
that she not bring upon herself so great mourning of the wretched one.
She scorned it, safe indeed in that very place.
The fox snatched a burning torch from an altar,
and surrounded the whole tree with flames,
mixing for the enemy pain with the loss of blood.
The eagle, in order to snatch her own from the peril of death,
as a suppliant returned the offspring unharmed to the fox.

XXIX. Asinus Inridens Aprum

29. The Ass Mocking the Boar

Plerumque stulti, risum dum captant levem,
gravi destringunt alios contumelia,
et sibi nocivum concitant periculum.
Asellus apro cum fuisset obvius,
'Salve' inquit 'frater'. Ille indignans repudiat
officium, et quaerit cur sic mentiri velit.
Asinus demisso pene 'Similem si negas
tibi me esse, certe simile est hoc rostro tuo'.
Aper, cum vellet facere generosum impetum,
repressit iram et 'Facilis vindicta est mihi:
sed inquinari nolo ignavo sanguine'.

Most often fools, while they chase after a light laugh,
slash others with a grave contumely,
and stir up for themselves a noxious danger.
When a little ass had come face to face with a boar,
'Hail,' he says, 'brother.' He, indignant, repudiates
the courtesy, and asks why he wishes thus to lie.
The ass, with his member lowered, 'If you deny
that I am like you, certainly this is like your snout.'
The boar, when he wished to make a noble charge,
checked his anger and said, 'Vengeance is easy for me:
but I do not wish to be stained with a coward’s blood'.

XXX. Ranae Metuentes Proelia Taurorum

30. Frogs Fearing the Battles of the Bulls

Humiles laborant ubi potentes dissident.
Rana e palude pugnam taurorum intuens,
'Heu, quanta nobis instat pernicies' ait.
interrogata ab alia cur hoc diceret,
de principatu cum illi certarent gregis
longeque ab ipsis degerent vitam boves,
'Sit statio separata ac diversum genus;
expulsus regno nemoris qui profugerit,
paludis in secreta veniet latibula,
et proculcatas obteret duro pede.
Ita caput ad nostrum furor illorum pertinet'.

The humble labor where the powerful dissent.
A frog from the marsh, beholding the battle of the bulls,
'Alas, how great a ruin is imminent for us,' she says.
when asked by another why she said this,
since they were contending about the principate of the herd
and the bulls were passing their life far away from them,
'Let the station be separate and the kind diverse;
whoever, expelled from the kingdom of the grove, has fled,
will come into the secret hiding-places of the marsh,
and he will crush the trampled with a hard hoof.
Thus their fury pertains to our head'.

XXXI. Miluus et Columbae

31. The Kite and the Doves

Qui se committit homini tutandum improbo,
auxilia dum requirit, exitium invenit.
Columbae saepe cum fugissent miluum,
et celeritate pinnae vitassent necem,
consilium raptor vertit ad fallaciam,
et genus inerme tali decepit dolo:
'Quare sollicitum potius aevum ducitis
quam regem me creatis icto foedere,
qui vos ab omni tutas praestem iniuria?'
Illae credentes tradunt sese miluo.
Qui regnum adeptus coepit vesci singulas,
et exercere imperium saevis unguibus.
Tunc de reliquis una 'Merito plectimur,
huic spiritum praedoni quae commisimus'.

He who commits himself to a depraved man for safeguarding, while he seeks assistance, finds destruction.
Doves often, when they had fled the kite,
and by the celerity of the wing had avoided death,
the raptor turned his plan to fallacy,
and deceived the unarmed race with such a stratagem:
'Why do you rather lead an anxious age
than create me king with a pact struck,
I who will guarantee you safe from every injury?'
They, believing, surrender themselves to the kite.
Who, having obtained the kingdom, began to feed on them one by one,
and to exercise his imperium with savage talons.
Then one of the rest said, 'We are punished deservedly,
we who entrusted our spirit to this brigand'.